Final days of class and getting ready to leave Thrissur.

Oh my, oh my, has it been busy. I am tying up loose ends, practicing hard, and keeping busy with new friends and family.  I also had some hiccups in internet service for a few days. Lost some posts and information. It seems to be all fixed. Fingers crossed.

I will keep this post short and sweet, today.

I am wrapping up my month in Thrissur with my Father-in-Law and family, before I make a move to the next part of my Indian adventure. This is also the last week of my Bharatanatyam dance lessons. My official last day is November 24th. I leave for Delhi the following morning, then from Delhi fly directly to Trivandrum for a full month. I will be in intensive Ashtanga Yoga training until December 30th.

Wrapping up class is bittersweet. I am working hard on the Padam item. Doing my best to learn the song (lyrics, melody, and beat), hastas, and the rapid footwork. Not to mention the nattuvagnam beats that my feat must dance to.

 Learning the Padam item has been hard work. Pulling together all the dance elements into an item is very hard. I also strapped on the ghungroos for the first time in practice. Learning to make the ghungaroo "sing" their different tones is a challenge-not only do the feet need to clap at different tones, but the chimes need to sound differently too. Who every said Bharatanatyam was easy?! Surly not me.

I have learned a great deal in the last 30 day. I am very proud of myself. This dance form is difficult. Frankly, it is one of the most intensive things I have ever learned. I have such respect and admiration for the dancers and teachers of this art form. I feel good about the amount of work and information I learned in this last month. I feel grateful to my body for being good to me, and of course grateful to my teacher.

I bashed my little toe last night practicing. It is red, puffy and probably sprained. Not good. I will tape it up and keep dancing, but need to be mindful of it. I don't want to make it worse.

I had a bit of a hectic day today. Went to Varna Dance designs again to pick up some items and put in a second stitching order. That place was so busy. It it the season for dance competitions and shows so it was jam packed with people renting and purchasing costumes. I also had to stop and get my anarkali suit tailored. Finding a good tailor here is quite difficult, even for native people. There are millions of shops but the work can be pretty bad. I will see in 2 days if it was a good or bad tailor. Again, Fingers crossed.

I miss home when I see snowy pics on facebook. Keep posting them, guys. I don't miss the cold, but oddly I miss shoveling the drive. It's getting hot here. I miss not sweating constantly.

To feed my homesickness today I made and ate a gigantic bowl of fresh popcorn with butter. OMG, was so good. I am ashamed to say that this popcorn and a sprite was my dinner...not a great choice, but it made me feel really good.

Ok, signing off, gotta practice.

Namaste,
Christy