The Walk to the Grocery Store

We have landed quite softly in Mumbai, and for that I feel thankful.  Our home is lovely - although we have begun to realize that the air conditioners do actually cool other people's homes, so our apartment is not perfect.  Our housekeeper is amazing, which has done wonders for my stress level and the general nourishment of our household.  Our neighborhood is charming rather than overwhelming, although still remarkably different from anywhere I've ever been.

We have been walking a lot since we arrived - to the seaside promenade, to a local park, to church, and to the shopping.  We pass very few things we recognize, although we have stopped at a Krispy Kreme on the way to church and we did discover this McDonalds hiding on the second floor of one of our many crumbling mansions.

The thing that I'm having the hardest time adjusting to is the grocery shopping.  In Mumbai, anything can be delivered, which is a tremendous convenience.  But I still need to figure out which items are available and where.  This is our primary grocery store:

It is on a market street called Pali Hill, and we are lucky to live so close.  People come from across town to Pali Hill and when we remember what we are looking for, we generally find it here.  This housewares shop next door to the grocer had the hangers and the laundry drying rack that we needed, hidden somewhere in the many recesses of their small space:  

We have never relied so heavily on a housekeeper for cooking, but I've only prepared one meal here since we arrived.  Grocery shopping continues to overwhelm me and it will be quite a while before we have a fully stocked kitchen.  Happily, our housekeeper has kept our bellies quite happy with her  cooking.

Bonus photo:  We got some serious monsoon weather this morning, mostly during the school orientations.  I sat in a 5th floor corner conference room watching the rain fall in torrents out the plate glass windows and forced myself to concentrate on communication strategies rather than begin taking photos.  But I did grab a shot on the way home.  Not every street was full of water, but plenty were ankle deep.  The rain stopped by 3pm or so, allowing many of the waters to recede.  Apparently the waters have stayed under control so far this monsoon season, but many worried about flooding today.

Also, the school is amazing.  Orientation was a very positive experience for everyone, and the girls are counting the minutes until class begins next week.