here comes the sun

in 26 hours i switch vocations from teacher to professional traveler. my red pen is currently making its last round through world history tests, the gentle hum and (when the answers are incorrect) the machine gun pop of the scan tron (yes, part of my world history final was a scan tron… the guilt is tearing me apart) is fading out of my memory. burning the midnight oil and grading papers in bed are becoming figments in my mind. tomorrow i begin a (nearly) two-month journey highlighted by my most beloved people in some of my favorite places.

this wednesday i go from dehli to chicago to obtain an indian work visa (yes, i need to come all the way back to the united states for a piece of paper. but i figure i can pick up a hamburger, burrito and glass of wine on the way). then this friday i return to minnesota for a two-week stint in the land of 10,000 lakes filled with fellowship, heated homes, hot showers, wine, blue mondays (!) and delicious food. i depart to meet isaac and ashlee in bangkok on 23 december to catch our flight to cambodia on 25 december. following christmas and new year’s khmer-style, i return to thailand to meet robyn topic-humm (her full name adds a certain pizzazz). my mom and i will spend a week in chiang mai, arguably my third or fourth home (after northfield, perham and shakopee and maybe mussoorie, too), with my host family and some woodstock friends. after a week in the mountains, we fly to phuket for a week in the sun. on 18 january i leave thailand and return to india to meet dave in dehli on the 19th.

i just finished grading and feel the urge to rip off my shirt like brandi chastain after she kicked the championship goal in the 1999 world cup match and run around the teacher’s lounge in a victory lap, hi-fiving anyone i see. however, something tells me that if i did that, i wouldn’t need a work visa anymore, if you catch my drift. i'm not saying that i don't love teaching. but if i see one more stack of papers... i guess this picture sums up the true elation in my soul. i might combust. sun, sun, sun here it comes.

relax your large and small intestines...

k. ravishnankar, the yoga guru, has the answer for every ailment. shoving your thumbs into your armpits for five minutes right after you wake up will prevent your nose from running all day. if your left nostril is running, you should pinch the joint in your thumb for two minutes. drinking warm milk and honey puts you to sleep and breathing through alternating nostrils is rejuvinating.

i have been doing yoga for about the past month and am coming to love its demanding focus and cleansing abilities. following two hours of intense stretching and strengthening exercises, ravi leads us in a relaxation exercise which always reminds me of the magic school bus (you know, where they go into the blood stream in the bus...). he journeys through the periphery and inside of our bodies and asks us to relax each our body parts and organs. his voice alternates between a slow, monotone "relax your brain" to a fast, high "relax your brain cells." the hilarity of it all is typically a barrier to my relaxation, especially when he invites us to relax our smallandlargeintestines (you can guess that the intestines fall in the high, quick register). i don't think i'll be levitating off of the ground or curing my ailments via deep yogic breathing anytime soon. but i can't say that i don't love having a yoga master. apparently he is going to post some class pictures on his website. so check back for some sun salutation, utthita trikonasana (extended triangle pose) pictures of my friends and i as we struggly toward yogic enlightenment.