Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore…

The past few weeks have flown by and its already been a month since I landed in Mumbai. I spent the first couple of weeks at a hotel in central Mumbai, the next week in Bhopal, the capital of Madya Pradesh, where my main project is located, and then moved into an apartment with two other volcons upon my return to Mumbai last week. The apartment is located in a neighborhood called Bandra, and houses one of the main ex-pat communities in the city. The good: lots of food and activities nearby, poppin’ place (by Indian standards anyway). The bad: its really expensive (by Indian standards). I will be based out of here during the rest of my time at Technoserve and will be living with Karolle, a girl on our business development team who went to school in North Carolina, but is originally from Madagascar, and Sid, an Indian guy originally from Delhi, but went to school at Babson College in Boston. Both seem like really nice people and so far, we all get along great.

Overall, the transition has been really smooth so far. Language hasn’t been too big of an issue and I’m starting to learn my way around the city. The people are generally really nice and I haven’t gotten Delhi belly yet *knock on wood*. Work has been a little slow, but I’ll get more into that later. However, a few nights ago, I was rudely reminded that, in case I forgot or was beginning to feel complacent, I am in fact, no longer back home.

Around 4:30 in the morning last Friday, I woke up suddenly to a throbbing pain on my upper left ear. It felt like someone had pinched me really hard. Being in a half-conscious state of mind, I was utterly confused at what was going on. When I stood up and put my hand to my ear, and then my face, I realized there were streams of blood coming down my cheek. Now I’m usually a pretty calm person but this freaked me the fuck out. A million thoughts began racing through my head and while still standing there in a daze, I see a little oval thing scurry across the floor and out my bedroom door. Now I didn’t get a clear look since the lights were still off, but I quickly put one and one together and realized that I had just been bitten by a rat/mouse while sleeping.

Yes, a rat/mouse bit me while I was sleeping.

That just happened.

Really.

As you can imagine, I didn’t get much sleep the rest of the night and saw a doctor first thing in the morning. Thankfully, the shots that he recommended me getting (tetanus/rabies), I had already gotten before coming so he just prescribed an ointment to treat the wound. It’s been a few days now and I feel completely fine. So yea, if you’re thinking of coming to India and think those 20 or so shots that are required are a bit much, they’re not. Get every.last.one.

Other highlights from the past few weeks:

I caught a movie for the first time last week and the seats looked like this:

Not only do the seats go all the way down where you are basically in a sleeping position, but they also give you a blanket!!!! How I managed to stay awake throughout the film (Turbo, which was eh..) is still a modern miracle. And on top of all this, we had to stand up before the film to hear the national anthem (apparently this is a Mumbai requirement). Word.

I’ve always had a bit of a weakness for ice cream but this place has taken it to a new level. Apparently a Mumbai stable, Naturals is a shop that makes a variety of fruit flavored ice cream using real fruit. The flavors are seasonal (since fruit is seasonal…), but damn, everything is SOOO good! The ice cream is fairly light, not too milky/creamy, and there are pieces of actual fruit inside! All types of random fruits too…coconut, lychee, jackfruit, and a few more that I’m sure don’t even exist in the US. I think I might like this place more than Bi-Rite. YEA I SAID IT.

A lot of the food here is ‘veg’ (for vegetarian). Initially, I was a little worried as when I think of vegetarian food, I think of bland salads and the like. However, most of the veg food here is actually really tasty and I really haven’t minded much. This here is called bhindi masala. We call it the ‘crack bhindi’. It is the business.