In the Beginning

Going away for five months is complicated. There's all the business things to cover - musn't fail to pay my property taxes, but much more mysterious is what to bring for being in a place and living a life I can't imagine, no matter how many pictures and descriptions I see on-line and people I talk to who've done it themselves.
I'll do what? Teach mediation skills to Indian lawyers - lawyers who do human rights advocacy. Sounds straightforward, sort of, but everything I imagine about it brings me to a complete puzzlement. Who would be the neutral in an Indian mediation? How does caste figure into it? I know it figures in, but haven't a clue how.
And how will I function in a place where the weather is like "85 feels like 91" all the time? Madurai is in the far south and never gets cool, just less hot. Does it ever get less humid? don't know, I'm counting on the air conditioning to smooth it all out.
What will be the hardest thing, I'm guessing, will be waiting - waiting while things are late: offices opening hours after the posted times, trains, buses, planes, inevitable delays. And maybe the crowding...