The past few days have been full of a few things that have been on hold for a while. For example, as I mentioned a few posts ago, the first Shabbat I met a guy named Tov in Synagogue. We traded numbers when we ran into each other on the street a few days later, and have been meaning to hang out since then (he’s a very persistent texter). On Wednesday night we finally got around to grabbing a bite to eat. He’s a really nice guy, and it’s awesome that he lives literally 30 seconds away. He and his six brothers are here for a year learning computer literacy at the ORT school. They’re from the Bnai Menashe community of Manipur State, on the boarder with Myanmar. It was too much to expect that I wouldn’t get food poisoning in two months here, right? Out to dinner with Tov, we were served water in a glass, and Tov asked (in Hindi that he says is as good as his English, which is pretty good, but not fluent) if it was filtered. They said yes. I’m betting the real answer was no. In Lindsay Verola’s apartment this past year, there was a poster that was a collage of “Bathrooms of the Bars in Boston”. I spent Wednesday more or less compiling my own “Bathrooms of Mumbai” mental collage, touring not just my own hotel and work toilets, but also a local university’s bathroom and even the toilet (read: pit) in the Curry Road train station. I’ve had more fun in my life, but I survived, and I learned a valuable lesson: bottled water is bad for the environment, but good for my stomach. In between toilets two and three, I had my first interview! I was getting a little worried that it would never happen, so I’m glad I finally got the ball rolling. I think I did pretty well with my “indirect probes “ (e.g. “I see…”, “Intersting…”) and my direct questions (e.g. “Can you tell me more?”, “What makes you think that?”). I have a lot more of these to go, so I should get plenty more practice. There’s no one any one interview is going to tell me an answer, (nevermind the fact that I don’t know what the question is yet) so there was nothing groundbreaking about the interview, but it was a good snapshot of a Mumbai citizen. I have newfound appreciation for the trains. In addition to being ridiculously cheap and not being capable of getting lost (The Darjeeling Limited excluded), it has made my life 10X easier over the past few days. First of all, in protest of rising prices, all of the taxis and autorickshaws went on strike, making life very complicated for some people. I got to work on Tuesday at 9:30 (early, by Indian standards), and basically no one else got there until noon because they had to catch 5 buses or something. But the trains still worked. Then, Thursday night, I met up with Zoe, a friend of Emma Goldstein (from Tufts) from High School. I got to feel like such a pro when I taught her how to use the train system. “That number there is how many cars are on the train, that one’s the track, and that’s the station its heading to” and “this color here means it will be an all ladies car, so you wait here, and I’ll go up past the first class cars to the main ones and meet you at Dadar Station. Go!”.
Anyway, I finally feel settled in here, which is kind of nice, but also sort of strange that the traffic, goats, and smells aren't shocking and new anymore. The city is still exciting me, but I feel like I've moved past the "Holy Cow! I'm in Mumbai!" phase of the journey. I'm "a regular" at this internet cafe and the restaurant down the block, although I'm still a novelty for them (I was introduced as Harry Potter (again) to the internet cafe worker's friend).
Impending doom. The moonsoon, three minutes before it started as I left work last week. The rain jacket I brought is working wonderfully though, thanks Mom!
Just to give you a sense of where I spend my time, here's my room. I'm in the door to the bathroom, taking the picture. Not much to look at, nothing posh, but it's cozy and cold when I want it to be.
The wall at the foot of my bed. I just sort of hang my wet laundry and clothes whereever I want- one of the benefits of living alone. The TV isn't very useful. News in Hindi, the GOD channel (the only all-english one available), and a ton of Bollywood music video channels. I've been slowing adding to the collage on the right, mostly maps and letters.
I've always wondered when it become standard practice to smile in photos. I guess it hasn't, everwhere. Either that or Rajeet doesn't like me as much as he pretends to when I get back every day.
Out to dinner with some of the gentlemen last Sunday after the JCC "debate" on the Gaza situation. The debate also included heated exchanged on whether or not Gaza had booming marijuana business and reasons why the beaches of Gaza might be underutilized by tourists.
It was Kavya's birthday, at work! Apparently it wasn't just Akiv being difficult when he smashed cake in Dana's face on her birthday a month ago, since Dipti did the same to Kavya.
Anyway, I finally feel settled in here, which is kind of nice, but also sort of strange that the traffic, goats, and smells aren't shocking and new anymore. The city is still exciting me, but I feel like I've moved past the "Holy Cow! I'm in Mumbai!" phase of the journey. I'm "a regular" at this internet cafe and the restaurant down the block, although I'm still a novelty for them (I was introduced as Harry Potter (again) to the internet cafe worker's friend).
Impending doom. The moonsoon, three minutes before it started as I left work last week. The rain jacket I brought is working wonderfully though, thanks Mom!
Just to give you a sense of where I spend my time, here's my room. I'm in the door to the bathroom, taking the picture. Not much to look at, nothing posh, but it's cozy and cold when I want it to be. 
The wall at the foot of my bed. I just sort of hang my wet laundry and clothes whereever I want- one of the benefits of living alone. The TV isn't very useful. News in Hindi, the GOD channel (the only all-english one available), and a ton of Bollywood music video channels. I've been slowing adding to the collage on the right, mostly maps and letters. 
I've always wondered when it become standard practice to smile in photos. I guess it hasn't, everwhere. Either that or Rajeet doesn't like me as much as he pretends to when I get back every day. 
Out to dinner with some of the gentlemen last Sunday after the JCC "debate" on the Gaza situation. The debate also included heated exchanged on whether or not Gaza had booming marijuana business and reasons why the beaches of Gaza might be underutilized by tourists.
It was Kavya's birthday, at work! Apparently it wasn't just Akiv being difficult when he smashed cake in Dana's face on her birthday a month ago, since Dipti did the same to Kavya. 
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