Reflections.

The sun is illuminating everything. The lake is like glass, smooth and shining silver. On the far bank fog is skirling, trying to escape the sun's alluring smile. Birds are gossiping and it's quiet below. nobody playing tennis yet, or working on the two ponds. The ponds have been filled with green water, perhaps to test their soundness. The water buffalo are nowhere in sight. They are often semi-submerged, looking like crocodiles with their back ridges and headbones the only thing visible above water. Birds ride on their backs.
The sun comes up like one of those light dimmers getting brighter and brighter. When it's fully up, the water starts to ripple with gentle breezes, which by evening will be welcome cooling winds. I turn on the tv in the morning, and there is news in German, French, Italian, Japanese, Hindi, English, and a few others. English and other subtitles run below some of them. So much news to try to take in. My sister wrote me and told me that a friend of hers works here. She works in an orphanage. That is interesting to me, and I will find her and check it out when I get moved. The apartment will be in town, and much bigger and more private, so I can have people over to visit or stay, without constant traffic. I can't wait. Elevator Adventures: I take my pup down several times a day to walk her. There is usually someone coming down or up. I have taken to saying hello to them because the reactions are so strange. One day the numbers did not work. the display stayed on zero. A tall British man got in from the floor below me, he watched the numbers.. which didn't move, so I pointed out that they seemed to be broken. he said, "Oh no, they aren't. It's just showing us where we are headed". :/ (they fix that digital display often) another time, the doors opened and a Japanese man began to saunter in, saw my pup and jumped back across the hallway like he'd just seen Godzilla. Holding his heart, he pointed that he was taking the other elevator. ..Another man, of indistinguishable origin, Brit, Aussie... got in. I said, "HI, are you headed for the barbeque" and he looked at me like I was a talking monkey. He began to stammer the same thing over and over again, until the doors opened and he escaped. he sadi, "I dunno, I haven't gone before, I might go, I dunno, I haven't gone before.. I might go....etc". funny huh? In the space of under a minute, in the tiny space of an elevator, getting IN the space of another person,... is interesting. ---- There was another holiday on Saturday. It began on Friday. It was the holiday of colors, called Holi. Water balloons were tied all over, filled with liquid color, and powders were heaped in bowls. The idea is to let your inner child free, and ignoring class and other distinctions, you wear old white clothing and go out to be colored. The traffic was horrendous, so I stayed home, but the idea sounds fun. and messy. :) I couldn't quite pin down the story behind it, but apparently it had to do with a King who was made immortal somehow, and his pride grew and grew, until he told people to worship him instead of Lord Shiva. His son Pravahd (I think I got that right) would have none of that, and would not treat him as a god. It angered the King, so he planned to kill him. His aunt held him on her lap to protect him (some say to kill him) as a fire was set around her, and she was supposed to be incombusitble (a gift of the gods), but she burnt to ashes, and Pravahd was saved. There is a tradition surrounding a statue of Pravahd that won't burn, being put in a pyre with a burnable one of the aunt, they heap fuel on it until Holi day.. and then burn it for luck. The ashes have meaning too.

There is no lack of something to learn or study, here. The place appears to be in a flurry of growth and busyness. When I get settled, I will look for language lessons. I took pictures, but have lost the wire connection that allows me to put them from the camera to the computer. So, until I find another one.. this site is pictureless. The lake is rippling. It's beautiful to look at. I see why people want to live looking at one. It is hypnotically peaceful and cyclical.