Fall Dance Collection

So I teach dance at Paradise Valley Community College. Every semester I get to choreograph for the dance collections. This year, I was working with 23 dancers of all levels and abilities and ages (youngest dancer was 16; oldest was in their 50's). It was a challenge but, as always, watching it performed gave me the kind of high I imagine people get from marijuana--a mellow kind of buzz/warm fuzzies. Is that a good comparison? The other dance was brewing in my brain all last summer while I was huge and pregnant. I can't tell you how great it felt to get to really dance it out once Wyn was in the world instead of in me. That dance was harder to watch. . .mostly because I wanted to be up there with the dancers. I guess the itch to perform is something I will never really get over. In fact, the other day while eating teppanyaki with Paul and my bro and sis in law, I told Paul that I think being a Teppanyaki chef would be something I would like to do when I am old and can't dance anymore. Paul whole-heartedly agreed, calling me an exhibitionist. . .so in 50 years, maybe I will be working at Sapporo.

India. I have never been anywhere like India . . .not even close. It was amazing to be there with someone--my brother--who had lived there for two years. So I got to see all the touristy stuff like the Taj Mahal, Charminar (a mosque in Hyderebad), and the streets in Old Dehli, and the intimate stuff you wouldn't get to see unless you knew someone who lived there. For example: I got to visit several families in their homes. They were so kind and welcoming! I was shocked, surprised, and amazed all at the same time. There were 8, 9, 10 people living in one house that was no bigger than my family room. They all slept on the floor together, cooked and ate off of a small supply of stainless steel dishes, lived, studied, loved, and laughed in few square feet. I had such a great time meeting some of Ty's favorite people in India. . . There is so much I could write but I want to be brief so I have composed a quick list of my favorite things:

1. Eating with my hand! (Right hand only; left is considered unclean)

2. the way the Southern Indians shake their heads side to side (like the pendulum of a clock) to answer "yes"

3. poo mugs (a little pitcher of water used for cleaning yourself up after using the bathroom)

4. Watching Indian men dance at a wedding party. They punch their fists in the air and kind of hop around to this awesome Indian techno music. We saw them from our 5th floor hotel room, and we all couldn't resist opening up curtains and the windows and dancing with them. I think they thought we were just as hilarious.

5. The crazy, crowded streets and the insane traffic. People, cars, rickshaws, autos, cows, bicycles, motorcycles everywhere!

6. The beautiful sarees and chudidars that women wear

7. learning all about Shah Jahan and his beloved wife, Mumtaz Muhal, and the whole story behind the 22 years it took to build the Taj

8. Bartering for everything (although I must admit I was a little timid and had Ty do the bartering for me at first. By the last day of the trip, though, I did my own negotiating for a pretend cobra in a basket for Lincoln and some Indian Bollywood cds. . .I even got the shopkeeper to throw in a cd no charge!)

9. The Hindu Temples and the calling of the gods (there are thousands of Gods in the Hindu faith and they are "called" by name in Hindi over a loud speaker on the temple grounds)

10. My own personal tourguide (little bro Ty) and being able to ask him a million questions, some of them more than once.

All in all, it was very hard to leave my family, especially little Wyn, but I would do it again. One of the best experiences of my life. And, despite the odds, everyone survived and due to my diligent pumping, I was even able to resume nursing!

The pictures are of a snake charmer coaxing a king cobra out of a basket; Missy, my mom, and I in front of Charminar (check out the auto rickshaws on the right and left); and Ty and I up in Charminar (look at that insane traffic in the background!)