A month flies by when you are having fun! Janmashtami and National Day Celebration

It is official, James and I have been in Mumbai for a month and so far so good. Last week was another great week that ended with a great weekend away just 1 hour away from home. Here are some cool things we encountered:

Monday last week was another holiday. This particular day is called Janmashtami and during this day according to wikepedia this is what they celebrate: 

The festival is celebrated on the eighth day (Ashtami) of the Krishna Paksha (dark fortnight) of the month of Bhadrapad(August–September) in the Hindu calendar. Rasa lila, dramatic enactments of the life of Krishna, are a special feature in regions of Mathura and Vrindavan, and regions following Vaishnavism in Manipur.^[5] While the Rasa lila re-creates the flirtatious aspects of Krishna's youthful days, the Dahi Handi celebrate God's playful and mischievous side, where teams of young men form human towers to reach a high-hanging pot of butter and break it. 

So basically a group or team make towers to reach the pot and break it. We all wanted to encounter this and we were told of several places we could go and see the events. As always, we set of as a group to see set towers around our little neighborhood of Bandra West. 

But first, we met for breakfast, because if you have not noticed, most of our outings revolve about eating or going to eat. This time we tried The Bagel Shop, which we could say it is the Indian version of Panera.  The Bagel shop has indoor or outdoor seating and they serve bagels, sandwiches, salads, and awesome breakfast foods. I ordered a plain bagel with Philly cream (which is what they call plain cream cheese) with a vanilla latte. After breakfast, we met other folks and set off into our adventure in 2 rickshaws. It was cool getting into the tuck tuck and telling the driver "follow that rickshaw". We traveled through several neighborhoods before we found one of the places where they were going to do the human pyramid. We didn't see a lot of commotion so we asked several locals and they told us that the festivities usually start at 7pm, needless to say, we were about 7 hours too early. 

So that night, we all decided to meet again, this time a little closer to home to see the pyramids in action. When we arrived at Pali Market it was a different story from earlier in the day. Techno music was playing loudly, the teams were making their way to 2 different places where the pots were located and off they went. These pots were located in the middle of the road or intersections. Once we saw the teams approaching the intersection in which they were going to make their pyramid, we saw a police officer and we thought they were going to stop all traffic, once again, we thought wrong. The police officer was just directing traffic so the teams could create their pyramid. We parked ourselves in the median, where we had visibility of both pots. It was really cool to see way the teams created their pyramids with precision and concentration and start forming and seeing them trying to get to a pot of buttermilk that is 20, 30, or 60 feet tall. We saw several teams trying to make a pyramid to knock the pot that was 60 feet tall and just not being successful. A group of girls attempted the lower one and succeeded. 

It was awesome to see how these teams work together to get to the top and the amount of time they put into the practice. 

On Friday after James' work we set off into South Mumbai to the Taj Majal Palace Hotel, where the US Consulate would be celebration National Day, or 4th of July. Although it was a month and a half late, it was worth the wait. The reason for the delay was because both the Embassy in New Delhi and the Consulate in Mumbai were getting new people in charge of them and they wanted to partake in the celebration. Everyone from Officers, partners and local staff volunteered for this massive event. Everyone had a job to do, but once your job was done you could go and enjoy the celebration and meet people that came to the party.

The party started at around 7 and by 8 the party was in full swing. It was great to see the Marine do the presentation of the colors and hear the new CG and CDA give their speeches. It made me proud to be on the US Mission to Mumbai and once again, James and I realized that we had made the right choice by coming here. After our duty, which was setting up a barrier between the press and the stage was done and we set off to party. The party basically consisted of two areas, the dancing and drinking area and the eating area. Once you entered the eating saloon, you forgot that you were in India for a minute. There in the middle was a buffet set up of all our beloved foods: fries, burgers, cheesecake, and mini hot dogs, key lime pie. The food was great and the people we met were wonderful. It was great to chat up the CG to Turkey and her son, who invited us to Istanbul and the principal of the German School here in Mumbai. 

The party was over at around 10:30 and a big group of us were staying at the Taj, so we went to the bar to continue our own little American Party. We did not know were people were going at first, so James, Joel and I went to the first bar in Mumbai called The Sea Lounge, where we enjoyed some drinks. A little bit later we got a text from a friend asking were we were and we told them and they told us to join them at the other bar Starboard, which is also a Mexican restaurant. 

After a long night of partying we set off to our room in the 14th floor of the hotel and slept like babies in one of the best king size beds I've ever slept on.

The next morning we met some of our friends for breakfast and then at the pool. Later on that day James and some other friends went on a shopping spree around Colaba, where I found my new China pattern. That night I treated James to a nice birthday dinner at the Starboard restaurant and ended the night watching a movie in bed. 

Last week was a great way to end our first month here in India. More and more everyday Mumbai is stilling my heart. I am glad that we are able to experience these fantastic things and how many great people we have met in the past month.

Now a little bit of humor to end this great month:

Number of cows seen: 10

Number of rickshaw drivers that don't know where they are going: all

Number of donkeys seen: 2

Number of monkeys: 0

Number of parties attended: 4

Number of times I have haggled with people: 2

Number of people I have seen doing their business on the street: 2

Number of elephants seen: 0...

Seriously people, I was promised elephants, where are they?

Until Next time...

Nats

Mumbai living... Week 3

I know I'm a little late on the post, but this has been a very busy week. Things are starting to get real and I'm starting to find things to occupy my days with.

Last week was one for the books here in Mumbai. Aside from being a long weeknd, it ended up being a fun and very busy weekend.

On Monday I asked our housekeeper to come in earlier so she could take me to the market she usually goes by herself, but  I wanted to go so I could see what they have. I really enjoyed that because it gave me a sense of how things work around here and what are the good places to buy fruits, vegetables and meats. It also didn't hurt to see my housekeeper bartering the prices...

Tuesday was a little lay back. I went over the Cosulate to use their gym. Their gym is way nicer than the one we have and James wanted to stay for Cross Fit. It felt good to be back running and in a good treadmill too. I am hoping that once I start working at the Consulate and Monsoon season is over I will be able to start running outside.

Wednesday was the busiest and funnest days I've had since I arrived. I went to the Trident Hotel near the Consulate for a coffee and tea date with some of the women at the American Woman's Club of Mumbai. During this event I was able to meet several women expats from different parts of the world and chat about our time in Mumbai. I made a couple of friends and decided that we would meet the following week for some coffee. After the coffee and tea I met James at the Consulate for lunch and a little workout. That afternoon I got to volunteer at the American School of Bombay for the Avarasa Leadership Academy. During this time I met with 5 teenage age girls that attend this program several days a week and they participate in STEM classes, as well as, with the volunteers help, the girls have a chance to learn about US History/Culture, Art, Math and Reading. On this particular day the girls would be participating with me in an Art activity. Since it was my first time, I did not know what to expect and wat the girls would do. The girls came in the room we were in and we all introduced ourselves and I procedeed to tell them what we were doing during their time with me. I told them to draw about something they would be doing during the weekend since it was Independence Day that Friday or whatever they wanted. I noticed right away that all girls did 1 of 2 drawings, 1 of them being of an Indian mountain landscape and the other one a drawing of the Indian flag in a pole and students standing at attention. When I asked them about what they drew (like I did with my 1st graders), their response was minimal or rote. They described in little words their drawing without any deviations and all very similar. After listening to their response it made me realize how rote memory is still a big part of education in some parts of the world. After asking them more personal questions they started to get out of their comfort zone and they were able to tell me what their favorite subject in school was and what they were doing that weekend. This experience got me to look forward to more volunteering work with this program.

Thursday was a chill day in preparation for the weekend. We attended a going away party for some awesome folks and this just brought back memories of my College Program Days.

On Friday we took it easy during the day. We met some friends at Smoke House Deli for lunch. This is a great Brunch/lunch place since they serve breakfast all day. Then we procedeed to a spa where the boys got a massage and I got a pedicure for $6. Later on in the afternoon, we invited our neighbour Joel for some Domino's pizza and beer, that followed with a trip to SMAAASH. SMAAASH is an arcade haven for children and adults alike. You can call it the Disney Quest of Mumbai. It is a pretty cool place that have criket cages, instead of batting cages, great arcade games, bowling, a 9D movie adventure and paint balling. The 3 of us had a great time, but we realized that it would have been more fun with a bigger group of people, and, if it wasn't India's Independence Day and a dry day (you can't have alcohol).

We spent Saturday afternoon down south in Colaba at the Taj Majal Palace Hotel where we were given a tour of the premises that followed High Tea. This was an excellent event. Our tour guide Viren was wonderful and very knowledgeable. He took us into a time traveling journey of the hotel and explained the history behind the hotel and all the famous people that have stayed there. We were taken to the Presidential Suite in which President Obama stayed when he came to visit Mumbai in 2012. He was the first peson to stay there after the terrotist attacks in 2008. This room is also bullet proof and has one of the best views on South Mumbai. After the tour we headed to the tea room where James and I and the rest of the group had the experience of High Tea for the first time. We were served delicious Ice teas, latte's and delicious "street food". The Taj Hotel decied to bring the street food experience to the hotel. It was a great and delightfull afternoon with wonderful people from the Cosulate. Experiences like this have me looking forward to exploring more of the city.

Sunday was another epic day. 6 of us packed ourselves in Joel's mini van and drove 2 hour outside Mumbai to the land of Adlabs Imagica. This my friends is the "disneyland" of India. Rumor has it that Disney did not want to build a Disney World or Land here, so someone here in India decided to build one themselves. I'm telling you, I'm pretty sure that they sent some young kids to work at Disney, Universal, Six Flags or any other theme park in the states and had them come up with ideas for the theme park. The park has "different lands" or rides which are all super fun. I went on almost every ride there. They have really good roller coasters, one that simulates Jurasic park at IOA, other ones that resemble Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Masion, Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom. We ate lunch at an "American Diner" which was great. We bought express passes which took us to the front of the line everytime, so we never waited more than 5-10 minutes for a ride. This was a great experiece because I got to go to a theme park, but also, I got to get to know some of the people I will be working with.

In the 3 weeks that we have been here, although I have not explore things by myself, I have been able to experience great places among great people. These experiences keep reassuring me that James and I made the right choice in coming to Mumbai. I know that the next 2 years are going to be memorable and I am really happy that I will get to experience this Maximum city with awesome people, my husband included.


Until next time and please keep your feet traveling because there is no better experience that the experience of traveling and exploring places with people that matter. Remember life is too short to sit and wonder where your life is going or why you haven't done anything with it.


Nats 

Oh, Mumbai... How I love thee... Week 2 re-cap

I really can't believe that James and I have been here for almost 3 weeks. It's a surreal thing. Needless to say, we are getting use to life here as much as we can and we are taking full advantage of what the city has to offer us. Since it is still Monsoon season it still rains on and off constantly, so we have to bring an umbrella with us wherever we go.

Although I did not go out that much last week during the day, James and I manage to find things to do in the afternoon/night/weekend.

On Tuesday, I got to spend the morning at the Consulate and had lunch with some great people. That afternoon I experienced Uber India alone and it was great. You may not know this about me but, I always get really nervous when I get into a cab/uber by myself no matter where I am. Why? Well I think I have a fear of being kidnapped. My driver was very nice and he got me home safely and with minimal directions from me. That afternoon James and I interviwed our new housekeeper Greta. She is a very kind and helpful woman and we are happy she has joined us.

Wednesday was a little bit low key since I wanted to be home for Greta's first day with us. That day Greta when to the market and got us delicious fruits and vegetables and she also cooked for us. I told her that we did not eat a lot of Indian food, but, that we wanted to learn to eat it and enjoy it, so I left it up to her to make us something. She ended up making us rice with chiken in Hoisin sauce, which is a milder sauce. We invited our friend Che for dinner and we all enjoyed Greta's lovely meal.

Thursday was a great day. I met James at the Consulate in the afternoon and watched him as he did his first Crossfit WOD. He really enjoyed it and I had a great time watching everyone do the workouts. Maybe one day I'll join them. That night, we set off to the Sofitel Hotel, a hotel near the Consulate, where the Brits were hosting Cigar Night. Here we had the chance to meet other people that work in the Consulate, people that work in the High Commision (British version of the Cosulate), and some other German, French, Indian and British business people. This event is a once a month event and it is great.  For  rp1200 ( $20) you get an open bar, all you can eat food and endless conversations. It was nice to meet people and get to network with them.

On Friday, I stayed home and just hung out. That night one of our neighbors invited us for a small gathering for some food and good conversation. And man, did he deliver... He welcomed us with some bubbly and cheese. Then he enamoured us with his mushroom soup. Now, if you know me, I am not a big fan of mushrooms, but this mushroom soup is the best soup I've ever eaten in my life. Then, he wowed us with Water Buffalo Steak. Now, once again this was the first time I had Water Buffalo meat and it was great. When we were all full, he surprised us once more with homemade chocolate mousse. Nevertheless, we continued the night among new and "old" friends just making memories.

Saturday was a little different due to the fact that I woke up with a massive pain in my lower back. James took me to breakfast at a french creperie named Suzette. Now, this is a place we will be returning many times during our 2 years here. After that we set off to do a little shopping, but both my back and the monsoon did not allow us to continue. That night we were supposed to go to a pool party at the same hotel we attended Cigar Night, but, due to my back, we decided to stay in. We settled for an Indian movie named Midnight's Children. It is based on a book by Salman Rushdie, and it is about the Indian Partition from the British. It is really interesting movie and I'm pretty sure those of you who are history buffs will like it.

On Sunday I still woke up with backpain but we still met Che and Michael for Brunch, but where else but "Suzette's". Michael wanted to do some shopping so we set to explore the Pali Market area and found some cute little shops that I want to explore later. In the afternoon we were invited to take part in "Narali Poornima is a Koli holy day welcoming the new fishing season. Boats are cleaned up and repainted, repaired, etc. And a parade full of dancing fishing villagers march down the road. Then at the waterfront, they perform religious ceremonies altogether and throw coconuts into the ocean." 

I will write about this experience on the next blog because it deserves its own entry. 

I hope you all enjoyed this entry. I will keep the post coming as fast as I can write them.

Nats

Week One Down, 103 weeks to go

I can't believed that we have been in India for a week already. It's been a big adjusting period for me due to both jet lag and monsoon season. If you have never experiences Monsoon season, like me, then it can be quite frustrating. Why you might ask? Well it's simple, you might leave your house and it can be sunny and 2 minutes later the rain comes. And it is not the drizzle rain that we might get in the states before a huge storm, no, it just starts pouring down and in the next 2 minutes it can stop and start again.

This is one of the reasons I haven't gone out and explore, but also, here there are no street signs nor sidewalks, so I am a little apprehensive about going out and about. I think that once we get a driver, I would feel comfortable going out in the neighborhood by myself. 

Rest assure that we haven't spent all our time inside, we have been invited to going away parties, dinners, brunch and sight seeing and we have done all of those. 

If you did not know, there are a lot of things to do and places to eat around here. So this is what we did the last week:

Monday:  We went to the Consulate where we met a lot of James' co-workers and some of my future co-workers. That night we went to a going away party for an officer that was leaving post that week. Here we met more FSO's and their spouses and everyone was very welcoming and great and gave us some suggestions on places to visits, shop, etc!

Tuesday: We were suppose to meet friends down south at Chowpatty Beach and Marine Drive but James wasn't feeling well so we had to turn around and we actually spend the afternoon at home and getting some grocery shopping done.

Wednesday: I stayed home and cooked us a delicious dinner.

Thursday: Our UAB or Unaccompanied Baggaged arrived so I stayed home an unpacked and once James got home we went a farewell dinner nearby at Pizza Metro Pizza, which is an thematic italian pizza place in which their pizza is really good.

Friday: We got cable and our phones installed and then we met some of our friends at Sancho's, another thematic restaurant, this time Mexican, which we know we are going back to because the food was delicious and the atmosphere was great, not to mention that they played salsa and merengue the entire time we were there!

Saturday: We actually made it down south to Chowpatty Beach and we went to the High End Mall called the Phoenix Hotel and Mall for some shopping. After that, our driver for day took us around South Mumbai where we saw the Gateway to India, Taj Majal Hotel, the Train Station, a Mosque in the middle of the bay and some other beautiful monumets. We wanted to walk to all the different places, but, once again, the monsoon took over our plans. After that we went shopping at the "Walmart" of India called Reliance. Now, this store was great, because it has all the basic things you need plus food! It felt as if we were home, except, we are in India... 

Sunday: This was James' and I's 1st year anniversary and we spent most of the day apart. Yes, apart... I was invited by some of James's co-workers to go and explore some of Mumbai's cool stores and then go to Brunch. This was great, because we went around some cool home stores with someone who has been here for a while. We all wanted to buy everything but decided against it until we get our Household Effects later on in the month so we have an idea of what we really need.

After some shopping we visited SmokeHouse Deli for some brunch American/English style. It is an amazing little restaurant near our house with both Indian and Continental Cuisine. I ordered the Banana Bacon Pancakes with a side of bacon and it was delish, while another one of us ordered Eggs Florentine, another ordered Rissotto and Fish and the other ordered a lamb burger. All of these looked fantastic and we all left satisfied and full. 

Later on that night James and I set off to dinner at the fantastic and luxurious Taj Hotel Lands End which is located about 10 minute drive from our house. We dined at Vista, which is a lounge on the 2nd floor of the hotel which overlooks the water. The food was really good but the company was better. 

As we closed on the 1st full week in Mumbai, I can honestly say that this place is growing on me and I like it! I can't wait to see what other things this city and country have to offer.  

Nats