Updates...

We move into the second night of gunfire and explosions in Mumbai as terrorist have been contained at a number of sites including the Taj Hotel, Oberoi Hotel, Cama Hospital, and the Nariman House (an Israeli hostel adjacent to the restaurant targeted earlier). The most current updates state that hostages and terrorists still remain in each of these sites. A few times now they have declared that the sites have been emptied yet new explosions, fires, and gunfire continue in all four of these locations. Military personnel are clearing the hotels one floor at a time but with hundreds of rooms it is a daunting task to determine who still remains in the building.

There is not a great deal of information known about the purpose or origins of this attack but some speculations say it looks like an Al Qaeda satellite group and others say the group is more local and has political aspirations in mind due to the choice to hold US and UK citizens as hostages to gain political leverage to some end. At this point, however, the situation remains unsettled so this is not yet the time to be making speculation or focusing on placing the blame and planning retaliations. We first must get through night two of a city under siege.

Continued prayers are needed for the hostages that still remain at all four of these sites and the military personnel and civilians involved in the mayhem. I again leave you with a couple sites that I have found to be giving fairly reliable and up to date information.

Rediff News Blog

CNN

क्या कहाना
K&E

Giving Thanks in the Shadows of Terror

Sunrise on the Taj Hotel, Thanksgiving Day 2008 - Photo from CNN.com

It is 12:30 pm and its now been nearly 15 hours since shootings and bombings began in downtown Mumbai. Terrorists attacked a number of populated areas including some hospitals, the Taj and Oberoi hotels, the CST train station, and Leopold's, a popular western restaurant downtown. At this time, most of the terrorists have been killed or captured, the Taj Hotel has been cleared of guests and the fire is dying down, and the military is surrounding the major metropolitan areas of the city and the attack sites. However, it is still not over yet as gunshots and explosions are still being reported in or near the Oberoi hotel and there are still a number of people being held up inside, some in the custody of terrorists and others holed up in their rooms.

The aftermath of these events will create social, political, and economic waves that may surely pass around the world. Some news reporters have been comparing this to 9/11 which for India at this moment I believe feels very similar. There is a sense of shock and disbelief followed by fear and rage that such cowardly acts would target innocent civilians and some of the most cherished landmarks and symbols of this city. This comes as a big blow to a country which continually struggles to balance the identity of being a developed world superpower and that of an overpopulated, underdeveloped nation trying to provide basic necessities to its people.

So how do we process events like these, especially as our focus shifts toward the holiday season? It is Thanksgiving day here and the city is a ghost town while Mumbaikers remain indoors waiting to hear that the strikes are over and it is again safe to resume their lives. With Thanksgiving plans being made here in Mumbai and at home in the US, how to we reconcile our own celebrations and indulgence with the events in India or elsewhere in the world? How depressingly ironic that Thanksgiving celebrates the coming together of two different cultures to set aside conflicting interests and agendas to enjoy a time of peace. So what are we thankful for? Safety....prosperity.....tranquility.....community?

My hope is that many of you will read this post on Thanksgiving morning and rethink the discusisons that will occur throughout the day as you gather with friends and family to celebrate the blessings you share. I hope that you take a moment to reflect on the way you felt the morning of 9/11, the Columbine shooting, or the Virginia Tech shooting and pause to make these events in Mumbai become more than just a dot on a map. Read the articles, look at the pictures and feel the connection.

There are issues out there today that are far bigger than ourselves and its not just in Mumbai. The flood victims of Bihar are still struggling to find clothes, food, and shelter as the winter weather closes in on them in northern India. These bombings and firefights are a weekly occurance in Iraq and througout the middle east. Africa continues to struggle with disease and genocide as the world stands idly by. So what can we do?

Think. Discuss. Pray. Volunteer. Donate. Make the issues real and take the time to get informed and look beyond the US border. For today, however, I just ask for prayers. Pray for the families affected by these tragedies. Pray that they receive support, that they have friends, family, and community to help them. Pray for the government officials who must decide how to approach the aftermath of this attack including the financial, political, and social aftershocks this will create. Pray for the city that it may continue to flourish and recover without fear or apprehension. Pray for our school and our international community that we remain out of harm's way. Give thanks for the thousands of people at these hotels and public sites that came away unharmed. Give thanks for the powers of technology to keep connected and informed in times like these. Give thanks for a school like ASB where hundreds of families of different religions, cultures, beliefs, and political affiliations can come together everyday in peaceful interaction that strengthens our global community.

We are lucky to have such a community of support from our friends and colleagues here in Mumbai as well as from our friends and families at home. We continue our attempts to enjoy the holiday season here and find ways to get involved and make a difference in the lives of those that are not so fortunate. We hope the same for you at home, that the holidays be an enjoyable time of celebration and an insightful time of reflection.

We wish you peace and safety and I leave you with the following video to spark some thought and discussion this holiday season. Blessings.

AdventConspiracy.org

क्या कहाना
K&E

PRAYERS NEEDED!!!

It's 2:30am right now and a couple hours ago a number of terrorist strikes occured around Mumbai focusing on the Taj Hotel, Oberoi Hotel, and other sites. They opened gunfire with automatic weapons and set off explosions and have taken hostages at the Hotels. They are focusing on US and British citizens and I am very worried about how many of our school families may potentially be involved. More info to come but for now, please pray that it ends soon and that all involved can come out safely. We are safe at home and keeping an eye on things as well as being informed by school of what is going on. 

News Updates - Live Blogs

CNN.com

क्या कहाना
K&E

China Part 2

Sorry for the long delay in writing about the rest of our trip. Obviously, Kevin is much better at keeping up at this then I am....

So the next morning we headed off to the airport. We successfully took the subway all the their. Did we mention we love subways! So quick, so convenient, so cheap.  We arrived in Beijing at two, and made our way through the airport.  An interesting thing I noted right off the plane, now that we were in mainland China, we were literally told were to stand in line for the tram. This is not like most place were people go where they wanted and pushed onto the car. Someone was standing, herding people into orderly lines. This was not true everywhere, but it really stood out as one of the first experiences we had as we got off the plane. 

Once we got our bags and got through customs, we tried to have a tourist desk help us get to our hotel via subway. We wanted to be able to get there ourselves taking mass transit instead of a taxi. They seemed a little confused and told us basically we would have to take a taxi eventually. Luckily, we were surprise as we walked out of the airport to see our friend Albert waiting for us. We had not expected to see him yet, since he wasn't allowed to drive that day. (Beijing just reinstated a law that limits what days people can drive according to their licence plate number.) Apparently he had taken the bus in and so we hopped into a taxi and went straight to the hotel. This turned out to be great thing in many ways. First, we now realize, we had not booked a typical tourist hotel. It was far from downtown and in fact pretty far from the subway and no one at the hotel spoke English.  We did really enjoy the hotel, it was nice and clean with friendly people, but we probably wouldn't recommend it for non-Chinese speaking tourist.  Second it was a time saver not taking the subway and bus and getting lost, so we were able to get to Beihai park that afternoon. We were a little worried we wouldn't make it since things close pretty early. I think the park stops admitting people at 4:30. 

Thanks to Albert getting us checked in quickly, we did make it to the park, where we walked around for an hour or two and took some nice pictures. Then Albert kindly took us out to dinner. We picked a nice Thai restaurant we were all happy with. Actually, it was rather funny how Albert unknown to us, bought us dinner. He got up to go to the bathroom, and came back a few minutes later. Then Kevin decided to go, and asked Albert if it was just around the corner. Albert said yes, and as Kevin walked away, he had a funny grin on his face. When Kevin returned and we were ready to pay and go, Albert told us he had already paid. We then realized he had never gone to the bathroom, but used that as an excuse to pay the bill. It was very kind of him, and we were able to pay him back by buying him dinner on our last evening in Beijing. 

The next day we had tons of plans. We were going to get up early, and take a taxi to the Forbidden City, walk through there, check out Tian'anman Square, then we were going to take a taxi out to the Summer Palace. The next day were planning on going to the Great Wall, and I assumed that would take all day and we would be tired. So we set out from our hotel early to get a taxi to the Forbidden City. It was rush hour and we had a hard time getting a taxi, so instead of standing around waiting, we decided to tray and walk to the Subway. Albert already told us it was far away, but we were feeling adventurous, and like I said, we love the subway. So off we went on a little adventure. I think it took us a hour and half to find it. On the way, we walked through a local market, bought some gloves there (it was a cold walking around!) which was a good $5 investment for us. We started getting a little frustrated and had to find a bathroom somewhere in there. Anyway, by the time we got to the subway, it was a little late to follow our original plan, so instead, we took the subway straight out to he Summer Palace and spent the rest of the day walking around there. We had a great time, walking at our own pace, enjoying the gardens and lake (something we don't get to see in Mumbai).  After 3 or 4 hours walking around in the park, we got back on the subway (after an interesting, non-registered taxi drive) and went to downtown to find something to eat. We ended up walking around Wangfujing which had lots of stores, some big brand names and other small shops. We went into a silk shop and walked around looking at all the different patterns and clothing items they had. They also had tailors ready to measure you for a new outfit. Finally we went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. man we were excited! As much as we liked China, we did not dig the food. The Outback was actually really good and tasted exactly like it would have in the US. After hours of walking around, we headed back to get a good nights rest before going to the Great Wall.

The next day, we again got up early and headed off to the bus station. We planned on following the directions in our tourist book, which explained how to get the bus from Beijing to another small city, where we could find a mini-bus or taxi up to the part of the wall we wanted to see. The trip up was suppose to take 2:30-3 hours. We hoped to arrive by 11, walk around for 2-3 hours, and then take the trip back, getting back around 4 or 5pm. So as soon as we arrived at the bus station, looking just like the tourist we were, someone approached us and asked if we were going to Mutianyu. In halting English and pictures drawn on paper and pen he had ready, he explained how hard, long and expensive it would be to do what we were planning, and that he would drive us straight there for a reasonable price. Kevin did a little bargaining, which made the driver laugh hysterically, we think because we were not quite as naive as he thought, and we struck a deal. I'm sure we payed a lot more than the bus would have been, but it was money WELL spent! The drive took us only 1 hour and was so much less stressful then the other way would have been. Our driver was very very nice. He helped us buy the right tickets and told us what to avoid (aka buying things from the vendors at the wall).  We took a tram up to a section of the wall, and then walked from there. We spent a leisurely 3 hours walking, taking pictures and generally enjoying ourselves. Then it was back to Beijing. We were back by 1pm, not nearly as tired as we thought, so we decided to go to the Forbidden City that we missed the day before. 

Again we walked around the city at our own pace. As we left, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over walls of the Forbidden City, then headed out to dinner. Over dinner we were trying to decide what to do on our last day. We had plans to meet Albert at his school at 1pm, so we had all morning to do whatever we wanted. There were several other things in town we could have seen, but we would have had to take a taxi ride into town, toured around, gone back to the hotel to check out and then take another taxi to meet Albert. Spontaneously, because we were on vacation after all, we decided to sleep in! 

However, we did decide before going home for the evening, we would try and take the subway out to the Olympic stadiums. That took several transfers, and when we got to the change station to go to the stadium. It looked like it wasn't open. We were tired and very disappointed, but we finally looked around enough to find the one way down to the cars that would take us to the Stadiums. Part of the reason it was hard to find was because there was no one going there. When we got on the car, there was only three other people on it. It was a little strange, but fun to be in a whole subway car practically to ourselves. Plus it was so nice and new, being built for the Olympics. Once we got there we were very impressed. It defiantly felt "Olympic". There were quite a few more people there then on the subway. Enough that we didn't feel alone, but there was lots of space and opportunity to take pictures. One family laughed at me as they walked by because I was trying to pretend to swim in front of the water cube and kept loosing my balance. We also saw a pug there! Of course, our pug is so much cuter, but it was fun to see a Chinese pug in China. We got great shots of everything all light up at night. Finally we headed back to our hotel for a good, LONG night of sleep. 

We did sleep in quite a bit, had a late brunch, checked out and then hopped in a taxi to meet Albert.  I have to say our whole time in Beijing would have been very different if it were not for his help. When we first arrived he had printed out a google map of where our hotel was, in Chinese. This came in handy, as most taxi drivers don't speak or read English, so we could just show them the map and off they would go. The other thing he helped us with is finding maps.  On our first night when we went to the park and dinner, we stopped in a tourist shop and found little maps of the city. They had major places, the subway and a general outline of the city. I had the great idea of picking up one in English and one in Chinese. That way were able to find what we wanted in English, and locate on the Chinese map. We used this method several times trying to get to places like the Summer Palace and the bus station. Again, though, it was great to have Albert help point things out and gives us ideas of where to go and when to go. 

When we met up with Albert, he showed us around Tsinghua University and Tsinghau high school which is where Albert teaches. He also showed us around Peking University which is basically next door. It's a little like touring around Boston as these two universities are the equivalent Harvard and MIT. After a while, we stopped at a grocery store to buy snacks for the train ride and headed off to the train station. We thought it was a little strange to leave for the train station 3 hours early even though we only had to be there 20 minutes before the train left. It did take an hour and half or more to get there, but once we were there, we bought him dinner and then he helped us get on the train and off to Shanghai.

And that was our time in Beijing. I would write about our one day in Shanghai, but we did have a rather fun adventure, and I'm afraid if I write now, I won't do it justice, since I have already spent the last hour writing. For now I am done... to be continued again.

क्या कहाना

K & E

China Trip Part 1

Back to our Vacation adventures. As mentioned in our post before, we had a wonderful vacation. It started with a relaxing Saturday to pack and get to the airport. We decided to take a rickshaw to the airport. Note: this is the first time we have left Bandra on our own. In the past we have always had someone with us who was taking us or knew what they were doing. So the first rick we saw we waved down. We asked if he could take us to the international airport and he say yes, for 200 rupees. Now the rickshaws here all work on meters, but being in my pre-vacation stress mode, we just agreed and got in. We proceeded to drive two blocks and stop, where the rickshaw driver said we needed to wait for 5 minute. Again, being stressed out, I tried arguing with him, saying we needed to go, but he just kept saying 5 minutes. So we sat, stuffed in a rickshaw with our bags, waiting. We soon realized we didn't mind so much as they began to replace the break line. Five minutes later we were off again, new break line and all. The drive to the airport was pretty quick and we got there right on time. As we arrived, I noticed the meter said we owed 100 rupees. In my head I was debating if I should go with what I agreed to, or see if we could just pay the 100. So as we got out I pointed to the meter and said 100? He said no 200. In all reality, 200 rupees is not that much, so I gave him the 200 and said happy Diwali. That gave him a huge smile and I think we both understood. Yes, he may have ripped us off, but no I didn't care. It was all in the spirit of the holiday.

Once there, we got through security, which can actually take a while because they check and recheck our tickets stamping them 2 or 3 times, as well waiting in line for security, walking through the metal detectors and then getting wanded as well. (The metal detectors don't do a whole lot here, everyone walks through, everyone beeps and everyone gets wanded). As I was waiting for Kevin (since there is a different security line for women which goes much faster as there are less women traveling) I noticed one of the female security guards had a Sari uniform. I think it was the first I had seen something like that, so it stuck out to me. Same color fabric, but more silky and made into a Sari, then she just pinned the patch on the top of her shoulder like the other guards with their uniforms. I kind of wish I had a picture, but that would have been awkward to take. Our flight to Hong Kong went alright, beside the fact that I think the plane was older then me, something broke, so we had to stay on the tarmac for two hours in Delhi while they fixed it and then they woke everyone up and insisted we eat dinner at 2:30 in the morning.

So, Sunday morning we made it to Hong Kong and our real vacation challenges began. A few weeks ago, we realized this is our first big international trip that either of us have taken that was not completely organized for us. In other words, we have always been chauffeured around, given places to stay and food to eat by someone local. The first thing we had to do was get to our hotel. After talking to a tourist desk, and checking out the subway, we ended up booking a ride on a hotel express shuttle, which took us straight to our hotel for just a few more dollars. Once we checked in to our very nice but small hotel and freshened up, we were off. The first day we spent walking around the Kowloon side of Hong Kong, shopping. Mostly we were looking for a new camera, which we did eventually buy along with a few other miscellaneous items. After stopping by our hotel, we headed out to eat dinner (a very expensive dinner :-( I think water cost us $8), then stopped by to leave a note for Chris and Caitlin. I only mention this, because when we asked to leave a note, they asked for the guests name. We said "Chris Roberts, who should be checking in later this evening". Well, they only had one Christopher Roberts and they said he had already checked in with a Thai women...??? What? Well, we left the note anyway which they did get later that night when they arrived. I guess Caitlin's dad checked in for them earlier and the hotel people assumed his wife was Thai. Strange yet funny. Then we headed down to the waterfront to watch the nightly light show. There were lots of people hanging out, taking pictures. There were a lot of vendors there who were offering to take pictures as well. We found a nice spot on the water and waited for the show. The audio was in Mandarin, but I don't think we missed much other then "the show is starting" or something to that affect as the rest of it was set to music. Basically, the buildings across the water all light up and have lazers on their roofs that they make a show of. It was a lot of fun and very pretty. It was a nice way to end our evening.

The next day we were able to meet up with Chris and Caitlin (who so nicely brought us a few things from the states,( including 72oz Costco sized bag of chocolate chips! Yum!!) and her dad and brother and we walked around Hong Kong some more. We rode the worlds longest covered escalator and had lunch, and then Kevin and I wondered around the Zoological and Botanical Garden, which was so nice! We miss open green spaces. You don't find that much in Mumbai. We also thought it was interesting as we walked around how much Halloween stuff was for sale and up in different stores and restaurants. That afternoon, we did some more shopping and then when up on the Peak Tram to see the city from up high. It was a little cloudy, so it was kind of disappointing, but fun to see the city from that view point. We also happened to be up there when the light show was happening, which you couldn't really see much of from this angle, so we were glad we caught it the night before. We had dinner with a view and headed back to get a good nights sleep before heading off to Beijing in the morning.

To Be Continued...
क्या कहाना
K&E

Election Day in India

What an exciting day we had here. Tuesday evening in the States was Wednesday morning for us, so we woke up with great anticipation. In fact, I had a hard time sleeping on Tuesday night as I kept dreaming about the election, and wanted to get up in the middle of the night to check the TV. I'm glad I didn't drag myself out of bed however as there were very little results when I did turn in on at 6am. I think the count was Obama 4, McCain 16 at that point. As I was getting ready, a few polls closed and I was checking in often. I even got a call from one of our neighbors who was checking out how many others were watching the news. Once we got to school, things were pretty normal but with a bit of excitement in the air. Soon enough, we had CNN up in the cafeteria via a Slingbox from the States, and CNN.com streaming in the library. Crowds started to form, from Staff members to students. When CNN predicted that Obama won, the tears of joy started flowing from many. The schools leadership team were actually meeting at the time, so I was sent up to tell them Obama won and he was getting ready to give his victory speech. When he finally came on stage we were all crowded around, watching the historic moment. The rest of the day I think it was really hard for everyone to focus. Obama's victory was all anyone seemed to be talking about. We even got an email asking us to help keep the tone of the day somewhat neutral, as there are several students and/or their families here who support McCain. Overall a very exciting day and an interesting place to witness such a historic event. I do want to note that even though there was strong support for Obama from many people here, many of us agreed that McCain gave a great speech. I hope, whether we voted for McCain or Obama, that we can take his words to heart and work together in the future. Happy Election Everyone!

क्या कहाना
K&E

Ni Hao!

We are back from our vacations feeling relaxed and unprepared for another week of school. Week Without Walls went extremely well. The kids were fantastic, there was only one monkey attack and everyone had a great time. We left for China on Saturday morning to fly into Hong Kong. We found our hotel and walked the markets in our area. The next day we met up with Chris and Caitlyn and spent the day with them walking around the city. We had a wonderful time and it was nice to see them and get to spend some time together. The next morning we flew up to Beijing where our friend Albert was nice enough to pick us up from the airport and help us get a taxi and check into our hotel. He then took us on a tour of Beihai Park and took us out to dinner. We are lucky to have such generous friends. We spent the next few days touring around the major attractions: Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Great Wall, Tian'anmen Square, Tsinghua and Peking Universities, and a visit to the olympic plaza to see the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. We then took an overnight trian to Shanghai where we spent the day having some great adventures and doing some more shopping and sight seeing. It was a fantastic week and everything went very smoothly considering we didn't speak Chinese and were relying on airport maps and guidebooks to get us around. We will write more details later this week but for now we wanted to let everyone know we are back in Mumbai (with a newly painted apartment...yay!) and all is well. Plus (and most importantly) our China pictures are up on Picassa so check them out. More stories to come!

क्या कहाना
K&E