Arrived Alive!

I made it! I left San Francisco around 430 PM on Monday and with a 2 hour layover in London I arrived in Chennai at 4 AM Wednesday. After arriving I made it through customs, where I was suspected of carrying swine flu because I was coming from the US but after filling out a lengthy questionnaire I as admitted and made it through the airport. My first steps outside the airport were a shock- it was 445 AM and I hadn’t experienced heat like what I was feeling in a while- it felt like midday in DC in August! Apparently last week it made it to 104 degrees with 95% humidity- ouch! On top of that there was an overwhelming bunch of people as soon as I left the airport, quite an intimidating scene (see pic). I found the guy holding a Greg sign in the crowd and made my way to the car and had a 15 minute ride to my flat. I was prepared for it but the driving was crazy, we avoided a cow and had a couple close calls as my driver went into oncoming traffic to pass slower vehicles. Luckily, he won’t be my full-time driver. Then, got here and one of my co-workers was waiting for me. He is really nice, a younger guy that seems very curious and intelligent, I think we’ll get along fine (he’s also my roommate for now). He was excited that he found Corn Flakes at the grocery store and offered me a bowl for breakfast, saying he was trying to make me feel at home. I was exhausted though so I just crashed and had him and my other co-worker come back around 2 for a late lunch. This time, they showed up with some personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut- they’re trying! Since then we’ve been talking work and life, and they took me for some delicious Indian food and I got my first taste of being a pedestrian on the streets- no sidewalks, just lots of motorcycles, cars, buses and bodies. Pretty frightening but I think my job makes me over think all this kind of stuff... Anyways, that’s my quick update, I gotta crash early tonight, after some Indian food with coworkers. Plenty more to come!

Greg

My Indian Mobile +91 97 8907 0013