Snow Day in Mumbai!

What an interesting few days it has been. It started with a normal day on Tuesday. Things are quiet at home and school as all of the Middle and High School (including Kevin) are away on Week Without Walls. As we were riding to school on Tuesday, one of the teachers got a call from her TA asking if school was cancelled. That seemed like an odd question, because the school vans had picked us up, but the TA said her Daughter’s school was canceled because some person had been arrested. To me as a new comer from the States, this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but as the day moved on, we learned more about it and what it meant. There is a politician here who is rather controversial, and when he heard there was an arrest warrant for him, he dared the police to arrest him (which apparently he has done before), and said if he was arrested, “all of Maharashtra would burn”. (Maharashtra is the state we live in.) This all steamed from an event on Sunday when several of the members of his group or party attached students who are originally from outside of Maharashtra as they were going to take exams.

So for the most part, everything seemed ok at school on Tuesday. We got several emails from Paul, our Superintendent, updating us on what was going on outside and what the school was planning. They had decided to keep school in session and update us as the day continued. The reason it was such a big deal for us in particular, is that the politician was being brought to the local police station, which is a 5-10 minute walk from our school, and then to the court house which is also in our neighborhood. All I knew at this point was that he had been arrested and brought to these places near us, and that there was potential for rioting. What I was told was that crowds would form, and they often throw rocks into the road.

School was released at 3 like normal, and then Paul dismissed us at 3:30 to go home a bit early. (Our housekeeper had called about 2 to ask if she could go home. Her husband called to tell her there was fighting going on, and we all wanted her to get home safely.) So all the teachers got on the buses to go home. Our bus was packed full because we were all going home at the same time, where as normally, people leave at different times. So the bus was full, it was hot, and we were all waiting for the drivers who were just standing there looking at the school. So I stuck my head out and asked our driver if we could get going. He pantomimed a box and said he was coming…Finally all the drivers came to their buses with piece of paper that someone had printed out with SCHOOL BUS on them. I guess this was a safety measure. Once we got going, we got home in record time, even though we had to detour around through a longer route because there were very few cars on the road.

The rest of the evening was quiet. It was weird when I went out to take the dog for a walk, I remember thinking it was really quiet. I realized that it was because there were not very many cars on the road, and therefore, very few people honking. It was almost eerie. After a lonely evening without Kevin, I headed off to bed. Someone had mentioned the potential that we might not have school on Wednesday, so the next morning I turned on the TV when I woke up. Everything seemed to have settled down. The big news was that India had just launched their first mission to the moon. So I continued to get ready, and went down to catch the bus at 7. Two other teachers came down at the same time, but someone’s personal driver was standing there and told us there was no school today. That got us all confused, because none of us had heard anything, but not 30 seconds later, my cell phone beeped with a texted saying school was cancelled. Obviously the system of getting the info out was a little flawed, because as we talked to people, some got the message on their phones at 6:30, others didn’t get them till after 7 and some people didn’t get anything.

So we had an official “Snow Day” as many of us are calling it. I’ve been watching the news on and off today just to check in. There has definitely been some rioting, they lit a train car on fire and several of the trains were cancelled. I’m glad we told our housekeeper not to come in either, as I’m sure it would not have been safe. One of the nannies that came today said it took her 2 ½ hours to get here, when it normally only takes her 1. Anyway, we should all be going back to school tomorrow though since the politician was finally let out on bail (that was one of the reason for all the uproar, that they were holding him without bail). We will see what the rest of the week is like, especially since he is only out till Friday. That is all for now. Hopefully there will be nothing else to be update tomorrow.

Vacation Time Again

Well we've made it through the last couple weeks of teaching and testing and are ready for two weeks of fun. First, we leave on Monday for Week Without Walls where myself and a group of other teachers will be taking the entire 6th grade class up to Matheran (the place we visited a few weeks ago) which is a couple hours out of Mumbai 

at a hill station surrounded by great scenery and great opportunities to do some outdoor activities, science projects, and work on teambuilding and leadership activities. We will be up there from Monday to Thursday then return to school and work on some activities back in classes on Friday, ending with a short presentation for the parents that afternooon. Should be a fun adventure with 54 pre-teens. 

Second, we are all set for our trip to China. We have our plane tickets, train tickets, visas, and a basic idea of what we want to do. We still need to figure out the timings and public transit for how to get from place to place but we are feeling pretty ready to go. As soon as WWW ends on Friday, we will be packing up and leaving Saturday evening for the next week. We have that week off for the Indain festival of Diwali which is a major celebration all over the country (like a Chanukah or Christmas type event).  We even had an assembly at school this week to celebrate the story of Diwali and it included wonderful dance, costumes, music, and performance. Plus, the whole school was decorated with flowers and professional artists came in to do sand murals throughout campus. It was really beautiful and the school asked that everyone dress in traditional Indian attire that day so it was fun to see everyone in their sari's, kurta's, and salwar's. 

By the way, the school sent out this request to wear Indian attire about 4 days before the assembly so of course we went out shopping the night before and ran into 5 other teachers and 3 parents at the same store shopping for clothes at the last minute. It was really amusing. Even so, it was really fun and we ended up finding some really nice things and I'm glad we got the opportunity to buy some Indian outfits and have an excuse to wear them. Of course it would have been nice to have something tailored for us that could have been much prettier and personal but there was not enough time to get that done. Oh well. Some day we will pick out something really great and have it tailored. I'm sure we will need something else to wear down the road. 

Being that it is the season of celebrations with Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu holidays it was also an appropriate time to have some celebrations of our own. We had our second annual Oktoberfest on the Kiara roof top last weekend complete with bbq, beer, pretzels, the chicken dance, and of course Dave in his lederhosen and feathered cap. Good times. We also just held Cafe ASB on the roof last night which was a staff get-together/talent show. Also very good times. We are keeping busy working hard and playing hard. 

I've uploaded some pictures of our Diwali outfits and some from Oktoberfest which didn't turn out so great but oh well. I have also finally finished going through all our video from Goa so those have been uploaded on YouTube as well. There will be lots more to come after WWW and China so I hope this will satisfy the masses for a while. Be back in November. Enjoy!

New Photos!

Goa Video - Day Trip in Goa

Goa Video - Motorcycle Diaries

Goa Video  -Family Fun in Goa

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K&E

Come Look My Shop...

We are back from our weekend to Goa feeling fairly relaxed but still ready for our next vacation. For those that don't know, Goa is a state on the west coast of India which has for a long time been known for its beaches and hippies. It has at least 15 major beaches that all have their own character. There are parts of Goa where you can go clubbing and raving in a drug induced hallucinogenic party with thousands of other people all night long. There are also parts of Goa with private beaches where you can relax and do nothing all day long. It all depends on what you are looking for and which area you go to. There is a history of drug problems in the state which creates an interesting dynamic with the kinds of tourists that visit. There are families with kids, romantic couples, and party people from all over the globe looking for a good time. All that being said, it is a good place to relax and do whatever you want to do.

Some of the more popular beaches are in the northern part of the state, the biggest attractions being Baga and Calangute. These beaches are a bit larger and get REALLY crowded during the tourist season. They also have the most hotels, restaruants, shops, and activities which is the big reason for their popularity. The further north you travel the quieter the beaches become and as you move south the same is mostly true. The capital of Goa is in the south which is where the only airport is located so all transportation has to originate from there. Because there are so many options and such varying personalities to the beaches, everybody tends to get hooked on one or two favorite spots. From what it sounds like, most of the families and staff from our school tend to prefer the southern beaches closer to the airport but we decided to check out the north and see what it was like.

We ended up staying at the beach just north of Baga called Anjuna. It is not as crowded as Baga but not as private as some others so we figured it would be a good starting location to get a sense of what Goa had to offer. We ended up in an amazing little hotel called the Villa Anjuna which had a really nice pool/patio area and a little bar/restaurant where we could order food and hang out by the pool. It also had a nice sized beach that is normally stacked with restaurants and shops. The monsoon is still finishing down there, however, so tourist season has not fully begun yet. Many things were still being set up to greet the larger flux of tourists a month from now. Even so, there were enough restaurants to get a nice variety of delicious meals right on the beach.

Our first day, we took the 5:30 am flight (its either that or 4 pm which we could never make on a Friday after school) and hitched a ride with our friends from the airport to Anjuna. We were going to take an overnight train down instead but were on the waitlist for a month and never really got close enough to a confirmed ticket so we ended up flying. After an hour drive from the airport we showed up at our hotel, had some breakfast and were on the beach by 9am. We ended up at the same hotel as another family from ASB so we spent a good chunk of the weekend hanging out with them, playing cards, swimming, and eating at the various beach-side resturants. The food and company was great and it was all in all a very relaxing time.

As we were walking on the beach that first day we got our first experience of being harassed by vendors. A group of girls surrounded us and started their sales pitch:

"Hello, what's your name?...Where you from?...You come look my shop?...Your skin very white, be careful of sun...You come look my shop ok? You promise? Come look my shop..."

We had nothing else to do so we did go "look their shop" which was actually quite fun. They were all competing for our attention so we let them take us around to each of their "shops" to show us their merchandise. This pretty much turned into us walking by their homes and looking through their plastic bags full of jewelry and clothes. They really didn't have anything very interesting to buy (or much to choose from for that matter) but it was fun to see their homes and get a nice tour of the back roads off the beach.

After a couple more days of relaxation by the beach/pool we decided to be adventurous and check out the other beaches near by. All around the beach there are people offering taxi rides and motor scooters to rent so we chose to go the route of the moto adventure. (Note: neither of us have ever ridden or driven a motorcycle before so this was a bit out of our comfort zone....so exciting!) So we rented a moto and I got my first experience driving a bike through the back roads of Goa. We drove down to Baga (the more crowded beach) which was definitely an adventure in driving since there was actually traffic and roads and stuff (yikes!). We stayed down there for an hour or so then decided to head up north to check out one of the quiter beaches called Vagator. We really liked this beach and stayed for a few hours up there enjoying the sites, having some lunch, hanging out with friends and swimming in the ocean. We drove back to our hotel, had some dinner and left the following afternoon. We took lots of pictures and some videos too. The pictures are up on Picassa (click here) and the videos will be coming soon.

If you notice in our pictures, there are just as many shots of cows as there are beaches. If you thought that cows in the middle of the city was a stretch, you will be happy to know that cows go on vacation to Goa just like the rest of us. The beaches are littered with cows (and just plain litter too) along with dogs and all the wonderful presents that these animals leave behind. That being said, the beaches are nice and the scenery is lovely but if you're looking for aesthetics and a picture perfect beach then Goa is not the place for you. By Indian standards it is a very nice area but keeping in mind that when you hear "beach" it is still an Indian beach meaning that it is littered, often crowded, and full of dogs and cows. Oh well, take what you can get. Still a very nice vacation and I'm sure we will be back again some time.

We are now back at school for another 2 weeks before we take off for WWW and then our Diwali vacation to China. We have booked our flights and hotels so we are just waiting on a visa for Elizabeth and we will be on our way. Lots of adventures coming up...hopefully we will stay caught up with all our pictures and entries from WWW and China. Stay tuned!

PS. I may need to recant my previous post about the monsoon since it is currently raining. Boo.

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K&E