You're never really that far from home...

My god this trip gets odder and odder, and pretty much cooler and cooler. One day since I wrote and I"m not really sure how to start. Im in Bodhgaya, its a full moon, and my day was an eclectic mix of meditating, shopping, and eating expensive yet free buffets with 50 americans.

I'll explain. I woke up this morning feeling a bit disgruntled for no good reason. Maybe the mosquitos coming through the net and biting my butt in the night could have contributed. And the oppressive heat. And the power outages every 5 minutes in this town! With no backup generators, so the TV goes out and the lights and fan. In any case, I had breakfast at the same place I had dinner last night, and when the super nice waiter suggested chai, I finished off 2 huge cups because he brought me the Hindustan times! And I got to almost finish off my Danielle Steele crap I got for free, yet is suprisingly good and readable, kinda replaces (almost) As the World Turns :)

Anyway the day started with pretty much the nicest, most altruistic Indians I've met so far, and it had me thinking, is it the region? Or is it me? Maybe they can sense I"ve turned a corner here, maybe I started out vulnerable but nice, turned into a raging defensive maniac for a while, and then realized I had to submit to this country and now am fairly amiable again? But not as vulnerable? I think its something like that. I realized how long my conversations are with the men, even the women and the village kids. I got nice and lost in some rice fields today and it didn't even worry me. I walked through tiny dirt paths and even in front of some people's huts and after a cordial morning "namaste" they let me pass with minimal hassle. The little kids ran screaming after me and giggling and i had them pose for a picture, smiled at them and said goodbye, and that was that. Some schoolboys followed me down the street, 3 cars and 3 motorbikes offered to take me into town and i smiled and refused, and they left it at that. 

I look at myself in the mirror and see a really really dirty skinned person, with crazy looking hair that can be styled with just my hand, kinda stays in whatever way i mold it ( i do wash it, but the water is hard and usually freezing and i want to conserve shampoo, and well you get the picture) and cleaning under my fingernails is kind of pointless, considering they get dirty in 5 minutes) and the only makeup i ever wear is the faintest hint of eyeliner, i mean my eyes are virtually non-existent without it!!! And i wear these comical "ali baba" pants that no indian would be caught dead in but there is a major market for manufacturing them for foreigners, and a bunch of tibetan jewelry that i bought today. I look at myself, and I guess I look the part. One might cast me in a play about backpackers now.

Maybe this is why they seem to treat me as less of a target and more part of the scenery.... well I woudln't go that far. But I got lost today trying to find the international meditation center, thought id try to "squeeze it in"... not waht you are supposed to do with meditation i fear but ah well... saw it from across an odd park, it ws odd because the park only had one entrance, and the center was over the fence, the fence was too high to jump,  so i had to go around the park, and then i found myself in a tibetan monastary, with 2 asian tour buses full of asians, and the monks even had a laugh as i wandered around somewhat confused. then i was in the fields, and then with the villagers, and then praying for no snakes, and then, totally randomly, i was in front of my hotel when i thought i was on the other side of town. 

I meandered around and found myself at the main temple here in Bodhgaya, and it was AMAZING! This was the temple to commemorate Buddha's rise to enlightenment, right in this very spot! The very tree! Around it were beautiful gardens, a lake with a giant buddha in it, and monks chanting and meditating around the tree. I sat down, near me were women dressed all in white, and lots of monks, and I closed my eyes and sat down for 1.5 hours! Of course I am new at this and thoughts of family, friends, plans, chris, apartments in manhattan, hairspray, drifted through my head. I tried to push them out, i think i was semi successful and at the very least i felt refreshed and very peaceful. Mabye it was the constant asian influence throughout my life, but the surrounding presence of tibetans, burmese, japanese, chinese, vietnamese and thai people and monastaries actually really put me at ease. And every time I see a Buddha I feel that way also. It seems more a way of thinking than the kind of dogma I associate with other organized religions. At least that's how it feels to me, and I like it.

After meditating I was looking at the lake, and a Burmese monk with glasses and a friendly smile asked me where I was from, and for once I was convinced a man wasn't trying to chat me up! He proceeded to talk to me about meditation, how one must shower for the body-cleaning and meditate for the mind cleaning! He talked about breathing, and practicing banishing other thoughts, he was very kind and funny. I politely excused myself after a while walking with him cuz i really had to pee and sometimes don't know where social situations are going, nice man but didn't really want to spend hours with him, im so anti social sometimes.

I ended up in a tibetan jewelry store... dear lord I think I might even like it better than indian jewelry. I bought 5 pieces for 20 dollars! I had to sit the boy down and talk to him, down to business. I sat in the store for almost 2 hours! We finally settled on the deal and i walked out, triumphant, as they were shaking their heads and doing figures on the calculator when i left. Came home to try to check if the tv was working, it was, for 5 minutes  i watched 13 going on 30 and then out again. Briefly thought my hidden stash of money and debit card was stolen, luckily I overlooked my locked pocket in my bag. 

Out the door to the free zen meditation session at 5 in the japanese monastary, and arrived 10 min late, sat in the back of all the meditators, noticed there were tons of foreigners! where had they all been? there were like 60 of us. I had no idea what the procedure was and at times felt like i was at a dance class at broadway dance center clueless as ever. which way to bow? to sit? to file out? to walk around the perimeter of the temple? the chants, the gongs, the silence, while the sun set and the full moon came out over the japanese temple and i felt like i was in a tropical palm tree laden japan, we even had a japanese monk. It was cool. And coming out at the end i took a pic of the full moon and heard some americans talking about dinner and sounding really nyc... lingo and all. One had a shaved head so i assumed she was really hard core buddhist... turns out there are like 40 americans in this monastary program for a study abroad intensive thing, and they are here for 3 months! They have mixed feelings about all of it and the girls i met were ready to go home. It was an american dynamic that made me feel instantly like i was home, and when they said they were getting a free buffet with the program, i hopped on the backpacker freeloading bandwagon and even got approved to eat with them in the tablecloth, full silverware, 3 course dinner buffett! It was delicious and free and we talked about everything, I even have tentative plans for a kingfisher with one of the girls tomorrow night; she said she knows ways around the rules they have for them! Ha.

So i got really fortunate tonight, the whole day was good and I'm up early tomrrow to switch hotels cuz this one is full, and finally go to the meditation center. i think thurs i will go to the caves where buddha spent years becoming enlightened. I'm actually relieved I have 3 full days here, this place is wicked. And I've lots of temples and monastaries to visit tomorrow too. 

Ok back to my hot dark electricity-less room! Goodnight all.