So once I finally mastered how to say the B word (I didn't say I knew how to spell it), I thought it'd be pretty cool if I could say it a lot. On the plane I was like, so Steven, we need to actually do something in B-word because then we can be like, 'Hey, remember that time in Bhubaneswar when...' Yeah, never wish for that.
Get out of the plane, only 20 degrees, head out of the tiny airport and begin looking for an auto rickshaw, followed by at least three cab drivers asking if we wanted a taxi--clearly we have blinking lights on our foreheads saying please take advantage of me, I'm a tourist. Rickshaw said no I am not driving 1 and a half hours, so then we turn to the taxi drivers and ask how much, as we start to bargain they tell us to go to the pre-paid window, which we've been told is always the best bet anyway. Well, we get to the window and the same drivers that have been following us around start talking in Hindi to the man behind the window--that didn't help. After agreeing upon a price we follow the sketchiest driver of all back out to the lot, he tells us to stand and wait while he finds a driver friend in an Ambassador car to take us. We get in and believe we are on our way.....
Fast forward about three minutes later. 'So which hotel?' Toshali Sands I say, 'Toshali Sands?! NO, NO, I need to go back' WHAT?! he starts arguing that we said Puri and that hotel is 10Km outside the city. Literally he turns the car around and is about to head back to the airport--with some yelling he just pulls over to the side of the road and calls his boss. They talk in grunts (usually Hindi sounds nice, this was grunts)...we keep yelling, saying we've paid, we aren't going back, we want to go to the hotel. Zack said I should yell, so believe me, I was yelling. He then just hands me the phone (apparently I was yelling loudest)...I then yell at the boss. Nothing.
Finally Steven takes the phone, tells him we want to go, we've been stopped for five minutes and every minute of our time he takes the driver owes us 10 ruppee and so really they owe us money...That got some giggles. Finally we agreed to be dropped in Puri for the price we paid originally, hoping to find a rickshaw after dinner that would be cheaper than the extra 150 rupees they wanted to pay us for 10km. and away we go.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The B Word
No, I am not cursing...I actually just can't pronounce the name of the city we are flying to this weekend, and it made booking travel difficult.
There is one site that accepts non-Indian credit cards, www.makemytrip.co.in, and when we book flights, we tend to have one person (yours truly) book them and then umm, invoice people, afterwards. Well, today for some reason, we could get one ticket for the flights we wanted, we could even get three tickets for the flights we wanted, but we could not get four, and that was the number we were looking for.
Both flights were on Indigo, so we figured we would try calling Indigo Airlines, in the off chance they'd help us out and book directly. First my cell did not feel the need to call a 1-800 number. Then we went into a phone room, and finally got a hold of someone. I told them I wanted to book travel, they said, where would you like to fly, I said from Hyderabad to Bhubaneswar, hesitantly, since up till now I'd been calling it the b-place. 'Excuse me?' they said, I tried again. still nothing. Finally I think he understood, and then I asked, can you book with American Credit cards? No he said, but you can reserve the flight and hold it for 24 hours. 'Yes,' I said, 'but I can't actually book it right?'
'No, but you can reserve it for 24 hours, where are you flying ma'am?'
'No, that's ok thanks, I'll try MakeMyTrip.'
'Ok, is there anything else I can help you with today?'
click.
Ok, let's try make my trip. Call one number on the site, tell them I want to reserve flights, the website is not letting me. They ask where, I have to use the b-word again, repeat twice, once they somewhat understand they say: 'Oh, you are leaving from Hyderabad? you need to call the main reservation line, here is the number'
Call new number listen to Entertainer over and over and over and--well, you get the point. finaly someone answers, rinse and repeat, 'Oh, you've called the wrong number, let me give you the number.'
'No, they said to call this number for reservations, can you transfer me?'
'Hold on ma'am' ...more music
meanwhile we are attempting to buy 1 ticket from one computer and 3 tickets from the other. What clever Googlers we are. Something continues to go wrong and we can't get the timing right
..finally the music stops and someone asks what I want, I tell them, using the b-word again, I think i've gotten better at it, apparently it's not Boo-ban-eshwar, it's buh-ban-eshwar, or something.
He takes my name and cell and says he'll call back in five minutes while his system re-boots.
We finally manage to push pay at the same time, and both get blank screens and error messages....and then, low and behold, two confirmation emails appear in my inbox and we have flights. Bring on the beach!
....and no, MakeMyTrip never called back.
There is one site that accepts non-Indian credit cards, www.makemytrip.co.in, and when we book flights, we tend to have one person (yours truly) book them and then umm, invoice people, afterwards. Well, today for some reason, we could get one ticket for the flights we wanted, we could even get three tickets for the flights we wanted, but we could not get four, and that was the number we were looking for.
Both flights were on Indigo, so we figured we would try calling Indigo Airlines, in the off chance they'd help us out and book directly. First my cell did not feel the need to call a 1-800 number. Then we went into a phone room, and finally got a hold of someone. I told them I wanted to book travel, they said, where would you like to fly, I said from Hyderabad to Bhubaneswar, hesitantly, since up till now I'd been calling it the b-place. 'Excuse me?' they said, I tried again. still nothing. Finally I think he understood, and then I asked, can you book with American Credit cards? No he said, but you can reserve the flight and hold it for 24 hours. 'Yes,' I said, 'but I can't actually book it right?'
'No, but you can reserve it for 24 hours, where are you flying ma'am?'
'No, that's ok thanks, I'll try MakeMyTrip.'
'Ok, is there anything else I can help you with today?'
click.
Ok, let's try make my trip. Call one number on the site, tell them I want to reserve flights, the website is not letting me. They ask where, I have to use the b-word again, repeat twice, once they somewhat understand they say: 'Oh, you are leaving from Hyderabad? you need to call the main reservation line, here is the number'
Call new number listen to Entertainer over and over and over and--well, you get the point. finaly someone answers, rinse and repeat, 'Oh, you've called the wrong number, let me give you the number.'
'No, they said to call this number for reservations, can you transfer me?'
'Hold on ma'am' ...more music
meanwhile we are attempting to buy 1 ticket from one computer and 3 tickets from the other. What clever Googlers we are. Something continues to go wrong and we can't get the timing right
..finally the music stops and someone asks what I want, I tell them, using the b-word again, I think i've gotten better at it, apparently it's not Boo-ban-eshwar, it's buh-ban-eshwar, or something.
He takes my name and cell and says he'll call back in five minutes while his system re-boots.
We finally manage to push pay at the same time, and both get blank screens and error messages....and then, low and behold, two confirmation emails appear in my inbox and we have flights. Bring on the beach!
....and no, MakeMyTrip never called back.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Travel!
That's right, that's what we ex-pats do. I had a great long weekend to explore Hyderabad, most of the rest of my weekends will be spent exploring other parts of India and even Asia.
This past weekend me and five of the new ex-pats headed to Mumbai. Arrived Friday evening, negotiated a cab or two, and ended up in our cozy hotel in the shadow of the Taj--now that is a hotel.
We decided we were too tired to do too much, so we'd just head to the poshest restaurant in town (or so we were told) for a nice meal. STEAK! Indigo was beautiful, we sat outside and it was so pleasant. We were all so hungry we devoured the bread they put in front of us (no, not naan) and cleaned our plates.
Next day was BUSY. We crammed as much as we could into a day--Elephanta Island where there are temples in caves and MONKEYS--one of them almost attacked me for getting to close to her baby while taking pics. Near miss with a visit to an Indian hospital, she got my skirt and not me.
After the island we decided to have a meal at a place that was the polar oposite of Indigo. National Hindu Hotel. We wanted authentic Thalis. Mom, if you're reading this, stop now. We walked into the restaurant, realized it broke the only eat in places with a/c rule, and proceeded to walk past the rows of men staring at our white faces. Banana leaves for plates, and men wearing no shoes who come by and serve you chabatis (tortilla like bread for scooping) and the day's thalis. We also got rice--which skilled hand eaters can roll into a little ball and pop right in their mouth, and some yogurt sauce. Despite being a bit nervous we would all have 'a party in the bathroom' as Diane said, the meal was quite enjoyable--and all but Viktor escaped unharmed--and I still think he had heat issues more than he had a tummy bug.
I didn't take good pics in here, but Alon did:
We also visited the Haji Ali Mosque--this beautiful Mosque set out in the water with a shallow walkway to get to it.
Apparently at high tide the mosque is on an island--although I am not sure I believe that, b/c where would the beggars that sit on the walkway go when the water came up?
Mumbai is a city of contrasts--beggers on the side of the street, slums on every corner, and the next corner a fancy restaurant or hotel. But as soon as you walk out of the hotel, a small child walks up to you and asks for money. On the street shopping for scarves and jewelery I got followed by a mother, her baby and her pet monkey on a leash.
It makes me sad, but you can't give rupees to all, and a few rupees will not solve their problem.
It's also apparently a city of glitz and glamour-We didn't see much of Bollywood though, mostly we saw dirt. We did see where they get their clothes clean! Dhoby Ghats are the oldest and largest human washing area in the city--pretty cool.
Anyway, I've rambled on enough--if you want to see my pics from the trip, see Picassa!
http://picasaweb.google.com/asudow/Mumbai180108951PM
Whirlwinds
There is too much going on to sit down and write about it. But I guess for the amount of people I tell about this blog I'd better keep it updated!
First, the first week and a half of work. Great! Our team is fun and friendly and the new office is pretty nice. Very Google, and also very India. Let me explain:
Here is what the entrance to the new 'Omega' building looks like:
Yes, lots of color, openness etc, a nice big Google sign. The most interesting part though, is that pretty round water thing as you are walking up the marble staircase.
Every day a man squats down by this trough and arranges red and yellow flower petals in the water--yes, every day fresh ones.
Next, the elevators and the door to the elevators. If you want to go up, you push up, seems simple enough, but sometimes, when you push up, immediately a down elevator comes. I know what you might be thinking, well, maybe it's on it's way down. Nope. You are actually kind of lucky if the wrong direction elevator comes, at least one comes at all--I've stood there for 10 min waiting for one. I would have just taken the stairs, but apparently that is a no-no since there is debris in them and they are for emergencies only--so much for 10,000 steps a day!
Then there's the cafe--you know how at fairs in the states we eat fried dough and put powdered sugar and stuff on it--yeah, in India, they eat that for breakfast. I stick to the omelet stations--those are yum, now if only I could learn how to say egg whites in Hindi.
All in all, the work environment is great--quirkiness is important and part of the experience right? Thanks to the HYD Checkout team for being so inviting!
First, the first week and a half of work. Great! Our team is fun and friendly and the new office is pretty nice. Very Google, and also very India. Let me explain:
Here is what the entrance to the new 'Omega' building looks like:
Yes, lots of color, openness etc, a nice big Google sign. The most interesting part though, is that pretty round water thing as you are walking up the marble staircase.
Every day a man squats down by this trough and arranges red and yellow flower petals in the water--yes, every day fresh ones.
Next, the elevators and the door to the elevators. If you want to go up, you push up, seems simple enough, but sometimes, when you push up, immediately a down elevator comes. I know what you might be thinking, well, maybe it's on it's way down. Nope. You are actually kind of lucky if the wrong direction elevator comes, at least one comes at all--I've stood there for 10 min waiting for one. I would have just taken the stairs, but apparently that is a no-no since there is debris in them and they are for emergencies only--so much for 10,000 steps a day!
Then there's the cafe--you know how at fairs in the states we eat fried dough and put powdered sugar and stuff on it--yeah, in India, they eat that for breakfast. I stick to the omelet stations--those are yum, now if only I could learn how to say egg whites in Hindi.
All in all, the work environment is great--quirkiness is important and part of the experience right? Thanks to the HYD Checkout team for being so inviting!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Kites!
True Hyderabadi fun!
Monday was the start of a festival and Google Hyderabad had the day off. We first went to a park where Dichan thought there might be some local kite flying...there was, but we were the ONLY non-indians in the place, and man does that draw attention. As we walked through the parking lot/park we certainly drew a crowd. Young boys come up and just stare. They don't really say anything, they just look at you, and pose
for your camera. Every once in a while they will ask where you are from or your name. I did get asked to move aside when I was in the way of the cricket game, aparently in India they take their cricket very seriously. Still it was fun, and one of the boys in the park even handed me his kite string after i'd taken a ton of pics of him.
Later in the day, Mike, Alon and I, hungry to be shown around by locals met up with some members of the Checkout team. They took us to Hotel Paradise, where they have the best Hyderabad Biryani in the city. Apparently Hyderabad is famous for it's Biryani, and this place does it best.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad_biryani
I ate mutton!...fun to have someone who knows what they are doing order for you. And Nishant was kind and made sure they didn't give me anything too spicey--I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to this, but I am working on getting better.
Next it was off to Shushil's house to fly kites!! We went straight to the roof terrace where we saw a few people out flying kites, but not many and the wind was a bit low--so we went downstairs to his apartment. As soon as we sat down his mom brought us cake and snacks, even though we were stuffed full of biryani and some crazy overly sweet dessert that was basically like apricot jam with ice cream (diabetics beware--whoops). She was so nice we couldn't say no! And she invited us to come back and she'd cook us homemade food--I could be down for that.
Back up to the roof we went, more people had come out and the skies were dotted with little kites. It was like a mix of dancing on rooftops in Jerusalem on Shabbat and the kite runner. I'm not kidding. I got to fly one and even cut someone (shall I leave out the part about how we cut each other and the kite ran away?)...fun times. Here are pictures :)
Monday was the start of a festival and Google Hyderabad had the day off. We first went to a park where Dichan thought there might be some local kite flying...there was, but we were the ONLY non-indians in the place, and man does that draw attention. As we walked through the parking lot/park we certainly drew a crowd. Young boys come up and just stare. They don't really say anything, they just look at you, and pose
for your camera. Every once in a while they will ask where you are from or your name. I did get asked to move aside when I was in the way of the cricket game, aparently in India they take their cricket very seriously. Still it was fun, and one of the boys in the park even handed me his kite string after i'd taken a ton of pics of him.
Later in the day, Mike, Alon and I, hungry to be shown around by locals met up with some members of the Checkout team. They took us to Hotel Paradise, where they have the best Hyderabad Biryani in the city. Apparently Hyderabad is famous for it's Biryani, and this place does it best.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad_biryani
I ate mutton!...fun to have someone who knows what they are doing order for you. And Nishant was kind and made sure they didn't give me anything too spicey--I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to this, but I am working on getting better.
Next it was off to Shushil's house to fly kites!! We went straight to the roof terrace where we saw a few people out flying kites, but not many and the wind was a bit low--so we went downstairs to his apartment. As soon as we sat down his mom brought us cake and snacks, even though we were stuffed full of biryani and some crazy overly sweet dessert that was basically like apricot jam with ice cream (diabetics beware--whoops). She was so nice we couldn't say no! And she invited us to come back and she'd cook us homemade food--I could be down for that.
Back up to the roof we went, more people had come out and the skies were dotted with little kites. It was like a mix of dancing on rooftops in Jerusalem on Shabbat and the kite runner. I'm not kidding. I got to fly one and even cut someone (shall I leave out the part about how we cut each other and the kite ran away?)...fun times. Here are pictures :)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Hello Hyderabad
Here I am! Have been exploring for the last two days. Everyone tried to prepare me for what I would see, but as much as I was expecting the overwhelming sites smells and sounds, it still, well, overwhelms you!
Let me tell you, that first drive from the airport was a doozy and it only got better in the daytime. No traffic lights, only honking and more honking, a little inching, crossing in front of traffic, people in the street, passing slow cars on the wrong side of the road, motorcycles with entire families on them. Tiny three wheeled taxis crammed with at least four or five people.
Most expats are out of town since it's a long weekend, so around the apartments is very quiet. Mike, Aron and I have been doing our best to explore-yesterday Alon and I went to Golgonda fort--some old fort built on granite out of granite, with nice views of the city when you climb to the top.
For dinner we found (and by found I mean asked Zack since he was here for five months) a great Indian--apparently Punjabi-- restaurant called Angeethi. They were nice and made sure our food wasn't too spicy, and I was happy b/c they had raita, yogurt sauce, my favorite.
Today was the best. We went to brunch at a swank hotel called Taj something or other, full HUGE buffet, after we'd had one full plate, we realized we could get eggs made to order, so we did. Cheese, eggs, bread, chicken tikka, pesto lamb, it went on and on, and then there was dessert-come kind of espresso chocolate puddingy cake-yum. Wash it down with two cappucinos and you have three very happy expats. I could go there again for sure. And here I thought I was going to lose weight while in Hyderabad!
Once we rolled ourselves out of the hotel, we headed to Charminar, Hyderabad's main tourist attraction.
'The monument was built by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah in 1591 to commemorate the eradication of plague, shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golconda to what now is known as Hyderabad[1]. Legends has it that the emperor Quli Qutb Shah prayed for the end of plague and took the vow to build a masjid on that very place.' (wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charminar
The line to actually climb the tower was very long, so instead we figured we'd get a true taste of India and we walked up and down the street lined with stalls and shops selling bangles, junk, shoes, sugar cane juice, pearls etc etc. 'Where are you from madame?' 'Come here madame' 'Bangles madame?'...we got a big dose of begging, of bargaining and of buying!
hey friends, shall I ruin the surprise? you are getting bangles from India...
We also learned the head bobble. Gopaul, our driver, was great at it today. Ask him a question, he bobbles his head and answers for you. When bargaining for bangles, everytime I offered a price, the man would bobble his head in thought, and then work on countering my offer.
Had a field day with the new camera...
tomorrow we are flying kites with the rest of the Checkout team--fun times!
Let me tell you, that first drive from the airport was a doozy and it only got better in the daytime. No traffic lights, only honking and more honking, a little inching, crossing in front of traffic, people in the street, passing slow cars on the wrong side of the road, motorcycles with entire families on them. Tiny three wheeled taxis crammed with at least four or five people.
Most expats are out of town since it's a long weekend, so around the apartments is very quiet. Mike, Aron and I have been doing our best to explore-yesterday Alon and I went to Golgonda fort--some old fort built on granite out of granite, with nice views of the city when you climb to the top.
For dinner we found (and by found I mean asked Zack since he was here for five months) a great Indian--apparently Punjabi-- restaurant called Angeethi. They were nice and made sure our food wasn't too spicy, and I was happy b/c they had raita, yogurt sauce, my favorite.
Today was the best. We went to brunch at a swank hotel called Taj something or other, full HUGE buffet, after we'd had one full plate, we realized we could get eggs made to order, so we did. Cheese, eggs, bread, chicken tikka, pesto lamb, it went on and on, and then there was dessert-come kind of espresso chocolate puddingy cake-yum. Wash it down with two cappucinos and you have three very happy expats. I could go there again for sure. And here I thought I was going to lose weight while in Hyderabad!
Once we rolled ourselves out of the hotel, we headed to Charminar, Hyderabad's main tourist attraction.
'The monument was built by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah in 1591 to commemorate the eradication of plague, shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golconda to what now is known as Hyderabad[1]. Legends has it that the emperor Quli Qutb Shah prayed for the end of plague and took the vow to build a masjid on that very place.' (wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charminar
The line to actually climb the tower was very long, so instead we figured we'd get a true taste of India and we walked up and down the street lined with stalls and shops selling bangles, junk, shoes, sugar cane juice, pearls etc etc. 'Where are you from madame?' 'Come here madame' 'Bangles madame?'...we got a big dose of begging, of bargaining and of buying!
hey friends, shall I ruin the surprise? you are getting bangles from India...
We also learned the head bobble. Gopaul, our driver, was great at it today. Ask him a question, he bobbles his head and answers for you. When bargaining for bangles, everytime I offered a price, the man would bobble his head in thought, and then work on countering my offer.
Had a field day with the new camera...
tomorrow we are flying kites with the rest of the Checkout team--fun times!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Singapore
Singapore is weird. Small city, so many malls. for someone as mall-phobic as I am, it is a bit overwhelming. Not only are there a lot of malls (really really big malls), but somehow I kept ending up inside of them without meaning to. Since you get fined $1000 or four nights in jail for jaywalking, it's important not to. So you have to find the over passes and underpasses to walk anywhere. Well, as soon as you find an overpass inevitably it leads you into a mall or food court before you can get back to the street. Thing is, it's hot and humid here, so sometimes you are kind of releived to be in the a/c while going through the mall sensory overload.
Then there's the food. Fried, on sticks, in pockets with rice or noods. And some odd combinations. I was drooling over the donuts behind the donut counter until I saw their specialty, a spicy cheese donut on a bed of lettuce--what?! They also have a bunch of American food, like hot dogs (80 cents extra for the bun) with flavored mayo, you know, kiwi strawberry mayo an the like.
One thing I have found that I like are the bubble teas. Not only a refreshing drink, but also with every sip you get a chewey, gummy thing, yum.
That's all for singapore. They do also have a 'Little India' which gave me a small hint of what is to come.
Then there's the food. Fried, on sticks, in pockets with rice or noods. And some odd combinations. I was drooling over the donuts behind the donut counter until I saw their specialty, a spicy cheese donut on a bed of lettuce--what?! They also have a bunch of American food, like hot dogs (80 cents extra for the bun) with flavored mayo, you know, kiwi strawberry mayo an the like.
One thing I have found that I like are the bubble teas. Not only a refreshing drink, but also with every sip you get a chewey, gummy thing, yum.
That's all for singapore. They do also have a 'Little India' which gave me a small hint of what is to come.
And Away We Go!
12 hours to Seoul
...in Seoul, wake up from sleeping, get off the plane (one of the last), walk through mirrory/glass jetways from the plane with all my hand baggage (a lot--did you see all those meds, had to carry them all on). Walk to a line, get a transfer card, walk to another line, go through security--after just gotten off a plane where 12 and some hours prior I'd just gone through security--go up an escalator to the gate area, stretch for 10 minutes, wait in line to board, go down an escalator back to where i started, back through the mirrory/glass walkway, step right foot first in to the plane (I am superstitious) and head back to 54k, my beloved window seat next to the two Canuks. Find my blanket freshly folded and back in the plastic bag it had be in 13 hours ago.
...in Seoul, wake up from sleeping, get off the plane (one of the last), walk through mirrory/glass jetways from the plane with all my hand baggage (a lot--did you see all those meds, had to carry them all on). Walk to a line, get a transfer card, walk to another line, go through security--after just gotten off a plane where 12 and some hours prior I'd just gone through security--go up an escalator to the gate area, stretch for 10 minutes, wait in line to board, go down an escalator back to where i started, back through the mirrory/glass walkway, step right foot first in to the plane (I am superstitious) and head back to 54k, my beloved window seat next to the two Canuks. Find my blanket freshly folded and back in the plastic bag it had be in 13 hours ago.
Packing
Packing is the worst. Especially when you couple it with packing up your room so someone else can live in it, AND knowing you are not supposed to bring a lot. Compound these things by the fact that yours truly is a procrastinating pack rat, and you understand.
Anyway, clothes weren't a problem, i brought what I wear in hot weather that I don't care too much about. It's the drugs that were interesting, see for yourself...
So it took me a while, and as hard as I tried to not over pack, now that I am here, I am pretty sure I did. Well, the good news is, there is a samsonite store in Hyderbad, so perhaps I will come home with new luggage, since the bag I brought had some issues, not to mention gave me nasty bruises on my arm!
Anyway, clothes weren't a problem, i brought what I wear in hot weather that I don't care too much about. It's the drugs that were interesting, see for yourself...
So it took me a while, and as hard as I tried to not over pack, now that I am here, I am pretty sure I did. Well, the good news is, there is a samsonite store in Hyderbad, so perhaps I will come home with new luggage, since the bag I brought had some issues, not to mention gave me nasty bruises on my arm!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Ambassador to Hyderabad!
I know the primary purpose of this blog was to write about my fundraising efforts for Cystic Fibrosis. But I liked the name of it so much I didn't want to have to pick a new one to talk about my travels. Plus, what better way to showcase how great a job the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has done raising money for life saving research than to give an example of what that life saving research enables. I'm healthy and happy and am not letting Cystic Fibrosis stop me from having amazing life experiences.
So here we go. Google does this cool thing called the Ambassador program, where for a quarter (three months in non-business people terms) a few lucky individuals get to spend time working from an office in another part of the world. Working on best practices and Google culture, increasing communication and just getting to know their team in that office. Google Checkout has a pretty large team in Hyderabad, so for Q1 '08 I get to spend my time working with them!
I've never been to Asia, and I've never lived abroad, this should be an amazing experience. Hold tight, here's my story....
So here we go. Google does this cool thing called the Ambassador program, where for a quarter (three months in non-business people terms) a few lucky individuals get to spend time working from an office in another part of the world. Working on best practices and Google culture, increasing communication and just getting to know their team in that office. Google Checkout has a pretty large team in Hyderabad, so for Q1 '08 I get to spend my time working with them!
I've never been to Asia, and I've never lived abroad, this should be an amazing experience. Hold tight, here's my story....
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