Sunday, June 12, 2011

New Home, New Roomie, Manager visit!

As some may know, I have recently moved apartments in Bangalore! Target made the decision to move all expats/travelers into the same complex, the Grand Mercure. I am now in a building with five other Target employees. Having others to interact with on a consistent basis is great.

Those of us that live together at the Mercure are somewhat of a little Brady Bunch. There are two younger girls, one bachelor, two older dads, and an younger woman with the cutest baby alive. We meet for dinner/drinks often, especially on the weekends. It's pretty comical and entertaining.

Along with having the others around, I have had quite an upgrade in amenities...two restaurants, a spa, a pool, and a full A/C filled gym. I am also on the same floor as my friend Casey, which is really nice. She is super fun and we get along really well. I am thankful for her and know my experience here would not be the same without her. I love the new place and am glad Target made the change. It was definitely for the best.




With my move, I have acquired a roommate, Tiffany, who works at Target as well. She just arrived late this Friday and will stay for two months. She makes our little Brady Bunch jump to seven total, with three younger girls. I spent the weekend helping her explore Bangalore.

My Manager from Minneapolis was also visiting this week/weekend so he was able to experience the city with Tiffany and I too. Saturday we started with lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Then we spent most of the day shopping in markets and on the famous Commercial Street. Post shopping, we went to UB City for dinner at Shiro, which is a Japanese restaurant and amazing!



Today, we rounded out the weekend by going to brunch at the Leela Hotel, which was to die for! Honestly, so much Western food and an entire table of desserts. It was so yummy, but I immediately regretted the full plate of desserts I ate as I got a real bad tummy ache!

Again, a busy, but good weekend! Singapore up next!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Training Graduation!

With two months in India under my belt, I am almost half way through my experience. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. Work keeps me busy, as does exploring and traveling.

This week at work, we reached a huge milestone at Target India! Our first class of Merchandising Presentation Analysts graduated our New Hire training program. I have been working on developing this program since January and to see it executed successfully has been worth the wait.

To celebrate, I had a graduation ceremony for my New Hires. I didn't realize how emotional I would get! I am truly going to miss all of the team members I have had in training through out the last five weeks.




As my current batch of New Hires completes training, my second batch starts on Monday! Bring on more full days of training, smiling until my face hurts, and talking until I can't speak any more!

After my assignment is complete, I don't know how I am going to leave my new teams and new friends. Likely with many tears.