"Yea, but they weren't nice monkies"

Elephanta Caves:

So I've been ill (cold not the other end thankfully) for the past couple days. Last night I got a very interuppted 17 hours of sleep. Seriously still no egg crates to be found. And was feeling better this morning and decided to push through the remaining yuckiness and enjoy some sites.

We took the local train from Matunga, First Class. Or so we thought. Rumors of air conditioning and bountiful seating were far from the truth. Def not worth the extra 44rs. But lesson learned.

I also got to experience hanging out of a moving train. Well sorta. I think after the 3rd station all bets were off and I found myself not only sitting on the train floor but puking out the doors of a moving train. India is just full of unique experiences. Afterwards, I felt much better and was able to take the ferry without incident.

Elephanta Caves are a peaceful, carless, not overly crowded place. Did I mention carless? Although they did have lots of bold monkies who we have witnessed steal more than one persons snack or drink. They apparently also like Sprite as they practically attacked Heather at the sight of the bottle (See above picture. His rewards were not from our group. Also very cleaver. He opened it and drank.)

Indians love white people. I don't know why cause white people really dont like anyone other than white people. But thats besides the point. Today I felt like a movie star! Not really but got an ego boost when a girl asked for my photo. Such a small price to pay for being pretty I guess.

Time for a remembered story brought to you by Ignorance

I think it was day 2. Walking around the city. Lost yet again. I see a carriage with flowers and people following and proclaim, "Look a parade" It looked like a parade in South philly when they honor the saints. I swear. But no. It was a funneral. The body was under the flowers and they were taking it to be burned. It was pretty amazing. Even if it wasnt a prade

First Day of School!

So, I finally got internet. I back dated the blogs and put down what I could remember. There has been so much to take in and I feel as though I've experienced weeks of culture, sites and traditions.
School started today at 9:30 am. Ended at 4:30pm. Which will pretty much be my schedule while I'm here. Thankfully no 8am classes.
Today was Stat and Financial Accounting. So far so good. The teachers are great. Although my finan. acct. teacher kept thinking I didn't understand the lecture. Even after I had given her lots of correct answers to a problem. If I look confused when I understand the material, I'd hate to see what I look like when I don't.
I have some more stories which I will add later. So stay tuned for Blogs on electricity, toilets and who knows what else.

5 Aug: Rakhi Bandhan

Rahki Bandhan or Brother's Day is where the sister give the brother a braclet as a symbol protection, loyalty and affection. The brother also gives the sister either sweets or money. We were going to participate in it, but we shopped last minute and didn't have the time to hunt down a good deal. Maybe next year.

Today we also toured Mumbai. There are some amazing places, traditions and people all around. Above is a photo of the washers. There are hundreds of men, no women, who rent the stalls to do laundry. They do pick up service and will wash all your clothing for you. The more I learn about India, the more I wish the US had such services. There are many food services, grocery services and pretty much anything you can imagine. Buying clothing? Chances are they will tailor it. Everyone is really friendly. They really do know how to do service with a smile. Americans should take a page.

On our journey, we visited Ghandi's house. It was closed for pest control. But we did get a picture of the Mumbai Cohort. A good lookin' bunch, aren't we? For those of you who I am FB friends with, you can see the remaining of the tour. Hopefully tomorrow.

3 Aug: If you don't get lost, you're not doing it right.

After classes, we went for another long, adventurous walk around the city. Once again we got lost. Lost as in we only had an inclination of what direction we needed to head. There were 3 of us so no worries.
I don't know how a city this large could possibly not have some sort of signage. Probably to keep the tourist out since even the locals have a hard time navigating the streets. Using landmarks is key, although distinguishing one delapidated corner from another is hard. Big and nice buildings stand out the most.
There are tons of open markets. If you are not happy with one vendors price, there are many others to choose from. It took my cohort, Heather, 4 vendors before she got her braclets two for 5rs.
The streets are filled with cars with no established traffic pattern and only a handful of traffic lights. Horns, like in China, are constant with no reason some of the time.

3 Aug: Friendship Day

While walking back from orientation, one of the locals keep trying to get our attention. Being the unknowing Americans, we tried to ignore until we couldn't any longer when he caught up to us. Apparently it was friendship day. Trick to pick our pockets? It def cross my mind.
But no, it really was friendship day and all we had to do was let him sign his name across our arm. Now we are friends with Eshawn, whom we will probably never see again. After signing, we noticed people had their arms covered in markers with their friend's names. It was quite amazing. Kinda like a yearbook signing, but no book. Day 2 and already participated in a tradition. Check.

3 Aug: First Day of Orientation.

Today we went with the Welingkar staff for orientation. We were very warmly welcomed to the school and participated in a traditional candle lighting ceremony which I sadly did not get pictures of. We also got complimentary bookbags to carry our many books. I wish I could say my back would have been spared by only having two classes a day, but our beds are hard as rocks. Sometimes I wonder if the sidewalk would be any more comfortable as many Indians sleep on it. Of all the things I wish I had brought, egg crate would be number one.
Back to school, we had a luncheon with our teachers and had some very delicious Indian food. I don't think I will be loosing weight over the first month like I had thought.....
School starts on Thurs.

Aug 2: Got Milk?

Walking around the city, it is hard not to run into the locals. Brings me back to Vermont a bit only instead of seeing them roaming in open pastures they roam the streets. (Dogs are quite rampant as well and surprisingly they all look like the same breed) In any give walk, you are bound to come across at least a few. Dozens if you go for a long hike. No, I havent tried to pet them.

Background: Cows are sacred animals here. You will NOT find a hamburger on the McDonalds menu. They do have some interesting other choices though. The reason there are so many cows is that fodder is so scarce in many parts of the country that owners bring them to the city.