I Loves Me Some Mumbai

So here I am in Mumbai.

And I love it. It is sultry and hot and the food is amazing and the textiles very colorful.

Can anyone else believe I'm here, because I barely can. On the other hand, the moment I stepped out of the airport I knew I would love this place and that it would be some sort of home for me.

Of course, I am being a little hasty in falling in love (me?), so ask me in a few weeks how I feel.

I realize I am not being my normal fluid self. I think jetlag is affecting me more than I think it is (nonsensical sentence, I know). Plus I have to go to the bathroom and it's hard to find places to go to the bathroom when you're out and about. I had Diet Coke at lunch though, so don't feel bad for me. I brought it on myself.

All of the dogs in Mumbai look to be of the same breed, or rather non-breed. They look like just a dog. Like a normal yeller dog. I've seen a couple that have deviated into more foxish territory. It's such a change from all the designer dogs in New York. And the cats! They are downright creepy (or would be if you weren't in love with cats)! Very muscular with big long ears.

We went shopping today, which was very necessary since I brought only two pants and 2 or 3 shirts. I bought a sharwa shemeez (however you spell it...those tunic-and-pants combos), a really pretty long shirt with poplar trees on it, a white skirt and blue shirt, some green linen pants and some flip flops for the shower. All for just about sixty bucks. For reals. And it was only that much because I went to a department store for the first two items.

Here was a lovely thing: when I was flying in the night on the way to Mumbai, I looked out the window and there were some mountains. Huge tall mountains that seemed so close to our plane at 39,000 feet. I think they were in Afghanistan or Iran or Pakistan...we flew over all these countries at some point. I know it doesn't seem like much to just fly over someplace, but it really gave me a thrill to think that just below me were these places that aren't really accessible.

Here and there in Mumbai there are some trees with bright orange flowers. Sort of the same shade as quince. I must find out what they are.

Mumbai is very difficult to navigate because there are very few street signs. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to get to church tomorrow. It's a little out of the city in Navi Mumbai. I know the directions to get there by train, but I haven't been in a train yet and am a little nervous. We've taken cabs pretty much everywhere. They are SO CHEAP. Like the last cab we took was 30 rupees, which is about 75 cents. Split three ways!

I am so jet lagged. My head is sort of swimming. I must be really thirsty but I don't want to drink because I don't know how long it will be before I get back to the YMCA.

The YMCA is a strange place. We were informed we would have rooms with AC, but apparently we will only have rooms with AC when there aren't more important people than us staying there. We've been told we will likely shift several times in the next couple of months. For now we are in rooms with just ceiling fans and a bathroom down the hall. It's not so bad because it's mostly men on the hall so we get the bathroom pretty much to ourselves anyway.

The showers are strange. Mostly you just turn on the tap and use a little jug to pour water over yourself. It's actually very pleasant and writing about it makes me want to be there right now freshening up. You get very disgusting tromping around Mumbai. In a good way, of course. I love this extreme heat. It makes cooling off so much more exhilarting, too.

I think at this point I am just rambling. I hope that I get a little bit back to normal in the next few days.