where to live, where to live....

my computer doesn’t like india so much, so much dirt and dust makes her grumpy.
She is pulling all kinds of weird things on me.
And you wouldn’t think that cows could live off cardboard....but they do, in india.
There is a three legged white cow that lives in my neighbourhood. Looks like she has a calf too cause sometimes i see her with a smaller sized sidekick, or maybe it is just a buddy.
Right now i am sitting at a CHINESE breakfast cafe. It is new since the last time i was here, it is full of Chinese people! What the....? and they are serving eggs, which is pretty rare in rishikesh. Runny eggs and wonder bread. Yuck. Its so early still so i thought i’d stop here for a chai. Smells a bit like toilet so don’t think i’ll stay long.
i just left the ashram after breakfast to go out for a stroll and to sort out some tangled up hotel reservations i made yesterday. Seems i made a reservation on line with my visa and then it just vaporized into the ether. yay! They said a confirmation email and number would be sent to my email address but it never arrived, and to make matters worse, i hit the submit button twice because i wasn’t so sure i hit it the first time, so i’m not so sure that i haven’t made TWO charges to my card. I’m sure its all fine. I have some numbers to call to sort it so.. . i’m not too worried.
And a little writing. Feeling much better today. Not so existential as yesterday. Don’t know what is up with all the moods. I’m up, i’m down, and really high and then really low, not just little ripples of mood but huge tsunamis of emotion.
Mom has moved into the taj mahal of guest houses. I have never seen her happier. I wanted to move in with her but she won’t let me. HAHA! She is renting a room above the ayurvedic cafe near my ashram, run by a lovely family who moved here from Delhi a few years ago to escape the rat race. I am so excited for her, i am thinking of renting a room there myself if one becomes available. There are only 4, one is occupied by my mother (who won’t share, and to be fair, its really only big enough for one, the huge four poster bed takes up the whole room almost), the other is occupied by the owner’s mother, the third is an extra large room for families and twice the price, the fourth is occupied by another couple who may vacate in 4 or 5 days, at which point i am considering moving in. The energy of the place is amazing, and the ashram, frankly, is so crazy right now with the energy of all these 500hr teacher trainees, mealtime in the lunch hall sounds like recess in a kindergarten class. Well, that was rather insulting. I didn’t quite mean for it to be THAT insulting, i only meant that it is loud, VERY loud, and it is hard to digest one’s food.
There are other factors causing me to consider a move. I share a 3 bed room, not a 2 bed room, so i have two roommates, they are sweet, but i like to get up so early and shower and go through my whole routine before the 5:30 bell even rings so i can be in the yoga hall a little early for meditation. I feel so bad doing this, i tiptoe around like a mouse, trying not to make any sound, but i can tell i am waking them up anyways. Not to mention that i seem to have developed a snore, as i mentioned before. It seems to come and go, some nights i don’t snore, others i do. Now i know how mom must feel, (she snores too) and rob, i’m sorry for kicking you so many times in your sleep.
And then there is price. It is about $15 per day to stay at the ashram, that includes your shared room, 3 meals a day and two yoga classes per day. Its a great deal, undeniably, if you take advantage of all of those things.
Lately I haven’t been hungry in the evening and often skip a meal and just have warm milk. Also the afternoon yoga classes are not always taught by a good teacher. Infact, more often than not, taught by a terrible teacher to whose class i refuse to go back. Of course Vishva’s class in the morning is the best and main reason for my stay. But with all the other factors, and the guest house only being about $7canadian per night, i can stay at the guesthouse, have a room all to myself, a nice room with private bath, a view and lots of light, and just pay for the morning class separately at the ashram (about $3.25 canadian), and i can even take my meals at the ashram too, breakfast is about.... 75 cents and lunches and dinners are a buck fifty for all you can eat, not that i eat all that much, and the food is good, healthy, balanced and full of love. So i figured since i am skipping dinner and the evening yoga class and not really taking advantage of any of the other ashram perks either (like morning fire puja ceremony and the great library) and i am being challenged by sharing a room so snugly with two others... i am thinking it would actually work out to the same price or a little cheaper to stay out, rather.
So i’m mulling it over right now.
The library IS good, but i haven’t’ even BEEN to the library once yet. And i can still go there and use the library during the hours it is open, if i am not staying in the ashram, i just can’t borrow books.
Hmmmm.
Just weighing the options right now... waiting to see how much more of my snoring my roommates can really take. haha!

But mom is so happy. Like a clam, if a clam could be that happy. Really, i think almost every line in her face has disappeared for lack of stress.

Oh and by the way, Rob, i think YOU should start a blog.

thats all for now folks,
talksoon,
ang