I
think I have been here in Auroville http://www.auroville.org
for
three days now. Most of that time has been spent recuperating. Today was the
first day I ventured out on my own.
The guesthouse I am staying at is surrounded by lots of trees and
plants. I feel like I am out in a forest. There is a huge banyan tree in the
middle of the grounds. I have never seen anything like it. I finally have my
own room now. Because of all the confusion of when I would arrive they didn’t
have a room yet, so I stayed in the massage room and had to take all of my
things out each morning. My room is in a small little building, something like
a bungalow. There are just two rooms, bottom floor and top floor. I have the
bottom. The windows are just screens, so you get to listen to all the birds
& insects chirp all night and in the early morning. There are really some
different sounding birds here. There is one they call the Brain Fever bird,
because after hearing it for awhile, it starts to get to your brain and can be
really annoying. I share a common
bathroom that is right behind my building with a shower & an eastern
toilet. So I am getting use to the squatting, there is a western toilet up by
the dining hall that I use sometimes but at night I don’t want to walk that
far. I just took a cold shower,
but at the end I finally figured out that the knobs were backward. So I am
looking forward to taking a warm shower tomorrow. Luke – might like this – I
got to share my shower with a frog tonight. I tried to shoo it away, but it
just went up to the top – I guess I can count myself lucky that it didn’t jump
down on my head while I was showering.
Yesterday
afternoon, I went with Kathy to visit Thamarai http://www.thamarai.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=53
and
then ended up helping in the evening after-school program. They have a different activity each
evening and also have time to work on homework. The ages are from 5 to 16. They
were quite rambunctious, but they all really enjoy coming. I am not for sure
how often I will help with that because it will be dark when it’s time to come
home and I’m not that confident finding my way yet. Plus I would miss dinner.
Then today, I went to the morning playgroup, which I will be helping with
daily. This group is mainly for 2 ½ to 3 ½ year olds. Right now, I think they
are all 3. They have up to 18. They have a really nice back play area that is
all covered in sand. They have a climbing structure and two swings. They really
enjoy playing in the sand and having water to make lakes and then fill them up
again with sand. They arrive at 9:30 and play outside until 11:00, then have
snack and inside play till 12:00. At 12:00, they have circle (with a story
& songs) then lunch, nap, and creative activity when they wake up before
they go home at 3:00. I will be
staying until 12:30 because after that there is not much to do. I laid really low today so as to let
the children warm up to me and some of them would come up to me and want me to
swing them or they really enjoyed stepping on my sand towers I was making. One little boy caressed my face as I
let him out of the swing. I guess he thought my face might feel different. None of them no English, so some of
them were talking to me in Tamil. But I was usually able to decipher if they
wanted to be pushed more or that they wanted to stop.
Everybody
gets around either on a bike, moped, or motorcycle. The guest center provides a
bike for us so I am biking now. Today, my bike was a little small so maybe I
will try a bigger one tomorrow. I ride on a dirt path thru the fields to get to
the village where I am volunteering, trying to dodge the cows. Also shoes &
socks really aren’t the best footwear around here. Every time you go in a
building, you have to take your shoes off. So I am wearing my bathroom
flip-flops and going barefoot, which is very out of the norm for me. I am
hoping I get use to it and I don’t get blisters from my flip-flops.
I
am also trying to get accustomed to the food. It’s not bad, but just takes some
getting used to. You always have rice and some sort of dal & vegetables. I
am waiting for the Chicken Tikka Masala. But I think it is only vegetarian. So
I should be able to lose some more weight. It’s amazing how when the food isn’t as pleasing to you, you
seem not to be hungry. I guess that means it’s all in your head, instead of
your stomach!(or I think it’s the taste buds for me).
The weather is really nice.
It is warm during the day, but not bad unless you are riding a bike, then I get
hot. In the mornings & evenings, there is a nice breeze. But it seems to be
a little damp feeling, I especially notice it at night. Kathy said they had a
lot more rain than usual so maybe it’s that.
