Traveled to India for work back in early March.... Overall, it was INCREDIBLE! My "host" team was great, the hotel was awesome, the service all around was top notch and I felt safer than I did all the years i worked in NYC (fancy that). Want to know the greatest part of it all? Not feeling limited because of my size / weight... So much so that I was not shy to buy local attire and go shopping with a colleague and have her play photographer, not that I am not fully capable of a good old fashion selfie (tons of those to come)... Our team's color was "Yellow" so my kurta color selection was limited ..which was a saving grace - I would still be trying to narrow it down up to now, ha!
 |
| did't love this one so mcuh |
 |
| bought this one and wore it to work! |
Not worrying if I'll be the biggest person in the department, or the chubbiest visitor that ever came from the states or worrying if people would watch the 'fat girl eat'. None of that harassed me one bit - I was a little paranoid about the 'carb-rich' diet and eating out every night for 2.5 weeks, but as it turned out I did just fine. Actually lost a few pounds while I was there and surprisingly exercised 2-3 days a week and participated in a team event onsite... check me out -- looking like...
 |
| "Holi Celebration" |
It was quite the experience - the time difference and jet lag was a drag, but traveling to a foreign country alone has its perks - you get to SEE and experience the place with minimal distraction from others (I mean that in the nicest way possible) .. What I mean is you are literally moving at your own pace you focus on things that you may not otherwise have seen because you were looking at something else. I got in some damn good people watching - as people there did a fine job watching me - hahaa! Once upon a time I would have gotten hung up on whether they looked because they were apalled by how big I am/was or what, but for a first I found myself making eye contact looking and staring back in bewilderment.. Still cannot figure out if it was because I am an African American woman, or what - but after the first few days I got past it. Can't lie didnt' encounter another one of me while I was there, so maybe that was the case. Evem at one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world, I stood out a bit...
 |
| Me at the Taj Mahal - it's even more incredible in real life! |
Even dining out alone didn't mortify me as it has in the past. Even with 3-4 plates in front of me because i wanted to TASTE everything.. Oddly enough no one looked at me strange either. My hots colleauges that I was bizarre and didn't eat enough they kept trying to feed me -they laughed when we went out for Pizza and I only ate the cheese and toppings. They cajoled as I struggled to eat one single samosa (I LOVE THEM) though I felt guilty having even the ONE because it was all veggies - not a lick of protein. They got a kick out of my eating habits and patterns... Until they saw my before picture, then they all got serious and said "OMG would have never thought that was you if you weren't showing me the picture yourself!" That is usually the sobering moment for everyone. So how and what did I eat - I ate from the buffet for brunch daily (I worked from 1pm -10pm local time) so I had my mornings free which is dangerous for me, but I digress. Ate from the lobby buffet daily food was fine, I just am not a huge fan of bacon every day and their chicken sausages never tasted particularly cooked, so I did what any greedymon would do - I got creative. I would find cheese and any sauteed veggies and spoil msyelf with one slice of toast with a little jelly. I had yogurt based smoothies in small increments. I wont' like after passing by the pastries day after day I finally decided to give them a whirl - they had the cutest mini donuts... Fortunately for me they all SUCKED!! They were stale and didnt warrant the full consumption ( sigh of relief) !! (progress... not perfection)
 |
| donut, peach preserves, veggie dumpling, lo mein and mango smoothie |
Fortunately because of surgery consumption levels are still fairly small (thank God!) so even when I eat carbs (or anything else for that matter) I can only go but SO far - blessing if there every was one! I was home sick to say the least, but had some of the best convesations via FaceTime and text with my DH - I missed him and my mom terribly. As I mentioned the 10.5 hour (pre daylight savings time) time difference was rough because it was inconvenient for everyone to chat. Either super early in the morning for me or for them.. but we braved it and it was worth every hour of sleep I missed (and I missed quite a bit despite my early afternoon start tim in the office).
The flight - I thought I'd go crazy... Between freezing to death on the way back and sleeping and watching movies I could NOT get home fast enough - no matter how great the accommodations you miss sleeping in your own bed when it all boils down to it. Overall awesome experience and I would do it again tomrrow.. well maybe no tomorrow.. more like next year - there are so many details I would love to share but ... this post would be longer than it already is. Need to squeeze in a few pics and maybe have an India part two - The Stuff, the people, the sights or something... For now will leave you with a few pics...
