One Week Down

Made it through the first week without contracting dysentery, getting hit by a car/taxi/rickshaw, or falling through an open sewer access.

I've eaten more rice this week than I have the rest of the year, but it's just a large part of their diet, and can't really be avoided.  There are US chains here nearby, such as a Domino's and Burger King in the building next door, but I just can't bring myself to do that.  I've decided that I really love biryani dishes, which are in plentiful supply.  They're usually not too spicy, and come in all kinds of variations.  There are numerous restaurants around that serve what is generally considered to be American (they refer to it as 'continental') food.  It's strange to be in a place where someone might say "hey, let's go get some American food tonight!" much like we would say about a foreign cuisine back home.

Speaking of food, the office where I work has been an interesting experience. Evidently it's common here to have food and beverage service in office environments.  Two guys in uniforms with bow ties come around throughout the day with coffee/tea, or you can call them if you want more.  On top of that, the food/beverage manager for the inflight catering brings us lunch every day. On the first day he asked what we wanted, and we told him Indian food, so he's been bringing us different regional dishes every day, which is just awesome.

Typical lunch in the office.  We told him to bring about half that from now on.

Um, waiter, my cup appears to be empty

I have been trying to stay entertained in my down time.  Indian TV is mostly unwatchable for me.  Even the international CNN channel focuses almost exclusively Indian news, so I lose interest pretty quickly.  Thankfully I can access NetFlix and similar services back home, although I'm hoping to get my internet connection here upgraded so it works better.  Speaking of Indian TV, they play the same few commercials RELENTLESSLY, which does not help the experience.  This one played about every 5 minutes since I've been here, but luckily it cracks me up every time I watch it.  It's almost like they're making fun of themselves:

They do this head shake thing here when you talk to them.  It's kind of hard to describe, but if you could imagine you're tracing a figure 8 pattern with the tip of your nose, you'd be pretty close.  

It's usually not this creepy

The meaning of this movement is kind of situational.  It can be anything from "yeah, ok" or "I understand."  I'm still getting used to it, as sometimes you're not entirely sure what they're meaning to convey.  

We got a chance to drive around a bit this week.  My employer arranged for a neighborhood familiarization trip, so we could know where the essentials are located, such as hospitals, police stations, etc.  Along the way, we got to stop and see the sights a bit, for what it's worth.  First we stoped at the Mount Mary Basilica, which is the oldest Christian church in Mumbai, founded in 1570.

Notice you can see the reflection of the church in the glass?

From there we went to the Castella de Aguada just south of the church, which was also established in about the same time frame. I didn't take as many pictures there, as it was fairly underwhelming as far as attractions go, but it was right on a point of land overlooking Mahim bay, so I did get this one:

You probably shouldn't get in that water

Heading back towards home, we stopped in a neighborhood called Bandra West for lunch, at a place called Lucky's, which is known for it's Biryani.  It's an old, but well maintained place, with no air conditioning, but the food was really good. Our guide was from Mumbai, so he helped us negotiate the menu.  

There was a protest outside the gate of our complex the other day after we got home from work.  Not sure what it was about, but they were out there chanting for a couple hours before the police finally came and broke it up.  

We're extremely dissatisfied!

According to their banners, it was the RPI(A), or Republican Party of India.  I passed along that they'd been out there to our company security guy back home, and he didn't seem to happy about the fact that this was going on. He'd probably be even more bothered by the fact that I was down there taking a picture of them, but it was a fairly small group.  What I don't know at all is why they were here.  I'm hoping to find out more about that soon.  

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to negotiate the extensive Mumbai train system to go to the south end of town. I managed to leave town without a couple of my belts that I wear with my office dress clothes, so I'm going down to what is supposedly the best mall in the city to see if I can find some replacements.  Shopping for things here is still somewhat of a challenge.  I went to 5 different places that had home goods before I finally found a stupid trash can for my apartment.  I still haven't managed to find a cutting board for my kitchen.  It makes no sense, but then a lot of things don't.