Settling into the hotel is nice, the A/C is doing well to keep the heat away. I try to get a bit of sleep but getting used to the sounds of the area takes a bit. The drivers use their horns for just about everything, honk to pass, honk that you have passed, honk to turn, honk to get people out of the way. At least it isn't too loud in my bedroom but is very bright even with the shade down. At 4:30 I get a call from Shobana, she is the coordinator for transition teams and my primary contact for now. I find out that I will be working on the Symantec Live Help program with Dave and that they would like us to come in tonight, by the way this is the same day that we arrived in Chennai so is Wednesday and a car will come to pick us up for 7pm. At 7, the driver informs us that he is to take the women to Velachery as well. Unfortunately Jody and Mayette had gone off to look for something to eat and an Internet Cafe. The driver does try to find them and we end up leaving a note for Jody to call Ashok about her contacts. Dave and I get driven to Velachery and are very impressed with the building but the security is so tight to get in that it gives Dave and I a bit of a problem but we are able to finally get to reception to reach Shobana but she is out of the office and I did not realize that I could get them to call her on her mobile. Just as we are leaving for the Padi office where Dave and I will work from Shobana arrives and will meet us there.
After a long drive to the office we finally arrive and are taken up to the 8th floor of the Americorp building to meet with the Live Help team. There are so many people to meet and so many names to remember. Dave and I have to get computers set up as well as workspaces that allow us to connect to the work network so that we will be able to help the Live Help team. We find out that they have only started Live Chat since mid March and have a number of issues to overcome to make the Chat experience good for the Symantec customers. We head back early this night, around 1am back to the hotel and while we are at the office, Shobana treats us to dinner at the cafeteria that is a few floors below where we work.
We work nights here so usually during the day we are sleeping. When we get back to the hotel we meet Jody and Mayette, who had got the message and did head into the office to meet their contacts as well. This is starting out as a very exciting adventure. Jody is working with a language trainer from the US who has invited us to go touring on the weekend.
The weekend comes and we begin our tour later in the afternoon to allow us to be able to sleep a bit with the late nights. We start by heading to Saint Thomas Mount, this is a church on top of the hill that the Apostle Thomas is said to have been slain and is also the site of the mass that Pope John Paul had when he visited India in 1986. The views from the hill are incredible and we even go inside the church while there is a service but it is in either Latin or Tamil, both languages I do not understand so we leave and are off to the next stop. This is to another small church and is the site of the cave that Thomas hid in when being hunted by the locals. Behind the cave is a spring that legend has began when Thomas hit his staff on the rock and it split bringing forth water. The water is only said to flow during the dry season.
We now travel to the Saint Thomas Cathedral and see the burial site of Thomas and also the beautiful architecture and stained glass of the church. There is evening Mass so we do not enter the church but do see the small museum that is in a building behind. We then head off for dinner. First we go to Zamas, a Spanish Tapa house but find that children are not allowed and one of the couples coming to eat with us has an 8 month old boy. Ron met is wife Helen in China and they have a cute little guy. We also meet a friend of Lori's as well as her fiance Log. With Ron unable to join us we find another lounge that will allow us to meet together and we head off. It is nice to have some western style food and company.
For Sunday we get a cab to take us to Spencers Plaza, that is a large mall that many people go to. It is so busy as this is the one day that most Indians have off. I end up getting two pairs of pants as Mondays are white shirt, black pants for Formal day at work. Dave also gets a pair of pants and Mayette gets an outfit as well. We find a Subway and have a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel.
Although there are ATM's all over Chennai, very few will allow us to access our savings accounts to get money. After a few days of trying I find that I can use my Visa so am constantly transferring funds from my savings to my credit card to get some money. Needless to say, this has been a very busy weekend and certainly something to write about.
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