Yesterday was another round of call ins for my group here in India. Despite the call in schedle, I went ahead and continued to certify - I couldn't lose an entire day. I'm happy to report that another student has been certified to take calls!! I even started certifying another. While my daily quota of call certification was 15 calls per day, I fell short by 5. My daily total rises to 17 calls per day. I'll need to talk to the folks in the US and manage skills (what calls employees take) there to force more calls to us here in India. I don't have 10-15 minutes to wait in between calls. I need them fast and furious in order to complete everyone's certification before I leave (5 more business days). I have another idea up my sleeve though - I'll run it by my contacts here to see what their thoughts are.
I was proud as a peacock though - I received an instant message from one of my "callers" in the US telling me what a great job two of my students did on their calls yesterday. I invited them over to my desk to tell them how well they did. I was beaming! Now, if I could just get all the others on the same page, we might have something. The real learning comes from just taking live calls. As I've mentioned I wish I had more of me here to do this. Unfortunately there's no way around it. I'm confident that I can make this happen though despite the detours.
My friend's father came to visit her for a few days. Her family is actually from south India. So, I stayed in at the hotel today and did some reading by the pool. It's probably about 93* here today, it was gorgeous. Before going out, my room steward (his name is Jaswant) stopped by to change my sheets, dust, refill water, organize my three rows of shoes, give me new towels, empty my trash and call the laundry guy. He's such a nice gentleman. He told me today in his broken English that he told his wife about me and how nice I was. He said that he considered me family which I thought was sweet. I asked about his family - he has three sons, the oldest 19 and the youngest 11. His wife has a government job which is a good thing as I understand it. He was concerned about how I travel to and from work which again I thought was sincere. He seemed to be relieved when I told him that the hotel car takes me. I had three Hershey's bars left from my chocolate stash, I asked that he take them to his family and share as a treat from me. This was the end of the chocolate which I'm happy is gone.
Tomorrow at least I will be meeting a friend from work at the tailor's store. I'm looking forward to it!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Taxes, Check!
Whew! Well, thanks to that "close relative" of mine I was able to complete and submit my taxes yesterday. We did come up with a "deal" of sorts as payment - let's just say that I will not have to reserve room in my suitcase for anything. Thank you! My very close relative!!
As for work, I'm amazed at how often we have these last minute meetings. For example, yesterday I learned that two of my folks have to go through linguistic testing today - For about a week now, I have talked about another round of US call ins. How is it that now we have to accommodate something else? Also, the gal that was going to take us to her tailor announces before leaving (at 330 am, mind you - remember our shifts end at 300 am) that she has a meeting for today and needs to be at the office early. What? Did she just learn of this? I'm so confused. So.... the trip to the tailor's has been post-poned until Friday. She's assures me that s/he'll be able to stitch up whatever we need by Thursday - let's hope that's the case. Instead of going to the tailor's today we went back to Janpath again. The gal that was here before actually "needed" more wares - so, I was more than happy to help a friend in need! Of course there was a cute pair of sandals that had my name on them - not literally... but I just couldn't let them get away. At this point, I'm considering purchasing another suitcase as I think I surpassed the amount of space used to carry the chocolate in "Indian" goods some time ago.
Today, I saw some Tibetan women in the market. I wanted to run up and say "Tashi delek" which means "hello and good wishes to you". They were so pretty with their traditional dress on. I probably would have scared them away or worse yet, they wouldn't have understood what I was saying with my Western accent. I immediately wondered about their "story" and hoped that their journey to get to get to that market had been safe for them.
I have completed one certification and have at least 93 more calls to listen to before I'm done. That would be about 15 calls a day. I've been trying to restrict calls going to the US which would force them here. If we can get the calls faster, it makes my job easier. I do have to admit that there was a point where I just wanted to scoot the guy I was sitting with over and say, "here, let me show you how it's done". However I don't think that would be very appropriate. On one call the customer did ask for a manager at which I said, "let me take it". That's why I was working until 330 am - I was taking a manager call. In the end, the customer understood that his plan had changed some time ago. It happens all the time when companies slightly change the plan design and employees just don't take the time to read through their materials. With the help of someone from the insurance company we were able to pin down exactly when the change happened. While the customer isn't really happy about this change, unfortunately there's not much he can do right now. Changing his plan is not an option at all.
I'm hoping to be able to continue certification today and get through my 15 certification calls - wish me luck!!
As for work, I'm amazed at how often we have these last minute meetings. For example, yesterday I learned that two of my folks have to go through linguistic testing today - For about a week now, I have talked about another round of US call ins. How is it that now we have to accommodate something else? Also, the gal that was going to take us to her tailor announces before leaving (at 330 am, mind you - remember our shifts end at 300 am) that she has a meeting for today and needs to be at the office early. What? Did she just learn of this? I'm so confused. So.... the trip to the tailor's has been post-poned until Friday. She's assures me that s/he'll be able to stitch up whatever we need by Thursday - let's hope that's the case. Instead of going to the tailor's today we went back to Janpath again. The gal that was here before actually "needed" more wares - so, I was more than happy to help a friend in need! Of course there was a cute pair of sandals that had my name on them - not literally... but I just couldn't let them get away. At this point, I'm considering purchasing another suitcase as I think I surpassed the amount of space used to carry the chocolate in "Indian" goods some time ago.
Today, I saw some Tibetan women in the market. I wanted to run up and say "Tashi delek" which means "hello and good wishes to you". They were so pretty with their traditional dress on. I probably would have scared them away or worse yet, they wouldn't have understood what I was saying with my Western accent. I immediately wondered about their "story" and hoped that their journey to get to get to that market had been safe for them.
I have completed one certification and have at least 93 more calls to listen to before I'm done. That would be about 15 calls a day. I've been trying to restrict calls going to the US which would force them here. If we can get the calls faster, it makes my job easier. I do have to admit that there was a point where I just wanted to scoot the guy I was sitting with over and say, "here, let me show you how it's done". However I don't think that would be very appropriate. On one call the customer did ask for a manager at which I said, "let me take it". That's why I was working until 330 am - I was taking a manager call. In the end, the customer understood that his plan had changed some time ago. It happens all the time when companies slightly change the plan design and employees just don't take the time to read through their materials. With the help of someone from the insurance company we were able to pin down exactly when the change happened. While the customer isn't really happy about this change, unfortunately there's not much he can do right now. Changing his plan is not an option at all.
I'm hoping to be able to continue certification today and get through my 15 certification calls - wish me luck!!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
April 8, 2008?
How did it get to be April? I can hardly believe that my time here in India is almost over - exactly 10 days from today, I'll begin my day's journey back home. Before I do that, I have an important task at hand.... (I know most of you are thinking 'shopping' and while that is on my 'to do list' there one thing that I have neglected since being here) my taxes! My documents have traveled with me in an attempt to complete them and send them back to the US (interoffice mail) for a team member to mail prior to April 15. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I thought of this genius idea (no worries, I'll just bring them with me and do them there!), clearly I wasn't. I have all the documents I need at this point and now it's deciphering 'cost basis' and that stuff. I have a very close relative of mine that is a C.P.A. so I'm hoping that she might be able to offer her services later today. Of course I'm willing to pay - perhaps a nice silk scarf, some cooking spices or even some lovely bangles? So today has been a day for taxes - I have done everything needed except for a few lines. While I was away this weekend, the gal I'm traveling with had some family come and stay with her. Like mine, her schedule was non-stop. Instead of milling around Delhi today, we both decided to take a day and rest - for me... it's tax time and book reading (however I do find the IRS.gov website rather interesting and lite) for her, it's resting and recovering for tomorrow, we shop! We'll be meeting a gal from work at her favorite tailor to design our very own kurtas (pullover shirts). As mentioned before, unless you're a size 4-ish, finding a ready made shirt can sometimes be a challenge, not to mention frustrating. Hearing a shop keeper say that he has "jumbo size" is not really something you like to hear or encourages me to rush right in and see what he has to offer. After one shop keeper announced this I promptly said "and for that, I'm leaving". I'm sure he's still sitting in his shop wondering what happened. While I'm not a big fan of "going under the measure" I'll know that my custom top is made perfectly for me with all the glitz and glam a girl can come up with! Gone are the days that I fold the shirt in half and do the "hmmm.. will it fit?" measure starting under one arm pit to the other. I've had more men offer to measure me that I really care to think about. The gal from work thought an hour would do it... clearly she doesn't know us very well, this will be an afternoon affair!
I've started certifying my team to take live calls. Unfortunately I was only able to get one call yesterday (for reference, I have 11 to certify and need 10 calls each = 110 calls). I listened to approximately 15 calls, only one of which was applicable. The others are not because they weren't 'secured' meaning that we couldn't help the customer because they came into the wrong area or didn't have a PIN number. I have an idea on how to be more efficient with our time today - being I'm the only one here to certify, I need to be as efficient as possible. Tomorrow we'll be doing call ins again. We're only doing 1 day this time. I hope everyone does well. I've been thinking a lot about how the Learning & Development team organized training and I will offer suggestions for future teams - what we do now just doesn't make any sense and encourages the wrong behaviors. By that I mean memorizing rather than utilizing tools.
Wish me luck... on all fronts....
I've started certifying my team to take live calls. Unfortunately I was only able to get one call yesterday (for reference, I have 11 to certify and need 10 calls each = 110 calls). I listened to approximately 15 calls, only one of which was applicable. The others are not because they weren't 'secured' meaning that we couldn't help the customer because they came into the wrong area or didn't have a PIN number. I have an idea on how to be more efficient with our time today - being I'm the only one here to certify, I need to be as efficient as possible. Tomorrow we'll be doing call ins again. We're only doing 1 day this time. I hope everyone does well. I've been thinking a lot about how the Learning & Development team organized training and I will offer suggestions for future teams - what we do now just doesn't make any sense and encourages the wrong behaviors. By that I mean memorizing rather than utilizing tools.
Wish me luck... on all fronts....
Monday, April 7, 2008
Golden Temple, Check!
Wow. What a great weekend! We had such a nice time. I'm so glad that we went, despite the 12 hours our so we had to spend on the train.
On Friday I had packed my bags and brought them to the office as I thought we were leaving right from there. Thankfully, I had mentioned something to the gal at work because plans had changed. Our train left at 715am, not 5-ish. I went back to the hotel - actually, that was better I thought as then I could shower, etc and get a few hours of sleep. I went right to the front desk as I had spoken to the duty manager before leaving to "double lock" my room. The guy that cleans my room explained that this would protect both him and me and prohibiting anyone, except the manager to enter my room. I thought that was a good idea and thought I had it arranged. When the front desk guy gave me a new key, I realized that it had not been done. "Where is this 5 star service?" I told the guy (now keep in mind it's about 4 am) that "if I have to come back down here because I can't get into my room, I'll be furious!" He assured me that I would and he was right. I got ready for a little nap and saw a roach. I blinked again, hoping that I was seeing things and saw another! For a split second I thought I'd forget about it... but then decided to call. Of course there was a lot of pomp and circumstance as the manager and another guy came to remove the roaches.... at one point I was in my bath tub with the 2 men in there - before removing the roaches, they removed me. I thought to myself, "I hope this isn't a snip-it of what's to come for the weekend."
My friend and her husband picked me up on the way to the train station. I had told them to meet me there however they insisted otherwise. I'm glad they did. The station was pure chaos. We found our train and seats - I was actually pleasantly surprised! It was clean and nice! We took off. Before long stewards and stewardesses were giving us breakfast! Very similar to a plane! I didn't want to miss a thing, so I had my nose pressed against the window for as long as I could. What I saw was interesting. A lot of trash and quite a few people with make-shift housing along the tracks. Not the whole route, of course, but in the bigger stations. As for the land, mostly wheat, a few oats and sugar cane. Every so often I'd see a large chimney with smoke billowing out - which are brick making places. It rained on and off the entire ride to Amritsar. I hoped the rain wouldn't spoil everything.
We arrived to Amritsar and found our driver waiting for us there to whisk us away to the hotel, the Savaasa. Again, more rain... there was a little rain building in the streets - of course I didn't think of it at the time. We checked out our rooms and the spa and decided to get a snack before venturing out. Thankfully we did. As we were eating, a monsoon ensued. It was unbelievable how the rain fell! One of the things that we had planned to do was to go to the India and Pakistan boarder to watch the boarder closing ceremony. Everything I had read said that this was a must see. The big issue here - it's outside.... We decided to make the trek to the Attar/Wagah boarder - hopefully not many would be there due to the rain! Our driver backed up right to the stairs so that we didn't have to step in the water - my guess was about 2 inches of water, just right there. The entire city was flooded! Water was everywhere. Again, on and off rain for the next 20-30 minutes to the boarder. When we arrived, there were people everywhere. Rain didn't scare a one of them away. I counted no less than about 15 tour buses! We wiggled our way to the area and continued to try and jockey our way to the best spot as none of us wanted to miss a thing. Through the double gate, we could see Pakistan. On both sides of the gates, people were dancing and singing and celebrating. Once the ceremony started, more chanting in support of India! The ceremony itself was exciting! A LOT of stomping and staring the other side down. They opened the gates for the guards to do their little boarder closing dance. Despite our efforts (and the lack of my fancy camera with the zoom lens) I wasn't able to capture anything that looked like a thing. They lowered the flags and stomped back to their stations. It was a lot of fun! I'll just add that the people watching was a lot of fun too! During this entire ceremony - the rain had ceased. It stopped right when we needed it to.
We found our driver (how, I'm not sure) and went back to Amritsar. We decided to check out the Golden Temple. Again, the streets were just crazy with all the water! The city was flooded! We finally honked our way through the crowds, dropped our shoes at the bootery and made our way in. We had to walk through a little foot bath and make our way up the stairs. I whipped my pink scarf over my head (as my hair needed to be covered for the most part) and up the stairs I went. Seeing the temple at night was just breathtaking. The temple is surrounded my a large pool of water - Sehks bathe in the water before entering the temple. Let's just say this - I saw more than what I had intended on seeing. We walked barefooted on the marble to go inside. We had to purchase food offerings and wait in line. We waited about an hour to get inside. On the grounds of the temple, you could hear someone singing. It was beautiful. Inside, there was the guy singing and men playing instruments like an accordion, but they weren't hanging over their shoulders. It was jam-packed and the quick tour lasted all of about 10 minutes. It was worth it though. Once outside, the food that we had offered is eventually given back to the people. It's taken with both hands - you can't just offer one hand to receive. It looked like brown sugar and tasted like a sweet concoction of flour, butter and brown sugar. We waked back to where we came in and caught another glimpse. Just gorgeous.
We took a detour to a shoe shop to look at Jutis (I have a pair posted on the side of my blog). By the time we were done.... I bet we had about 150 pairs of Jutis on the floor. He kept bringing us more to try on! So, what's a girl to do?? I selected two pairs (I know, I said no more, but they had paisleys and they're cute! Besides, they won't take up that much room, right?). We went back to the hotel to eat dinner, it was about 10 pm and we were tired. We decided that we'd get massage treatments the next morning as we are staying in a spa/hotel - we'd hate to offend our hosts. The owner helped us with our selections and made our appointments.
My massage was to take place at 8 am and at 8, I was getting ready for my massage. All I new was that it was an oil massage - other than that, I knew nothing. Unfortunately, the gal didn't know much English, but I understood what I needed to do and I wasn't really thrilled about it. I'll leave the details out so not to promote any visuals - however, my thoughts included "just relax, I'll never see this woman again", "how am I going to get this oil out of my hair", I hope I don't slide off this wooden bed" and "how am I going to get off this wooden platform without seeming like I'm walking on ice." The shower was another event. There is most certainly a day's learning curve to understand how to regulate the temperature of the shower. At one point I was cornered in the glass shower with scalding water hitting me... my massage lady came to my rescue only to leave me an ice cold shower. That's ok - I'll figure it out upstairs. I did, kinda... in the end, I enjoyed the massage and was well oiled.
We met for breakfast and decided to see the Golden Temple again, just for a second - I'm glad we did! It was lovely. I'll just say that I'm glad we went inside the night before as the line to get in most certainly would have taken over 2 hours. Just down the street, there was another site called the Jallianwala Bagh <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_Massacre> which is now a park commemorating the site. I was fine with walking however only after a couple of steps, we realized that this wasn't an option as every merchant that saw me was out and trying to persuade me into his store. We took a bike rickshaw just a few blocks to Jallianwala Bagh. After that, back to the train station we went. Now, we weren't taking the same train - it was an "A.C. Car" but a different train. In the end, it was a great experience. We snacked our way through the train stations which was fun, eating all different types of food (let's hope that I'm not sorry about that today). We were only 30 minutes behind schedule - we somehow made up an hour. The train back to Delhi took over 7 hours. I saw how much the rain had damaged the crops - it looked that it some places, farmers lost about quite a bit - maybe 30-40% of the field. I hope that the damage doesn't end up being that much... that could be quite devastating.
I arrived at the Taj around 11 pm or so. I had such a nice weekend and great company.
Pictures from Amritsar: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=222044816/a=109545564_109545564/t_=109545564
On Friday I had packed my bags and brought them to the office as I thought we were leaving right from there. Thankfully, I had mentioned something to the gal at work because plans had changed. Our train left at 715am, not 5-ish. I went back to the hotel - actually, that was better I thought as then I could shower, etc and get a few hours of sleep. I went right to the front desk as I had spoken to the duty manager before leaving to "double lock" my room. The guy that cleans my room explained that this would protect both him and me and prohibiting anyone, except the manager to enter my room. I thought that was a good idea and thought I had it arranged. When the front desk guy gave me a new key, I realized that it had not been done. "Where is this 5 star service?" I told the guy (now keep in mind it's about 4 am) that "if I have to come back down here because I can't get into my room, I'll be furious!" He assured me that I would and he was right. I got ready for a little nap and saw a roach. I blinked again, hoping that I was seeing things and saw another! For a split second I thought I'd forget about it... but then decided to call. Of course there was a lot of pomp and circumstance as the manager and another guy came to remove the roaches.... at one point I was in my bath tub with the 2 men in there - before removing the roaches, they removed me. I thought to myself, "I hope this isn't a snip-it of what's to come for the weekend."
My friend and her husband picked me up on the way to the train station. I had told them to meet me there however they insisted otherwise. I'm glad they did. The station was pure chaos. We found our train and seats - I was actually pleasantly surprised! It was clean and nice! We took off. Before long stewards and stewardesses were giving us breakfast! Very similar to a plane! I didn't want to miss a thing, so I had my nose pressed against the window for as long as I could. What I saw was interesting. A lot of trash and quite a few people with make-shift housing along the tracks. Not the whole route, of course, but in the bigger stations. As for the land, mostly wheat, a few oats and sugar cane. Every so often I'd see a large chimney with smoke billowing out - which are brick making places. It rained on and off the entire ride to Amritsar. I hoped the rain wouldn't spoil everything.
We arrived to Amritsar and found our driver waiting for us there to whisk us away to the hotel, the Savaasa. Again, more rain... there was a little rain building in the streets - of course I didn't think of it at the time. We checked out our rooms and the spa and decided to get a snack before venturing out. Thankfully we did. As we were eating, a monsoon ensued. It was unbelievable how the rain fell! One of the things that we had planned to do was to go to the India and Pakistan boarder to watch the boarder closing ceremony. Everything I had read said that this was a must see. The big issue here - it's outside.... We decided to make the trek to the Attar/Wagah boarder - hopefully not many would be there due to the rain! Our driver backed up right to the stairs so that we didn't have to step in the water - my guess was about 2 inches of water, just right there. The entire city was flooded! Water was everywhere. Again, on and off rain for the next 20-30 minutes to the boarder. When we arrived, there were people everywhere. Rain didn't scare a one of them away. I counted no less than about 15 tour buses! We wiggled our way to the area and continued to try and jockey our way to the best spot as none of us wanted to miss a thing. Through the double gate, we could see Pakistan. On both sides of the gates, people were dancing and singing and celebrating. Once the ceremony started, more chanting in support of India! The ceremony itself was exciting! A LOT of stomping and staring the other side down. They opened the gates for the guards to do their little boarder closing dance. Despite our efforts (and the lack of my fancy camera with the zoom lens) I wasn't able to capture anything that looked like a thing. They lowered the flags and stomped back to their stations. It was a lot of fun! I'll just add that the people watching was a lot of fun too! During this entire ceremony - the rain had ceased. It stopped right when we needed it to.
We found our driver (how, I'm not sure) and went back to Amritsar. We decided to check out the Golden Temple. Again, the streets were just crazy with all the water! The city was flooded! We finally honked our way through the crowds, dropped our shoes at the bootery and made our way in. We had to walk through a little foot bath and make our way up the stairs. I whipped my pink scarf over my head (as my hair needed to be covered for the most part) and up the stairs I went. Seeing the temple at night was just breathtaking. The temple is surrounded my a large pool of water - Sehks bathe in the water before entering the temple. Let's just say this - I saw more than what I had intended on seeing. We walked barefooted on the marble to go inside. We had to purchase food offerings and wait in line. We waited about an hour to get inside. On the grounds of the temple, you could hear someone singing. It was beautiful. Inside, there was the guy singing and men playing instruments like an accordion, but they weren't hanging over their shoulders. It was jam-packed and the quick tour lasted all of about 10 minutes. It was worth it though. Once outside, the food that we had offered is eventually given back to the people. It's taken with both hands - you can't just offer one hand to receive. It looked like brown sugar and tasted like a sweet concoction of flour, butter and brown sugar. We waked back to where we came in and caught another glimpse. Just gorgeous.
We took a detour to a shoe shop to look at Jutis (I have a pair posted on the side of my blog). By the time we were done.... I bet we had about 150 pairs of Jutis on the floor. He kept bringing us more to try on! So, what's a girl to do?? I selected two pairs (I know, I said no more, but they had paisleys and they're cute! Besides, they won't take up that much room, right?). We went back to the hotel to eat dinner, it was about 10 pm and we were tired. We decided that we'd get massage treatments the next morning as we are staying in a spa/hotel - we'd hate to offend our hosts. The owner helped us with our selections and made our appointments.
My massage was to take place at 8 am and at 8, I was getting ready for my massage. All I new was that it was an oil massage - other than that, I knew nothing. Unfortunately, the gal didn't know much English, but I understood what I needed to do and I wasn't really thrilled about it. I'll leave the details out so not to promote any visuals - however, my thoughts included "just relax, I'll never see this woman again", "how am I going to get this oil out of my hair", I hope I don't slide off this wooden bed" and "how am I going to get off this wooden platform without seeming like I'm walking on ice." The shower was another event. There is most certainly a day's learning curve to understand how to regulate the temperature of the shower. At one point I was cornered in the glass shower with scalding water hitting me... my massage lady came to my rescue only to leave me an ice cold shower. That's ok - I'll figure it out upstairs. I did, kinda... in the end, I enjoyed the massage and was well oiled.
We met for breakfast and decided to see the Golden Temple again, just for a second - I'm glad we did! It was lovely. I'll just say that I'm glad we went inside the night before as the line to get in most certainly would have taken over 2 hours. Just down the street, there was another site called the Jallianwala Bagh <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_Massacre> which is now a park commemorating the site. I was fine with walking however only after a couple of steps, we realized that this wasn't an option as every merchant that saw me was out and trying to persuade me into his store. We took a bike rickshaw just a few blocks to Jallianwala Bagh. After that, back to the train station we went. Now, we weren't taking the same train - it was an "A.C. Car" but a different train. In the end, it was a great experience. We snacked our way through the train stations which was fun, eating all different types of food (let's hope that I'm not sorry about that today). We were only 30 minutes behind schedule - we somehow made up an hour. The train back to Delhi took over 7 hours. I saw how much the rain had damaged the crops - it looked that it some places, farmers lost about quite a bit - maybe 30-40% of the field. I hope that the damage doesn't end up being that much... that could be quite devastating.
I arrived at the Taj around 11 pm or so. I had such a nice weekend and great company.
Pictures from Amritsar: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=222044816/a=109545564_109545564/t_=109545564
Friday, April 4, 2008
The Saga Continues....
Well, I finally rec'd feedback regarding our call ins with my pals in the U.S. Bottom line, we'll be doing more training. I don't feel badly about that because this is typical. Trainees in the U.S. have challenges with the same concepts we're having here. It's a little different feeling however even though it's similar. We'll be doing training today and on Monday. I did begin certifying one of the students. What this means is that I sit with her through 10 calls and listen to the conversation. I "evaluate" the call based on five different attributes right afterwards and provide feedback. As long as she doesn't give out completely wrong information, she'll be "certified" to take calls along. With 11 students, that a minimum of 110 calls. Out of about 10 calls I listened to yesterday, I could only certify four as the other six were transfers to other services. I wish there were two of me.
We went shopping again, I know, big surprise, back to the first market we went to. Again, we didn't even see about 1/4 of what was there - I need to finish up my shopping though... I'm afraid my suitcase will hit maximum capacity within a few days (if it isn't already). We took a detour to get back to the hotel to miss the traffic. What a site! I saw so many cows!! I started counting and I got up to 15 just within a two block span. People literally set up shop on the street. I think I saw two gentlemen with their sewing machines and about five more "shops" just to cut hair. It's common to see someone getting a shave or a trim right on the side of the street. What a great way to keep overhead down, huh?
As for this weekend, I'm packed and ready to go. Right after work I'll be heading to the train station to take off to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple! I'm really excited!! I hear it's amazing. Remember... I won't be bringing my laptop along.. so there will be no posts this weekend.
We went shopping again, I know, big surprise, back to the first market we went to. Again, we didn't even see about 1/4 of what was there - I need to finish up my shopping though... I'm afraid my suitcase will hit maximum capacity within a few days (if it isn't already). We took a detour to get back to the hotel to miss the traffic. What a site! I saw so many cows!! I started counting and I got up to 15 just within a two block span. People literally set up shop on the street. I think I saw two gentlemen with their sewing machines and about five more "shops" just to cut hair. It's common to see someone getting a shave or a trim right on the side of the street. What a great way to keep overhead down, huh?
As for this weekend, I'm packed and ready to go. Right after work I'll be heading to the train station to take off to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple! I'm really excited!! I hear it's amazing. Remember... I won't be bringing my laptop along.. so there will be no posts this weekend.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Day 2 1/2....
I'd like to report that our call ins are almost complete as there are a few more that still need to be done. However, for the most part they're over. At this point, my plan would have been to begin the certification process - we'll be doing plan B which is more training. That's ok. Better to need that now rather than need it when I'm not here. I just wish that there were two of me as it would make it so much easier. I'm also finding that some of the tools we're using are out of date. I'm needing someone to comb through these callflows and update. I didn't realize that I'd have some challenges there. Anyway, as I sit here, the sun has already come up (actually, it's about noon) so all is well. My philosophy is that if something so horrible happens in our lives that prevents the sun from coming up, then we're in trouble - anything short of that can be dealt with.
As for yesterday... well, let's just say it was a typical day in the life of Carol. We met our friend at work where she picked us up. We decided to get a little lunch before heading to Gold Suk - the mall full of nothing but jewelry stores. She took us to one of her favorite places, LemonTree. It's actually a hotel with a restaurant attached. It was nice and clean and had a pretty big menu. Prior to getting our lunch, I excused myself to find the indoor facilities. While in the bathroom, I can hear someone rattling the door - not my door, but the door to the bathroom. I wonder "what the heck is going on?" After exiting my stall, another gal is in there frantically jiggling the door handle trying to get out. She asked me, "did you lock the door when you came in?" "No," I replied. In fact, there wasn't even a lock on the door to lock... I had merely shut the door so it wasn't wide open. We were officially locked in the bathroom. I stood there and laughed. Of course, getting locked in the bathroom could only happen to me. We could hear no less than about 20 people on the other side of the door hammering and working away to try and open the door. What was ironic was that in the bathroom, there were jokes that were framed all over the walls. We were entertained while waiting. About 10 m minutes later we were free. We both of us scurried back to our tables to share our stories with our friends. I wasn't there a minute before the manager of the hotel approached our table and apologized profusely. I could tell by the look in his face that he was absolutely mortified. He gave me a little token which was a wooden box full of incense. I like incense actually and this will be a perfect addition to my musty room which now houses an ionic air purifier and dehumidifier (and may I add that this dehumidifier supposedly doesn't need to be emptied? At least that's what the housekeeping lady kept telling me. As I sit here, I see the "full" light is on... I'm not about to pull that bucket out and attempt to empty it... if it's not full of water, I don't know what it's "full" of.... hm....).
Off to Gold Suk we went. It literally was a mall just full of jewelry stores!! I was so thankful that the gal from work came with us. It was rather intimidating. The store windows were full of these wedding sets. Imagine a three inch wide necklace full of rubies and diamonds along with matching earrings, bangles and headpieces. Every window was more elaborate than the last. We went to a couple of stores and told them what we were looking for. Actually, I found exactly what I was hoping to find at the first store, however I just felt I needed to look at some other places - so, we did. A few minutes later, I made my way back to the first and procured my find. Before the night was over, I was wearing my purchase despite the fact that they didn't go with a thing I had on. I didn't care. I just couldn't wait.
My partner in crime and I took inventory of what we "needed" to purchase before going home. Today, we traveled to our Mehndi place and set out to get some things we have seen here that would be good as gifts. This time we were smart because we knew what things should cost as before we had offended folks with our bargaining. We finally found the people we wanted to purchase some of our things from. We gave them our price and quantity and of course there was a game, but we got what we wanted. Soon, their entire family was there counting. There were so many people that we thought we were hosting a party. I had to just take it all in. I'm sure the money we gave them, about $10.00 was enough to sustain the family for quite some time. It literally was a celebration. The women were beautiful with their saris and jewelry. This was really my only opportunity to stare without being rude. So many times, I'm the one being stared at.
I've mentioned before and I'll say it again, I am so fortunate. I'm fortunate to have a great family, wonderful friends and a great job which has afforded me an opportunity to be immersed in another culture. While I may have made some poor decisions in my past, those decisions have landed me right here where I am today and for that, I am thankful.
As for yesterday... well, let's just say it was a typical day in the life of Carol. We met our friend at work where she picked us up. We decided to get a little lunch before heading to Gold Suk - the mall full of nothing but jewelry stores. She took us to one of her favorite places, LemonTree. It's actually a hotel with a restaurant attached. It was nice and clean and had a pretty big menu. Prior to getting our lunch, I excused myself to find the indoor facilities. While in the bathroom, I can hear someone rattling the door - not my door, but the door to the bathroom. I wonder "what the heck is going on?" After exiting my stall, another gal is in there frantically jiggling the door handle trying to get out. She asked me, "did you lock the door when you came in?" "No," I replied. In fact, there wasn't even a lock on the door to lock... I had merely shut the door so it wasn't wide open. We were officially locked in the bathroom. I stood there and laughed. Of course, getting locked in the bathroom could only happen to me. We could hear no less than about 20 people on the other side of the door hammering and working away to try and open the door. What was ironic was that in the bathroom, there were jokes that were framed all over the walls. We were entertained while waiting. About 10 m minutes later we were free. We both of us scurried back to our tables to share our stories with our friends. I wasn't there a minute before the manager of the hotel approached our table and apologized profusely. I could tell by the look in his face that he was absolutely mortified. He gave me a little token which was a wooden box full of incense. I like incense actually and this will be a perfect addition to my musty room which now houses an ionic air purifier and dehumidifier (and may I add that this dehumidifier supposedly doesn't need to be emptied? At least that's what the housekeeping lady kept telling me. As I sit here, I see the "full" light is on... I'm not about to pull that bucket out and attempt to empty it... if it's not full of water, I don't know what it's "full" of.... hm....).
Off to Gold Suk we went. It literally was a mall just full of jewelry stores!! I was so thankful that the gal from work came with us. It was rather intimidating. The store windows were full of these wedding sets. Imagine a three inch wide necklace full of rubies and diamonds along with matching earrings, bangles and headpieces. Every window was more elaborate than the last. We went to a couple of stores and told them what we were looking for. Actually, I found exactly what I was hoping to find at the first store, however I just felt I needed to look at some other places - so, we did. A few minutes later, I made my way back to the first and procured my find. Before the night was over, I was wearing my purchase despite the fact that they didn't go with a thing I had on. I didn't care. I just couldn't wait.
My partner in crime and I took inventory of what we "needed" to purchase before going home. Today, we traveled to our Mehndi place and set out to get some things we have seen here that would be good as gifts. This time we were smart because we knew what things should cost as before we had offended folks with our bargaining. We finally found the people we wanted to purchase some of our things from. We gave them our price and quantity and of course there was a game, but we got what we wanted. Soon, their entire family was there counting. There were so many people that we thought we were hosting a party. I had to just take it all in. I'm sure the money we gave them, about $10.00 was enough to sustain the family for quite some time. It literally was a celebration. The women were beautiful with their saris and jewelry. This was really my only opportunity to stare without being rude. So many times, I'm the one being stared at.
I've mentioned before and I'll say it again, I am so fortunate. I'm fortunate to have a great family, wonderful friends and a great job which has afforded me an opportunity to be immersed in another culture. While I may have made some poor decisions in my past, those decisions have landed me right here where I am today and for that, I am thankful.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Callins - Day 2....
During this entire training, I have been coordinating with our team in the U.S. to facilitate this training. Yesterday is where the rubber hit the road. We've spent three weeks learning provisions - yesterday, some of my students took calls from subject matter experts in the U.S. - just like they would a call. We were all nervous - at least here in India. During the day (or actually night) I think I covered the length of a marathon with all the pacing and running around I did. I'm happy to report that noone died. What I didn't realize would happen would be some creative interpretation of our provisions. I guess the good news is that we're identifying a list of topics that we can re-train on. Today is day 2 of the call ins. The other group of learners will be taking their practice calls today.
Prior to work, we're meeting one of the managers here in India to go to a jewelry store to look at some gold what-nots. I'm a little anxious about the whole thing. Sometimes jewelry stores can be somewhat overwhelming. The gold here in India is a 22k gold. So, the color is more like.... Egyptian looking (I don't know if that makes sense or not, I've always had a fascination with Egypt). The designs are rather intricate and gorgeous. We'll see what I can find that's not outrageous.
As for my trip this weekend - all reservations have been made! I'm really looking forward to it!! I'll be leaving right from work on Friday (really Saturday morning) to catch the train and then returning on Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure I'll be able to post anything to my blog over the weekend - so you daily visitors (that's you, mom and dad) be it known... and don't fret!
Wish me luck for day 2....
Prior to work, we're meeting one of the managers here in India to go to a jewelry store to look at some gold what-nots. I'm a little anxious about the whole thing. Sometimes jewelry stores can be somewhat overwhelming. The gold here in India is a 22k gold. So, the color is more like.... Egyptian looking (I don't know if that makes sense or not, I've always had a fascination with Egypt). The designs are rather intricate and gorgeous. We'll see what I can find that's not outrageous.
As for my trip this weekend - all reservations have been made! I'm really looking forward to it!! I'll be leaving right from work on Friday (really Saturday morning) to catch the train and then returning on Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure I'll be able to post anything to my blog over the weekend - so you daily visitors (that's you, mom and dad) be it known... and don't fret!
Wish me luck for day 2....
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