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.