The internet is down at the place where Sebastian and I are are staying at. We almost went insane looking for an internet cafe in town yesterday. People pointed at various directions... and we went here and there and in circles and back again. Now we finally found one ... a really bizarre one. But as long as internet works ...I'll be fine.
Well... this week has been more of an introduction week. Yet very interesting and fascinating. There are many more things that we have seen and experienced, and things that we need to get used to.
We walked through some more slums. Mostly in the Colaba district in the South. Narrow alleys with people living really crowded. Quiet intriguing, but not from a tourist point of view, but an anthrophological point of view. ...and of course also as a life experience. It has made me realize many things and given me many new perspectives ...and inspiration.
Bombay is so huge, and there are sooo many people everywhere. About 18 million people ...plus the suburbs! That's more than twice the population of Sweden! Taking the train downtown here is a whole lot different from taking the tram to school back home.
We live in an area with very, very, very few white people. The only other ones that we have seen, are people that stay at the YMCA where we're staying at. So when we walk down the street there, or in most of the other areas, we're the only white dudes among at least tens and tens of thousands of people. People stare at us constantly ...everywhere. Sometimes it gets really annoying, especially if they stand just a meter from us and stare directly at us ...without shame.
Yesterday some Indian guy in a truck picked up his mobile phone camera and took a photo of me .... with a huge smile on his face.
Some kids in one of the slum areas asked me yesterday why my face was so red. A genuine question ...and very funny I think. I had explain what the sun here does to people like me.
Yeah... my face is red, very red. But my legs will probably keep being cursed white for a while, since we're not supposed to wear shorts when we're on duty.
Sooo... yes, I am sweating like a pig when I am outside.
Now I'm headed of to my first weekend in India! We both need to sleep in and recharge our batteries. But also to prepare for the upcoming week.
I will put up photos at some point. Hopefully fairly soon.
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Wait - what is "duty"? What exactly are you doing on your internship there?
My internship is with an organization called the Family Services Center. They work with different types of family issues among troubled families in the slums of the Colaba district in southern Bombay. The basically try to strengthen families in various ways... self help groups for women, sponsoring so that children in some of the poor families will be able to go to school, foster care issues, adoption, and building up the communities in general. I think they may cover some other related issues too. But strengthening the families and teaching values is the core of their work. I'm going to try to be a part of that work.
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