Mission Accomplished

Good news! I'm done! I've finished everything I need to do in Mumbai! Yes, you're right: TODAY I SAW AN ELEPHANT!!!! I'm so happy. I was in a car on the way to Stuti's house, being driven by her dad, when we passed it. It had clearly just come from an elementary school carnival, because it had facepaint on, kind of like this dude to the right (Fig. 1). Unfortunately, we drove by too fast for me to get a picture of my own. I was told that the elephant driver was probably taking him around to different shops to get donations of bits of food for the elephant. It was probably one of the most exciting moments of my life, although I'm not sure Stuti's dad or grandfather (also in the car) truly understood how happy I was.

I should probably explain who Stuti is. Ms. Hannah Matthew Gogel, of Tufts University fame, went to a Harvard summer program sometime in high school. Her roommate from the summer was an Indian girl from Mumbai named Stuti. Fast forward a few years and Hannah put us in touch and we met for a meal on Saturday in the Phoenix Mall, then today I went to her dad's office and he drove me up to their apartment in the north-central suburbs, where I'm staying the night. The whole family is really warm and friendly, and it's cool to see people's homes here. I've also been in a few other people's homes (Jonny, Natasha, Bittu Sahgal, etc), and each one has been completely different. Anyway, so I had dinner here, which was delicious, and now I'm just lounging around using the wireless internet.

Speaking of visiting people's houses, for Shabbat this week I again went to the Magen David synagogue right next to my hotel. Afterward, one of the gentlemen there invited me over for dinner, which was very cool. It was only a block from where I stay, at the ORT school where the guys my age from the Bene Minshe (Jews from the north-east of India) are also staying. Sharon, the guy who invited me over, has three adorable little daughters who have way more energy than they know what to do with, and they spent the evening shrieking, climbing over me, shrieking some more, and then yelling a bit. I actually saw the older two again on Sunday at the JCC when I arrived in the middle of the Gan Katan challah baking session. Anyway, it was a really nice, fun evening, and it's always cool to see how different people do Shabbat.

In other news, things are starting to look up research wise. I sent out a bunch of emails today to NGO people working on various environmental issues, and am starting to get a few responses about people I can interview. I also feel like I have enough contacts that I can start trying to talk to everyday people sometime soon as well. Yay for Gabe accomplishing things!

Alright, it's now getting pretty late, and I have to wake up for the commute to work tomorrow, which is a new concept for me, so I'm going to try and resist the power of the internet and get some rest.