So I figure its time I get a newsletter out. It'll be a challenge - no internet at home yet! But what to write about. I haven't taken any trips yet. Just scrambling to start a new school year, a new job and settle into life twelve and a half time zones away from Colorado. So what can I write about?

Well, how about a few of those little things that are so different - at least at first!

So, if you're ever planning to come visit here, I do hope that your Mother taught you to look both ways before crossing the street! Its still very important here since they drive on the left side of the road. It seems like the traffic is always coming from the opposite direction than I expected! The English controlled India for many years and left driving on the left as one of their legacies. And in some ways its pretty smart. Did you know that the typical human being, in an emergency situation, automatically leans or moves or jerks to the left? So if you're driving on the left that would take you and your car onto the shoulder of the road. By comparison, those of us used to driving on the right also have a tendency to turn left. Into oncoming traffic in an emergency!

Oh, so if you drive on the left, that also means you walk on the left. The next time you pass someone in the hall or the street, notice that you probably pass by them on the right. Not here. I've almost run into way too many people as I stay to the right when they expect me to stay to the left!

And as long as we're on traffic, using your horn is rather popular here. Backs of trucks even have 'Horn Please' written on them. The horn is used as a polite 'heads-up' that you are approaching from behind. Although it doesn't always sound so polite!

Animals. In the city. The 3rd largest city in the world I'm told. So far, on the streets in my neighborhood I've seen donkeys, cows, goats, roosters, monkeys and elephants. Oh yes . . . . . cats and dogs too.

Normal old plastic bags are in the process of being outlawed here! To combat the litter that they can create, only biodegradable plastic bags will be allowed. Sort of cool!

What an incredible mixture of peoples and religions there are here. While India is mainly Hindu, that religion makes up only about 85% of the population. Moslem, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi (Zoroastrian), Sikh and Christian are among the other religions that are prominent here. I live in a predominantly Christian neighborhood. Four hundred years ago it was a Portuguese fishing village and there are some large Catholic churches still going strong from that era. But my neatest cultural exchange so far has been with the turban wearing Sikh gentleman who ran the textiles store where I was buying two pillows for my couch. As we concluded the deal, we sat drinking chai and discussing our beliefs on the unity of all the human family!

So, this once beautiful Portuguese fishing village that I live in was declared a historic district. Wonderful with these old bungalow style houses, hung with wrapping balconies facing the Arabian Sea. But, governmental corruption definitely has its place here, like in so many other governments. If you owned one of these historic, old bungalows and had enough money, you could pay off the government officials who would then kindly condemn your bungalow for you. Once condemned, you can finally tear it down and build a high rise apartment building and make lots of money.

Oh, did I mention that I live in one of those high rise apartments? On the 5th floor. Well, the 6th floor by US standards. Much of the rest of the world calls the first floor the ground floor and the floor above it, what the US calls the 2nd floor, the 1st floor and . . . . . . well, thus my 5th floor apartment, number 502, is on the 6th floor - by US standards.

OK, you saw them on the Amazing race. Now I live with them. Yes, I live in the land of auto rickshaws. Little three wheeled motorcycles with a cart and body built on them that you can hire as a taxi. They're really cool little things. I wish I could figure out where to buy one!

And, back to driving. Don't have a wreck. Period. Do not. In the US we deal with road rage - guns being fired at the offending party on the freeway. In Paraguay we were told that no matter what, if you're in a wreck, be the most seriously injured person in the wreck. That automatically made it the other person's fault. Well, sometimes here the individual at fault in a wreck is immediately beaten up by the other driver. And occasionally the crowd who saw it joins in. Several other teachers here witnessed a person who was hit, at slow speed, by one of the little auto rickshaws. He wasn't too badly injured. The driver tried to speed away because he knew it was his fault. And he knew what was coming to him if the crowd caught him. Well, the crowd did catch him. And after the beating by the crowd, he ended up in much worse shape than the man he had hit.

So to avoid all such problems on the streets, every Saturday you can buy your own good luck charm to hang on your vehicle. And you need a fresh one every Saturday! All it take is a lemon and a little collection of chiles, strung up like a Christmas ornament and hung on the front of your vehicle. My bike has one!

And the serious side of driving and life and death . . . . . . . Ambulance? Hearse? No difference. They are often one and the same vehicle. But I wonder what happens if there is an emergency call in the middle of a funeral?

License plates. You still cannot believe how license plates here work. As many of you know, I sort of collect license plates. They just interest me. So here, when you register your vehicle, you only buy the right to a certain license plate number assigned to you by the state government.. Then you go to a store to have your license plate made for you! So the plates don't match. And don't say India. Or the state name, Maharashtra. But I wonder if I could convince someone at one of those stores to make me license plate! I wonder if that's legal? Humm!

Last week we celebrated the birth of Lord Krishna, one of the Hindu gods. It was Janmashtami! Around here the main thing that you saw was huge trucks, full of men dressed in bright colors, driving around town looking for places where piñata like pots of butter had been hung over the street. In imitation of one of Lord Krishna's childhood pranks, they would build huge human pyramids and crack open the pots. To the adoration of the gathered crowd!

Oh, and two weeks ago we also celebrated another Hindu tradition, Raksha Banden. It is a day where sisters give beautiful and colorful bracelets (Rhaki) to their brothers, thanking them for their protection. In return, brothers give monetary gifts to their sisters.

And speaking of celebrations, soon comes Ganesh Chaturthi. I see signs of this already as the temples dedicated to Ganesh, who is known as the remover of obstacles, are building beautiful statues of their god. In early September, these statues will be purchased by families and taken to their homes where they will host lavish open houses, night after night. Then they will begin processing to the sea, carrying these statues so they can immerse them in the sea. This celebration is particularly popular here in Maharashtra state. Here in Mumbai it brings traffic to a stop throughout many parts of the city for numerous nights.

And speaking of celebrations, be on the look out for the upcoming independent movie, Loins of Punjab. If they can finish production on schedule it is being entered for consideration by the Sundance film festival. It is a movie dealing with Indian culture and traditions for Indians living in the US. It's set in a Hindi language based talent contest sponsored by an Indian owned pork loin company in New Jersey. Well, last night I was one of several Americans here in Mumbai asked to go out to the sound studio and do voice overs for the movie. Most of our voice overs involved pretending we were in a restaurant, or hotel lobby, talking in hushed voices to create the American accent background murmur of sound for scenes in the movie. But I did have one, much more glorious moment. I am the voice of a director who tells a young actress who just auditioned that even though she's Indian, she's doesn't look Indian enough. I hope its my foot in the Bollywood movie door! And if you haven't seen any Bollywood movies yet, go the public library or Blockbuster or wherever and get one! The are 3 plus hour long extravaganzas of good versus evil, the family triumphing over the sinister outside influences, song and dance like you wouldn't believe! I mean the Indian film industry creates more movies than any other country in the world - you gotta see one!

So, in so many parts of the world, people of modest means, middle class, hire maids and cooks. Its the tradition. You're giving someone a job. And in a land where there is no Wal Mart with everything under one roof, you would spend hours running around town to all of the different stores you need to go to in order to do your shopping. Assuming you even know what store might have what you're looking for. Maids solve this problem. Well, my maid, Julie, is cooking some wonderful Indian food for me. I've asked her to start writing down the names of the different dishes she's been cooking. But so far I haven't gotten the names of any of the incredible Indian food! But today she wrote down that the vegetable casserole that she had made was a vegetable casserole!

And, you know food seems like a pretty good place to close this initial newsletter. In the US, so many things seem to be little 'war of the words'. Who can have their opinion, their cause, control the discussion by claiming the positive in the words that frame the discussion. Take the terms Pro Life and Pro Choice as examples. Both sides of this issue trying to claim the high ground by the positive word 'Pro'. Well, here I get to claim the positive, the high road. Because I'm vegetarian. And on every menu my selections are listed as Veg. And on the other side of the menu page, taking the negative word, is the Non Veg menu!

Yes, no one asks you if you're really a vegetarian, like there's something wrong with it. Its the norm! Ah!!!