To celebrate Jonah and I rented a car/driver to go on a day trip to Shravanabelagola, but he was up all night sick with food poisoning and was out for the day. Flying solo today was not what I had in mind, but I didn't want the day to go to waste. Before practice I ran into one of the girls that I met a week ago through Joseph and asked if she was interested in going. She was up for the trip and another girl that stayed at Joseph's was also joining us. I got about 4 hours sleep and slept most of the car ride. I don't know these two girls very well and in a way, it was ironic to spend the day with them. I usually spend my birthday with the people closest to me. So to spend the day with two people that I barely knew was a bit weird, but good in so many ways. I didn't tell them that it was my birthday and I don't know if that is considered lying through omission. One of the girls is from Germany and the other one from Lufthansa. Actually I think that is the name of an airline. Well where ever the home base of that airline is, that is where she is from. Both of them are very nice and feel bad not being able to understand the one from Lufthansa very well. I try to be polite and answer when I can, but at the same time I also feel bad saying that I don't understand her. Her accent is very heavy and she mumbles a bit. There was this girl at the rock gym who use to always talk to me and I couldn't understand a word she said. Her accent was so heavy and every time we would converse I would always say "yes" and nod. There were a few times that the question she was asking me wasn't a yes or no answer. She would bust me and I would have to walk away and ignore the conversation ever happened. I learned that the best way to communicate with her was through email and text. In this situation, how do I tell someone to email or text me when they are sitting in front of me. I kept to myself the majority of the day to avoid any awkward conversations.
Shravanabelagola is Jain pilgrimage about 2.5 hours away from Mysore. The town is famous for the naked statue of Gommateshwara , which is 58 feet high, 26 feet wide and has 10 feet long feet. Gommateshwara was a King who renounced his kingdom and spent the rest of his life meditating till he attained Nirvana. I don't know much about the Jains or the reason for the naked, uncircumcised statue. Anyhow, it makes for a memorable birthday. When I got home to show Jonah the pictures his comment was "it's just not polite and why is it hairless". There was more to our conversation that I don't need to share. He still wasn't feeling well when I got home, but I think the pictures of the statue cheered him up a little bit.
My dinner request for this evening was pizza. Jonah was a good sport and he let me drag him out to Pizza Hut again. The pizza was so gross and so good. With the food poisoning episode, I don't think we will be eating Indian food anytime soon. Tomorrow night, I'm having dinner with a group of people from the shala. J #1 organized this dinner for me which I'm very grateful for. It is nice that these people are coming out to celebrate with me even though I don't know any of them very well. I've met so many nice people on this trip and couldn't have asked for anything more.
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