Bowling with the team

So, I have got some complaints that nothing has happened in this blog since, well, my last post. I agree completely with those who told me so! I try to make it up tou you with this rather long post. Too much time has passed…but nothing had happened! The last two weeks were just normal work at SAP, and basically doing nothing on the weekend. Doing nothing includes reading, of course, and I have to admit that this can be done much cheaper in India than in Germany.

In the city you can find quite some second hand bookshops. Even thoug already used, the books are generally in a fair condition. Also, prices are really low, with an average price of less than 100 Rs (2 Euros). Best is, they also buy books, so I can just bring it back after I’ve read it and (hopefully) get at least some of the money back. After all, I can’t just pack another few dozen books in my suitcase on the trip home (if anybody has found a way one can – tell the world!).

So, yesterday (friday) evening, I went bowling with the rest of my team. Unlike such events in Germany, SAP payed for the whole evening 🙂 We went to the „Amoeba“, a bowling alley including an arcade. I have not eaten anything there, so I don’t know if they deserver the name, or where it comes from :). It was fun to go finally meet the colleagues outside the office, and we had quite a nice evening. My bowling was really bad that day, but it’s not about winning, is it?

It continued with dinner at the „Ebony“, in the 12th floor of the Barton Centre, on of the only real skyscrapers in Bangalore. Skyscraper meaning it has 13 floors, which makes it the highest building in the area. Most buildings in Bangalore are about 5 floors high, and there are only about half a dozen buildings which actually stick out of this.

The „Ebony“ seems to be a really good restaurand, as I was told by my colleagues to come here in case I go out with a larger group. The food was very good, and the evening there was fun as well. Some of the people performed a little karaoke show, singing some Indian songs (which I of course did not understand). Being asked to sing a German song, I had to find out (how shameful) that the only German song I can sing by heart is the German national anthem. Well, at least I know that! I really have to learn some others, in case this comes up again.

As usual, the dinner was buffet style, with peanuts and chips as starters. I don’t know exactly what I ate this evening, but it sure was very good. Dessert was some peanut icecream (it looks like mint icecream, so make sure you don’t confuse this!), caramel cake (tasty!), and some strange Indian dessert, which was also very tasty.

The evening was finished off with the goodbye party of a SAP intern here in India who also stays at the guest house. He has finished „serving his term“ in India now, and he threw a little party on the roof of the guesthouse (I was definately on top of Bangalore this night ;)). There was no grill available, so we improvised with a kind of large sacrificial bowl over which we put some metal grid (imagine the looks on the Indian’s faces when they saw this setup). The food was complemented with a wide array of beverages. Make that beer, beer, whiskey, beer vodka, and some moor beer :). The beer most widely drunk in Bangalore is Kingfisher, which I have been told is quite good. Since it was a mixed Indian-German group (about 50:50), it was also interesting and a nice finish for the evening. Imagine, one of the guys there just came back from another town, with a 5 hour ride on his motorbike! He only arrived about midnight …

So, I hope you all hat a nice Friday evening as well. After all, it’s weekend!

P.S.: In case you wonder why you did not read this post before: I backdated it in order to keep up a coherent timeline and to not disturb the space-time-continuum 😉