National Strike = Holiday!

Monday began normally enough, yoga, breakfast, then work.  But on the way to work we noticed that there were hardly any cars on the street and the whole town just seemed dead.  When we got to work, same story.  We knew that there was a national strike today protesting the rise in gas price, but we didn’t know it would be this effective!  Everyone stayed home from work to make the statement that the price of gas was too high to carry on day-to-day activities.  It seemed like all of India had come together.  Sitting in my empty office, I started checking emails.  When one of the ladies in my office came in, she explained that Manipal Press was off today but Manipal Group had to work.  After returning some emails and talking with her a while, Rachel came excitedly to tell me that we could go.  I grabbed my things and said goodbye as we started on our way home.  I was slightly disappointed since I still couldn’t get the Internet to work in the apartment, and I was actually enjoying my work.  But Rachel was more than ready to get home as we were both so tired still. 

As I lay down to watch a movie, I mentally decided that I would go back to the office in the afternoon.  Despite my resolve, I fell asleep only minutes later.  I woke up five, yes 5, hours later.  Rachel said she had napped too, but only for three hours, not five.  Apparently I was much more tired than I thought!  It felt so good though, and I guess I needed it.  After I woke up from my epic nap, Rachel and I watched the end of “Like Mike” before working out.  Now, for our Insanity workout program, the first month is about 40 minutes of moderate intensity, then a week of recovery, then the second month is about 60 minutes of higher intensity.   Monday was the first day of the second phase, and holy cow, it was tough!  We did the fit test before starting the actual workout, and I was overjoyed when my computer died halfway through the workout for the day. 

As we nearly crawled back to our apartment, we passed a coworker in the hall who told us that China Valley was open.  We were so relieved!  We had skipped/ slept through lunch because we didn’t have any real food in our apartment.  We quickly got ready for dinner and walked the short distance to China Valley.  We were so hungry!  We ordered chicken lollypops, fried pieces of chicken on a stick, as an appetizer, and a chicken sizzler, grilled chicken with gravy, rice, and french fries, for our main course. After a delicious dinner, we were surprisingly tired for two who had slept so much that day.  Nevertheless, we fell asleep before ten, looking forward to how energized we would be the next day.