10 June 2008

In the morning I took an auto to Palace Rd. to try to find the Aikido studio. I succeed after going around for half an hour trying to find it. An Indian from the US even tried to help me out, and I eventually got it. The Addresses here can come in fractional notation. So 15/3 Place road meant go to where you would expect house 15 to be, and go into the alleyway to find the 3rd property in this alley. It is a heck of a system, and no one seems to know directions much here from me. I missed class but found where to go for the evening practice and went back home for breakfast. At work we ran the 2nd day processing of samples but the results were quite weak, especially for the A-type response. Vandana believed that the type A antigen was old and not as reactive, so we would increase the concentration next time we tested. I edited her resumé and sent it to my friend as she was interested in a job in the States. Vibha came to work and hung out for a bit. We went to lunch and she told me about how her stay at the vet hospital was going. We ate at the canteen where we’ve taken most of our lunches and I’ve been having breakfast as they are all quite cheap there (25-75 cents). After work I asked how to get to the Art of Living place which did not exist according to the directions I was given. After calling some people, I found that they were not supposed to meet this week anyways so I would go some other time. I thought I could make it back in time for Aikido. I tried the bus with a bit of help and managed to get off in the right neighborhood…but it took some work to get to the right place. I ended up walking through some parts of town that looked pretty shady, but when I had to ask for directions I was treated very nicely. It was certainly new walking through streets filled with auto shops and tent villages. People tried to be helpful, but no one could understand the website’s address they listed and so I did a lot of wandering to try and find this place. After ignoring about 5 people who told me I was in the wrong place completely (that followed 4 people telling me I was close bye but they didn’t know the address), I found the building a block down the road. It seems people don’t walk around their streets very often. Aikido is in a French cultural center called the Alliánce de Français. It ends up this isn’t a far auto ride from school so I need to figure out if it is worth the $2 to take the trip or if the 12 cent buss ride isn’t as bad when I know where I’m going. This time I even made it in time to train some! After missing aikido morning class and art of living, it would have been discouraging to miss another class, especially after such a long bus ride and walk. The Aikido group is cool as they always seem to be. It is a nice group including Stan from the Bronx who has lived in India for a good portion of his life and is settled there. Some familiar advice I got while training was to not dance by taking larger steps, and allow extension to encourage flow. I shared an auto back with a man living in Hebbal (Near where I live). I ate dinner in a place that unfortunately was a smoking bar, but not much was open at that hour and I was starving. After eating I found an ATM and talked to a guy at a sweet shop for a while. He was working on getting his MBA and is living in Bangalore with his brother who is in IT. His sister and parents are in Los Angeles and he plans on moving out with them eventually. He was a pretty easy going guy and fun to talk with. He says the pubs in town are petty fun places to hang out if I have the time to check them out. There seems to be several types of people with views on alcohol in India from traditional non-drinking to drunkard, with apparently more and more people partaking in alcohol as time progresses. I also met a friendly dog on the way back to school but had no leftovers for it on me.