Navigating

It's been just about 6 weeks since I landed back in Bombay to start year three.

The third year in any place is like returning home. You know where you can find Pizza Villa and what time the J closes. You know exactly how to get from your friend's parents' house to Ollie's. You know where you can get a great view of the fireworks on the 4th of July but without the traffic at Hopkins Park.

For anyone who's moved anywhere, away from "home." Those first two years is a lot of work. A lot of navigating and bumps in the road. A lot of wrong turns and U-turns. And sometimes there are surprising things that make it more challenging like the road you live on being paved with hot asphalt about 10 minutes before you walk on it in flipflops.

But year three. The driving is easier. You know how to navigate work and life more easily. Where you need to practice aggressive patience and where you need to occasionally use the horn.

Year three. Sigh. Year three.

A bit of a cheesy reflection to my start but it's been good so far. 

Sunny Days Didn't Keep the Monsoon Away

So Saturday afternoon looked like this...

Beautiful and rare blue Mumbai skies on my rickshaw ride home from school.

And this evening around five o'clock it looked and sounded like this...

You know monsoon's finally arrived when many friends and colleagues post photos and videos on Facebook. Funny how many of us did. Sorry for the cheesy narration.

Now back to my perfect evening of listening to the rain with the windows open while reading a good book.

The Grand Tour of my New Flat

Over the summer I shifted apartments (like the verb choice Goo?). Just one whole block to be exact. The move was pretty painless. With lots of help from school and Espe and a sister who was willing to pitch in during her vacation visit to India, the couple of moving bumps were smoothed over. You should also know the grand tour photos were taken the day I landed. Within 24 hours of moving, my new place looked like I'd lived there last year too.

I moved into a great new place where a former teacher, Tash; who'll we'll miss greatly, lived. One of the main reasons I chose my new apartment was with the good energy you felt when you walked in her door. Yeah, I'm one of those people.

Okay, enough talking, what you really want is the promised grand tour. And because it's so grand, please know the cheese factor is 10 which meets the requirements of my mom.

Love you Mom! And Mom, I know the slideshow moves quickly. You can adjust the length of time for each photo at the bottom and have more time to snoop, check out my new apartment.

You Know It's the First Day of School for Teachers When...

• You've set two alarms.
• You talked with a colleague about "what you're going to wear" to school and are excited to see each other's outfits.
• You talked with another colleague about who's riding on your van to school.
• You drank both your cups of cofee out of a Starbucks mug you bought this summer and sigh as you are briefly transported back to a favorite summer holiday spot.
• Your new school bag is packed...ipad, snack, new phone hoping to get it's new sim card and two umbrellas (one for you and one for a friend).

Happy first day back ASB friends!

I've Got the Power...

Whether you channeled He-Man's battle cry or Snap's 90's hit, "I Got the Power," you should know I'm one of the fortunate ones in India who has the power. Electrical power.

For two days, there were about 20 states in northern India without it. The number of people affected wout be as if the entire U.S. lost power times two.

I've gotten a couple of Facebook messages and emails about it so thought I'd write a post.  Rather than be ramble on, I found that NBC news did a pretty great job on last night's report so here's a video that has some great images and stats.
Second Indian outage in two days cuts power to more than 600 million people
(It's worth watching through the little advert. Sorry for those who are annoyed for 15 seconds.
At least you have electricity to watch the video and aren't stuck in 100+ temps in a rickshaw.)

Since I arrived back, I've been trying to be a bit more energy conscious here just hoping that my little effort helps. Lucky girl.

And for those of you who don't recall Snap's hit, a little morning (or evening) house dance party reminder...

American Toiletry Hoarder

This post is dedicated to Fran and Lauren who appreciate the comparisions.

I know I've written before about my great appreciation of particular toiletries. I can't help it. I just know what I like and what works with my blonde, curly hair in a city that's extremely hot and humid majority of the year. I'll admit it. I have a problem.

My toiletry loves becomes amplified living abroad. I hoard them. While majority of the world's population buys what they need as they consume it; I condense my year-long shopping experience into 10 weeks. While those of you living in the U.S. may make a weekly or monthly trip to Target, I make about three or four a year. So when you buy one stick of Secret deodorant, I buy four.

Finding my loves in Mumbai compared to Brasilia is exponentially greater. I can buy so many things here that I couldn't in Brasil so I did try to take that into consideration this time however, I still managed to have three checked bags and an extremely overweight carry-on bag with fun new tech like a bluetooth speaker and new digital SLR camera.

These are my toiletry and kitchen piles. It's bad, I know.

So what things did I bring along that I didn't think I could get here or have a particular affinity to?

• Curly haired products,
• Blonde hair products,
• Face washes and products for my crazy sensitive skin,
• Coffee,
• Chocolate chips,
• Peanut butter cups (feel free to send more),
• Shoes,
• Bras and underwear,
• Dresses,
• oh and lots more.

I know, I have a problem but compared to Brazil, I only brought three bags rather than four. I think I'm improving a little, right?

Bootless Blondie Returns to Bombay

I woke up early this morning and noticed it wasn't raining so around 6:30 am (not too bad for day 1 jet lag), I slipped on my new sneaks and headed out for a wog.

As I left, I put in my headphones after saying hello to my new guards.

My new street was quiet. A couple of rickshaw drivers chatting. A man outside on his balcony stretching who waved and smiled at me. Turning the corner and heading toward the market, people were just emerging. Women in saris buying eggs. Men picking up tobacco. Lots of looks and smiles exchanged.

As I continued toward the sea and down a hill, I thought, "The streets are slippery. Be careful," knowing my klutzy self. Suddenly I remembered last year's arrival to Bombay.

I was in an orthopedic boot. Starting to live in a new country while wearing a boot and having a sprained ankle during monsoon season is hard. I know others really do know about this (unfortunately). It felt confining. People would head out for adventures, dinner, shopping, riding the train and I couldn't go along. There were the issues of my boot getting soaked, slippery streets and with the humidity lots of swelling. I know, I know. Your little violin is playing for me.

So today being able to slip on not one but two sneakers,  felt great. I was able to enjoy the smell of the sea (not other things), dodge puddles and smile at the others who were up early and walking along Carter Road.

What a difference a year makes. Not only can I go on a walk on my first day back, but I actually know how to get to the ocean by myself too.



My new kicks. Sans boot!



Walking along the sea. It really smelled good today which was a nice treat. Sorry for the fuzzy shot.