Visiting Texas

Visit to Texas
On Monday Stacy took me to the eye doctor and we ran some errands- took things to goodwill, sold some books at half price books and went to the teacher store. I saw all these cute hall passes and realized we don't need them at our school.I let kids out of my room all the time and never worry about them doing anything bad! We went to papasittos so I could get some  Mexican food and meet with some friends - Toni, Tracy, Stacy, Dawn, and MaryKay. Afterward Stacy and I went to see Melissa and her son Liam.   I passed out at 8pm again! 
On Tuesday Karin picked me up to go shoe shopping at the outlet mall.   I was supposed to stay with her parents but they have whooping cough!   But they let me borrow their truck and I stayed with friends of theirs. So Tuesday through Friday I stayed with the Auxiers. They have three fun kids so I would eat breakfast with them and talk about their swim lessons and they would ask questions about India. Then I'd go over to karin's to play with my nieces Melody, Melissa, Hope, Olivia, and Addison! Love walking in the door to choruses of " hi aunt Bob" they loved watching Elmo on my iPad :) I'd play with them in the morning then go shopping then play with them in the afternoon.  I had dinner with them on Tuesday. The Moores had me over for burgers on Wednesday, and on Thursday I had dinner at karin's again. The CDC declared that her parents could leave the house so they came, and her sister Krissy (who is due with baby boy any day now) and her husband Cole came. Her sister Kim brought Olivia and Addie over. So much fun. They are all from Illinois and I would spend thanksgiving and Easter with them. They are my Texas family!  Karin made tortilla soup and it was amazing :)

On Friday I got to see jamili and her son Tariq. He is getting so big!  Jamili and I started working at Camp Tapawingo together in 1996 and have stayed friends while each of us moved to different states and countries :)  Norma came and got me and I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday night with Norma. I wish everyone could meet Norma! She giggles about everything and is so much fun! She has a ton of dogs but surprisingly my tolerance for dogs has gotten much better since living in India! On Saturday I got to run with my Team in Training group! Coach Jeff and Paula have been with me through a lot of races! Theresa, christy and some other former teammates were there. Running with the group in Terry Hershey park was one of my most favorite things to do while I was home.  Wish I could do it for multiple weekends!  Norma, Stacy and I went to see Snow White and the Huntsman on Sunday.  Movies are so much cheaper in India :)


Norma took me to the airport on Monday and I made the journey to Bloomington, Illinois  :)

Flying to the US

Flying to the US

On Saturday June 2nd I got up around 6 am like usual and did normal Saturday things. I went for a really long walk, had lunch with a friend, and packed. I took a 1.5 hour nap. Not nearly as long as I'd hoped! Lawrence, one of the school drivers came to get me at my flat at 10:30 pm to take me to the airport. I was on a British airways flight and got checked in really quickly and they allowed me to take two bags for no charge. I then went to the Air France area to wait for my friend. She had to pay 75 Usd for her second bag and it took forever! We saw a fellow ASB teacher at At the AF counter. We went through immigration fairly quickly but two lines over there was a big commotion. Indians causing commotion. They ushered us past the really long security line to the women's line. I was excited until I realized they had ONE conveyor belt for the women and ten for men. They think women don't travel?? As soon as we got down the escalator we see bryan who is also going to Houston, but he is on the air France flight.  On our way to get food, we ran into preya. Prey a, Bryan and I all live in the same building. So does Karen and I know she was at the airport too!  My flight took off on time and there was no pushing or shoving. Even though the flight was full of Indians I am attributing it to the fact we were flying to London. The Indians that go to London have more western style standard for etiquette :)

They didn't have any aisle seats left so I got stuck in the middle. I like the aisle because I am more likely to get blood clots due to my lupus and my sister has has dvts. Also I don't sleep on flights so I like to stand up occasionally and I can go to the bathroom when I want.  We were on that flight for 9.5 hours. The guys in the aisle did not move. He slept every minute except for breakfast at the end. He didn't stretch or go to the bathroom or anything!!  So my are you talking an aisle seat???!?!  I held it for 4 hours!!! Then finally had to ask him to get up!

They gave us a snack at the beginning that was a little too Indian for me but I had the non veg breakfast that was good = eggs, a roll, fruit, potatoes, chicken sausage and dahi! I was happy.  It was cold and rainy in London 11. C.  Its in the 30s in tx! 

The flight from London was better. I had an isle seat and the couple next to me were flying to Houston so they could go to Galveston to cruise on the ship their son worked on.  I was so tired on being on a plane! I can see why people stayed 3 or 4 days at their layover city before continuing on to the US!

It took forever to get through customs! I waited for 45 minutes for Norma to pick me up. It was weird not being able to call her on my cell. I asked about 8 people if I could borrow their cell and none of them had one that worked either!

After she picked me up we went straight to walmart where I spent 120$ on meds,toiletries etc that I can't get in the US.

We bought panera and went to Stacy's  house where I was spending the night.
I passed out at 8pm! 

Car trouble in Kentucky

My fantastic brother - in - law Ben drove up to meet me in Indianapolis (my father drove me there) and then drove me to Lexington Kentucky.  My sister Brianna and my niece Charlotte were waiting on the steps for me!  Charlie loved me immediately!  She likes to give me kisses and hugs.  I feed her dinner while her parent make adult food.  On Thursday we took her to the park and Ben left to drive back up to Illinois for a band camp gig.  On Friday we attempted to go to Garden Ridge.  Charlie was screaming bloody murder in the car so we pulled over at Bob Evans to calm her down and so I could get in the back seat with her for the rest of the ride.  We went to leave and the car wouldn't start.  I entertained Charlie while Bri called someone to come and jump the battery.  I took Charlie to the bench in front of the Bob Evans and she charmed and delighted the patrons going in and out.  Everyone cooed about how pretty she is.  She loved waving at the baby in the window - I kept trying to tell her it was her reflected image - she's not ready for that yet!!

While we were waiting for the car, we went to Arbys and Charlie had mac and cheese :)

Luckily it was just the battery so we got it replaced and were on our way and Charlie was a champ the whole time.  We never got to Garden Ridge though!!

Finished year 1

I have not blogged in while - very busy ending the school year!

All the work and preparation I did to land an overseas teaching job paid off - I got an amazing job in the place I said I'd never live - India!!

I have loved teaching here and have a thousand ideas on how to make next year great too! I've learned a lot about teaching, technology, geography, traveling, etc.

It's hard to believe that I need to pack up and leave my flat for 2 months.  I'm a little concerned about "reverse culture shock".  I'm not going to know what to do with myself.  It's going to seem too quiet and clean :)  I do look forward to eating cereal and milk, blueberries, seedless grapes, Jimmy Johns, Steak n Shake and Mexican food!!

I'm off on a lot of adventures this summer then back to more adventures in India. :)

Missing Team in Training

I miss a lot of things from the US - cereal and milk, no honking, real Mexican food, rules and order etc. What I miss the MOST is running with my Team in Training group.  For years my Saturdays from May to November consisted of getting up at 4:45am and driving to Terry Hersey Park and then running for hours with my peeps. There is something really cool about meeting a group of strangers for the first three mile run and and then months later spending 5 HOURS running together on a glorious 21 miles run. You make a lot of friends when you have hours stretched before with nothing to do but run and chat :)  many people train for Half Marathons but I always trained for the full marathons and I was the slowest.  So every week I came in last, but every week my teammates would be waiting for me and (whoever was running with me) to cheer me on and eat breakfast with me at the picnic tables.  I'd get in my car all sweaty and smelly and drive home.  I'd get out of the car and limp up the stairs and stagger into the shower.  I would painfully get dressed and hobble down the stairs, put ice on my knees, make lunch, and lay on the couch watching Lifetime and Hallmark movies.  People don't think that sounds like a great Saturday, but it is the BEST Saturday.  As a Team in Training mentor I loved encouraging other runners and keeping their mind off the pain with funny stories from school :)

People always thought I was weird for spending my Saturdays like that.  and for spending my money to travel to cities in order to run a race.  People don't think that's a vacation, but I enjoy seeing a city on foot :) I also enjoy going to TNT events and hearing stories of survivors - people who beat Leukemia due to the money TNT training raised for research. 

I talked my friend Norma into running a few half marathons with me and this year I convinced her to train with my team!!  and she is taking two more people - Dawn and Cortnee who both worked with Norma and I in Texas.  I cannot wait to hear about all their adventures! And run with them on June 9^th at the best running park – Terry Hershey Park!  It will be such a change of pace from running in Mumbai.

January of 2011 was the last time I ran a race for Team in Training.  I did the Goofy Challenge at Disney World.  You run a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday -39.3 miles!  Painful but you get 3 medals for running 2 races!  I had such a great time that weekend.  There was a big group of experienced TNT  people who did that race with me.  I am not nearly as talented a runner as most of them so I was in way worse shape than them after the race.  I remember we were sitting in the airport to go home and one of the participants asked if we thought we could have run that distance in one day ( a marathon is about 42 km and a half is about 21 – so we ran 63 km) She suggested we sign up to run a 50k together.  If you can image a bunch of people who were in so much pain they can barely move – we had to lift each other up to board the plane.  But we all agreed we could do a 50k in one stretch.  I remember laughing because it was so ridiculous that we were willing to do that when we were so messed up from this race. 

Runners are a weird strange bunch.  But I love them.  And I love being a part of them. J

Mob violence sucks

I generally feel very safe in Mumbai.  You have to watch where you walk so you don't fall in a hole.  You have to cross the street frogger style trying to avoid a collision.  and it is best not to look when being driven in a taxi or rickshaw.  but women can walk around safely even at night and people don't carry handguns so you don't have to worry about being shot like in the US.

But one thing that is scary is is mob violence.  A friend of mine saw that a guy accidently hit a passenger with his car and he immediately got his phone and was calling someone while dozens of people came from everywhere to beat the guy.  We believe he was calling the police and hoping they got there before he was too injured.

Today I walked out of a store and saw about 100 people on the street watching while a dozen men chased another man down the street with a bamboo rod.  He fell on the ground and they beat him.  He got up and they chased him while hitting him.  i have no idea what he did.  I walked half a block and saw a man with blood on his head.  Several men had belts folded up in their hands.  maybe they hit the guy with the belts first?  The shocking part.  The police were with the bleeding man.  and allowed the mob to chase and beat the perpetrator.  you feel guilty for seeing violence and not doing anything about it.  but what was I going to do.  call the police????  they were already there and not doing anything!!!
I really hate this about Mumbai. 

Dharavi and Mahim

Dharavi is often called "Asia's largest slum"  It is reported there are nearly 1 million people living in this area that is 0.67 square miles.  National Geographic said that in some places in Dharavi 18,000 people are living in one acre.  Dharavi is very close to our school and I have wanted to take a tour of it and just haven't gotten around to it.  My friend Nancy is moving to Thailand this fall so she is trying to see a lot in Mumbai before she leaves so she and I headed out with our guide Felix.  It was super hot out and we had to walk a lot.

People hear the word "slum" and think of a horrible place.  In the US and other western places slum equates to a crime ridden poverty infested cesspool.  Poor people tend to turn to a life of crime etc.  It is not the case here.  There are booming businesses in Dharavi.  Years ago it was a lot worse off - poor people forced to lived there etc.  But now there are wealthy people that live there and don't want to move out.  People from all over India come to Dharai for jobs.  Reality Tours is a company that does tours of Dharavi - you are not allowed to take pictures so as not to exploit the people.  Since we did a private tour, we were allowed to take pictures in every place but one.  They had child laborers and did not want it documented.  Part of the reason that Reality Tours doesn't let anyone take pictures is because people take photos and videos and use them for documentaries etc to report how horrible the conditions are in Dharavi.  I am convinced they are westerners not familiar with India and just came to see and report on Dharavi.  I live in Bandra which is one of the nicer areas of Mumbai.  I see slums in Bandra that are FAR worse than Dharavi!  In Bandra I am hounded by beggars and have to walk around homeless sleeping and peeing on the street.  We didn't encounter a single beggar once we got to Mahim and Dharavi.  People had jobs and seemed happy.  They children were much cleaner and better dressed.  Our guide made sure to point out that the women had gold jewlery - not all of these people are horrible poor.  I took a lot of pictures and most of the workers were happy to tell us about their jobs and how much money they make.  They also asked for us to take pictures with them of course :)

We started our tour in Mahim (which a lot of people consider to be a part of Dharvi but isn't) They collect plastic from all over Dharavi and sort it, chop it, clean it, melt it etc. It is amazing how much plastic is there and how much is still left on the street!

They also make bread that is distributed all over Mumbai for sale.  They make jeans and other clothing too. I have lots of pictures on facebook of other businesses they have in Mahim.

really intricate cloth stamping

separating the plastic from the wire

Dharavi - lots of very interesting businesses.  I have a lot more pictures on facebook.

thousands of eggs on one truck!

printing and folding boxes

making brooms with his feet

leather making - briefcases

pottery making shop

sock making factory