mystical west coast

Well faithful blog followers, we have all come to the end of this journey.

I arrived back home a couple of days ago to the beautiful blue tinted mountains of the North Shore and the sounds of seagulls beckoning fullbodied calls of love to the ocean. I completely understand their compulsion.

The cascade of love in India continued for my last days there. I was given the gift of 30 students singing "What a Wonderful" world to me in their lilty Hindi accents. One of the dancers created a solo for me. The classes made a beautiful DVD made up of clips of me teaching interspersed with proclomations of love from students. I was also given many Indian gifts which I later stuffed into my oversized luggage.

The signing of autographs and writing of messages to all 60 students continued as I left the studio and got into a rickshaw. It was the most rockstar I have ever been. Unfortunately the whole event was colored by a nauseaous feeling which increased at the airport when the students came to see me off at 3:00am. It increased again on the plane and it is now at a high in my apartment in Vancouver. This may be a relapse of the hepatitis. It means that I won't be able to go back to work for an indefinite amount of time and every thought of India compounds the sick feeling with memories of sick feelings.

This sick time will bring more self reflection, hopefully some application writing and many episodes of 30 Rock.

On another note, I just read in a Facebook message from a student that there have been marches in the streets of Mumbai against the government. Before leaving, I remember a feeling of faith that the Mumbaikars were going to start rising up against the neglect from the government. Anyone who tries to deny that many people equal rights to food, shelter and education is asking for a revolt. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see an India without any more remnants of castes or unnecessary disease? Wouldn't it be inspiring to see a greater improvement in sanitation and housing? Mostly, it would be wonderful to see it change from the ground up spurred by the action of people who know they deserve better.

Which brings me to one of the biggest lessons I learned on my trip; to never underestimate what I am capable of and to always be using my skills and growing in a way that connects me to others. There is a reason for everything and I think that lesson was my reason for being in India. Well worth a little hepatitis any day;)

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it and am looking forward to the next bloggin adventure!