Tick tock. 4 days, 15 hours

I think this might be my last blog from abroad, though I do plan to keep blogging when I get home. First, I'll catch up with some travel photos, which I'll send from the comfort of my living room using a broad-band network and a virus-free computer with a working DVD drive. Then, who knows what. Maybe I'll keep it as a photo blog.

The last 14 days of my travels are being spent at Quiet Healing Center in Auroville, India. Auroville is on the east coast of India and the guest house overlooks the Bay of Bengal, which offers a beautiful view of the sunrise. Check out the link to the web site from a few posts ago. I was looking forward to lazy afternoons on the beach but, unfortunately, this is not the kind of beach that you'd like to stroll along. You see, the local fisherman use it as their toilet. Yep. Yuk. It's really not a big deal though. There is small, brick, bougainvillea-covered wall that forms an effective barrier between the grounds of the resort and the poopy sand. From a hammock between two palms, you can make out the ocean view but you can't see the locals doing their daily business : ) Yay!

The food here, again, is fantastic. The residents of Auroville are mainly western and the food is prepared by western standards. That means that, hallelujah, I can actually eat the salads! So I've been eating lots of salads. Good stuff.

My days are ridiculously simple here. Reading, yoga, meditation, eating, and sleeping. Hence, that lack of posts over the last week or so. To keep busy, I took a 1-day workshop called Pills to Peas. I was expecting a workshop on the curative ability of different types of foods. Instead, I learned a lot of what I already knew, that diseases can be both caused and cured by diet. According to the China Study (arguably, the most research-based book on the subject), many health problems are directly related to consumption of animal products. The workshop was presented by an Indian woman, a physician and homeopathic doctor, who has been a vegan for many years. While I may not become vegan (even though the research is very convincing), I did have two excellent vegan meals which were tasty and satisfying. For me, the myth of the starving (and taste-starved) vegan has been dispelled.

Tick tock. 4 days, 15 hours until I fly out of Delhi. These last few days have gone a little slowly . It will be good when I have things to do again, like make my way by bus to Chennai, catch my flight to Delhi (on the 10th), and then catch my flight home (2AM on the 11th). My itinerary is: Delhi to Seoul and then Seoul to Chicago on the 11th. Stay in Chicago for a few days. Chicago to Columbus on the night of the 16th.

Thanks to everyone who offered me a place to crash when I return, though it looks like my apartment will be free. Yay : ) It will be nice to be home. See you soon!

Namaste!