Ganpati 2013

Pauline and I went on a Ganesh tour in south Mumbai today.  A guide took us to see some of the most notable Ganeshas.  I tried to listen to all the Mythology to relate it to you so here goes!  the stories differ somewhat, but I will go with what the guide told us.

Parvati wanted to take bath and had no one to stand guard so she created a son out of clay etc.  and gave him life.  She told him to let NO one in.  Her husband Shiva came back and tried to enter - neither the son nor the father knew each other so Ganesha wouldn't let Shiva in.  Shiva became so enraged he sliced Ganesh's head off which greatly upset Parvati.  Shiva said he'd replace the head with whatever living creature his arrow first hit - an elephant.  Parvati was afraid people would make fun of his son so Shiva blessed him to make him well liked and fun loving.  He is the god of wisdom and learning, as well as the remover of obstacles.  His big head represents wisdom, broken tusk shows that he is not all knowing, big belly shows happiness etc. His vehicle is a mouse and it is usually included with him. 

The other gods in Hinduism are always depicted in the same way, but there is a lot of flexibility with Ganesha - He can have a variety number of heads or hands.  He can be depicted in different settings etc.

Ganesha Chaturthi is the festival celebrating his birthday.  It lasts for 10 days.  lord Ganesha bestows his presence on earth and when his spirit leaves, his followers immerse him in water.  Most families or small neighborhoods have small Ganesh idols and immerse him early in the festival.  While the idol is with them they have to have a puja (blessing) everyday and you have to offer sweets and other things to him.  Many believe he is a guest and shouldn't be left alone so they stay up with him all night.  This is why small communities only keep him for a few days.  The bigger ones are sponsored by companies or whole streets and there are more people to pay for him and take care of him.  When India was under British rule, Indians weren't allowed to gather in large groups so they used the festival to communicate politics etc.   

There is a village about 200 km from Mumbai where they make small Ganeshas all year for this festival.  Labor there is $3.00 a day instead of $6.00.  The huge Ganeshas are made where they sit in Mumbai.  The small ones cost between $30 medium one up to $600 and the huge ones over $2000. 

They had a Krishna pyramid for fun

21 heads and 42 hands

all the big ones have little ones with it because it is easier for people to worship it and leave offerings

in a scene that Krishna normally would be in

you can't see it well due to the lights but this one is eco friendly and will dissolve in the water

this group won for best Ganesha last year.  there were lots of worshippers here

this one is made out of chikki - a type of food

There was a crazy story with this one.  A demon asked Shiva to make him immortal and Shiva said he couldn't so the demon thought of a way around it.  He asked Shiva to make it so he won't die during the day or night, not on land or water, not by human or animal, not by weapon etc.  This seemed like he'd get to be immortal.  Vishnu found a way around it.  He made himself half lion/half human so he wasn't animal or human.  He killed him at exactly twilight so it wasn't day or night.  He killed him on his lap so he wasn't on land or sea.  and he killed him with his lion claws so no weapon.

this is the smallest one - he's like a half inch tall

this one was the coolest one - made out of snakes!

Not my first rodeo

I taught this phrase to some of the foreign staff :)

I had chest pain for a couple days which isn't a new thing.  I spent two years in terrible pain every time I took a breath.  I was on vicodin and Anti-inflammatory meds for a long time.  I've been off of them but I have three incidents of severe chest pain since March.  I took Advil for a few days to keep the edge off the pain but Friday the pain was much worse.  I don't tell people unless I have to because they freak out when they hear "chest pain" but I had to say something because breathing was hard and I needed better meds.  Of course people panicked and I had to get an EKG.  In the US that means tons of money and hours in the ER but here it is a lot easier.  Radika - the school nurse took me.  I refused to use a wheel chair in the school because it upsets the kids, but I did use one in the hospital.  They sent us upstairs to where they do the EKGs but said we had to pay first - downstairs. This is why you should never go to an Indian hospital by yourself!  There is no way I could have gone downstairs!!  It was 320 rupees - $4.87 :)  My EKG was perfect but I was in so much pain and having trouble catching my breath - they wanted me to go to the ER.  Thankfully Radika was with me and told them my symptoms were from a chronic illness we had a doctor coming to the school.  Dr. Lankani is the doctor who comes to my house when I am sick.   He was working at the US consulate which is a few blocks away from the school.  I told him it was my lungs.  That Lupus causes inflammation and in my heart and lung lining and causes extreme pain.  When I push on my chest, it feels better because it pushes the fluid in different places.  I told him I needed stronger anti-inflammatory meds than Advil and that I would need steroids to jump start fixing the pain.  He listened to my lungs and they showed exhalation problems.   Which is not new.  I have the lungs of a 90 year old!!  You know that test where you blow into the tube?  I fail it every time!!  Whenever I see a movie where someones car goes into a river and they hold their breath for two minutes while they get out??  I always think " I would die in 15 seconds!!"  That is literally how long I can hold my breath.

He agreed with everything I said :)  and I got my steroids and new anti-inflammatories and stomach meds to counter the anit-inflammatories.  I know the drill :)

I'm totally fine.  Not life-threatening at all.  Just very painful.  I went to the gym today and worked HARD.  People always think I should rest when I don't feel well, but I would be resting all the time!!  The fact that I do so much exercise is what keeps me from being disabled.  I know not to push it too hard and I know when I need to rest.  Planning on running the Mumbai half marathon :)  

First day back with Nilendra

I love my trainer, Nilendra!  He's funny, pushes me, and gets excited when I get excited!

He always makes me walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes to "warm up"  which I think is stupid since I walk 20 minutes to get the gym!!  but he wanted me to do 15 min every time, but I negotiated to 5. He came RUNNING up to me yesterday.  He missed me!  mostly because I am an excellent client and always show up (unless I am puking).  We play a flat fee for a year for the trainer, but my friend has a theory that the trainer only gets paid if we show up because we always have to sign their trainer book when we work out with them.  So if you are lazy and don't go, they don't get paid.  So he is happy that I show up when I say I am.

He went easy on me - only 60 squats! usually I do between 120-150 with him.  He didn't make me run sprints either!!  Good first day!

He has a friend that is a dietician and is getting further training and is studying athletes so he is interviewing his clients that are athletes.  So I had to tell him what I eat during training and what I eat when I'm not training.  You should have heard me try to explain what a pretzel is!!  (I've only seen them in one store in India - they aren't common)  We were going through what I eat on a normal day.  It all sounds good -
  dahi (or oatmeal) with fruit and honey
  apple or nuts for a snack
  rice (or pasta) with chicken and vegetables
  granola bar
   rice (or pasta) with chicken and vegetables

When he got done writing it I said - oh and chocolate cake (or candy bar, or cookies) .  He said lunch or dinner?  I said "both!"  He asked "how often?"  I said every day!!  He cracked up laughing.  He said his friend was going to show the answers to her instructor and revise the plan and give feedback.  I frowned and said "she's going to say no chocolate cake"  and he said "no, she's a friend of mine.  I'll tell her that the chocolate cake is a must"  ha!!  this is why I love Nilendra!

London - first three days

After I ran my half marathon in Killarney, I flew to London late Sunday night.  I had to pay a ridiculous amount of money ($200) for over weight bags and that was AFTER I threw a bunch of stuff away.

I am staying at a hotel chain called Tune hotel - in the Kings Cross area.  It is right by the tube, is clean and safe.  My room has no windows and I had to pay for TV, towels and internet, but it is really cheap for London!

The first day was really hot - 93 and I was super sore from running so it was a rough day.  I started off walking toward the Buckingham Palace.  On the way there I walked through Trafalgar Square and stopped at the National Portrait Gallery.  I'm not a huge art person so I just walked through the portraits, but a few caught my eye - Kate Middleton, Maggie Smith, and Marc Quinn.  Quinn froze quarts of his own blood and made a cast of it.  So there is a blood head bust of him in a special case in the Gallery.  Weird.  I made my way down the mall to Buckingham Palace.

Kate was in labor so lots of excitement at the Palace.  There were tons of news crews there waiting for the birth.  I got there at the tail end of the changing of the guard ceremony.

I rested in St. James park for a bit and continued walking to Picadillly circus, Big Ben, Downing Street, Houses of Parliament, Parliament Square, the London eye, St. Margaret's Church, Westminster Abbey (the line was huge so I didn't go in the Abbey).  I went to Churchill's War rooms and museum - fascinating.

On Tuesday I slept in a little.  It was hot and sprinkled a little.  Lots of England got storms but we were lucky.  I went to St. Paul's Cathedral, London Bridge, and London Tower.  They did a huge cannon salute to the new heir to the throne who was born yesterday.  The tower was great - a lot of bloody history.  I did not go to the Jewel tower.  My friend Stacy will be so disappointed, but the line was HUGE and it was hot and you couldn't take pictures anyway.


On Wednesday I walked to Kensington Palace and passed Harrod's and Victoria and Albert Museum.  I would like to go sometime - many museums are free here.  I spent some time walking in Hyde Park and the Palace gardens.

It was a little tricky getting to the Palace today. Some roads were blocked, there was lots of security, and lots of news stations because Will and Kate went home with the baby yesterday.  The Palace was good and they told lots of stories, but I can't keep it all straight!  There was an exhibit of some dresses of the Queen, Princess Margaret and Princess Diana.  I went back to Westminster Abbey and there was NO line.  I got right it.  You couldn't take pictures which is always a let down.  The middle part of the Abbey looks like a normal cathedral, but the rest of it is full of dead people and their monuments.   It is an active church - they have services there and of course weddings and the coronations are held there.  I find it odd because it's basically like getting married in a cemetery.  You are walking all over graves.  Many kings, queens, poets, authors, scientists etc are buried there - about 3300 total including Robert and Elizabeth Browning, Lord Byron, Lewis Carroll, Geoffery Chaucer, Charles Darwin, Sir Issac Newton,

It was another beautiful day today.  Really warm for English standards.  I'm going to stonehenge tomorrow :)

meeting Sally Parker

Sally Parker

I travel by myself fairly often and many people say they wouldn’t do it because they would be lonely, bored, or scared.  There are times that I wish someone was with me, but for the most part I’m fine traveling by myself.   You meet people in unexpected places.  At the half marathon in Killarney yesterday I saw a guy with a Houston marathon shirt on and I asked if he was from Houston – he was and we chatted for about 15 before the race.  At about mile 6 I heard a woman talking to a fellow runner and I could tell she was American so I asked her where she was from – we ran and chatted for the next 6 miles. 

Today I met Sally Parker - she went by "Sal".  I went to the train station about an hour before my train and her friend had dropped her off.  She is in her late 70s and had spent a month in Ireland visiting her friend and taking weaving classes.  She had a reserved seat and asked me to sit with her.  I helped her get her bags on and off the train and we chatted for the 3 hour train ride to Dublin.  She told me all about her life in SC and her kids and their spouses/partners and her grandkids and nephews etc… She was a nurse, her husband a doctor and pretty much everyone in her family was a PA, EMT, nurse etc.  Her oldest son died of pancreatic cancer 6 weeks after they found out he had it.  Another son adopted 3 kids from china and Guatamala.  She asked all about India and MAET.  We talked about technology for quite a bit.  She just got a new phone – plain nokia and the lady kept trying to get her to get a smart phone and told her she’d be back in less than a year for one – and now she is thinking that may be true!  Her nephew wants her to get a mac and she said she doesn’t want to learn something new..  but she hears great things about macs and says she’s capable of learning so why not?  Her son told her she should get an ipad and she doesn’t think she needs one – I told her all about what I do with mine – I think she’ll get one soon!  She was such a delightful lady learning to do so much in her late 70s and traveling as much as she can.  She thanked me profusely for sitting with her and chatting.   If I’d been with a friend, I probably wouldn’t have said more than hello to her. 

Why don’t I mind travelling alone?  Because I meet people like Sally Parker.

Maybe I should actually train

When people find out I run races, they always say things like "I don't like to run" "I don't have time to train"  "I could never do it"  Well, I don't train either and it is a problem.  Don't try this at home!!  I was running pretty solid for a month or so in Jan/Feb then nada... This is why I don't run whole marathons - I'd actually have to train for that!!  I can bust out a half marathon with no training, but imagine what I could do if I trained!

About 6 min after the start gun, I was in the last 10 people of the race.  One of the men near me lamented how we were already last and I took that as my cue to be cheerleader for the pack of the back.  The man's brother took off and the other brother said he " was out of shape and drank a lot"  :)  I saw him a few times during the race.  I asked a woman who was a bit chubbier than me and asked if it was her first - she was struggling by mile two.  she said her husband was a massive marathoner and she was "tired of waiting for him at finish lines while he gets the glory of the finish"  She is my new hero!  I chatted with a really big man that you would pass on the street and think he was fat and lazy.  He was speed walking the marathon - his TWENTIETH this year!!!  He also does 50mi bicycle races etc.   Met a man from Houston (He was at the front of the pack - I met him before the race started)  and I ran with a woman for about 6 miles - she was from Ohio and was traveling Ireland with her husband for their 35th anniversary.

It was super hot and hilly.  I finished, took a shower and nap and went back out and people were finishing at the 8 hour mark.   Go them!!!

Today marked my 16th half marathon.
San Diego, Dallas, San Antonio (twice), Chicago, NYC, Williamsburg, Disney (twice), Texas hill country, Collage Station, Bunny run, Clear lake, Mumbai, Waterford Ireland, Killarney Ireland.

5 full marathons - Phoenix, Alaska, NYC, Chicago, Disney.

I will keep running races as long as I can, but maybe I should train :) 

Summer Camp for Teachers

I am currently earning my Masters of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) from Michigan State University.  Last year I went to school for a month in Dublin and this year I was in Galway.  If you do the whole program in the summer cohort, you complete 9 credits each summer and you do one online class.  There are about 50 students in the summer cohort.  We are a mix of international teachers and US teachers (mostly Michigan).  We go to class M-th 8:30 - 3:30 and Fri 9- 12.  We have a ton of work to do after class and on the weekends, but we do get some time to explore our host country.  Jean Pierre is the student life person and handles any non-academic questions we have and plans field trips and weekend outings.

The first weekend I went to Waterford by myself to run a half marathon.

Two of my roomies Janine and Blair

For the 4th of July, the whole program went on a field trip to Kylemore Abbey and other places in the Connemara area.

I had planned to go on a trip the second weekend, but had two much work to do.  On the third weekend I went to the Aran Islands with a group of MAETers.

They program is awesome.  I knew I wouldn't be able to learn technology through online classes so this program fit me perfectly.  We live in dorms and pretty much work, study, eat, and sleep together for 4 weeks.  This year I had three roommates - Janine (1st grade in Jakarta), Jessie (3rd grade in Jakarta), and Blair (art in Michigan).  Janine, Blair and I lived together last year with two other women.  It's nice to have people to have dinner with, go walking with, and work on projects together.  Our class was great this year.  We had 2 fantastic instructors and we had 7 new people in year two that were not with us last year.  It is great to have deep discussion about teaching and learning - teachers don't get to do that nearly enough.  This year we had 2 weeks to put together a technology conference for teachers.  This is us celebrating after we finished.