Blogs from Maharashtra, India, Asia - page 137

We are in Mumbai, now. It's pleasantly hot...the streets are teeming with people, vendors and traffic. We woke up late today after the 22 hour-long train trip from Delhi. It takes a few days for your mind to arrive in India. Our bodies arrived at Delhi airport in the midst of the coldest weather here in 70 years. A pall of wood smoke hung over the city as people (mainly the poor) were burning anything to stay warm. The "hordes of humanity" as Darla put it were waiting outside the airport even though it was after midnight. Fortunately, our guest house had sent a driver who was holding a sign with our names on it. We drove through the dark streets to the Master Paying Guest House in a quiet suburb. Our room was cold - ... read more

There is a logistical problem at my new job. Correction. There are logistical problemsssss with my new job. Funny how different things look immediately after I've started working with Akanksha. Before I left, they seemed so...together. Now, it's just a big jumbled mess going on here. The first problem is that the organization doesn't seem to train their teachers. For those of you who think "Those who can't do, teach" and therefore teaching is a simple thing...you're wrong. An untrained teacher is bad. Very very bad. In this case, where the organization runs 30+ seperate centers spread throughout Mumbai and Pune (and let me tell you, Mumbai is a HUGE city), it leads to serious problems due to the board's lack of ability to really see what goes on at each center. Instead of receiving a ... read more

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11 As our plane circles and dips on its final approach into Mumbai, at around 12:40 am local time, with my own body clock all shot, ten and a half hours behind and out of kilter, I resolved to let India teach me, over the next two months, as much as I can absorb of its arts, including architecture, its spiritual and religious life, its sheer geography and the relics of its recent and ancient experiences with foreign influences, all of which it has subsumed over the years to emerge as the largest democracy in the world. Our reception through the Mumbai airport terminal was reassuringly smooth: immigration, baggage pickup, customs, currency exchange and my first exposure to local toilets went just like they were expecting and prepared for us, including our waiting taxi ... read more

Yes, we're behind on our blog, what can we say?! Mumbai was full of fantastic family times. Reconnecting with everyone was really special. It is always overwhelming to see how much family will go out of their way to take care of us and show us a good time. We ate until we thought we would never eat again, laughed a lot, and loved all the tender loving care that restored our spirits and prepared us to get our there and travel some more. To open the photo album, double click on the first photo.... read more

I went shopping today again. I was shopping for eyeglasses. I heard you could get them here in India for a good price. We went to Crossroads Mall near Haj Ali. The one glasses store that was open had a pretty good selection, and the prices were okay. They were asking 2400 Rupees for the frames and another 1000 for the lenses. That is cheaper than I would get back home. I will think about it, and probably come back to get the glasses. Then we went to an indoor bazzaar just down the road from the mall. I guess it was mostly full of smuggled and immitation goods. There were some good perfumes, PC games, and watches there, and I would like to go back and look a little more. I'm planning to come back ... read more