Thursday - A Good Day

(I'm a little behind on postings. It's been a busy week for us here.)

Last Wednesday, I joined Shabina in the kitchen to teach her how to make spaghetti sauce. It was an interesting experience. The timing was a bit unfortunate - just before Luis was to have his dinner. I tried setting up the pack-n-play in front of the kitchen door, so Luis could watch. He didn't appreciate the gesture. He started making his hungry signs, so I set up his booster chair in the kitchen so he could eat while we cooked. He didn't appreciate that gesture either. The time that went by, the more worked up he got. In the end, I put him in my ergo carrier and walked around the apartment for an hour soothing him. I'm still not sure what made him so cranky. Whatever it was, it was a bit contagious, because I was cranky too. It made for a tough Wednesday. (The pasta and sauce turned out pretty good. Definitely for me, and I think for Diego, it was a welcome relief from Indian food.)

Thursday, when Pauline was here, I set out for a mid-day walk around my neighborhood. My intent was two-fold. First, I was feeling stir crazy in the apartment. Second, two of the stores I most like to go to, I could only get to with Anwar; I didn't know where they were to either walk to on my own or take a rickshaw. I felt confident going out alone. Our apartment is across from Joggers Park, a very well known landmark in Mumbai. If I somehow ended up lost, I could get into any rickshaw and just tell the driver "Joggers Park". (Luckily, I did not need to do that.) While it was pretty warm out, there was enough of a breeze to make it almost nice out.

The smaller side streets around here are pretty narrow. There are no sidewalks, no lane markers, and no apparent rules of the road - it's a little like and endless came of "chicken". Actually, this last sentence seems to apply to the bigger streets as well. This requires a lot of attention and vigilance when walking - keeping an eye out for cars, rickshaws bicyclists and other walkers. There is a nice promenade along the water's edge where people walk leisurely (or for exercise). And Luis, Ashley, Diego and I walk there often. But during the day, on the small streets, there aren't many people out strolling. Bandra is an area where lots of expats live, but I don't often see other Caucasians (is "white people" PC?) when I'm out. I think the neighbors don't see so many people either because I get a lot of looks. I suspect that my disrespectful shorts (as I call them, sometimes it's just TOO hot to wear pants) add to the looks. But they aren't looks that would be described with any word that has a negative connotation. Some people look with interest. Some look with confusion. And some look with big, warm smiles. For my part, I try to make eye contact with and smile at as many people as I can.

So it was a very nice walk. While out, I found the two stores I like to go to. One is a fancy patisserie called Sante where I can buy bacon, beef and home made sour cream. The second is Vijay's, a dry-goods store that sells all kinds of import foods. The most important thing at Vijay's is Cheerios. Cheerios are very difficult to find. And very expensive. A box costs the equivalent of $6.50 USD. But Luis loves them, so we shell out the Rs. 260. (Comparatively, a liter of milk costs $0.95, a dozen eggs costs $0.75 and a small loaf of bread costs $0.60). Also out on my walk, I picked up some chicken, cheesy, pesto kind of pasta something and a strawberry-kiwi smoothie. Mmmmm it was delicious.

[At Vijay's, I actually met Vijay. He's from Mumbai. Turns out he lived in the States for a while - in NY and MD. Both places, he worked in a 7-11. I chuckled inside at the irony of the stereotype.]

On my way home, I was walking and heard someone call my name. There are approximately 20 million people in Mumbai. I know approximately 14. That includes the 4 people who work for us. The fact that I bumped into someone that I know on the street blew my mind. It was my landlord (and downstairs neighbor) Abbas. It was a small thing. But in a day that went a long way towards making me feel at home, it was a small thing with a big effect. It was great.

I was still floating high on my found-the-stores, got-good-takeout-for-lunch, and ran-into-someone-I-knew-on-the-street. As I walked up towards the entrance to the building, I saw the DHL guy. I knew he was there for me (Mom had sent me a package). Oooooooohhh a package. That alone would make a great day. The DHL guy told me that customs duty was due. I thought this odd, but he presented me with a bill spelling it all out. It ended up being almost $30 - about the same cost of the contents of the package (not to mention the +/- $75 for postage). I wrote the guy a check and he left. Before I had a chance to investigate why there was a duty (and why it was so high), an hour later the DHL guy was back at my door. The duty was due on the next package, not mine, so he was returning my check. I was shocked. I couldn't imagine anyone in the US bringing back the check. Maybe you'd get something in the mail 4 weeks later.

After Luis's afternoon nap, we went over to visit with Erika and Skylar (Erika being the mom and Skylar being 2). It is great to start to develop some friendships, meet other moms (and other expats), find reasons to get out of the apartment, etc. Luis is generally happy no matter where we are and what we are doing. He liked having a whole new set of toys to put in his mouth. In the 2 hours we were there, he probably got about 35 things in there.

By the end of the day, I was both exhausted and exhilirated. It was just the kind of day I needed.