back at the beach

Hurray for Fridays. I just finished my second breakfast of the day at Fusion, a cafe in Kovalam. For my first breakfast I indulged in the very western choice of muesli (granola) with banana and milk, accompanioed by masala chai. For my second breakfast, I had puri masala - puffed indian bread with a potato and vegetable curry. Oh, and more masala chai. I am stuffed to the gills but feel GREAT.
Yesterday morning I awoke to find my cold has begun the progression from my head and nose down into my chest, which actually delighted me to no end because even though my chest hurts and I am now sporting a very sexy wet hacking cough, I can once again breath through my nose. Crucial for yoga, but even more importantly, for sleeping. So I have been able to sleep quite well the last 2 nights which has made a huge difference in my mental outlook. Also the fact that tomorrow is my last day in the ashram!!!
So on Wednesday we learned how to teach yoga to the elderly, in chairs, and then also how to teach it to kids. Iinstead of just telling us, we were taught as if we were kids by skinny swami (the zimbabwean one, much nicer than the italian one) which was fun - he had us frog leaping from mat to mat at one point, and competing against each other in a simon says version of sun salutations.
But the real entertainment happened thursday morning when we had our pregnancy class. We were instructed to bring the pillow from our bed to the class - and then told to stick it up our shirts and tuck our shirts in for the class. Guys too. You can only imagine the entertainement value of the guys around us with pregnant bellies trying to do the asanas. Then halfway through the class, Anna who is from copenhagen but lives in London where she is a professional dancer, gave birth as her pillow fell right out... guess you had to be there. Sadly, after several days of perfect behaviour, the camera is on the fritz again, so I wasn't able to capture any of these moments, but I think my classmates did and will hopefully share.
Our afternoon asana class was more serious - we held each asana for a ridiculous amount of time. Despite not feeling great I decided to participate because it was our last yoga class in the ashram. I just skipped on of the breathing exercises which was too challenging with the congestion. But he had us try to hold the headstand for 7 minutes (my max is 1.5, but I came up and down 4 or 5 times, so it was cumulatively quite long) and the shoulder stand for 5 minutes straight (that one I accomplished). It was an exhausting class but felt good. I won't go into the details of our last lectures with Italian swami, mostly because I have learned that the best way to avoid being angered by his comments is to discretely read my book throughout the lecture and completely tune him out. I'll just share two gems I gleamed from yesterday with you - he explained to us that Coke and Diet Coke are pure poison and can probably kill you from across the room, and that when Drs and Nurses go on strike, deaths in hospitals decrease 50%... ie western medicine is a disaster and should be avoided at all costs. I quietly popped another advil and sudafed cocktail and continued to read Testimony by Anita Shreve, which I fininshed and have now moved on to David Sedaris's latest, thanks to Dana's reccomendation.
So now i will go back and rejoin the two Helens in the cafe (one english, one german) and continue to study for our exam tomorrow... The plan is to study a bit, then take a walk, during which I will try to either get the cam fixed or buy a disposable for tomorrow night, then a quick swim, then more food and studying. We have to be back in the ashram by 9 for evening Satsang and then tomorrow after morning Satsang we have our 3 hour written exam... but we only need to score 50% to pass, and then tomorrow night is graduation and Sunday we are out of here! We could spend Sunday day and night at the ashram (its covered in the cost of our course) but instead we are going to get a hotel room here at the beach for that night. And Monday, I fly to meet Mom in Mumbai and the second half of this adventure begins.
Kay, all for now...