Goodbye Bangalore

After spending five months in Bangalore it's time for me to get on moving. First of all I have to leave to country to renew my visa, which expires on the 10th june. For that reason I'm going to Nepal. Actually it's the worst time for a visit to Nepal because just now the monsoon season starts and Nepal which is famous for it's beautiful mountains will be flooded with rain and trekking in the mountains won't be possible, unfortunately. Still I decided to go there, also if only for a short period of time. Back in India I want to go to Ladakh in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in Northern India. This journey will take me on the highest mountain pass in the world (altitude: 5360 meters) which is only open for a few months in the summer, the rest of the year it's blocked by snow. Apart from that I want to do a three weeks Yoga course in Rishikesh and a Vipassana (buddistic meditation) course.
That are my plans so far.



When I'm looking back on my time here in Bangalore and the voluntary work I would describe it as a time full of struggle. This community is lacking a propper organisation structure and some more houseparents. The idea of a hierarchy free community is very difficult in a country like India where the class (or caste) system is still so present. Our housefather is mostly called Sir and some residents also start calling me like that. It's very hard when you always have only one opinion and decicions are not discussed and negotiated between more people. But we learned to live with this struggle and tried to ignore all these negativ sides. Still this is topic No.1 when the Co-Workers sit together in the off time, although we want to realx and thik of something else the the work all the time we always have to digest all the struggles we go through during the day.



For sure it was also an enjoyable time where I learnt a lot (especially how to deal with struggles :-)) and had moments of fun and joy. But I'm happy to move forward and explore more of this country and the hole region.



It came somehow automatically that I update my blog now only in english, the language I mostly use at the moment. Nice also for all my non-german-speaking friends (hope they are also taking a look) to be up to date. Also I uploaded some pics from my holidays in Hampi and Goa and new pics from B'lore.
Sorry that I didn't write ealier. My day off (which is the only day I can go to the city) is mostly very stressfull and full with things I wanna do and organize. For example today I wanted to book my train from Delhi to Varanasi; I went to the reservation office where I had to wait in a Q for one hour; when I finally came to the counter the train I wanted to take was booked out and the guy asked me for my passport because there is always a limited tourist quota. Unfortunately for the first time I didn't have my passport with me and I couldn't find a way to get my passport number. In the end I had to book a different train.
Everything takes time here and is often very exhausting. So most of the time I don't feel like "wasting" my precious time in a internet cafe. But now that time has a totaly different meaning I promise to get you more updates about my experiences. Hope also to hear from all of you.

Love, Raphi