We Made It!

First of all, let me apologize for the format of my blog posts. They're all running together and I know that makes it difficult to read. 

Second, I am bone tired. Bone Tired. I might fall asleep while writing this.

Third, I suffer from an incurable disease that I contracted here in India. It's called "I want to pick up and hug and squeeze all the children I see". I have a feeling this disease is going to get me in a lot of trouble. I'll have to exercise extreme restraint in order to keep my hands to myself.

Fourth, I also suffer from " I love Paneer Muttar Masala so much that I don't want to try anything else".

Fifth, the hostel/ hotel we're staying in is not so bad after all. It's sparse...a bed, a toilet, and a small TV. It's perfect for staying in and is a ten minute walk to all the sights. It's a bit like a dorm room.  There's a great, cheap vegetarian restaurant about 3 minutes away and we can walk everywhere. 

And speaking of walking everywhere, the sixth and final thing you should know is that I lost my weenie. Yes sir, I'm no  longer a weenie! My butt still hurts, but, by golly, my weenie-ness has disappeared. (I may even branch out and order Panner Butter Masala instead of  Paneer Muttar Masala  tomorrow. Whoo hoo. Go brave girl, go!"

I think one good thing about our hotel being so sparse (there's not a restaurant or anything in it), is that it would be mighty depressing to just sit here all day. Plus, I love my food and since there's no room service, I'm being forced to go out. I was a little nervous, but I got into a groove. We walked all over the place. We saw the Indian train station, which used to be Victoria train station. The architecture was AMAZING.  There are some incredible buildings in Mumbai...it blows me away. We did a lot of just wandering here and there, and then later on, we went to Chowpatty Beach. We got a lot of stares there. So many in fact that I was beginning to wonder if it was off limits to tourists. I didn't notice half as many stares just wondering around, but it was really apparent at the beach.  

It's a pretty cool place. The breeze from the bay was so nice ( it's been in the mid-nineties here), and lots of families were milling around. Kids were making sand castles, and people were playing games of cricket and having picnics.  There were lots of food stands and we bought some cotton candy from a little boy who must've been about nine. There was also a small slum colony right on the edge of the beach.  There were people walking around selling balloons, but one of the little boys from the slums grabbed a small trash bag from a trash pile and blew it up to make his own balloon. Your immediate reaction is to feel sorry for the kids, but they take it all in stride. I mean, they're growing up with the beach as their playground.  It's hard to know what to feel. I guess I'm just too tired to be introspective tonight. 

I'm sure at some point there'll be a good ol' philosophical blog post about India, but not now. I'll tell you what, though. I sure do love it here. I think India gets in your skin and your blood. It has the ability to challenge every belief system you ever had.  It has the ability to be the most beautiful place and the most ugly place at the same time. It's a country full of extremes. I alway leave a part of my heart here when I go.

Okay, so that's enough rattling for today. We've got a full day of sightseeing tomorrow. I'm really excited about it, but definitely need a good night's sleep for tomorrow.  Only three more sleeps until I get to meet Naveen! I really enjoyed just walking around Mumbai today, but not a second goes by that I don't think about my little boy.  I'm beyond excited.

Will write more tomorrow night. Maybe I'll even figure out how to,load pictures!

Guten Nacht!