No bullshit

This morning’s class was taught by Ed, from Victoria. Him and his wife, Devi own a studio there. His wife will be coming week 7 because they have a three year old, so travelling together is very difficult. I really enjoyed his class, and that seemed to be the concensus from everyone I talked to. He is a very animated teacher, he stands on the podium the entire time, uses his hands, legs, body to get us in and out of postures, it was awesome. It was a ninety minute class and I felt great after. Our group was at the back of the room today (we rotate everyday now according our posture clinic group). We were the line right in front of the teachers and it is funny to see some of the senior teachers sitting out on some postures. Some people get really mad at the fact that the teachers give us shit for not staying in the room but then they don’t even do anything. I just laugh and think, “whats your problem, can’t handle it?” lol. Is it wrong to think like that? Ed told us stories about himself between postures but still kept the flow of the class going.
Of course after class was lunch than anatomy, than more posture clinic. Today was our last anatomyclass with Dr. T, with our next and last anatomy test on Monday. Dr. T told us that since we have done both these tests without our anatomy books, our passing grade only needs to be 65, instead of 75. That means I only have to get 27 correct on the next test.
After posture clinic, evening class was with Lori from Memphis. She owns a studio there, and I think she graduated five years ago. Bikram gave her the nickname shot gun at her training, and it must have stuck, class was 85 minutes. It was by far my best class all week. I think it makes a difference when you can get in and get out. It was exactly like a class at home, jokes in between some postures, smooth flow to the class, made us listen but not a nazi. She also teaches her class VERBATIUM. As close as the teachers try to stick to the dialogue here, no one has taught it word for word yet. Enough said. She leaves Sunday so that is kind of disappointing, I which we could have her one more time.
We had more posture clinic tonight, finishing off awkward and moving onto eagle. We had Diane and Dominique today as our leads. They are a great pair and so funny when they get going. I remember the first time I saw and heard Diane I thought, ‘oh this is going to be one tough teacher, she seems like a bitch’. I tried to put that aside during the first class she taught us. She has taught a number of times since then and I have grown to really like her. She teaches a very disciplined class, with no bull shut. She calls you on it if and when she catches you trying to pull one over on her, and is always smiling when she does it, I love it. She is the one staff member that hangs out at the back of the class after each and every class to help and answer any questions people have with postures. When I am finished class I always see her with a line up people just waiting to ask her a posture question. Today in posture clinic she was giving advice to the demonstrators after the dialogue was finished about the posture they just preformed. She answered all questions we had about the first two postures we had done before moving onto eagle. She is the first staff to take the time to do that with us. I love just listening to what she has to say because she knows exactly how to say it to each individual so they aren’t just hearing I, but they are actually listening to her and using it.

The picture is me and Noel, my power partner

Sniffling my way through Thursday

Thursday Thursday Thursday! Morning class was with Diane; great energy, great people, great humidity, great class. It hasn’t rained here fpr four or five days so the humidity in the room has been a little more tolerable for people, its only at 72% now. People are still dehydrating though, one girl had to be carried out and wheeled to the doctor today. They told us after that she was more worried about memorizing her dialogue that she didn't drink as much water as usual. Can you tell the dialogue heat is on in full force?!
Last night we had posture clinic until 11 then got let go to bed. Eleni and I stayed up and talked until about midnight. Weird eh, we just weren’t tired and haven’t had much time to catch up this week.
My nose is a little less stuffed but still had to fall asleep sitting up so I could breathe through my nose. During the night my congestion moved to my throat. I woke myself up a couple times coughing my lungs out. Morning class seemed to clean everything out, throat and nose, it was a beautiful sight, those Kleenexes, lol, still reading!?!
After class, we had lunch, still loving the chocolate milk. After lunch we had more anatomy, then more posture clinic. Because I already performed awkward and its pretty much ingrained into my head now, I have been helping the people who haven’t quite got it down yet. Some people got the dialogue the day they arrived so I was quite lucky to have the support I did in getting started with it. Today in posture clinic the guys that were leading the group got one girl to perform the posture in her native language, Hungarian. It was so cool to hear her rip right through start to finish in a foreign language.
We are at the point where people are no longer volunteering to go up for their postures because they don't feel ready. The leads we had today didn't want to push to hard, we only had five or six minutes left before getting let go to prepare for class by the time this happened. They took that opportunity to talk to us about actually teaching a class and the different circimstances with students and such. It was good to get the different feedback.
Evening class was with Jim, he is leaving tomorrow for the next couple weeks. He will be back in week nine for Graduation. I talked to him after class and he said he can't wait to see how we have grown in the next four weeks. He has been back to every graduation since he graduated in the 90's. He loves to see everyones happy faces, glowing skin, and parents here looking so proud, he looked pretty excited even talking about it.
Eleni and I found these cute little mini cans of coke on the weekend at Mega. I have not had a can of coke in like four years, but all bets are off when you come to training. I have had a little mini coke every night for supper. I must be doing something right cause things are still working for me.
For supper I made tortellini, which by the way I screamed in the store when I found them. They are perfect little Melissa sized tortellini packages, enough for two servings, looooove it. My awesome wonderful caring mother bought me a little mini rice cooker before I left to bring with me. She even helped me pack my suitcase so I could fit that and the awesome posture clinic chair in my suitcase, along with my ten pounds of snack bars. Thought I would mention that in case you are wondering how I am managing to make these hot yummy meals at night. It was the best idea. I went on the internet before I left and looked up recipes and foods you can make in a rice cooker. Hence the pastas I have been making, we don’t want an Italian girl to go through pasta withdrawal while she’s here, the thought makes me cringe. Chicken tortellini with alfredo sauce and fresh grated parmesan cheese and a coke, yum, I know you probably all want to come over for supper now…or maybe not.
After supper we had lecture with Bikram. Before Bikram started they introduced seven or eight teachers who are here visiting for the next week. Half of them didn’t even want to be teachers when they decided to come to training, but by half way through they had changed their minds. It is cool to hear their stories abut how they got started or the panic of their first class. Bikram lectured until 12, the poor guy had to sit on a little donut the whole time cause his boil was still hurting him. He leaves Friday morning for Philly and is back Sunday. He is hoping his butt is better by then so he will be able to teach a class.

The picture is of our home for two months, our hotel room

Awkward anyone

Wednesday morning class was with Diane again, she said the energy was so strong in there today. We were all working together as a group thus creating the most incredible energy. Monday when she taught we kept getting shit for not moving together and doing things before she told us to. She said it’s a good sign we had a good class because she only swore once, lol. I had the best class I had all week. Not that the others have been tough drag outs but this one just happened, and I love when it does that. It was one of those classes when you are in final savasana (resting) and it feels like you just did half moon (first posture), it feels that quick.
At lunch Eleni and I got seated with Jim and Bikrams childhood friend Sam. We just talked about the yoga and different peoples reactions to everything and the experience. Oh and Zia, I told Jim about your 30 day challenge and your incredible inches lost, (now everyone else knows too, he he), his mouth dropped and he can’t wait to meet you. I asked him if you would be allowed to sit in on some of Bikrams lectures and he didn’t think it would be problem. He is going to check with Bikram just to make sure its cool with him, YAY!
After lunch was more anatomy than posture clinics, finished off the back bending and moved onto awkward.
Class at 5 was with Jim, it was supposed to be with Bikram. Apparently Bikram’s butt is still sore and he can’t sit on it so he couldn’t teach the class or lecture tonight. After supper we had more posture clinic, some groups still had to finish off back bending with hands to feet. My group (#13) started awkward tonight, it has three parts and we had the choice to do only the first one, or all three. A lot of the keeners went up and did their postures first than people who kinda knew it started doing only first set so they would have more time to go over the other two parts. When they ran out of volunteers they started to pick people to go. I was sitting there so casual and Lyndsey remembered me from back bending so she told me to go. I went and did all three parts, when I was finished Wendy who was the other lead said that I fooled her. I gave the impression that I didn’t know it when I was sitting there not volunteering, she was not only expecting just first set, but I didn’t miss a word on all three. It had been over two months since I said that posture in front of bodies that is why I hestitated a bit about getting up there.
Not much happened today so not to much to write about. I signed up for the first aid/cpr course the nurse is going to teach next weekend and I also booked a massage for Saturday.

The picture is the door to our room with our room number

Energy fence

So last night I woke up every hour because my damn nose was stuffed up. I can tell my body is fighting something because it feels so weak today, using my energy to try and fight whatever is trying to take over. Maybe I am just bringing stuff up and this is my bodies way of dealing with it. I went through the same thing during my hundred day challenge, it happened about day 30, sick, stiff and sore. This is about the same feeling. This morning I practiced beside a little tiny girl who is in my posture clinic group. To put it into perspective she is exactly the same size as little Jean at home. They actually are very similar too, always smiling and very very strong practices. My friend has a rough weekend after having to do a double for forgetting to sign in. It hit her like a ton of bricks and she went to sleep Saturday after class around 1 and didn’t wake up untilv Monday morning for class. She powered through her class, taking it easy and pacing herself, she also had not eaten since Saturday.
This morning we decided to practice beside each other. This girl has such strong energy it doesn’t matter how she is feeling. At triangle she took a knee, so I asked her if she was okay. She shook her head yes with a smile, took a breath and got up, and continued through class doing every single posture with me. After class she gave me a huge hug and said “thank you for getting me through that class”. I told her it wasn’t me, she was the controlling her own body. She said when I asked her if she was okay that the smile on my face told her that I believed in her, therefore making up her mind to finish the standing series with me, see, strong girl. She told me that she had it in her head that she couldn’t do it, and the hardest thing to do is over come that. I think its pretty amazing when a hand reaches down, and pulls you up because they believe in you more than you do in your self at that moment. That’s what yoga is about, over coming that, I LOVE IT!
You know what else I love? The look in someone’s eye when they accomplish something beyond what they thought was possible. Okay kind of along the same lines. I forgot to mention this little story about my friend Lucille yesterday. I ran into her after the evening class last night and she was glowing. You know that look pregnant woman get, glowing, that’s the look she had. Her blue eyes were as bright as the ocean water, her smile was from ear to ear, and she her feet were not touching the ground when she walked. Got the picture? I stopped her and asked, “Lucille what’s up?” And she was vibrating with so much pride she barley got out, “I had the best class of my life, I did every single posture, I haven’t done that since day one, I love Jim’s class, I loved that class, I did it!” I gave her a big high five, I was so damn proud of her, she kicked the shit out of that class.
Back to today, after class was lunch than anatomy, than more posture clinic. We got through some more back bending and hands to feet. It’s my turn just to listen now, since I did it last night.
So now I can get to the reason for my blog title, I was going to name it the cemetary. This evenings class was the lowest energy class I have ever been to yet. By standing bow pulling pose, (5th posture) there were 12 people on the ground around me. Some weren’t even on their mats, they had run out of the room for various reason. The people on their mats were either sleeping, chewing ice, drinking water, playing with their towel, etc. By the time we got to triangle, four postures later, there were 16 people on the ground. Not one person around my circumference was still standing except for one girl two rows ahead of me, we were the lone rangers. When we came out of triangle I decided to put up an invisible energy fence around me. You are going to think I am crazy but it worked, I tuned everyone else out and just listened to the teacher, my body his mind. My energy fence didn’t allow anyone to take my energy, I kept it all to my self. Selfish? So be it, at that point I didn’t care. I was having a hard time breathing in the standing series though, it was like I just couldn't catch my breath. It took alot of energy just to look up into the mirror, but I got through it.
Once we got to the floor I couldn’t decided whether to be mad or feel deserted and alone. Then I turned it around, smiled and thought, why am I thinking about this, I have my energy fence up. Explaining this sounds like I have gone completely nuts, but seriously, it got me through. Don’t ask me where it came from, the imagination is a wonderful thing. I was so in tuned with my energy fence and focusing on the teacher I didn’t drink water for the rest of the class. People were coming in and out of poses on the floor but for the most part I had the mirror to myself.
After class I got in the shower to wash down. As I was about to get out my body just started shivering. I turned the water on as hot as it could go, so hot my skin was turning red, nearly scolding myself while standing there shivering. I just stood there letting the hot water hit my body like a warm blanket. I finally warmed up and got out, but just a little insight to what goes on with the body. Jim talked about it yesterday how our bodies will start shaking and shivering for no reason as we work through things.
After supper we had lecture. Jim started, talking about how Bikram came to be where he right now and how this yoga came here. Everything he told us I had read in Bikrams book, but I never get bored of hearing it. After about an hour of Jim talking, Bikram came in and started talking about how he wasn’t lecturing because his butt hurt, he had two huge boils on his right cheek. He couldn’t even sit on both butt cheeks because one had popped. He had been threatening us for a week that he was going to show them to us. His threat turned into reality tonight with the Bikram butt show. He pulled down his pants (don’t worry he had his 'panties' on), hiked up the back of them and proceeded to show us his boils. After he enlightened us with that he proceeded to show us the proper way to tighten your butt muscles. He disappeared as fast as he had appeared in a matter of 20 minutes, bringing life back to everyone in the room. He didn’t want to stay because his butt hurt to much to sit there. It was 11:15 and Jim started to take questions from us. It took two questions and 15 minutes each of explanations for us to realize not to ask him a simple question. So the questions stopped and we got let go at 11:45 for bed, I have a feeling we will have to watch a movie tomorrow night.

Posture clinic groups begin

So Monday started off pretty, well, I don’t know the word to describe it, exhausting already. I tried to go to bed early last night (Sunday) around 9 but I had a soar throat which got progressively worse throughout the day. I couldn’t even swallow without clenching my teeth because it hurt so much. I also had a little ear ache, I am used to getting these, as I usually get them when the seasons change. This one is not nearly as bad as the ones I get a home but still, its an ear ache, and I didn’t bring anything to cure it. Every time I got up to go to the bathroom last night I gargled my throat with salt and water, it actually helps a little. By 11, I had still not fallen asleep so I decided to break open the pack of Benelyn all in one, that mom had insisted I bring…big hug. I took one of those and was out until the alarm went off this morning. My throat still hurt a little but I didn’t need to clench my teeth when I swallowed anymore. My ear ache is still lingering, I think its deciding whether or not to stick around. There are three or four people here that have gotten ear infections already, whether from the pool, weather, or sweat. They all had to buy ear drops in order to treat it, so cross your fingers for me in hopes that I don’t have to resort to that.
Today is the first official day of our posture clinic groups. That means that we now have assigned lines in the room in which we have to practice on. I went in the very back row, I got there a little later than usual so I had to squeeze in. It worked out great though because I was between two people who had great energy. While everyone else in our row and in front of us went down we fed off of each other and finished with high fives. During the class the fans had gone off in the room, it was very stuffy and hard to breathe. We were told we had the 78% humidity pumping into the room with no circulation, talk about fun. Remember when the fans weren’t working at our studio for a while, picture that when the room is completely full, like the evening classes, like I said, FUN! Oh, class was taught by Diane from Boston. I felt great after class as I hoped I would, I still couldn’t believe it was only Monday though.
After lunch we had our anatomy test, don’t know how I did, we should find out the marks tomorrow. After the test we had more anatomy, three chapters for our test next Monday, that’s it. We still did not receive our books, and Bikram was mad about that so he had the staff photocopy the pages we needed for the next exam.
After Anatomy the staff went over and talked about how the posture clinics are going to work, and where each room was located. After they cleared all that up there was two more people to present their half moon dialogue. Bikram wasn’t there this afternoon but Diane and Jim took the pleasure of critiquing them. They also talked about ways to help us memorize the dialogue and such. I think most of us figured that out before we got here, others though are still figuring it out.
We got let out right before 4 so I laid down for twenty minutes and I was out. Class was taught by Bikram and again was good. I was between Michelle and Jonathon and we just did our thing. The fans went off again in class so they opened the doors for a posture to give us some air but it was still really stuffy. I felt good again after class but did not have the energy to make supper, so I ordered pizza from downstairs. For a 20 inch pizza and a coke it was $20, including tip, and I even have left overs. It will have to eaten cold but still, good food, good deal. I don’t even remember the last time I had a coke, can you imagine how good it tasted, mmmmm.
At 9oclock we started our first day of posture clinic with our groups. I only knew one other person before that was in my group. I brought along my super comfortable chair that Auntie Shirley lent me. I know it saved her butt a couple times at those folk festivals she attends, lol. It truly is going to save my butt and back over the next six or seven weeks. Lyndsay who graduated in Spring 06 was our lead. I went up and did my back bending and hands to feet pose, she checked off my name and saw that I was from Edmonton. She is opening a studio in Calgary in the next year and mentioned that to me before I started. I told her if I was ever in Calgary I would come teach for her and she said, “well I will decide on your performance”, to which everyone groaned, lol. So I did it, loud, proud and in charge, I owned that stage, I got stumped on one line but I repeated the previous line again, took a deep breath and kept on trucking. When I finished Lyndsay said, “I’d hire you, for sure”. One full posture down, 25 more to go, we continue tomorrow.
So now I am going to take this opportunity to give a shout out to my Grandma. Oh and Grandma, shout out means, “Heeeeeeeeeey Grandma”, lol, (lol…that means laugh out loud). Grandma isn’t too computer literate but Mom told me that when she was visiting a family friend (Hi Jud-i), she sat down at the computer and read my blog. I am sure Grandma doesn’t know what a blog is and I can just picture her trying to explain it to Grandpa, oh dear. I seriously laughed out loud when Mom told me that Grandma sat down and read it, she is so cute. Some of my younger family members can’t even keep up with my day to day blogs and Grandma spent an afternoon trying to understand the darn thing. I know before I left she didn’t really understand why I was going away for so long and the whole process. Now that she reads this I am sure she thinks to herself, “I don’t understand why someone would do that to themselves”. Don’t worry Grandma I will come back stronger than ever. The only thing Grandpa said to me before I left was, “I hope they don’t like freckles in Mexico, then they won’t keep you”. Ha ha, oh he makes me laugh.
Well time for some sleep, its only Monday night and I feel exhausted right now because it is taking extra energy to fight whatever is trying to take over my body right now.

Sundays Blog- Now I am caught up

There are a couple people who have been following this blog that don’t do or know anything about Bikram yoga and the whole process here. So I am going to do my best to better explain some the things I have been talking about for the last two weeks.
Bikram Yoga College- Every single Bikram class you go to, anywhere in the world, you will get the same twenty six postures and two breathing exercises, and the same dialogue. In order to be a Bikram certified instructor, you have to come to Bikrams yoga school of India, where I am right now. It is held twice a year for nine weeks. It use to be held in California but this year it is in Acapulco, and there is talk that it will be somewhere different next year. There is 750 hours of instruction through out the nine weeks, along with two hot classes a day.
Our schedule-
8-8:25- Morning class sign in
8:30am-10:30- Bikram class
10:30-12:00- Lunch break: the buffet is offered from 10-12 every day. The lunch buffet is included in our hotel fees we paid.
12:00-12:25- Posture clinic sign in
12:30-4:15- Posture clinic
4:30-4:55- Evening class sign in
5:00-7:00- Bikram class
7:00-8:30- Supper
8:30-8:55- Sign in
9:00 to whenever- Lecture

Posture clinic- Half moon is the first posture we do in a Bikram class. When someone comes here they have to perform the half moon dialogue on stage in front of Bikram and the 300 other students here. After you complete the dialogue, Bikram lets you know what he thinks about you and the way you delivered the dialogue. He may give you pointers on what you need to work on in terms of the dialogue while you are here. He is able to tell your personality just by how you perform the dialogue and the posture in the one minute it takes to say it. After you say the dialogue you stay on stage and perform the half moon posture while the next person comes and recites it for Bikram.
Half moon is the only posture we have to say in front of Bikram. After all the students has finished we are broken into posture clinic groups (that starts this week). There are 16 groups this year. We are responsible for memorizing the dialogue in order to present it. Each day there are two groups that get together and go over the dialogue with a senior teacher. Everyone has to say every single posture in front of the group and teacher while others do what you tell them. The senior teacher is there to critique us and help us grow with in our dialogue. Your group moves on when everyone has presented the current posture. Once we get going we could be doing three or four postures a week. Each posture has a different length. Some are one minute some are as short as ten seconds so it varies.

Dialogue- The dialogue is the words Bikram created to be said in every single class. We are responsible for learning the dialogue word for word. It was made to create a consistency with in the classes. Any Bikram student should be able to walk into any Bikram studio in the world and hear the Bikram dialogue. Every posture has a certain way to get in, perform, corrections and get out of the postures, and stays consistent if the dialogue is used.

Lectures- Lectures are presented by senior teachers or Bikram himself. They can talk about anything that is relavent to the yoga and life in general. Bikram does a lot of lectures too which can involve some personal stories about himself and of course in relation to the yoga in general. One of his favorite things to do is watch Bollywood films during his free time. He very much enjoys sharing that with us until the wee hours of the morning some days.

Senior Teachers- Senior teachers are those teachers who are certified Bikram instructors who have been teaching or own their own studio. They have been invited by Bikram personally to attend the training. They help with posture clinics, can teach a class, do lectures, and are in general just there for us if we need anything.

People: Bikram- the man who created these sequence of postures called Bikram yoga. When referring to Bikram it can mean the man himself, or Bikram as in the class its self.
Rajashree- Bikrams wife. She is also a certified medical practicioner in alternative medicine and hatha yoga, and certified Bikram teacher.
Emmy- She is the principle teacher here, and the most senior teacher here. She met Bikram over 35 years ago. It is said that she is well into her 80’s but that doesn’t stop her. She is the teacher of the advanced classes, which can only be preformed if you are a certified Bikram teacher.

I think that covers it, any other things you don’t understand let me know and I will do my best to clarify it for you non-Bikramites.
Today I did some dialogue review, hit up Mega, which is similar to a cleaner superstore in Canada. I also studied for the anatomy test tomorrow and did some blogging.

Saturdays Blog- Week 2 DONE

Saturday, September 27

Saturdays are 8 o’clock classes, so we were done nice and early and off for the rest of the day. Can I just say that I kicked week two’s ass! LOL! I seriously had such a good week and did not have one bad class. I think it also helps that other people have found their groove as well so the energy level has definitely picked up. There were some classes where a couple people took a knee for some postures than pulled it together and came back, while others still lied down for a majority of the class. It is only week two so I am not going to get hung up on the fact that I haven’t had to sit down yet. People were already starting to have major break throughs this week. There were a couple people that collapsed to their mats in tears. We are told they are the lucky ones that are bringing it up early, let it out, deal with it and move on. This week was such a good week, its kind of frightening to think what next week will bring.
There has already been some major blow outs with room mates that I have heard about. There are some rooms where the people are just staying out of the each others way already. There are others who have nothing but good things to say about their room mates. Eleni and I have been doing really well so far as room mates. I am not the most social person in the morning before I have breakfast, kind of like others who need their coffee in the am. I am used to having my alone time in my car on my way to work in the morning before I have to interact with people, sing-ing to the radio. Eleni and I take the same amount of time to get ready in the mornings and we have the same routine so it is perfect….so far, lol. Even after the yoga classes works out good; I get back to the room about ten minutes after her because I take a swim in the salt water pool. By that time she is all showered and I am able to jump right in and get ready. Right after class is either lunch or supper, and our preparation time is pretty in sync so we end up eating together, which is nice.
Today after class we went for lunch downstairs to the buffet. Then it was straight to bed for a nap for this girl. After the nap I did some anatomy review before heading to walmart for some milk and apple juice, oh and McDonalds for supper. When we got back I pulled out the lap top and did some writing while I watched some ER on tv, it was the only English thing I could find to watch on tv.

Fridays Blog

Friday, September 26, 2008

Okay since things got delayed because of the whole blog thing, all three entries from the weekend are going on today. Sorry lots of reading.

This morning we had class with Emmy again, she leaves tomorrow and will be back in a couple weeks. After class we had more anatomy with Dr T. We still did not receive our books and our test is on Monday so they are holding an extra optional review session for us tomorrow afternoon. Dr. T did anatomy until 2:30pm, then Emmy talked a little more about the body, energy systems, pain and injuries with us. We than had class at 5:30 with Jim. He taught an 89 minute class with great high energy and a motivational dialogue.
Then it was back to the lecture hall because Emmy was doing a mock posture clinic with us. She wanted to go over and help us before she leaves with any postures we are having trouble with. A lot of people went up to get help with various postures. The most asked about postures were triangle, standing head to knee, standing bow pulling and grip. She always tells us in class we have weak fingers and not to hold using the wrists, taking away strength. She also showed us the correct way to do a sit up. To be honest I didn’t really learn a whole lot from the evening. I sat with Eleni and Damien (all from the same studio) and we all had the same concensus. I guess in a round about way I am giving a shout out the teachers at BYE because they have obviously taught and mentored us so strongly that we have heard a lot of the corrections before at home. Mind you it is a lot funnier to hear Emmy say it, with her straight up way of talking to people. She is constantly telling us no to worry about how far we go into the posture just do it the right way, especially to avoid injury. It never hurts to watch, listen and learn how to deal with the different injuries as it will be a daily occurrence in the room.
Today they posted the list for people who have to do make up classes. There was about thirty people on the list and about ten of them have to do two. I talked to one guy that decided to sleep in on Wednesday and then do the two makeup classes this weekend, Saturday and Sunday at 11am.
We were let go at 10:30, the earliest all week. We finally had some down time and we used it very efficiently. Eleni and I found an English station on the t.v. and watched an episode of two and a half men, lol.
T, you are going to love this one, you are really going to think I am joining a cult, lol. Earlier this week we were told not to go into the ocean. With good reason though; because it is raining season there is a lot of run off in the ocean and it gets pushed towards shore. Therefore they don’t want us getting sick from anything that the water is bringing in. Don’t worry though, I located the salt water pool and have been diving in there every day after class, still loving it.
Today one of the senior teachers has requested that we close our blogs. They don’t want us giving the wrong impression to people based on our own experience and feelings. She said that we won’t understand what is going on right now so we should keep it to ourselves and not allow others to judge it and make their own assumptions from it. I himmed and hawwed about this all weekend, and talked to some people about it. I have decided to keep my blog going but just restrict the access to family and friends, as was my connection intent when I started it. I will probably just open the blog to the public after training is finished. There are quite a few people blogging here and I think only one or two have closed it. I have been using this as a journal and absolutely don’t mind sharing it with those close to my heart. I look forward to the time when I can sit back, read and reflect on the growth that will occur with this experience, so please keep reading and again….enjoy the ride.