i'm living in a tree house.

It's true.

I'm living in a tree house. I climb up a tall, rickity ladder multiple times a day to my home sweet home (or as we say here in India, OM sweet OM). I'm sharing this open tree house with a keet roof with my dear friend Marisa. It's seriously one of my favorite places that I have every rested my little asian head. 

Ah. This life here in India has turned to be so wonderful and a blessing. 

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to give an update but I was reminded by my brother that I need to do so. First of all, I am safe and sound for those who are wondering. I am far from the attacks and will remain far for the rest of my stay here. 

During the attacks that occurred in Mumbai I was here down south in Tamil Nadu battling our own attack. A cyclone ripped through this place and ripped through with no hesitation but I might say a bit of kindness. Let me remind you all that I am a California girl. A rainstorm goes as long as a week and it is harmless. Winds don't really happen and there is typically no danger. Here, I was in my first cyclone. This was a rip roaring, full out rain storm that people in Tamil Nadu haven't seen for years. Here in Auroville, they have tried to do this great thing of planting lots and lots of beautiful trees all around. This place is heavily forested as opposed to before Auroville it was barren and pretty dry. Only problem with a lot of the trees is that they are not local. Because of this, after days and days and days of rain the soil got and remained SO wet that my of the trees started to fall over. Like... TIMBER style. Eucalyptus, Work Trees... All kinds of monstrous, large trees. At the place I am living, over half of the trees fell over. As you know, or didn't know, our roofs are made of keet. So pretty much palm leaves. If a tree were to fall on my room, the building would be history. We all had to vacate our keet houses and move into the one cement structure in our guest house. 9 girls, one room, wet, rainy, hectic... It was awesome. Although it did feel like a bit of a refugee camp, I loved every minute of it. I did have to worry about a tree falling on my head or a sharp bamboo violently hitting me as I took a wet stroll to the bathroom, but other than that.. it was just fine. One to go in the books. Although, it did make our Thanksgiving a little miserable. No power, no water means no cooking, no showers, no a lot things. But it was all good in the hood!

I will be home in t-minus 19 days. Whoa. That is not so far away huh? Oh boy. Honestly, I do not want to leave this place. I have fallen deeply in love with India, with this life, with the people.... Don't get me wrong, I miss friends and family back home, but if I could teleport you here, I definitely would not leave. 

19 days. 

geez.

okay. 

See you soon I guess. This was kind of a funny blog entry huh? I'm in a funny mood. 

blissed out

breath.
I just finished a 3 days vision quest/solo on this island in Hampi, India.
I am feeling fresh, renewed and so good.
I might never leave India.
breath.

Check your smiles at the door

i can't control the volume of my voice.

journaling, surfing, reading, the outdoors, sports, dancing and music are my therapy.

i enjoy good company.

rough housing is my guilty pleasure.

i'm competitive-and i WILL win.

chocolate ice cream is the way to my heart.

being a hopeless romantic gets the best of me. 

So about maybe six, seven years ago I joined myspace. There is profile section titled "About Me" where you are given the freedom to write whatever you wish. Above is the thing I wrote and I haven't changed it since. I read that from time to time and I still feel like it rings true to certain core parts of who I am. 

The reason why I write this is because of the first line. "I can't control the volume of my voice". If you know me at all, you know this is true, but today or maybe the past few days, I am starting to think for the first time that this is a negative trait that I possess. I actually really enjoyed that aspect about myself. It never really crossed my mind as something negative but here, in India I h

ave been running into trouble with it. I've been told that I laugh too much and too loud and in general I just make too much noise. And yes, this is very true but I have always surrounded myself with people who appreciate it, if not laugh harder, dance faster, and talk louder. 

so what if i like to dance and sing around these 

parts?

so what if i like to stay up and laugh with my friends?

so what if i enjoy great conversations till late at night?

so what if i love to blast music before dinner time for a quick dance?

so what right?

not. 

i'm feeling so contained. My wings are clipped and every time I want to spread them, someone closes the cage. I'm here in India trying to squeeze out my time and be me to the fullest but i can't. 

I feel like I can't have fun. and if any of you guys know me at all, you will know that this is a big, big problem for me. 

I'm conflicted. Do I change and become more reserved for these few boring people? or do I march to my own drum and enjoy myself with people who also enjoy the beat i make? (cause there are a handful of those, thank 

God)

Well, for now I will make noise. I will sing, I will dance, I will for sure laugh, and I will talk. But a girl could be told that she's noisy so much until she reaches breaking point. I refuse to reach breaking point. 

I'll leave you with a song that has always rang true to my heart but it's even more so now...

i wanna go where the mountains are high enough 

to echo my song

i wanna go where the rivers run deep enough

to drown my shame

i wanna go where the stars shine bright enough

to show me the way

i wanna go

where the wind 

calls my name

-india arie 

"excuuuse me?"

Pondicherry Institute of Medical Services (PIMS)
This is the name of the local hospital nearby. Sure we have great medical services in Auroville but it's a clinic. Lots of the girls have gone to Auroville clinic and received great help. Great help for UTI's, stomach issues, or headaches.
Why do I mention this you ask? Well I was fortunate enough to experience first hand the great medical services of Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India.

So the last time that I needed to be at the hospital was when I was a wee little baby almost near death with the Kawasaki disease. No I didn't make that disease up. Anyway.. The only time I go to my doctor, which is still my pediatrician, is for essential shots and that's pretty much it.
So during my stay here in India I'm taking malaria pills. Doxycycline. I have to take it religiously every day and even 28 days after I get back from India. My travel clinic doctor who prescribed me this medicine told me "DO NOT miss a day. You miss a day and you WILL get malaria". This man instilled so much fear in me that I make sure that I take my Doxy every day. One day I ALMOST forgot to take it but got that light bulb in my head right before I fell asleep so popped in it my mouth and went to bed. I sighed with relief thanking my great memory for letting me not forget.
The next morning I woke up with feeling as if the pill was still stuck in my throat. I've gotten this feeling with Nyquil before so I wasn't too worried. The next day came along and I still had that feeling in my chest. Along with that feeling, in the middle of morning yoga I got the sudden urge to throw up. From that moment forward I threw up absolutely everything all day long. I felt miserable but was in acceptance to the fact that I was in India and it was probably just the food.
I felt much better the next day but was STILL feeling as if the pill was stuck in my chest. Along with that feeling, everything I ate and drank was a painful experience. Being the stubborn person I am, especially with medical things I decided to wait it out.
My friend Michelle wasn't having it and even with my objections she googled it. When she googled it, it seemed like many people have experience similar things that I was experiencing. Still, google didn't give me a good remedy or did it comfort me in anyway. So I decided I could get some easy, quick fixes from my travel clinic doctor. *side note: my travel clinic doctor is someone i met once and literally just prescribed me malaria.
I call him and tell him that it feels like it's stuck in my chest. Without asking any questions on my symptoms or anything like that he says "You MUST go to the doctor right now. Not just a clinic but a hospital. This is a very serious matter that you need to get to a doctor immediately. This is very serious." I asked if there is a chance that it's not so serious or if he could tell me something a little more comforting and he responds with a quick no. So I go to my advisors and tell them that I think I need to go to the hospital. They wanted to just call the local doctor in to see what was wrong because in India the hospitals are not 24 hour. They do have standby nurses and they can call doctors but that would be for big emergencies. Seeing that I was living, breathing and my symptoms were not too dire, they wanted to talk to the travel clinic doctor for themselves and ask questions. As soon as they got off the phone my advisor looked me and said "okay you are going to the hospital". My heart sank and I was sure that I was going to have to go through some heavy duty stuff. My imagination took off without my consent and I was terrified. The taxi ride over to the hospital was a quiet and long one.
We walked into the hospital which seemed more like a dark and scary asylum of some sort. It was circular, the lights were all off or dimmed and the only thing that was going on was janitors sweeping the floor. It was so quiet. We went to the first nurse we saw and Martin, the program coordinator asks "excuse me we need to see a doctor" and she replies "why? what's wrong?" and he replies, "we have possible internal bleeding". I just look at him and say "WHAT?! excuse me?! internal bleeding?!" and the nurse responds "take her to Casualties" and then again i look at martin and ask, "EXCUSE ME? CASUALTIES?"

This is turning into a long story so long story short I ended up at the casualties section, was given a mysterious shot and sent on my way. The doctor just asked if I was pooing blood or throwing up weird things and I said no. He said that they usually prescribe antacids with doxycycline and that it is not an unusual thing. He said that I could do an endoscopy if I wanted (where they shove a camera down your throat) I thought I would go with this but after taking few days of antacids I felt much better. I also talked to my buddy Andrew Jones and he had the same problems and he is still alive. Basically I am shaking an angry, angry fist at my Travel Clinic doctor in Pasadena. I don't recommend him. He just scares the ants out of your pants. 

I would like you guys all to know that I am nearly 100% now and feeling back to my old self. =]
This was one of the scariest moments ever...
Until next time.....

poyt varen. 

my situation has been dismissed

So here is my situation. I’m eating another delicious south Indian meal. It includes cucumbers, chutneys, this naan-ish thing filled with cheese, and a soup. As I’m scarfing down this tasty treat in front of my face I feel a grumble and/or a tumble in my belly. And maybe I should back up a bit. The group I’m with consists of 11 other girls who aren’t aware of the fact that I am a proud burper and farter. Therefore, me being the fragile and delicate lady that I am I have to hold them in. (for now at least) I rush to the bathroom knowing what my punishment for holding secrets in will be.

I guess that story was really irrelevant being that all I wanted to do was explain the toilet situation to you guys but I thought it would be nice.

Now here’s the important part. The bathroom is four brick walls with no ceiling. You turn a corner and there lies an Indian toilet. Flush with the floor and pretty much a porcelain hole. It’s not like a HOLE, hole. Well it is but it has room for error. Next to the porcelain hole is two porcelain rectangles. They are the perfect size for your feet to be placed. You carefully place your feet on the nicely put rectangles, pull down your pants to your knees and squat a nice comfortable squat. You have to make sure to aim correctly or several things can go wrong.
1. You pee all over the floor in front of you
2. You pee on your pants
3. You pee in the toilet but with a perfect angle to splash back on your usually bare feet.
I will admit that the splash back is my specialty but I am getting quite good at aiming. Peeing is the easy part. Pooing is a craft. You must make sure to not aim right at the hole because if your poop lands right in the water, splash back is inevitable since you are so close to the ground. You MUST and I repeat MUST land your droppings in front of the hole to avoid it. Then after wiping, whether it’s with your left hand or by luck there is toilet paper, you get a bucket of water and wash your droppings away. Ah... dismissed.


The end.

I will post pictures. I can't right now because our internet is complicated. It will start back up in October.

vanakkam

So It's real. I wasn't just saying words or making it up in my head. I'm really in India. Honestly, I keep having to blink my eyes over and over again to realize that I am half way around the world from everything that is comfortable. And when I say everything, I pretty much mean everything. 

I'm surrounded by people I don't know, a language that I don't speak and in a place that is SO foreign.... But I know that will all change in a matter of days. =] I've already made a local Aurovillian (I live in the village called Auroville) sit down and I had him teach me some simple phrases in Tamil. Tamil is known to be one of the oldest languages that is out there. The language is beautiful-except not when I speak it. It sounds like a really twisted up Spanish. 

I can't wait to video chat with you guys so I could show you my room. The mattress is thin and the roof is made out of palm leaves. It's quickly becoming home for me though and I actually really love it... though at first glance it was a different story. 

I'm going to keep this short because I slept like 4 hours last night and I am pooped but I will be sure to keep you guys posted every step of the way. 

I'm really excited to be here. I already know that this is going to be a unique and life changing journey.. India! 

"this is indeed India...

...the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra a

nd the jungle, the country of a thousand nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition, whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations-" -Mark Twain

So this is it, I'm finally off to India for the semester. I admit that I am a bit nervous but I think it's because I just want to be there already. Get it started, ya know? 

A lot of people have been asking about my program so I'm going to give a little overview of what I'm going to be doing there. 

My classes:

1. Group Dynamics: This class is on learning to recognize and analyze the physical, social, economic, political, ethical, and spiritual elements that make up sustainable communities. 
2. Global and Local Sustainable Living: We're going to study the role of human history, language, education, physical landscape, society, and world view on shaping human-place relations. We're going to find connections through use of ecological footprint analysis and other things. 
3. Applications and Practices of Sustainable Living: This class is field based and I get to do an internship project in sustainable development throughout my stay in Auroville
4. Body, Mind, and Spirit: Cultivating Personal Sustainability: Here I'll be studying the importance of world views and how they affect human behavior and the earth, and gain an understanding for the historical roleof religions and spirituality in creating culture. 

Some highlights of the semester are:

• Visiting cultural and ecological sites like Periyar Ecological Sanctuary
• Engage in a 40 hour wilderness solo
• Travel to Karnataka and spend 3 weeks at the Ecodaya Santuary, and island in the Tungabhadra River-jungle ruins of ancient Hindu empires and some of the rarest ecology and geology on the planet
• Overnight at the Sri Ramanamarashi's ashram and climb Arunchala Mountain, locally believed to be the body of the Hindu god Shiva

AUROVILLE, TAMIL NADU, INDIA

Auroville is an ecovillage in the state of Tamil Nadu. The largest city that is nearby is Chenna

i. 

Here is a visual reference to where I will be:

This is a model picture of what Auroville looks like from a birds eye view.  

Contact Information:

Love from the states will be much appreciated and will be returned graciously from India... please send by Global Priority Mail NOT economy (surface) post. The latter has been known to take four months to get to us. 

College Guest House

Crystal Lim

Auroville 605 101

Tamil Nadu India

If you need to contact me ASAP and I mean ASAP call...

413-259-0025 This is the number to the U of Amherst Living Routes Office.

I will have opportunities to do webcam/skype/ichat from time to time so get ready to set some phone dates with me.. 

I will update this blog as often as possible so stay tuned.