Christmas at Sadhana Forest, Auroville

A little bit too late, we know... but as we are living on a super-ecological farm now (actually, they are reforesting an area), internet is hard to find. Super-ecological means, that it is a community with quite strict rules: no alcohol, no smoking, only vegan food, no competitive games, no oil, no chili, no sweets, BUT: very complicated toilets, shower buckets, a lot of good music, great people, a relaxing atmosphere, workshops every day, singing, dancing and learning. As there is high season right now, there are nearly 100 people, and so, of course, it took us some time to arrive here and to feel comfortable. (but sometimes it is good to come out and play Scrabble and eat cheese)

For Christmas (on the 25th) we made presents for other people, and we had a very good dinner together, followed by a performance about Jesus' birth. And then, in the workshop about astronomy, we saw some shooting stars and made wishes for next year!

Pictures from Mamallapuram

 

Shore Temple

                                                                  One of the five Rathas

                                                        Nina and the monkey

                                                                       Arjuna's Penance

The big tourist attraction

Finally we managed to do some sight-seeing. Mamallapuram is also one of the best places to do that. Just by walking through the city you see a lot of temples, rock-cut caves and reliefs. So yesterday we decided to do the whole package: We took some water, the travel guide and off we went.

At first we went to see the 5 Rathas, which are monolith-temples discovered by the Britains. While Nina learned the guide book by heart and tried to find all the details about the different gods, and the facts about a vedic story (the Rathas were named after the 5 brothers in this story), Simone took her camera and discovered the place. It had a strange atmosphere. You stand there and you know how incredible old those stones are, but still it looks like somebody had just built them some days ago.

Another strange thing we experienced is, that we are also some kind of attraction for Indians. During the whole last day we made about 5 pictures together with Indians. Or they took photos of us, to say the truth. At first they just stare and smile at us, and then they take their mobile phone and try to take some secret pictures, but, of course, this is very obvious. And they can't take really good pictures where everybody can see properly, that (believe it or not) they are REALLY standing next to white people! So I wonder on how many tourist photos were are going to end until we leave India. Perhaps we become some local celebrities?!

After the Rathas we made our way to the Shore temple, which is directly at the sea side. This place was even nicer than the first one. Between the actually two temples you can watch a big Shiva sleeping on a stone bench. And the whole temple complex is guarded by around 30 very terrifying stone bulls.

To come to an end, we went to see Arjuna's Penance, which is a huge stone carving. This carving has a touch of irony: Beside Arjuna's penance you can also see a cat making the same position as Arjuna, and a crowd of mice looking at it.

So that was it. Pictures are coming soon!!

Today we made our way to Pondicherry/Puducherry, where we are going to stay until Monday. We wanted to stay in Mamallapuram and make a bicycle trip today, but as nobody told the south Indians that it's dry season now, it was pouring down the whole night and morning, and it didn't quite stop until the afternoon. So now we are here. This is a former french colony, why a lot of street signs etc. are still in french. I like that. À bientôt!

The Sound of Mandolins

Ok. We have no inspiration for writing serious posts this evening.
We actually wanted to tell you that yesterday ,our last evening in Chennai, we went to a mandolinconcert
and we liked it a lot. We bought tickets for a hundred rupees but ended up in the VIP seats. We had dinner in good company and some nice conversations. Today we left Chennai and took the bus to Mamallapuram where we have seen a monkey in a dress and ate orange spaghetti for dinner.Tomorrow we are gonna do some sight-seeing before we are leaving for our new farm.

children's hour

To Kasper that might read our blog and to other interested people

, we now have the answer!

Does bees sleep?

Yes, indeed, bees "sleep". Though there is always a lot of activity in a bee hive, mostly in the brood area where the queen is laying eggs, it is possible to observe worker bees around the edges of the comb and on the side walls that are resting and quiet. Research done as recently as 1988 showed that bees at rest exhibit some of the same characteristics as humans in a sleep period: they don't move around, they don't react to stimuli very readily, their muscles relax, and their body temperature drops. So, while the buzzing in the hive is probably not snoring, research concludes that bees do sleep. (Reference: Southwick, E. E. "Bee sleep". American Bee Journal 131:165-166, 1991

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Do_bee%27s_sleep#ixzz18BnCESmC

Shortly:

The place we are staying is wonderful. Our bed looks like a princessbed with the mosquito-net
Just wanted to tell you. We are in Chennai :)

I've been trying hard to do what's right. But you know I could stay here all night. Cause' this river is wild.

Hej alla som forstar svenska. Jag kanner det ar dags for ett kort inlagg pa modersmalet tillagnat mitt storsta huvudbry i indien: prutningen.

Jag har inga problem med indian-style toaletter, icke-existerande toalettpapper eller alla "trevliga" blickar fran okanda man. Men att forhandla om priset forstar jag mig bara inte pa. Har kan man verkligen tala om en kulturkrock, min kultur i frontalkrock med indiens.

Igar ville vi ta en Rickshaw fran busstationen till hotellet. Det hor liksom till: man SKA disskutera i en halvtimme innan man kan enas om ett pris, men jag gillar det verkligen inte.For det forsta : det tar bara sa lang tid och igar var jag trott, hungrig och otalig. For den andra: jag vet att jag inte borde, men jag tar det personligt. Jag ar en utlandsk vit kvinna men jag ar inte dum i huvudet; ingen betalar 300 rs for strackan busstation-hotell! Ge mig ett vettigt anbud liksom. For det tredje: jag ar helt enkelt for artig. Jag vet inte hur lagt jag kan ga eller vad saker egentligen ska kosta och det gor mig osaker.

Det ar helt enkelt nagot jag maste lara mig. Ninas indiska hemlaxa: inte ta skamlosa prisforslag personligt och inte mesa ur for fort.

Vi betalade inte mer an halften av utgangspriset igar.Vilket nog var i overkant, men det tar sig. Innan jag kommer hem ska jag vara prutningsdrottning. Sa det sa.


Puss & Kram till alla!

ps.
Jag har haft lite hemlangtan till och fran men igar pavag till Chennai overraskade jag mig sjalv med min
resfeber. Jag lyssnade till den lat som kommer bli en del av mitt indien soundtrack: this river is wild med Killers och insag hur mycket jag egentligen gillar det har resandet. Just nu bor pa ett ultracharmigt hotell och ikvall ska vi pa koncert med nyfunna vanner. Jag kunde inte ma battre. He e liksom mett dehar :) ds.

Some pictures for curious people:

Nina with her baby on the airport in Vienna; actually her bag wrapped in plastic.

The first to greet us on the farm where the cats! This is Tosh.

Puppy!

Our hut.

The house from outside and the innergarden.

Nina fully concentrated on opening peanuts, that later where used for making dessert.

Nina&Simone <3 papayas

A part of the vegetable-garden

Simone at work

Our new best friend.

This is the dessert with crushed peanuts on top. It doesn't look very tasty but belive us. It is.

cham-cham

Today we have had our first meal in a restaurant since coming to India, in Bangalore.
We entertained the whole restaurant. At first we couldn't read the menu properly. We asked for everything except for the things they were serving at that time.
Like that:
"Could I have mangojuice please?"
"No Mam, we only have pineapplejuice"

We know this is a good example.

After we started to eat the waiter came to give us a spoon. Only one spoon. We are two people. Indians usually eat with their hands. One spoon must mean that at least one of us was eating like a proper indian, but
we don't really know which one of us.
Nina was hungry for dessert and ordered a cham-cham after looking under the headline "sweets" in the menu.
She got a strange looking white sausage soaked in sugarwater. yummie... It looked very lonley on it's plate.

Tomorrow we are heading off to Chennai. Hoping for tastier desserts there.

On the farm

As we suspected we don"t have internet access on the farm, so now we took the bicycles and drove to the next town, which is actually quite big.

The last days were calm - we were just helping where we could. We made peanutbutter, baked bread in a oven (one, where you have to make fire with wood), planted seeds, replanted some vegetables... and we ate a lot. Especially papayas, as they planted more than they can eat or sell - but they are really tasty, so it's not a problem at all. We were really impressed by the variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs they grow here.
We sleep in an open hut, wrapped in a mosquito net, and guarded by Nipples, which is one of the three dogs also living on the farm. Beside dogs, they have baby cats, chicken and cows.

The owner of the farm, John, is american, and he lives there together with his indian wife Swetha. As they met in Auroville (a community of about 2000 people), and we heard about that place from other people too, we got curious about it, and we are thinking about going there. It's in the south-east, and we would pass it anyway - travelling from Chennai. That's one reason why we will leave the farm earlier than expected. The other reason is that we feel a bit like living in a bubble: There are not so many other people on the farm, and as we stay at the same place most of the time, we want to move on and explore!

In the town of boiled beans

Three delayed flights, two missed flights, a (probably quite expensive) cabride and half a days searching for internet is what we have accomplished so far.

Air India was riding firstclass. The food was nice and the plane had discolights during nighttime.


But: we have warm water in the mornings and India smells nice. The people are really friendly and helpful (even though they are staring at us all the time) - and the traffic is unbelievable. We always try to cross together with some local people, but when they finally reached the other side of the road, we are still waiting; astonished.

Plan for tonight: Bollywood! Simone apparently has a hidden gift for spotting cinemas. She already found three.

Plan for tomorrow: Finding the busstation and our way to the farm. We are not sure whether we'll have internet access there or not so fully enjoy this post!

Last report from Vienna

This were our last days in Europe:

Nina arrives in the evening and successfully invades the floor of Simones room before sunrise.

                                We were dancing at a french concert.

                The last evening we discovered new ways of transportation.


...and then we were walking around, drinking coffee, talking, visiting Christmas markets... and in 2 hours we are going to drive to the airport. And that's it, then. Bye, Europe!

On the way...

I guess Nina is sitting in the train to Vienna now. And I am sitting here, getting nervous. How is it going to be? What will she think of my home? How are our last days here going to be? Did I organise everything? Haven't I forgot anything?

Nina is already on her way, she said goodbye to her family and friends, she packed her bag, she took the airplane... and she met new people, a new country... for me it still seems so far away. I am leaving on Tuesday?? No way. But yes, it is true. In some days I will understand how she feels now. I hope I will. In some days we will be in the same situation again, in the same world. Until then life may be strange, discussions may be hard and thoughts may be confused. But we are leaving soon. That is for sure.

After 6 months of waiting I can finally say: We are leaving on Tuesday!!!

It's time. Nu sker e!

In two hours I am leaving Finland. I'm nervous exited and sad. All feelings possible at the same time.
First I'll visit a friend in Hungary before going to Vienna to catch up with Simone.

I really can't belive this day finally came.

Bye bye fields and forests of Ostrobothnia, my dear Pampas,
 see you in the springtime.
Hello Simone, Vienna & India.
See you really really soon!

                                                                          finished packing!

Meanwhile

Home is a strange thing to me. In a way I belong here.
The forests that are mine, driving along the roads in the middle of the night. Having stupid theme-partys
with best friends. Coffe at the only café in town. The language, the family, the smell om coffe in the kitchen every morning and homemade marmelade. The newfound lover, our language.

But.
Home is like chocolate. In small pieces it's good for your well-being and your peace-of-mind.
But too much could make you get high bloodpressure, die young perhaps, get chubby.
I am having an overdose of home right now. And I think if I can't go really soon
I am going to have a smaller mental breakdown. I need a challenge and a vacation.

Visa, vaccinations, all of that I've got it.
13 days left of work. 13 days left to freedom.
16 days left to leaving and
23 days left to adventure.

But at the moment I am just...
waiting.

Home sweet home?

Not the best picture, but this is "my" street

After a year on Strynø I finally made my way home - and arrived in Vienna about 3 weeks ago. It was a good journey, where I visited some of the people I met during my stay in Denmark.
And now, after 3 weeks of reflections, confusions and irritations I would say I feel home again. Actually it feels like I've always been here: the people, the city, the daily life.. it didn't change a lot. Vienna is a constant - maybe the only constant in my life.

So now I try to do some orientation and organisation work: I go to university, write applications, buy books about India, talk to people and yeah... I am waiting . Waiting for the next part.

Who are we? - Part II

So now I guess it's my turn to write something about my dear future-travel-companion Nina.
It's not very surprising that I don't know her better than she knows me, but I'll try my best. Actually it's quite surprising how different "our story" is from my point of view.

You know, sometimes you meet people and the first time you see them and you talk to them, you feel they're kind of special and that they could be an important person in your life. Nina was one of those, and I can't even really explain why. I just knew it. (but I wasn't expecting it to become real)

So that's why I was really surprised when we were talking about our future plans in that jazz-bar, and Nina proposed that our ways could cross at a point. And now, when I'm looking back, I'm quite surprised about how quick and how easy we decided to go (without knowing each other).

One of Ninas most important characteristics for me (one I couldn't travel without) is, that she is so uncomplicated and "nemt at være sammen med". She was never complaining about anything (me getting up early in the morning when she tried to sleep, me coming late and noisy into her room when she was trying to sleep, me asking if someone else might sleep in her room too - that means two people getting up early... ok I think you get the point) I never experienced her being in a bad mood (maybe a bit tired), or unmotivated, or unfriendly. And even though I thought I must've been a very annoying guest - she was always caring.

What else do I know about Nina? She worked as a volunteer in a social café in Copenhagen. She grew up in a little village in Finland, where she is working as a postman at the moment. She has two siblings and she makes really good sauces. She's interested in plants and her garden, and she's just started to be a vegetarian. She can be enthusiastic about things, what I really appreciate, and she always thinks that she's being cheasy when she writes something (and then I begin to ask myself if I'm cheasy too or if I just say how things are, and if they are cheasy - why not?)
I like her humour and that she's not afraid of making fun of herself, and she's curious as well.

So after writing all these things (and there're many more) I realize, that I know quite a lot of small puzzle pieces. Not a bad start. To be continued -

Simone

Who are we?

Some of you knows Simone and some of you know me; Nina. A part knew one of us a long time ago and need to cath up a bit. But nearly no-one knows both of us. So we'we decided to make a short presentation of ourselves (better late than never), or actually I'll try to present Simone for you all and I'll hope she'll find something nice to write about me later on.

hey ho let's go...

let me introduce you to Simone. Age : 7 months and 22 days older than me. Haircolour: something between blond and brown. Eyes: Kind of blue I think. Occupation at the moment: working as a volunteer at loveley Strynø in Smakkecenter. Other facts: As we wrote in the post from Strynø. We don't really know much about eachother. I know she sometimes makes jewllelry, I know she had a cat that was older than her in Vienna, I know she tried to knit but she thaught it was too boring and quit. She's the only child and back in Austria she went more to the cinema than in denmark, partly because of the price and partly because they now don't easily have access to cinemas on Strynø. She's not THAT GOOD at football but she better than she says herself.I live in the belief that she reads quite a lot and is interested in literature. I always have a lot of fun with her. I think we have the same kind of bad huomor. We met: On a EVS-seminar in Ollerup, denmark. I must say I kind of liked her from the start.This will sound cheesy but I really felt like the smalltownchick meeting the bigtowngirl, I thaught she was really cool and I felt quite uncool. Yeah this IS cheesy (and It'll get worse) I know. Simone is really tolerant against other people. I never really heard her say something bad about someone. If she for some reason been hurt by someone and wanted to say something about it, it was always in a constructive way. No shittalk.It's a feature I envy. In decemeber 2009 the cop15 was held in Copenhagen and Simone came to visit. I guess she didn't care that much about me. The biggest clima-demonstation ever for sure had bigger effect, but I remember we were sitting talking for a long time the last evening about everything and nothing. After that I told my boyfriend I wanted to be her best friend. For sure it was a statement made with a bit of sarcasm - or no, self-irony is better, and my boyfriend laughed at me. But later on we met again in CPH for another seminar. This is when we hatched the idea to go. Simone was as always- cool. She said we had to think about it and do some planning. We spended an evening laughing trying to figure out if the best way to India would be by donkey, rollerblades or bike. After this i told my boyfriend he could be happy Simone was not a boy, then I would've taken her instead.He laughed again. The sentimental point of this is that it was yeah...perhaps a bit exaggerated. But actually I kind of ment it. ( I have to work on my sentimentalside before we start blogging for real, I'm aware of that. I'll be very proffessional when we once'n for all get to India, promise)

This is how I know Simone,

Since I am starting work at 5.00 am I'll say goodnight now.

Sleep well.

/Nina

picture: simone by me. At strynø for her birthday, march -10.

Back in Finland

I grew up here


Me and brother





A piece of finnish summer and a small piece of finnish gas station

After almost a week on the road I am back in Finland.
My sunburn I got at stryno is already gone.
I can't really explain how it feels to be back. The big news since I left:
we got a new pizzeria, one of my friends broke up with her boyfriend and nordea changed location to the other side of the street. So actually not that much. It's like always have been.
India feels far away from the slow countryside rhytm of this place. But I'm preparing with reading. I've decided I should read a lot about India before we leave. More for the pleasure of daydreaming away than for the facts, but anyway.

Selvtak Simone for the time we spent together on Stryno. Det var virkeligt dejligt at ses.
It feels like we're going to be a good team.

Vi ses!

Det var altså det...
Efter en rigtig hyggelig dag med meget solskin (og heldigvis ikke så meget arbejde), en spændende fodboldkamp (Nina er vores ny fodboldekspert) og en masse af nye ideer og drømmer skulle vi sige farvel. Men hvordan siger man farvel, når man ved, at det tager 6 måneder til man ses igen?
Jeg vil bare sige tak til dig, Nina, tak for din dejlig besøg! Indien føles lidt tætter på nu.
Ha' en rigtig god tur hjem og jeg glæder mig til vores rejse!!

Greetings from Strynø

We are celebrating 6 months until we make our first steps in India today. To make the day even more special this is the last time we'll see each other before november in Vienna. Tomorrow when we'll say goodbye Nina will go back to Copenhagen and then continue her journey to Finland. Simone is going to stay on Strynø until september when her voluntary service ends.
All this still feels a bit unreal and far away, but at the same time very exciting.

We just realized that it's the first time we spend time together without anyone else around. After getting to know each other a bit deeper we got kind of scared... But we agree that we both seem quite ok and trustworthy enough to make a trip like that together. When we know something more about it we'll let you know!

The name:click

Nina Simone:
Click on the picture.


Wild is the wind
Love me love me love me
Say you do
Let me fly away
with you
For my love is like
the wind
And wild is the wind

Give me more
than one caress
Satisfy this
hungriness
Let the wind
blow through your heart
For wild is the wind

You touch me...
I hear the sound
of mandolins
You kiss me...
With your kiss
my life begins
You're spring to me
All things
to me

Don't you know you're
life itself
Like a leaf clings
to a tree
Oh my darling,
cling to me
For we're creatures
of the wind
And wild is the wind
So wild is the wind

The cover, Catpower:


Pictures:google

!!

The 8th of may 12 o'clock we booked the tickets talking via bad-connection skype. Destination Bangalore leaving on the 30th of November from Vienna.
Exitement. Expectations.
India here we come. 

Picture:google

Here we go.

So this is it.
Welcome. Willkommen. Väälkomi ,good folks.
This is our blog about our journey to India.
It feels odd to write "here you can follow us before, after and during the journey" because it feels like tv-commercial, but actually that's just what you are able to do here. Hope you'll enjoy as much as we'll do.

Cheers to us. Cheers to you lovley readers.
Happy Birthday to you dear blog.