June 8 from my comfortable desk at the Lemon Tree Premier in Bangalore

Bonus!!!  Double blog post

Blog Post 1

I have arrived!  Safely and soundly.  I am checked and had an excellent night of sleep.  I arrived in India at 1:30 a.m. in a big modern airport and proceeded through customs and on to our hotel…all in the dark.  So, I have not much in the way of observations at this point.

I do want to talk about language, however.  Like many (most) Americans, I am for the most part proficient in English and can say a few lines in several languages.  At no point in my life, did I ever even approach fluency despite short by but specific language training in Latin, French and Russian.  At no point was I particularly interested even in becoming proficient (or likely wasn’t willing to do the work).  Although this was never my thought, it has come to pass that this was actually okay because most people on earth have decided learning English is a good idea.  So nice for me!  And other Americans who have been historically isolated geographically and empowered economically such that everyone else on earth is better off learning my language.

As I travel, I often wonder if and how long this advantaged position will last?  As the world changes quickly and dramatically, will Americans need become fluent in other languages?  The internet and high speed airplanes have made the U.S.’s geographic isolation mostly irrelevant.  The U.S. is no longer the sole economic power in the world as it was in the 2^nd half of the twentieth century.  From my course work, I learned that 200,000,000 people do not live in the countries of their birth.  This number is expected to increase steadily.

In America, we regard most people who speak English and something else as intellectual giants if they are Americans and with wonderment and even suspicion if they are not.  Is the world changing so quickly that even the teens I work with daily will be at an economic disadvantage by being unable or unwilling to learn a second language?  Will everyone eventually learning English or some other common language for economic purposes?  Do populations on earth lose important aspects of their own culture when their native languages become secondary? 

To be honest, I don’t know.

I do know however, that in most countries outside the U.S. you cannot get a job at McDonalds, be a flight attendant or sell anything without speaking more than one language.  Perhaps this gives some insight into the answers.

At this point, I am just thankful I can walk down the streets of most other countries and be very confident that I can get what I want and need without learning their language.  What an absolute “privilege!”

Quick Notes

*Flight times from Detroit to Washington was 58 minutes, from Washington to Frankfort was 6 hours 58 minutes, from Frankfort to Bangalore was 8 hours and 45 minutes

*6 hour layover in Washington was spent with Sander, Dorian and Mara.  Very nice of them to come out to the airport to take me out to lunch

*6 hour layover in Frankfort was spent hanging around in the McDonalds seating area

*I am getting ready to go out for the day and spent some time looking out the window and it appears that Indians do not wear shorts!  Yikes!

*Our first seminar starts at 4:30 this afternoon with insights into the Indian education system. 

*Hoping to get my body acclimated quickly to the nine and half hour time zone difference

*Internet is spotty.  Well, actually it’s probably pretty good for people who know how to connect to it.

Blog Post 2

June 10 from back at my desk at the Lemon Tree

Observations form my first walk in Bangalore.  I talk a 40 minute walk alone on this hot, sunny, dusty day from the hotel up St. Johns Street until the street ended and back.  The man at the front desk gave me a list of “sightseeing.” Here is some of what I saw.

Sights, sounds, smells are unique and I have never seen, heard or smelled anything like this.  A completely new experience.  A bit overwhelming.

Cars, motorcycles, auto rickshaws, bicycles, people walking everywhere.  Total bustle.  Dodged the vehicles whose drivers seemed pretty focused on getting wherever they were going.  People dressed in all sorts of attire.  Most in shirts and long pants, some women (saw very few women on the street) in traditional saris. 

Approached on the street in front of the hotel by a gentleman (very persistent) wanting to give me a tour on his auto-rickshaw.  After that, no person approached me during my walk. 

Beeping of horns everywhere.  I saw three schools, all in buildings with no traditional American school yards.  One was a Montessori school, one a primary school and one an English high school.  Saw a number of young children in uniforms going to school.  Saw many shops selling everything from motorcycle helmets, to food, to beauty products.  Saw a place to have your motorcycle washed. 

Saw people sleeping on the streets.  Saw dogs (all seem to look the same) and cows.  Saw my first cow (very large) laying in a driveway under an awning in the most urban place imaginable. Saw four cows “grazing” in an empty lot which I can only describe as littered and small.  Saw a combination of manicured lawns and secured gates at our hotel and a few other buildings, but also saw litter and garbage and unattended lots filled with trash and debris. 

Saw a cricket club with pictures of some of what I can only guess are cricket stars and nearby a large barren field where a couple of young boys playing with a cricket bat and ball.

As I had been told which is supported by my impressions, India seems to be a place of interesting and stark contrasts.  A list of these contrasts at this point would serve as what I am sure is an over simplification of the truth so I will refrain from listing them here at this time. 

More later.