My premier as a Tollywood Star!

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So-its been a few days. sorry for that. I stayed in town for the weekend. Saturday was Republic Day. what is that you ask? well...I did ask and here is the answer. duh-it's the day India became a republic. I definitely felt like a genius after that one. sorry that as an ambassodor for the US, we may now be thought of as stupid (although I think certain political figures may have already taken care of that for us). oops.

So Saturday we took a trip to the Vellore Fort-it is the one and only tourist attraction mentioned in lonely planet for vellore (the only other thing being CMC hospital). It was so cool. i guess i really like forts. they even had a moat with a dragon! ok, no dragon, but really a moat! there were paddle boats which i was super excited about, but the wait was 2 hours (being republic day and all). we skipped it and had some yummy lunch instead. earlier that day i had gotten up and gone for a run-my 2nd one in 2 1/2 weeks-ha! i again ran in circles and scared the security guards with my scandolous attire (capri yoga pants and a tank). it was super hot out but felt good.

later that night we went to the movies. my first Tamil film! the movie theater was nice and i even got in trouble for resting my foot on the seat in front of me! they shine a flashlight on you and then once you are an offender, they continously come back and check you. oops again. the movie was about an only child who is set up by her parents. the guy sees her picture and loves her and she sees his big family and loves him. they are so super in love and dreamy that they are going to get married. they then decide that they should actualy meet. they arrange a time and he shows up to breakfast and she is sitting there with all of her friends! poor guy. they get married and she is loving life-spending time with his family-not him. he then gets transferred to ooty (small town in the hills) and she is super sad cause she no longer has his family. she makes every excuse to talk to workers and everyone else. she gets depressed and OD's on sleeping pills so the doc says she needs to go back to his family and that she is prego. they move back and all is good again. it made me think that you get pregnant by kissing on the cheek! that was the super racy part of the film! i guess this was a very typical Tamil film. oh and it was 3 hours long!! did i mention that i am fluent in Tamil? jk-my friend sitting next to me translated for me. we then went out to dinner after.

oh yeah-at the fort, we were superstars. we had one blonde girl with us (german ortho doctor) and that brings even more attention than just being white. people wanted to shake our hands, take pictures and talk to us. its so funny!

saturday we also went to the carnival put on by the local med students. it was very typical on campus carnival and even had the cheesy loud obnoxious american music. i didnt stay very long.

sunday was go to the local pool day! this place is amazing! it is an oasis in a crazy crazy place. i forgot to take pics, but just imagine a super nice resort pool just next to garbage filled streets. very weird. i was forced to swim laps and am waiting for my arms to fall off. i had pizza and ice cream there! yum! it was opened by a woman who is 1/2 indian and 1/2 irish-the daughter of one of the doctors here-smart lady! it is expensive relative to everything else-but less than $5! apparently it was way more expensive when it first opened to offset the cost of building it.

sun night we had dinner to say goodbye to 2 of the malaysians who left this morning. very sad. i had ice cream again. 2 times in 1 day when i hadnt had it for weeks!

today was super insane. instead of being in the clinic, i was asked if we could make a video of everything i have taught so far. they hired a videographer and cancelled class. 2 of the PT students were my patients and we filmed for 5 hours straight!!! slave labor i tell you!!! i am now a film star in india! it took forever and ofcourse today was the one day that i had no snacks in my bag. they went out and got me tea, then juice and then a sandwhich. i acted like a diva and demanded they import only red dark chocolate m and m's and cherry coke while filming. that did not go over so well. just kidding-i was a total non-diva tollywood star. i am still slightly starved and will not get home until way late tongiht. after teaching i will be heading to an orphanage. yay!

we just booked a train trip for friday morning. a whole bunch of people will be coming with me to bangalore before i head to goa for my yoga course. apparently there is not much to do in bangalore except shop. too bad! we booked one of the bad classes for train travel cause that was all that was left. should be an adventure...

the cleaning people broke my shampoo and conditioner bottles. i think they are out to get me since the bath mat episode. i also turned my towel pink while washing clothes. i am angry cause i spent a lot of time and effort figuring out how to bring my good products to india (and Jessie took all the time filling up the bottles). boo hoo.

ok gotta get some emails in before it is time to teach. i would give you an autograph, but don't know how to do it online!

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Comments

[your baby girl]

dad told me to write
mommy, you are the best mommy ever being so far away and helping all those people and children in india.. i am proud of you so much that i draw pictures of my super hero mommy and dad puts them on the fridge... i was born a vegetarian also and dad says i definately get that from you.. he won't write anymore he keeps mumbling something about the man holding him down and banning his creative ability??? he went away to some place called canada for a week of playing in the snow and stuff at some whistler place?? he says that you are spreading more cheer and knowledge around the world and that he is proud of you.... don't worry dad left me enough food in the fridge and i had access to the car if i needed it.. cant wait till we finally meet mommy til then laugh and enjoy your time and keep absorbing the culture and spread your big heart all over bye bye.... hugs and mosquito kisses from your baby.....