so i suppose i could provide a short update of this past weekend....
we went to Hassan which is quite possibly the shittiest town in the world. it's like everything is under construction, and covered in mud and dirt. just not a pleasant place...plus, it rained the whole time. we stayed in a hotel that had the most confusing toilet EVER...you had to turn a handle to turn the water on, then flush then let go, then turn the handle off. hmmmm.
but we walked up about 600 steps (i counted) to the Mahavira statue...it's a jain monolith, and the tallest one in india (maybe elsewhere too? or maybe i'm making this up). i thought it wasn't that difficult to climb, but my calves thought otherwise the next morning...i looked like an old woman trying to walk around the next day.
we also wen to an ayurvedic hospital that day...let me tell you, i would NEVER check myself in there. it was really interesting to see and everything, and learn the ideas behind ayurvedic health, but the tour of the place was awkward x100000000. we were led into hospital rooms where people were having examinations, where doctors were being administered tests, and where a woman had just given birth to a baby and was resting. the patients had no privacy from the first class, VIP american students. i ended up not going in some rooms just because i couldn't stand how awkward it felt to impede on their privacy. at one point, we were brought into an anatomy class, and we look, and they're disecting a human body...they make us gather around, and hold up the freshly removed pelvis for us to see. they then took us into a back room, where they flipped on a switch. in the room was a giant blue metal box. they opened it up, and we took a look inside. i should have known when i smelled the room, but the box was filled with several bloated cadavers, waiting for their turn on the disecting table. slkdfjaslkdf. yums.
they then took us to the "museum" on the hospital grounds. the museum was really a chance for them to showcase assorted disected body parts in glass jars of formaldehyde. there was a human head, bisected, so one could view a cross section of the brain, nasal passages, etc. there were lungs, hearts, brains, limbs stripped of flesh to reveal the structure of the muscles beneath, and then when we turned the corner....babies. there were rows upon rows of fetus and full term babies in jars. some had physical deformities. others were born still-born. and I, who usually isn't phased by these things, had a hard time looking at it all.
it was a really bizarre place overall. very interesting, but bizarre, nonetheless.
the next day, we went to halebid and belur...two hoysala temples. the characteristics of the hoysala temples are the extremely intricate details given to the carvings which COVER the outside of the buildings. Gods, Goddesses, animals, scenes from the mahabharata, ramayana, and other important scriptures...even VERY detailed carvings of tantric sex scenes. it was incredible. they totally topped the temple (Somnathpur) that we went to the week before, which was a hoysala temple as well. that's what the majority of the pictures i took were from.
anyway, now i'm back and am getting ready for my 14 days of vacation, followed directly by 2 weeks of "class travel" which really means EduVaca to the max....essentially i have the next month off. aunt paula is coming on friday, and is staying with me until October 3rd, when we leave for the trip. i'm SO excited to have someone come and visit. i miss family so much.
my room has also returned to being a jungle...i thought i had it under control, but apparently i was wrong. last night, before i went to bed, i killed THE BIGGEST spider ever. then, at 3am, i was awaken by the screaming chirps of a big big gecko on my wall near my bed. i jumped up, and decided to use the bathroom where i saw more spiders around my sink, and a baby cockroach on the floor (not to mention that weird, un-identifiable creature which still resides in the bathroom). so i couldn't fall back asleep and fooled around on the computer for a few hours, listening to joanna newsom (Ys is unbelievable). while on my computer, i felt something on my foot, i look down and see this HUGE shadow run under my desk. i get down on all fours to take a look and see an ENORMOUS cockroach. i destroyed it.
crazy.
so, yeah, i miss everyone a lot, but things are getting more and more comfortable here every day. when we return from our weekend trips to the guest house, i get the feeling that i'm going "home" which is really nice. i need that.
i hope the fall is treating you well...crisp air, apples, cruncy leaves, sweaters, baking. i miss it all.
xoxo Laura
we went to Hassan which is quite possibly the shittiest town in the world. it's like everything is under construction, and covered in mud and dirt. just not a pleasant place...plus, it rained the whole time. we stayed in a hotel that had the most confusing toilet EVER...you had to turn a handle to turn the water on, then flush then let go, then turn the handle off. hmmmm.
but we walked up about 600 steps (i counted) to the Mahavira statue...it's a jain monolith, and the tallest one in india (maybe elsewhere too? or maybe i'm making this up). i thought it wasn't that difficult to climb, but my calves thought otherwise the next morning...i looked like an old woman trying to walk around the next day.
we also wen to an ayurvedic hospital that day...let me tell you, i would NEVER check myself in there. it was really interesting to see and everything, and learn the ideas behind ayurvedic health, but the tour of the place was awkward x100000000. we were led into hospital rooms where people were having examinations, where doctors were being administered tests, and where a woman had just given birth to a baby and was resting. the patients had no privacy from the first class, VIP american students. i ended up not going in some rooms just because i couldn't stand how awkward it felt to impede on their privacy. at one point, we were brought into an anatomy class, and we look, and they're disecting a human body...they make us gather around, and hold up the freshly removed pelvis for us to see. they then took us into a back room, where they flipped on a switch. in the room was a giant blue metal box. they opened it up, and we took a look inside. i should have known when i smelled the room, but the box was filled with several bloated cadavers, waiting for their turn on the disecting table. slkdfjaslkdf. yums.
they then took us to the "museum" on the hospital grounds. the museum was really a chance for them to showcase assorted disected body parts in glass jars of formaldehyde. there was a human head, bisected, so one could view a cross section of the brain, nasal passages, etc. there were lungs, hearts, brains, limbs stripped of flesh to reveal the structure of the muscles beneath, and then when we turned the corner....babies. there were rows upon rows of fetus and full term babies in jars. some had physical deformities. others were born still-born. and I, who usually isn't phased by these things, had a hard time looking at it all.
it was a really bizarre place overall. very interesting, but bizarre, nonetheless.
the next day, we went to halebid and belur...two hoysala temples. the characteristics of the hoysala temples are the extremely intricate details given to the carvings which COVER the outside of the buildings. Gods, Goddesses, animals, scenes from the mahabharata, ramayana, and other important scriptures...even VERY detailed carvings of tantric sex scenes. it was incredible. they totally topped the temple (Somnathpur) that we went to the week before, which was a hoysala temple as well. that's what the majority of the pictures i took were from.
anyway, now i'm back and am getting ready for my 14 days of vacation, followed directly by 2 weeks of "class travel" which really means EduVaca to the max....essentially i have the next month off. aunt paula is coming on friday, and is staying with me until October 3rd, when we leave for the trip. i'm SO excited to have someone come and visit. i miss family so much.
my room has also returned to being a jungle...i thought i had it under control, but apparently i was wrong. last night, before i went to bed, i killed THE BIGGEST spider ever. then, at 3am, i was awaken by the screaming chirps of a big big gecko on my wall near my bed. i jumped up, and decided to use the bathroom where i saw more spiders around my sink, and a baby cockroach on the floor (not to mention that weird, un-identifiable creature which still resides in the bathroom). so i couldn't fall back asleep and fooled around on the computer for a few hours, listening to joanna newsom (Ys is unbelievable). while on my computer, i felt something on my foot, i look down and see this HUGE shadow run under my desk. i get down on all fours to take a look and see an ENORMOUS cockroach. i destroyed it.
crazy.
so, yeah, i miss everyone a lot, but things are getting more and more comfortable here every day. when we return from our weekend trips to the guest house, i get the feeling that i'm going "home" which is really nice. i need that.
i hope the fall is treating you well...crisp air, apples, cruncy leaves, sweaters, baking. i miss it all.
xoxo Laura
posted by nadelblog at 10:05 AM
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