A Note from Brooke Weeks

As my time shortens in India, I am reinvigorated with our trip to Mumbai. The temperature is perfect, the buildings are beautiful, and the city is GREEN. It feels as if I am in a different country. This is definitely India with the insane driving and crowds, but the feeling is much more…ordered…relatively speaking. Jenneli and I were able to drag along Michael while we partook in crazy shopping spurts in Mumbai. Michael amazes me every day with his patience with us. 

In Mumbai Jenneli and I have a coworker that is helping us out, and hopefully we will get to spend some time with him and his wife. It is amazing b/c for the last 2 years we have been working together, and I have heard so many stories of Mumbai and India in general. Now I not only get to see his country, but I get to experience it with him and his wife. The excitement of this literally kept me up all night the day before we arrived into Mumbai. :o

We all three took a short day trip to Pune for a visit to our MWH office. (We are such good little MWHer’s ;) Pune was quite the surprise. There is definitely some old money and new intellect that is buzzing there making it a well preserved, lovely city. We had the great fortune of being toured by a married couple about 70 years old. It was great! I have been asking questions, and trying to learn more about Hindu and all the gods. But most of the people I have asked either are too young (my age) to remember all the stories, or their English is not good enough to explain more than the basic information, which I already know from my high school and college studies. This couple was not only knowledgeable, but could speak excellent English! So I got loads of information.

Our time in Mumbai makes me want to stay in India for another couple weeks. This city is much easier to navigate, and there are many more places I would love to see. Traveling is so stimulating. I feel like I have been taking the most interesting Indian History course for the past 2 months, with a focus in rural Andhra Pradesh. I have been able to read many books that compliment the knowledge that I am gaining in the area’s that I travel. I will have to list out my books, when I get internet. Okay, I will check back in later.