I'm still here

I'll be home in October, really. I seem to have a lot of work to do in Lisbon, hence no posts, little email, and it's hard to keep me on IM. I can guarantee I will be back in the USA for Alicia's wedding in October. In the meantime, I'll be working here until this sucker is complete.

No, I'm not home yet.

I'm still in Lisbon. I left Seattle about a month ago. Since then I've spent a few hours in the London office, several hours in Heathrow, ridden from Mumbai to Pune, India and returned (home?) to Lisbon. I'll come home when they run out of things for me to do.

So, uh, what are you doing?
We're deploying the next version of the software in Lisbon, and I was doing work for another possible rollout in India. The India trip was brief (6 days including travel and the day in London), and we only left the hotel once to go to the customer site on the last day. However, the work parts of it were productive and interesting, and I like my coworkers.

In Lisbon I've been pursuing more or less the same schedule of 8:30-2:30 a couple in-hotel meals and most of the day in the War Suite working. I get out of the hotel for three reasons: jogging along the Rio Tejo, meetings at the customer site every day at 4:30, and a nice dinner OUT OF THE HOTEL. Generally speaking, I am very well-fed and looked after, so the long hours aren't too bad. more importantly, I very much like the team. More later on the fun bits...

"Why American is Great" by Amy

Salads.

Hey, look--I'm in Portugal

[Note: This entry is suffering from my serious sleepiness.]

So, as it turns out, India is not my only travel destination. I'm in Lisbon for two weeks to help out the Portugal deployment. Since most of my India project team is in the UK and most of my questions get answered by email anyway, it only made sense for me to come out for a couple weeks and help out when I can (the full Portugal team busted some serious abacaxi here and deserves a break). I'm here for a couple weeks, then I go to London for a day. The same night a few of us head to Mumbai, then drive to Pune for three days of meetings. After that, it's unclear if I will return to Seattle, Lisbon, or London before making a trip to Madrid. It's not as glamourous as it sounds, as it generally means lots of meetings and stuffy rooms full of tech people.

Lisbon is pleasant
We stay in the area along the river near Vasco de Gama Center. The architecture is very modern, and the area was the site of the 98 World Expo. I've spent the bulk of my time working in a suite with some of the project team and the other part at the customer site, though I have had a nice dinner every night. The hotel is nice, and I'm well cared for. Mom, stop worrying.

I hope to see the aquarium (more or less across the street, maybe catch an art museum, and visit something historic. Because the work is pretty heavy, I'm not likely to get to do much touristing, but at least I can eat well.

Now where did I put that metronidazole...

I've been back from Mumbai for several days now, but a little piece of India decided to come back with me. I don't know if it was the food at the fancy hotel or stuff I ate later in the week, but my stomach's been out-of-whack. It's getting worse daily, and I today I noticed light rash covering my body. I'm assuming whatever it is will not leave without encouragement, so I gave up on letting it run its course and popped some pills.

Mumbai was ok. I didn't do anything exciting. Josh and I hung out and had snacks. I never got proper chai masala (the tiny cups of sweetened milk tea brewed with ground cardamom and other spices), nor did I take any auto rides. Autorickshaws are simply not permitted in South Bombay (the uber-snobby, wealthy area of Mumbai). I had some nice fresh juices (mango and pomegranate, and, no, I don't think that's what made me sick) and ate panni puri and other treats at Josh's favorite chat place. We also fake-shopped for more rugs and felt smug that Josh's rug guy gives us nicer rugs at good prices.

Mumbai on Too Many Rs Per Day

I've spent most of my first three days in Mumbai in the 4-star wanna-be hotel by the airport. It was sort of like not being in India, except for the pods of obsequious staff in the hotel who tried so hard to make my experience exceptional and ended up annoying me. Nonetheless, it's been a good trip. My travel companions are upbeat, and we had several hours of productive meetings. I'm excited about the implementation, despite the fact that I couldn't get proper chai in the hotel.

I've since shifted to a smaller hotel in south Mumbai, the most expensive are in the city and possibly all of India. The staff here is trying hard but hits closer to the mark. My room isn't as schmancy (no hardwood incense burners to match the chairs ans a smaller flatscreen), but the hotel looks and feels cleaner. Unfortunately, this hotel is as pricey as a nice hotel in downtown Seattle but doesn't have the nice room.

You can take the girl out of India...

...but she just turns around and goes back. That's right--call your aunties, I'm headed to Mumbai. Chai. Autos. Proper breakfasts! MORE CHAI!

However, instead of working for The People, I'm going on behalf of an Atlas client who has a customer in India. I'll be in meetings most of the week, and then a couple friends are coming from Bangalore and Kathmandu. I come back Sunday. It's a quick trip, but with this client, I'll be traveling to India at least a couple more times, and--if I'm lucky--I may get to visit totally new countries, too.

Growing Soft

I have to say--this new client is later-stage than our usual partners. I have an office, a desk phone, a laptop, and a global cell. They provide free snacks. I never have to wonder if the lights will turn on. In fact, my office has a sensor and lights up when I enter. It's this strange, lovely world where all the bills can be paid and you get whatever equipment you need.

Of course, it's still a start-up, and that means chaos, huge workloads and nutty people, so I still feel at home.