Last Dance...

Wow... what a day! Firstly, let me apologize to my faithful readers for my late posting yesterday... I overslept due to the banging and clanging I endured the last couple of days and then it was a mad dash to the market for some last minute scarves, mehndi, bangles and whatever else. Additionally, my colleague had to be at work early and I met my friend (with the tailor) to pick up the tops and try some of them on. It was a whirlwind in typical Carol fashion. I'm happy to report that I was able to get everything done... just not my blog posting - again, apologies.

Our intent with the mehndi was to get full hands done - instead we only got partial (see pics - sorry they're not the best). At one point I had 2 guys applying the henna which I thought was a good idea at the time. However, there were flies buzzing around and with no arms to flail, I resorted to trying to blow them away.... then, I was thankful that I wasn't getting full hands. Once again it was boiling hot which isn't conducive to drying henna. The gentleman that did one of my arms applied his henna a little thicker than the other. I now know that wider lines is certainly not better as now I have something that resembles a horse or a goat on one of my arms because the henna ran - I've looked at a lot of mehndi since I've been here and not once have I seen a goat, a peacock or paisley, yes... goat... no. We rushed back to the hotel, got ready for work, had a tearful good bye with my room steward, Jaswant (both of us, not just me) and off we went.

I met my friend at a mall after dropping my colleague off at work. We did some shopping there and then attempted to find the embroider. Now.. that was fun. I was able to see a local market first hand - not many tourists there! We found the embroider, finally and the negotiating began. Not sure if any of you have heard Hindi being spoken before or not, but let's just say that it's not a "romantic" language. There have been many times during my stay I wondered if we were getting in trouble or being yelled at. As for the conversation I was listening to, I was pretty sure that he wasn't happy with my friend trying to negotiate the work he had already done. For the record - I adore what he's done! Everything is beautiful! We made a deal, I gave him some cash and then off to the tailor we went. I did a little style show and thanked her for everything. Now... on to work.

I completed number 9. I was rather anxious because this one tends to be a chatter of nothing (unlike me, a chatter of everything). I attempted to try and make his calls as efficient as possible. Finally right around lunch we completed the 7 calls. I bought my teams pizza for dinner, which they appreciated! Every single one of them approached me separately and thanked me. It was somewhat uncomfortable as they kept telling me how much they were going to miss me.... tears welled up in my eyes and I quickly changed the subject. I'm expecting that today will be rather tearful... I've tried to plan it so that I'm so busy that I don't have time to be weepy... we'll see how I do. My counterpart here in India left early as she was taking a client to the Taj Mahal today. This is the gal I went to Amritsar with. Again... a tearful good bye. This gal has become a dear friend and not just a co-worker. I will miss her dearly but know that our paths will absolutely cross again. Besides, we will continue to work together... just on different continents.

I was able to evaluate 5 calls for number 10 and 2 calls for number 11. This leaves 7 calls I'll need to get done in about 2 hours today which is highly unlikely. As long as I can get 3 more for number 11, I'll make arrangements for the other 2 calls to be certified after I leave today by someone in the states using our online call recording system. There's not much I can do when the calls aren't coming in.

I am packed and ready to go. I'm a little curious as to how much my bag really weighs. I attempted to pack all the heavy stuff in my backpack which I'll check... so time will tell.

The Olympic torch is in town today... yesterday the paper indicated that the route was not cut down to 1 km with about 13,000 police officers guarding the route. What's the point I wonder - no one will be able to see it. Several streets have been blocked off and I'm sure traffic is a disaster - actually, that's kinda funny... traffic is a nightmare on a normal day let alone with extra security and street closures.

My flight will leave around 230 am IST on Friday morning (which I think is 1 pm on Thursday CST). Supposedly my flight will land in Chicago 1030 am on Friday. Time has flown, hasn't it? I plan to blog after my return to the states, but probably not until Saturday.