How we really began?

Well! The last post didnt tell much about how we all began. We arrived in Phoenix at around 7:55 in the night on 9th of April. And as soon as we were there, Deb (Right of Dr.Upendra), David(Right of Deb) and Paul (Right of Rajesh) and Jeff (GSE Team member of USA - By the way he is taking the photograph) were there with friends to pick us up. They all stowed us into a van with a lot of food and water and took us to Residence Inn, a beautiful hotel.

We were checked into the hotel and we knew we had to spend a day and a half there before we met our hosts. This was time for rest. We all went to our rooms, unpacked a few essentials, ate what food was given us and went to bed. The next day morning was beautiful. I got up early and went on a photo walk. Some of the pictures can be found in the previous post. The morning was beautiful and refreshing. We had seen the previous night that the hotel was managed by Mr. Kalpesh Patel an Indian. We met Mr. Kalpesh and his beautiful wife Bhavana at breakfast and had a pleasant chat with them. We found them very interesting and lively. They had other chores for the day and therefore left. We didnt meet them till the next day! Such is the nature of their work.

Jeff came to meet us and take us to the base ball game. Base ball is very famous in America as Cricket is in India. Jeff met us at the hotel and took us to the base ball game. But before that, we had to do some shopping for electronic items and some books, so he took us to Wal Mart and from there took as to A J Foods, which specializes in variety of food. We had our lunch there and started towards the Stadium. A word here about Jeff is not out of place. If any person in the world can be given credit for the energy that he possesses, its Jeff. Very helpful, very modest, and a very nice person to be with. He spoke to us with great enthusiasm and helped us understand various parts of the game. He was with us in the stadium throughout, then took us out to Macayo's (A Mexican Restaurant) for dinner and helped us back to the hotel. All the while he was so enthusiastic and had never had a drop in his energy level. That is Jeff for you. Thank you Jeff, for being there with us! We look forward for a long association with you.

After the lunch, we all went to the base ball stadium called the Ballpark. It was a great stadium and a great game. Initially we had difficulty in understanding it, but finally we got the hang of it. We cheered and jeered with the crowd and had a ball. We also met the Australian Team and said hello to each other. The game was between Diamond Backs and Pirates and the D Backs are the favorites as they are the Arizona team. We are going to witness a second match during our stay and all of us are looking forward to it. As Sushma says "Lets Go Diamond Backs Lets Go". Hope they win the game atleast next time (which obviously means that they lost the one we saw)!!
As rajinikant says "Kannaaa!! Its all in the game!"

We came back to the hotel and had a refreshing sleep for the night. The next day morning also was a very pleasant one. We all went out for a walk and had fun. We clicked some good photographs of the nature and each other and planned for the day and week ahead. We had received copies of the latest itenerary from Don and were looking forward for a great time ahead. We discussed a lot of things during our walk. Presentation strategies, general behavior, general state of affairs in the usa, comaprison with india and other known asian countries, etc., and finally decided that India should dominate the world. We tried to figure out a few world domination strategies, but kept them for later as more important things need to be finalized for the day.

Bhavana and Kalpesh met us and gave us some compliments as we stayed in their hotel. They also made us meett their crew, and helped us understand the process of satisfaction of customers.The couple are very warm and invited us repeatedly to stay longer. They also offered to cook some Indian food for breakfast, when we said no. We met their wonderful crew while they were training them to be customer centric. The crew was not only well trained I.

Deb came and picked us up and took us to another restaurant for lunch. After lunch we met with a lot of rotarians and planned for the next day. So! This is all about the whole thing.