Change of visitors - arrival of the Norwegians

So dear reader, can you keep track of our visitors? Well, I barely can, so how can you? You see, the same night the Greeks left, our Norwegian friends arrived. And like my in-laws, it was their first visit to India. So how did my inlaws like it here? Well: their last words before they disappeared into the airport building was: "Well, 1 month was waaaay too short. We should have stayed longer!" So, it is always a kind of a good sign when your guests doesn't want to leave, right? Remember, I was telling you about how they liked it here, and what we did the last few days they were here?

Amongst other things we visited shoe-heaven... again...

Well, I was quite excited to see how my new-to-India-Norwegian-friends would find my new country, and what they would react to. Their first comment was on the traffic- they uttered a kind of a frightful nervous laugh of the honking, the noise, the never-ending-lines, the rickshaws that were everywhere, the colourful trucks! They came from their house on the countryside in Norway - flying out that morning from minus 20 degrees celcius and arrived late at night to +30 in Mumbai. Wow!

Colourful trucks

Rikshaws, people and traffic..

The next shock was the poverty. Even though they were well prepared: had read a lot about it before they came, had travelled elsewhere, it came as a shock. The kids knocking on you car window, the slumhuts, the people living on the street. And that in contrast to the fancy hotels, the restaurants, the skyscrapers, the new office buildings.

The other day, my friend went with me to the slumhut area where I work as a volunteer. She saw the area, the houses, and she was going to wait for me at the office for a short while I went with the kids. When I returned, I caught her sitting there crying her eyes out. " Ah, those kids" she managed to stutter inbetween her sobbing, "those kids".

You see, the impressions are just too hard to handle sometimes. And then later that same day, we went to spa and then to a fancy restaurant in the evening. And then the Guru came along. All in the same day! It's crazy, and they found it all very overwhelming. My friend described it as: "an endless line of strong impressions, and no time to digest them, before new ones comes along!"

Some people live up here..

...and here

And then after driving around the city, we can end up in a restaurant and being served delicious food, or go to a shopping mall, or a Gold cinema or a swimming pool or a spa. And it might be just right next door to a slumhut area.

You can have buffet at a fancy restaurant

Or relax at the spa (soooo cheap and very professional)

Well, after some intense days in Mumbai my friends have headed out for a 4days' trip to Japur, Agra- Taj Mahal. Even more experiences lined up for them in other words! Do not think that means that our guestroom is empty though. Oh, no! My son's school is hosting a volleyball tournament theese days, and we are hostfamily for teenage boys for four days. Good timing you might think... oh, my clever friends:-) Well, so far they are all enjoying it, and so am I:-)

Stay tuned dear reader, and have a wonderful evening. Bye from Mumbai!