Last Saturday night was "Crepe Night" at Tina's. I missed the last "Crepe Night" because I was stuck at the Dasara Parade so I didn't want to miss it. I love eating at Tina's because of the food and the atmosphere. I should actually say I love eating...period. "Crepe Night" is just an excuse to eat. Anyway, Tina made some really good banana chocolate crepes and lime crepes. I obviously had one of each and was tempted to have a third one. I'm so proud of myself for resisting the temptation(maybe I am evolving or maybe not). She also have vegetable crepes but the banana chocolate was the best. I can't wait for the next crepe night.
After Tina's I headed home at around 8PM. When I got home I got a call from Fiona. She was leaving Mysore the following day and was having drinks at the Metropole Hotel. It was a little too late for me but Fiona and Katie have a very special place in my heart so I had to go. Katie was the first western I met here in Mysore. I had dinner with her on my first night at the Green Hotel. The following evening I met Fiona. I hardly see them because they practice with another yoga teacher(Vinkatesh) them so I didn't want to miss the opportunity. I got to the hotel at around 8:30PM. I met other Vinkatesh's student but I spent most of my time talking to Fiona because I know she'll be leaving. Although I haven't spent very much time with her, I know that our paths will one day cross. Katie is here for another month and I hope to hangout with her more often. I don't know if she realizes it but I love her to death. In the short amount of time I've spent with her, she seems to know more about me than the other people here. She's so easy to talk and it's so easy to be me with her. Katie plans to come to the Philippines when I'm there next year and I hope to visit her in Australia one of these days. I got home a little pass 10PM and didn't get to bed until almost 11PM(way past my bedtime). I knew that my practice would suffer the following day but it was worth.
The good thing about having a bad practice day is that it's followed with an amazing practice day. That seems to be my trend. Sunday's practice was terrible but today's practice was great. I got to bed late Saturday night and didn't sleep well that night so I arrived at the shala grouchie and tired(not a good combination). It was a led class and it started at 5AM. I normally practice at the 6AM slot and the extra hour of sleep seems to make a difference. I should get used to waking up earlier though. It's only a question of time before they move me to the 5AM slot. I will hold on this slot for as long as I can because waking up at 4AM doesn't seem that exciting.
After practice yesterday, Sharath told us that he had an awkward announcement. He said that on Saturday afternoon the police came and visited the shala. There has been complains from the locals that western couples were kissing in public. That's apparently a no no in India. The police said that the next time it happens, the couple will be fined. Sharath encouraged the couples to do it in closed doors. The police also told him that the westerns should drive within speed limit(I forgot what that was). I happened to be practicing beside Rich and I asked him if he was guilty. He said that he did kiss Sara in public the other day and noticed everyone staring...bad man. He said that they were not the only couple who did it.
We were supposed to have our weekly conference with Guruji yesterday. We were all in the shala at 4:30PM when Sharath comes up and announced that Guruji's brother had just past away an hour ago and that there will be no conference today. I think we won't have any conference the next 13 days which is the grieving period.
Last night we had a Halloween dinner at Simon and Anthea's house. They both had taken Tina's cooking class so they prepared some of the things they learned. There landlady also cooked some curry and chapati's for us. It was a nice small intimate group of Rhonda, Vincent, Christine, Shannon(all from LA), Jane(New York critic), Debbi(either Australian or English) and our two hosts. Simon had the great idea of using banana leaves as plates. I think he got the idea when he ate at the RRR Hotel last week. Vincent was given the credit for finding the banana leaves. The food was fanastic and the company was even better. I brought some kick ass chocolate cake and claimed that I made it. Nobody believed me. Rhonda and Shannon practiced and presented to us the Simon Automatic song and dance routine. They are now officially the Simon Automatic dancers. Shannon has the best facial expressions and Rhonda is just crazy. I think they need to expand the lyrics of the Simon Automatic song though. We had such a great night. I'm sure we'll have more nights like this.