Hello, Chennai

#ibmcsc India 14

After a long flight to Dubai (16 hrs) then another 4-hr flight from Dubai to Chennai, finally arrived. On the flight to Dubai, I was sitting next to some one going home to attend his mother's funeral. With sympathy, I gave him lots of room since he's sobbing now and then in his sleep. Maybe, that's how I earned good karma and get an upgrade to Business class on the next leg of the flight unexpectedly. Met with teammates Mike and Bas at Dubai airport. They are extremely friendly and very helpful. Met Jaya from CDS right away. She has my name correctly spelled! Jaya gave us some leis and promptly got us loaded into a nice comfortable mini-van. Mike was amazed at the sea of people waiting outside the airport at 3AM! The weather is still OK, not as humid as I was warned. Or may be I haven't been out during the middle of the day yet. When I left California, it was dry heat, 96-degree Fahrenheit. So this heat is still not bad yet. The drive from the airport to the apartment was uneventful -- Traffic was not so much; the streets at night look like any other city. The apartment is located in some very leafy green neighborhood. Will have to check out the streets in the morning. I got a room - with air conditioning, and a balcony overlooking the front street. Nice. However, mosquitoes already find me tasty. I need to remember to put on the insect spray.

We managed to have every one in the team (except one -- arriving late tomorrow) gathered at noon according to the itinerary. After settling some logistics items, we headed out into the streets. We got to exchange some money (need a photocopy of your passport), then walked to have some lunch. A lot of us had dosa -- this does not look the same as what I had in Orange County, the DosaPlace. It is better actually. We then shopped at a nearby supermarket for water bottles and some snacks. The walk back to the apartment was through some nice, shady streets. We all had a good workout walking in the heat. By then, I was totally tired and promptly took a nap. Did not join the team for tonight dinner. Tomorrow.

Slide show of the day highlights

Corporate Services Corps

I got accepted to the IBM Corporate Services Corps program!
That's an honor since it's very selective and its purpose is about altruism. My lifelong wish of joining the Peace Corps is now fulfilled!

I will be going to Chennai, India from mid-October to mid-November. How fun!
I'm now doing the pre-work training. Lots of documents to read, assignments to perform, but I'm excited!

At the same time, my work is picking up two-folds. I just finished an unsolicited task that is to improve our development process. In addition, I got pulled into another unexpected project. So my summer is all booked!! I certainly really enjoy the challenges.