Movin' on away from here

Its been about a month since I last wrote and so much that I have done. I will only scratch the surface here.

Almost immediately after the last time I wrote, I entered the second difficult phase of my trip so far. Weeks 5 and 6 were really hard for me. Here is kindof what happened. My life here is so different than at home; so much so taht I have found it is not even worth it to compare the two. But. this is what i started to do for a while. I think after finishing half of my commitment in Bodhgaya I started to analyze what I had done in the past month as well as think about the future. This made me think about the things I wasn't doing but wanted to be as well as start to critique my experiences through the value judgements I had used at home. For example, becuase of this critical view, the really amazing relationships I had found started to become less "valuable" becuase they didn't have the type of deep connections and commitments that so many of my relationships have at home. I meet so many amazing people here, but I meet them for a very short period of time. The most amazing thing i have discovered so far is how free I can be while traveling; just experiencing ang not judging. Luckily, after those two hard weeks, I started to relax again and the past two weeks have been a series of peak experiences.

So what have I been up to? I attended at teacher training at one of the schools that I think Is actually doing good work. This was really interesting but not all that helpful. I got to hear some really good classical Indian music while I was there and the Chai was maybe the best I have had. (I am really going to miss chai back in the states). It was good to see a well functionally school because the state of NGO's in the area is so corrupt and unproductive that it can get pretty depressing at times.

For three weeks I had these French friends. They were volunteering at another school and were quite fun to hang out with and get a good impression of the French view of America. Bodhgaya is a very international place, which is really cool. Maybe 20 percent of the white tourists are American so i get a really international experience, which is as valuable as meeting Indian people. The day the Frenchmen left we headed out to a really fancy restaurant in town. It was so strange, clean, napkins and chairs with cushions. Toilet paper. It did not feel like India. When I took my first bite of food I just started laughing. The food here keeps me happy, but it is nothing too special, and this food was unbelievable.

One weekend I learned how to make Tofu and then had a big feast with about 6 of my friends. Ir was really fun and delicious, but also a little funny. Most of my buds here are total loners, so putting them all together in one room was pretty interesting to see. Some pretty awkward group socialization I had another party for the people who run my school. They really wanted to eat chicken. So, I had to get two chickens killed for them. It was pretty strange to see this, I mean, I was directly responsible for the deaths of these chickens, and I'm staying in the main place of pilgrimage for a religion that says we should not harm any sentient beings. But, it was a fun party.

I learned how to drive a motorcycle. Which was really fun and surprisingly easy. But, probably one of the most dangerous things I have done in a while. A new driver, on a motorcycle, in India is not a good thing. One friend, Laxman, took me out to a village maybe 50 km from Bodhgaya. This was quite an adventure. About 5 km from the village we left the main road and headed down a government built dirt road. Maybe half way there, the road turned to complete mud, so we both got off the bike and had to just rev the engine while pushing as hard as we could till we reached the village. Then, when we got there he decided to "wash" the bike which meant just putting it in, fully submerged, in the middle of a river. This of course flooded the engine. And even with the help of 15 village kids helping, we couldn't get it running again. So, a nice walk back into town. But really fun overall, and so powerful to see an area outside the tourist support of Bodhgaya.

I went on a mobile health clinic one day which was really intense. I knew it would be, but still couldn't prepare for the experience. In a about 5 hours we treated 126 patients, almost all of whom clearly needed some help. There were two procedures done, which made me feel a combination of relief i was born in the richest country in the world and a huge amount of guilt about that fact. It just kept running through my head how this villiage has a clinic once a week and 126 new patients came in one week. The villiage only has this service becuase it is near bodhgaya. There are millions in Bihar (the state i am in) who do not have any services at all. If you've watched the news, you might have seen that flooding has displaced like 10 million in norther Bihar.

Jason, the American researched I have mentioned before was off traveling for a month. But when he came back a really cool scene started. Me and him and other tourists had about a week long series of conversations that were just really amazing. The type that make like Wesleyan so much. Very intellectual but unpretentious and about everything from faith to global hegemony to activism. One night Jason treated me to a going away party at this good restaurant. The scene was 8 people sitting around a circular table in a bungalow type hut where there were about 5 different countries represented all talking about world politics. These conversations have made me a little more interested in academics again.

The two weeks that were the most difficult for me were also the most profound spiritually that i have had in a very long time. Irs so hard to describe that sort of thing. The closest way i can describe it is that many things i had heard or read about before I actually experienced, at least a little bit. I would be sitting and have a short instant where i just knew thats it.

Well. I am just having to edit part of this post now because I forgot about something. The entire reason I actually came to Bodhgaya, teaching English. i guess that my forgetting to mention it may something about the experience. Teaching was incredibly difficult for me. Almost every day was a challenge. Not that this made it a bad experience, it was just a very hard one, and I was very happy to leave. But there were many highlights as well. I got to know some of the kids very well and had some very good days of teaching. I spent time at another school part time and that was much easier and enjoyable. I am so glad that I did it, especially because it brought me to a great place, put me into a really interesting and complex field of work and l earned a lot about teaching and what its like to ave a real job. But, it also would have been nice if it were easier. absolutely no regrets, but certainly a different choice in the future.

So, now I'm off to a Tibetan 10 mediation course in Kathmandu, which I think will be really cool. i want to check out all the different types of Buddhism I can. Now I am actually in Varanasi. Its fun, new and challenging to be traveling again. But i am enjoying it and interested to see where it takes me. I think I'll have to leave Varanasi for next time, too much to say.

I'm not going to be able to update this thing as much as I had thought, probably more like every 3 or 4 weeks. But I do love hearing from you. Enjoy the end of the summer. Reid