dance, dance. danse.

my body is almost too tired to type.

ringing in my ears from the blaring speakers at a birthday party and my feet tingling from dancing and twirling tiny girls around in circles.
I think I'm mastering a few Indian dance moves, or maybe not, but hey when dancing feels good, it feels good.

i'm just going to upload my favorite photos from the past few days and explain a bit about them.


this is one of my favorite guards. sometimes he pinches my cheeks like I'm 5, then he says "Cooookkiieee" and gives me some almonds.
I can't help but smile.

yesterday was another Puja (prayer holiday) for the Sun God.
It was also a full moon.
I had been feeling funky the day before.
So it was great way to rejuvenate and cleanse.
I felt really grateful to be a part of it, so much hindi I didn't understand, but cleansing and prayer is universal .
My favorite part was when we'd all throw this bark/tea/dirt like material into this fire and the flames would burst up.
Everyone would say "Swaha!" in unison and a handful of fingers would toss these things in. It was like an offering and I'm pretty sure it meant "burn!"
Whatever it meant, the warmth created felt so purifying and it felt nice to watch these things all come together.



i just got back from this beautiful birthday party.
i can't believe the way people treat you here, like gods.
I can't say it enough, how fortunate I am.
I made some new friends, between the ages of 6 to 9 and we danced like our lives depended on it. Towards the end I was thankful to leave because some of the girls would get a bit pushy with each other when they wanted me to twirl them around or be their partner. Haha.
Was a bit awkward, but I'd smile and spin and they'd snap out of it and everyone would dance together again.

Here we all fed him a bite of cake. Part of the ritual. He seemed a bit hesitant and so did I, but I smiled, and again was happy to take part. We had sweets before dinner, which was an unusual treat.



Earlier today I taught my first photo/animation class. This was hectic but good. 4th grade energy and a ton of creativity. Hugs as I walked in the classroom and all these little voices speaking at once.
Then a colorful lunch followed. My cooking experiments are growing and I'm learning less is more. Parsley is a very strong thing, one only needs a little. I learned this the hard way, mais bonne, todo va bien.


ok i need to get some sleep.
Two classes of soccer mañana.

WHOA. life.

"oh my gooe-ness."
To quote a clown me and my old roomie, Sam, met on the street once.
I tracked him down in the dry cleaners and the second he saw Sam with her crazy magical dread locks it seemed like he was finding a long lost relative and ran at her and hugged her and wanted a photo. Me, her and Vince all stared at each other, smiled, and went with it.

Well anyways "oohh my gooe-ness" is how I feel about the nonstop pace and things that have been happening and passing and flowing and going on here in India.

I've been here less than a month but I swear its been nearly a year.

I'm not even sure how to recap the last few weeks, or where to start.
Internet is patchy and now its like trying to organize and share and show the magic is similiar to trying to fit together this really bright beautiful puzzle. You get stuck on each piece and forget you're even trying to piece something together.


Lets with the founders day event.
This was like a 3 day wedding of costumes and make-ups and dance and samosas and dinners. And so on. I've never felt so beautiful, I think every women needs to wear a Sari, it's like glowing. That's the only way i can describe it. The second night this one boy gives me this smile and hand gesture like "A plus". I felt like Cinderella with my little worn out sandals hidden underneath the gemmed trim of the bottom of my dress.

So as soon as this ended Me and Nisha Mam, Rajesh, Tara Chand, Neetu and their son Sarthak headed out to this Holistic Health camp. Crazy, beautiful, cool names huh?
Most of the talks were in Hindi but Rajesh translated a lot for me and I learned some great ways to lower blood pressure.
1) stroke a cow for 15 minutes everyday for 15 days.
2)take dried cows dung and sprinkle it with urine and put it under the sole of your foot for an hour each day for 15 days.
I loved the way this doctor talked, the peace in his eyes and the soft lull of his voice. In the beginning he starts with, "I have some truths to speak and you can choose whether or not you want to accept these truths." Such a great way to put anything you want to share that may seem , well, I guess extreme.
He also said high blood pressure is due to restlessness of the mind, and all diseases start with what were eating and the medicines we take that we don't need that leave rudiments in our body and start them.


The trip started with a nap on these beds underneath these tall trees, the sun was peaking in from the branches and I felt like I fell into some nice movie. Its moments like these where you're like, what was I even worrying about the other day? Man, grateful, grateful.
I drew Nisha while she napped and then we had this amazing lunch, all organic, that they had grown and cooked there.

We slept outside at some new friends house we had just made and i fell asleep under the stars and awoke to some crazy vivid dreams. A vulpture who had trapped me in his beak, seemed to foreshadow the illness I am getting over. It felt needed, some times your body has to get some things out, and getting better feels so worth getting sick. It's crazy how easily we can take health for granted.

The next day we poured water down one of our nostrils while it came out the other and then sucked water up our nose while it dripped out of our mouth. Haha, it actually felt really good! I was laughing most the time, thinking, "what the heck am I doing?" But it cleared a lot of stuff out.

These moments just continue one to the next, where I can't even react to what's happening it's just happening and I'm just flowing a long with it.


We returned and had two days of classes. Everything is still moving pretty fast but we started break today which meant I got to ctach up on laundry, go to the market and find this little tiny store where people write on typewriters. I think it's a sort of school. I've been itching to get over there and write on one, I love the way typewriters feel and sound, and I started reading this book, Shantaram, and it's gotten me all inspired to start bits and pieces of my book.
One scooter ride later, one letter to a girl in New York, and a few paces down an alley filled with festival noises and I found myself sitting, writing very awkwardly on one.
Eventually I got the hang of it, although the letters are a bit uneven, it looks like I was typing in a car, or during a small continuous earthquake, but no matter, the shaky look has it's charm- wonky, like many things in my life.

Tomorrow we leave for the Ganges River and Rikekesh. It's the first time I'll be really leaving the village since I got here.
Eeek! I've gotten so comfortable, but I'll be with two others and I know better than to have any expectations. Nothing is ever as it seems.
In the best way possible.