Getting adjusted

At last we have arrived in India to begin working.

Yesterday was a difficult, long day for me.  Difficult because I had to leave Emily for the next 4 months, long because, well...it took over 24 hours just to travel here.  My route was from Columbus to JFK, sit for 5 hours, then nonstop to Abu Dhabi on a 12.5 hour flight.  I'm not sure I could do that kind of flying all the time.  I watched two movies before I checked the time remaining, and we were barely halfway.  I'm very fortunate though to have been booked in business class, so I was really very comfortable.

After arriving, getting through customs and immigration, and collecting our bags, we met up with our drivers and made the trek to our apartments.  On arrival, we got our phones and wifi cards issued to us, so I was able to call home once I got everything working.  By that time it was 11pm here, and I was exhausted, so it was off to bed.  I took some melatonin, which seemed to help, as I did sleep through the night, although I was freezing for part of it, as the air conditioning was evidently set to the "meat locker" setting.  My apartment is on the 10th floor of this building, which I'd hoped would make me immune to the inexorable honking of the car horns on the streets below, but unfortunately that's not the case.

Today I met up with my cohorts from NJA, and we found some breakfast at the Starbucks next door, and then did some shopping for things we need.  Our apartments, although furnished, are still lacking some things, so we're trying to go out and find them where we can.  My apartment, for instance, has zero coat hangars.  I'd have packed some to bring with me, but I was completely out of space in my suitcases.  The bourbon I brought wasn't getting left behind for coat hangars, I have priorities.

We start work on Monday, so we're trying to get all of these things done now, and get used to the time difference, which for me is proving to be a challenge.  Even though I slept through the night, I'm still feeling pretty groggy.  I know it will just take time though.  The climate itself is going to take longer to get used to, I think.  Right now, for instance, it is 91 degrees outside, however with the humidity the heat index is 108.  Hot and humid is probably my least favorite climate, so I'm likely to be grumpy about it for a while, especially since I see that it's 73 degrees at home today.  I should probably quit looking at that.

Abut Dhabi seems like an interesting place, at least what I saw of it from the plane.  It looks like there are some nice beaches, so maybe it would be worth going over for a weekend visit if I can find a cheap ticket over there.  I've been in deserts before, but the one there is really different.  It is just nothing but bare earth and sand, and has almost no vegetation of any kind.  It's hard to believe how anyone can live there.

Our first trip to the grocery store was something of an adventure.  There's a small one in the mall right next door, so we went there to get some of the immediately needed items.  It's very (very) tightly packed compared to what I'm used to in the USA.  Add in the throngs of people and it quickly resembles a rugby scrum. I'm still trying to pick up on the nuances so I don't look like a dumb ass, but that's going to take time.  For instance, I picked up a package of pears to buy, but evidently you're supposed to weigh them and get a sticker so that the cashier knows how much to charge you.  Since I wasn't aware of that, this evidently caused some consternation on the part of the cashier, but the language barrier prevented me from really understanding it.

Speaking of cultural differences, I've spoken here before about the male-dominated culture here.  Unfortunately this is in the news again here, as this happened recently.  It's a wonder that women travel anywhere alone in this place.