Sugar high

Jaggery. Honey. Sweets. Chocolate. Chai. Sugar. Sweet drinks. Jams. Lassi. Sweet milks. Sesame brittles. Candies. Cakes.

I met a girl on Chamundi Hill who was in Mysore studying the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in India. I'm wondering how long it would take me to get to that point and also how long it will take for yesterday's sugar fog to wear off. This morning I told myself I would think savory for breakfast. I had a fenugreek roti with spinach and tomato chutney at Tina's with a fruit salad and ginger mint tea. They also brought me honey for my tea, and like the strong yoga student that I am I said "no, thanks!" (I was probably rocking back and forth in the corner when I said it.) Miraculously, I lived. Take that sugar! I've managed to overcome the physical pressure for sugar, and also that of habit. Then next challenge: sugar peer pressure. Will I be able to withstand? Check back tomorrow...

Practice Update:
Here I am at week 3. I haven't gained any poses since I've been here, but I haven't lost any from primary either. I've heard that in the first month, they (they being Sharath and guruji) like to watch you. The second month, they like to break you. The third month, they put you back together again. Alex's version of this is: the first month, you feel fat and fart a lot, the second month you look skinny and strong. Okay. It was hard to stay focused today in practice. I was right next to the men's dressing room and so there was a constant flow of people walking around my mat. I tried not to notice people getting new poses around me and the rise of jealousy as their heels came to the ground in pasasana. For me it seems like the first month will be trying to get comfortable practicing in the space. The second will be maintaining that feeling. The third will be gone in a second.

I had back bends again with Sharath. He really finds my turned out feet in ankle grabbing very funny. I wish I knew why.

Real Estate Survival Course: The emotional, angry, homesick, baby-boo post

Last night I slept from 7pm to 7am this morning. I was still tired when I woke up and my face was puffy from all the mosquito bites. I tried to get a cup of water from my water jug (everyone rents a water jug to put in their room with filtered water). I was pleasantly greeted with a broken tap that I had failed to notice the night before. Fabulous. I got ready in a hurry for our day trip (Elissa, Miriam, and I) to Bylakupee Monastery. The whole trip cost 1500 rupees (divided by 3) plus food. More on the trip later.

Mostly I felt horrible. My stomach feels heavy. I've been eating a bit of dairy, sugar, and gluten, all of which I don't ever have at home and I think it is catching up to me. When we got back, I went to pick up my cellphone after 3 days of the cell guy telling me to "come back tomorrow, come back tomorrow." When in the meantime, they probably called all their family members in the states. Luckily it was there and now I have a plan. Then off to the tailors to pick up my shirts. They came out very nice, or maybe I just wanted to go home. Last stop was to Krishna Murthy to get my water replaced and to tell him how unhappy I was with my living situation. When I went with him to see the place everyone told me that it would be cleaned and ready for me by the time I moved in that night. It wasn't. It took like 3 days to convince them to clean the toilet. There are no window coverings, I'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes, there are ants in the cabinet, and I'm convinced that someone is using my toilet. Today when I got home the toilet seat was up. Anyone who knows me knows how crazy I get about the lid up, no less the entire seat. Why on earth would I do that? I opened the bedroom to let Murthy in to change the water, only to find that the whole room was flooded because the water tank had leaked all day. When I asked the landlady for cleaning supplies, she went into my bathroom to get my bathing buckets to clean the floor! I can only assume that this same philosophy was applied for cleaning my toilet. In all probability, i have been taking bucket showers with the same bucket used to clean my toilet! !#^&**!%%!!!

Part of me wants to scream, cry, go home, crawl under a bed. But what can I do? I cleaned up the floor, went to the store for homemade chocolate, and tried to call "B", who didn't answer.

This girl Rachel told Elissa that coming to Mysore you can't reach for things like you can at home, instead you have to reach for yourself.

Universal Real Estate Tips:

1. Don't hand over the money until the space is EXACTLY how you want it to be.

2. See tip number 1

3. See tip number 1

4. See tip number 1

5. Don't under any circumstances hand over money until the said space is EXACTLY how you would like to live in it!