two days in a row

On Friday there were bombs in Bangalore and yesterday more bombs in Ahmedabad. Of course no one from the west has called or emailed about it - either you know your geography and know that I am not close to either one or else you haven't heard about it yet! Probably the latter.

Anyway, we are all fine in Mumbai. But I have to say that I am sad to realize that I don't feel surprised or threatened by the events of the last two days. It is relatively common to hear about bombs in India and I feel that there is often an onslaught of 'bombing news' on tv these days for the entire world. Have mass bombings ceased to create panic these days because of its commoness? if so, it's a bit sad.

in other news, folo stacie karen and i went with the Sharanam girls to see a hindi flick yesterday. the girls loved it - even though it wasn't their film of choice. The girls love seeing folo and a few i think have crushes on him :) Apparently his hair all grown out and 'moppy' looking to me is huge for them... they said he looks like a bollywood star! haha. And they were of course so excited that he was with SRK (Shah Rukh Khan) the day before showing his latest film. He's slowly working on getting an autograph for the girls....

And.. the 'father' at Sharanam is now in charge of the parent organization as well - which means that I have lots of work to do with them now! I guess I might be getting back into working sooner than I thought! but for now it is Sunday and I am exhausted, so will rest!

Last but not least... Folo and I went to a gallery opening on Friday and bought our first real peice of Indian art. we have been wanting some cool art from India to commemorate our time here and finally we saw one that showed India how we see it! Next week is another opening that we are also interested in attending.. we might just become Indian art collectors :)

monsoon is back!

So after 6 weeks of almost no rain and at least 2 weeks without a drop monsoon has decided to finally grace Mumbai with it's presence! Of all days - the day that I had tons of errands planned - it decided to dump buckets of water down on us. I would imagine that many parts of the city are flooding by now. Earlier in the day some of the roads around me were already small streams. All of my windows are pouring water in as well - which is too bad b/c there is a lovely breeze associated with the rain and it would be glorious to be able to have the windows even cracked!

we'll see if this rain keeps up.... if so, then i might be spending a lot more time indoors the next few weeks before i head out to Europe!

Fundraising....

I have been busy doing the final planning for my upcoming trip to Russia. It is almost all complete!! And now that most of that is finished I have started to really focus on the upcoming Rickshaw Run that Stacie, Paul and I are participating in. We need to get busy raising money!!

But we also need a logo and help in designing a brochure to give to people and businesses. I think a few friends have stepped up to help with the logo and i'm peicing together the content for the brochure. My plan is to have something done by the beginning of Aug!!! eek.

One step has been completed already and it's our fundraising pages! If you are a reader of the blog then go check it out and donate!! Even if all you can give is 5 pounds that is excellent! Every little bit helps us out to our goal. I've not done the fundraising push quite yet.. but as soon as I get this brochure I will be going strong. But we already got one donation from a friend here in India and I was SOOO happy! Seriously so excited. I've never done a fundraising thing like this before, so it was really exciting to get an unsolicited donation.

Anyhow.. the donation pages are:
http://www.justgiving.com/karmakab (For Mercy Corps)
http://www.justgiving.com/karmakab3 (Frank Water)

I'll keep you updated on whats happening with it all. Soon we will be putting folo in driving school and then the three of us will be learning to drive the rickshaw! And in the meantime we are thinking and plotting of how to decorate our little vehicle so any and all ideas are welcome.

busy bee

Somehow the last few weeks have been busy again and full of social engagements. I'm not complaining! It's been fun to get out and about again - I guess I was just going through a 'homebody' spell.

I also starting writing a column for the American Women's monthly magazine here. It's on travel... who would have guessed. This month's article was on Japan since I was still so excited about our trip there. I also had a few photos on in the magazine, but unfortunately they looked terrible! One was cropped badly and the colors did not come out well at all. But I guess you can't expect perfection from a no budget monthly - but I think things will get better as time goes on and things become more systematic. This was the first month that incorporated a ton of changes. Overall it's looking great though, so I am glad to be part of this initiative.

Also i've been trying to get more organized for the rickshaw run. I need to really start pushing people for donations. No one has donated yet.. so I think we might have to send the link to family first and get the ball rolling so our friends will be more inclined to give.

hmm. lets see what else... i'm trying to get back into the spirit of doing the MDP blog. Its hard to find new photos though as I feel like I've put just about everything up and Mumbai has become too normal for me again so that i don't even feel like taking my camera out anymore. gotta get back into it.

and i am planning my trip to russia with my grandmother. We seem to be on track. I should get my passport back on Friday from the Russian consulate..and crossing my fingers that it has a proper visa in place! We've booked flights, an apartment for Berlin and now I just need to finalize whether we are going to Tallinn (Estonia) or Riga (Latvia). Getting excited though.

Thats all from here... gotta get back to the wii fit :)

4 years in the making..

We moved into this apartment 4 years ago and since that day I have been looking for a book shelf for this one wall... i still haven't found the 'one', but i did finally break down and buy one from Argos that is acceptable. We didn't want to wait for the guys to come and assemble it, so we did it ourselves without the aid of a screwdriver.. its a bit wobbly, so please don't lean on it!

the cats love it. my other bookshelf loves it. and now i wait for the second half of my delivery today so i can almost finish the living room.

and you know what.. i'll be finished with this room probably just in time for us to have to change apartments in Sept! haha. thats about how it is for me. i'd still like a new lamp, a small green dhurri (carpet) and to have my pictures hung on the wall rather than leaning against them!

oh and monsoon is back. i've been waiting patiently for it, but now that its back, i'm not sure i like this! i need some water proof shoes that cover my toes!