It’s a
foggy Saturday morning here in Dharamsala and the power has been out in the
whole town for three hours now. Luckily I charged my laptop yesterday! I’m a
little bummed that I can’t have my daily mocha latte at Café Du Ban and read
emails from all the lovely people at home. But, the lack of power has given the
town a slowed down vibe to it. I was out on the streets earlier and it was
quieter than I’ve experienced so far. The fog often clings to this town and
throughout the day I get the feeling that Dharamsala is a town in the clouds.
This morning especially, the clouds seemed to drift through the streets with me
and it was peaceful. Now I’m in my bed vowing to have a relaxing Saturday since
I don’t have any of my projects today. I honestly cannot remember the last time
I simply relaxed.
Hopefully
this post doesn’t reveal my extreme fatigue via typos or incoherent sentences.
Apparently, Dharamsala wanted to keep me awake last night. Ellie and I were
feeling a little restless and went out for beer. When we came home it was ten
and we were both exhausted. We were sitting up chatting in our beds when I saw
a mouse run across the room and take cover under the table next to my bed.
Though I’ve never seen this happen, I kept picturing that the mouse was going
to crawl up my curtains and jump in to my bed while I slept. So, I was awake
all night listening for the mouse to scurry my way. However, I never heard the
mouse. What I heard was cats fighting. Loudly. All night. When I finally fell
asleep I woke up to someone throwing up in the house connected to ours. We can
hear everything that they do in the bathroom because though separate houses,
the bathrooms are connected and there is a huge cut out where the wall meets
the ceiling.
After a
sleepless night, I ate some eggs and biscuits that our cook must have made
right before the power went off and I rushed to get a mocha only to find that
our house isn’t the only place without electricity, it’s the whole town. Oh
well, I’m too excited to move into the room and bathroom downstairs today to
let sleepiness and a lack of power get me down. I’m very glad I learned how to
pee in a squat toilet, I think that skill will get me far in life. But, I’m
glad that I will barely have to do that anymore as my new bathroom has a “western
toilet!”
Yesterday
was pretty mild. I had a nice morning with the kids in lower Dharamsala. They
loved the memory game that I brought with me. I brought my camera and they were
ecstatic to get their picture taken. I was actually surprised at the excitement
these photos elicited. One boy came up to me and said “you take picture and
print it and frame it and we paste on the wall!?” I told him that was a
wonderful idea and that I would do what I need to in order to get that photo
printed. I haven’t seen anywhere here that develops photos so someone from home
might need to develop it and mail it in a frame.
After
my morning at the childcare center, Ellen, Ellie, and I went to an Indian
kitchen for lunch. Oh wow, it was good. We had paneer tikka masala and malai
kofta. Paneer is an indian cottage cheese that holds its texture very well and
is cubed and served in different sauces. Malai kofta is some sort of food ball
situation. Haha, every time I have it here it tastes different. My best guess
is that it’s packed cashews, cornmeal, lots of cardamom, and other crazy spices
which are fried in balls and served in bowls of sauce. It has almost a sweet taste
to it and tastes fabulous over rice. During lunch Dhondulp called my cell phone
and said that he had to cancel our session because someone died and he had to
pray. I’ll be able to find out more Monday, I hope it wasn’t someone close to
him who died. So, I spent a lot of time researching and planning games and
activities to do with my kids next week.
When
Ellie was done her teaching session, we went to Seed Café which is my new
favorite spot. The view is incredible. It’s situated on the edge of the
mountain and has giant windows that make up three of the four walls from floor
to ceiling. While I’m using their wifi I often find myself distacted by the
view. Mountains dotted with architecturally exotic houses, clouds drifting by
and even coming in the windows, lots of lush green…. The tables sit low to the ground and are
surrounded by pillows. You take your shoes off at the door. Oh how I love to be
barefoot and Dharamsala provides me with so many places that I can ditch my
constricting footwear! The rain that came while we were at Seed provided me with
a whole new meaning for the word “deafening.” The sky just seemed to open up
and want to suddenly rid itself of every drop of moisture. It came down in such
thick sheets that suddenly there was nothing to be seen beyond the windows of
the café. The water pounded furiously on the tin roof and Ellie and I just kept
looking at each other because the noise was so loud that we weren’t even going
to try to talk over it.
After
about an hour, the clouds dispersed and we were able to get home without
getting wet. We found ourselves home just in time for another dinner of rice
and veggies. I went upstairs and scarfed down some peanut butter…
I can't tell you how much i enjoy your writing! hey can you email the pictures and i can have copies printed at costco on sunday and they should be ready to mail in our box!!! love you sweetie, hugs mom
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