First off I went to Finland. It was strange in a couple of ways. One, I went from a very warm Bangalore (35C) to a very cold and snowy Helsinki (-10C). So I really had to use the winter clothes, and the change was dramatic. But more than that, every other time I've been to Finland, the snow has only been a few centimeters and they really clean up the downtown area quickly, so after a couple of days, the sidewalks and streets are clean. Now there was about a half a meter of snow on the ground everywhere except the streets which still had several centimeters of snow, and it snowed every day--adding to the winter wonderland effect. It was the most snow they've had in Helsinki in several decades. In a way it was very pretty and clean. The snow didn't have a chance to get dirty as there was always new falling. All in all, I liked it a lot, but the residents were complaining how much it impacted their lives. I guess it is nice to visit the snow, but not to have to shovel it daily to get your car out etc.More recently I traveled to China again after about a year. It was really interesting being there as I didn't feel as much of an outsider. I think I did see more foreigners in Hangzhou than before, but maybe I'm also just used to being stared at, now that I've lived in India for more than 2 years. Somehow I just didn't notice so many people looking at me. I did find I created some confusion from time to time as I would occasionally do the 'Indian head bobble', which I've become used to doing in India as a way of getting acceptance and letting people know I'm 'a local'. This of course got a very confused look back from the Chinese who don't recognize it at all. It's amazing how quickly one can pick up local culture somewhere and have it become habit.
So back to Bangalore. Haven't done much exploring around, but have been suffering the local traffic on our main road. Now they were doing a major retrofit of the road when we moved here and they finished by paving it and redoing all the sidewalks. The repaving was completed about a year ago. Then 6 months ago, they dug up the road from one end to the other to put in a new sewer pipe. Not only did they mess up the new pavement, but they left piles of dirt next to the ditch for weeks. That was finished about 4 months ago, then just in the last couple of months they started digging again (about 2 meters from the sewer ditch) for a new water line.
Here we go again. The dirt is piled up on top of where the sewer pipe was put. This reminds me of the way government departments in the US don't coordinate roadwork. I guess this is the same the world over, bureaucracy cannot coordinate to do things efficiently.I did get to go to Donna's for a dinner party yesterday evening. It was really nice to be able to just relax and talk with other people without having to be on my toes as I do at work. Had a lot of fun and took a few snaps for Donna (center here).
Nice trade-good food and conversation for a few pictures...Otherwise, it's been hot here and no sign of cooling off in the near future. Maybe the mangos will come early this year--I've already seen 'raw mangoes' (unripened) in the stores today.
And yet one more discovery. Today we ate at Cafe Noir at UB City. Food was delicious. But that wasn't the discovery... The pastry chef told us where we can get chocolate chips near Commercial St. Yeah! I know someone who will be very happy now.
