People say that you have a love hate relationship with India and I agree with that. Last Wednesday and Thursday I hated this place. Still not sleeping well and actually thinking that I'm going nuts. Before I go to bed I take a shower to cool myself down, than I put on coconut cooling oil all over my body, wet my towel to put on my forehead and turn on the fan. The fan is so loud and goes so fast that it sounds like a helicopter and I thought that I would take off first time I slept there. But it keeps all the mosquito's away. Ready to go to bed. Oh I put earplugs in as well. Then I close my eyes and try not to think too much. Then it gets hotter and hotter, the oils stops working and is actually making me feel much more hot. The room is getting smaller, I cant breathe so I start to feel claustrophobic. I get up to wet my dirty toes and I go out on the balcony. But there it's also hot. I feel like the world outside my door is too small for me. "Oh my god! I'm going crazy. No Ingibjorg you are not. Relax and just breathe. The world is not too small for you" So I need to talk to myself allot during the night. Finally I fall asleep. It's not always like this. It's just, this place and this country can be so over whelming. There are people everywhere...looking at you and specially the men. They usually try to talk to you and ask you questions like "what's your name or which country" And if you answer back it's like they don't expect that you can actually talk so they start to laugh or follow you. So now I never answer back of course. You cant trust anyone. Everybody are trying to scam you. Everywhere. It can be very exhausting to argue with f.eks. the rickshaw drivers. They always try to make you pay much much more and you just want to get home. So you walk to the next one and the next one until someone is willing to drive you home for the right prize. So I'm learning allot how to be extremely decisive here.

There are many types of violence in the world and I have discovered a new one " COSMETIC VIOLENCE. Me and My friend had this cosmetic lady come to my house to give us oil head massage and henna color mud to put under my feet. It's supposed to cool you down this henna thing. My friend was also going to get pedicure. On Thursday she came at 11 am and I went first. I sat on my bed with my legs crossed and the first thing she did was to put allot of oil on my head. MMhhh, a nice head massage. Then she started to massage my head really fast and roughly. It was more like washing my head. And that was not it. She started to pull my hair and it hurt. Then she pulled out his massage head machine from the eighties and that was even worse. This was so bad I couldn't believe it. Was this for real?? Was she having a bad day or what?? After 20 min she stopped. She offered me a face massage and unfortunately I said yes. It was more like hitting my face then massaging it. After that she put on a face mask which smelled awful and a rosewater in a cotton ball to put on my eyes. The last thing was the henna colour and that was ok. But it didnt really cool my feet. Then it was my friends turn and I told her that she was a little rough, this lady. But she gave it a try. I have to say that I have a better tolerance for pain because she was yelling out loud and I don't blame her. I couldn't help myself and started to laugh watching my friend being so surprised by all this. I asked if it was an Indian thing to pull the hair and she said it was good for the blood stimulation. Then she was suddenly in a hurry. Took her stuff, took our money without giving our change back and left. This was an experience. So we laughed about this horror massage therapist. BUT the story is not over yet. SHE STOLE MY PHONE. Probably when I had the cotton balls covering my eyes. Then this was not funny anymore. I talked to Tina ( the woman who has the restaurant at her house) because she recommended her. It was a friend of a friend. She got so mad and called her up and of course the horror massage cosmetic lady denied. But Tina hasn't given up yet so we'll see what happens. I am pretty sure she has my phone. I didn't take it with me that morning. So it must be her or God. Maybe its my karma not to have a phone here in India. I felt so attacted to it. My little phone. But now I don't care. Its gone and so be it. I can live without it. So now you now. I don't have a phone anymore. So Wednesday and Thursday I was angry at India.
The next day after yoga practice a group of people and I decided to visit SERA which is the largest Mahayana Tibetan Buddhist monastery in exile here in India. There are more then 5000 monks in the village which is two hours away from Mysore. It was so wonderful to be there and to get out of Mysore. It was quiet, clean and no men harassing you. The first thing that we did was to watch the monks debate. They debate the study and science of Buddhist logic. They gather together in groups probably around 200 and start to shout and clap their hands and make all kinds of stylized movements. Everything has a meaning. Next morning we woke up at 5:30. We went to the main monastery and the monks invited us to have breakfast with them. So we sat there with 600 monks and had butter milk and bread. Then they chanted and that was amazing to hear that. Later we visited other monasteries. The temples are so beautiful. I took pictures there so you can see it when I come home. In one temple there were birds inside flying and singing. I was in tears. It was so peaceful to be in there. I felt so much better after visiting the monks. I felt more peaceful and relaxed.
Today I love India. Nothing bothers me. I had a great yoga practice this morning. The guru is pushing me.
It's a great lesson to be here.

There is so much to tell that I don't know were to begin. Last time I wrote I told you that my stomach was feeling fine.....but....after my visit to the ayurvedic doctor I drank some magic liquid that was supposed to be good for the stomach, IT STARTED. That evening I got really strong cramps. It hurt like hell. The pain affected my dreams and there I was pregnant in a labor. Oh this was BAD. But I didn't have to go to the toilet....yet. So next morning I woke up 7 am instead of six. Still feeling sick and also tired. I thought to myself that I was not going to miss yoga class so I got myself together and headed towards the yoga center. In class I felt so weak. After practice I had some breakfast at Tinas house. She lives next door and has a restaurant at her home. My stomach was not getting any better. I ran home after breakfast straight to the toilet and...I'm not going in any details. So I have been sick in my stomach for three days now but I'm getting better. I don't know if it's food or the magic medicine.

Og nu aetla eg ad gefa ykkur nanari upplysingar um minar klosettferdir her a Indlandi. Thegar eg lagdi af stad til Indlands tok eg med mer 2 klosettrullur. Eg var algjorlega akvedin i ad nota pappir en ekki vinstri hondina. Tho svo eg se oftast tilbuin ad taka upp erlenda sidi og venjur fannst mer thetta vera heldur mikid. Eg helt ad Indverjar myndu pissa og kuka, skeina ser sidan me vinstri og ad lokum thvo kukinn af og pissid. Oj oj hugsadi eg og notadi minn klosettpappir margoft minn fyrsta magakveisu dag. Daginn eftir var eg enntha med verki. Um hadegisbil kom fruin upp og bad okkur um ad nota minna vatn thvi eitthvad hafdi stiflad rorin. Thau thyrftu ad safna vatni og eitthvad..bla bla. Eg fekk fyrir hjartad. Var eg buin ad stifla allt hverfid???? Eg spurdi Finnana hvort thau notudu klosettpappir og thau svorudu neitandi thv'i thad vaeri eiginlega bannad thvi rorin thyldu thad ekki. Fjandakornid....Eg med nidurgang og tharf ad fara ad nota VINSTRI. ARG ARG. Fyrst var ad fa nanari upplysingar um hver vaeri besta adferdin vid thetta. Nu thad kom i ljos ad Indverjar hella vatni aftan a rassinn, lata leka nidur, stinga vinstri undir og gripa vatnsbununa og hreinsa eda skeina, girda upp um sig og ad lokum thvo ser. Tha var ekkert annad eftir enn ad profa. Eg stend inn a klosetti. Thetta er svona vestern klosett eins og vid erum von ad nota. Thad er krani vid hlidinna a klosettinu og litil kanna til ad hella vatni i. "jaeja vinstri hond. Sinntu thinu starfi" Thetta gekk, en frekar brosulega. Mer finnst othaegilegt ad girda upp um mig og vera frekar"blaut". Thetta var a fimmtudaginn og sidan tha hafa klosettferdirnar verid fleiri og vinstri hondin er svei mer tha bara farin ad fila sig. Thetta er reyndar miklu thaegilegar a Indversku klosetti thvi tha er meira plass..skiljid. Sidan for eg a klosettid a yogacenterinu og thar eru svona litlir sturtuhausar til ad skola sig med og thad var MEIRIHATTAR. Allt i einu fannst mer thetta miklu hreinlegra en ad skeina ser med klosettpappir. Eg er ad hugsa um ad koma svona systemi upp heima a Langholtsveginum. Tha vitid thid allt um minar klosettferdir. Er thad ekki gaman.

Even thou I've experienced a wonderful time here it has been difficult too. It took me 3 days to find a bank were I could take out money with my credit card. Everything takes such a long time here. I've not been sleeping very well. It is so hot and there is some traffic closed to my house. And still I'm getting used to the time difference. Yesterday was good. A group of people rented a car and we drove out of the city. We went to a beautiful temple and to a beach were the Indians bathe themselves. Of course the men are only aloud to swim. Then we went to paradise. We visited an older Spanish woman and her son that live close to a lake in a beautiful house. I was speechless when I came there. Since I was a little girl I've always dreamt of being able to swim in lakes and rivers, But as you know it is to cold in Iceland to do that. We took our clothes off and jumped in the water. Oh my god it was so wonderful to swim there. Surrounded by trees and birds and monkeys and the sun just going down. I felt like I was in a movie. Then Rubert( the son) came and gave us tea and roasted peanuts. Later we took a look at the house and I almost didn't want to leave. This was so nice. At eight o'clock we said goodbye and went home. This is it I thought, this is India, while we drove pass some very poor neighborhoods were people live in tents but seemed so happy. Yes this is India. Today I am going to see a palace and then the full moon come up. Lots of love and I will write soon.

Well Well! Finally I have time to write. I'm going to write in English so my friends outside of Iceland can join in. So I'm in Mysore now and its a wonderful place. Much smaller then Madras. Guna and his wife, mother, driver,daughter and son took me to the train station in the middle of the night. I got to know Guna through a friend of mine in Iceland. There was a 7 hour ride a ahead. A young Indian woman sat next to me on the train and we started talking. It was so interesting talking to her. It was like she was getting something out of talking to a western woman because we were talking about women stuff if you know what I mean. And they usually don't talk about these things. She told me from her experience how frustrating it was being a woman in this country. They are so depended on their husbands and family. She also told me that in some small towns they are killing baby girls by giving them poisoned milk. They rather have boys. So of course I told her about V-day organization. Its a little
it strange to come straight from working on v-day to a country were women have so little freedom. Like when I was eating with Gunas family we sat by the table, me, him and his children but his wife and mother stood by the table to serve us. I of course asked if she wasn't going to join us and she said that she would eat later. But anyway. We said goodby in Bangalore and she gave me her address if i would stop by.
I took a taxi from the train station to a hotel that someone had recommended. It was so disgusting. It was so hot in there and so dirty. The drive couldn't believe I was going to stay there. I payd for one night determined to find something else. I was supposed to meet an Icelandic friend of mine that day. When she arrived she told me about a room for rent close by in a private house. So we went there and it was much much better. Next door to me were some yoga friends from Finland. So everything worked out fine. I still do not know the address of the house were I live. Indian people do not mark their streets so sometimes its hard to find your way here. There are allot of people here practicing yoga and I took my first yoga class yesterday morning at six am. When I walked in there it was like a freakshow. Many yogis so flexible that it was scary. But I had a really good practice. It felt so good being there. It is so friendly here to. I love seeing all these animals walking around. I was driving
downtown in a rickshaw they call it. And suddenly there was a little horse walking next to the car. There are cows everywhere. Some are decorated with yellow color. There are pig families, wild dogs and goats, walking around in the middle of the city. I love this. There are insects everywhere and flowers that smell heavenly. I got to know two Indian girls that take me everywhere on their motorbike. They take me to good restaurants so I haven't got any stomach problems yet. Today I am going to ayurvedic doctor and he is going to teach me a littlebit about ayurveda.
It is so great to be here. I absolutely love it. The sun is shining, the people are nice, the yoga center is very good. Can it be any better.
I have to go now. I have to write very fast so sorry if the spelling is not correct.

Tha er eg loksins komin. Mer lidur mjog vel og ferdin gekk eins og i sogu. Eda svona naestum thvi. Velin til Indlands var reyndar fullbokud og eg var bedin um ad gerast sjalfbodalidi Th.e. ad vera tilbuin til ad fljuga til Bombey og thadan til Madras ef velin skyldi verda full. Eg akvad ad sla til. Alveg til i ad kikja til Bombey. Sidan fengi eg lika 250 pund fyrir. En raunin vard onnur. Eg fekk saeti. Eg gat ekki annad en brosad ut i annad thegar mer var sagt ad eg kaemist kannski ekki med. Eins og thid kannski vitid sum ykkar ad tha gekk skipulagning thessarar ferdar frekar brosulega. Allt vann a moti mer og eg var farin ad halda ad eg aetti ekki ad fara. En eg gafst ekki upp. Og i dag held eg ad thad hafi verid laerdomurinn af thessu ollu saman...ad gefast ekki upp ef thu aetlar ther eitthvad. Nu eg sat vid hlidinna a Indversku folki sem er busett i London. Mjog vingjarnleg. Flugid var mjog thaegilegt. 10 timarnir flugu og eg nadi ekki einu sinni ad lesa blodin sem eg hafdi keypt mer. Maturinn var frabaer og nog af myndum i sjonvarpinu. Thegar flugvelin var ad lenda fekk eg tar i augun. Veit ekki alveg afhverju. En eg var eitthvad svo anaegd ad vera komin. sidan var eg sott af Guna og konu hans og bilstjora. Borgin er frekar skitug. Umferdin frekar kaotisk og mikid flautad. Thetta er svoldid gamaldags. Thad er flautad thegar komid er fyrir horn og svona. Sidan sa eg eina ku vid umferdagotuna ad borda rusl. Eins og ef madur myndi sja ku a beit vid miklubraut. Mjog vinalegt. Sidan helt eg ad eg myndi gista hja Guna og fjoldkyldu hans en hann setti mig a gistiheimili rett hja.Honum fannst thad betra fyrir mig. Eins og mer se ekki sama. En hvad um thad. Eg svaf bara agaetlega. Vaknadi um 10 a Indverskum tima og tha var bankad. Hm atti eg ad opna? Ju ju og eg gerdi thad. I hurdinni stod litill thjonn og baud mer upp a te. Faerdi mer sidan banana sem eg var buin ad bidja um. Hann var buin ad skera hann i litlar sneidar fyrir mig..voda saett. Eg fann reyndar mjog sterkt kryddbragd af banananum og tha haetti eg ad eta hann. Aetli litli madurinn hafi ekki verid ad skera lauk og farid sidan ad skera nidur bananann. sidan kom kona sem rekur gistiheimilid og baud mig velkomna. Thar a eftir kom Guna med litla strakinn sinn sem thordi ekki ad horfa a mig. Guna a strak og litla stelpu og hun aetlar ad dansa fyrir mig a eftir. Eg var ad koma ur tebodi hja konunni sem a gistiheimilid og hitti hennar fjolskyldu. Thad taka allir voda vel a moti mer. Fljotlega er eg ad fara ad borda med theim ollum..sidan ad kaupa fatnad fyrir mig..indverskan ad sjalfsogdu og i kvold forum vid a strondina. En nu aetla eg ad haetta. kann ekki vid ad hanga i tolvunni. En eg gaeti sagt ykkur svo miklu miklu meira. En geymi thad til betri tima. Nu aetla eg ad fara ad leika vid krakkana. Eg mun skrifa naest thegar eg verd komin til Mysore. Eg er svo anaegd ad vera komin. Mer lidur SUPER vel.