Day 104: And the Winner is…

Thursday, December 17

The sweet Indian accent reminding me it’s time to get up work for a second morning in a row! I made it to the gym around 1:15 pm and Prakesh was there with a smile, ready to work me like a camel. He decided that a circuit training routine is the best course of action. After a quick warm-up on the treadmill and some mild stretching, the “fun” began. Oh My Goodness! That man went all “Biggest Loser” on my tail!

He had me doing biceps, triceps, quads, calves, hamstrings, back, chest, shoulders, and abs all in rapid secession. When I say rapid, I don’t mean the actual exercises, no those were slow, drawn out, muscle draining movements. The rapid part came in to play when moving from one exercise to the next. I guess that’s why they call it circuit. Once the circuit was completed twice, it was back to the treadmill for some cardio. Tomorrow is just cardio, but I’m pretty sure he has plans to get my heart rate on up there!

Work was a lot of fun tonight too! The questions are reducing which is always a plus, and means that the floor support has done their job. But at the end of the shift, the entire collections team went downstairs to the new part of the building for some R&R.

First off, the new part of the building is very nice and is where I will be for the last month of my time in India. But beyond that, we got great news, had some interesting activities, and saw some great kids get recognized for their hard work.

The great news, both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve are going to be half days! This is super exciting, especially the Christmas Eve because I should be able to make it to mid-night Christmas Eve church service! Plus, since the days change while at work, I would have had to actually work the first three and half hours of Christmas morning!! I was lucky enough to get all of New Years Eve off since Devin will be here, but nonetheless, it’s nice to know I won’t be missing as much work and that everyone else will get to welcome 2010 with their family and friends.

The best part of the evening though was the arm wrestling completion! Never in the States would such a thing take place, partly because the office is mostly women, but man these Indians know how to have a good time! It was hysterical to watch these 19 to 21 year old boys see who the machoest of them all was! I haven’t laughed that hard in a long, long time!

Needless to say, today was truly a great day! I’m not sure if my abs are sore from “The Light” or from the laughing, but either way, I’m happy. Add to that the fact that Devin will be here in less than two weeks, and I’m on Cloud Nine! ;-)

With Love,
Eli
Countdown to Devin: 13 days…