Trying this out

Above: Bangalore, at its most candid...

It's three in the morning. I cannot sleep. I have to get up in five hours and go to training.

I've tried everything...sleep aides, "sleep and stuff" iTunes playlist, earplugs + eye mask, counting sheep/mosquito bites, reading my Java book...all to no avail. I know in twelve hours I will be nodding off against my volition in our meeting room at the Royal Orchid, and that it will be embarrassing, like it was today. Curses.

Tomorrow (today...) will be day three of our ThoughtWorks University program. A typical day is made up of four 90-minute training sessions or lectures, with tea and meal breaks sprinkled within so that our heads do not explode with our newly-acquired wisdom and knowledge. Although most of the material is important and fascinating and our trainers are enthusiastic, fantastic role models, it is still a lot of information to distribute/digest and so everyone is inevitably mentally exhausted by the end of each day. It's also tough for me to adjust from campus life - running around to and fro - to staying under one roof for eight or nine hours a day (although to be fair, we still manage to do our fair share of to running around to and fro at TWU...)

I feel like I've been in India forever, but in a good way. I am starting to miss some things about Chicago though, like my Sigur Ros songs (WHY did I not bring those along!) and Hyde Park Produce and my roommates and the Point and the 2. Also, there is NO Mexican food that I know of here in Bangalore, which troubles me deeply.

One thing that has caught me by surprise is the way people treat others on the streets. From what I can tell, there seems to be very little to no interaction between strangers (I found this out the hard way after smiling at about a dozen people while walking around Diamond District and only receiving confused stares back...) Friends or bands of people don't really stand outside and chat or laugh loudly at bars. Even the beggars seem quiet - many simply hold out their hands as you walk by, which somehow makes it all the more sad. It's quite different from the Midwest, where people smile and make eye contact easily and will sometimes even go out of their way to talk to you.

Another difference, this time not-so-subtle, is the dress code. The women here, both young and old, wear the most beautiful saris I have ever seen, and especially when a bevy of them walk by in a flurry of colorful silk and sequins, I cannot help but look on enviously. I can't think of any other culture in which women wear such beautiful clothing on a regular basis...it's quite a refreshing break from all the Longchamps and Zara and North Face that everyone and their mom wears in Chicago. 

3:47. Going to give this sleep thing another attempt, and if it fails, then I'm going to start making coffee. Black, black coffee.