Blessings

I'm eating an Indian style veggie burger with two kinds of dipping sauce; an Indian wrapped bread and veggie creation delivered in a large green leaf with freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. This was all delivered to my door wrapped in newspaper and bags,only moments ago, for the low, low cost of $115 rupees. That's about $3. AND...did I mention that the grapefruit was picked from a tree in heaven? Sweet, sweet heaven.

We discovered our ideal local eating spot where everyone will soon know our names and where we will gorge ourselves on India cuisine from around the country for mere dollars per day. AND they deliver. Sigh, oh India, you are a tastey sensation.

I keep discovering more to love here. There is so much heart here. Life goes on with daily frusterations of course; but that life rests upon faith, devotion and an acknowledgement that we are all spiritual beings. I see it in all sorts of places. For example, most people wear a red dot blessing on their forehead everyday. I see it as an acknowledgement that their bodies are gifts from The Creator and that it should be decorated and clean. Easy. That's just a part of how things are here and there seems to be no question about it.

There are also temples all over: in buildings, on the side of the streets or even on patches of earth in the middle of a road. I'm not sure if there are designated times to use them but I always see folks coming and going from them, kneeling in bare feet and touching the ground.

Shiamak burns candles and incense in the studios; everyone takes care to make sure that the candles are always lit. Peoples homes have a corner set up as a little alter to worship a God. People give out tiny statues of God's to each other to ensure blessings for friends. My students lift their faces to the north in their prayers before and after class.

It's like every moment of the day here is an opportunity to acknowledge, love and devote oneself to The Higher Power....well fancy that. I think this is a huge part of what allows so many people to live together in this country. It all results in lots of heart amongst the chaos.

I'm growing in my India savviness. I now have a one month train pass and am starting to understand how to ride the train. Many of you may know that there are carts specifically just for women here. For this, I am grateful. People are generally really helpful and I've felt pretty guided through the whole process of using the train. As of now, I am ok with the feeling of being crushed from all sides. It's like a special "Indian body wrap" for merely the price of a train ticket.

I can now shop successfully in the markets. I am also getting better at knowing when a rickshaw driver is taking me the long route so that he can get more money out of me. Although, I still don't know how to tell him to cut it out, that will have to be the next step.

My students took their first test. I've learned, from marking their tests, that one thing I can encourage them with is taking responsibility for their own learning. I have a feeling that many of them have become accustomed to having teachers stand in front of them and tell them what to do. I can only guesse that this is part of education here. I'm trying to find a balance between communicating ideas to them in a way that is familiar, and yet challenging them to really process info. for themselves. However, I have TONNES to learn still about what education means here and how information is shared.

I do know that teaching is easier and more rich when there is a lot of love involved. These students love well. They sure can teach me about love just by being themselves. I feel a large responsibility to bring them my best self because of this. It's a pretty good system:)

The 6 (now 7) overseas teachers had a meeting with Shiamak today. We laughed together lots and told him about our classes and experiences thus far. If we have any complaints the usual process is to get on it right away, pull out the cel phones and for Shimak and his staff to start running around and calling people to help solve the problem.

We are learning what he wants and needs from us as we go and I think we'll all (Shiamak, teachers and students) create something great out of all of this trying, explaining and bashing about. Surely, the mountains of inspiration that come from Shimak and the students have already lead us in the right direction.

That's all for now. It's humbling and just really great thus far. Tomorrow is my day off and I am determined to get on that train and head to some special Mumbai sites. I'll let you know how it goes.

Blessings to all!