Today was a really long day.
I left my flat at 7:07am to catch a rickshaw with my teaching partner. I had a very busy day at school and taught until 3:30. I stayed in my room tutoring students until 4:45. We headed out to get a rickshaw home around 5pm. The plan was to get home by 5:30, go to the MRI place to get my results, walk them over to the doctor, then go to my women's group that I've missed the last two weeks due to parent night and back pain.
God had other plans.
We told the driver "Bandra West" like we do every day. He did not drive in the direction we normally go. We tapped him and repeated "Bandra West" twice in the first 20 minutes. He waved us off and kept going. We thought maybe he was going a "scenic" route and decided to just enjoy the ride. He kept driving and kept driving. We saw a lot of interesting Mumbai neighborhoods, malls, shops, temples, a cool slum up on a hill. Finally we stopped him and repeated "Bandra West" and he finally got it. He started rambling excitedly in Hindi and I'm pretty sure it was something like "Well that isn't far from where we started!! why are we all the way about here!!?!?!" Good questions mister! That is what we were wondering :) He just kept talking and waving his arms. People on the street noticed and came over to help us. They explained where we wanted to go and reluctantly turned around. He grumbled to himself repeatedly for quite awhile and was obviously not happy with us. He tried to talk to us a few times - we are gathering there is an area that sounds like Bandra and that is where he was headed. Of course it started raining on the way back :) He laughed when I struggled to get the tarp tied to keep me from getting too wet. We got really excited when we got back to an area we recognized. He dropped me off down the street from my flat at 6:40.
How much did this ONE HOUR AND FORTY MINUTE rickshaw ride cost? about $3.75!!!!! :) That would get you a few blocks in NYC!
I have been really stressed out lately and I definitely didn't have that much time to waste riding around in a rickshaw. It could have been a horrible experience - if we were frustrated or angry with the driver etc. But it actually was a pretty good thing. Since we chose to not a make a big deal of it and just see where he was going to take us :) it was a fun adventure. It was time to just ride around observing the culture we live in. We laughed a lot and held entire conversations with a man who couldn't speak a word of English. By the end, he was laughing too.
I didn't get to my women's group and I didn't get my MRI results to the doctor.
But I am more relaxed :)
I left my flat at 7:07am to catch a rickshaw with my teaching partner. I had a very busy day at school and taught until 3:30. I stayed in my room tutoring students until 4:45. We headed out to get a rickshaw home around 5pm. The plan was to get home by 5:30, go to the MRI place to get my results, walk them over to the doctor, then go to my women's group that I've missed the last two weeks due to parent night and back pain.
God had other plans.
We told the driver "Bandra West" like we do every day. He did not drive in the direction we normally go. We tapped him and repeated "Bandra West" twice in the first 20 minutes. He waved us off and kept going. We thought maybe he was going a "scenic" route and decided to just enjoy the ride. He kept driving and kept driving. We saw a lot of interesting Mumbai neighborhoods, malls, shops, temples, a cool slum up on a hill. Finally we stopped him and repeated "Bandra West" and he finally got it. He started rambling excitedly in Hindi and I'm pretty sure it was something like "Well that isn't far from where we started!! why are we all the way about here!!?!?!" Good questions mister! That is what we were wondering :) He just kept talking and waving his arms. People on the street noticed and came over to help us. They explained where we wanted to go and reluctantly turned around. He grumbled to himself repeatedly for quite awhile and was obviously not happy with us. He tried to talk to us a few times - we are gathering there is an area that sounds like Bandra and that is where he was headed. Of course it started raining on the way back :) He laughed when I struggled to get the tarp tied to keep me from getting too wet. We got really excited when we got back to an area we recognized. He dropped me off down the street from my flat at 6:40.
How much did this ONE HOUR AND FORTY MINUTE rickshaw ride cost? about $3.75!!!!! :) That would get you a few blocks in NYC!
I have been really stressed out lately and I definitely didn't have that much time to waste riding around in a rickshaw. It could have been a horrible experience - if we were frustrated or angry with the driver etc. But it actually was a pretty good thing. Since we chose to not a make a big deal of it and just see where he was going to take us :) it was a fun adventure. It was time to just ride around observing the culture we live in. We laughed a lot and held entire conversations with a man who couldn't speak a word of English. By the end, he was laughing too.
I didn't get to my women's group and I didn't get my MRI results to the doctor.
But I am more relaxed :)
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