The next day was a holiday in India (similar to Labor Day) and so Adam was lucky enough to get to see some of India before jumping into his work week. One of his co-workers (whom he’d only just met) offered to take Adam around for the day sight seeing. This same co-worker also invited Adam to celebrate the national holiday with his family – which he enjoyed immensely. Below are some pics from his adventures.
Most of the reason Adam was in India was to do some training and one on ones with a newly hired group of Adobe employees that will be involved in expanding the Analytics business Internationally. Adam really enjoyed getting to know everyone and he brought them all some American chocolates like Recees Peanut butter cups, Snickers, Kit Kats, Twix, and a variety of other things to try as well as some other gifts (I forget what). They all really liked the candy and teasingly complained that Adam was going to make them all fat. But that didn’t stop them from trying out more each day when Adam brought it out.
One of the things that I heard about later that impressed me about Adam was how he introduced himself to his new hires. Apparently he brought up our blog and showed everyone pictures of our family and then told his employees that his family was the most important thing in the world to him and why he goes to work each day. That we are what makes him tick and what makes his world go round and that family was what mattered most to him. I think that instantly endeared a lot of people to him and helped them see Adam for who he is. In fact, when Adam left after his two weeks were up his team had all gone in on several gifts for him including a nice Indian floor lamp. He was very touched and flattered that they would be so thoughtful.
Adam got to take the whole team out for lunch one day at a pretty posh restaurant. He loved the waterfall in the background but said that it was so close that it was getting people wet on the far right end so people had to keep scooting down. ha!
This picture is back at his hotel room and is a whole slew of little sticky notes that I wrote to Adam and hid in his suitcases in random places. They were everywhere from inside his shoes, to inside his deodorant, to tucked into his toothbrush. He said he loved finding the notes at random times and that they really made his weeks away less lonely. He put them all up on his bathroom mirror as he found them to remind him how much he was loved and missed.
One of the biggest highlights for Adam during his time in India was having a weekend to PLAY! Adam actually has a very good friend that he went to Graduate School with who is from India and who lives in Mumbai and so he and Amit made arrangements for Adam to fly to Mumbai for the weekend to visit! Amit picked Adam up from the airport and then they spent the evening seeing the city. Then on Saturday Adam was invited to Amits parents home for lunch where he got to meet a lot of Amits family. He really really enjoyed his time with Amit and loved that it felt as if a day hadn’t gone by (even though 8.5 YEARS have gone by since they both graduated). It definitely was a wonderful weekend well spent! Below are some pictures Adam took while sightseeing in Mumbai.
Amit took Adam out on a tourist boat where they could get a different view of the city. If I remember right the ships captain got mad at Adam because he thought Ad was taking pictures of their navel base (which apparently was a no no). Luckily Amit was able to explain things to the captain though and get it all worked out. But definitely an interesting moment for Adam. He said he was a bit worried for a moment.
While Adam was in India one of the things he arranged for was to have a “driver” take him to and from work each day. Apparently its actually less expensive to hire a driver for the entire day than to just get a taxi cab and its a whole lot safer too. So thats what he did. If I remember right it was only like $25 a DAY to hire a driver and that driver would stay with him the entire day and take him wherever he needed to be. He was sure grateful for this as he said it was nutso CRAZY just being a passenger in a car in India – he can’t even imagine trying to drive himself anywhere. The roads and laws were insane!
All in all, I think Adam really enjoyed his time in India and he had a great time experiencing a new country and culture. He absolutely loved the people he met over there and the FOOD. It took him a good 2-3 weeks to like all his normal favorite foods I cook for him because he was so used to so much SPICE and FLAVOR that everything I made seemed bland – but his taste buds seem to be back to normal now. 🙂 He is really loving this new job too and all the opportunities its giving him to really drive a business and make it a success. He is loving being able to use his International business degree and do some international travel as well (although 2 weeks away was long for him too).
We sure are grateful for Adam and all the hard work he does to support our family. I’m so thankful that he goes to work each day so that I don’t have to – and that his job allows me to stay home with my babies. How very blessed we are!