coming to the end

we just finished our last yoga class and went out to dinner to celebrate birthdays, thanksgiving and going home. we will be home wednesday night after a long day of travel! we can't wait to see you all! love and peace

Happy Thanksgiving

so, while all of your turkeys are roasted and sitting on the table about to be eaten, ours are out playing at the park!
now thats a HAPPY TURKEY day!

we miss you all and wish we could celebrate the harvest with you! see you in a week!

Atma Vikasa

so, i keep meaning to add pictures, but if you want to see our teacher, you can click on the link (the title).

so a little about our time here in Mysore...
we wake up at 4:45, and greet the sun with asana class for an hour and a half,
then we all go get chai and juice and chat for a while,
then at 8:45 we have pranayama which is breathing excercizes for 45 minutes, it is also like meditation and our teacher gives a little talk at the end
then we are supposed to think about our class for atleast 10 minutes, so chris and i usually write in our journals
then we go to the coconut stand and get our first 'fix' of the day, and sometimes treat ourselves to one of the best dosas known to man (an indian savory crepe type thing filled with spiced potatoes)
then we have sutra class, studying about the philosophy of yoga (10:15-11)
then we get lunch, made by our teachers mother
yay for rest! free time until 5, we read and cook and nap
at 5 we have our very intense back-bending class, really pushing us to the edge of our abilities and making our minds stronger!
then our reward of another trip to the coconut stand (usually we get 2 at this time after so much hard work and sweat, we need to replenish our loss of electrolytes with some coconut water... straight outa the coconut)
then 30 minutes of bajhan, spiritual songs/chants
then dinner and sleep!

this is our daily schedule monday-friday, keeps us pretty busy
today we went to a bird sancuary and we got to see huge bats and crocodiles! pics to come...

just 2 1/2 weeks and we'll be home!!! crazy crazy!

peace and love!

pictures

sus rockin it on the scooter in goa!
stairway to heaven (hampi)

too bad this was chris' bike! (hampi)

the puppy friend we made (we miss you sooner, ninnah and abbey, you too schnooze)

beautiful sunset over a temple

more to come!!!

mysore: a blue state for sure

so, along with our fellow american yogis, we decided we needed to have a symbolic vote of our own, on november 4th, then send over the good vibrations! looks like it worked! congratulations america and the universe!


standing in line at the polls

a landslide victory! unanimous!

watch party!!!

some fruit and fruitcakes for obama!

sivananda yoga vedanta dhanwanthari ashram

so, i wanted to share a little bit about my time at the ashram...
it started off just feeling like a group of tourists, or like summer camp, but with some rituals that i had no idea about or what they meant. it took a while for me to be able to break away some of the layers and soften my heart and be open to God and spirituality fully again. i feel like all the craziness of india (even though it is supposed to be a spiritual place) had caused anxiety in me and made me harden. as my body opened up and felt the benefits of 4 hours of yoga asana and pranayama (breathing excercizes) and my mind settled down, i was able to turn to God more fully. i met a girl from seattle named Michelle and we talked a lot about intuition and energy in the body and spirit, which are both God-given and both things i want to learn more about. she and i were almost instantly comfortable and it felt like we had been friends for a long time, and will continue to be. i learned about and felt the energy and vibrations that different things can bring to your body and spirit, like food and music and chants. i not only learned about the chakras, but felt mine being stimulated and opened... a crazy energy radiating from my forehead. i knew it was God showing me more about the intuition he had given me to be able to follow him and love others better. as the time went on, everyone seemed to open up and become more comfortable with themselves and each other. we had 2 special pujas (ceremonies), one in a temple, where we chanted a lot and offered flowers and the other was a purification ceremony for the whole ashram and everyone in it. there was a special priest there who was cleansing the space there and all of us. we had a chance to make an offering to the fire of something in our lives that we wanted to give up to God and to be purified. the atmosphere of the room changed from somber to very light and free when it was all over. we all truely knew that we had been cleansed. i went from being very skeptical of the chants and rituals and feeling like "my religion" was too different to realizing that if you are worshiping God in your own heart, He knows and that is all that matters. some of the things we did, like the fire offering, were both symbolic, yet so real and powerful. I found that through chanting i can really open my heart and mind and become more intune with the Lord. i also realized how important it is to quiet your mind each day to be able to listen. i feel like i have woken up once again to life and to God. when we have so much blocking our heart and weighing it down, it truely is impossible to love and be open to others, yourself or God. There is so much i am ready to explore and learn about for my future, i feel like i have been recharged and am ready to push myself and be challenged and grow and love, and all the while depend on God and follow his guidance in my life.

A good NYtimes Editorial on their pick for the election.

HERE

We've been chanting and mediating for world peace the past week.

Jaya Obama Jaya Obama
Om Namo Narayanaya

the past few weeks (abridged and unillustrated)

from Murud to Panaji...
Panaji= the cutest little indian Lisbon in the world, we walked around, saw some super cute old portuguese houses. saw an awesome hanuman temple, at seafood and got news from the peace corps that we aren't going to north africa or the middle east... but where? to be continued

Panaji to Arambol
Arambol=a little beach town with nice laid back people and hippies. we rented a scooter and scooted around the area (very slowly) (i dont think we went about 30 km/hour) (and that felt like we were flying!) we hung out on the beach, played in the water and caught huge hermit crabs, but didnt kill them, only made them pinch eachothers shells!

Arambol to Hampi...(another bus ride of hell) so we think we are on a "delux sleeper bus" and actually when the bus comes to pick us up it is very nice, way nicer than we were expecting, we have a nice spot, double size bed... then they stop, pretty much in the middle of the highway median, tell us all to get out to go to our other bus.. note, the bus is full of unhappy israelies... and they speak their mind, sooo... the other bus is where? where? "oh just cross that street(highway) and walk a few hundred meters" yeah.. into an alleyway behind the bus company and get on a horrificly old and nasty bus... but when we get our seats we think, not so bad, we arent in the very back, but lo and behold and hour or so passes and the bus guy wakes us up (from our benadryl induced sleep) to kick us to the back back row into broken seats that don't latch to lay flat or to sit up, so every bump you get catapolted! hello whip lash... anyway, we made it.... alive and only a little stiff

Hampi=an amazing little town set among even more amazing ruins and boulders and rice paddies and banana plantations. oh it was wonderful. we walked and climbed and bouldered and explored and made friends with a dog (we miss you sooner and abbey and ninnah!) and rented bicycles and rode ourselves to death almost and crossed a river in a big upside down thatch saucer with like 10 people, 2 bicycles... and 2 motorcycles... thats right. and we found out that we are now going to sub-saharan africa and leaving in june

Hampi to Bangalore
spent the day in Bangalore, went to a cricket game...for chris' early bday present. it was fun!

Bangalore to Cochin
cochin was fun and cute, but chris got strep throat, so we rested a lot. its a very western feeling town on the water, lots of cool shops and restaurants

now we are at Sivananda Ashram in southern Kerala. we wake up at 6 for meditation and chanting, then do yoga , then have a yummy brunch, then have a lecture, more yoga dinner and end the day with more meditation and chanting. its pretty cool so far, but its only been 2 days, but it is very nice to be back into doing yoga... we have to get ready for our month long course in mysore! chris is still sick, but got some meds, so should be feeling better soon.

we love you guys, and we miss all of you very much.

Murud:

so after a few weeks in the big city, we decided we needed a bit of a beach holiday. we in one day took 2 taxis (one thru calcutta, one thru mumbai) 2 buses an airplane and a ferry! we made it to Murud (just south of mumbai) just in time for the sun to go down. we stayed at a cute little place on the beach with hammocks and palm trees. we used our time to relax and plan the second half of our trip. the beach was long and shallow, so when the tide went out you could find hermit crabs and clams!
the infamous beach cows of murud! what a life!
so we decided to go exploring ever these rock and around a little island, and got the great idea of trying to catch our dinner... i didn't really think i could do it, but i threw a rock at this poor little crab and killed it! he was too tiny and i felt so bad. i am sorry little guy, but i am sure he made a nice little snack for a puppy or something else!
this is one of the main attractions in Murud... Janjira Fort, built on an island, so it looks like it emerges straight from the sea! walkin' on water!

Kolkatta: City of Joy

Kolkatta is called the 'City of Joy', what a misnomer, right? The streets are not just streets, they are beds too. a gray light seems to be everywhere stealing color from your sight, but walk around some more you might be thinking, 'hey this place has a nice vibe' see all the community activity in the neighborhood streets, "it's like new york city" you might say, "a dingy new york city" but if you keep walking more not joy things come into view. so many beggars, even for india, some grab you, some women 'rent' babies from the villages to have on their shoulder as begging props, and those are just the ones that work the tourist circuit, the poverty is very difficult to wrap your head around. But there is an intangible that makes Kolkatta, they city of joy, maybe the weirdness of it's history, the weird combinations that make up it's culture, it seems unique to India and very Indian at the same time. there were times when i was knee deep in street water (from constant rain) dodging traffic getting drenched losing my hearing to massively loud car horns, being shouted at,grabbed, having to pee so bad but there is no place because every little piece of the streets and alleys is seems to be someone's house and i was thinking this is city of headaches. but the next morning i might 've had the best 6 rupee breakfast in the city, laughing with kids, seeing all the weird buildings and only in kolkatta experiences and i might think 'okay, okay, city of joy. for now"

a little slice in pictures..

traffic = crazy, and while we were there it rained a lot.. alot alot. the most common sight on the street ...yellow taxi's. a million of them. i think the official figure is 2 taxis for every person living in the city. second most common sight, kolkattas buses. also special to the city.. they look as if they are made out of coke can tin and have gotten a squeeze from a giant's hand, but are painted something fierce, they fly up and down and don't seem to stop for passengers only slow down some. Both of these vehicles spray out the nasty black smoke that gives kolkatta's air it's metallic flavour.

victoria memorial is a weird sight, here is the queen's statue in front...nice place to walk around but strange... nearby is a flowery park area, called the maiden , also nice to walk, we saw some of our first Indian PDA here. way to go, kolkatta.

singing in the rain



sus worked at the mother theresa founded motherhouse, here is a sister of charity during mass.


sus worked one on one with this boy, shubasheesh, at daya dan, a home for mentally and physically handicapped kids.
it was a great experience for her to be able to spend some time there and be a part of mother teresa's work since she has been a big influence on sus's life and worldview.

varanasse: mother ganga

sunrise over the sacred ganga river.
we took a sunrise boat ride our last day there, it was incredibly beautiful
there was always a lot going on down by the ghats (the steps leading into the river) people come to varanassi from all over india to wash their sins away in the river and to cremate their loved ones. the pink building is the ma ganga temple, full of people constantly singing hari krishna hari rama.
this is our boat wallah, he was cool! the water may look beautiful, but it is septic, there are barely fish that can live in it, yet people bathe in it everyday, including using it to brush their teeth!
i just liked this pic, these are some dudes heading to do their pujas (prayers) in the river

a saddhu (holy man) doing a ritual. didn't he pick the best spot to do it?

Kajuraho: Kama Sutra Temples

here we are infront of one of the temples... trying to learn some things... j.k
one of the lesser dirty carvings! so legend has it that they built the temples here because there was a certain "power" in the land if you know what i mean!
from across the park... it was actually a pretty quaint town, we rented bikes and rode around, spent some time chatting on the porch at our hotel, talking to other travellers and to the yogi!
this is a freaky little chipmunk that chased me for a really long time, at first i was like oh cute i'll take a pic... then it would not leave me alone and i was afraid it had rabies or something!

home sweet 'homa

first of all, i have been kind of homesick the past few days, the pollution in calcutta is getting to chris and me. so, feeling under-the-weather and hearing about the bombs in delhi just kind of made me miss being home.

so, yesterday, i got to go to a volunteer meeting with the missionaries of charity, the mother teresa mission. not only did i set up times to volunteer while we are in calcutta, but also got to hang out with some babies, sweet cute and wonderful indian babies! this helped me snap out of being homesick! but anyway, here are some things i miss from home

1. our wonderful family and friends!!!
2. cooking
3. having a place to live all the time!
4. salads!!!
5. clean clothes
6. being able to run errands easily and knowing what to do and where to go
7. chips and salsa
8. ninnah
9. sewing
10. good coffee/ soy lattes!

things i love about india
1. the scenery
2. the colors
3. fresh pommagranite juice for 20 rupees!
4. cute kids!
5. good food almost anywhere you look
6. the fact that they dont try to hide the bad parts of life
7. learning to be tough
8. the phrase "sorry sir it is not possible" used about 1 million times a day here!
9. all the different varieties of the indian head tilt/waggle
10. the availability of cheap homoepathic medicine/doctors

so, we are trying to rest up, so we can have stong immune systems against the pollution, b/c we want to stay in calcutta for atleast a week, but won't if we dont start feeling better. this city is really interesting though. really we feel like it is identical to NYC or Paris, and the main commercial street is the champ elysee or 5th avenue, but really we may have just been in india too long. but its amazing, there are street signs, side walks, stop lights, parks!!!

we love you all very much!
too bad the rest of the world cant help us vote for president, b/c everyone we talk to is in love with obama as much as we are!!!

bus wreck!

so... after being told that our bus driver was "very fast" and when we asked "safe too" they said "oh yeah!" as in "yeah right!!!" we waited on the bus at the nasty bus station for about 4 hours, then headed out... about 30 minutes into the ride we hit a tractor pulling a trailor, and it took a huge chunck out of the bus, the driver got out yelled ot the other driver for a bit, then got back on and kept driving, totally unphased! that's india!

orchha: the hidden place part 2

orchha is full of old tamples, palaces and ruins. it was soo cute! this is the sunset he first night we were there, we climbed up into a huge gate and watched from there!
this is from inside the palace, looking out at one of the tamples. all the buildings were a mix of hindu and muslim styles. the palace had sich cool windows, designs cut out!
heres on one of the balconies looking out... he's the cutest huh?

also we saw a ginormous bee hive... maybe pics on the next post, it was like out of a sci-fi movie!

we miss you all terribly! can't wait to see you. today it has been 7 weeks! can you believe it?

peace and love!!! s & c

orchha

this computer is taking a super long time to upload... thanks lonely planet again for a faulty description of something... it reads "i-way- spacious, with super-fast connections and high powered AC." spacious=CRAMPED super-fast=SUPER-SLOW and ok about the AC.

so we are in Kolkatta now, we arrived this morning. it seems like a cool city so far. we miss you all a lot. love and peace

agra: taj mahal part 2

here are some selected pics from chris!

the beautiful taj through the gate
everyone waiting for the perfect photo op.
a super cute umbrella... its a good idea since it is so hot!!!

Agra: the Taj Mahal

oh everybody has a water buffalo mine is fast but yours is slow, where did we get them i dont know but everybody has a water buffaloooooooooo! took my buffalo to the Taj...
this is some of the arabic script from the Koran that is inlaid into the Taj, so beautiful!!!

and at sunset

just like we stepped into a post card huh?

hemis national park: homestay trek

this is at 4900 meters, its the highest i have ever been i think, we all could barely breathe, let alone hike!!! from the left it is laura, jim (both from montreal), tomas (holland), me and chris!
here's chris and i also on the pass, but looking out at where we go down. it ws really windy and cold! it looks like mars huh?
this is one night with the family we stayed with, they played music and we danced for while, the litle boy in the front was so funny, i think one of the best dancers i have ever seen!!
chilling in a valley before starting our day, its was so beautiful there!!!!

chris's favorite past time... builing rock bridges and hopping across them!!!! this time he made it.. others he came out with wet shoes!

this is at shanti (peace) stupa ... built for world peace, so we went, it was on another mt above Leh.

we love you guys a lot, i am trying to catch up on posts

posts to come: agra: taj mahal

orchha: the hidden place

kajuraho: kamasutra

stay tuned!!!!

Leh: land of high passes

here is the veiw from our guest house! it was a really nice place run by a family of Ladakhis! the older women was so cute, she said tome one day while we were cooking lunch
"you president obama?"
i said "no not yet, but hopefully"
"he good man, he look ladakhi, dark skin!"
"yeah hes a very good man"
then she sang "obama obama obama" i knew i liked her!
this is on the top of one of the mountains above Leh, there is a monastary and all the tibetan prayer flags to take all the bad out of the city!