Cure for Pain

These past few days, I have been thinking about my stay here in India.  Several times I've asked myself if I have served my purpose here.  For some reason I now have these expectations from myself that I never had coming here.  Jonah and I were having coffee yesterday and he brought up a good point.  My purpose for this trip was to take the opportunity to practice and to enjoy the experience -  nothing more.  So the fact that I expect some sort of epiphany as a result of this trip is ridiculous.  One thing I do know is that being away for as long as I have, it has given me the opportunity to get to know myself a little bit more. I've developed a high tolerance for certain things being away from home.  I'm also learning about my needs to be a happy, functioning person.  Being here and not having a sort of security blanket gave me the opportunity to create the type of environment I want to be in.  Some of these things I already know, but since I tend to ignore them, the learning experience reincarnates itself. 

Practice the past two days has been rough.  The break threw me off schedule and again, I'm not feeling well.  My sister might get her wish and I may go home as originally planned on my itinerary.  Right now I feel like I have to bust my butt in practice since I have a short amount of time left.  My knees have been bothering me and I'm trying really hard not to cause too much damage.  With all the new people at the shala, I have to admit I'm a bit distracted.  There are more beginners that require more attention and I can't help but look to see who is constantly getting yelled at.  My first 2 weeks were like that, so I feel for those people. 

I almost forgot to mention this and I'm glad that I remembered.  On Sunday, Jonah and I had a long day exploring and we were both really hungry.  I asked him if he wanted to get pizza and I was stoked he was up for it.  There is a Pizza Hut restaurant and a Domino's Pizza directly across from each other a few kilometers from here.  I pass by it all the time and often wondered if the pizza is the "American" version or the India version.  India version meaning it contains masala.  The French put jambon in everything and in India, everything has masala.  Pizza Hut had a full menu and was more of a sit-down place, so we decided to go there.  At first I was a bit weary, but I was so hungry I would of eaten curry pizza if that was the only thing on the menu.  As luck would have it, there was a "normal" pizza on the menu and I was happy. 

I'm afraid to say that eating at Pizza Hut was one of the best meals I've had on this trip. Can't say that will be the last time I eat there. The food was simple and everything I needed to taste to feel a bit of home.  At home, Pizza Hut is not even an option, but here it's my oasis in the middle of the desert.