Tuesday, March 31, 2009.
First of all, thank you for all the nice comments i really enjoy reading them =)
Being here is like being part of a constant scene of craziness and for every day that goes by i fall more and more in love with it all.
No more dancing atleast, took me two days to recover. Haha still makes me giggle every time i think of it though.
not much news just a few photos =)
thali..yum!
I am obviously a giant and Saraswati is tiny. =)
Puppy!! We walk by this puppy every now and then and it's just the cutest sight ever.
mich.
Being here is like being part of a constant scene of craziness and for every day that goes by i fall more and more in love with it all.
No more dancing atleast, took me two days to recover. Haha still makes me giggle every time i think of it though.
not much news just a few photos =)
thali..yum!
I am obviously a giant and Saraswati is tiny. =)
Puppy!! We walk by this puppy every now and then and it's just the cutest sight ever.
mich.
Sunday, March 29, 2009.
Hey and goodmorning.
Today is sunday and i'm very very tired. Lead practice this morning was just focussing on surviving. I'm not kidding or exaggerating, when my alarm went off at 3:10 and i had gotten a good three hour night of sleep i though it was a good idea to go to practice, which ofcourse it always is. But man was i ever tired. I found myself in the far back of the shala, still feeling quite strong but oh so tired. I made it through all the standing positions without bigger problems but as soon as we jumped through to the sitting ones i felt a strong urge to sleep. I noticed that in all the forward bends i was closing my eyes resting my head on my knee. Haha serious. It was quite nice though when i'd reached bujapeedasana (which was a challenge cause i'd put mosquito repellent cream on my feet that had become slippery while doing my practice). Both the guy beside me and his practice were so beautiful so i did'nt seem to mind sitting waiting watching.
When we we're doing backbendings i got this rush of emotional relief which i've heard backbendings can sometime do cause you're opening your chest so much. I've heard all kinds of stories of people doing weird things after backbendings even crying. yeah my backbendings were good and left me with such an urge to giggle.. yes that's right. I felt this wave of happiness and giggles and also knowing that laughing now would not be appropriate so i held it back. I still had that giggly feeling in me for the rest of the practice and while we were doing the last uppward dog after uttpluthi i had to let out a small giggle. i've never had that giggly feeling during practice before, i've heard of it but today i experienced it myself. Maybe lack of sleep helped me.
I walked home after practice together with my friend Per who lives on the same road as me, we had a nice talk and i told him about my crazy day i'd had yesterday and i was so tired i accidently threw my water bottle across the road.
When i got home i showered, feeling happy and a bit proud of getting up and practicing, then i layed down on my bed, had a nice giggle..and fell asleep.
Now to tell you why i was so tired and why i got to bed so late i actually need to start by telling you about friday. Cause it was friday that things started. After lead practice friday, a nap, and a nice breakfast with my friends i went together with my friends Anna and Anna to the southern star pool. We were tired and a day at the pool was exactly what we needed.
We had a lovely time at the pool, swimming, sunning and talking and laughing. While we were there two guys came up to us, and indian man and a russian man. They asked us if we were interested in being with in a movie. Being swedish or maybe just being suspious we asked "what kind of movie?" They told us they were shooting a bollywood movie at the lalita mahal palace and they needed western looking people to play brittish people.
We talked to them a while and agreed that we could not come today(friday) but we could come tomorrow (saturday) because that is our day off.
So Yesterday we woke, ate breakfast together at Om Caf'e and then headed around nine o'clock to the coconut stand where we were going to be picked up, there we met a guy that practices yoga with us. A driver picked the four of us up in a bus and then we drove first to lakshmipuram and picked up a few more western people. We were total maybe 10 people on the bus. Then we drove to the lalita mahal. As soon as we got close to the palace we saw cameras and reporters and cars waiting outside. We got out of the bus and followed our guy in to the palace, where we soon saw people walking around setting up scenes, people wearing really fancy ballroom clothes and also people wearing t-shirts saying "asst cameraman" "costume designer" and ofcourse "director"
I almost had to pinch myself to remind myself that this was infact really happening and not just a crazy dream..this really was the set of a bollywood movie, and we were going to be in it.
As we came in people were running all over the place and they sent us to costume design. As soon as we had reached the costume design a woman threw a light blue dress at me and told me to go put it on. So i did, it fellt like one of those ugly bridesmaids dresses you see in movies. Then they told me "go to hair and makeup!" So i went over to where they motioned and there were women there fixing girls hair, motsly western girls, but there were plenty of indian people too.
So this indian woman told me to have seat and she started fixing my hair, brushing it, curling it and putting it up nicely. Around this time my friends Ann and Per came, who were just going to use the pool at the palace but wanted to have a look at us too. So i got my hair all fancy made, then i got makeup done at another place. Then the costume designer came over and handed me these huge earrings and necklace and bracelet that looked like pearls and diamonds for me to wear.
Suddenly i felt like i'd been with on extreme makeover or something. After not have been wearing makeup for two months it felt like i was wearing a mask, especially since i don't really use that amount of makeup at home.
I was the first of my friends to be ready and the people working on the set told me to go in to the ballroom. So i did and i walked in to this place that looked like a 1940's ballroom, huge ceiling and dinner tables a stage and a big dance floor. I mean really it was quite the thing it was really so beautiful. There were lots of people in there and a huge camera and lightning everywhere. People running around wearing headsets working. This really was a movie set, and i was going to be in it. I found myself standing in the middle of the dance floor wearing my jewellry and fancy dress and higheeled white shoes thinking "how did i get here"
"you look nice" a guy said who was wearing a read uniform, "thanks i said, but i feel completely lost" the guy had been on the same bus as me and was a yoga student from lakshmipuram. We stood there talking for awhile until someone came and told me to dance. All of a sudden i was supposed to dance walz with this russian man, There were lots of western looking people who were dancing and soon i realized my friend Anna across the room smiling at me dancing with a guy from Afghanistan. So we danced. And we danced.
And they counted "5, 6, 7, 8"! "left, right, left, right!" and they shouted "CUT!" It was a ballroom scene and we were playing the brittish people it was the year 1945. We were still in india and it was hot. They filmed the scene of everyone dancing, and around us people sat at tables pretending to talk and drink, they filmed it from all kinds of directions. Yelling cut etc. When they were happy with a take they'd move the camera and we would wait and then we'd dance again. It was so weird and surreal and i got eye contact with my friends and we laughed and you could tell we were all thinking the same thing "is this really happening?"
Yes infact. it was.
After dancing for two and a half hours. Doing the 5, 6 , 7 ,8 and back and forth in higheeled shoes we started getting tired. There is so much waiting around when making movies i had no idea it was so hard. At 1:30 they said we could have a break and we all went outside and got lunch.
We got a 20minute lunch break then they wanted us all back inside and the dancing went on again. It got a bit tireing. Even though we all did our fair share of laughing and evryone was talking to eachother. We were getting tired. Around four o'clock me and my friends were talking and kind of saying, yeah this is fun but we've been dancing for five hours now and maybe this is enough.
Well we went to the bathroom and walked around the palace a bit. Then soemone came out calling us.. "you need to get back in there and dance!" "but we are tired we dont want to dance, can't someone else dance for a while?' "no that is not possible" haha wtf? A man pointed at me and said "i have your dress on the movie now, you have to dance"
So we went back and we danced, and we danced. And our feet were killing us and i was getting tired of the russian dude i was dancing with, he was starting to get on my nerves after having to try to be social and dance with him for six hours.
Time passed and we danced, and we ran away for three minute periods every now and then to drink water or try to sneak some rest...and they'd call us back.. "you blue dress!! where is your partner?" we danced and we danced.
Yes.. i am not kidding.. I danced from 11 in the morning til 8 o'clock in the evening with only a 20 minute lunchbreak.
It was such a strange experience being on a real movie set. As time went on and they were moving the cameras there were less and less couples dancing since they were shooting at a special place, of course me and Anna and Anna were a few of those last copules. In the end we were four couples dancing and dancing..and ofcourse the main actors and actresses.
After one little short pause of maybe five minutes of going to the toilet they asked me or rather told me "you keep on dancing" and i told them i was getting tired and they said "where is your dancing partner" i amswered "i don't know" "well what is his name?" "sorry i don't remember" I didn't rememer his name.. sorry but i'd met like a hundred different people and introduced myself and heared their names it's hard to remember everyones name. They were kind of like "okay whatever here's a new guy you can dance wiht, does he look anything like the guy you were dancing with earlier?' I looked at my new dancing partner, asked his name and where he was from(the usual) Afghanistan. and i told them "actually he couldn't look more different" they didn't really seem to care so i asked "could i atleast please take of these gloves now, it's really hot!" ( i was wearing these fancy lacy white gloves that went up half my arms) "No you can't take the gloves off, they are very important" I laughed then at the whole bollywood movie thing, how me wearing the gloves was an important part but the fact that my dancer had gone from being (and looking) very russian to being (and looking) very much afghanistan...didn't really matter at all. So what should we do? We laughed and then we danced some more.
Around eight my feet were killing me, i'm not used to wearing high heeled shoes, nore dancing and the combination for nine hours straight was not so nice on the feet. So i danced barefoot, telling the guy from afghanistan "you better not step on my feet now" and he didn't.
Shortly after eight there was a few seconds where we could get away, me and Anna and Anna. We talked to the guy who was like our "manager" or whatever and said that we were getting tired and exhausted and could we please go home now, this has been fun but come on!! He said we could have some cookies if we liked and we kind of figured that since they weren't going to let us go home until this neverending scene was done we might as well eat some cookies..we hadn't eaten anything since two o'clock, So we went outside where there were all these trailers parked.. those kind of real "movie" trailers. And we sat outside in the warm dark indian night eating cookies and drinking chai tea. And we laughed and giggled. Just like we'd done all day. "here we are in india wearing these princess dresses, sitting outside in the dark eaing cookies on a movie set" Then we started joking around talking about our ugly dresses and i said i felt like a five year old who was dressed up as a princess, and now i was becoming a cranky five year old who wanted to through a fit screaming "i don't want to be a princess anymore!!"
It was hard work but at the same time great fun just because it was so unlike something i've ever done. They told us we were supposed to stay until 9 and we said okay..and went in again and continued dancing. Again my dance partner was gone, well actually the guy from afghanistan was dancing with his real dance partner, the one he'd been dancing with all day before my russian split. They wanted me to keep on dancing and i said.."well i've been dancing for nine hours now..and my guys gone what do you want me to do?" i kind of snuck out to the side and watched from there, then i found the guy who i'd talked to earlier that morning and we stood and talked and laughed about the whole situation of being on a movie set. Such a strange day. So the last hour of filming i wasn't dancing atleast, i was just standing talking and laughing with my new friend at the side..which incase you wonder makes time go a lot quicker than dancing.
At 9:30 they were actually done and finally we got to go take our dresses off and put on our regular clothes. I don't think i've ever loved my clothes that much before =)
After we'd changed and left all the clothes and jewellry we went outside, and they served us dinner. We were starving and it tasted sooo good. We sat outside in the warm night eating our indian food chatting with all the people. And it was just so fun. It had been such a strange and long day and we had really all been on some kind of emotional rollercoaster, one minute loving it the next minute hating it.
But all in all...what an experience!!
They paid us aswell we all got 1500 RS which actually wasn't too bad for being an extra on a bollywood movie. Then all of us western yoga students from Gokulam and Lakshmipuram crammed in to a little minivan(we'd come on a bigger bus)
and they drove us home. They said they had to keep on filming tomorrow and asked if we could come. We figured one day of constant dancing in india warm weather in fancy dresses was probably enough for us. And also we had practice at 4:30 am. So we said that sorry we would not be able to make it tomorrow. They were a bit irritated, but then someone mentioned that the last bollywood movie they'd seen they'd changed the main character in the middle of the movie without explaining why, so we figured it probably didn't matter that some of the dancers had changed.
I got home to my place sometime after 11. I was tired and somehow it fellt so nice being back in Gokulam and being in my apartment, it's strange how this place actually does feel like home.
By the time i'd washed all the makeup of my face and gotten in to bed it was nearly twelve and i looked at my alarm that was set for 3:10 and thought.."i'm going to need a big coffee for breakfast tomorrow!" then i feel asleep.
Now you're probably wondering if i've got photos, i'm sorry to say that i only have a few from before and after the filming since our bags were locked in i trailer during the filming so we couldn't take photos then. But atleast i have a few pics so you will believe me that this did infact happen.
Outside the Lalita Mahal palace where we were filming.
Getting my hair fixed.
My hair from the back
Makeup and hair from the front.
Me being a "brittish woman in the 1940's " also known as "Michelle ready to dance for nine hours"
People getting makeup done.
Anna, Anna and me happy to not be wearing our dresses after being on the movie set for twelve hours.
Happy to be home in my apartment on contour road and tired. Took me like 15 minutes to get all the makeup off.
Well as you can imagine today i'm abit tired after getting three hours of sleep and getting up for practice, i had a little nap after practice though, for about an hour then i went to breakfast at viviennes. Now i'm about ready for lunch. Gonna go upstairs and find Anna and Anna.
Oh yeah the name of the movie is Madharasapattinam. And according to someone we talked to it will be all over the world.. hahah yeah downloadable probably. Either way if you ever do find it in like a year or so.. look for me in the ballroom scene.
Oh india! you will never stop surprising me =)
take care.
mich.
Today is sunday and i'm very very tired. Lead practice this morning was just focussing on surviving. I'm not kidding or exaggerating, when my alarm went off at 3:10 and i had gotten a good three hour night of sleep i though it was a good idea to go to practice, which ofcourse it always is. But man was i ever tired. I found myself in the far back of the shala, still feeling quite strong but oh so tired. I made it through all the standing positions without bigger problems but as soon as we jumped through to the sitting ones i felt a strong urge to sleep. I noticed that in all the forward bends i was closing my eyes resting my head on my knee. Haha serious. It was quite nice though when i'd reached bujapeedasana (which was a challenge cause i'd put mosquito repellent cream on my feet that had become slippery while doing my practice). Both the guy beside me and his practice were so beautiful so i did'nt seem to mind sitting waiting watching.
When we we're doing backbendings i got this rush of emotional relief which i've heard backbendings can sometime do cause you're opening your chest so much. I've heard all kinds of stories of people doing weird things after backbendings even crying. yeah my backbendings were good and left me with such an urge to giggle.. yes that's right. I felt this wave of happiness and giggles and also knowing that laughing now would not be appropriate so i held it back. I still had that giggly feeling in me for the rest of the practice and while we were doing the last uppward dog after uttpluthi i had to let out a small giggle. i've never had that giggly feeling during practice before, i've heard of it but today i experienced it myself. Maybe lack of sleep helped me.
I walked home after practice together with my friend Per who lives on the same road as me, we had a nice talk and i told him about my crazy day i'd had yesterday and i was so tired i accidently threw my water bottle across the road.
When i got home i showered, feeling happy and a bit proud of getting up and practicing, then i layed down on my bed, had a nice giggle..and fell asleep.
Now to tell you why i was so tired and why i got to bed so late i actually need to start by telling you about friday. Cause it was friday that things started. After lead practice friday, a nap, and a nice breakfast with my friends i went together with my friends Anna and Anna to the southern star pool. We were tired and a day at the pool was exactly what we needed.
We had a lovely time at the pool, swimming, sunning and talking and laughing. While we were there two guys came up to us, and indian man and a russian man. They asked us if we were interested in being with in a movie. Being swedish or maybe just being suspious we asked "what kind of movie?" They told us they were shooting a bollywood movie at the lalita mahal palace and they needed western looking people to play brittish people.
We talked to them a while and agreed that we could not come today(friday) but we could come tomorrow (saturday) because that is our day off.
So Yesterday we woke, ate breakfast together at Om Caf'e and then headed around nine o'clock to the coconut stand where we were going to be picked up, there we met a guy that practices yoga with us. A driver picked the four of us up in a bus and then we drove first to lakshmipuram and picked up a few more western people. We were total maybe 10 people on the bus. Then we drove to the lalita mahal. As soon as we got close to the palace we saw cameras and reporters and cars waiting outside. We got out of the bus and followed our guy in to the palace, where we soon saw people walking around setting up scenes, people wearing really fancy ballroom clothes and also people wearing t-shirts saying "asst cameraman" "costume designer" and ofcourse "director"
I almost had to pinch myself to remind myself that this was infact really happening and not just a crazy dream..this really was the set of a bollywood movie, and we were going to be in it.
As we came in people were running all over the place and they sent us to costume design. As soon as we had reached the costume design a woman threw a light blue dress at me and told me to go put it on. So i did, it fellt like one of those ugly bridesmaids dresses you see in movies. Then they told me "go to hair and makeup!" So i went over to where they motioned and there were women there fixing girls hair, motsly western girls, but there were plenty of indian people too.
So this indian woman told me to have seat and she started fixing my hair, brushing it, curling it and putting it up nicely. Around this time my friends Ann and Per came, who were just going to use the pool at the palace but wanted to have a look at us too. So i got my hair all fancy made, then i got makeup done at another place. Then the costume designer came over and handed me these huge earrings and necklace and bracelet that looked like pearls and diamonds for me to wear.
Suddenly i felt like i'd been with on extreme makeover or something. After not have been wearing makeup for two months it felt like i was wearing a mask, especially since i don't really use that amount of makeup at home.
I was the first of my friends to be ready and the people working on the set told me to go in to the ballroom. So i did and i walked in to this place that looked like a 1940's ballroom, huge ceiling and dinner tables a stage and a big dance floor. I mean really it was quite the thing it was really so beautiful. There were lots of people in there and a huge camera and lightning everywhere. People running around wearing headsets working. This really was a movie set, and i was going to be in it. I found myself standing in the middle of the dance floor wearing my jewellry and fancy dress and higheeled white shoes thinking "how did i get here"
"you look nice" a guy said who was wearing a read uniform, "thanks i said, but i feel completely lost" the guy had been on the same bus as me and was a yoga student from lakshmipuram. We stood there talking for awhile until someone came and told me to dance. All of a sudden i was supposed to dance walz with this russian man, There were lots of western looking people who were dancing and soon i realized my friend Anna across the room smiling at me dancing with a guy from Afghanistan. So we danced. And we danced.
And they counted "5, 6, 7, 8"! "left, right, left, right!" and they shouted "CUT!" It was a ballroom scene and we were playing the brittish people it was the year 1945. We were still in india and it was hot. They filmed the scene of everyone dancing, and around us people sat at tables pretending to talk and drink, they filmed it from all kinds of directions. Yelling cut etc. When they were happy with a take they'd move the camera and we would wait and then we'd dance again. It was so weird and surreal and i got eye contact with my friends and we laughed and you could tell we were all thinking the same thing "is this really happening?"
Yes infact. it was.
After dancing for two and a half hours. Doing the 5, 6 , 7 ,8 and back and forth in higheeled shoes we started getting tired. There is so much waiting around when making movies i had no idea it was so hard. At 1:30 they said we could have a break and we all went outside and got lunch.
We got a 20minute lunch break then they wanted us all back inside and the dancing went on again. It got a bit tireing. Even though we all did our fair share of laughing and evryone was talking to eachother. We were getting tired. Around four o'clock me and my friends were talking and kind of saying, yeah this is fun but we've been dancing for five hours now and maybe this is enough.
Well we went to the bathroom and walked around the palace a bit. Then soemone came out calling us.. "you need to get back in there and dance!" "but we are tired we dont want to dance, can't someone else dance for a while?' "no that is not possible" haha wtf? A man pointed at me and said "i have your dress on the movie now, you have to dance"
So we went back and we danced, and we danced. And our feet were killing us and i was getting tired of the russian dude i was dancing with, he was starting to get on my nerves after having to try to be social and dance with him for six hours.
Time passed and we danced, and we ran away for three minute periods every now and then to drink water or try to sneak some rest...and they'd call us back.. "you blue dress!! where is your partner?" we danced and we danced.
Yes.. i am not kidding.. I danced from 11 in the morning til 8 o'clock in the evening with only a 20 minute lunchbreak.
It was such a strange experience being on a real movie set. As time went on and they were moving the cameras there were less and less couples dancing since they were shooting at a special place, of course me and Anna and Anna were a few of those last copules. In the end we were four couples dancing and dancing..and ofcourse the main actors and actresses.
After one little short pause of maybe five minutes of going to the toilet they asked me or rather told me "you keep on dancing" and i told them i was getting tired and they said "where is your dancing partner" i amswered "i don't know" "well what is his name?" "sorry i don't remember" I didn't rememer his name.. sorry but i'd met like a hundred different people and introduced myself and heared their names it's hard to remember everyones name. They were kind of like "okay whatever here's a new guy you can dance wiht, does he look anything like the guy you were dancing with earlier?' I looked at my new dancing partner, asked his name and where he was from(the usual) Afghanistan. and i told them "actually he couldn't look more different" they didn't really seem to care so i asked "could i atleast please take of these gloves now, it's really hot!" ( i was wearing these fancy lacy white gloves that went up half my arms) "No you can't take the gloves off, they are very important" I laughed then at the whole bollywood movie thing, how me wearing the gloves was an important part but the fact that my dancer had gone from being (and looking) very russian to being (and looking) very much afghanistan...didn't really matter at all. So what should we do? We laughed and then we danced some more.
Around eight my feet were killing me, i'm not used to wearing high heeled shoes, nore dancing and the combination for nine hours straight was not so nice on the feet. So i danced barefoot, telling the guy from afghanistan "you better not step on my feet now" and he didn't.
Shortly after eight there was a few seconds where we could get away, me and Anna and Anna. We talked to the guy who was like our "manager" or whatever and said that we were getting tired and exhausted and could we please go home now, this has been fun but come on!! He said we could have some cookies if we liked and we kind of figured that since they weren't going to let us go home until this neverending scene was done we might as well eat some cookies..we hadn't eaten anything since two o'clock, So we went outside where there were all these trailers parked.. those kind of real "movie" trailers. And we sat outside in the warm dark indian night eating cookies and drinking chai tea. And we laughed and giggled. Just like we'd done all day. "here we are in india wearing these princess dresses, sitting outside in the dark eaing cookies on a movie set" Then we started joking around talking about our ugly dresses and i said i felt like a five year old who was dressed up as a princess, and now i was becoming a cranky five year old who wanted to through a fit screaming "i don't want to be a princess anymore!!"
It was hard work but at the same time great fun just because it was so unlike something i've ever done. They told us we were supposed to stay until 9 and we said okay..and went in again and continued dancing. Again my dance partner was gone, well actually the guy from afghanistan was dancing with his real dance partner, the one he'd been dancing with all day before my russian split. They wanted me to keep on dancing and i said.."well i've been dancing for nine hours now..and my guys gone what do you want me to do?" i kind of snuck out to the side and watched from there, then i found the guy who i'd talked to earlier that morning and we stood and talked and laughed about the whole situation of being on a movie set. Such a strange day. So the last hour of filming i wasn't dancing atleast, i was just standing talking and laughing with my new friend at the side..which incase you wonder makes time go a lot quicker than dancing.
At 9:30 they were actually done and finally we got to go take our dresses off and put on our regular clothes. I don't think i've ever loved my clothes that much before =)
After we'd changed and left all the clothes and jewellry we went outside, and they served us dinner. We were starving and it tasted sooo good. We sat outside in the warm night eating our indian food chatting with all the people. And it was just so fun. It had been such a strange and long day and we had really all been on some kind of emotional rollercoaster, one minute loving it the next minute hating it.
But all in all...what an experience!!
They paid us aswell we all got 1500 RS which actually wasn't too bad for being an extra on a bollywood movie. Then all of us western yoga students from Gokulam and Lakshmipuram crammed in to a little minivan(we'd come on a bigger bus)
and they drove us home. They said they had to keep on filming tomorrow and asked if we could come. We figured one day of constant dancing in india warm weather in fancy dresses was probably enough for us. And also we had practice at 4:30 am. So we said that sorry we would not be able to make it tomorrow. They were a bit irritated, but then someone mentioned that the last bollywood movie they'd seen they'd changed the main character in the middle of the movie without explaining why, so we figured it probably didn't matter that some of the dancers had changed.
I got home to my place sometime after 11. I was tired and somehow it fellt so nice being back in Gokulam and being in my apartment, it's strange how this place actually does feel like home.
By the time i'd washed all the makeup of my face and gotten in to bed it was nearly twelve and i looked at my alarm that was set for 3:10 and thought.."i'm going to need a big coffee for breakfast tomorrow!" then i feel asleep.
Now you're probably wondering if i've got photos, i'm sorry to say that i only have a few from before and after the filming since our bags were locked in i trailer during the filming so we couldn't take photos then. But atleast i have a few pics so you will believe me that this did infact happen.
Outside the Lalita Mahal palace where we were filming.
Getting my hair fixed.
My hair from the back
Makeup and hair from the front.
Me being a "brittish woman in the 1940's " also known as "Michelle ready to dance for nine hours"
People getting makeup done.
Anna, Anna and me happy to not be wearing our dresses after being on the movie set for twelve hours.
Happy to be home in my apartment on contour road and tired. Took me like 15 minutes to get all the makeup off.
Well as you can imagine today i'm abit tired after getting three hours of sleep and getting up for practice, i had a little nap after practice though, for about an hour then i went to breakfast at viviennes. Now i'm about ready for lunch. Gonna go upstairs and find Anna and Anna.
Oh yeah the name of the movie is Madharasapattinam. And according to someone we talked to it will be all over the world.. hahah yeah downloadable probably. Either way if you ever do find it in like a year or so.. look for me in the ballroom scene.
Oh india! you will never stop surprising me =)
mich.
Thursday, March 26th, 2009.
Hello,
Today is a moonday which means we did not have any practice today. So i had a sleep in..sleep in means i woke at 7:15 =) I had a great breakfast as always at Om Cafe and after my two hour breakfast i went together with three friends in a rikshaw(yes it's quite crowded but fully doable) to out mehendi class (learning to paint the henna) it was fun and cute as always..those indian women are adorable and i love listening to their stories.
After mehendi we went for lunch at Shailas, very yummy. Then we went to a jewellry shop were Ann went crazy =) and after that we went to barista for coffe drinks. Somehow the days seem to go by so quickly lately. This last week..it's like..wow! Scary almost. I don't really know what i'm doing, just small outings, hanging out with friends, practicing and just simply having a good time. I feel that i enjoy every mysore day here more and more. For everyday that goes by i get more used to everything and i'm really learning to just 'love' everything happening around me.
It's a nice feeling really. Today is two months since i left sweden. In one way it feels like yesterday yet i still feel so much has happened during those two months, i feel like i've seen more than i would have done in years being home, is that a weird thing to say? I don't know.
lately a lot of people have been leaving, since it's the end of a month and since sharath is probably leaving too. I thought that when people would be leaving i would feel like going home too, but actually the last few days it has been the opposite. It has been scaring me how freakishly quick time seems to be going right now.
But i'm just really trying to relax and enjoy every minute...=) and i think i'm doing quite a good job.
So here are some pics from the last week. not so many maybe but a few atleast. =)
The 1000-step! Yay we climbed them all..and made it upp chamundi hill
The temple at the top
Some of the cows that were hanging around the temple.
Those two little white ones were standing so close to eachother like cuddling, supersweet.
Holding hands by the market. Gotta love the friendship people have here.
Hanging my laundry on the roof watching the sun come up.
Nice big dinner at Sixth Main with friends.
Me and Carolina at dinner "oh we're cute!"
Lovely breakfast at lovely Om Cafe with lovely people...ah this lovely life =)
Being 'good students' going to mehendi class.
Awesome sticker our rikshaw driver had today.
well dear friends and family, you gotta love the "sweat" life =)
hugs,
mich.
Today is a moonday which means we did not have any practice today. So i had a sleep in..sleep in means i woke at 7:15 =) I had a great breakfast as always at Om Cafe and after my two hour breakfast i went together with three friends in a rikshaw(yes it's quite crowded but fully doable) to out mehendi class (learning to paint the henna) it was fun and cute as always..those indian women are adorable and i love listening to their stories.
After mehendi we went for lunch at Shailas, very yummy. Then we went to a jewellry shop were Ann went crazy =) and after that we went to barista for coffe drinks. Somehow the days seem to go by so quickly lately. This last week..it's like..wow! Scary almost. I don't really know what i'm doing, just small outings, hanging out with friends, practicing and just simply having a good time. I feel that i enjoy every mysore day here more and more. For everyday that goes by i get more used to everything and i'm really learning to just 'love' everything happening around me.
It's a nice feeling really. Today is two months since i left sweden. In one way it feels like yesterday yet i still feel so much has happened during those two months, i feel like i've seen more than i would have done in years being home, is that a weird thing to say? I don't know.
lately a lot of people have been leaving, since it's the end of a month and since sharath is probably leaving too. I thought that when people would be leaving i would feel like going home too, but actually the last few days it has been the opposite. It has been scaring me how freakishly quick time seems to be going right now.
But i'm just really trying to relax and enjoy every minute...=) and i think i'm doing quite a good job.
So here are some pics from the last week. not so many maybe but a few atleast. =)
The 1000-step! Yay we climbed them all..and made it upp chamundi hill
The temple at the top
Some of the cows that were hanging around the temple.
Those two little white ones were standing so close to eachother like cuddling, supersweet.
Holding hands by the market. Gotta love the friendship people have here.
Hanging my laundry on the roof watching the sun come up.
Nice big dinner at Sixth Main with friends.
Me and Carolina at dinner "oh we're cute!"
Lovely breakfast at lovely Om Cafe with lovely people...ah this lovely life =)
Being 'good students' going to mehendi class.
Awesome sticker our rikshaw driver had today.
well dear friends and family, you gotta love the "sweat" life =)
hugs,
mich.
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009.
Hey,
The last few days have really been so nice. I've just been having such a very nice time..all the time. I'm feeling so unbelievable grateful being here. I wake up with a smile on my face when the alarm goes off. Knowing that the sound of the alarm means going off to practice. Lovely really. I love my walk in the morning, both to practice and back from practice, but especially my walk in the morning on my way there. All is quiet and still and there is somehow something magical that time in the morning, i don't really know how to desbribe it it's just such a nice part of my day, and then ofcourse the practice itself. Don't get me wrong practice isn't always great here..even though most days it is very good. I mean sure there are days here aswell when i wake up tired and feeling stiff.
Still.. i just have to say how happy i am being here. It sounds a bit silly maybe. But really I mean everyday here is an experience, what will happen, who will i meet, what will we talk about? It feels like a never ending adventure. And how even the smallest things..like going to the supermarket or just walking down the street to the breakfast place will somehow be an adventure of it's own..i mean really..that's india.
take care.
mich.
The last few days have really been so nice. I've just been having such a very nice time..all the time. I'm feeling so unbelievable grateful being here. I wake up with a smile on my face when the alarm goes off. Knowing that the sound of the alarm means going off to practice. Lovely really. I love my walk in the morning, both to practice and back from practice, but especially my walk in the morning on my way there. All is quiet and still and there is somehow something magical that time in the morning, i don't really know how to desbribe it it's just such a nice part of my day, and then ofcourse the practice itself. Don't get me wrong practice isn't always great here..even though most days it is very good. I mean sure there are days here aswell when i wake up tired and feeling stiff.
Still.. i just have to say how happy i am being here. It sounds a bit silly maybe. But really I mean everyday here is an experience, what will happen, who will i meet, what will we talk about? It feels like a never ending adventure. And how even the smallest things..like going to the supermarket or just walking down the street to the breakfast place will somehow be an adventure of it's own..i mean really..that's india.
take care.
mich.
Sunday, March 22, 2009.
Hey,
sorry that i haven't written for a few days. I've been busy i guess and when i've gotten to a computer i've been e-mailing instead. But i should try to write a bit more here i guess.
Anu's internet cafe has opened back up now, so i don't have to climb that hill to Rishi's. Haha so lazy...no but really in this heat anything uphill is a challenge..no actually scratch that in this heat..most things are a challenge.
The last few days have felt hotter, if that now is possible i don't know. But yeah. It's hot here i can tell you that much.
Yesterday was Saturday (naturally seeing today is Sunday) Saturday means resting day, or no practice atleast. I went to Chamundi Hill with three friends and we climbed all of the famous 1000 steps. Very uneven steps i might point out. Some were tiny little steps and others were big ones. At some places it was also very steep and it was more climbing than walking up some steps. It was hard work, especially with the weather being hot, but i really enjoyed it. We had a nice time, had to stop a few times on the way and drink our water though. So yes climbed the 1000 steps..actually there were 1001, at the top was this big nice temple and like lots of cows up there just laying around outside the temple. haha lovely! You actually don't have to climb it, you can take a bus or riksha either half way or the whole way up. But i think the climb was just as big part of it as the actual temple. The temple was nice and we had a look inside and had a rest and drank a coconut before heading down again.
I can feel it in my legs today, especially the muscles you use going down the steps and also i think you tense up a bit more going down hill, since you're more scared of falling.
But yeah Chamundi Hill was very nice, that's one of those things you should do when in mysore and i've been wanting to do it.
The other day i went to this mehendi place (i'm not sure if that is how you spell it, i've seen it spelled like ten different ways, anywho) It was at this indian womans house and all these indian women sit around doing different kinds of crafts, embroidery, painting, sewing etc. I got to learn mehendi, the drawing with henna that they draw on hands and feet, but i was just learning the designs on paper for now. It was fun and interesting, we were the only western people there in this little house. I liked it the indian women were so sweet sitting there chatting, gossiping etc. They were very friendly to us, and i think we are going back tomorrow.
So today i haven't done much, got up at the crack of three this morning, nope not joking. On fridays and sundays my alarm goes of at 3:00 am, sometimes 3:10 though. So yeah my alarm went off at 3:00 am this morning and somehow i had trouble finding it, i was deep in to this dream of popping popcorn with Hailie at the summer cabin, allthough we were making the popcorn on a little burner that looks just like my one in india, and just like here we didn't have a lid so we had to use a plastic plate for a lid. Either way the popcorn got out of hand and me and Hailie ran outside and stood in the sandbox (suddenly we were standing in the sandbox at my old house in jarlasa...here we go again) then we went inside and there was popcorn everywhere!!! Then through my dream i heard my alarm go off and i litterly had to dig my way through the popcorn to find it.
haha woo...intense. Yep So i got ready and dressed and teeth brushed etc and walked to practice, 4:30 am(shala time) lead class this morning with sharath. Intense, good practice though. I was way tired afterwards, went home, showered and went back to bed. Isn't that lovely when you're able to go back to bed? Allthough it makes the day quite strange, I woke again at 8:30 and almost thought i'd missed practice, then remember that it was still the same day.
So i went to Om Cafe and had some french toast "it's a french toast kind of morning" everyone was saying and somehow everyone at my table were eating frenchtoast this morning. =)
After breakfast i went with some friends to an organic market. They didn't have so much there so we weren't there too terribly long, then we went to a bookshop, supermarket then home again. Cause by this time it was getting super hot and it's nice to be inside during a few of those hottest hours atleast. I fell asleep once home again.. again..LAZY!
Haha well now i'm out walking around again, it's after three now and there are a few clouds on the sky which makes it okay to walk around, well i managed to walk here without fainting atleast =) i'm going to head over to the shala i think, they have office hours now and i need to change a thing i bought there (hopefully)
Well this evening i'm going to go with some friends and listen to some live music here. I've herad that should be nice, some kind of jazzy style on the rooftop at some little place around here. Sounds nice and i'm looking forward to it.
Well you guys.
That was atleast a bit of an update i guess. Oh and what day is it today?...One month til Sydneys first birthday!! I got to talk to my sister yesterday! Yay, we hadn't even planned it, i just logged on and there she was.. it was great though eventhough we didn't talk for such a long time. For two months i've ony spoken to my sister three times... that's usually how many times we'll have called eachother on a normal day, before lunchtime.
I got to see them all too on the webcam, got to see how sydney can walk. Sweety pie. The camera was a bit delayed so it looked like she was walking in slow motion =) aaw..gotta love the internet sometimes don't you!!
Okay..now i need to get going.. just wanted to mention that little thing. =)
take care
mich.
sorry that i haven't written for a few days. I've been busy i guess and when i've gotten to a computer i've been e-mailing instead. But i should try to write a bit more here i guess.
Anu's internet cafe has opened back up now, so i don't have to climb that hill to Rishi's. Haha so lazy...no but really in this heat anything uphill is a challenge..no actually scratch that in this heat..most things are a challenge.
The last few days have felt hotter, if that now is possible i don't know. But yeah. It's hot here i can tell you that much.
Yesterday was Saturday (naturally seeing today is Sunday) Saturday means resting day, or no practice atleast. I went to Chamundi Hill with three friends and we climbed all of the famous 1000 steps. Very uneven steps i might point out. Some were tiny little steps and others were big ones. At some places it was also very steep and it was more climbing than walking up some steps. It was hard work, especially with the weather being hot, but i really enjoyed it. We had a nice time, had to stop a few times on the way and drink our water though. So yes climbed the 1000 steps..actually there were 1001, at the top was this big nice temple and like lots of cows up there just laying around outside the temple. haha lovely! You actually don't have to climb it, you can take a bus or riksha either half way or the whole way up. But i think the climb was just as big part of it as the actual temple. The temple was nice and we had a look inside and had a rest and drank a coconut before heading down again.
I can feel it in my legs today, especially the muscles you use going down the steps and also i think you tense up a bit more going down hill, since you're more scared of falling.
But yeah Chamundi Hill was very nice, that's one of those things you should do when in mysore and i've been wanting to do it.
The other day i went to this mehendi place (i'm not sure if that is how you spell it, i've seen it spelled like ten different ways, anywho) It was at this indian womans house and all these indian women sit around doing different kinds of crafts, embroidery, painting, sewing etc. I got to learn mehendi, the drawing with henna that they draw on hands and feet, but i was just learning the designs on paper for now. It was fun and interesting, we were the only western people there in this little house. I liked it the indian women were so sweet sitting there chatting, gossiping etc. They were very friendly to us, and i think we are going back tomorrow.
So today i haven't done much, got up at the crack of three this morning, nope not joking. On fridays and sundays my alarm goes of at 3:00 am, sometimes 3:10 though. So yeah my alarm went off at 3:00 am this morning and somehow i had trouble finding it, i was deep in to this dream of popping popcorn with Hailie at the summer cabin, allthough we were making the popcorn on a little burner that looks just like my one in india, and just like here we didn't have a lid so we had to use a plastic plate for a lid. Either way the popcorn got out of hand and me and Hailie ran outside and stood in the sandbox (suddenly we were standing in the sandbox at my old house in jarlasa...here we go again) then we went inside and there was popcorn everywhere!!! Then through my dream i heard my alarm go off and i litterly had to dig my way through the popcorn to find it.
haha woo...intense. Yep So i got ready and dressed and teeth brushed etc and walked to practice, 4:30 am(shala time) lead class this morning with sharath. Intense, good practice though. I was way tired afterwards, went home, showered and went back to bed. Isn't that lovely when you're able to go back to bed? Allthough it makes the day quite strange, I woke again at 8:30 and almost thought i'd missed practice, then remember that it was still the same day.
So i went to Om Cafe and had some french toast "it's a french toast kind of morning" everyone was saying and somehow everyone at my table were eating frenchtoast this morning. =)
After breakfast i went with some friends to an organic market. They didn't have so much there so we weren't there too terribly long, then we went to a bookshop, supermarket then home again. Cause by this time it was getting super hot and it's nice to be inside during a few of those hottest hours atleast. I fell asleep once home again.. again..LAZY!
Haha well now i'm out walking around again, it's after three now and there are a few clouds on the sky which makes it okay to walk around, well i managed to walk here without fainting atleast =) i'm going to head over to the shala i think, they have office hours now and i need to change a thing i bought there (hopefully)
Well this evening i'm going to go with some friends and listen to some live music here. I've herad that should be nice, some kind of jazzy style on the rooftop at some little place around here. Sounds nice and i'm looking forward to it.
Well you guys.
That was atleast a bit of an update i guess. Oh and what day is it today?...One month til Sydneys first birthday!! I got to talk to my sister yesterday! Yay, we hadn't even planned it, i just logged on and there she was.. it was great though eventhough we didn't talk for such a long time. For two months i've ony spoken to my sister three times... that's usually how many times we'll have called eachother on a normal day, before lunchtime.
I got to see them all too on the webcam, got to see how sydney can walk. Sweety pie. The camera was a bit delayed so it looked like she was walking in slow motion =) aaw..gotta love the internet sometimes don't you!!
Okay..now i need to get going.. just wanted to mention that little thing. =)
take care
mich.
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009.
Hello you all!
I would like to start by saying Happy birthday to my dear Grandma Joanne!! It's her birthday today and i want her to know i'm thinking of her =) and also Grandma thank you for your comment the other day, made me very happy to see and to know that you are reading my blog aswell.
And ofcourse, thank you to all you others who always read and leave comments. thank you, i enjoy reading your comments.
Today is tuesday and i had a very good practice this morning. I might even say amazing..haha well okay it was very good, lets just leave it at that. I find it interesting how you really never know how practice is going to be. Somedays are good, some are bad, some are really good and some are really bad. I guess it depends on a lot of things really, the way your body and mind are feeling, what you've eaten or been drinking the day before etc, if you've had a god nights sleep. Well yeah it depends on lots of things i guess. But today..deffinetly one of my best practices here yet, one of them =) A lot better than lead class sunday atleast when it was so crowded i spent bigger parts of my practice trying not to jump in to people or have people jump in to me. We were talking about that at breakfast this morning, lead classes and a guy said.."well really lead class is just about surviving!" haha i liked that. It describes how tough it can be sometimes.
Well so my practice today was very good, i deffinetly had some kind of flow going, being focussed or what ever you want to call it. I felt very '"aware"of my practice. And less aware of things around me. Lovely feeling really.
When my alarm went off this morning i swear i thought i was at home, which actually i first thought was very strange cause i haven't had that thougt for a while now, usually now when my alarm goes off i know that i'm in india and i'm off to practice. You just get used to things. But today i was surprised to find myself in india actually and while getting ready to go to practice i was wondering why this surpried me today and then slowly it came to me that i had been dreaming that i was at home.
It's strange really cause usually when i wake up i wont know what i've been dreaming first and then after i've been awake for a while it will come to me or i'll see something that will remind me of something from my dream and it will come to me that way.
Either way i dreamed i had just gotten home, back from india and even in my dream i was surprised to be home i was like "hmm that's strange that i am home already" and i was with my family which ofcourse was nice and i was giving them gifts that i'd bought them, the thing was that in my dream the things i was giving them i had no memory of buying. And they were quite weird things as well. And my family who ofcourse are lovely even in my dreams were all nice and sweet and saying things like "oh how nice thank you michelle!" when infact in my dream i was thinking "why the hell did i buy that"and actually i was a bit embarrassed of how ugly and strange things i'd bought. I had bought this awful longsleeved shirt for Henrik. i mean really in my dream i thought "what was i thinking?"and Henrik was so nice about it thanking me and i was so embarassed. haha it was a strange dream. Henrik i promise i wont buy you a ugly longsleeved shirt!
Oh and another strange thing about my dream.. while all this was happening we were ofcourse at home..only the thing was that home was in Jarlasa. The house i grew up in, the house i moved away from when i was twelve, still in my dream i knew that that was 'home'
And still after that house i've actually had two other homes. yet still in my dreams (this has happened before, even a few times here in india) when i dream of 'home' it is the house i grew up in. Do any of you have that as well?
I dreamed for a few weeks ago that i was going to an early practice with my mom and dad and we overslept and i stood in the kitchen (of the house i grew up in) together with my parents wondering why all the clocks in the house went wrong. Strange.. and in my dream the kitchen looked exactly as it did when i was little, i remember in my dream seeing that white fruitbasket we had hanging over the counter, i remember the color of the wooden counter lots of details that i haven't thought about for years.... strange.
Well okay enough about my strange dreams. I mean seriously when was the last time you heard anyone say "hey i had a totally normal dream last night!" ? Yep whatever.
After practice i went home(my home in india) and drank green tea and ate some fresh fruit, then i showered and went for breakfast at Alias where i had more fruit, a hummus sandwich and shared a large pot of coffee with a friend. Nice.
And after breakfast i went straight here. Yep that's my day so far =)
oh another thing about 'home' i had a feeling the other day after coming home to my apartment after dinner, i went in and closed the door and thought to myself "oh its nice to be home" and then i kind of laughed at myself at how quickly you tend to get used to things and how the life here has all of a sudden became everyday life and how everyday life at home in sweden now somehow seems foreign. Yeah we sure are creatures of habit aren't we. Get us in to somekind of a routine and we're happy. =)
okay i need to stop writing about strange things now.
But well 'just want you to know i'm happy
Here are som photos from the last few days:
I went to the Zoo with my friend Brooke for a few days ago, it was quite fun. Allthough the indian people thought we were more interesting than the animals =) I especially enjoyed all of the hilarious signs everywhere and ofcourse the clothes that the indian tourists were wearing, i love their "western style"- indian clothes.
I wish i'd gotten pics of that. Here's one of the signs though.
Another stupid tourist infront of that sign =)
Some pics from around here:
I hope you all have a wonderful day!!
mich.
Saturday, March 14th, 2009.
So i've survived my first month in mysore, who would have guessed? =) haha no really i can't really believe that a whole month has already gone by. The first days here two months felt like the longest time ever and already a month has gone by just like that. It's sooo strange really. it's gone so quickly and i'm so happy that i have another month here. I have so far been having such a very very nice time here.
I went and paid for my second month of practice yesterday =) fun. I'll be practicing earlier my second month, at 6:00 o'clock and at 4:30 fridays and sundays (lead classes). So it will be quite early mornings for me, but i'm really looking forward to practicing earlier. It will be great because the weather will be cooler at that time.
Oh and about the weather, note to self: walking out in midday dressed in black clothes...not such a good idea michelle! haha seriously! of some strange reason today i'm wearing a black shirt and black pants, way too warm if i might say so. Well actually i was wearing red pants earlier but while having breakfast(frenchtoast and coffee) i spilled honey on my pants. Therefore change of pants.
Oh and another thing when on the subject of weather, the other day it rained! OH MY! haha no seriously i've been in india since the end of january and not once has it rained, i seriously started thinking that maybe they did not have such a thing as rain in this huge country(no ofcourse i didn't really think so)But it's strange being in a place for a long time and never seeing a cloud on the sky. But then this week i've seen a few clouds actually and thursday evening it rained. It was quite nice actually.
I was in this little shop looking at things and the guy working there said "it's going to rain tonight ma'am" and yes indeed it did. I love the smell of rain when it hangs in the air. And specially 'summer rain' you know, when it's hot weather or warm and it rains. Somehow summer rain always makes me think of visiting my Grandma in Alaska, sitting inside drinking tea and watching movies from blockbuster and listening to the rain through the screen door. I don't know why rain in the summer time always makes me think of that, Because it actually didn't rain like unually much when we were there, i don't know that's just what comes to my mind when i smell the rain hanging in the air. And it's a very nice thing to think of so i think i'll continue with that =)
Well yesterday was lead practice which actually went very well for being lead. Usually i'll prefer mysore style ofcourse cause it really is alot nicer to do it in your own pace, and during lead Sharath makes us hold certain poses for a very long time. It's funny though cause like if someone will not be holding the pose or like going up in upward facing dog before Sharath tells us to he will say "why you hurrying? you have someplace else you got to be?" or "why you hurrying are you hungry?" haha it always gets us all laughing which makes holding the poses even harder one day he was even saying "why you in a hurry, you got a date or something?" to someone. Hah yeah try Uttpluthi while hearing that one.
But i'm starting to enjoy the lead practices more and more.
After practice yesterday Me, Brooke and Marielle went to the Lalita Mahal, which is actually a old Palace but is now a hotel where you can go to use the pool. It is such a beautiful place, its really like going back in time going there (maybe not the pool though) but the inside. They have a lovely garden as well where we took lots of photos doing all kinds of different yoga poses. hah we had a great time and i think the guys working there had a great time watching us.
After pictures we swam and layed in the sun abit. Somehow the sun yesterday was fierce and we all ended up getting a bit burned. Damn! I was so proud that i hadn't gotten the least bit of burned, but now the back of my thighs are a bit read. I didn't understand why yesterday after getting back from the pool it stinged a bit when i sat down on my bed to count the money before going to pay for my second month. And then i looked in the mirror and i was like "oh okay that would explain"
It's really not that bad though.
Well i guess i'll upload some photos for you as well. They are quite random photos taken over the last few weeks /days or whatever who knows? =) hope you enjoy. i do.
okay so i had loads more photos i was going to upload but just uploading these have taken more than an hour. so this will be all for now.
mich.
I went and paid for my second month of practice yesterday =) fun. I'll be practicing earlier my second month, at 6:00 o'clock and at 4:30 fridays and sundays (lead classes). So it will be quite early mornings for me, but i'm really looking forward to practicing earlier. It will be great because the weather will be cooler at that time.
Oh and about the weather, note to self: walking out in midday dressed in black clothes...not such a good idea michelle! haha seriously! of some strange reason today i'm wearing a black shirt and black pants, way too warm if i might say so. Well actually i was wearing red pants earlier but while having breakfast(frenchtoast and coffee) i spilled honey on my pants. Therefore change of pants.
Oh and another thing when on the subject of weather, the other day it rained! OH MY! haha no seriously i've been in india since the end of january and not once has it rained, i seriously started thinking that maybe they did not have such a thing as rain in this huge country(no ofcourse i didn't really think so)But it's strange being in a place for a long time and never seeing a cloud on the sky. But then this week i've seen a few clouds actually and thursday evening it rained. It was quite nice actually.
I was in this little shop looking at things and the guy working there said "it's going to rain tonight ma'am" and yes indeed it did. I love the smell of rain when it hangs in the air. And specially 'summer rain' you know, when it's hot weather or warm and it rains. Somehow summer rain always makes me think of visiting my Grandma in Alaska, sitting inside drinking tea and watching movies from blockbuster and listening to the rain through the screen door. I don't know why rain in the summer time always makes me think of that, Because it actually didn't rain like unually much when we were there, i don't know that's just what comes to my mind when i smell the rain hanging in the air. And it's a very nice thing to think of so i think i'll continue with that =)
Well yesterday was lead practice which actually went very well for being lead. Usually i'll prefer mysore style ofcourse cause it really is alot nicer to do it in your own pace, and during lead Sharath makes us hold certain poses for a very long time. It's funny though cause like if someone will not be holding the pose or like going up in upward facing dog before Sharath tells us to he will say "why you hurrying? you have someplace else you got to be?" or "why you hurrying are you hungry?" haha it always gets us all laughing which makes holding the poses even harder one day he was even saying "why you in a hurry, you got a date or something?" to someone. Hah yeah try Uttpluthi while hearing that one.
But i'm starting to enjoy the lead practices more and more.
After practice yesterday Me, Brooke and Marielle went to the Lalita Mahal, which is actually a old Palace but is now a hotel where you can go to use the pool. It is such a beautiful place, its really like going back in time going there (maybe not the pool though) but the inside. They have a lovely garden as well where we took lots of photos doing all kinds of different yoga poses. hah we had a great time and i think the guys working there had a great time watching us.
After pictures we swam and layed in the sun abit. Somehow the sun yesterday was fierce and we all ended up getting a bit burned. Damn! I was so proud that i hadn't gotten the least bit of burned, but now the back of my thighs are a bit read. I didn't understand why yesterday after getting back from the pool it stinged a bit when i sat down on my bed to count the money before going to pay for my second month. And then i looked in the mirror and i was like "oh okay that would explain"
It's really not that bad though.
Well i guess i'll upload some photos for you as well. They are quite random photos taken over the last few weeks /days or whatever who knows? =) hope you enjoy. i do.
okay so i had loads more photos i was going to upload but just uploading these have taken more than an hour. so this will be all for now.
mich.
Thursday, March 12th, 2009.
Goodmorning,
Yesterday was a moonday which meant no practice, I went to the southern star with Brooke and we layed on the grass under the palm trees working on our tans and sipping sweet lime sodas. Yum.
So today is thursday and i've done my practice, i fellt quite tired today though, maybe since i didn't practice yesterday, who knows. It went okay though. After practice i went home and showered then went to Alia's for some toast and some coffee. Today is a coffee day i guess. =) they have good coffee there.
The last few days it's been a bit cloudier in the mornings, which actually is quite nice cause it makes it possible to be out walking in mid day with out being in direct sunlight the whole time(read: without constantly sweating)
It's still quite hot though but i think i'm getting more and more used to the heat, which i guess is a good thing.
I'm thinking about taking awalk around and just taking photos around town today(or someday soon atleast), you really see a lot of interesting things. Some day soon i'll come here and just upload a bunch of photos, i don't think i'll do it today though because it takes quite some time, cause it goes veeery slowly. But yeah i'll try to keep you updated with some pics someday soon.
I was taking pictures on my way here, i took a picture of this really shabby cat. Somehow the dogs walking around here look much more healthier than the few cats you see.
When i came in to the internet cafe` here that i'm at right now the owner commented first on my pants then looked at my camera and said "oh you should take some photos of my son!" haha don't you just love the people here? i do. The conversations you have with people here, even just walking down the street or whatever, you always get in to these strange conversations with indian people. It's really funny somedays. The other day this guy stopped us to comment on my friends skirt, something about in india men wear skirts too. And we were saying yes like the guy who lives here and pointed to the house beside where we live (cause usually that guy always wears skirts) and the man said "no ma'am he is wearing shorts" (because yes..that day he was)
Or the other day having dinner at this restaurant parklane, when they brought the bill out they had put the bill in a little silver box and Brooke said "Oh how cute!" and the waiter answered "it's just a box ma'am!"
Haha.
Okay i'm going to get off this computer now, i need to write some e-mails first though.
hope you all are well =)
mich.
Yesterday was a moonday which meant no practice, I went to the southern star with Brooke and we layed on the grass under the palm trees working on our tans and sipping sweet lime sodas. Yum.
So today is thursday and i've done my practice, i fellt quite tired today though, maybe since i didn't practice yesterday, who knows. It went okay though. After practice i went home and showered then went to Alia's for some toast and some coffee. Today is a coffee day i guess. =) they have good coffee there.
The last few days it's been a bit cloudier in the mornings, which actually is quite nice cause it makes it possible to be out walking in mid day with out being in direct sunlight the whole time(read: without constantly sweating)
It's still quite hot though but i think i'm getting more and more used to the heat, which i guess is a good thing.
I'm thinking about taking awalk around and just taking photos around town today(or someday soon atleast), you really see a lot of interesting things. Some day soon i'll come here and just upload a bunch of photos, i don't think i'll do it today though because it takes quite some time, cause it goes veeery slowly. But yeah i'll try to keep you updated with some pics someday soon.
I was taking pictures on my way here, i took a picture of this really shabby cat. Somehow the dogs walking around here look much more healthier than the few cats you see.
When i came in to the internet cafe` here that i'm at right now the owner commented first on my pants then looked at my camera and said "oh you should take some photos of my son!" haha don't you just love the people here? i do. The conversations you have with people here, even just walking down the street or whatever, you always get in to these strange conversations with indian people. It's really funny somedays. The other day this guy stopped us to comment on my friends skirt, something about in india men wear skirts too. And we were saying yes like the guy who lives here and pointed to the house beside where we live (cause usually that guy always wears skirts) and the man said "no ma'am he is wearing shorts" (because yes..that day he was)
Or the other day having dinner at this restaurant parklane, when they brought the bill out they had put the bill in a little silver box and Brooke said "Oh how cute!" and the waiter answered "it's just a box ma'am!"
Haha.
Okay i'm going to get off this computer now, i need to write some e-mails first though.
hope you all are well =)
mich.
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009.
Goodmorning,
Today is tuesday (i think) god i actually have no idea what day it is anymore. But yeah tuesday it is. The days don't really matter, all you actually have to keep track of is: what time practice is, is it lead class or mysore style or is today maybe a moonday?
Yep that's about it. And for the record tomorrow is a moonday, right? yes. So no practice tomorrow. Maybe i'll have a sleep in.
Practice this morning was better than yesterday, i still feel my hamstring quite a bit but i seemed to be able to get down a bit further today atleast. So i'm guessing i'm on my way to recover. Just have to keep in mind to still take it easy =) certain things hurt more than others. Like kurmasana (the one i was doing when i got hurt) i think i'll forget about that one for a few days, i started trying to do it today but..no way in hell was my leg going to cooporate with me on that one, uh uh! Even bujapeedasana hurts a tiny bit but not like kurmasana. Hah listen to me! no somehow i'm just talking about the negative stuff, truth is i felt like i had a very good practice today actually. I felt stronger than the last two days and on my way home from practice i wasn't dead tired i actually felt i had some energy left. Nice. This is without coffee. Mhmm coffee would be good though.
Yesterday evening i went with brooke to barista and had coffee. Well what we actually had was mocha sundaes, which was like a tall glass with espresso in the bottom then ice cream and chocolate sauce..was there whipped cream in there too? Probably. It was like a boost of sugar and caffeine. Lovely haha. No really it was amazing and we had such a nice time drinking our nice coffee and talking.
So it's only 10:30 here and i have the whole day infront of me, what a lovely thought. I don't really know what todays mission will be. I'm thinking of going to buy a pineapple maybe..i've found the fruit man that my father was talking about! Maybe i'll give him the picture my dad sent with me, if he's there today.
Other than that me and brooke were talking about maybe sitting in the park and studying the posture names. I really need to learn them instead of saying things like "you know that one when you bend down like this and do like that?"
yep. gotta learn those.
well. a picture for you of the lovely mocha sundaes. =)
bye!
mich.
Today is tuesday (i think) god i actually have no idea what day it is anymore. But yeah tuesday it is. The days don't really matter, all you actually have to keep track of is: what time practice is, is it lead class or mysore style or is today maybe a moonday?
Yep that's about it. And for the record tomorrow is a moonday, right? yes. So no practice tomorrow. Maybe i'll have a sleep in.
Practice this morning was better than yesterday, i still feel my hamstring quite a bit but i seemed to be able to get down a bit further today atleast. So i'm guessing i'm on my way to recover. Just have to keep in mind to still take it easy =) certain things hurt more than others. Like kurmasana (the one i was doing when i got hurt) i think i'll forget about that one for a few days, i started trying to do it today but..no way in hell was my leg going to cooporate with me on that one, uh uh! Even bujapeedasana hurts a tiny bit but not like kurmasana. Hah listen to me! no somehow i'm just talking about the negative stuff, truth is i felt like i had a very good practice today actually. I felt stronger than the last two days and on my way home from practice i wasn't dead tired i actually felt i had some energy left. Nice. This is without coffee. Mhmm coffee would be good though.
Yesterday evening i went with brooke to barista and had coffee. Well what we actually had was mocha sundaes, which was like a tall glass with espresso in the bottom then ice cream and chocolate sauce..was there whipped cream in there too? Probably. It was like a boost of sugar and caffeine. Lovely haha. No really it was amazing and we had such a nice time drinking our nice coffee and talking.
So it's only 10:30 here and i have the whole day infront of me, what a lovely thought. I don't really know what todays mission will be. I'm thinking of going to buy a pineapple maybe..i've found the fruit man that my father was talking about! Maybe i'll give him the picture my dad sent with me, if he's there today.
Other than that me and brooke were talking about maybe sitting in the park and studying the posture names. I really need to learn them instead of saying things like "you know that one when you bend down like this and do like that?"
yep. gotta learn those.
well. a picture for you of the lovely mocha sundaes. =)
bye!
mich.
Monday, March 9th, 2009.
Hey,
I would like to start by saying thank you to you guys who always leave comments, even though i don't comment back i really like logging on and having nice new comments. You know who you are =) so thanks to you lovely friends and family.
Today is monday and even though yesterday was like the longest day ever (getting up at 3:00 for 4:30 practice) i still couldn't fall asleep last night. Strange how things are i spent the whole day being super tired and then when i finally went to bed- couldn't sleep! Well it didn't really matter cause i kind of had a sleep in today....compared to yesterday that is. I slept til 6:15 today which was nice and i went away for my 7:00 o'clock practice. I love walking to practice in the morning, it's a nice time of my day before it gets too hot and too busy outside, things are actually calm. And also i'm happy to be on my way to practice.
I can't get over the feeling when the alarm goes off in the moring and my first thought is that all i have to do today is actually my practice and i don't even have to do that. it's very nice having time to focus on my practice. Even though today i did not have the best practice, i pulled a hamstring last week. Which wasn't good at all. I had acupunture for it. That was a strange experience i climbed a big hill to go this acupunture guys place. He stuck some needles in the back of my thigh and on my ankle and then gradually during the day the worst of the pain went away. So interesting. I think i might go for another session with him like maybe tomorrow or wednesday. He was very good.
I could still feel my hamstring today which makes some of the foreward bendings a bit difficult (note to self: don't push yourself) It's funny really because the whole "know your limits" and "don't push yourself too much" is talk that often comes up in converstations like easy everyday with all kinds of different people. yet i think we all some how do it. Maybe it's being here and how we tend to get so wrapped up in the whole energ in the shala.
Because the energy is great.
Well so im going to try to take it a bit easier (meaning not pushing myself too hard) this week so i don't overstretch my hamstring even more. I'm just sooo happy that i can do the practice even if i don't get down as far in forward bendings like i did when my hamstring wasn't bothering me, atleast i don't miss practice. makes me happy happy.
So i don't know how using the internet these next few days will be because Anu's is closed now until the 21st of march which means the other places get a bit more crowded. I'm currently at another place which ive gone to a few times but i had to wait like 45minutes to get a computer today which frankly is just craziness!
Well is almost lunchtime, maybe i'll eat my lunch here.. hmm..haven't tried this place yet. We'll see.
So i hope you all are fine. Because i am really am =)
Oh india!
mich.
I would like to start by saying thank you to you guys who always leave comments, even though i don't comment back i really like logging on and having nice new comments. You know who you are =) so thanks to you lovely friends and family.
Today is monday and even though yesterday was like the longest day ever (getting up at 3:00 for 4:30 practice) i still couldn't fall asleep last night. Strange how things are i spent the whole day being super tired and then when i finally went to bed- couldn't sleep! Well it didn't really matter cause i kind of had a sleep in today....compared to yesterday that is. I slept til 6:15 today which was nice and i went away for my 7:00 o'clock practice. I love walking to practice in the morning, it's a nice time of my day before it gets too hot and too busy outside, things are actually calm. And also i'm happy to be on my way to practice.
I can't get over the feeling when the alarm goes off in the moring and my first thought is that all i have to do today is actually my practice and i don't even have to do that. it's very nice having time to focus on my practice. Even though today i did not have the best practice, i pulled a hamstring last week. Which wasn't good at all. I had acupunture for it. That was a strange experience i climbed a big hill to go this acupunture guys place. He stuck some needles in the back of my thigh and on my ankle and then gradually during the day the worst of the pain went away. So interesting. I think i might go for another session with him like maybe tomorrow or wednesday. He was very good.
I could still feel my hamstring today which makes some of the foreward bendings a bit difficult (note to self: don't push yourself) It's funny really because the whole "know your limits" and "don't push yourself too much" is talk that often comes up in converstations like easy everyday with all kinds of different people. yet i think we all some how do it. Maybe it's being here and how we tend to get so wrapped up in the whole energ in the shala.
Because the energy is great.
Well so im going to try to take it a bit easier (meaning not pushing myself too hard) this week so i don't overstretch my hamstring even more. I'm just sooo happy that i can do the practice even if i don't get down as far in forward bendings like i did when my hamstring wasn't bothering me, atleast i don't miss practice. makes me happy happy.
So i don't know how using the internet these next few days will be because Anu's is closed now until the 21st of march which means the other places get a bit more crowded. I'm currently at another place which ive gone to a few times but i had to wait like 45minutes to get a computer today which frankly is just craziness!
Well is almost lunchtime, maybe i'll eat my lunch here.. hmm..haven't tried this place yet. We'll see.
So i hope you all are fine. Because i am really am =)
Oh india!
mich.
more pics.
Hey i'm way too tired to write right now, i got up at 3:00 o'clock to go to practice this morning. Yep that's right 3:00 o'clock. Actually practice started at 4:30 am (shala time) but then you have to get there like an hour early when it's lead practice to be able to get a good place =) yep.. so i can deffinetly say that today was a three cup of coffee morning. God i've been like a zombie most of today =) after practice we stayed and watched the intermediate lead class. That was very fun and interesting. And after that i had a two hour long breakfast at Alia's =)
Well i'll just give you two photos for now, cause im using a new internet place and uploading the photos seems to take forever. but i think these two photos(this time from my big camera) gives you a quite nice picture of india and mysore =)
cow.
rikshas all lined up.
bye!
//mich.
Well i'll just give you two photos for now, cause im using a new internet place and uploading the photos seems to take forever. but i think these two photos(this time from my big camera) gives you a quite nice picture of india and mysore =)
cow.
rikshas all lined up.
bye!
//mich.
Mysore photo update(finally)
Yay okay just a quick update i guess. mostly i want to show off some photos. Obviously they have cardreaders here at Anu's I've been here two weeks and haven't been bothered to ask. So i asked today and they do.. i'm way tooo slow. Well so i'll just update a few photos for now, these are just some pics from my little camera (my big one is back at my apartment but i'll upload some of those photos another day). So here they come. very random though:
My apartment building from the outside, flashy huh? it's called the white house. Looks flashier from the outside =)
Anu's internet Caf'e, this is where i use the computers most of the time. (and eat the yummy smoothies)
(obviously i love the name)
The man who spent a good half hour fixing my shoe. Raju.
The southern star pool. For those lazy days.
This man found a chapati in the ditch on the side of the road and jumped off his buffalo and started feeding it to him.
A bunch of goats on my road.
First contact.
Talking to my family on msn. How lovely isn't this picture? they are so cute!!
(hailie is sleeping, sweetheart)
Me and brooke in a riksha on our way to the market today.
Colors at the market.
The chai man.
well that's all for now. Today i've been to the market, it was great fun so much to look at. I bought masala chai from this nice little chai man who taught us how to make it as well. It is HEAVENLY yummy. I'll have to go back and buy a bunch to take with home.
HUGS!!
mich.
My apartment building from the outside, flashy huh? it's called the white house. Looks flashier from the outside =)
Anu's internet Caf'e, this is where i use the computers most of the time. (and eat the yummy smoothies)
(obviously i love the name)
The man who spent a good half hour fixing my shoe. Raju.
The southern star pool. For those lazy days.
This man found a chapati in the ditch on the side of the road and jumped off his buffalo and started feeding it to him.
A bunch of goats on my road.
First contact.
Talking to my family on msn. How lovely isn't this picture? they are so cute!!
(hailie is sleeping, sweetheart)
Me and brooke in a riksha on our way to the market today.
Colors at the market.
The chai man.
well that's all for now. Today i've been to the market, it was great fun so much to look at. I bought masala chai from this nice little chai man who taught us how to make it as well. It is HEAVENLY yummy. I'll have to go back and buy a bunch to take with home.
HUGS!!
mich.
life's tough, but someones gotta do it.
Hey,
So lateley every time i've been meaning to use the internet there has been power failure. Really the sign "power failure" doesnt much surprise me anymore.
That's the thing about india, there happens a lot of stuff here that actually surprises you, but for being here...it's simply normal.
So on my way to practice friday morning- lead class with sharath (very intense) me and Brooke went another way than i usually walk. It's nice that time in the morning..5 oclock. Because it's still dark and not so hot yet and it actually is quite quiet as well =) either way on our way we suddenly heard a dog start barking and then from up a head on the street we were walking on there came all these pigs running. Yeah..PIGS. It was soo strange I had to stop and count them. Fifteen pigs in different colors and sizes...just walking there together on the road at five in the morning. Yeah we had a good laugh at that. Then this morning on my way to lead practice- with Saraswati, I walked past this group of people mostly women but a few men, chanting and singing. Just walking in two straight lines five in each row, singing their hearts out at five in the morning. How great isn't that?
So practice has been quite good the last few days. Friday i went to the pool with Brooke, we tried a new pool where i hadn't been before, called landmark. Then friday evening we had movie night. Brooke brought her computer up to my place (read: to my half ass apartment which only has one chair so she even had to bring her own chair =) ) and we cooked corn for dinner, Funny thing was that cooking fresh corn really shouldn't be as difficult as it was. We were cooking them on my little electric burner, which they didn't even fit completely in to the water so we had to keep turning them over every two seconds. Then the power went out and my burner isn't gas it's electrical so we had to carry the corn in the pot of water downstairs to Brookes place (luckily they have a gas burner) so we continued cooking them there, then went back up and ate the corn (which was sooo delicious) at my house while drinking red wine and watching sex and the city. It was a very nice evening.
Saturday- no practice so we ended up going to the pool then as well. I know i'm way too lazy, it's just so hard to know what to do when it's 38C warm. You really can't walk down the street during daytime with out breaking in to a sweat attack. So we went to the southern star, layed on the grass under the palm trees and swam in the pool and drank sweet lime juice. Yeah life's tough- but someones gotta do it! =)
No really, being here, practicing in the shala..having lazy days meeting new interesting people everyday. I mean wow. Life here seems (and is) so incredibly simple. You gotta appreciate that.
Well wow i'm quite happy that i got the internet to work today. Maybe i'll try having a conversation with my family this evening, since yesterday didn't work. But now i'm off. I think we might be going to the market today..or atleast taking a trip to town.
Have a nice day everyone.
hugs
mich.
So lateley every time i've been meaning to use the internet there has been power failure. Really the sign "power failure" doesnt much surprise me anymore.
That's the thing about india, there happens a lot of stuff here that actually surprises you, but for being here...it's simply normal.
So on my way to practice friday morning- lead class with sharath (very intense) me and Brooke went another way than i usually walk. It's nice that time in the morning..5 oclock. Because it's still dark and not so hot yet and it actually is quite quiet as well =) either way on our way we suddenly heard a dog start barking and then from up a head on the street we were walking on there came all these pigs running. Yeah..PIGS. It was soo strange I had to stop and count them. Fifteen pigs in different colors and sizes...just walking there together on the road at five in the morning. Yeah we had a good laugh at that. Then this morning on my way to lead practice- with Saraswati, I walked past this group of people mostly women but a few men, chanting and singing. Just walking in two straight lines five in each row, singing their hearts out at five in the morning. How great isn't that?
So practice has been quite good the last few days. Friday i went to the pool with Brooke, we tried a new pool where i hadn't been before, called landmark. Then friday evening we had movie night. Brooke brought her computer up to my place (read: to my half ass apartment which only has one chair so she even had to bring her own chair =) ) and we cooked corn for dinner, Funny thing was that cooking fresh corn really shouldn't be as difficult as it was. We were cooking them on my little electric burner, which they didn't even fit completely in to the water so we had to keep turning them over every two seconds. Then the power went out and my burner isn't gas it's electrical so we had to carry the corn in the pot of water downstairs to Brookes place (luckily they have a gas burner) so we continued cooking them there, then went back up and ate the corn (which was sooo delicious) at my house while drinking red wine and watching sex and the city. It was a very nice evening.
Saturday- no practice so we ended up going to the pool then as well. I know i'm way too lazy, it's just so hard to know what to do when it's 38C warm. You really can't walk down the street during daytime with out breaking in to a sweat attack. So we went to the southern star, layed on the grass under the palm trees and swam in the pool and drank sweet lime juice. Yeah life's tough- but someones gotta do it! =)
No really, being here, practicing in the shala..having lazy days meeting new interesting people everyday. I mean wow. Life here seems (and is) so incredibly simple. You gotta appreciate that.
Well wow i'm quite happy that i got the internet to work today. Maybe i'll try having a conversation with my family this evening, since yesterday didn't work. But now i'm off. I think we might be going to the market today..or atleast taking a trip to town.
Have a nice day everyone.
hugs
mich.
