But, I'll be a trooper and highlight some more of the best moments instead of trying to recall the whole thing, in a way that would not do it justice anyways.
Also, so I don't get behind on what is happening in the Now
I dropped my Caste in Modern India class in favor on Yoga: Theory and Practice.
I had a sudden realization that I was in India... and then I had the thought, "Allyn, are you taking advantage of all the Indian things you originally wanted to do? Where's your tabla drum? Why are you stomping around in a dance class? Why aren't you full of calm and inner peace from constant yoga meditation? Why don't you know everything about Hinduism yet!?"
So, I dropped the class that I wasn't getting any helpful credits from yet was going to end up doing too much too much work for anyway in favor of yoga/sanity/self-indulgence.
Yoga was cancelled this morning. Not much of a surprise, this is India, also known as vacation, despite what Study Abroad officers want you to think.
I also stole a book from the common room - The Essence of Hinduism.
I am on the way to taking advantage of what India has to offer.
I just need to buy a tabla drum, and get in more dance classes.
I only have 3 more months left!!!!!!!
Using our copious amounts of free time wisely, Riane and I went for a walk.
A 3 hour walk.
3 hour walks allow you to get a lot of talking about a lot of different things done. I'm glad I have Riane to walk with me, because we talk about awesome things and laugh a lot too. but it makes me miss my walking partners at home.
Mom, Dad, you hear that? I miss you.
We talked about sneezes and Dad, I told her the story of the time you made the girls in Walmart jump 10 feet high. I told her that you, Mom, sneeze 87 times in a row. Her dad does the same thing! Just... more manly.
Today was also the day the government was supposed to make some decision about Telangana, although I don't know what the decision was about. I don't think it was clearance to form Telangana... waking up tomorrow I should know more details. Like if I can't get off of campus for my cooking class I have at 10 a.m.
Tomorrow is also when I finally get my package that I have been anxiously waiting for the last 3 weeks that my parents packed and sent me!
Now, I just finished off a thing of peanut butter. I have stolen several spoons from the cafeteria to eat this peanut butter and I think that is why the main guy, Pradeep, never offers me seconds like he offers absolutely everyone else. Today he asked my entire table and just walked past me. When I found bones in my dosa, I asked for a plain cheese dosa. He brought is back with a slam.
The cake the Riane, my partner in crime and therefore is my protector in this case, gave me obviously did not warm them to me any. It is ok, Ganesh, the tiny waiter, is always happy to see me.
A few highlights from our weekend trip:
Our 6:50 am train to Araku was packed. In fact, we were almost pushed onto the railroad tracks by swarming people all shoving to get a place on this train. Mainly, we were pushed by a pack of young students that laughed at our names (laughter we did not return when we heard their names) and asked us what village we were from.
We finally got onto this train that is considered to be one of the most beautiful train rides in India.
We were waitlisted - there were no seats on this train so we stood next to the MSH - the magic shit hallway, where people get on the train just to use the bathroom and then come out and leave us with this wonderful smell of gross India. Strangely enough, MSH was right next to the open door of the moving train and it was the best seat in the house (and was going to be our seat for the next 6 hours) until a man came up to us and told us he had a seat for 3 people! We found ourselves smushed together on a seat for one with a man taking up our previous spot at the great door of beauty.
Anyways, it was glorious. This single seat with three people that had been denied any seats among 7 cars of this train was on the good side of the train ride.
People were trying to climb over us to see.
We were standing in the MSH looking at all the seats.
Too damn cute, both the banana and the Riane. It's a baby banana we bought in a bunch from a lady through the window slits of the train.
We got to Araku Valley, got food and our toursity hotel on a hill overlooking all of these hills and crops:
We set off on foot and ended up in several places:
playing with ponies
on a road through an "untouched" village
behind a cow on a shortcut through a crop field (I was the last one to go and by this time the cow was really truly blocking the narrow path through water logged crop squares that went on foreverrr)
walking through veggie town
in the midst of several photo shoots where the kids gave Riane kisses on the cheek (she was touched by these tender moments, I was not offered any tender moments. I will blame the hostility on having a fancy camera I do let not children play with like Riane does, and on being sick.)
We went back to the hotel, ate, and I shivered my sick self to sleep by 10.
We woke up the next day for a 3 hour, high speed, nauseating, random stoppage to a coffee plantation and an overlook, Michael Jackson (who is absolutely everywhere) filled car ride to Borra Caves and back to Visakhapatnam where we ate a 5 star hotel and got penne pasta and brownies while overlooking the Bay of Bengal from a beautiful balcony. We decided we were getting tired and deserved these luxuries that cost me about $10 dollars. India is cheap sometimes (but we didn't sleep at this hotel - we just got up early the next day and ate breakfast there...)
This is also the dinner Nathan declared himself as a Communist and Riane and I began rethinking our traveling plans and companions for the future.
I do need to admit here, that by this time, I was leaving Riane to deal with crap like that on her own as I had already fussed at Nathan, who is a philosophy major and has to have incredibly deep talks about everything and has this habit of talking for 10 minutes and then asking, "Right?" with a head nod but without leaving you much option but to agree. So I was tired of this, and I was zoning out and he did not like that, so with a head nod (think a "3 snaps i-don't-think-so head nod/twist) and a "Right?" he tried to force me to listen and I was not going to have it. So I told him to not ask me "Right?" anymore, it annoyed me because it forced me to listen and it forced me to agree and I didn't want to do either of those. Awkward for a moment, but I think it passed when I fell asleep during his explanation of why he does both the head nod and the "right?"
- Sidenote: I am feeling much better now. I can eat, stand up, and have a laugh. I have not gotten over my annoyance with Nathan who has now told us that he does things purposefully to make people mad at him because he thinks it is funny, he performs experiments on people, he is a communist, he says "Right?" for the dual purpose of 1.) making people listen to him, 2.) give a response that he can shoot down and he was apathetic the entire trip without making any sort of decision whatsoever. He didn't even bother to know the name of the places we were going to visit this weekend.
I hate apathy.
Anyways, the pictures:
coffee plantation on a hill
Borra Caves - "Do not proceed on this adventure without a guide!"
But we braved the staircases and did it ourselves. I don't have any decent pictures of the inside, it was too dark.
Wasn't what we expected and had geared ourselves up for, but it is still amazing to see a huge natural crater/cave within the ground that goes on forever and is the home to who knows what.
Outside Borra Caves - This is the last picture of the trip I have.
I was tired.
We decided when we woke up the next morning that it was time to go home, despite the plans and trains we had for the next 2 days. So we rode our train (that we slept during the whole trip) to Vijaywada, ate at another 5 star hotel and got pizza this time, and booked ourselves a bus ride home for that night.
Got to UofH at 2 in the morning and took Tuesday (a holiday) to recover.
Up to date.
Good.
