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.