Today in Mumbai

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Impressions of the first day.
We had a great day learning much about India from just one school: American School of Bombay(ASB). We never learned why the school kept the same name after the city changed to Mumbai in 1996. For those of you that are not familiar with international schools—they exist in every major city to serve diplomats and foreign nationals. In this case it is about 50% kids of Americans living abroad, and the other 50% are those with American citizen ship, or other foreign nationals who want an American style school. We met with a couple of the administrators and many of the teachers to discuss all the current initiatives.
There were many American teachers at ASB, from Illinois, Boston, California. Most had been living overseas for a long time, at various schools. One of the key administrators is from Venezuela, but except for her accent, this meeting could have taken place at many independent schools in America—the issues seemed remarkably the same—space and time. How to best use the available classroom space and school schedule to get the most in, while still leaving a small bit of time for balance. I had to remind myself a couple of times that we were indeed in Mumbai, one of the fastest growing cities in the world. There will buildings under construction everywhere. Right in front of ASB 4 high-rises have gone up in 2 years.
On the way we saw many neighborhoods, and like many cities, Mumbai is a series of great contrasts. Grand banks and hotels right in the middle of slums and shanties. Little Motor cabs (called autos) were everywhere. Stop lights seemed to be merely a suggestion. I asked a native of Mumbai--one of the teachers we with and she said Mumbai is MUCH better than Delhi about traffic--so that gives us something to look forward to.
It only took us 25 minutes to get there in the morning, but almost an hour in the afternoon rush hour traffic.
At the beginning of our journey, we know we have tons to learn to even begin to understand the rich history of languages and cultures that are just outside our hotel and some of the schools we will visit. Off to Pune tomorrow, and then the United World College.
Peace to all
~matt

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Photos

In Front of American School of Bombay
Cecilia Nipp of Ursuline Academy of Dallas and me in front of ASB

Street near the Leela Hotel
the rainy season in Mumbai

Comments

[Jim Stuart]

Good show, Matt. Look forward to reading your reports.

[Kathy]

Mumbai
Thank you for the blog ~ it is quite a treat to keep up with your amazing travels! Keep washing your hands and watch what you eat~ I had to get in those 'mom' comments! The pictures are wonderful too. Safe and sane travels! xoxoxo