proof that it pays to have a little faith

      I have to apologize for my lack of updates in the last couple of weeks, but as some of you know, I've been essentially computer-less for a while and, to be frank, right now all I really want to do is catch up on the tv shows I attempt to follow from a few continents away, because, guess what? my laptop is back in my hands, completely fixed with a brand new bottom casing and a smiling julia all for about $30 USD. Though anybody with a hint of common sense could have guessed, its revival last week did not last and it quickly went back into remission. I won't go into the boring details of how the whole drama unfolded, but I went from assuming I would never see my computer again to finding it on my desk shiny and working, in less than 10 days. I took it to a computer shop which doesn't fix apple, so they sent it to Bangalore (IT capital of India and the capital of Karnataka, the state I'm in) and it was fixed at an apple service center there. I, however, was kept completely out of the loop throughout this whole process and, even after receiving a call that I could come pick it up, I couldn't believe that it was actually fixed. But, it is, and I couldn't feel better about my decision to trust my gut and have faith in a random computer shop, that, on the exterior, came off a little (ok, a lot) sketchy. In other news, a package I sent to freaking West Africa via the Indian post made it there in less than ten days. 10 points for India!
      Though this whole situation served as a slap in the face kind of realization as to how dependent I am on technology and being connected to the world and people that I'm currently very far away from. I was also forced to figure this all out on my own and I'm proud of the fact that everything worked out in my favor. Getting along in India alone isn't terribly difficult, but the occasional language barrier and intense humidity can make any tired, laptop-less girl experience a quasi-mental breakdown, once in a while; now I know this first hand. After I picked it up in Udupi, I was feeling so invincible that I stopped at the first restaurant I saw and ordered pineapple juice and dosa. Sounds normal, but funnily enough, I don't even like dosa that much, it's simply the only thing I remembered how to say and furthermore, it's likely the water that went into my pineapple juice was not treated and had potential to make me quite sick. I'm really living on the edge, guys.
       Other than that, not a whole lot has been going on here in Manipal. It's easy to forget that I'm in India, but whenever I have a moment of epiphany or take time to remove myself from the daily grind, I remember that I AM in India and it's pretty amazing. Sometimes I get frustrated by being stuck at school in class every day when I'd rather be traveling, but when I try to look at it from the outside, I realize how much I'm learning just by existing and doing the seemingly mundane. I really like India and I'm thrilled to be making my way up the steepest section of the learning curve with relative ease. There have been challenges, but I accept challenges as long as I'm in control of dealing with them.
       So now for the pithy section of this post, which I have been intending to write since before the computer saga unfolded. Pithy is a word that my junior year english teacher liked to use, so today I use it in her honor. Shout out to Ms. Goertz and thanks for being the first person (outside of my bloodline) to tell me that I'm a good writer. The other day was Meera, my philosophy teacher's birthday and she began class by explaining that in Hindu tradition, you didn't wish someone a happy birthday because rebirth and death is something from which people hoped to escape, so instead, you wish them a long life. One is supposed to spend their birthday giving thanks to their elders for what they have given them and so on and so forth. Meera explained, that, because she could not bend down at the feet of all of her elders, as they are quite scattered across the world, she spent the morning reflecting on everything for which she is thankful. After telling us how she felt loved waking up to hundreds of texts and facebook messages wishing her happy birthday she said that "the most precious thing you can have is people around you," and this really hit home for me (not just because it was 9am and I was tired). Though they may not be at an arm's reach right now, I couldn't feel luckier to know the people I know and love the people I love because I think I have the greatest people in my life. Being apart from "my people" is hard sometimes, but you know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. On this note, happy anniversary to the pack.

I'm going to leave you with that, for now. I did travel to Karkala and Moodibidri to see a few Jain temples last weekend, but, other than being charged 50 rupees to take pictures in Moodibidri, it wasn't much to write home about. The temple in Karkala was atop a hill, though, and made for some great pictures. 

42 foot monolith of an important jain

in the distance is another Jain temple

jain priest