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