Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! 2009 is finally here. The staff here have made it their 'resolution' to speak as much English as they can - for the year. They've exhausted most of their vocabulary in the first 10 minutes of the day, so there is much to learn from here. It is too funny listening to them trying to talk - they're laughing, as well, along with the only staff-member who knows English. We'll see how long this lasts. I'm betting that by tomorrow it will be back to square one.
On the flip, the village did celebrate pretty loudly last night. I was a bit disappointed that none of my students were feeling festive enough to drag me to go down there. But I took comfort in the fact that the music was blasting and firecrackers were popping through the night.
The 1st also marks the opening of the gift shop I've been trying to start here at Vigyan Ashram. Students have been busy the past couple weeks making products to sell to the various visitors we get here on a daily basis. My office is now a half-office and half-gift shop. I made a small walkway with rocks on the side that leads into the gift shop (click on the pic at the left for a bigger view). I'll take more pictures once I collect and setup all the products today. Wish me luck!
On the flip, the village did celebrate pretty loudly last night. I was a bit disappointed that none of my students were feeling festive enough to drag me to go down there. But I took comfort in the fact that the music was blasting and firecrackers were popping through the night.
The 1st also marks the opening of the gift shop I've been trying to start here at Vigyan Ashram. Students have been busy the past couple weeks making products to sell to the various visitors we get here on a daily basis. My office is now a half-office and half-gift shop. I made a small walkway with rocks on the side that leads into the gift shop (click on the pic at the left for a bigger view). I'll take more pictures once I collect and setup all the products today. Wish me luck!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Keep That 808 Bumpin'
The first few days I arrived in Pabal were incredibly depressing, by far some of the worst days I've ever experienced in life. I had no way of communicating with anyone else - no cell phone, no internet, no common language with locals, no anything. With the monsoon season wanting to make a dramatic ending, I felt extremely lonely, unhappy, and cold. The only thing that kept me going was the music. It was loud and thunderous but felt slightly distant. Nonetheless, it gave me some comfort knowing there was music. As I later found out, it was coming from down below. The local village center seems to love celebrating any event by pulling out the 1000-watt speakers (running them on a generator, of course) and blasting anything from traditional Marathi bhajans to Bollywood music to some Sean Paul (Temperature - yeah, seriously).
Some mornings I wake up to the music that was playing the night before. It's pretty relaxing. Maybe it helps me feel like I'm really not in the middle of no where or that there are people who enjoy rhythmic music as much as I do but it sure is helpful. And with this being the wedding season and New Year's around the corner, the music will probably be running non-stop. Ohhh yeaahh!
Side note: To indicate how good the music is, the students have been banned from going to the village due to the sole reason that they might start dancing and end up staying through the night. You wouldn’t ban people from dancing to crappy music, would you?
Some mornings I wake up to the music that was playing the night before. It's pretty relaxing. Maybe it helps me feel like I'm really not in the middle of no where or that there are people who enjoy rhythmic music as much as I do but it sure is helpful. And with this being the wedding season and New Year's around the corner, the music will probably be running non-stop. Ohhh yeaahh!
Side note: To indicate how good the music is, the students have been banned from going to the village due to the sole reason that they might start dancing and end up staying through the night. You wouldn’t ban people from dancing to crappy music, would you?
