Verd (indian accent) Up!

hi miss et al,

rainy weekend here in minneapolis, can't win them all. charece and i are trying to figure out where we're going to live next year. i was set to make an offer on a fat condo in the exact spot i wanted to be, but come to find you can have pets in your own condo. i considered making gigi and bebba outdoor cats, but they started crying and i acquiesced. so now we're looking for an apartment in the same area, i'll keep you posted.....literally (aahahaahhhaa).

paragraph formatting by willenator is at the request of some other bloggers with asytgmatisms that were having trouble reading my improperly formatted blogs. i still refuse to capitalize unless it's a really important word, like Will Fenwick.

i had my vienna trip orientation seminar on friday. sounds like a whole lot of enrichment and a little bit of studying. for 6 credits, though i can't complain, class is only from 0800 to 1300 every day. i can deal with that. the afternoon classes were a german language class and the buddhist way of management were both optional, and i opted not to take them. let's see, go to class or cruise vienna, any rational person would've made the same decision i'm sure.

Charece and i had the Joint Service ROTC Ball last night, it twas a grand time, i'll post (or have someone post for me) the pics. it was a good time, but the speaker was a buzz kill, spoke way too long about nothing in particular.

i have a week and half left in minneapolis, then off to quantico for 8 weeks. been getting my arse in shape for ocs and my first triathlon in july after ocs. should be fun, then i can finally call myself a triathlete!!

i'm going to visit geoffrey in paris from 19-23 August, so perhaps you could join us then. what are your long range plans for travel for the rest of the year?

sounds like everything is coming together with the travel partners and the exciting yoga experiences. have you given any more thought to the business props about buying indian stuff and selling it over here or on ebay, i think we could make some bling!! but you need some good contacts over there, so keep your entrepreneur hat on. be safe and smart.

love and prayers, will

Who ARE these freaks?

I found this when I was cleaning out my puter. Weirdos!

Dame las fotos!

i couldn't figure out how to use the accent mark, but for those who do not habla espanol it means, give me. i figgered that since people seem to be on a picture posting rampage that i should join the fun. there may be more to come after this weekend passes, but here are some oldies but goodies. i miss you and love you. it was awesome speaking w/ you. TE AMO!

MOVE your ANUS!

just a little story from my yoga class. there are these japanese students here and they're lovely: very polite, reserved, sweet. constantly doing this little head bow and saying "thank you". they don't speak much english, but they've learned phrases like, "have a good day" and "nice to see you again" after not having seen me for 2 hours.

my yoga instructor is an indian male. he's very intense. he screams things like "BREAK THE BELT! BREAK THE BELT MORE!!" and "NOW PUSH YOUR LEG INTO THE WALL!! PUSH YOUR LEG LIKE SOMEONE'S GOING TO KILL YOU!!!" we laugh a lot in his class.

so the japanese guy is in a headstand the other day, doing a demonstration. his english is sub-par but the indian instructor doesn't know this. the instructor, pankash, is telling him, "now MOVE your ANUS into your PERINEUM!" kuhtz, the japanese guy, MIGHT understand "move" but the rest of the words....not so much. so he's not following the instruction and pankash starts screaming, again: "MOVE your ANUS! MOVE YOUR ANUS! HA! THIS IS YOUR ANUS!" and proceeds to show kuhtz exactly where his anus is located. his hands-on adjustments can be a little intrusive.

------


another time, the japanese students had a friend ask if he could join the course late. pankash basically said no and turned his back on the humble requester. while the japanese students stood back bowing and saying "thank you".

even the touristy places are pretty interesting!

it's like christmas up in here!

hip hip hooorayyy! thank you everyone for the posts and comments, i am backbending for joy!

catie, i love that picture of us. i am thinking of you every step of the way. nice brass ones, sister.

coozin d, have the best time in dublin! tell your family i'm thinking of dropping by in late september if it works oot. lucy's getting so big! i'm glad she liked the shoes we sent; hopefully she doesn't eat them all before she can wear them!

auntie paddy, glad you liked the pantalones and dan enjoyed the t-shirt.

will, matt, and rachel - a special thank you for being the staples to my blog - love all the pics and comments!

i did escape from the yoga prison (see 'i am the mighty cockroach') and i'm finishing up a 2 week intensive iyengar yoga course here in rishikesh. the sweltering heat is telling me it's time to leave.

i'm a wee sad to leave rishikesh, i have settled into a nice routine of 7-8am meditation, 830-1030 yoga, 1030-1230 lecture (this amazing holy man who gives these funny stories and incredible insights on life), then i chill out, go for a swim in the ganges or read...yoga again from 530-730, then dinner then bed. i never thought a routine could be sooo good.

but NOW i'm heading to this little valley called sangla that sounds like HEAVEN! i found an american girl and a canadian girl who want to come as well so travel partners to boot! AND there are hardly any westerners in these 'friendly peaceful villages' - ha haaaa!!! i am trying not to get excited, but my attempts, as you can see, are not successful.

and why not?

dearest cooz, twas a very pleasant surprise to receive the wonderful package from Matts adventure with you in India, that contained a marvelous pair of magical indian princess shoes for lovely Lucy. She loved them. Loved them so much she started to eat them right away. They will be splendid for her walks around the garden in the summer.

so, thank you Matt for bringing them from afar and making sure they were mailed and arrived to the correct feet.

here are a couple of photos to remind you of your cooz's, plus a wee pic of Matt from his triumphant visit to NYC.




we're off to ireland tomorrow, i'll write more upon our return and post photos from the voyage. take care. love, cooz

not to be outdone ... pic from matt

matt and cath in costa rica

pics from will

will and charece - key west


heather and amy at coachella - 2004



will and charece at coachella - 2004

package received

hi miss,

got your package loud and clear, thanks much, the t-shirts are grand, april and charece will have to figure out how to wear the pants you sent, i have no clue. the tea looks lovely, i'm drinking some of the stuff you sent me a few months back right now. the shoes are cool, but i'm pretty sure my foot is too wide for them, so i think matt wants them, but i 'm pretty sure his feet are wider than mine.

by request, i am including some paragraphs in this blog for ease of readership. are you still in the new ashram learning dope yoga? i got some chai tea at the east african shop this past weekend, it wasn't quite as good as i thunk it would be, i'm sure it is better there. i got some chai mix from matt, so i'll try and brew some of that good stuff and see how it turns out, i need some directions though.

almost made an offer on a condo in an incredible location, but i come to find they don't allow pets. so i'll be making arrangements for gigi and rebel to become outside cats.....just joking. i told that to rebel last night, and she must have understood, because she followed me around all night wanting to sit near me and went to bed with me while she usually stays up late with charece. gigi didn't care though, she is daring me to kick her out.

work is really busy these days, trying to catch up on a term's worth of paperwork i blew off because of grad school. i'm also putting in an application for a 2 week course in january in costa rica, so your t-shirt you sent me will come in handy down there, either that or i won't need a soouvenier if i go down there. 2 weeks and 4 credits, can't beat that heh?

i also booked 4 days in paris with geoffrey at the end of my vienna trip, looking forward to that, let us know what your travel plans are this summer, as it is rapidly approaching. i can't believe that i leave in 2.5 weeks for OCS, that pretty much is the end of the summer for me, it's all 100% torque from there on out.

hope this finds you well and safe, be smart and i love you and miss you, love, will

Oops - One More for Aunt Heather

I miss you!
Love, Cameron

French Fries Miss You

These are genuine Venice, CA french fries. And this is me enjoying them. Exciting, eh? Also, this is me with a giant accessory reliving our giant accessory night.

blasted pics upload is hit or miss

will it work, who the heyack knows?

careful what you AX for

hi miss, grand post about drinking the himilayan water, eating the street food, and living for $1/day. that is amazing. $1/day in key west would've got you a glass of icewater......matt and i were talking some about the possibility of going an indian store on ebay, charece and i looked up a store on ebay that was called Everything Indian or something like that and they sold all this stuff from india, looked interesting, but i think if we go after the high profit margin items, like lady's purses and jewelry and that kind of jazz that i know nothing about there could be a market for it, but you will need some good bizness contacts over there, so make lots of friends with the yocals. it will have to be high volume, but with your knowledge of what girl's want as far as fashion, maybe some consulting help from rachel, i think it's an interesting side business idea, so look for some opportunities for stuff like that over there and maybe some suppliers and what not. my ideas are in abundance these days, need to start doing some more in depth research into it. also, something interesting i was looking into over there was microlending. small loans, like $50, given usually only to woman, but the interest rate is around 25% for about 6 months i think or maybe less, which is actually much better than what the local lending rates are which are like 5%/day. but they give out small loans, and they have a very low default rate, because it is dishonorable or something to miss your repayment over there, and whole villages generally pitch in to ensure people don't miss their payments. $50 loans obviously go very far over there and it can enable small scale entrepreneurs in india to achieve profitability and really fixes a lot of social problems, and also can provide some nice returns for investors. i requested some info from one of the microlending banks over there, but i'm pretty sure they have blown me off, anyways, good stuff. i booked my trip to vienna, i get there on 29 july and leave vienna for paris on 19 august, then leave paris for minneapolis on 23 august, then school starts up that weekend for me. busy busy busy. tomorrow is paintball with the midshipman, i went out and bought a cup protector, a wise investment! the elePHANT (as the husband on arrested development would say) picture was hilarious, you look like quite the world traveler in that picture. stay safe and be smart about things, the yoga sounds grand over there.

love, will

more jaipur pics: night before holi

22 pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hbriykx.5dvr7knt&x=0&y=-42tqpm

pics from jaipur - elephant festival

23 more pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hbriykx.8hdhlmll&x=0&y=lzbl9l

this elephant tried to tap mev on the shoulder

i am the mighty cockroach

i have escaped from yoga prison! it wasn't easy; in fact it was pretty shameful, but i made it out alive and hap-hap-happy!

i did tell a big fat lie to get out of the ashram. they kindly told me i could leave since my mother was sick. they then proceeded to tell me that no refund was possible. long story short, many hoops jumped through, i produced an e-mail prooving my mother's sickness. and i do mean "produced", and got most of my $$ back. so all's well that ends well!

i have been having some fatabulous barbgain days - yesterday i spent $2 all day, food and lodging. thatz a new record that can bring a tear to mom's eye: a barbgain if one ever existed!

my new place, i refer to as cell #9. it's concrete and the bed and pillow are hard (this could be considered an understatement) but i love it. it's home and i'm happy and i'm doing 5 hours of yoga a day with a knowledgeable professor. i did sprain my wrist but it's no big deal, i'm just modifying poses as needed.

ALSO, i sat next to an aussie at dinner the other night who really needed volunteers for a thai massage. i had to help this poor fellow out and got a 2.5 hour thai massage - so life is good!

as for the title of this here blog, i am starting to feel like a seasoned traveler, especially in my new ashram: it's $1 per night. also i'm drinking the water (it's from the himalayas) and eating street food on a regular basis.

i am also enjoying feeding cows my banana peels - they're so funny, they stick out their tongues and curl it around whatever you hold in front of their face!

finally, i request pictures of bloggers to be posted - I MISS YOUR FACES!!! pretty pretty pretty please lest i get homewick again!

much love and namaste all!

MIA no more

yes, i have been bad, some may even say terrible about posting on the blog lately and well, this aggression will not stand man. i know that quote doesn't really fit there, but like rachel, i just had to say it. cooz, i am glad to hear the "homewickies" are subsiding. it is only natural that you miss those closest to you, but you are making the most of your adventure and we will be here, super duper excited to see you when you get back, well, i won't be here, but hopefully i will see you in early september if all goes well.
everything here is hunky-dorey. keith was here for a week and we made the most of it. the weather cooperated for us so we were able to hang out outdoors a lot. we went to the arboretum , but the bonzai exhibit was closed again! third time there and no bonzai, but i will see the bonzai before i leave. they were feeding the koi fish while we were there and it was a feeding frenzy as you can see by the pic. the koi pond was huge and all the fish congregated in this one little area, swimming over each other to get food. we also hit up philly and philly hit back via some drunk explitive kicking my car door in. jess gave us the insider's tour . . . italian market, south street, waterfront, ben franklin's space, rittenhouse square and some excellent grub. mrs. fenwick (aunt barbara to me) was kind enough to host us for easter dinner. she cooked up a delightful veggie option for me w/ tofu, garlic, bak choy and mushrooms . . . mmmm, boy. the rest of the visit was filled w/ food and walking around dc.
i am starting to get ready to go. jess and i have our roadtrip planned out and it looks like it is going to rock. so much to look forward to. well, i hope everyone is well. i love you and miss you and cannot wait to see you. te amo!!!!! @

pics from jaipur - part one

miss, hope this finds you blissful. here are some more pics. this time from the pink city of jaipur ...
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hbriykx.75g27ne1&x=0&y=mtejjb

key west

hi miss,

charece and i got back from lovely key west last night. it was 80 and sunny all weekend long, we were there from thursday to monday, so it was a nice long weekend, just what the doctor ordered. we got scooters and ended up scooting all up over that island, they were one of the highlights of the trip. on the west side of the island they have what's called mallory square, where everyone on the island goes to watch the sunset, they have street performers, beer, food, sunset cruises and all that jazz, the sunsets are never quite as beautiful as they are in key west, as you can tell by my fine photography. charece and i became food blisters while we were there, but the food was really good there too. besides the scooters and the food, the other highlights of the trip were the sunset cruise we took where we got to go snorkeling one of the barrier reefs south of the island, it was so cool snorkeling and looking down about 80 feet at the fish, reminded me of a scene from Saving Nemo, then on sunday i took a two hour nap under the shade of a palm tree on the beach. other than that we were scooting around, eating, drinking, cigar smoking, some dancing, and watching sunsets, i did go for two runs which was nice, i am punishing myself this week with PT for eating so much last weekend, good punishment though, the kind that gets you ready for OCS! other than that, good to be back, rebel and gigi were happy to see us. the pics dad sent from his cross country with unkin frank are scrumptrilescient, some beautiful scenery,, the pics matt posted from delhi are radical too, can't wait to visit me some mother injia sometime. let me know if you need a loan from the Bank of Viper 76, "for a nominal fee, all of your dreams can come true (psssrrrwwww) "that's the saying for my future bank. hope you get some phat yoga in, i love you and i miss you, be safe and be smart, love and prayers, will

the yoga saga continues...

i checked myself into this ashram, yoga niketan (pronounced neek-eh-tahn, not nike-town) a few days ago. i pre-paid for 14 days. their rules are very interesting:

*all meditations and yoga classes are (supposedly) mandatory
*stretching your legs is (supposedly) prohibited during the 1 hour long meditations
*if you come to meditation late, you are (supposedly) supposed to sit outside the class and think about what you’ve done.
*they refer to the guests at the ashram as ‘inmates’
*last but not least, the fee is non-refundable – this is the only one that they really stick to, and the one that i most need to break, because…

the yoga saga continues….

the yoga at this ashram is just ok. you can learn something in any class, but i also find fundamental prollems with the classes at this ashram. until yesterday when i went to the best yoga class i’ve ever been to in india – great! a 2 week course starts on sunday (for a price that’s pretty reasonable) but i’m paid through to stay at this ashram – what to do what to do….

so i went to the office and begged the duder to let me go and give me my $$ back – i really need to buckle down if i want to make my travels last, especially now that Moneybag$ is gone! so duder tells me, ‘no this is not possible.’ and i retorted with an argument of my own, ‘pleeeeease???’ so he leans in and whispers, ‘ok, there is one thing you can do. on the day that you want to leave, you come to this office. you say that your mother is sick, and you must leave immediately.’

i’m not the best liar. i might actually be the worst liar. but desperate times….we’ll see how it pans out.

in the meantime, i’m not quite as homewick as i once was, but still would love to hear from everyone at home – please post comments!!

much love and namaste,
h

Fizzle My Dizzle

I don't know what that title means, but, I felt like saying it. So I did.

Hi honey, how are you? I hope you're feeling better. I didn't catch up on the blog until today because the art of reading was a challenge with me this week as I scratched my cornea last weekend and had to rock a patch for the first few days of the week. YES I WAS STILL HOT. God - IDIOTS.

So, I'm sure I'm too late to chime in about being homesick but too bad. Let me tell you what really helped me. Picture it - I was 8 and at Girl Scout Camp 45 minutes from home for a whole week. Not just during the day, either - day AND night. Well, you can imagine the stress. By hour four, after the s'mores and boondoggle, I was completely distraught (even more distraught than Gigi and Rebel in freakin' dresses - well done Woo). I didn't think I was going to be able to make it a whole week, particularly since my bunkmate picked her nose and totally grossed me out. But I survived. I knew I had a great family and friends at home waiting for me and I could enjoy what was before me or cry my eyeballs out and be "that" kid at camp and waste the opportunity that was all mine to appreciate. I wrote to my family eery day (the letters all got to them after I got home - efficient) and that really seemed to help. As you can see, I survived and still remember the Girl Scout pledge to this day. Oh wait, no, that was a cheer I learned in the sorority. Whatever.

And by the way, sweetie, a swim and double yoga is a quaint little schedule for a Wednesday. My day today consisted of a drive in LA traffic to Riverside and then 7 hours in front of the computer counting down the days until my next vacation.

You are amazing. You are doing amazing things and we all miss you and love you and are so very proud of you. You'll be home with us soon enough - keep enjoying every moment and love us through those moments.

Stay safe and have fun.

Love you bunches,
Rach

PS: I'm still really disturbed that no one saw anything wrong with Will dressing his cats in dresses. I'm just throwing it out there. Can you say INTERVENTION?

pics: delhi

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=hbriykx.7lmfvo0p&Uy=qzgn4s&Ux=0

first installation of pics: goa

80 odd pics from goa, hopefully everyone can see them. if not, please post a comment.
















http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hbriykx.74m0ktjt&x=0&y=-ifx3y5

there there

Hey Cooz. I am very happy to hear that your homesick blues are slowly subsiding. Firstly another pic of Lucy to bring a smile to your face and a couple of thoughts from cooz. Take them as you will. You are on what can be seen as a once in a life time trip. Something that most people maybe, maybe, get to talk about doing. You're doing it and you're doing it the way many could not. Relish everything you do, you are, but cherish them even more. When you see us all, you will have so many great tales to tell and it will make those times even more incredible when you do. I for one am envious. I wish i could be there exploring India as you are. i hope to see it with Liese and Lucy it one day, but for now, i can read your blogs and only imagine how wonderful it is. it's natural to miss your family and friends, and when you do return, seeing us will be that much sweeter. so. take care. yoga the s*@! out of that place and experience everything squared. see you soon. love, cooz.

LOOONESTAR!

just a quickie to say that i'm feeling better today - thanks for the e-mails and postings, and keep them coming!

will, your pics of the kitties in dresses didn't show up, but please do post them again - i'm, er, curious.

anyway, i wouldn't be feeling homesick if i didn't have such great family and friends to miss, so i am feeling grateful for that, and looking forward to going home...after a few more months of travel of course;)

not sure i'll have constant internet access once i get to the ashram but i'll post again as soon as i can!

much love and namaste,
mev

the pics

only mang would dare give me the raspberry.......

hi miss,

a little homesick, eh? nothing a few flashbacks to Spaceballs can't cure i'm sure. whenever i was homesick i'm overseas travels the past few years i'd go for a run......with my 9mm Beretta, haha. I would just do something familiar, even if it wasn't in a familiar place, it was a familiar feeling. but you hit the nail on the head, just like you have been looking forward to going to india for many months, you have something great to look forward to on the backside of this journey you are on and geoffrey's wedding is a great place to conclude that leg of your journey. i'm going to try and get there for the wedding, but not sure if it's going to work out with my fall work schedule and school. i was planning on stopping by paris after my vienna class is over at the end of august, but i need to be back at school around 23 August or so.

i feel double my age this morning, my freaking leg locked up last night after demolishing the army and air force in flag football, and i jammed my thumb and ring finger and they are all swollen up, in short, i'm my usual mess. hopefully things will work themselves out in a few days, i need to continue my OCS conditioning like a rabid mofo.

charece and i found a steal this morning, a barbgain if you will. a stylish, adjustable height, high backed office chair. april is moving into her own place in june, so it will be a nice addition to her apartment. so as soon as we bring it in the house, the girls (g and bebba) rush to claim it, rebel was to busy begging for treats that she let gigi get on it first, so rebel decided to claim the top of it and jumped about 4 feet up to the back of it and perched herself rather precariously on the top of it before finally relenting it the top of the chair was not a good spot to hang out, so she relented and jumped down, gigi hasn't budged since. anyways, thought you would enjoy the pics of them in some dresses that charece bought for them, they didn't have rebel's size as you can see. so as a disclaimer, i did not buy the dresses for the cats, nor was it my idea, nor am i a fan of brokeback mountain.

well that is it from this spot of the universe. i may go for a chai tea at the east african coffee shop later today. life is outstanding when......SCHOOOOOOL'S ...OUT....FOR SUMMER.

enjoy the pics, talkies soon, i love you and miss you, be safe, vigilant, and smart. will

homewick

hi all -

that's fenwick-speak for homesick:(

i got my first bout of homesickness last night, it kind of crept up on me! i was just feeling low energy and wondering what was the prollem when i realized that ... i miss my family, i miss my friends, i miss home. i guess it was to be expected and life is still wonderful: just the other day i was swimming in the river ganges and did 2 yoga classes in one day, thinking what a genius i was for quitting my job when this was my wednesday schedule...but there's no place like home. and travelling wears on you physically and mentally.

it's also kind of a relief - i was loving india so much that i never wanted to leave. now i know that when i leave i will have so much to look forward to.

so what can you do to help me with this heartache, you ask? (so nice of you by the way;) you can post to the blog and just say hi, or tell me about the weather where you are. and when i get my phone working (if this ever happens) you can get an int'l calling card so i can hear some familiar voices.

anywho, much love to all, and obviously this time, i REALLY miss you all!

:)

a Lucy update

Yo cooz. I hope all is grand and dandy over them thar parts. Great pix and blogs from Matt and you from the trip. Many thanks for those. Looks like a splendid time was had. Glad to hear you have found a nice place to do some yoga.
The Travel Channel had a high definition piece on some actor from Entourage, Jeremy Piven who travelled to India, and was also trying his hand at yoga. Didnt care much for him, but the places in India he saw were spectacular. Got to get me there one of these days. The plan is to get to asia later on in the year, cambodia, thailand, vietnam. That's the plan. Liese's given me the go ahead, just a matter of when.

But enough of that..now to Lucy.

All is wonderful with lil Lucy. She now has 2 teeth. One on the top and one on the bottom. She's crawling big time, and trying her best to stand. First it was crawling backwards, but now it's forward and forward. She's been given the go ahead to go into the next class at day care, the wobblers, in May. She's eating lumpy foods, a little lumpy, some cheese, fruit, cheerios, and always smiling and laughing. Her current favorites to crawl and grab at are, computer wires, actually any electric wires, wine bottles, boxes of tissues and magazines, which she gets great pleasure in ripping apart. It's amazing how curious she is now. And with the new ability to crawl and explore, everything and everywhere is an adventure.
Everything else is great. Liese's working away. We're going back to Ireland to see the family at the end of April. Spring is almost here and we've got a grand plan to do some herb planting and what not in the garden in a few weeks.

The bikram is coming along nicely. I didnt think i would like it, but i'm hooked now. we tried to get matt and cathy to try a class when they were here, but no luck. perhaps next time.

And there you have it. Stay safe over there. Love, cooz.

where's my stinkin ship?

matt pie, welcome back...safe trip to costa rica. miss, glad you found some happiness in richenshaw place. all this talk of retirement, vacation, semi-retirement has me a looking a little longingly at some beach time, of course my vacation is considered a 4 day weekend somewhere. 'twil all be over here on wednesday after my accounting final, this term was pretty brutal, and only 8 credits, only of which 3 were hard. oh well, can't quit now.

the pics you posted were scrumptrilescient, those monkeys are HI-larious, the newspaper article is freaking awesome, i'm going to post that in to the trinity alumni newspaper, matt and heather fenwick, "pre-midlife slacking crisis" it will be entitled. that is truly priceless.

i concur with matt about heather being a bad%ass with this trip, i'm scared to go to the movies by myself around here.

april turns 49 years young today, and charece talked to two clients this week, so things are going well for them, spring is starting to take hold around here thank goodness.

we had our field training exersice, the Marine Option platoon, we went up to Camp Ripley in central Minnesota on Friday afternoon, bivouaced in the field on friday night, and trounced around the woods doing squad tactics for 12 hours without stopping once, in true Marine Corps fashion. I'm still exhausted today. looking forward to booking my sunny vacation here later this week, some place warm with a beach over easter weekend is my personal "india" for this half of the year.

miss best of luck on the yoga, learn a lot so we can make some bling, i already talked to lynn about designing the place, she is in, i told her she wouldn't be getting paid, she understands. love, will, be safe!

yoga yoga yoga!

rishikesh presents me with a new dilemma: which yoga course / class / ashram to choose? i literally spent 2 days wandering this place finding out when classes were, what type of yoga, how much it costs, all that stuff...and there's still so many places that i haven't checked out. i LOVE this problem!

i spent a harrowing 2 days in haridwar, which is supposed to me more 'hardcore' for yoga. i got ripped off for rickshaws left and right and went to so many places that didn't speak english (but were listed in my lonely planet) - i had to get out. rishikesh is great - it's at the foothills of the himalayas and the sacred ganges river runs through it. the water is green. there are a ton of hindu people here just to see the river; so there's offerings, temples, and your usual cows, goats, and whatnots. last night i almost stepped on a scorpion - that's a new one! i was keeping my eye out for cow sht, little did i know....!

anyway, eager to settle in to my new 'home' and get the yoga going! i have made a friend from the states, leslie. rishikesh is a safe, beautiful, and yogic spot so i'm happy to settle here for the next few weeks or so...

of special interest to matt might be the monkeys here. unlike the ones from bundi with their bright red butts and belligerent tendencies, the monkeys here have silvery hair and black faces - they're beautiful! furthermore, they were gently taking popcorn out of leslie's hand the other day - a far cry from the one in jaipur that leapt at me in an attempt to get some food!

miss and love you all!