Checklist

Today I got chased down the hotel hallway by a bat. Since this didn't completely surprise me, I figure I've seen too much. So, I decided to make a checklist.

Number of animals attacking me in hotel: 3 (rats, cockroach, bat)
Number of times my power went out in apartment: too many to count (2 due to toaster though)
Number of times water was shut off: 2
Number of movies I can watch in a trip from Minneapolis to India: 6
Number of planes I've been on during this assignment: 12

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure there are other stats that I'll add as I think of them.

Last Weekend

Well, I just had my last weekend in Mumbai. Leaving is bittersweet. I can't wait to see my friends and family but I'll miss the people I've met here. Being my last weekend, I had a virtual checklist I wanted to finish up. I went to a movie, dinner at Out of the Blue in Bandra, Drinks/Dancing at Gadda Da Vida on Juhu Beach, Brunch at Indigo in South Mumbai and one last mani/pedi in Powai. All of it was fantastic but I want to tell you a bit more about my movie experience. At first I wasn't going to put this on the list because I thought, how different could it be? After talking to another expat, I knew I had to go. You buy your ticket by seat so you have an actual seat assignment. I sprung for the expensive seat in the last row. It was 50 extra rupees but it was also a lazy boy. How could I resist. The movie was Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and in 3D. The movie had an intermission about half way through so you could take a break and order food if you want. I ordered two delicacies: a cup of corn (not popcorn but a cup of actual cooked corn mixed with salt - very tasty) and a pizza cone (a savory cone filled with pizza topping). Neither of these have made their way to US theaters yet. When I purchased the corn, I got it right away but with the pizza cone they delivered it to my seat after the second half of the movie had started. Now, since I had never had a pizza cone, eating my first in complete darkness was a bit scary. Except for the ketchup on top, it was delicious. I can't get used to ketchup as a pizza condiment though.

Toaster

What happens when you push down the lever of a toaster? Well if you believe Weird Al Yankovic, the wires get hot. Alas, that is what I always believed too. But apparently, sometimes the power goes out. Yes, I blew power to my entire apartment. I called immediately for assistance since a breaker box was no where to be found. When help arrived, they fixed it and had me push down the lever again and boom, out went the power. I have gotten a new toaster out of the experience. My old one served me well but this latest behavior is unacceptable.

Delhi & Agra

Sorry for the long break in blog activity. I was pretty scarred from the cockroach attack :) Last week I was lucky to have a visitor from home, my fiance. We spent several days in Mumbai but also visited Delhi and Agra. I was surprised by how clean and green Delhi was. Driving up to Parliment, it had parkways and trees between the traffic lanes. It was beautiful! Sites we saw include: India Gate, Red Fort, Lotus Temple, Raj Ghat, Capital Buildings, Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, and the Baby Taj. The Taj Mahal lived up to expectations and mine were pretty high. The only downside was the entry. As a tax paying Indian resident, I am supposed to pay the resident price for entry when I show my resident book. I have yet to have this work. This means instead of 20 rupees, I had to pay 750 rupees. Frustrating when you have no recourse as there isn't exactly a complaint hotline. I'm including some pictures so you have an idea of what we saw. The upper left picture is of the Taj. The upper right picture is of the judgement area in Agra fort. The lower right picture is of a street in Dehli with interesting electricity line organization.

Time to come home

Well, I had my worst fear happen today. Maybe not worst but definitely up there. I had just woken up and was wondering about the backroom when I noticed something on my foot. After my eyes focused a bit, I realized it was a cockroach! A very large cockroach on my very bare foot! I screamed, shook it off and when it started running around, I covered it with a towel. It is now locked in the bathroom. Hotel staff is on the way. I can handle furry rodents but large bugs I can not handle.

National Park

Today I had a very different experience than yesterday. I went to the Buddhist Caves (Kanheri) about 45 minutes north of my apartment. They were really fascinating, much more interesting than the caves on Elephanta Island and much closer. Again, the monkeys sort of stole the show. We fed them for a bit on the drive up to the caves. We ended up hiking to most of the 100+ caves. Besides being interesting, it was a great work out! After the caves, we went on the Tiger/Lion safari in the park. The two tigers and one lion we saw were all sleeping. It was about 12:30 in the afternoon, I don't really blame them. No pictures of the safari because the animals are too far away for the pictures to mean much.

Reality

Saturday I toured the largest slum in Asia, Dharavi, which just happens to be in Mumbai. I can't say the tour was fun but it was very interesting. We saw two sides of the slum, the industrial side and the residential side. The primary industry of Dharavi is recycling in all forms. They recycle plastic, oil cans, paint cans, leather, etc. Honestly, the hardest part of touring this side was seeing the toxicity. They burn the labels off the paint and oil cans and boil off whatever was inside. Melting the plastic and recoloring it also created a lot of smoke and odd liquids. I felt bad because I was uncomfortable breathing the fumes for the two hours I was there and the people that live there breath it all the time. Especially the workers who live over their workshops.

Most of the 1 million plus residents live in what is called the residential area. Here the houses are packed in. Each one is about 10 square meters. The alleys that run between are about 18 inches wide. Even I felt very claustrophobic walking through. Only 1% of the residents have toilets so the rest share one public toilet where you have to bring your own water. Right outside of the public toilet is also where the trash is dumped. The trash pile seemed to be a favorite place for the children to play. All of the kids we saw were very happy, telling each of us an enthusiastic "Hi" at every turn. The guide said that when the trash pile gets too tall, they burn it. Again, not great for the environment. It was disturbing to hear that there are government workers paid to clean the toilets and carry away the trash but they just don't do it.

All in all, I was amazed at how organized the slum is. I was also impressed with the very strong sense of community there. Most disturbing for me was the pollution and how dirty it was. However, I really wanted to see this ever present side of Mumbai. I've seen the luxurious side but wanted to see this as well. One misconception is that only the poor live in slums. You may be surprised to know that most of the residents work in the city and even in many of the call centers you may talk to on a regular basis. Most of the houses have satellite dishes and electricity. Almost all of the residents have cell phones.

Mango Taste Test 2011

We are getting into Mango season here in Mumbai. As one of the only fruits grown in Mumbai, I knew I needed to try it. What I didn't know was how many kinds of Mango there are. In the grocery store I went to, there were five variations. One of my team members was able to eliminate 2 right away leaving 3 for the taste test: Badami, Alphanso, and Tapuri. One of the mangoes (Alphanso) was about 3 times the cost of the others so it was the front runner right from the start. I recruited Mike, currently visiting from Minneapolis as well, to be my fellow taste tester. After trying all variations, Alphanso was indeed the best. It wasn't even close. It was by far the sweetest and you can tell from the picture, the most colorful (left most mango). I fancy myself a true mango connoisseur now. I'll probably repeat this test in a month to see if the results stand. I'll keep you posted.

It's Raining

No, not outside but rather in my apartment. We're months away from monsoon season but my ceiling decided it couldn't wait. Unfortunately I didn't notice it until I had quite a puddle. The hotel staff fixed the leak (apparently from the AC unit) quickly. It was a good display of separation of duties. The maintenance man came and fixed the leak and the housekeeping team was then called to clean up the mess.

Who Knew

I've been having problems with the corners of my mouth since just days before my visit to the US. The corners seem to have cuts that are pretty painful. At first I thought it was due to stress since there has been so much going on preparing for the trip and then actually traveling. However, when nothing seemed to heal them, I did some research. Apparently, my problem is the leading symptom of a Vitamin B deficiency. When I looked up sources of vitamin B, it made sense since the best sources are red meat and dairy products. Both of which I don't eat/drink at all in India. I visited the chemist (pharmacy) today to get some supplements. Hopefully, they will take care of it and I won't look like I have a clown mouth anymore. Oh the things you take for granted when you can eat/drink anything you want.

Yada Yada Yada

I finally made it back to Mumbai after a very long 24 hrs of travel. For anyone traveling to Mumbai, my advice to you is avoid the Paris airport. There is no comparison to Amsterdam. The Paris airport is so spread out, I had to be bussed from the plane to the arrival gate, from the arrival gate to the departure terminal, and from the departure terminal to the plane. Each bus ride was packed and about 10 minutes long. I also had the wonderful experience of sitting next to a man that loved to talk about himself, how much money he and his children had made, how working for a company was a waste of time, how statistics is the only way to make a decision, yada yada yada. Even when I had my headphones on listening to a movie he would interrupt to talk to me.

Jet lag seems to be much worse this time. I can't seem to get a handle on how best to handle it. I'm hoping a good night's sleep tonight makes everything better!

Paris Airport

I'm halfway through my journey back to Mumbai and have made it to the Paris airport. After a surprisingly long bus ride to terminal C, I only made one faux pas with security. Trying to find the lounge, I accidentally went down the wrong steps and found myself in the security back room. Quickly realizing my mistake, I hitailed it out of there so I didn't land in French prison. I eventually found the lounge and am enjoying a nice French cappicino. One flight to go. I was adding it up and I'll have had 14 flights in 6 months by the time I return from my honeymoon. Pretty crazy year.

To and From

I am now in the Minneapolis airport waiting to head back to Mumbai. It has been a productive two weeks back in the states. I had many meetings while here and started onboarding for my new job as Mobility Program Manager. On a personal front, I did my taxes, addressed and sent wedding invitations, had a dress fitting, attended my wedding shower, wrote and sent thank yous, visited my matron of honor's newborn daughter, attended a neighborhood cleaning party, finalized the wedding menu, cake, and rehearsal dinner menu, and even got to see my fiance, family, and friends a little. I do feel better about the wedding after being here for a couple weeks. At least things are in motion. I can't wait to get the final count and really start checking things off. See all of my Mumbai friends soon, and I'll miss everyone I'm leaving behind. 6 more weeks of adventure and then it's home for good. The end will be bittersweet.

Cricket Mania

I'm not even sure how to explain the phenomena that is cricket in India. Then, when you have a game between India and their biggest rivals Pakistan, the excitement is over the top. It is like the World Series and Superbowl rolled into one! The picture included is during the end of India's batting while the snack was being served in the cafeteria. Although you could here cheering throughout the match while sitting in the office. I feel privileged to have been here during such an exciting time. I flew back to the US the day before India won the Cricket World Cup in Mumbai but I was assured I witnessed "the final before the final".

New Friend

Today I met a new friend! I was all set to spend the day relaxing and catching up on work. When I went to the pool to do a little reading and exercising, I got to chatting with a girl about my age from Scotland. She is here for work and the dates of our assignments are almost exactly the same! She was saying the last time she was in Mumbai she met all kinds of people but this time, no one. So of course I responded with, well you can meet me :) She has a ton of restaurant recommendations and tonight we tried out one. It was a beautiful Italian restaurant and infinitely less expensive than the hotel. I should have a lot more choices to show off to my visitor in May. In turn, I was able to share my bakery and produce store finds. The International Relations exercise continues as I expand my reach to Scotland!

P.S. In the spirit of irony, the hotel ran out of hot water today so the pool was actually warmer than my shower. Interesting situation

True Thankfulness

One of the most touching moments I've experienced since I've arrived is singing "Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart" in a church service this last weekend. To watch people that by US standards have little sing that song with passion was beautiful. The service I attended was held in both Hindi and English which was a different experience. The songs we sang were even more varied. We sang songs in 5 languages and even though I didn't understand 4 of them, hearing how the words sounded in song was great.

Holi

Holi is the festival of colors. It is a day full of fun. What happens is everyone throws or smears colored powder on everyone else. While that is going on, people with water guns spray you with colored water. This results in mayhem! The kids were so cute grabbing heaping handfuls of powder. The one in the picture below even had goggles on. I saw him later and he was completely colored except for right around his eyes! The apartments had their own celebration in the courtyard and I'm including a before and after shot of the area. Quite a striking difference! I missed getting lots of color on me because I was going out for brunch and wanted to stay mostly the correct color. However, on the way to the restaurant I got to see how everyone was celebrating. There was a lot of people odd shades of purple and some roads were closed for impromptu dances.

Elephanta Island

I finally visited the infamous Elephanta island. It was worth the trip but not the destination it was built up to be. Actually the most entertaining thing about it was watching the monkeys harass the people. At one point a monkey decided it wanted a bag being carried by an unsuspecting man. The monkey moved in and made a grab but luckily the man was holding on tight. He turned to see what happened and the monkey growled at him! It then made another grab but the man wasn't backing down and I'm glad to say he was able to keep his bag. I'm including a picture of the Indian equavalent of a dog treeing a cat in the states. This situation was also very amusing to me :) The ferry ride to the island was very nice but long! It was 1.5 hours there and another hour back. I did get some nice shots of the Gateway of India and the Taj hotel from the water though.

Cricket

After watching so much cricket during the world cup, I finally got my chance to play. We didn't get to play a whole game but we did get some batting and bowling (pitching) practice in. I went through about 90% of batting practice holding the bat like I would a baseball bat. This, it turns out, isn't even close. You hold it actually closer to a golf club than a baseball bat. Either way, I had a blast! Bowling was especially fun because you have to bounce the ball before it gets to the batsman. I appreciated this because often when I pitch for softball it ends up bouncing and in cricket this is desired behaviour! Overall, I had a blast. The people in the office again showed their hospitality by putting up with a bunch of cricket newbies. I don't have any good pictures of us playing but I'm including my
favorite snap from the day. I've titled it, "How many people does it take to hold a phone?". The back story is that Vishal was holding wickets at the time and the other guys were just helping him out.

Communication Breakdown

My driver and I are starting to get used to each other but we seem to have more problems than successes mostly due to language. I've been trying to get him to take me to a little store called Bread Talk the last two days after work. The first day the conversation went like this...

Andrea: I need to go to Bread Talk, do you know where that is?
Driver: Yes

And then he drove me straight to the hotel.

Then today, I planned ahead and wrote down the name of the shop thinking maybe Bread Talk sounds a lot like hotel. I even tried to direct him this time but we got to the pivotal junction and I said, "turn right here" but we turned left and again drove straight towards the hotel. I tried to navigate him back to the shop but we hit a one way and I gave up. I'm starting to think he may not like Bread Talk.

The second misunderstand was a little more surprising. I talked with another ex-pat to get advice about having a driver. She said some drivers like overtime and working weekends while others don't. I decided to be proactive and ask my driver.

Andrea: Do you like working overtime like nights and weekends.
Driver: Overtime bad.

I thought that was pretty clear so I assumed he would want the weekend off. So today, I told him the next time I would need him was Monday morning. He asked about Saturday and I said, very cheerfully, no you can have the day off. He looked very disappointed and said that's not good. I'm not sure where I went wrong but I'm sure we'll get this worked out.