I typed then deleted...here is what's left

Going to make a snowman with my Kate.

I miss Abishek \/

Plaid Is In

Now that I've been thrown back into the world of hustle, stress, arguments, DVR, and YouTube marathons. When I ask...what did I miss? What happened? All I'm getting from everybody is...

-Lady Gaga is huge
-Taylor Swift is dating some werewolf from Twilight
-Obama is sending my cousin BACK to Iraq for the 3rd time even though he has 4 kids and his wife has MS.
-Plaid is in
-Icthus is taking another campanooing trip (score!)
-Lauren Davis and Alex Russel are dating (adorable)
-Mirey Cirus has a song about not getting a memo about wearing stilettos or something

Honestly I haven't got much more out of anyone than that...and the Lady Gaga news seems to be the BIGGEST DEAL EVER or something (even my mom named dropped her.)

I'm not purposing that Popular Culture is intrinsically bad but when celebrity gossip and fashion trends becomes what we think of to define our last five months its a sad life we lead here.

Lets define our lives by love and not media.
By deep conversations and not YouTube videos.
Lets lead more spiritual lives...where spirituality is truth and breath not just something we list on our Facebook interest.
Who's with me!? We can do it!

Aham = I, me, myself

When the first thought of “I” comes then many thoughts increase. So to finish the thoughts, first we have to finish the thought of “I.”

To get rid of this Aham we have to think of the benefits of others. Then our mind will fill with the thoughts of others, then there will not be space for Aham.

Asmita Prajapati, 14

Guys, where are we?

Today I had to teach yoga in the temple at 5:30 am because Publio took a trip with Valentino. Haha I'm terrible at yoga because I'm not flexible but I enjoy water-air yoga verses fire-earth yoga (more powerful and difficult.)

Anyways we did stretches, mental visualizations, and I incorporated some FaulDafa which was nice and peaceful.

The whole point of this is that I was really tired so I took a small nap and I dreamed that Valentino was teaching a philosophy lesson in a huge pagoda and all of a sudden he turned into Benjamin Linus and was chasing me with a small knife! OMGH! I was terrified and we were then in a baseball stadium and I was running for my life!!!!! What does this mean!??!??

I was in a Buddhist temple which focuses on Dharma...okay Ben aka Henry Gale is the leader of the DHARMA Initiative...if you don't count Jacob which I'm not for the sake of making this story more dramatic. Basically I feel like it's all connected...namaste, 8 more days, Dharma...not to mention the Dharma Initianive's symbol is TOTALLY used as our school's LOGO!!!!

Alice Project is based on Alice In Wonderlands perception mishaps and nothing if more perceptually changing than The Island.

WTF?

Rajastan

Tobi and the Taj
This was our special Tali after a birth of a baby boy.
This is Vishnu aka BFF.

Newsletter

http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=1252f5f191cb1762&mt=application/pdf&url=http://mail.google.co

Freely Given

Ladies and Gents Mr. Sanjay Chakma!!! If you ever get the chance to meet this beautiful amazing person you will be a better person for it. I love Sanjay!
Cutie McPreshy with Ciarra
Neeshant my Hindi teacher at Asha's wedding. (his eyes look funny here)
This is Publio and our cute nuns, we love them and talk about how cute they are daily. Publio is my yoga teacher in the morning (5:30 am....if you know me at all you should be proud.)
Absheik, Kesav, & Bikash

Tea party with Sanjay and many other brothers but I cannot remember exactly. "According to me this tea is really very nice."
Rishikant "Rishy" trying out some glasses...he's such a good friend and Alice's kindergarten teacher. Which means playing games and watching WALLE in Hindi with 25 3-4 year old preshies.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I took my English class, which has turned into about 8 students whom I absolutely adore, to Maha Bodi Temple in Sarnath. This is the temple next to the tree in which Buddha gave his sermon to his 5 disciples, so very peaceful. We took turns pouring each other chai into clay pots which we later discarded on the ground because they turn to dust within a few days. We sat and talked about thankfulness and cultural differences and laughing and singing. We sat cross legged in a circle and sang "Prince of Peace" (I hope you know it) as foreigners (aka 'the others') and Indians walked by wondering what the heck was going on, they sang their little hearts out and the sincerity of these 8 students is inspiring. We spoke in broken English and broken Hindi and most of time through smiles and hugs and back massages and "teek hai's!?" the best way to communicate. I'm so thankful to be living in India this way, with these children who are teaching me a hundredfold what I am teaching them. They make me laugh so hard sometimes...like today when they informed me that they were writing a book about me HAHA! It's called "Lisha maddemji" I highly doubt they are writing it for real but the gesture is so meaningful, they shouldn't write about me...they are beautiful and brilliant. Also the other day Vijay informed me "Basically your boyfriends is really very cute." (8th grade boy) BAH! Totally random and unprovoked.

When we were walking back to school some were walking far behind and myself and two sisters, Priyanka and Sweta (Brahmin girls, or Pundit aka highest priestly caste) we were way ahead of the others; I yelled "hurry up slow pokes!" Sunil yelled back "We are not slow,that's your perception, to us you are fast and this is probably because you are American and always in a hurry and you two are Pundit!"

We waited for them to catch up and Priyanka said "Bhoota Bhia, when we are in school we are not pundit, see I call you 'big brother' this is respect from me to you, I'm not better because I'm Brahmin." Then I told Sunil that foreign women are considered just as 'unclean' as the Dalit (lowest caste) so if he thinks I am clean then he is also clean. He decided I was clean (haha first time in my life someone was affirming my bathing habits, but I guess compared to them using their left hands as toilet paper living in a house lined with cow manure...it's not a difficult battle to win.) Anyways the entire point of this was to show that it was really a special moment to see a high caste child bringing themselves down to a Dalit's level...it made me think maybe their is a hope for India's future after all; her children.

Over 1/3 of India's population are under 15.

Over half of the girls are married by 15. (Legal age is 18)

Not all, but most of the adults in India are ignorant or if they are aware of the problems they are corrupted and only adding to them. It's sad when I bring up "India" in class because what the children have to say is depressing, they aren't proud of their country. They want to change it so badly but birth status mixed with the daunting 1.2 billion people (almost 4x America's populating in an area 1/3 the size of America) is discouraging to say the least. They either want to change it or leave...for example to the US but they know that will never happen, my plane ticket alone cost more than all what they will earn in a lifetime.

Be thankful you have a full belly filled with delicious turkey and are probably being lazy watching football or a parade or something. Really! This isn't to make anyone feel guilty , no way, on the contrary I wan't you to be inspired to very thankful and feel joy and inspiration to do what you wish with what you have been given.

"You have been given freely, therefore you should give freely."

Matthew 10:8

Did I tell mention I got shot?

Long story short I got shot with a gun at a wedding. No problem here just a small knick on my forehead.

Abishek and the boys are calling it my "third eye." Sorry if you don't get joke because you're American...I have to go to a lesson about "my mind" in the temple and I'm late!

Fidmelighe...and Happy Thankgiving!

Dost

Soumik and his Nirvana poster!

Crazed mother getting ready

DOSA

At a village between Sikkim and Darjeeling

p.s. my blog is being weird so I'm not sure how many more picture I can upload

love you all

Incredible India

Delhi = Lucifer

It's official. Delhi is the worse city on earth...get me a plane to Pakistan or Mongolia I don't care it can't be worse than this worthless smudge they call the capital of India. I leave for the heavenly Sarnath Alice Project in 8 hours and couldn't be happier.

No Hurry No Worry No Chicken Curry

Camel Safari with Tomas from France, Tobi from Switzerland and Anna from NZ.......a lot of discussion about oily diarrhea.

Sleeping under the stars in the desert.
Dung Beatles and baby scorpions.
Wonderful.

By the way...anyone wanting to understand Hinduism just listen to Justin Timberlake's 'What goes around comes around."

Darjeeling & Himalayas!

So far it's been interesting...
Darjeeling is a medium sized hill village stuck on the side of a mountain facing Mount Kantuchunga, the worlds 3rd highest mountain.
I definitely got attacked by a (flock, family, littler, gaggle???) of monkeys while taking a picture of a baby monkey on the top of a Holy Hill. I was seriously freaking out, I even dropped my camera lens that I was holding in my hand. My friend Tobi bravely rescued it while I ran away screaming. The monkeys were biting my legs and feet! Holy Crap!

The next few day we decided to ditch the trek we planned and visit Sikkim on the Indo-China-Tibet border. So that morning we woke up at 3:00 am and caught a jeep going to "tiger hill." It was freeeeeeeezing on top of the hill/mountain but it was worth it after seeing the golden sunrise hitting Mount Katchunchunga and Everest, making them glow Golden-pink. As the sun rose many Indians started singing OmVespa a mantra that I've learned at the school so I got to sing along.
Then we left for Sikkim and failed getting across the border because I only have a copy of my passport b/c I left it at the school so I wouldn't lose it on my trip. So we turned around and randomly ended up in a BEAUTIFUL hill town called Teesta, next to the gorgeous blue-green Teesta River. While asking local children where we can sleep they led us to a funny bazaar, hostel place overlooking the river. It was run by a hilarious old Nepali x-British army officer who was in a wheelchair but had plenty of energy. We also met a funny boy our age name Soumik from Kolkatta, he was soooooooo hilarious and came all the way to Darjeeling to buy this laminated Nirvana poster for his future "rock and roll museum." When I inquired about the museum he said "None of this Gothic-Popular sh**, that's not the way Jim Morrison would have wanted it." HAHA!

The next night we spent in a remote village up in the mountain 8 kilometers. The people were all about organic farming and growing medicinal herbs for the villagers to stop being depended on Western medicines. I got a chance to sing song with the local Nepali children at the school run by the main guy. The school was free for children who could afford it any other way. They were adorable. I woke up with the Majestic Himalayas out my front door. I read Acts with the sound of roosters crowing and children playing for a couple hour while eating Swiss chocolate and drinking the world famous Darjeeling Tea they brought to our "bungalow" in the morning.

Now we are in siliguri and we are excited for the Taj Mahal tomorrow!!!

Bodh Gaya

I've been in Bodh Gaya for the past few days. Sanjay and I are bringing our favourite Biharis home with us to Sarnath (Akash and Bikash.)

Bodh Gaya or "BuddhaGaya" is beautiful...today I stood under the tree where Buddha attained enlightenment.

I am ready to see my little brothersagain though,and Sunday I start my trip to Darjeeling! I bought a warm sweater today for our trek int he Himalayas! Everest here I come...as long as my abnormally small lungs adjust well to the change of altitude! I pray that Nepal redeams itself.

Change

I was drinking some aurevedic chia and thinking about home and also thinking that I havn't really changed much since coming to India. Then I realize I'm drinkng chia with several dead ants floating around and not thinking twice about not drinking it.

Alice

The Alice Project in a nutshell...
It has taken 20 years of research to create a school beyond the mechanistic paradigm.

PROJECT ALICE brings about perceptual revolution in the mind of the child though simple, scientific explanation. Recognizing Unity and withdrawing our projections, we try to develop Universal Responsibility and create a new world our of love and wisdom.

Using meditation, philosophical teaching, yoga, mantras, dance & art programs as well as Japanese, Italian and the historical dead language Sanskrit we nourish every part of the growing child, not only in the classroom where the teachers incorporate religion and the Alice Philosophy acting as mini-gurus to their students, but we also initiate sewing projects, dance parties, special pujas, cricket matches, orphan outreach and the one of the most advanced English programs in the nation which I'm proud to be a part of. The children actually call my classroom "magic English classroom" haha. We also teach non discrimination and religious tolerance by focusing on the universal connections that can be found in all the world major religions. "Love you neighbor as yourself" can be found posted on the walls of most classrooms.
Showing me how to write my name in Japanese.

The students are taught that this world is only a projection of your mind, therefore we can control our thoughts and project positive loving energies like loving our neighbors and bodily discipline. Only when your mind is clear and at a peaceful equilibrium can we enter into bliss where afterward all our actions will be positive. A 15 year old named Vikas explained to me,

"I am not this body, I am not this restless mind."

I bought some Uno card in Kolkata...and instant hit! Everytime someone throws down a draw four or reverse card we yell "Sawdee Sawdee sawdee sawdee..." really fast. It's funny because we exaggerate the hindi accent that says sorry like "sawdee." Oh yea and uno is "oh, no!" HAHAHHA!!!!!!!!

(below: Akash Wins!)

No electricity doesn't stop OhNo parties.

Not exactly sure why he wrote my name on the bottom...

A program with Don Bosco street children for Gandhiji's Birthday, the whole thing was hilarious they didn't care so much about Gandhi but wanted to paint dragons and my name.

They're beautiful.

SUNIL! Class 9, he's in my English class and is hilarious. I'm not sure why he is posing so awkwardly.

The woman on the right is Asha, she is getting married November 26th and I am invited! It's a huge honor and I'm looking for the perfect wedding gift. (This is ironic that I will be at a wedding in India very close to the same day as my good friends Steve and Dana from home.)

The dissonance between creed and deed is the root of innumerable wrongs in our civilization; it is the weakness of all churches, states parties, and persons. It gives institution and men split personalities.

Girl's painting class gallery showing in the Alice in Wonderland garden at our school.

4 days, 3 dirty hostels, and 55 hours on a bus later equals Nepal Fail.

Long story short...what was supposed to be a 8 then 6 hour bus ride to Kathmandu ended up being a 2 day 22 hour journey. Then when we got to Kathmandu No'rbu realized "Oh yea, my family doesn't live by here anymore" OOPS! Basically he never goes home because it's too expensive for his family and he was so excited to see his family he forgot to remember exactly where in Nepal they were.
Soo...then we took an expensive, short 14 hour bud ride to Nepal Gunj a city where we were supposed to be in from the beginning because it supposedly has flights to Humla, No'rbu's village. This train was maybe the most prolonged uncomfort my back has ever experienced. My lower back and knees literally have bruises from the all the bumps and potholes. It was like riding the Timber Wolf for 14 hours straight without eating or bathroom. (Because we didn't want to leave our luggage in case it got stolen so we couldn't leave the bus, and we didn't want to take it with us because then we would lose our seats and have to sit on the floor with people farting on us and throwing there slobbery peanut shells on the floor next to us... like the day before.)

Also can I please mention the fact that this bus had a TV where they insisted on playing these terribly cliche-ridiculous Nepali music videos of women in clinging wet sarees dancing in waterfalls crying. Then with using the 'dissolve effect' on PowerPoint it would cut to dancing around a fire while a guy wearing a sideways baseball cap sings to her. One of the videos the girl who was like 16 was in love with a 40+ year old man and they had some fun times running the the beach and dancing on a boat. But then the plot thickened when she dramatically runs to a Christian cross and started praying symbolizing that she was Christian and couldn't be with him because he was a Hindu. Then the old man started drinking in a cave burning photographs of her while crying and singing. Then they were on a beach again singing to each other through a silky sheet. BTW can I mention that I should win a prize for holding back my laughter because there were several people singing along next to me...I felt like I was in a mixture between a SNL Digital short and a Baked Alaska music video.

Because the flight to Humla was canceled and no scheduled flights for the next 2 weeks we decided to take the 15 hour bus ride back home so we could at least be home at Alice for the Diwali (festival of lights.) We arrive in Varanasi at 3:30 am and after 3 cups of chai and potato curry I feel healthy and ready for the all night dancing, fireworks, and candle lighting.

The entire trip was equal to driving to Aspen 5 times in 3 1/2 days on the Timber Wolf. I'm going to Nepal again in a couple weeks during our 5 day trek through the Himalayas with Tobi. This time it will be near Darjeeling and I'm praying Nepal can redeem itself.
Little brother on the bus floor going to Kathmandu.

The best part of the trip was when we had the idea to take our luggage on top the bus and ride up there. The view on the lower rolling jungle version on the Himalayas was stunning from up there.

No'rbu holding up a 22, symbolizing how long we had been on the bus so far...little did we know 22 down 33 to go.

The leader of the bus rode on the top with us a part of the way, he offered us some "Indian cigarettes" which means marijuana, but was totally understanding when we declined.

To pass the time during a traffic jam I taught him about photography. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. He took most of these pictures without me knowing. He is so smart and soaks up anything you teach him. At one time in a taxi his was on the phone with Sanjay from our school, and on another phone his parents from home and subsequently has to go back and forth from Nepali, Tomili, Hindi, and English. Too bad he couldn't have thrown in some Italian, Japanese or Tibetan because that might have been a world record.

Kathmandu near sunset on top of the bus.

Huge Buddha...bad picture.

Wearing with woolen socks because we thought we would be in freezing cold Humla later that day and he was been wearing the same clothes and socks for 3 days.

Typical and delicious

Lunchtime day 2

A pretty river flowing through the mountains. Photography was limited because safety and holding on the the bus came first.

too many Nepali 5 rupee notes

Really blurry picture of a horse drawn carriage, the Nepali version of an auto rickshaw.

the end