Day 10!!!!!
Well I am officially one third of the way through teachers training! It's crazy how fast the days go by here, I can't believe I've almost been gone for two weeks already!
Since my last post Kosta is back and boy can we feel it. He sure knows how to kill us with his super long asana holds! During evening practice today we had to hold standing forward bend, with our arms hanging (grabbing our elbows or hands in a bind behind our backs) for 10 minutes which in the end turned out to be 11. By the end I don't think any of us could feel our legs. It was such a mental ad physical challenge but I did it! Kosta likes to throw in these little challenges which at the time seem horrible but I can tell they have all helped me build my strength and deepen my asana practice. As the days go by I can feel myself getting stronger and stronger. My chaturungas are finally coming back to me and it feels good!
Ram, our philosophy teacher just arrived yesterday and we had our first theory class with him today! Already I can tell I'm going to enjoy his philosophy lessons. He is a great teacher with so much knowledge involving yoga, yoga philosophies and many different religions. He is very open minded and engages his audience when he speaks making for a very interesting lecture. I am looking forward to the rest of our time with Ram.
Enough about training, on to the fun I've been up to during our breaks these past couple of days! Me and two other girls decided to rent motorbikes yesterday and cruise down to The Spa, a local detox center/spa/restaurant just down the road from us towards Lamai. One of the girls ended up doing a 7 day detox cleanse there before we started teachers training so she discovered the amazing food they had at the restaurant when she was finally off her detox and was able to eat. It is mostly vegetarian and raw food so we don't feel to guilty sneaking off and having a mid day meal since we are deprived of lunch everyday. I tried the raw vegetarian Vietnam spring rolls which came with a sweet and spicy peanut dipping sauce. They were very good and it was nice to change up the flavours from what we've been eating everyday at Vikasa. We had so much fun getting around on our motorbikes that we decides to extend our rental to 10 days! Now we are going to try and make the most out of our rentals and breaks and cruise around the island and hopefully see and experience a lot more of Koh Samui. Today I went to Tesco with one of the boys who also has rented a motorbike and got my first authentic Thai Green Mango Salad! It was delicious but very spicy even though I asked the lady to tone down the spice a little because I knew it may not agree with my stomach just before evening practice. They literally make the salad right in front of you. Peeling the mango and carrots and other veggies then mixing the dressing with chillies, green onions, garlic and peanuts in a mortar and pestle before serving it to you. It cost me 50 baht which is about $1.75. I could really get used to the Thai prices! Even our motorbikes ended up being around $40 for 10 days and gas is next to nothing. They sell bottles of gas along the side of the road which gave me a quarter of a tank for about $1.25. One of the guys said he filled his tank for $4.00 and he's been motoring around since Saturday and still hasn't had to fill up again so you can get the idea how cheap it is.
Anyways I am getting tired and know tomorrow will be tough because we are going over a bunch of standing series tomorrow night in Kostas class which I can only imagine will be killer for the legs and will probably have to hold all of the warrior variations for a few minutes each. I may also try and drag myself out of bed at 530am to go down to the beach and practice at sunrise with a small group. I've been meaning to do this but haven't brought myself to do three practices a day yet but it would be nice to practice on the beach at sunrise one of these days.