Posted by Frenya
Thu, 27 Jul 2006 23:47:00 GMT
July 16th, airport of Chennai, 5am.
Well, the adventure continues.
The trip to Mumbai was quite pleasant (I had a window seat on an exit row, really who could ask for more!) and the food was taste of what is to come… thanks to Air India! The really neat detail was that all female flight attendants wore saris. My arrival in Mumbai gave me another taste of what is to come: paperwork, lines and people who hate staying in line!
The “line” story:
I thought that southern italians were pretty bad about cutting people in line, but I see now that I just had not seen the world!
Already in London, so not even in India, I noticed that most indians have a particular relationship with line making (or queue making as they say in India). I took Air India from London to Chennai and most passengers were indians. As soon as the boarding of the flight was announced, everybody rushed to the gate whether or not their row number was announced, of course that lead to a major traffic jam at the gate and a much slower boarding… not quite efficient!
In Mumbai, we had to spend a good 45 minutes in lines in order to get a new boarding pass and go through security (quite enhanced since the train bombings of a couple of days ago), all of that to get back on the same flight… all right different plane but still all these steps look useless and complicated. The fact that a lot of people, males and females systematically cut every line really did not help the efficiency of the process. Days will show that it really is part of their normal behavior… quite frustrating when not used to it.
Nevertheless, the second part of the flight went fine. We crossed the country west to east (about 1000 kms) in 1h30. Once in Chennai, we had to go through immigration: means one more line! But it went a lot easier that I could expect.
“Love of stamps”:
Since I am in the paperwork section of my thoughts, I have to mention that indeed India loves paperwork but maybe even more so the official stamps! Each time we go through X rays machines in the security checkpoints, we can be sure to get our bad tags or boarding passes stamped by the lady who checks you (apart in a little corner protected from Men’s view by curtains) to make sure that you do not carry anything dangerous on you, and by the security guard on the other side of the X ray machine. Fortunately, it is more amusing than annoying.
One thing that I noticed both in Mumbai and Chennai is that the airports are quite clean. The decoration is simple but for the most part tasteful and seem to be using a lot of natural materials such as stone, marble and wood.
Before I close this page, last but not least thing for the moment: I had my first experience with the traditional indian restrooms… not that bad if you are prepared and adequately equipped. For those of you unfamiliar with this system: restrooms in India are a hole covered by ceramic (like the “turkish” ones) and a faucet beside. There is a very good reason why people only eat with their right hand!
Tags Voyages | 9 comments
Posted by Frenya
Thu, 27 Jul 2006 23:33:00 GMT
Malgré le titre en français, le reste de ce carnet de voyage va être en anglais afin de permettre la lecture à un nombre maximum de personnes.
Je suis allée en Inde (Madurai pour être précise) pendant 5 jours pour le travail. Ce qui suit est le récit de mes aventures et de mes découvertes dans ce pays fascinant et troublant.
By lack of Internet access, all posts are made in the same time, but they were written all throughout the trip.
July 14th and 15th. 2006
London Heathrow, 7:30am (July 15th)
In this fine Bastille day, I am not attacking a tower-jail, but a new adventure… India.
Because and thanks to the clinical study that I coordinate at Dartmouth, I get the visit our collaborators at the Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai , India .
Until about 10 months ago, I would not have dreamt to be lucky enough to go to or at least stop by such exotic and famous places such as Mumbai (Bombay), Chennai (Madras) and Madurai, but thanks to the meanders of travel, I will get to see them a little bit.
Once in Madurai, I will meet with the rest of this trip’s team who comes from San Francisco through Asia.
For 5 days, we will work with our collaborators at Aravind to make sure that the study starts soon and on the right foot.
In the same time, I hope to be able to visit the city of Madurai, famous not only for its fabrics like Chennai (Madras) but also because of its temple: the Sri Meenakshi temple, apparently spectacular example of the Dravidian architecture . Madurai was once a cultural center for Tamil people and their language.
Of course there is a price to visit these wonderful places… the time needed to get there! Indeed, it will take me 2 calendar days (but less than 48 hrs) to arrive there. In addition to come 20 hrs of plane rides, I have 3 layovers in London and Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras).
NB: My boss who went to Madurai few years ago gave me a book to read during the trip simply called “India” , it is by Stanley Wolpert (professor of Asian studies at UCLA). This book is a wonderful help to learn about the country, its complicated history and culture. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who plans on travelling to India.
Tags Voyages | 12 comments
Posted by Frenya
Thu, 06 Jul 2006 15:53:00 GMT
A friend of mine just told me that Pink wrote a song summarizing what more and more people think about the Number 1 Man in the US. It is called “Dear Mr President”.
You can watch the video here .
The text can be found here .
It is on her newest album “I’m not dead”.
Comments are welcome…
Tags English, Personal | 6 comments
Posted by Frenya
Thu, 04 May 2006 10:44:00 GMT
Just a quick list of common words related to travel:
Juste une liste rapide de mots communs liés au voyage:
le voyage - travel;
l’avion - plane;
le train - train;
l’autobus - bus/coach;
la voiture - car;
le bateau - boat/ship;
l’aéroport - airport;
le port - harbor;
la gare - train station;
la valise - suitcase;
le sac - bag;
le passager - passenger;
le billet - ticket;
les vacances - vacation/holidays;
l’horaire - timetable/schedule
Tags Mot, Word | 8 comments
Posted by Frenya
Thu, 04 May 2006 10:29:00 GMT
Tomorrow, a new adventure starts!
After 18 months of non-stop North America, we are going back to my Mother Land…it will unfortunatly be a short trip as usual but still, speaking French again will seem extremely bizarre!
We won’t have much access to Internet over there, but I will try to post some news when we get back.
This trip will be lots of social activities but we will also visit some news areas of Normandy and the Loire region. Of course we will stay in Paris for a short while… because Paris is always Paris… the city of Lights which never sleeps!!
Demain, une nouvelles aventure commence!
Après 18 mois sans arrêt d’Amérique du Nord, nous retournons dans mon pays de naissance… le voyage va malheureusement être très court, comme d’habitude, mais de nouveau parler français va me sembler très bizarre!
Nous n’aurons pas beaucoup d’accès internet, mais j’essayerai de poster des nouvelles dès que nous serons rentrés.
Ce voyage va consister en beaucoup d’activités sociales, mais nous allons aussi visiter de nouveaux endroits en Normandie et dans la région de Loire. Bien sûr, nous allons rester sur Paris pour quelques jours…parce que Paris reste toujours Paris… la ville de Lumières qui ne dort jamais!!
Tags Personal | 4 comments
Posted by Frenya
Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:51:00 GMT
I thought that a quick list of various words expressing the weather would be appropriate on these very confused times… it seems that the sky does not know what to do these days: be blue and sunny, grey and rainy or white and snowy… I guess that’s what you have to expect from a New England early Spring.
J’ai pensé qu’une liste rapide de mots exprimant la météo serait appropriée en ces temps confus… il semble que le ciel ne sache pas trop quoi faire ces jours-ci: être bleu et ensoleillé, gris et pluvieux ou blanc et neigeux… j’imagine que c’est ce que nous devons escompter d’un jeune printemps de Nouvelle-Angleterre.
The sun - Le soleil (masculine)/
The sky - Le ciel (masculine)/
The rain - La pluie (feminine)/
The wind - Le vent (masculine)/
The snow - La neige (feminine)/
The cloud(s) - Le(s) nuage(s) (masculine)/
The storm - La tempête (feminine)/
The thunderstorm - L’orage (masculine)/
The lighting - L’éclair(masculine)/
The thunder - Le tonnerre (masculine)/
The rainbow - L’arc en ciel (masculine)/
The frost - Le gel (masculine)/
The hail - La grêle (feminine)/
Now, you will be able to speak about the “rain and good weather”!
Maintenant, vous pouvez parler de la “pluie et du beau temps”!
Tags Mot, Word | 24 comments
Posted by Frenya
Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:47:00 GMT
Well Spring did not last too long, a week and “Pouff” it is gone! Back to Winter!
Fortunately, Eric and I could enjoy a very nice Spring day on Sunday. We went for a little walk along the Quechee Gorge. The trails were not bad at all for such an early time in the season and it seemed that nobody had the idea of going there…everything was nice and quiet. After the gorge, we followed the trail to the meadow which was still completely open, the view was gorgeous. We found several little clearings surrounded by pine trees (probably Eastern White Pines) where we could enjoy the sun without the wind as well as silence only cut here and there by some friendly bird.
We also went on climbing a hill to check on the view. This could have been a great idea if I did not wear completely flat sole shoes. I ended up testing my balance skills on “2 or 4 legs” (and believe me, I have none of these skills). Eric and I develop what we know now as the Hill Waltz to proceed as safely as possible down the hill…
But overall this afternoon was just lovely and it was just wonderful to be able to enjoy the outdoors so quietly and early in the season.
Et bien le printemps n’a pas duré très longtemps, une semaine et Pouff il est parti! Nous voilà de nouveau en hiver.
Heureusement, Eric et moi avons pû profité d’une journée de printemps magnifique dimanche dernier. Nous sommes allés faire une petite promenade le long de la Gorge de Quechee (dans le Vermont). Les chemins n’étaient pas mauvais du tout même si c’était un peu tôt dans la saison et on avait l’impression que personne n’avait eu l’idée d’aller là-bas… tout était agréable et calme. une fois en bas de la gorge, nous avons suivi le chemin jusqu’à une prairie. La vue était magnifique et portait loin parce que la végétation est encore en hivernage. Nous avons trouvé plusieurs petites clairières entourées de pins (probablement le pin blanc de l’est), où nous avons pû profiter du soleil sans le désagrément du vent ainsi que du silence seulement entrecoupé ici et là par un oiseau gazouilleur.
Nous avons continué notre aventure en “escaladant” une colline pour voir la vue du sommet. Cela aurait pû être une idée merveilleuse si je ne portais pas des chaussures à semelles complètement plates. J’ai fini par tester mes talents d’équilibriste (et je n’en ai aucun!) sur “2 ou 4 jambes”. Eric et moi avons développé ce que nous avons nommé la Valse de la Colline de manière à atteindre la bas de la colline sans encombre…
Globalement, cet après-midi fut des plus agréables et c’était juste formidable de pouvoir profiter de la nature si tôt dans la saison.
Tags English, Français, Personal | 12 comments
Posted by Frenya
Sun, 26 Feb 2006 22:03:00 GMT
This week-end was very special.
Not only we had a snow fall like we had not have since the beginning of this bizarre winter (at least 7 inches on the ground, entre 20 et 25 centimètres), but also a couple of friends, Eric and I sat down comfortably (or at least as much as possible) and watched the extented versions of all three Lord of the Rings movies one after the other. This adventure lasted a good 12 hours plus pauses because unlike in a movie theater… we had pauses!
That was a long time to be seating down… but really worth it. I never watched all three movies together like that before and really, the storytelling makes more sense and details are more present and vivid in the mind.
When you have a snowy winter day and not much to do, I strongly recommend this kind of entertainment… Also, doing a movie marathon is great excuse to curl under a nice warm blanky and sip a cup of hot chocolate!
Tags Personal | 28 comments
Posted by Frenya
Thu, 23 Feb 2006 11:52:00 GMT
This article shows how two scientists worked to improve Einstein’s theory of gravity in order to also fit the theory of the Dark Matter… and that by saying that gravity changes with space distances. I think this is really cool!
Tags Science | 7 comments
Posted by Frenya
Thu, 23 Feb 2006 11:45:00 GMT
I thought that this article would interest the geeks I know! Have a look at this quantum computer which can solve problems without running the algorithms!
Tags Science | 20 comments
