Hello friends,

Very sorry to have left this for so long. I spent about 10 days doing what a friend grimly referred to as "shitting meditation." The local germs finally got inside me and had a field day. Along with the other symptoms comes a lethargy that had me sleeping 12 hours a night and taking a 2 hour nap in the afternoons. I really resisted taking antibiotics, hoping that nature would take its course, but on the other hand sometimes nature kills you, so I didn't want to take it to extremes. On the worst day I was sitting in my room with the bottle of ciprofloxin in my hand, reading the label and counting the pills. I'd had breakfast that morning and had to wait another 2 hours before taking the pill. Amazingly, before the 2 hours were up, my guts didn't feel so bad, so I held off and I've been getting better and better ever since. I don't remember ever being cured before by holding pills in my hand. I'm now at a point that another friend colourfully described. He said, "The unemployed acrobats in my guts do a backflip every now and then just to remind me that they're still there." The Phowa course is in full swing, actually nearly done, just 2 more days to go. It is very good and I am ever so glad to have had this opportunity to take it. When the course ends some students set up an informal practice group that I will take part in for a week or so. We'll practice once in the mornings and then I'll have the rest of the day to decompress. The course is pretty intense, lasts from 8am till about 8pm with a 2 hour lunch break, and there's a lot of content, and the practice sessions are pretty intense too. Still planning to head to the south afterwards, but haven't made travel arrangements yet. No rush.

I'm still adapting to India. Getting better. It does wear on you. It's largely annoyances, but they're constant, and your patience can wear thin. The local kids have mostly given up on scamming me for money, so now we just chat. I say, "What are you up to today?" and they say, "Looking for tourists." Every now and then one or another of them will take a lame stab at the soccer ball scam or the dictionary scam, and I just look at them and raise my eyebrows and they give up. They're good kids with very few options trying to take advantage of whatever opportunities present themselves.

An unusual sight, even for here, the other day there was a guy riding a camel heading down the street I was walking up, and another guy riding an elephant going up the cross street. Don't know what that was about, but then again we're in India and you have no idea what is going to come around the corner. Usually it's an autorickshaw swerving around the people and cows, stereo blaring at 11, horn almost drowning out the stereo, one monk on each side of the driver, four more monks in the back seat, four more in the back behind the back seat, and three riding on the rear bumper, and sometimes it's a guy riding an elephant. You just never know.

There's a big black and white bull who lives in the area in front of the Mahabodhi Stupa where there's a sidewalk market of fruit and vegetables. The other day I watched him bee-line to a woman sitting on the pavement with a basket of pears in front of her. She was slow in seeing him coming and in her rush to get up and pick up the basket she spilled some of the pears on the ground and the bull snatched up three or four really quick before she and some other people managed to push him away. Nobody here would hit a cow (or bull) but pushing and yelling seem to be within bounds. The bull seemed like he had done that trick a time or two before.

Crazy busy at the Mahabodhi Stupa today for the New Year's holiday. The vast majority of the tourists are Indian and the street vendors definitely try to sell to them, but when they see a foreigner they forget all about the Indians and their pitch revs up to redline. I'm getting better at the balance between polite and firm. Smile, say "no thanks" so they hear it, look away (the most important part) and keep walking.

Enough for now. Hope everyone is well. Please feel free to email. I'll reply eventually...