Day 18: Rain Rain, Go Away!

Aug 16 (and amusing early morning of the 17th story at end of post)

pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/runlowellrun/



What happens when you plan a trip to Bombay India during the monsoon season? You get wet! And that is just what happened to us. We have been fortunate this trip with great weather for being here at this time of year. During the night, however, it started raining and it didn’t stop all day. There were really heavy times, and then there were times where the rain teased us and almost stopped before coming down again in force. Because of all the rain, the laughing club was canceled. Snap. I was really wanting to go and watch. Oh, who am I kidding, I wanted to go laugh! Two days our hopes of communal laugher were crushed. I guess we need to laugh it off! Haha.

On the plus side to all the rain and the cancellation of the laughing club, Zab and I were able to sleep in until 8:30; just in time for breakfast. We just spent the morning and afternoon relaxing, talking, and packing. This has been the longest that we have not done something, or gone somewhere. It was nice. I was able to read my book for quite awhile. The book is actually Julie’s and it is called “Blink.” I am really enjoying it. It is about human interaction and how we react and interact with our world on a conscious and subconscious level. That is a very poor synopsis of the book, but it would take much too long for me to explain it. I am really enjoying it anyways.

At 4 o’clock, two taxis came to take Zab, his mother, his grandfather, myself, and our 8 pieces of luggage to his uncle’s (Josan’s) house. We said our goodbyes to Ammy down in the flooded courtyard, and then were off. When we arrived, we went shopping for some last minute items in a wonderful area of Bombay called Powai. It was still raining and we walked through giant puddles / small lakes.

In the evening Josan Uncle had a prayer meeting in their home. The pastor spoke in Malayalam mostly. His cell phone kept ringing as he was preaching. He would talk louder and faster to cover up the musical ringtone. I could not understand what he was saying, and so I had only the distraction of the ringing to occupy my mind. It happened about 6 times until another member of the group reached out his hand and the pastor gave him the phone and they turned it off. Oh cell phones… thanks for influencing all parts of the world.

We had a wonderful evening of singing, prayer, and then a time at the end to talk. I met a lot of really nice people. Then we were fed another fantastic meal. I am running out of verbs to use to describe this food. This was my last meal in India, so I ate a lot! I am really going to need to get back into running when I get back to get rid of all the ‘India’ I am gaining!

Zab and I slept in the next apartment where there was a ‘guest house.’ There was another group of people or a family who was staying there. In Zab’s words, “the place was a little shady.” It was not very clean and we didn’t know if the sheets and covers we were using had been washed. It felt like a hostel of sorts, so we can add this to the list of experiences. I think it was here that I received my first and last mosquito bites of the whole trip. We kept our money belts close and then went to bed at 10:30pm and our alarms were set for 2:00am so we could go to the airport.

--- In the early hours of the 17th ---

I sleep talk. There, I said it. It is not something I am proud of, but it is a part of who I am. During the night, I had a dream that we were late for the airport but I could not find my sandals. So naturally, when you cannot find something and are in a hurry, you look for it, frantically. In a dream, this is a very rational and natural thing to do. What Zab saw however, was Lowell sit up and start feeling all around the bed and floor. Zab asked me what I was doing and I responded, “Sandals! I can’t find my sandals.” Then a very confused Zab asked, “Why are you looking for your sandals?” To this question I did what any awake and perfectly sane person would do, I flopped back into my bed and said in a very decided tone, “Ice-cream! I want ice-cream!”

At this point I came to my senses and realized what was going on, and I tried to explain my late night episode away by saying in a logical and rational voice, “I was just looking for my sandals,” and then I went to sleep. Zab had caught me. It was payback for when I caught him sleep talking a week ago in a very similar fashion. Yes, we seem to have weird sleeping patterns. It causes great laugher in the mornings!