The Case of Mistaken Identity

All of my life I've been confused with my older sister, Kelly. It didn't matter if it was school, sports, church, family, CMU, or strangely work, I'd gotten used to answering to the name "Kelly". Some times it's an honest mistake (at least I hope so--Dad). But often times relatives or acquaintances just can't remember which is which.

So now I'm here to report that "Kelly" has followed me to Japan! The first time it happened was my first week in Tokyo. I thought I had misheard this guy, and I blamed it on the Japanese accent or the known poor pronunciation of "r"s. The second time was no mistake... I received mail from my apartment addressed to "Ms. Kelly". Then today, I was plugging one of my 75 emails into Google Translate to make sure it was irrelevant to me and I could delete it, when the sentence "Please show Ms. Kelly Green-san" caught my eye.

After a little investigation I realized that "Kelly" and "Kerri" are the exact same characters in Japanese, so if people read the Japanese side of my business card, they automatically assume "Kelly" is my name since it is much more common!! Here's the screenshot to prove it:

So all I can say now is, thank goodness my parents never decided to move us to Japan!! It would be a little confusing with 2 daughters who have the exact same name!! Circa 1984 Circa 1998

Circa 2008.

I still love you, Kelly... maybe even more now that I know we have the same name :)

Exploring Central Park!

Nagoya is such a large city, and I've really only been in the area around work & home, so on Sunday I decided to hop on the subway and go exploring in an area called Sakae. I had heard there was great shopping and a beautiful park. Come exploring with me as I discover Nagoya's Central Park! Here is the entry to Central Park with the Nagoya TV Tower in the center of the park.

A cute waterfall. There was pretty scenery all around. This is the place to party outside during the spring cherry blossoms.

Live band was providing some tunes. I'll have to come back at night some time to see the Christmas tree lit up, plus I saw many other strings of lights around.

Gorgeous autumn day! The park is pretty large and, like NYC's Central Park, is long and narrow. It is one block wide, and spans about 5-6 blocks.

A sweet white bridge walkway in the background, so there is no pedestrians needing a crosswalk on the wide road below. In the foreground is a clock made of flowers. It's kinda tough to see since it was 2:10 when I took this pic!

I realized that these pics would be so much more interesting with me in them, so I busted out the GorillaPod to get a few cute shots. Here's me on the bridge. One of the suspension cables is obstructing my pic!

More fountains & waterfalls. This area is inspired by Los Angeles which, as I learned from the signs, is a Sister City to Nagoya. Notice all of the stars lining this area. It's a replica of the original Hollywood Walk of Fame!

Hey there beautiful! (Or should I say, who is that freaky tourist who keeps setting up her mini tripod?!)

Tokyo TV Tower.

I even got to see a wedding! Notice I am least hiding behind a bush... there were other spectators and random picture takers who were right up next to the action, but I tried to use some discretion!

They handed out balloons to all of the guests and then released them at the end of the ceremony! The coolest part for me wasn't the balloons; it was that they played the Beatles' "All You Need is Love" on an electric keyboard as the newly married couple descended down the aisle!! LOL. It was so cute!!

Maybe I could get a magazine modeling contract...

This area is called Oasis 21, right next to Central Park. It looked so awesome. I had to venture across the street to check it out.

I realized that there were people walking on top of this thing, so check out the video I posted at the end!!

Look what I discovered... an ice skating rink! So cool and so worth the short jaunt across the street!

View of colorful fall trees plus the other end of Central Park.

KG and a cool fountain. Sakae was certainly worth the trip! It started to rain, so I ducked into the "basement" to do some shopping. I don't think this will be the last time I'm caught by rain in Nagoya...

Video in the round of Central Park from the top of the Oasis 21 structure. The park was really peaceful today, but I hear it can get super busy, especially in the spring.

India: New Delhi & Gurgaon

Welcome to the last stop on my tour of India! The capital city of New Delhi and the surrounding countryside of Gurgaon, where the Transystem crossdock is located. Below is a picture from my hotel room. Although the weather is much cooler here (high 60's rather than 80's), you can still see how hazy it is. I'm unsure why the air quality is so poor considering they don't have a lot of industry to pollute the air.

Delhi was a mix of more modern and oddly more traditional India all in one. For instance, some of their roads were much better. One road even had separate lanes for motorcycles, cars, and buses, divided by curb-like medians. I'm not saying there weren't still a mixture of vehicles on the roads, but at least there was an attempt for some order. There were also many U-turns, kind of like "Michigan lefts", where you pass a place and then have to wait for a break in the median and backtrack. I will kindly refer to them as "Delhi rights". Also of note is Delhi has a traffic problem (shocking), so no trucks are allowed in the city limits during daylight hours. All supplier pick ups for Toyota must occur at night, which is different than Bangalore where truck driving was banned at night since it's unsafe.

Many women were wearing jeans or slacks, and not the traditional saree. But then again, I saw a lot of people with scarves (men and women) covering their heads (not faces). At first I thought it was to protect against the "cold" weather, but they remained hooded even during the sunniest, warmest part of the day.

Here's a nice pool at the final hotel. Had the weather been warmer and this been a pleasure trip, I would have loved to spend some time there :)

Above and below are a couple photos of Indian infrastructure in progress. They are way behind with technology, building materials, processes, etc. People say that India is the place to be for future growth, and although it lags behind the rests of the world by 20 years (I'd say more), the overpopulation is a blessing because it provides a strong, available workforce to build highways and buildings.

In fact, one Indian told me that they're not really affected by the recession like America or other parts of the world because they have few exports & imports and can rely on themselves. (Uh, yeah, sure... that's the reason... or it could be that people don't have money to spend even during the "good" times.)

On one street corner, I saw some Indians making several brick walls by hand. It looked like it would fall over with one good kick. It didn't look like a "real" job with organized labor, so I wondered where the materials (bricks and mortar) came from?? The cool part was the women would carry bricks on their head (2x2 as tall as they could reach), and then bring them over to the men who were doing the laying.

Here's one example of "Hindi English". In India, each state has it's own basic language, and since the 20 states can't understand each other, they rely on English as the common back-up language. There were several signs that I saw misspelled, or else just sounded strange. For instance, they say: "expired" instead of died, "diversion" instead of detour, and in Hindi "yesterday" and "tomorrow" are the same word but you listen to the tense to understand which one it should really be. So the driver would say weird things like "We will meet at 9am yesterday?". Lastly, they love the word "Enclave". It was all over signs and bus stops, and after looking it up on http://www.m-w.com/ I guess they are using it correctly. But it did make me miss my car!

Our last stop was the Gurgaon crossdock. I took a picture of the "neighborhood" just outside the dock door because I was a minor celebrity there. Apparently some 10-year-old spotted me walking around inside the building and kept calling out things like "hey lady". Next thing you know, he's gathered his whole family, and there were like 12-15 Indian people peering over this brick wall to get a glimpse at the white lady. I felt like Princess Diana and thought about taking a step out from the shadows of the dock and giving a wave, but alas something at work brought me back to the real reason I was there, and I quickly forgot about my spectators.

New Delhi and Gurgaon also had the worst beggars. They would wander through the streets banging on windows and knocking on car doors for money at intersections or in traffic jams. I always knew some unsavory thing was about to happen when the driver would hit the auto door locks!! Some of the more enterprising people would be trying to sell goods to the passengers in cars. The items, I'm sure, were all "hot", and were weird things like toy airplanes, cloth napkins, multi-phone charges, head massagers, shoes, etc. The most popular one for me was "People" magazine. Apparently, everyone thought the white lady really needed some reading material.

The final hotel we stayed at was very swanky with EVERY staff member calling me Miss Green. I must say it was a little unnerving. Some times I just wanted to fly under the radar. They would pick me out and want to give me special treatment. I was selecting my food from the breakfast buffet, and the waiter wanted to bring a traditional Indian breakfast out for Miss Green. I told him no, that I wasn't very hungry, but alas it still arrived at my table a few minutes later. And all of the waiters and staff watched me eat it and waited for my reaction!!

Lastly, kids will be kids no matter where you are in the world. I saw a few Indian kids arguing in the street. What looked like a big sister then pushed her little brother into a mud puddle. LOL. Those things made me smile :) Every once in awhile a kid would spot me in the car and wave from the school bus. Of course I would wave back. Then we'd be stuck in traffic or at another intersection, and word would spread so more kids would start waving and smiling, and I'd have to do more waving back. As long as they were in a bus and not begging for money, I thought it was cute!!

India: Chennai continued

A new day is here, and this is the view from my Chennai hotel suite. I was on the 7th floor. It's going to be a very hazy and humid day. After I opened the curtains this morning, I realized I also had a private patio. The door is on the right side.

Not something I would actually want to hang out on since it was quite dirty with pigeon dropping and even trash! Also, the heat & humidity in Chennai is killer for November!! I did step out for a weather check, but quickly came back in to the A/C.

The miles long deserted beach on the Bay of Bengal. We went to the port to see containers loading & unloading, but there was a strict "no photos" policy. The men walking around with rifles were pretty convincing. I decided not to take any chances. I don't want to end up in India prison or an Indian hospital!

My lunch at the dismal Chennai airport. No shops. No restaurants. Only a snack bar. But this chip flavor "Cajun beats" is pretty unique and, in Indian style, pretty spicy!!

Here's the airport. Not part of it. The whole thing. No jetway boarding. Everyone takes a bus out to the runway and then walks up the stairs.

Chennai Airport runway. The red & white building on the left is air traffic control. I see there is a jetway on the right, but do not be fooled. No planes come up close enough to the building.

Also of note is airport security in Japan, China, & India. No one is quite as hyper as America. You can bring liquids (although the sign says not to), you can wear your shoes (even my steel toes), and India doesn't metal detect women. We go behind a screen and get patted down.

Another posh hotel room in New Delhi... Mini bar on the left, bathroom on the right.

Another big bed, which I'm thankfully for. Tomorrow night we're taking the red-eye back to Japan, so sleep will be sketchy.

Hotel bathroom. I haven't featured all of the toilets I came across in India yet on my blog, but let me assure you it's not a pretty sight. I do appreciate a clean Western toilet much more now.

Here's a pic of me on the way to India. I was so excited to see English TV again. It didn't matter that it was in the children's section at Hong Kong or Pink Panther!!

Here's a few extra tidbits on India I've been taking notes on:

I said there were no traffic laws, but I don't think I mentioned that when traffic is stopped on one side of the road, cars occasionally flood the other side of the road, and start going into oncoming traffic. It's like a death wish!! I'm told that India follows the U.S. closely in the number of automobile fatalities. It's pretty crazy since India's speed limit is 40kph, but now that I've seen it I'm not surprised!

The hotels here remind of vacation resorts in Mexico. The workers are all so friendly and happy and willing to help while speaking in their accented English. There are usually multiple amenities, too, like a pool, spa, restaurants, shopping, etc.

Most buses were colorfully painted and often with religious sayings on them. Many even had streamers, ribbons, tassels, and ornaments strung up inside.

All women (even babies) have their ears pierced. Gold jewelry is very popular. Most men even had at least one gold ring on.

No smoking is allowed in any restaurant in India. That's a nice change from Japan, where smoking is not allowed on streets or sidewalks, but please light it up all you want inside of buildings... Yuck!!

OMG Bugs are crazy here!! I noticed they were crawling on others while at the Transystem yard, and then upon inspection, I realized they were all over me, too. Ants on your shoes and in your socks. Spiders on your legs, and many other weird creepy crawlies. Sometimes I would make a big fuss and start brushing them off, and people just laughed at me. (Probably thinking "Silly girl!") In addition, flies are every where. Crawling all over your food in restaurants. Buzzing around your head even in airplanes. It was so bothersome. Again, I was the only one who seems to mind.

There are a few American food places here that people were eager to point out. McDonald's, which I've already mentioned. Also, Domino's Pizza, KFC, and Pizza Hut. Their menus are, of course, modified and are generally only vegetarian options (even KFC, I'm told!!) I also saw a "Kentacky Chicken Corner" from the car one day. The spelling cracked me up, but I'm sure it is a wannabe KFC.

Even in the poorest conditions, I saw many people on cell phones, which I really found ironic. But then I started reading the billboards, and perhaps it's because cell phones are so cheap. Service providers often charge calls by the second, and the texts are charged per character. LOL.

We had lunch at a golf club one day, and I saw another course in Bangalore. There are no golf carts in India, but no worries because you will get a uniformed caddy (super cheap) at your service! I hear the actual greens fees are not too expensive, either. (Although this was from the Japanese guys, and they may be poor judges since the price of golf is astronomical there.)

One very ingenious thing was that most public buses had small gutters on them. This is so during the rainy season, the windows can stay open and very little water gets in. Most of it drains down the front or back of the bus.

Inidia: Chennai

My adventure in India continues! On to Chennai, which is a port city 300 km away from Bangalore. We choose to take the 40 minute flight, but other Mitsui folks decided to drive to check the road conditions. It took them over 6 hours. YIKES!! That's what a 40km speed limit among other things will do to you! Here is the open-air airport in Bangalore. The 2nd nicest airport in India I'm told (partly because it's only a few years old). The killer part for me was the birds (mostly sparrows) flying every where. They were on restaurant tables eating leftovers, roaming around the seats at the gate. No one seemed to mind, except me of course!! Shopping was awesome. They have such cool foreign things, and it's all dirt cheap. I only bought one thing, but maybe I will find some luggage space when I fly out for good on Friday!

Here's a back-side pic of all of the hired drivers waiting for their passengers with signs. No one is allowed in the baggage claim area, which makes it relatively safe. In general, only the affluent can afford to fly. A little girl (probably 7) in the airport restroom came up to me and asked "Where do you come from?" I told her America. She repeated it and giggled. Then all of the other women giggled. I have no one idea if they were laughing at her or me. Regardless, they don't see a lot of Americans here, and certainly fewer females. I really get stared at non-stop.

Welcome to Chennai! Were the weather is mid-80's, super humid, and rainy!! This is also the part where the hoodlums come out. When walking to the car with our driver, some man tried to "help" me with my luggage. I told him no, and he kept saying "same company". Sure thing, buddy! Then after our luggage was loaded (and I watched) the same man helped me into the car. He wanted a tip. Uhhh.... get lost!

Traffic jam. You can see all of the water lying around. Not surprisingly their drainage system sucks here, but then again that would happen in every city if they had downpours like Chennai, too. Funny to see 100's of motorcycles abandoned on the road though, as their owners huddled under trees, awnings, whatever they could find.

I think there are some people living under the highway overpass. But they have a couple cars!! Chennai looks about 10 times poorer than Bangalore. Shocking to say the least!

Here's our ride all week. It's a Toyota Innova made in India. It's a 7-seater car. Nothing like my Clifford (the big red Buick Enclave), but still pretty spacious in these parts.

Cows are not just sacred... they are useful to haul things around in the city!

Motorcyclists waiting in traffic. (This is after the rain.)

Another pic of the poor conditions. Nice cow lying about and water every where. Here's the traumatizing part: Even through tinted windows, I was busted by the locals for taking a pic. This woman came up to the car window and started tapping incessantly. She was begging for 5 rupees and had her newborn baby with her. It was horrifying and depressing all at the same time! After I ignored her, she moved around to other doors, tapping and asking for money. This went on for a good 3 minutes since we were at a dead stop in traffic. Probably the longest 3 minutes of my life. Thank goodness her baby was sleeping. If it had been crying or otherwise looking miserable, I probably would have lost it! This was a rude awakening for me. I realize these people are just trying to survive, and yet I find it so darn picture-worthy. Needless to say, I didn't take any more pictures of the locals or their surroundings today.

My hotel room in Chennai. It's a suite, and bigger than my entire apartment in Japan.

Sitting room with a huge touch screen remote for all of the gadgets in the room.

Generally, I'd be impressed and loving this room, but given the day I've had, I wonder if it's a bit over the top. And perhaps they should take a look outside, and see the disparity between the social classes here in India.

Hallway into the bathroom.

Next stop: Soak in the tub, then off to bed. Another full day ahead. Tomorrow we go to the Port to see overseas containers being loaded/unloaded, and then catch a plane to the capital city of New Delhi.

One more nugget before I sign off: when we enter a hotel, they check the undercarriage of the vehicle for bombs, pop the truck and scan the bags, and then we have to go through a metal detector before we enter. I'm told there's been some bombing issues in Mumbai, and now people aren't messing around.

Quick Video of Traffic

This video just doesn't do India traffic justice, but at least you can hear all of the honking in the background, and see that any respectable place has gates and a security guard (ours has a yellow umbrella).