Well, I woke up this morning with the inevitable — the dreaded travel cold…..Darn, and I was so proud of myself for not having THAT ailment. ha! 

I think I’ll start this post with a couple of interesting tidbits for the week:

Leave it to the Texan, but I found Tibetan Tex-Mex!  I tried a Tofu Fajita!  So, it was interesting (cauliflower is not exactly an ingredient that I would recommend for a fajita), but it wasn’t bad! 

Earlier this week, my friend and classmate, Wendy woke up to find a rat splashing in her toilet….we still can’t determine where it came from – either up through the sewer or from the room…hmm…anyway, the little guy made it out of the toilet and skittered off to his little family…or wherever.

I am getting tired of the dining establishments – you just never appreciate the cleanliness of the states until you’ve been to India.  It’s common to have roaches running across your dining table, hair in the food (although, this has only happened to me once)…and god forbid, don’t look in the kitchen!  I am going to be a vegetarian when I return home, for sure!  Also, it’s annoying that they serve one thing at a time…that is, as it’s ready.  For instance, last night I didn’t get my food for over an hour, when my friends got theirs within 15 minutes and were quite finished by the time I got started.  (This is an extreme, but we never, ever eat together….I think one time since I’ve been here.)

There are so many environmental issues here, that I could go on for ages.

This morning, as I was having my morning tea looking out from my room, I saw a common sight (for here)….a random monkey swooped out of a tree and grabbed a treat from one of the market tables….that was just hilarious!  You never know when they will just swoop right down and grab something! ha

As far as the course – it’s been amazing.  It is quite the challenge, although, I find all the other elements of just being in India more of an issue for me!  We generally start our day at 5:45 am with an hour of meditation, pranayama and mantra chanting…this week, we started chanting mantras 108 times, which really did an number on my vocal cords – I think it’s just too early….and well, I’m not going to mention all the things going through my mind, but some of the time its…”what the hell am I doing?”  haha…

After the morning meditation session, we have 1.5 hours of yoga and since we’ve been teaching since day one (oh yes!  We really do teach on the first day of class), we are all taking turns this week and next teaching everyone a session. 

Then we break for breakfast and return for lecture, then lunch, posture clinics and another asana practice (1.5 hours)….we’re on the go from 5:45 am to 7 pm….then it’s study time!

We spend the day sitting on cushions (on the floor)….so it will be quite nice to have my nice desk chair when I get home…..But, I have to say, despite my various small injuries (toe, knee, etc.) I feel like I’m in excellent shape…..practicing yoga 3 hours a day +, 6 days a week for 4 weeks does the body good!