"he even dances like a tai chi teacher.."

GOOD NEWS! ...it's officially monsoon season!

last night it POURED and the thunder was louder than i could ever had imagined. this thunder does not produce the distant, sharp "crack" noise that i'm used to. it first announces itself with an overwhelming rumble that shakes your whole hut and then crescendoes into a huge explosion of sound. the brightness of the lightning does not quite match the intensity of the sound that assaults your poor eardrums, but it is an impressive sight as well. the whole hazy sky is lit up in front of you, and all you can do is hope that your keet-roof hut isn't THAT flammable... right?

then in the morning, bleary-eyed and yawning because the thunder kept you up all night, you walk over to the bathroom before yoga and discover that you really shouldn't be so worried about that rain... because it's not so bad compared to what awaits you in your kitchen and bathrooms.

the sinks of the bathrooms are FULL of half dead, squirming tertiary termites (according to Thlaloc, our tai chi teacher) and that's not even the worst part. the open-air kitchen/dining space has acquired a new carpet. you think.. "oh golly, it sure looks like a whole lotta leaves washed into the kitchen". upon closer inspection, you realize that the 10' x 10' area is... squirming. the termites, seeking refuge, have piled themselves up onto our dining area floor. i'm going to have to say that this occassion ranks high on my "things that make my stomach turn" list, haha..

so, we swept all the bugs out of the dining area.. and hopefully there won't be any other infestations on that level again. i may never leave my mosquito net fortress of a bed if that happens again. for real. you might be sitting there laughing and saying "oh no, just wait what will crawl all up in your space..", but i'm assuming that the worst of the creepy-crawly onslaught is over. hopefully.

(long sigh)

ok, so i have time to write this morning because i am doing more research on wastewater management and waiting a while to go check the algae. i'm hoping the rain lets up and i can assess the damage to the algae.

this past weekend was off the wall. i (and all the girls here basically) have been feeling a tad bit restrained by our teachers/guardians. everything has been planned for us (dinners, dance classes, etc.), which is FANTASTIC, but at this point we are all craving a bit more independence. so this past weekend we went into the city (Pondicherry) and had dinner at a really pretty, really french beachfront hotel/restaurant. beer has never tasted so good, haha. the beach in pondicherry is so incredibly busy on saturday nights. there are vendors selling little glow-in-the-dark gadgets, roasted nuts, prints of indian god(desses), and other little trinkets and other characters all along the rocky coast. when we were eating dinner we watched this 10 year old girl walk and BOUNCE along a tightrope on the beach as well. all while carrying a ceramic pot on her head. crazyness.

later on we went to an auroville full moon dance that was pretty fun, but we soon got tired and started to bike home. on the way home one girl (jenny) and i heard the all too familiar sounds of thumping techno beats blaring from a far-off stereo somewhere in the woods of auroville. as everyone biked back, we looked at each other and both decided we needed to find where they were coming from. so we biked around for about 20 minutes, stopping to listen for the music and then biking down various roads that seemed to lead in its direction. finally we turned down a small dirt road and the music got REALLY loud. we biked up a windy hill and saw flashing lights through some bushes to our right- excited, we sped up, turned a corner, and found quite a surprising sight.

in the middle of the woods we found the youth of auroville dancing inside what looked like india's version of a club under a keet roof. blasting lil' wayne, snoop dogg, reggaeton, and the occassional trance song, young people around our age were dancing on tables, smoking cigarettes, and crowding by the "dj booth". i just kept thinking, "holy shit, i can't believe we found this! what the hell is going on?!"

we had finally found the party in auroville and we were pretty f**kin' ecstatic. we danced for a while and talked to a couple aurovillians, but soon realized that everyone knew each other and most people were just doing there own thing. so far it seems like there are many aurovillians who want to keep auroville uber exclusive and then there are those who are very welcoming. so, we biked back, promising our one welcoming host that we'd surely return another weekend. i'm still reeling from that find, haha.. i mean, techno parties in the woods?

oh man, last night was pretty cool too. we met up with a large group of teenage girls from dehli and made dinner at solitude farm. some girls taught them to hula and i tried to teach some body percussion (that's right.. body percussion). you just might think i took a side trip to kenya next time you see me and i pull out some african body percussion... no joke.
i'm totally joking... although i did learn some body percussion. it is fun as hell though and i hope to learn some more soon.

ah man, i need to go be more productive now..

i miss you all and hope you are enjoying the fall foliage!