Dhobi Washmen

When you live in Mumbai and you need your clothes washed, the local Dhobi Washman comes to pick up your laundry.  He marks your laundry with a special chalking system and then takes it to ne washed. He then returns it in one week and never makes a mistake. 99% of people in Mumbai use the Dhobi wasman.

 

 

Tour of Mumbai: breakfast and Jain Temple

 

 After breakfast on the first morning we started our tour of Mumbai.  It was a walking and riding tour, but we started on the bus.  We were all afraid it was going to rain, but instead it was beautiful!

Ravi and woman who did a study abroad year in the 70s at a high school in Eden, NC were our tour guides.  They were wonderful!  We started down the road and the woman began to show us and tell us the amazing history of them beautiful buildings, temples, and gardens that we passed.

On the tour we stopped at a beautiful Jain Temple.  The tour  told us that there was a problem with tourists in the past who have gone into the temple without taking off their shoes.  They said because of this that tourists were not allowed inside anymore, but that she would take us as far as she could.

We walked into through the pure silver gate and up to the man that
was taking shoes.  We each gave him our shoes. We then stood and looked at the amazing paintings, sculptures, and marble.  We took in the sounds of the temple music and observed the women, men, children, and monks praying.  We smelled fresh cut flowers and incense.

Our tour guide then took us up the stairs so we could see more but not directly inside the temple.  We tried extremely hard not to offend or be in the way of anyone who was coming to pray.  We walked up the stairs and could feel the white rice under our feet.

Once we got to the top, our tour guide told us that all of the gold paint that we see is real gold. While we were standing there a man who had been praying, came over to our tour guide, spoke in Hindu, and told her that she could take us inside,  She was shocked and very excited that he was allowing 38 Americans into the temple.

It was such an experience and was amazing!

Pictures will be below.

 

 

                             The above picture is a gate made of solid silver. Outside the Temple.

 

Inside the gate but outside of the Temple.

 

Sorry I can't get the pictures tilted with slow internet, but this is a really cool statue.

 

Elephant inside the gates, but outside the Temple.

 

 

Inside the Temple.

 

 

Inside

 

Inside the upstairs looking down.

 

Do you see the guy painting with a very small brush?

 

 

 

 

 

 

First breakfast in India

Our first breakfast was exciting and made me nervous at the same time. I knew coming to India that I didn't normally like Indian food, but I also knew I was up for trying anything as long as it was safe and did not come from a street vendor, and was hot, and was not raw. Haha you know almost anything in a smart way.

We walked down to the restaurant in the hotel for the buffet. As soon as we walked in Katherine told us to go check out the food on the left side because it was authentic Indian food. So I figured why not, we are in India! I walked over and realized I couldn't pronounce anything and had no idea what any of it was. So I decided to try a little bit of everything and see what it was like.

Once we started eating I realized very quickly that even though it was breakfast food it was still very spicy! Some of it I liked some of it I did not, but I wanted to try it all anyways.  You never know until you try it!

Arriving at the hotel in Mumbai

 (Sorry for the delay in posts. We had to pay for the internet at the last hotel. This hotel it is free. I will also be posting lots and lots of pictures tomorrow. Just as long as I can figure out my Microsoft Surface. )

As we approached, the hotel I noticed that our hotel was one of the tallest buildings on this part of Mumbai.  Which kind of made me feel a little guilty because as we drove up to the hotel we passed numerous slums where people were struggling to eat.

Before we entered the hotel, we had to go through security which involved a metal detector, body wand, and our bags being checked.  I also noticed that our hotel was surrounded by a fence and gate.  When we entered the hotel we were greeted with Namaste. They also put red paint on our foreheads for a Bindi and apple juice. We were all so excited! The hotel was beautiful! We then went up to our rooms and waited for our bags to be brought up to our rooms.

 

When we got up to our room my roommate Mindy and I were very confused with the bathroom.  There was glass in the bathroom as if it was a window to the bedroom. We finally figured out there was a shade to lower and raise. Crazy!

 

 

 

 

Airport update

The airport in India reminds me of a busy, hot, airport from the 60s.  As soon as we went downstairs it was crazy crowded.  Everyone had carts and was waiting for their luggage. A man came up and told us carts for your luggage are free everyone seemed to have those too.

Some of our luggage came quicker than others.  Mine was one of the first for our group. Which made me feel a lot better.  I was a little worried it might have gotten lost.  While we were waiting Rebekah and I decided to go to the bathroom.  We walked inside the bathroom and there were four doors.  Two of the stalls had more of a western type toilet while the other two had more of a hole.  It was an interesting first experience.

Outside the airport traffic is in  full force.  And they do NOT stop for pedestrians. I found this out while I was trying to follow one of the tour guides with a sign. He didn't seem to think we were going to get hit, but I sure thought so!

 

 

 

 

 

The flight to India

So my flight to India was interesting.  We boarded the plane and my friend Katherine was in the seat behind me.  We were really excited because no one was in the seats next to us. We were hoping we would have room to spread out.  Not so much the case.  I ended up sitting with a very nice woman from India and her 2year old that did not want to be on a plane.  It was very interesting to say the least.  It was 14 hours which I planned on passing the time by watching movies and tv shows on the console on the plane. Which also didn't go as planned because they weren't working.  So I spent my 14 hours sleeping, reading, having cars rolled over me by a little hand, and looking out the window.  I was very excited once we landed in India!

 

Planning for School Visits

Today I decided to finally sit down and research the schools and villages that I will be visiting in India. I am so excited to have this opportunity!  One of the schools that I will be visiting in Pune is Aman Setu.  You can check out the website here: http://amansetumyschool.com/   While I am here I will be in a grade 3 class.  I have pictures of my students and school in an album to show the students what it is like in Sugar Grove, NC.  I also have letters, pictures, and cards that my students have written for the students at Aman Setu.