Hello my faithful armchair travellers.
I hear it is C.O.L.D. in B.C. right now. Brrrr.
Here, winter is just starting to turn around. The bitey edge of cold is receding and being replaced with an increasingly pleasant spring-like warm breeze. It is the time to enjoy nice comfortable weather because in another month its going to be back to sweating. Don't get me wrong.... I enjoy a good hot day and the nights are absolutely gorgeous, but its a bit much when the heat and humidity get way up there and sap your energy and suck all the water out of you through your skin leaving you parched and drooping.
So I am just trying to soak it up now this nice comfortable temperature.
I am all moved in to my new room at Anand Prakash Ashram where the teacher training will start tomorrow. I had a so so sleep last night for some reason. I had to trade out the soft mattress because a hard bed is better for my back, so now i am actually sleeping "Indian style" which means i have two wool blankets folded in half between me and the wood bed. It is a double room, 2 beds, so my roommate Stacey should be arriving tomorrow with all the rest of the group from Delhi. Its going to be interesting to experience India again through them with fresh eyes as they are all going to be fresh off the plane from countries all over the world, seeing India, many of them, for the first time. So that'll be fun. I think i'll skip the tour where they show all the trainees all over rishikesh and show them where to buy "supplies" and where they can do internet and make phone calls and all of these things.
I had a nice fancy chocolate in silver wrapping that I bought in Kathmandu airport to get rid of my last Nepali rupees and so I put the chocolate on my roommate's pillow for when she arrives... as a joke. ... you know fancy hotels have chocolates on the pillow.... hahaha, its an ashram, get it? I got a good chuckle out of it anyways.
I don't have alot to say really. Its a bit anticlimactic, story-wise, after all the adventure i was mixed up in on my Nepal trip. Makes for good stories, but not so much for peace of mind. Now all I can tell you is that I washed my laundry, by hand on the bathroom floor again and hung it up to dry and that the food is very good again. Ashram food is so healthy, nutritious and prepared with love. It's like eating at home.
To be honest I find it quite challenging to have the discipline to eat properly and choose wisely when I am fending for myself out in the world and eating in restaurants. I have a tendency to eat for entertainment and eat whatever I think would be most exciting, rather than what would be most nutritious. This is one reason it is so wonderful to be in the ashram. It is my goal to learn these good habits and have them ingrained in me over the next couple months, so that it becomes a way of life for me. Because I am seeing more and more how purification and what we put in our bodies totally effects our state of mind and capacity to develop to higher levels. When i put in "junk", my mind is heavy and dull, full of junk, rather than sunlight. Difficult to explain, but when you purify, you see the difference.
So, ya.
I have had a good couple of days visiting friends here and there in Rishikesh and taking care of business. I have a couple more photos i want to post as soon as i can. I assume once the teacher training starts that it is going to be quite intense and i may not have much time to email and internet. I'll do the best I can.
Ope! there goes two Indian boys affectionately holding hands as they stroll down the street. "Boys" in their 20's. This still makes me smile whenever I see it. I think it is so beautiful that they do this and it is "acceptable" and no one throws stones at them. They are not gay, of course. They are just friends. How lovely.
That's all folks!
I'll write and tell you how my course is going. Wish me luck!
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