Weighting on the profound

So I was hoping that I would come here and suddenly have the answers to life's problems. Or at least some minor epiphanies from leaving my "normal" life behind. Nothing profound, yet. I'm still hoping and realistically, I did just get here.

What I have been spending plenty of time, though, and energy on is weight loss. I'm so deep. My sister is a registered Dietition so I am grasping the opportunity by the water buffalo's horns and letting her dictate my food intake so I can shed a few lbs. We will be spending almost 2 months together and we have a goal of 20lbs that she is confident we can acheive. I am hopeful and willing to do my part! We've been doing yoga twice a day and running with our puppy Spicy. She's like a fake Marlin-- perpetual grin, floppy ears, and a spunky attitude. My purpose for this is two-fold. I need to get in shape to be able to do all the things we want to do in Nepal and I'd love to lose this weight without having to pick up an eating disorder. Eating disorders sound like a lot of work and I don't think I have the will power.

My resolve was doubled after our recent shopping expedition. I don't know if my various readers are familiar with the typical Indian body type, but needless to say, I am NOT it. My curves are a bit unusual in these parts. Most of the men are literally about half my size. They have to wrap their belts around their waists more than once. Like leather belts. The women also lack that "hourglass" shape. Like to the point that my bosoms do not fit into any shirt they have for sale. The poor shopkeepers kept digging through their piles of shirts looking for "bigger, bigger!" for something that I could squeeze myself into. They finally gave up... my size was not to be found with the merchandise on the street so they brought our group to the back room where we could look through the XXLs. Seriously. In the end I ended up getting a couple really nice shirts to supplement my travel wardrobe (which I am thankful for) and a steely resolve to stick to Liz's professional opinion. I will keep you posted once I am ready to start sharing the weigh-ins.

Please excuse the current obsession! There is much more interesting points to bring up about the shopping expedition. First, we were accompanied by three of the teachers from the school, Regita, Annie, and Uma. Annie's precious daughter also came along. They are so wonderful and sweet and helped us navigate the overwhelming general market. There are so many people, motorbikes, cars, noises, colors, elbows, and tube socks! Everyone kept trying to sell me mens tube socks for some reason, I must have looked like I needed them. The girls were so wonderful and concerned as we pushed out way through the crowds. I think they were genuinely afraid that I would get lost in the sea of sari's and bangles. We finished up the evening eating the (literally, I read about it before I got here) world famous Chicken Byriani at the Paradise Hotel. It was good but I have been much more impressed with the dishes that Liz and Mark's Indian friends regularly bring over.

We are here for another week before we head off on our great adventures! We are heading first to Cochin, a city on the Southern coast. We are traveling with 17 of the teachers from the school. From what I understand, most of them have not traveled much, if at all, so Liz and Mark asked the benefactors of the school if they would sponsor a sort of year end teacher field trip and they agreed. We are headed out for a 7-day Indian adventure! We will be traveling overnight on a train in the regular sleeping cars and doing this vacation on a true Indian budget. I'm so excited to see part of India with them and through their eyes. We are treated so differently here as we are such obvious foreigners. While we can't escape that mentality completely, it will be interesting to have a buffer of sorts.

The elections are quickly approaching. The streets are starting to fill with the Indian military who regularly stop our car to check for bombs, "black" money, and other bribes or disruption of the peace. They look all through the car and our bags and purses. I'm glad they are being thorough and it is a good reminder that things could get very interesting and very dangerous very quickly. We have planned our travel with this in mind and will be in the southern, more peaceful part of the country as elections begin and then heading to Nepal and Turkey while they get in full swing. Don't be afraid to send up little prayers when you think of it for these elections to go peacefully. The Taliban has made it very clear that they do not want this to happen so please keep the innocent bystanders in your thoughts and prayers.

Enough for today! These entries get so long so quickly, my apologies to both of my readers =).

Namaste from the Guest House.