how culturally inappropriate would it be to watch "superbad" on the train in front of this muslim family?

hampi is without a doubt a place to mark on your "places i need to see before i kick the bucket" list.

hampi is covering with mountains/hills that are composed of large boulders that look like they are about to fall off and end it all for you, but they actually have just been chillin' there for thousands of years. the boulders are supposedly some of the oldest exposed surfaces on the EARTH. one of the first things we saw when we stepped foot off our tiny motorboat, which took us to our island, was a bunch of guys with long-ass dreads and bouldering pads.

our guest house was filled with israeli, austrian, english, german, and many other tourists of countless nationalties. it was basically a back-packers paradise. the dining areas were open-air rooms with mattresses and pillows on the floor and low-lying tables to eat off of while you lounged on your mattress and watched the sun set behind the mountains and palm trees around you. not to mention the israelis and austrians would pass bongs around the tables before breakfast and dinner. they even passed them to our teachers (who look like they could be our age), who waved them off as some of the girls made puppy dog eyes at them, lips quivering and all.

at the houses around the guest houses people throw little get-togethers wherever there are ovens to make pizza and stoves to brew tea. people sell beer and pizzas out of their houses to make money and just lounge around. i spent one night at a spot across from our guest house and as we sat around by candlelight, people gathered with their drums and guitars for some jam sessions. it was probably the first time i got to hang out with people just my age and talk to others traveling around india. everyone was eager to share their stories and it was cool how people from england, israel, and also northern india found their way to hampi. one israeli guy sold remote control helicopters and other random toys in a mall in maryland during the christmas season for about a month or two and saved more than enough money to travel around india for like.. a year.

after soaking up the excitement of the social scene, i then went to the ecodaya wildlife sanctuary island. our group of 12 started out after breakfast on our third day in hampi, hiking about half an hour and crossing a river in a boat that looked like a giant, circular basket until we reached the main building run by a german guy named horst and his brother, uli (spelling?). the first thing we did was climb up a mountain of boulders to catch a nice, all-encompassing view of the island and form a better map in our minds of where everything was located. after climbing up and jumping between boulders that made some girls cry they were so high up, we reached the top and at that point i think the risks became worth it to all of us. it was so beautiful i started crying. i can safely say that it was probably the most beautiful place i've ever laid eyes on. all around us were huge boulder mountain ridges and you could see the city of hampi's main temple towering over the more developed part of the town. i just stood there, tearing up and trying to take in every little gorgeous detail of the rocks and trees that made the island so magnificent. i felt overwhelmed once again by india's beauty.

then we chose our caves. mine was called sunset cave and was on a separate ridge than a lot of the others.

that night i got sick with a stomach ache and a fever. i woke up and was totally dismayed at first. there i was on the first day of my solo and i was feeling like shit. after an hour of feeling bad for myself i downed some painkiller/fever reducers and made the hike back to the island. that night after eating a last meal of fruit salad we all set out for our caves, the sun setting as we made our mosquito net and straw mat beds. the first thing i did was place seashells in front of my cave- for some reason it was comforting to have them "guarding" the entrance to my cave, which felt so foreign to me.

the first night i woke up to monkeys running at my mosquito net. at first i was scared in the nearly pitch black darkness- what does one do when monkeys run up to their mosquito net and try to figure out what the hell is sleeping in their caves? after quickly convincing myself that monkeys are small and that i'd only ever seen them eating bananas and their own shit, i calmed down, made a raucous/some noise, and eventually they lost interest in me. i found some comfort in gazing up through the gaps in boulders above me, through which i could see the dark blue night sky and the bright little stars. after scaring off the monkeys and star gazing, i slept surprisingly well under that large boulder.

the next day i barely left the area in front of my cave. i watched the white clouds drift across the sky and imagined all the people i missed where looking up at the same sky. i sat on rocks that i thought represented different people in my life and thought about how much i appreciated each person. chris' rock was a medium sized one by the tree in front of my cave, mom's was a little ways out by the ravine, and dad's was by the edge of my cave's little "courtyard". i made little rock circles, watched the birds and lizards wander around, practiced chants i'd learned in auroville, and thought about stupid things and surprisingly significant things all day long. my mind was all over the place. at the end of the day i climbed up some boulders and watched the sunset on top of my cave. after the orange and pink faded out of the sky and the sun was completely swallowed up by the mountains in front of me, i made a small fire with twigs and grasses i had gathered earlier. then i slept through most of my last night in the cave- waking up to the occasional crash of thunder or wave of chills rushing over my body. in the morning i burned my last stick of incense in front of my cave, packed up my sweaty t-shirts and other essentials, lingered to watch the sun grow a bit higher in the sky, and then made my way back down the mountain. the first people i saw were alyssa and laura. they both were sitting on the covered rooftop of the island's one common space/building and we exchanged giant smiles of relief and happiness at seeing another human being!

the rest of my time at hampi was spent recounting more of my experiences with sheep herders, curious looking bugs, and dealing with being all alone during my solo and talking more with the people back at our guest house. even though almost everyone (save two people), including me, got terribly sick in hampi (the rivers are some of the most polluted in india apparently) i still look back at that time fondly. with that said, i think the couple of girls who are now covered in full body rashes may think differently. all in all, the island was beautiful, but dangerous.

i've been back in auroville for the past six days now and things are a bit of a mess here. a cyclone hit this week and tore down about twenty huge trees at our guest house. one smashed through our bathroom, tearing down the new walls, and another demolished the flimsy hut behind our library. luckily the storm has passed, no one was hurt, and the owners of our guest house are getting help cleaning the place up. for the next couple of weeks i'll be staying at evergreen- which is a community i don't actually know much about. mayana, crystal, and i, along with four girls from the other u.s. living routes group, will be helping with the deep ecology workshops and enjoying what auroville's "green belt" has to offer. solar power, wind-powered water pump, and more intense communal living- here i come!

some other things i've learned while traveling:
watching "superbad" on your teacher's laptop on an indian train is awkward and probably culturally inappropriate in most cases.
packaged "pineapple" flavored cookies in india are radioactive green colored and do not sit well on an empty stomach.
monks that live in huts on the top of holy mountains are quite hospitable. chai and bananas are to be expected.
if an indian women sits on your bed on a train in the middle of the night while you are sleeping to wait for the next stop- it's perfectly acceptable. move over. a little to left please.
the guy screaming through the aisles on the train is trying to sell you chai- don't be alarmed, even though it's like.. 6 A.M.
there aren't many american tourists in india.
most people think coffee only comes in a package labeled "nestle instant coffee".

i still feel like i haven't even scratched the surface of the what india has to offer. and neither have the backpackers who have been traveling around here for years. there is always something surprising around the corner- like a cyclone that takes out the power and water for several days or a huge community of hippies in the middle of nowhere. there is always a lot of hidden beauty to dig out amongst the sketchy shop owners and waste-filled roads (and i say that with a lot of respect for india).

but i miss the u.s. more and more! i can't wait to be back for the holidays!

i'm writing tonight on the night before our community leaves for hampi. it's 11 pm and i can't even imagine falling asleep in the near future- too much caffeine and anticipation has built up in my system for that. tonight we ventured to bangalore, a MASSIVE and chaotic city in the state of karnataka. at the end of the night i found myself sipping a diet coke (i never crave soda at home, but here i have started to for some reason), downing a cappuccino, and then eating a scoop of ice cream. with the trip to the wilderness of india on my mind, i felt the need to indulge in food delicacies i probably wouldn't get a hold of again for a while. this also includes pickles. and soft sub rolls. my dinner consisted of straight up caffeine and sugar and now i'm wired.

right now we are at fireflies ashram, about 20 km from bangalore. fireflies is an ashram run by a teddy bear of a man named siddhartha, who is one of the warmest, gentlest people i have had the pleasure of meeting. the ashram is non-secular and encourages only one guru- the earth. there is only one temple/shrine-like area on the property and it is of sita, who is one of the forms of the goddess, AKA lakshmi. she is regarded as the daughter of mother earth and is celebrated here for her earthiness. the ashram land is adorned with countless statues carved on-site by locals and residents of the ashram. there is one large carving of shiva with a plant shaped as his trident (earthy take on shiva), one with a beautiful rumi(a sufi poet) quote, and another half-finished one of gandhi.

it is here that i have played countless rounds of games like phase ten (last night's game was intense- someone almost got stabbed with a pencil and everyone apparently heard us yelling/goading each other on) and scrabble, raided siddhartha's library of obscure and indian literary gems (i'm reading about 1. predicting weather and 2. the teachings of don juan), practiced yoga on the rooftops of several buildings, learned the best bollywood movie dance moves, ate wonder bread and black tea for breakfast, and led (with the help of alyssa and nealy) a full moon ceremony. under the light of the full moon and some small candles on thursday night we gathered around sita's statue to talk about the lunar cycles, vision quests in hampi, and labyrinths as metaphors for sorting out issues in our lives. alyssa drew a giant, tree-shaped labyrinth in chalk on the floor, nealy talked about hindu and pagan lunar cycles and symbols, and i explained the importance of vision quests (a tradition in some native american cultures, like the lakotas) and led a guided meditation. i wasn't really sure it went well- people were quiet a lot of the time and my voice shook sometimes as i read the meditation scipt aloud, but everyone seemed appreciative in the end. siddhartha patted me on the back and thanked me and smiles flashed over the faces of several of those quiet people in the circle. in the end it seemed like it was a successful first attempt at a full moon celebration.

besides this, i guess it was KIND OF fun to climb a mountain in tiru. actually... it kicked ass. it took us about five hours in total to climb mount arunachala, which is believed to be the body of shiva. we vowed on the way up to remain silent for the entire ascent, which worked well for the first half... until i irreverently broke my vow when we reached the steepest, rockiest part of the ascent. i wiped the sweat from my face and let out a string of exhausted curses. from then on i had to talk to those climbing with me for some support, because that dash up the moment was quite breathtaking in more than one sense. it felt soooo good to reach the top though. i still felt it was worth it even after the scorching hot sunshine that zapped the energy out of me during the descent.

as i sit here i am having trouble recounting what has gone on over the past couple of weeks. we leave this place of relaxation and idealism tomorrow to go to the place i have anxiously awaited the most. hampi sits on a golden pedestal surrounded by kittens and warm mugs of dark roast coffee in my mind. some part of me keeps thinking, "what if it isn't all that great?" this part is about the size of my left big toe, but it's still there and my body becomes aware of its function from time to time. i realize this discomfort is healthy, but it's hard because i just want to get moving when i feel this way- and i know i have a long day of travel ahead of me. tomorrow we'll be traveling overnight by train, riding in motorboats across a river, and then hiking out with very little materials to an island. we will stay on that island for a week, during which we will do our solo. i can't wait to get there. the larger part of me knows i will glow with excitement once i finally reach the place i've been dreaming of for months now.

this party will either be fun or... REALLY fun.

at about 10:00 AM, indian time, our community all heard the news. i was sitting in the dining area, munching on a late breakfast of muesli and yogurt and asking the girls with laptops for the electoral counts, when i was shocked awake by an ecstatic scream from the library:
"OBAMA WON!!!!"

we all ran to the library to find Michelle, Cassie, Nealy, Jenny, Alyssa, and others huddled around a laptop, watching the grainy live CNN.com news feed. as the announcer declared Obama as the official (sort of projected..) winner, tears of joy welled up in my sleepy eyes. i looked up at Cassie and Michelle and they were teary as well- then we all broke into full blown tears, smiling and cheering all the while. it's not as if I didn't have a TON of faith in Obama being victorious today- because i almost didn't even question it- it was just an overwhelmingly joyous feeling as CNN scanned the various parties going on all over the world. yhey showed people just like us raising up their victorious arms and letting out whole-hearted screams of relief. it felt so good. the tension surrounding the seven continents just seemed to burst and dissipate.

the announcer, before introducing McCain, then said, "everyone will surely remember where they were on this historic moment." we all looked at each other and laughed, joking about sending a live feed to CNN showing the celebration that was happening in southern india. eight American girls, one Austrian man, one Dutch guy, and two Indians were crying, smiling, cheering, and dancing for Barack Obama. so good. who knows what we can go after January 20th, right? i'm staying hopeful.

in other news, i have been trying to get to Bangalore a day early to see Infected Mushroom, an Israeli trance group. despite presenting several travel options to my mentors- the plan has been officially nixed by Living Routes. i am frustrated and disappointed with the program, to be honest. if the plan doesn't interfere with my academics (it'd be on the day we're leaving for thiruvanamalai anyway) and i can even travel with Living Routes faculty to Bangalore, i am not sure why it has not been approved still. i understand that (under the rules in the handbook) since i cannot find a "mentor"/chaperone to come with me, a 20-year old adult, to the concert itself, i am being told by the faculty and my teachers that i cannot go. i get that, but i still don't know why that is required in every instance.

the impression i have gathered is that Living Routes is worried about several more people coming with me and how if any of them party/drink at the show it might tarnish their reputation. first of all, that's not what we are going for (i want to go to see an amazing band that i love) and, second of all, even if some people did want to go with me who chose to do that- that is their choice and we should have that freedom anyway. I do not respect the decision the faculty came to (although i am not holding it against my teachers here- i am not going to create tension within the community) and am not at peace with losing this amazing opportunity to travel "independently" even for one @#*! day. don't think i am letting this affect my excitement for traveling- i'm not, after all there are so many amazing things still going on here in the program. it is just the feeling of being a liability that frustrates me. i do not understand how that can be so. especially when the program even states in the handbook: " [we] cannot monitor or control all the daily personal decisions, choices, and activities of individual participants". it feels like i am a five year old and when i ask my parents why i cannot do something, the only response i get is "because". i am moving on though.. i said my piece to the faculty and to the program director and now i'm just going to roll with it. Infected Mushroom will play again and i will have an amazing time i'm sure in Bangalore anyway..

in other news:
we had a kickass halloween party on saturday night. some of the costumes included: Bob Ross(TV- painter guy), a bunch of grapes, Jasmine from Aladdin, a bird, Shiva (Nealy painted herself blue. no joke.), and a flower garden (me). we had a "five elements dance class"- during which, at the end of the class, breaking the golden silence, i let out a huge fart. and then crystal and i preceded to laugh for five hours straight..

this friday we leave for a three week trip to thiru, bangalore, and hampi. in hampi we will go to an island called ecodaya, where we will do our 2-3 day solos.

the solo will be tough for sure- no food and total solitude (leavin' the i-pods and discmans at home..), but it is definitely what i am looking forward to the most. there will be waterfalls, preserved wildlife sanctuaries/habitats, and plenty of time to do my own thing. i'm ready.

if i don't get to talk to everyone before i leave- i love you and hope to talk to you when i return!

if you can't make a straight kolam you will never marry an indian.

note to self: do not light fireworks that come in a box with the Hulk printed on the front.

since sunday all i've heard is fireworks going off for diwali (or deepavali/the "festival of lights"). i'm not even exaggerating. the fireworks started sunday night after we stuffed ourselves with pizza at martin's "pimped out" house, woke me up monday morning at 6 A.M., were part of our celebration last night back at the guest house, AND our night watchmen (kalai and nanda) continued to set them off this morning in our yard.

i thought they would have ended last night when we had a close call with those Hulk fireworks. now me.. i am personally afraid to light sparklers. our friend steven from north carolina, however, is a different breed of firework enthusiast. last night he lit up a Hulk firework, whose fuse lit up quicker than everyone expected and threw it a little too late- leaving a small burn on his middle finger and his cheek. oi veigh. steven is perfectly fine- they are very minor burns, but for a second everyone thought they were permanently deaf and that the dining room was exploding...

to further celebrate diwali, i learned the basics of making kolams last night from an older tamil woman. kolams are line drawings painted with rice or granite powder. they are not being taught as much anymore, but you still see many ladies in south india making them outside their front doors. they are supposed to bring prosperity and good luck to a household. some designs are based on astrology- there are designs for each planet- and some are made for certain gods, such as shiva and vishnu. according to our teacher, people used to judge a woman to a certain degree by how well she could make a kolam. thick, messy lines = this woman is not economically thrifty and will spend all your cash. thin/broken lines = hell no. straight/even lines = wife material obviously.
i'm working on my lines, but it's not looking too promising..

in other news- our yoga session today was one of the more interesting ones..
one of our instructors, soma, teaches an incredibly unique style of yoga that combines very fluid motions with stronger, more rigid poses. with that said, today we were introduced to some rather interesting poses. one of them was the lion pose and if i showed anyone at home i'm sure they would nearly die from laughing so hard. you tuck your feet under your bum, plant your hands in front of you (leaning forward slightly), and then cross your eyes and stick out your tongue as far as you can. then you breathe in and let out a strong breath that i guess sounds like a roar of sorts.
it took me about five minutes to stop laughing and actually try the pose. some people just looked at soma in disbelief and then watched as we all made faces that would definitely scare small children and people who watched the exorcist too much away.

gorgeous, no?

not going to lie- i eventually tried it. maybe one day i'll be able to do it with a straight face and feel the strength in my lungs that it is supposed to provide?

we're on indian time now. the tea should come in.. about two hours.

as we sped along the streets of pondicherry and explained to a disgruntled receptionist how to spell my dad's first name, i reminded my stomach full of butterflies that what was happening is inevitable for westerners in india.

at some point all westerners visiting india have to go to the hospital. it's like initiation into the chaos that is india and it's sanitation issues.

for the past week i've been dealing with styes on both my eyelids. it started out last week when i woke up and it felt like i had been punched in my right eye. i figured it was a bug bite or something and would clear up after a few days of putting hot rags on it. well.. that didn't work. thursday i woke up and both my eyes were swollen and burning. i tried warm cloths, boric acid solutions, and keeping my eyes as clean as possible, but they just got worse and by sunday morning i was in a taxi on my way to a siddha medicine specialist in pondicherry. dr. l gave me ervatamia floral eye drops, sandhanathi compound oil, and aloe gel medicated in sukmara extract capsules. i took them all sunday, but by nighttime i was in tears and calling my dad to hear a familiar, comforting voice. today i went to the hospital (basically like going to the doctor here) and saw an optometrist, who prescribed some antibiotics and was really reassuring.

hopefully this will all clear up within the week, but right now i have like three styes on my eyelids and they SUCK. i've never gotten them before, but dr. l told me it's fairly common for people coming from temperate climates to get them for the first time in places with more tropical weather. i wanted to give the herbal medicine a try and dr. l was REALLY knowledgeable and helpful, but i needed someone to guarantee some pain relief... oh well, enough about all that.

so, i just got back from chidambaram, which is along the eastern coast of india and south of auroville. we stayed there one night, but the town left quite an impression on everyone. let's just say people saw a topless woman in what appeared to be the beginning of a hindu, sacrificial ceremony at the temple and someone got a firecracker thrown near them amidst a wedding precession through the streets downtown.. chidambaram was hoppin'.

before that we visited trichy, thanjavur, swammimalai, and kumbakonan. my favorite place was probably trichy because of the temples we visited there- the rock fort temple and the sri rangam temple. the rock fort temple is breath-takingly beautiful. i first spotted it as we drove into the city in our huge van that screams "TOURISTS!!!!". out of the mess of smog and uproar, my eyes landed on a huge rock formation spiraling out of the edge of the city. it towered over the brightly painted buildings and announced itself with impressive, shining temple adornments. when someone said, "oh! that's where we are visiting later on..." i almost could not contain my excitement.

the picture above is of the rock fort temple. the photo fails to fully capture the fantastic city view you get from atop the rock and the hauntingly ancient, romantic feeling it gives the city, but it does give you an idea of what it's like to see it off in the distance for the first time.. you cannot help but climb the thousands of stairs to the top in a trance, as you pass my monkeys and elderly priests in skirts, ash smeared on their wrinkly foreheads and fall silent at the sight of the city below when you reach the room at the rock's apex. there below you the beauty of india stretches out before your feet. i saw patches of lush greenery spotted with cows on the fringes of town and dirty, city roofs covered in pictures of local indian stars and starlettes.

dr. v, the 75-year old art historian who traveled with us, told us that you can find anything's opposite in india and that's certainly what i saw while scanning all of trichy on top of the rock fort temple. india is a special place. despite swollen eyelids, drama within our little community in auroville, and seeing my life flash before me everytime i ride in an indian taxi, i still see SO MUCH beauty in india's crowded streets and expansive rice fields.

it's nice to be back in auroville- sleeping in my own bed and eating as much granola as my heart desires, but i honestly cannot wait to do more traveling around southern india. i can hear the caves in hampi calling my name!

i hope everyone who is reading is well (despite pulled hamstrings, swollen eyes, flus, fatigue from studying/ partying, and all..)! you are all in my thoughts! and those thoughts are always positive!

"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!

white girl in a sari.

well hey there U.S.A.!

oh man, i have so much to talk about yet again. and yet i have so little time to write because now i have... dun dun dun... an internship! the actual work has begun. oh shit!

so today i woke up bright and early for yoga at 6:15 A.M. when i was in the "downward facing dog" pose i felt this fuzzy, grungy creature sit up against my heels and as i looked back i realized it was... Sugar! sugar is jason and l'aura's new puppy and she has been intruding on our yoga circle every morning. we are now using her as the ultimate test of our concentration. my dilemma: should i concentrate on my breathing and posture or should i stare adoringly at the two month old puppy chewing on my yoga mat??!

then i blasted some music in the shower from my discman and speaker set to wake myself and everyone else up a little bit more. after that i cycled off to C.S.R. to do some measurements on the algae there. my service learning project/internship for the past several days has been to watch over the new algae growing in the wastewater treatment system demo there. the system basically consists of a large cement basin that has six compartments (all at graduated levels, each one is higher than the next) filled with several types of algae collected from lakes in neighboring towns. a water pump sends water down the different levels of algae in the basin all day long (keeping the algae covered in about 1-5 cm of water at any given time). my job is to bike there three times a day to make sure the pump is running, measure the water levels, add more water if needed, measure the temperature of each compartment in the basin, feed the algae nutrients, and note the weather conditions and availability of power supply.

here are some of the problems i have been running into:
(1) the electrity in auroville shuts off OFTEN (about three hours in the early afternoon, an hour or two in the evening, and then at various other times throughout the day additionally), which means no power for the pump.
(2) yesterday i rolled up on two dogs having a field day with the algae basin water. they were lapping up the water while the pump was off and when i shoo-ed one away, (s)he jumped up on the basin and planted one huge paw in the middle of the algae blooms. i then chased him/her with my notebook and got laughed at by some nearby tamil workers.
(3) one of the dogs chewed up a pipe and a filter (still works, i guess).
(4) someone shut off the power yesterday during saraswathi puja, a local festival celebrating the goddess of learning.

the guy who's heading up this project is named Lars. he's german and has been working with wastewater systems of a more traditional type for years. i'm helping him first figure out if the basin water is staying within the proper temperature range for algae growth each day and if it is stable enough to start adding actual waste water and get accurate measurements. it's really interesting stuff and i don't even mind biking out there three times a day (but it certainly makes me tired by the end of the day..). actually, i should head out there again soon to make my midday measurement...!

so, yesterday was A LOT of fun. it was the ninth day (last full day) of the saraswathi puja festival, so we all dressed up in saris (oh jeez..) and visited a nearby Ganesh temple. it felt like a really intense push into indian culture since we haven't had the chance to spend much time outside of auroville. we also visited chaturvedi, a well-known indian author and friend of our teacher, bindu. he is a spritely old fellow who talked to us about the how the indian woman's role in society has changed over the centuries. we were not told anything about him before going, so unfortunately we hadn't the time to think of questions for him, but hopefully we will visit him again. we then shuffled (limited mobility in saris..) off to a friend's sister's house in a suburb of Pondicherry. there we were given the nine grains of saraswathi puja and some bangles to remember Anandi's family by. they were really great to talk to and i will always remember how gratious they all were for sure!

when we got back i didn't even want to take the sari off right away. i shuffled over to the tibetan food buffet we had for dinner and scarfed down some mo-mos and chickpeas still in full sari. once you get the whole walking thing down saris can be pretty comfortable. surprisingly enough. i wish i had some pictures to put up, but i don't. i figured the other girls were taking enough pictures for every single person in the U.S. to get their own, so i'll see if i can copy some to bring back with me.

some people felt uncomfortable going to the temple and wearing saris, but i think our effort to show our respect/adoration for Tamil culture was received well.

well, i'm off to chase away the dogs and protect that freakin' algae..
peace!!
hope all is well!