How I Felt About the Volunteer's Show by Yeshwini 4th Grade
When we started the program I felt happy, excited and anxious. When Miss Amanda and Michelle started the song "Baby Shark" I saw the happiness in my friends' eyes and my heart filled with joy. Tony and Michelle danced like Indians. Even though it was Tony's first year dancing he was wonderful. He was bit nervous but he made the crowd fill with laughter. He was like a new actor in India.
Next Arjun was on the piano. When he played the piano. It was peaceful and melodious. I thought Shanti Bhavan was in heaven. For me Arjun was a star. It was a bit long. Arjun was rock piano player with his bushy black hair. He was wonderful.
When It was Barry's martial arts, the room filled with silence. It was something that was amazing. When Barry did it, it was good because he was flexible, concentrating on what he was doing. There was lot of hard work in it. When the guitar song named "Hey Jude" was going on I felt I wanted to dance. They sang so nicely.
When Liz, Amanda and Michelle sang I felt like crying. It made me dream about them.
The last dane was my favorite. It was like real Indians dancing. I loved the program. THE END
Friday, March 27, 2009
Periyar Wildlife Reserve, Billy Elliot Show
We went to Madurai and Periyar Wildlife Reserve last weekend. It was quite fun. We saw the amazing Meenakshmi Temple (which is really like a huge maze of temples surrounded by towering gates with thousands of brightly colored god statues). We rode the government bus up a treacherous mountain with hair pin turns and six inch curbs separating us from cliffs to Koomily, where we rode in the back of a WW2 style jeep to Thekkady. Thekkady is the home of Periyar Tiger Reserve. We went on a nature hike in the morning. We saw an Indian Giant Squirrel, amazing red bugs, monkeys, deer, buffalo, cows, tons of birds and a whole lot of elephant poop. Unfortunately no tigers. We rode on elephants, took a tour of a spice plantation and rode a boat through the park. It was a lovely trip. Perhaps I will spend more time elaborating on it some time in the future.
There is so much work to do this week because we have the show this weekend. Amirin White won the Sony award for photography based on a photo she took of the children. She's coming back to take photos of this show. Yeah!
Today I started tap classes for ten children I selected. I also recommended five children to start learning piano. I'm pretty excited for them. I think I'm going to teach specific things to each grade, and as much as possible give the children something to practice to help them express themselves. So many of them need something to pour themselves into so they can deal with what they experience in life at home.
I gave the fourth grade a logic problem and they loved it. I taught tap to my special tap class day, and to Beena. I was really happy with both of them. I'm having Beena dance to that Aliyah song "Try Again". The other kids will dance to "Trashin' the Camp" from Tarzan. Oh Ohio Northerners.
I think I want to talk to education departments about sending people here for study abroad/ student teaching. I think it could be great for both parties.
I think I'm spending a day in Bangalore this weekend. I'm getting tired of travel. I really want to spend more time here at Shanti Bhavan. Blah. At least I'll have wireless. And I can eat a burger. And go swimming if I find a bathing suit. Or something to swim in. Besides, maybe I can find a better tailor there.
We spent the evening in the lounge with Steve and Jack playing guitars. They would pick a chord progression then we'd all try to make up verses and lyrics. It was lots of good fun that is funny.
I wore my pink peacock sari Wednesday because a teacher who never wears them said she would if I did. It was fun because I tied it myself. I'm starting to get better at it, but it's something that makes me feel extremely childish because I don't know how to dress myself well. I went to first period with wet hair in my sari and one of the children said "Miss, your dress is so beautiful, but you are looking so dull." I asked why and they told me "Miss you must be putting earrings and dark eyes and lipstick. And your hairs!" So, in a huff I went back to my room, put on dark eyeliner with cat's eyes and full make up. I put on a special necklace I made here and I added earrings. When I came back in the room the children FLIPPED. It was awesome. I felt so pretty all day. We watched Glory. Great movie.
We watched Blazing Saddles in the lounge last night. Haha. What a funny movie.
I'm not going to Bangalore. Instead of going along I decided to stay back. I'm just not in the mood. A burger can wait two more months. Last night my arm fell so completely asleep that I couldn't find my hand. Moment of terror.
At assembly Amiran White (that amazing photographer who's been here a couple times and won the Sony photo award for a picture she took here, www.amiranphoto.com) showed a slide show of a tiny fraction of the photos she's taken here. She's simply amazing. Lovely photos. I can't wait to have some real internet time to see what is on her website. I can tell you from personal experience that she is not only a great artist, but humble and cool. The kids liked the slide show. When a photo came up they'd yell the name of the person in it or they'd say oooooaaaaaaaaooooooaaaaaahhhh! if there was an action shot. Thirty minutes of Blue Jaaaaaay!! Aneethaaaa!!! was funny.
Last night's show was so great! The kids were incredibly excited all day. The excitement grew and grew until I started to worry about the level of their nervous energy. "Miss, I'm feeling nervous." "Miss, what do we wear tonight?" "Miss, Aunty said pink frocks are too short." "Miss, what if we mess up?" I tried to be encouraging and supportive. I told the second grade who seemed to be really worried that if they messed up I'd say that was a practice and let them try again. That seemed to calm them down a little. They were so excited though. Every kid was extremely proud of what they were going to do. I felt a little bad because the third grade did art projects, which were cool and decorated the stage, but they kept saying "Miss what do we do?" During the show I made a HUGE deal about the third grade.
I put little shiny bindis on all the little girls. They were wearing pink dresses and looked adorable. Apparently the dresses are from the inauguration of the school. Can you believe it? For warm up music I played all the songs the kids danced to with Sheryl and I. That was so fun. The kids were bopping around. Then Joe did the wave and I sang "The Princess Pat" with the school. The kindergarden was wonderful in their renditions of "Five Little Ducks" and "Rubber Ducky." They were so cute and at the end they all turned around, shook their tail feathers and quacked. The school went wild. The first grade played the mirror game to "A Whole New World" and then made bicycles out of their bodies. To introduce the show the spelled "Billy" out by standing in the shape of the letters. They did a really good job. Second grade danced to "Shine Ballet" from Billy Elliot. One of the older girls, Brinda, played the piano. One of the little boys, Dinesh, pretended to be the bossy class teacher and told the kids what to do as they danced. When he said "Alright, I'm sick of looking at you, class disperse." The whole audience lost it. Then came my length laudatory speech about the third graders. I made them answer questions and had them take a bow. Then the choir sang a snippet from one of the songs from Billy Elliot. It's Billy's solo, and the lyrics are:
Take me up and hold me gently,
lift me up and hold me high.
Through the night, under darkness,
will come a day when we will fly.
And although we've been rejected,
and although we've been outcast,
we will find a new tomorrow,
when we come to rest at last.
And we will stand there proudly.
And we will never walk alone.
And we will be returned back to our homes.
Pretty appropriate, huh?
They were accompanied by Anith on the piano. They were amazing. Then the fifth grade performed the play which they wrote based on the story of Billy Elliot. It was really great. I was impressed by their ability to go for it. And the writing was pretty darn good. In the first scene Billy falls down trying to do ballet, and the whole school cracked up. Too bad we forgot to teach the actors about holding for laughs. It was great overall, and it gave a great sense of what was happening in the rest of the scenes. Then the choir sang "Electricity" until the dance break accompanied by Rajne on the piano, and Pushpa on the violin. They were so amazing. The introduction to the song explained that it is Billy's answer to the question "What does it feel like when you're dancing?" The song started with two boys; Bharath, 4th grade, and Arun Kumar, 5th grade, singing:
I can't really explain it, I haven't got the words,
It's a feeling that you can't control.
It's almost like forgetting; losing who you are,
and at the same time, something makes you whole.
Then Chauncey, 8th grade (?) girl sang:
It's like that there's some music playing in your ear,
and I'm listening and I'm listening, and then I disappear.
And then I feel a change like a fire deep inside,
something bursting me wide open impossible to hide.
Then the three sang together:
And suddenly I'm flying,
flying like a bird, like electricity.
Electricity.
Sparks inside of me, and I'm free, I'm free.
Then the choir sang the next verse. It was beautiful. Their dynamics, expression and tonality were all wonderful. The whole school was captivated. I was crying. I was so proud of them.
Next the fourth grade, sixth grade and Been did a dance to the dance break of "Electricity." It was amazing. It brought down the house. The fourth graders represented the ballet side of Billy's life, while the sixth grade represented boxing and mining. Beena was sort of like what Billy might grow up to be. We had three sixth grade boys trying to learn to ballet as part of the dance. In the end they all dance in unison. I can't express how great it looked. Hopefully we'll be able to get some of these videos on YouTube when Elizabeth gets home.
As a special surprise we had the 8,9 and 11th grade girls learn the first half of the original choreography to "All That Jazz" and they performed it. Dr. George really likes the musical, so it was a special treat for him. They rocked out. They were really great at the tiny articulations and the still that Fosse requires. The intensity of their gazes and the style with which they performed were spot on. I was so proud of them. They were total man eaters.
Dr. George came up and made a speech. I have to say, it was really a rewarding experience. I loved it. I want to do more things like that. The pride and joy I felt and feel about those children is something really special.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Pondy from Madurai
Greatest hits of Shanti Bhavan week of March 8th
Walking under the tree all the berries are falling off. The berries crunch under my flip flops and it's even better than walking on bubble wrap.
Eating more candy than I previously thought possible every day. In fact, eating so much candy that I'm shunning other, more nutritious food in favor of it.
Developing the sense that not only does every person deserve respect, but every thing in the entire world does. I feel in harmony with the planet.
I found a bunch of puppet stuff and I'm planning to use it!
One of my student's (Angel Mary Martin) sister's name is Himmaculate Sweetie.
Staying up late and having TRL with Steve and Jack.
Pondicherry Trip
We went to Pondicherry. We left Friday after lunch and headed to Hosur to buy our train tickets for next week. Then we were off and pacing on a national highway. The barely two lane road with minimal potholes was a pleasure to ride along with our trusty driver, Manju. The scenery as we drove by was both varied and delightful: mountains, rice fields, temples, dry scrubby land, palm trees, busses coming straight at us, cows, monkeys, pigs, jumbled towns, thatch villages, old women with wrinkled skin, gangs of young men holding hands and children naked save a red thread at the waist. India. I was counting down the kilometers and estimating that at our current average speed we would arrive in a few hours. At ever mile marker I kept telling myself how much longer until we were there. I was strongly reminded of being on road trips with my family. My mom used to tell us "four more Inspector Gadgets until we're there." I found myself calculating the time in 'Inspector Gadgets' and giving little updates to the others. (I tried to play the alphabet game by myself, but it's hard when you don't already have an idea of what the sign might say or what language the sign will be in.) Unfortunately the distance to Pondicherry indicated by the signs was really only the distance to the off ramp to Pondicherry and we still had a thirty minute drive from there.
Nonetheless, when we arrived we were all very excited to sample the Western cuisine and relax on the beach. We arrived, after some confusion, at our hotel, Qualithe. It was not so quality at all. In fact, the ground floor is a bar. The front desk is the bar. They didn't have our reservation until the next day, so we went decided to look somewhere else. On the recommendation of a girl in the bar we went to Mother Guest House. She said it was next to a great restaurant called Hot Breads. So we went over. We had to climb up the stairs inside a store to get there, but when they offered us a room with two enormous beds and one small bed, AC and TV for RS 1500 a night, we took it. For the two nights we stayed it was only $10 a person. So the six of us had two adjoining rooms and a bathroom. It worked out really well. As soon as we deposited our belongings in the room we went out to dinner at Le Club. It. Was. Sublime. The list of beverages we consumed included milkshakes, beers, cosmopolitans, lemonade, shirley temples, wine, lassis and mineral water. We shared some garlic bread, which we like so much that we ordered two more servings. I had a salad and steak au poivre. Mmm. For desert I had apple tart. Doesn't get much better than that.
In the morning I woke up and saw a tiny almost clear scorpion running across the room and heading for Molly's bag. I stepped on in it in my flip flop. I'm so smart.
We went to watch the sunrise at the beach and had breakfast at Le Cafe. I had a croissant and cafe au lait. So good. We saw a really cool Indian looking Catholic church and tried to rent scooters. This failed because we don't have international drivers licenses. Right next door was an amazing colorful temple. It was really fun to explore. After making a pooja, or little prayer, they gave us a whitish gray dot instead of the usual red. Hmm...
Next we headed to Auroville. It's a huge community of people working towards a better future for humanity. The center of the community is called Matrimandir. It looks like a big golden Spaceship Earth. Inside there's a huge crystal with light focused in it. In any case, it's a beautiful and interesting place full of handicrafts and sustainable ways of life. All their water is drawn from wells using wind power and there are literally gardens of solar panels. I'm definitely interested in what they're doing there.
After Auroville, it was beach time. We went swimming at Auro Beach, in the Bay of Bengal. To get there we had to walk through a narrow sand pathway, but the sand was so hot that I burned the bottoms of my feet trying to get there wearing flip flops. I sprinted for the water. The water was warm and there were many people swimming. All of them were Indian men, most of whom were wearing underwear, undershirts and orange vests. Some of the youngest were completely naked. It was fun, but it was a little ridiculous, because us girls went swimming in our bathing suits. We were asking for the unwanted attention, so it didn't bother us too much. After completely burning ourselves at the beach, we split up to pursue our own fun. For Joe and Arjun that meant finding a place outside of town to rent scooters to them. For the rest of us it meant taking showers, eating lunch at Hot Breads (I had salad, soup, bread sticks, roll, fried chicken, chicken pizza and a tart for $2.50), and heading into town for some shopping. The girls went to FabIndia. I bought a couple tops. We all met up again at the Ghandi statue at seven. Arjun, Joe and Molly headed to find internet, while the rest of us went in search of a massage or something. We found a benefit concert catered by the restaurant where we wanted to eat dinner and raising money to fix the erosion of the beaches in Pondicherry. It was really interesting because there were many expats in charge of the concert. The group who organized is called PondyCAN and they plan to use political pressure to solve many of the problems in Pondicherry. The funny thing was watching the issues of India enumerated in a slideshow presentation. The music was a cool fusion: basso nova; classical violin, sitar and tabla; and reggae. The food was great and the people who attended were both interesting and fun. The whole thing cost about $12 a person. It was totally worth it.
The next morning we all slept in. Once we got going, about nine, we stopped for pastries and headed for Sri Aurobindo ashram. We meditated outside the mother's tomb. It was really interesting. Then afterwords we went to a weekly street market. On a street where scooters, cars and auto rickshaws careened ahead at full speed, people sold anything and everything imaginable. I found a passageway to a fish market that sold all sorts of interesting things. The smell was a little overwhelming. So I decided to go find a massage and we all agreed to meet in time to check out of our hotels.
My massage was amazing. It was at an ayurvedic hospital. It started with the masseuse telling me to "remove my dress." Since I didn't know how much 'dress' I was meant to remove I was exceedingly awkward. I kept confirming with her after each article of clothing that I should remove another. She probable thought I was an idiot, but I didn't want to offend her by stripping naked in front of her. It's not like the U.S. where they leave the room. She tied a paper loincloth around me and had me sit in a chair. After applying a generous amount of oil to my head and hair, she proceeded to give me the strangest and most amazing hair/ scalp massage. This included little clumps of my hair being pulled quite hard all around my scalp. She commented on my dandruff. I had a hard time conveying the fact that constantly eating new foods, using different water, experiencing new things and getting sun burnt weren't the best way to keep your scalp healthy. Next she told me to get on the table. She proceeded to slather me in oil to the point where I wondered if I would be able to stay on the table. I felt a little bit like meat being prepared to cook. The massage was amazing. Of note: they did in fact again massage my breasts. After the really long and relaxing massage that included more or less every inch of surface area I have, she patted me repeatedly with a packet of hot banana leaves. It was hot to the point of making me flinch few times. For the most part it was relaxing, though. When she did my sunburn I almost cried. I should mention that at a couple points she asked me to "make a little prayer" and she prayed before going on. Then she wiped off my feet and right hand, and led me into the adjoining shower. She showed me a towel and a bowl of soupy mud and told me to wash my whole body with it. It was of course, some kind of grainy soap. The only awkward part of that was she kept coming in and out and monitoring my progress. She told me to use "whole soap," which I took to mean I was supposed to use up the entire bowl. So I went for it. Head to toe I rubbed that stuff in. Then I rinsed it out and felt infinitely better. When I came out she let me get dressed, then put a hand on my arm, started to pray over me like she was anointing me with the holy spirit, then rubbed some spicy smelling stuff into my part. I'm not gonna lie, I felt pretty. Despite the fact that I had no make up and was wearing crumpled clothes, being clean and sunned made me feel great. A few minutes later I was walking down the street and a man said "Excuse me, madame, you smell good."
We all met at the hotel and ate a Sastanga before heading out of town. The trip back was marked by us all falling asleep all over each other. And by Jack buying a sitar.
This week at Shanti Bhavan has been a restful one. The fourth grade has been continuously improving in their studies and behavior. I could easily put them in with a class from the U.S. now and have them do well. All of the art projects are coming together well, and I'm trying to select students to teach tap, add to the choir and give piano lessons.
Walking under the tree all the berries are falling off. The berries crunch under my flip flops and it's even better than walking on bubble wrap.
Eating more candy than I previously thought possible every day. In fact, eating so much candy that I'm shunning other, more nutritious food in favor of it.
Developing the sense that not only does every person deserve respect, but every thing in the entire world does. I feel in harmony with the planet.
I found a bunch of puppet stuff and I'm planning to use it!
One of my student's (Angel Mary Martin) sister's name is Himmaculate Sweetie.
Staying up late and having TRL with Steve and Jack.
Pondicherry Trip
We went to Pondicherry. We left Friday after lunch and headed to Hosur to buy our train tickets for next week. Then we were off and pacing on a national highway. The barely two lane road with minimal potholes was a pleasure to ride along with our trusty driver, Manju. The scenery as we drove by was both varied and delightful: mountains, rice fields, temples, dry scrubby land, palm trees, busses coming straight at us, cows, monkeys, pigs, jumbled towns, thatch villages, old women with wrinkled skin, gangs of young men holding hands and children naked save a red thread at the waist. India. I was counting down the kilometers and estimating that at our current average speed we would arrive in a few hours. At ever mile marker I kept telling myself how much longer until we were there. I was strongly reminded of being on road trips with my family. My mom used to tell us "four more Inspector Gadgets until we're there." I found myself calculating the time in 'Inspector Gadgets' and giving little updates to the others. (I tried to play the alphabet game by myself, but it's hard when you don't already have an idea of what the sign might say or what language the sign will be in.) Unfortunately the distance to Pondicherry indicated by the signs was really only the distance to the off ramp to Pondicherry and we still had a thirty minute drive from there.
Nonetheless, when we arrived we were all very excited to sample the Western cuisine and relax on the beach. We arrived, after some confusion, at our hotel, Qualithe. It was not so quality at all. In fact, the ground floor is a bar. The front desk is the bar. They didn't have our reservation until the next day, so we went decided to look somewhere else. On the recommendation of a girl in the bar we went to Mother Guest House. She said it was next to a great restaurant called Hot Breads. So we went over. We had to climb up the stairs inside a store to get there, but when they offered us a room with two enormous beds and one small bed, AC and TV for RS 1500 a night, we took it. For the two nights we stayed it was only $10 a person. So the six of us had two adjoining rooms and a bathroom. It worked out really well. As soon as we deposited our belongings in the room we went out to dinner at Le Club. It. Was. Sublime. The list of beverages we consumed included milkshakes, beers, cosmopolitans, lemonade, shirley temples, wine, lassis and mineral water. We shared some garlic bread, which we like so much that we ordered two more servings. I had a salad and steak au poivre. Mmm. For desert I had apple tart. Doesn't get much better than that.
In the morning I woke up and saw a tiny almost clear scorpion running across the room and heading for Molly's bag. I stepped on in it in my flip flop. I'm so smart.
We went to watch the sunrise at the beach and had breakfast at Le Cafe. I had a croissant and cafe au lait. So good. We saw a really cool Indian looking Catholic church and tried to rent scooters. This failed because we don't have international drivers licenses. Right next door was an amazing colorful temple. It was really fun to explore. After making a pooja, or little prayer, they gave us a whitish gray dot instead of the usual red. Hmm...
Next we headed to Auroville. It's a huge community of people working towards a better future for humanity. The center of the community is called Matrimandir. It looks like a big golden Spaceship Earth. Inside there's a huge crystal with light focused in it. In any case, it's a beautiful and interesting place full of handicrafts and sustainable ways of life. All their water is drawn from wells using wind power and there are literally gardens of solar panels. I'm definitely interested in what they're doing there.
After Auroville, it was beach time. We went swimming at Auro Beach, in the Bay of Bengal. To get there we had to walk through a narrow sand pathway, but the sand was so hot that I burned the bottoms of my feet trying to get there wearing flip flops. I sprinted for the water. The water was warm and there were many people swimming. All of them were Indian men, most of whom were wearing underwear, undershirts and orange vests. Some of the youngest were completely naked. It was fun, but it was a little ridiculous, because us girls went swimming in our bathing suits. We were asking for the unwanted attention, so it didn't bother us too much. After completely burning ourselves at the beach, we split up to pursue our own fun. For Joe and Arjun that meant finding a place outside of town to rent scooters to them. For the rest of us it meant taking showers, eating lunch at Hot Breads (I had salad, soup, bread sticks, roll, fried chicken, chicken pizza and a tart for $2.50), and heading into town for some shopping. The girls went to FabIndia. I bought a couple tops. We all met up again at the Ghandi statue at seven. Arjun, Joe and Molly headed to find internet, while the rest of us went in search of a massage or something. We found a benefit concert catered by the restaurant where we wanted to eat dinner and raising money to fix the erosion of the beaches in Pondicherry. It was really interesting because there were many expats in charge of the concert. The group who organized is called PondyCAN and they plan to use political pressure to solve many of the problems in Pondicherry. The funny thing was watching the issues of India enumerated in a slideshow presentation. The music was a cool fusion: basso nova; classical violin, sitar and tabla; and reggae. The food was great and the people who attended were both interesting and fun. The whole thing cost about $12 a person. It was totally worth it.
The next morning we all slept in. Once we got going, about nine, we stopped for pastries and headed for Sri Aurobindo ashram. We meditated outside the mother's tomb. It was really interesting. Then afterwords we went to a weekly street market. On a street where scooters, cars and auto rickshaws careened ahead at full speed, people sold anything and everything imaginable. I found a passageway to a fish market that sold all sorts of interesting things. The smell was a little overwhelming. So I decided to go find a massage and we all agreed to meet in time to check out of our hotels.
My massage was amazing. It was at an ayurvedic hospital. It started with the masseuse telling me to "remove my dress." Since I didn't know how much 'dress' I was meant to remove I was exceedingly awkward. I kept confirming with her after each article of clothing that I should remove another. She probable thought I was an idiot, but I didn't want to offend her by stripping naked in front of her. It's not like the U.S. where they leave the room. She tied a paper loincloth around me and had me sit in a chair. After applying a generous amount of oil to my head and hair, she proceeded to give me the strangest and most amazing hair/ scalp massage. This included little clumps of my hair being pulled quite hard all around my scalp. She commented on my dandruff. I had a hard time conveying the fact that constantly eating new foods, using different water, experiencing new things and getting sun burnt weren't the best way to keep your scalp healthy. Next she told me to get on the table. She proceeded to slather me in oil to the point where I wondered if I would be able to stay on the table. I felt a little bit like meat being prepared to cook. The massage was amazing. Of note: they did in fact again massage my breasts. After the really long and relaxing massage that included more or less every inch of surface area I have, she patted me repeatedly with a packet of hot banana leaves. It was hot to the point of making me flinch few times. For the most part it was relaxing, though. When she did my sunburn I almost cried. I should mention that at a couple points she asked me to "make a little prayer" and she prayed before going on. Then she wiped off my feet and right hand, and led me into the adjoining shower. She showed me a towel and a bowl of soupy mud and told me to wash my whole body with it. It was of course, some kind of grainy soap. The only awkward part of that was she kept coming in and out and monitoring my progress. She told me to use "whole soap," which I took to mean I was supposed to use up the entire bowl. So I went for it. Head to toe I rubbed that stuff in. Then I rinsed it out and felt infinitely better. When I came out she let me get dressed, then put a hand on my arm, started to pray over me like she was anointing me with the holy spirit, then rubbed some spicy smelling stuff into my part. I'm not gonna lie, I felt pretty. Despite the fact that I had no make up and was wearing crumpled clothes, being clean and sunned made me feel great. A few minutes later I was walking down the street and a man said "Excuse me, madame, you smell good."
We all met at the hotel and ate a Sastanga before heading out of town. The trip back was marked by us all falling asleep all over each other. And by Jack buying a sitar.
This week at Shanti Bhavan has been a restful one. The fourth grade has been continuously improving in their studies and behavior. I could easily put them in with a class from the U.S. now and have them do well. All of the art projects are coming together well, and I'm trying to select students to teach tap, add to the choir and give piano lessons.
Friday, March 6, 2009
This week
For more images check out:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037309&id=36000020&l=803d3
Facebook is much quicker at uploading photos.
Sunday
We arrived in Bangalore at about six am and got jerked around by a cab trying to take us to hotels when all we wanted was a place to store our bags for the day. That was frustrating. Then we went to Cubbin Park. It's a beautiful park full of children practicing martial arts, adults doing yoga and out for their morning constitutionals. We had a lot of time to kill until things opened. We found a Coffee Day coffee shop almost as prevalent in India as Starbucks is in NYC. We got harassed by some auto rickshaw drivers who said they'd take us to internet places that were open then tried to take us to shops where they'd get kickbacks for taking us there. None of us were in the mood for that and we got out. Ugh. Then we went to Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. Those were ok, but honestly they're not very nice for 'botanical gardens.' We were hot, tired and unimpressed with Bangalore. Especially as compared to Hampi. We went to a sangria lunch buffet. It was amazing. Casa del Sol offered unlimited lunch buffet with unlimited wine, beer and sangria for about $15. The food was great. We loaded up on protein and alcohol. In addition they had a pottery wheel, face painting, parrot astrologer, and a sketch artist. It was really fun! After that we were feeling better and it was nice to hit the internet, even if the computers were kind of crappy. We went to FabIndia to see if there were any souvenirs we wanted, but we lost Joe and spent the last thirty minutes we had in Bangalore searching and worrying. He just wandered off to get a hair cut.
Monday
I went to Barry’s class both periods instead of teaching aerobics. It was fun. Weird visitors from a school in Bangalore came. I mean the guy introduced himself in a room full of adults as Bob-ji. That’s like me introducing myself to my grandmother as Ms. McDonald. He’s giving himself the veneration children give teachers or adults give spiritual leaders. Anyway he and his wife came for a visit and actually handed out business cards to all of the teachers! It was my day for news again. It was kind of fun because I had a newspaper from Bangalore to use, so I got to give some more local news. Elizabeth and I wore saris to the huge approval of the staff and students. We taught the kindergarten the bridge of rubber ducky. A new volunteer arrived- Tony. His parents both grew up one state away in India. Since he finished undergrad early he wanted something to do between that and med school. He seems pretty cool. Jack got really sick, threw up and everything. Ick. We had a Hampi photo exchange in the lounge. It was fun.
Tuesday
I slept all day when I didn’t have class. Nirmala started teaching us a dance. It’s crazy and fun. The power was out almost all day. The sixth grade dance class was amazing. They look great. We held it outside by light of solar powered street lamp. In the lounge we watched Star Wars Episode 5. I really enjoyed it. Choir is starting to get the hang of the Billy Elliot music.
Wednesday
I went to Barry’s class both sessions. I felt rejuvenated. I stated taking Claritin. I think I have allergies here. I’m feeling much better now that I’m taking it regularly. The second grade ballet is really coming along and the third grade art projects are under way. Barry did some work on me. I felt great. I spent some time vocalizing and playing flute.
Thursday
I spent all my free time sleeping or rehearsing with Nirmala for the dance. It’s kind of silly, but we’re sure having fun making up lyrics to remember what we’re supposed to do:
“Look at my mehendi, it’s so sexy, look at my hands you want me, You ain’t nothin’, Woah Woah, I’m just a quail sitting in a garden, don’t you want to come talk to me? Look at my shoulders.”
Friday
We spent almost every free second preparing for our big show. We did make up and hair and mehendi and jewelry and flowers. It was intense. And so much fun. I opened the show with ‘Baby Shark’ audience participation style. Then Barry demonstrated some martial arts, Arjun played a Spanish piece on the piano, Michelle and Tony danced, Elizabeth sang ‘No One is Alone’, I sang ‘Old Devil Moon’ with Arjun accompanying me, Michelle sang, the boys played guitar and sang ‘Hey Jude’ then the group dance ended the show. It was so fun. My personal favorite is “so niiiiice!” and “oooooaaaaaoooowww miss! You dance so nicely!” haha. We watched Animal house in the lounge. Joe shared Nilla Wafers (!!!!!) his mom sent and we had some Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups that Barry brought. It was delightful.
Last Week
Saturday
Saturday was fun. Jacques, Arjun, Elizabeth and I left directly after breakfast for Hosur. It was fun. We planned to spend several hours on the internet. Due to a power outage the internet place was running on battery power. So we only got a little less than thirty minutes. Boo.
It was really fun though. We did lots of great stuff. Elizabeth and I went to the post office, bought saris, got measured for blouses, bought pineapples and oranges and spent about twenty minutes on the computer. Then we all went wandering as a group. We went to an all plastic store. Basically instead of selling one kind of product they sell various products made of plastic. A different kind of category I guess. We went to a DVD store and got DVDs for $1 that have four or five movies on each. That was a blast.
We took an auto rickshaw (if you haven't been in one, you at least should google a photo) to the train station so Elizabeth and I could buy the tickets for Hampi. Well. They couldn't take credit cards because the had no power so we had to scrounge for cash to buy the five train tickets we needed. We're taking a car to Bangalore then taking an overnight train to Hampi. We're traveling in style. Air conditioned sleeper cars, oh yeah. It should be an experience. Actually, buying the tickets was an experience. Elizabeth and I lined up nicely behind the Muslim men in front of us, as there was a sign that said "No separate ladies' q." Ok, fine. So the men seated in the station openly gawk at us while the men in line jumble around, push in front of us and generally cause as much confusion, chaos and other don't-let-these-heathen-women-get-what-they-wantness as possible. So we called Arjun over because they were pushing in front of us in line. It was like a cartoon. Arjun, the 6'3" if-India-was-going-to-invent-a-god-today looking 19 year old Cornell sophomore teddy bear, struck an imposing figure. The men who'd been giving us an impossible time literally did a double take and then continued to look nervously over their shoulders. Suddenly it was as if every one wanted to maintain order. We quickly got our forms to fill out and processed our payment. Round trip it's $34. Not too shabby, huh? The hotel we're staying in should be $6/ person. Since we're only staying in the hotel one night it should be a total of $40. How do you like them apples?
We then went to the new Janani restaurant, which is beautifully laid out like a garden. We spent a couple hours eating, relaxing and joking. Then we walked all the way back to the internet area, I'd guess about two miles. In the scorching sun. It was fun, we got to see a lot of Hosur. We bought sunglasses for Elizabeth. Then we took an auto to the old Janani, had a soda and waited for the rest of the staff who came into Hosur for only an hour. We all rode back in the staff car together. Fine family fun.
When we got back we were exhausted, but we had choir rehearsal for the show the next day. None of the kids showed. Then we had rehearsal for an aerobics demonstration. We were all pretty tired, but it was really nice to spend time in such a small group. We all get along quite well. We stayed up and chatted.
Sunday
Jack, Elizabeth's friend from high school, arrived. I showed him around. It was funny because it was like he was on something. He was sort of: 48 hours without sleeping. We rehearsed for the show for the Italian visitors. Elizabeth and I got gussied up. So fun. She did a circle braid in my hair. It was a great show. All that rehearsal really payed off. Dinner was amazing. The chicken was spiced with saffron, and I loved it.
Monday
Barry and Michelle arrived. Michelle is on the board of ASTEP and has raised a ton of money for Shanti Bhavan. Barry is a "body worker" and has a really interesting history- research scientist, massage school, martial arts... Both of them look approximately ten years younger than their real ages. We taught more of "All That Jazz" to the older girls. Choir surprised us with a rehearsal. It was great. Kids are excited because Dr. George's birthday is coming up. They kept coming up and saying "Miss, miss, the 25th is Dr. George's birthday!" Joe, Molly and Steve got back from Mysore around breakfast time. They looked pretty exhausted. Apparently their feet got eaten by the massive amounts of bugs on the bus. We practiced "Rubber Ducky" with KG and Jack on guitar. So adorable.
Tuesday
We started a new aerobics schedule. It basically comes down to the fact that Barry gets the kids by gender for thirty minutes so we take his class then take the kids for aerobics. It's fun learning self defense. In a lot of ways Barry reminds me of Robert, the musical theatre director. I like him a lot. In musical theatre class the first grade was amazing playing the mirror game. I got some adorable video of it.
Wednesday
We had the older girls for aerobics. I had a busy, but good day. It was Dr. George's birthday. Lots of amazing food. Some of the volunteer descriptions of it included liquid amoxicillin, Pinesol and Tang. Haha. We watched Billy Elliot and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Michelle brought Reece's Peanut Butter Cups! Mmmm... Barry worked on me, I've never felt so healthy. I felt great. Stoned. But great.
Thursday
6th grade boys were so frustrating in aerobics, they couldn't jog on beat. 6th grade girls more than made up for it. Rajne's flute lesson went well. I added a few more notes for him to practice. I had a lot of fun teaching fifth grade math, we did curve drawing. It's drawing curves by drawing straight lines between points on them. They loved it. We left for Hampi at 4:00 pm with the well wishes of Michelle. We picked up our sari blouses from Hosur and headed to Bangalore.
We wanted pizza Western style and he took us to an Indian chain. We had a big discussion about how to get to Domino's. We finally found a Pizza Hut, but the power was out. Around the corner we found a Domino's! We ordered, had ordeal getting change, then getting our soft drinks, we waited about ten minutes and were getting really excited for our food and the power went out. The manager said it would take fifteen minutes by gas, so we waited. Then fifteen minutes later she told us it would be another thirty minutes, could she take our number so we could go for a walk? We walked to a donut shop and bought donuts. We decided if the power wasn't on we'd get a refund and go to Pizza Hut, where the lights were now blazing. We walked back and got our refund. Just as we were all exiting the building, the power came back on. The employees of Dominos literally chased us out the door to tell us to come back. So we did. They promised eight minutes until our pizza was ready. Mine came last, forty five minutes later. All for a little pizza! Though I have to say, the pizza did taste like a little slice of home.
From there we headed to the train station. So I guess one of the reasons Bangalore has three train stations is that there are a lot of freaking people taking trains. The train station was really big, crowded and confusing. The signage was bad and there was no way to if there was anyone working there. My guess is there wasn't. After a several minutes of confusion we decided to take the 'subway' (underpass) and found track 8, from which we were departing. Then we had to fight the confusion of trying to get on the right car. Since there was no one to ask, this took several minutes. We finally managed to do it, but our berths were all separate. It was nice: fans, AC, freshly cleaned sheets. The gentle rocking of the train made it quite easy to sleep. If I hadn't had a bed right by the door to the bathroom I would have slept quite well. Interestingly, everyone in 2nd class AC spoke English. Apparently if you can afford to travel in comfort you can afford an education in English as well.
Friday
We arrived in Hospet around 7:30 AM. We took two auto-rickshaws to Hampi. Our hotel was BASIC and PERFECT! The entire hotel is open air. Our 'room' was a thatch hut with three mattresses on the ground and mosquito nets. In the common there are hammocks. The restaurant is a series of ledges with cushions and a pavilion with cushions. There are even beds in the open with just mosquito nets. We ordered breakfast (really yummy!), hung around in the hammocks and toured the ruins. It was really amazing. It's hard to describe, but it was beautiful. Elizabeth found a decaying dog in a chamber of one of the many destroyed temples we saw. Some of the really cool things we saw were a huge Ganesh (elephant headed god), a cool Shiva linga (phallic statue representation of the god of destruction) with water coming to the entrance of the shrine, and an underground temple with water flowing through it. There were bats in the last one.
We ate lunch at the Mango Tree which was both delectable and delightful. The view was stunning. They sold Nutella and cereal! I'm proud to report that my second attempt at a squat toilet was here and went quite successfully. I know you're all very proud. Elizabeth informed us that squat toilets are more ergonomically correct. If you can't squat apparently you ought prop your feet up, "a stool for your stool" as she said. We went shopping and I bought ankle bracelets, which I've been coveting since I arrived in India. They're so fun, they jingle when I walk! Jack and I ended up shopping for some clothes (which are really good looking) and then went to the temple to be blessed by Lakshmi the temple elephant. Afterword we met up with the crew and went to watch the sunset on a hill. It was splendid. A little boy selling chai in plastic cups was really friendly with us and gave us a lot of useful information.
We went back to the hotel and met some funny French people who bootlegged beer for us in a tea kettle. It was warm, but what the heck? I was the only one from our group to brave the bug infested shower that night. It was quite an adventure, though not the worst shower I've ever used. Ants on the shower head and a myriad of bugs on the walls didn't bother me too much, but the cold water that was clearly not safe to drink and the filthy floor were certainly enough to hurry me along. Nonetheless, I felt like a new person after showering that night. Two days of India filth is quite a lot of filth (despite cleansing cloths), let me assure you. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep between asking Jack a question and his reply.
Saturday
We woke up early and hiked to the top of Mattanga Hill. This is a deceiving name. Though it may be called 'hill', hiking up it in the dark is no easy task. In fact hiking up in the day light is not for the faint of heart or for heart patients. So we climbed all the way to the top of the the hill and climbed on top of the five hundred year old temple to watch the most amazing sunrise. It was breathtaking. We climbed down the hill in full day light at about seven am to go watch the elephant take a bath in the river. Our chai wallah was there, selling tea and being amazed as we were by the huge pachyderm in the river in front of us. What didn't phase him, but shocked me, was the huge amount of people bathing in the river. Women wearing saris were submerged to their waists lathering, removing their sari tops, scrubbing and putting the cumbersome, wet clothes back on to bathe their children or each other. Men were stripped down to underwear and scrubbing like it was their royal duty. Especially where the sun don't shine. Of course right next to the river there were also your typical freak shows: men dressed up as holy men trying to extort money from tourists for a photo, men meditating on the rocks in defiance of the commotion of the busy river and children of all shapes and sizes getting into anything and everything they can.
We came back to the hotel and had breakfast. Eggs, home fries, toast and tea... I was in heaven. It's impossible to explain how sick of rice a person can get. We contemplated spending the day lounging around the hotel. We all lazed about in the hammocks and in the restaurant area. A dog that belongs to the hotel chewed my shoe. I spent most of the morning in socks until I could buy new ones. A guy about my age came around selling postcards. Elizabeth and I ended up talking to him for a while and he offered to take us out for a fun day on the town. So we went to visit the temple, get blessed by Laskshmi and head out across the river on our adventure with our guide, Harish. Just before we boarded the boat we saw a snake charmer. A king cobra charming, drone instrument playing busker who scared us then let us hold his 'no poison' snakes. It was thrilling and a little scary. At this point in the day our motto became 'we haven't died yet' and we repeated it many times throughout the remainder. We shared the heavily loaded motor boat with motorcycles and women carrying bushels of fruit. It was ridiculous. We played with a trained baby monkey on the other side of the water, then rented scooters (not my idea) and took off on a tour of the temples on that side of the water. I learned a lot about Hinduism and feel a lot better acquainted with various personalities of gods and the symbolism of the religion. We ended up at a huge lake which several westerners told us 'might have crocodiles, but was good for swimming.' We all jumped in. It was a lot of fun. Many Indian guys came to swim with us. They played music from their cell phones and danced and well all laughed a lot. Let me note here that swimming in pants that balloon is not an easy task. The boys wanted more time on the bikes, and I was REALLY done with them, so Elizabeth and I went to get massages while the boys rode around a while longer. The woman massaged our breasts! We also got henna, which wasn't the best move because we had to pack with one hand each. We were traveling on the wait list, and once again had a lot of trouble finding someone to help us at the train station. It ended up working out great though, because really it just meant they didn't assign the bunks in the cabins, so we slept in a group of bunks that were together. Score.
Saturday was fun. Jacques, Arjun, Elizabeth and I left directly after breakfast for Hosur. It was fun. We planned to spend several hours on the internet. Due to a power outage the internet place was running on battery power. So we only got a little less than thirty minutes. Boo.
It was really fun though. We did lots of great stuff. Elizabeth and I went to the post office, bought saris, got measured for blouses, bought pineapples and oranges and spent about twenty minutes on the computer. Then we all went wandering as a group. We went to an all plastic store. Basically instead of selling one kind of product they sell various products made of plastic. A different kind of category I guess. We went to a DVD store and got DVDs for $1 that have four or five movies on each. That was a blast.
We took an auto rickshaw (if you haven't been in one, you at least should google a photo) to the train station so Elizabeth and I could buy the tickets for Hampi. Well. They couldn't take credit cards because the had no power so we had to scrounge for cash to buy the five train tickets we needed. We're taking a car to Bangalore then taking an overnight train to Hampi. We're traveling in style. Air conditioned sleeper cars, oh yeah. It should be an experience. Actually, buying the tickets was an experience. Elizabeth and I lined up nicely behind the Muslim men in front of us, as there was a sign that said "No separate ladies' q." Ok, fine. So the men seated in the station openly gawk at us while the men in line jumble around, push in front of us and generally cause as much confusion, chaos and other don't-let-these-heathen-women-get-what-they-wantness as possible. So we called Arjun over because they were pushing in front of us in line. It was like a cartoon. Arjun, the 6'3" if-India-was-going-to-invent-a-god-today looking 19 year old Cornell sophomore teddy bear, struck an imposing figure. The men who'd been giving us an impossible time literally did a double take and then continued to look nervously over their shoulders. Suddenly it was as if every one wanted to maintain order. We quickly got our forms to fill out and processed our payment. Round trip it's $34. Not too shabby, huh? The hotel we're staying in should be $6/ person. Since we're only staying in the hotel one night it should be a total of $40. How do you like them apples?
We then went to the new Janani restaurant, which is beautifully laid out like a garden. We spent a couple hours eating, relaxing and joking. Then we walked all the way back to the internet area, I'd guess about two miles. In the scorching sun. It was fun, we got to see a lot of Hosur. We bought sunglasses for Elizabeth. Then we took an auto to the old Janani, had a soda and waited for the rest of the staff who came into Hosur for only an hour. We all rode back in the staff car together. Fine family fun.
When we got back we were exhausted, but we had choir rehearsal for the show the next day. None of the kids showed. Then we had rehearsal for an aerobics demonstration. We were all pretty tired, but it was really nice to spend time in such a small group. We all get along quite well. We stayed up and chatted.
Sunday
Jack, Elizabeth's friend from high school, arrived. I showed him around. It was funny because it was like he was on something. He was sort of: 48 hours without sleeping. We rehearsed for the show for the Italian visitors. Elizabeth and I got gussied up. So fun. She did a circle braid in my hair. It was a great show. All that rehearsal really payed off. Dinner was amazing. The chicken was spiced with saffron, and I loved it.
Monday
Barry and Michelle arrived. Michelle is on the board of ASTEP and has raised a ton of money for Shanti Bhavan. Barry is a "body worker" and has a really interesting history- research scientist, massage school, martial arts... Both of them look approximately ten years younger than their real ages. We taught more of "All That Jazz" to the older girls. Choir surprised us with a rehearsal. It was great. Kids are excited because Dr. George's birthday is coming up. They kept coming up and saying "Miss, miss, the 25th is Dr. George's birthday!" Joe, Molly and Steve got back from Mysore around breakfast time. They looked pretty exhausted. Apparently their feet got eaten by the massive amounts of bugs on the bus. We practiced "Rubber Ducky" with KG and Jack on guitar. So adorable.
Tuesday
We started a new aerobics schedule. It basically comes down to the fact that Barry gets the kids by gender for thirty minutes so we take his class then take the kids for aerobics. It's fun learning self defense. In a lot of ways Barry reminds me of Robert, the musical theatre director. I like him a lot. In musical theatre class the first grade was amazing playing the mirror game. I got some adorable video of it.
Wednesday
We had the older girls for aerobics. I had a busy, but good day. It was Dr. George's birthday. Lots of amazing food. Some of the volunteer descriptions of it included liquid amoxicillin, Pinesol and Tang. Haha. We watched Billy Elliot and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Michelle brought Reece's Peanut Butter Cups! Mmmm... Barry worked on me, I've never felt so healthy. I felt great. Stoned. But great.
Thursday
6th grade boys were so frustrating in aerobics, they couldn't jog on beat. 6th grade girls more than made up for it. Rajne's flute lesson went well. I added a few more notes for him to practice. I had a lot of fun teaching fifth grade math, we did curve drawing. It's drawing curves by drawing straight lines between points on them. They loved it. We left for Hampi at 4:00 pm with the well wishes of Michelle. We picked up our sari blouses from Hosur and headed to Bangalore.
We wanted pizza Western style and he took us to an Indian chain. We had a big discussion about how to get to Domino's. We finally found a Pizza Hut, but the power was out. Around the corner we found a Domino's! We ordered, had ordeal getting change, then getting our soft drinks, we waited about ten minutes and were getting really excited for our food and the power went out. The manager said it would take fifteen minutes by gas, so we waited. Then fifteen minutes later she told us it would be another thirty minutes, could she take our number so we could go for a walk? We walked to a donut shop and bought donuts. We decided if the power wasn't on we'd get a refund and go to Pizza Hut, where the lights were now blazing. We walked back and got our refund. Just as we were all exiting the building, the power came back on. The employees of Dominos literally chased us out the door to tell us to come back. So we did. They promised eight minutes until our pizza was ready. Mine came last, forty five minutes later. All for a little pizza! Though I have to say, the pizza did taste like a little slice of home.
From there we headed to the train station. So I guess one of the reasons Bangalore has three train stations is that there are a lot of freaking people taking trains. The train station was really big, crowded and confusing. The signage was bad and there was no way to if there was anyone working there. My guess is there wasn't. After a several minutes of confusion we decided to take the 'subway' (underpass) and found track 8, from which we were departing. Then we had to fight the confusion of trying to get on the right car. Since there was no one to ask, this took several minutes. We finally managed to do it, but our berths were all separate. It was nice: fans, AC, freshly cleaned sheets. The gentle rocking of the train made it quite easy to sleep. If I hadn't had a bed right by the door to the bathroom I would have slept quite well. Interestingly, everyone in 2nd class AC spoke English. Apparently if you can afford to travel in comfort you can afford an education in English as well.
Friday
We arrived in Hospet around 7:30 AM. We took two auto-rickshaws to Hampi. Our hotel was BASIC and PERFECT! The entire hotel is open air. Our 'room' was a thatch hut with three mattresses on the ground and mosquito nets. In the common there are hammocks. The restaurant is a series of ledges with cushions and a pavilion with cushions. There are even beds in the open with just mosquito nets. We ordered breakfast (really yummy!), hung around in the hammocks and toured the ruins. It was really amazing. It's hard to describe, but it was beautiful. Elizabeth found a decaying dog in a chamber of one of the many destroyed temples we saw. Some of the really cool things we saw were a huge Ganesh (elephant headed god), a cool Shiva linga (phallic statue representation of the god of destruction) with water coming to the entrance of the shrine, and an underground temple with water flowing through it. There were bats in the last one.
We ate lunch at the Mango Tree which was both delectable and delightful. The view was stunning. They sold Nutella and cereal! I'm proud to report that my second attempt at a squat toilet was here and went quite successfully. I know you're all very proud. Elizabeth informed us that squat toilets are more ergonomically correct. If you can't squat apparently you ought prop your feet up, "a stool for your stool" as she said. We went shopping and I bought ankle bracelets, which I've been coveting since I arrived in India. They're so fun, they jingle when I walk! Jack and I ended up shopping for some clothes (which are really good looking) and then went to the temple to be blessed by Lakshmi the temple elephant. Afterword we met up with the crew and went to watch the sunset on a hill. It was splendid. A little boy selling chai in plastic cups was really friendly with us and gave us a lot of useful information.
We went back to the hotel and met some funny French people who bootlegged beer for us in a tea kettle. It was warm, but what the heck? I was the only one from our group to brave the bug infested shower that night. It was quite an adventure, though not the worst shower I've ever used. Ants on the shower head and a myriad of bugs on the walls didn't bother me too much, but the cold water that was clearly not safe to drink and the filthy floor were certainly enough to hurry me along. Nonetheless, I felt like a new person after showering that night. Two days of India filth is quite a lot of filth (despite cleansing cloths), let me assure you. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep between asking Jack a question and his reply.
Saturday
We woke up early and hiked to the top of Mattanga Hill. This is a deceiving name. Though it may be called 'hill', hiking up it in the dark is no easy task. In fact hiking up in the day light is not for the faint of heart or for heart patients. So we climbed all the way to the top of the the hill and climbed on top of the five hundred year old temple to watch the most amazing sunrise. It was breathtaking. We climbed down the hill in full day light at about seven am to go watch the elephant take a bath in the river. Our chai wallah was there, selling tea and being amazed as we were by the huge pachyderm in the river in front of us. What didn't phase him, but shocked me, was the huge amount of people bathing in the river. Women wearing saris were submerged to their waists lathering, removing their sari tops, scrubbing and putting the cumbersome, wet clothes back on to bathe their children or each other. Men were stripped down to underwear and scrubbing like it was their royal duty. Especially where the sun don't shine. Of course right next to the river there were also your typical freak shows: men dressed up as holy men trying to extort money from tourists for a photo, men meditating on the rocks in defiance of the commotion of the busy river and children of all shapes and sizes getting into anything and everything they can.
We came back to the hotel and had breakfast. Eggs, home fries, toast and tea... I was in heaven. It's impossible to explain how sick of rice a person can get. We contemplated spending the day lounging around the hotel. We all lazed about in the hammocks and in the restaurant area. A dog that belongs to the hotel chewed my shoe. I spent most of the morning in socks until I could buy new ones. A guy about my age came around selling postcards. Elizabeth and I ended up talking to him for a while and he offered to take us out for a fun day on the town. So we went to visit the temple, get blessed by Laskshmi and head out across the river on our adventure with our guide, Harish. Just before we boarded the boat we saw a snake charmer. A king cobra charming, drone instrument playing busker who scared us then let us hold his 'no poison' snakes. It was thrilling and a little scary. At this point in the day our motto became 'we haven't died yet' and we repeated it many times throughout the remainder. We shared the heavily loaded motor boat with motorcycles and women carrying bushels of fruit. It was ridiculous. We played with a trained baby monkey on the other side of the water, then rented scooters (not my idea) and took off on a tour of the temples on that side of the water. I learned a lot about Hinduism and feel a lot better acquainted with various personalities of gods and the symbolism of the religion. We ended up at a huge lake which several westerners told us 'might have crocodiles, but was good for swimming.' We all jumped in. It was a lot of fun. Many Indian guys came to swim with us. They played music from their cell phones and danced and well all laughed a lot. Let me note here that swimming in pants that balloon is not an easy task. The boys wanted more time on the bikes, and I was REALLY done with them, so Elizabeth and I went to get massages while the boys rode around a while longer. The woman massaged our breasts! We also got henna, which wasn't the best move because we had to pack with one hand each. We were traveling on the wait list, and once again had a lot of trouble finding someone to help us at the train station. It ended up working out great though, because really it just meant they didn't assign the bunks in the cabins, so we slept in a group of bunks that were together. Score.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
I will make a real post next week.
I'm in Bangalore, but the computer I'm on does not have a USB port. Since I've already typed my blog for this week I'll just post it when I get back to Hosur next weekend. Love you all. Hampi was wonderful.
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