With only one more week to go before launching myself toward the Indian subcontinent, I thought it would be a good time to start things up in the blogosphere. The time has flown by - it seems like so long ago that I received my assignment to go to India. Now it's time to get serious.
I still have a couple of things to tie up before my trip. A hep B shot, a healthy supply of Malarone, my first visit to a dentist in three years, and a camera purchase are on the to-do list. My family and I are going on a camping trip this 4th of July weekend as a 'last hurrah'; I won't see my kids for a month, but my wife, Suzi, is meeting me in Kolkata after my exchange. We hope to celebrate our 15th anniversary overlooking the Himalayas in the far northeast in Sikkim. We'll see how that goes!
My host teacher for the exchange is Sabyasachi Majumdar (a.k.a. "Sachi"), and he is a fellow science educator who works for the Kendriya Vidyalaya school system in Kolkata. We have Skyped a few times and have used email to make our arrangements so far.
In preparations for traveling to Kolkata, I have been reading numerous guidebooks, as well as a book on the history of Kolkata. The more I learn about it, the more excited I get. I have a former student who has spent significant time in the city and I plan on hitting him up for info over the weekend. I had also planned on visiting another former student in Mumbai, but his plans to start an English-language news outlet (think Indian NPR) was sidelined, leaving him without a visa. Therefore, I will start my Indian adventure in Mumbai on my own. Well, with 20.5 million others, I guess.
