#siv practice guide

[gotravel2fly]

From India, with love

repost from 21st November 2019 on gotravel2fly

Bir Billing take-off site

Going to India for 3 weeks this year was a rushed decision and everything had to be planned in only one month. We wanted to catch the best possible time for flying in Bir, so we decided that mid-October - mid-November is the best time for traveling and for flying there.The result was amazing, we had the best adventure ever in discovering this country, the people and their culture. Of course, just a tiny little part of India, but it is a start. We've met a few people we already knew from Colombia and lots of other people from all over the world.Places like Bir in India or Roldanillo in Colombia are spots for paraglider pilots eager to fly many hours per day, many days in a row, but suitable from beginner to very experienced level. Bir offers a large range of types of flying: for beginner level there can be local flying and small xc flights, for intermediate level there can be XC flying on the front ridges and for experienced level there can be flying in the back, on higher peaks and can be transformed in vol-biv very easily so this type of flying needs to be very well planned in advance, with full equipment on.

Getting to Bir, Himachal Pradesh region, is an adventure itself, because the place is quite remote. We got our cheapest plane tickets with a 9h stopover in Istanbul, so we had a very short flight from Bucharest and almost a full day of maybe visiting Istanbul. So we found out that Turkish Airlines has some city tours for people who have big stopovers and we made it in the last minute to a 6h guided tour, with lunch included in the old city center and visits the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia. It worth every minute of it and we really enjoyed this tour.Unfortunately getting back at the airport we found out that our flight to New Delhi was delayed with 2h40min so we missed our connection bus to Dharamshala.We bought our sim cards for getting an Indian telephone number and Internet but the guy said that it wouldn't work in the next 12h..so I couldn't reach my friend in New Delhi who would have helped me get another good option for arriving in Bir.So our spontaneous plan B was negotiating for 2h30 for a cab in the airport to get us directly to Bir on the same day.Our first stop by cab was in a vegetarian restaurant Shiva, where all the food was very spicy, even the bread. I think the food would be tastier without all the spices, but that s just me.After 12h of waiting for the sim cards to activate, we discovered that the guy only gave us the physical sim cards but not registered them with the extra option we paid for... So we had to pay again in some shop on our way to Bir.We had a few stops because it was a long journey, even there was only about 500 km. It took us 14h to get to Bir and I start to think that the roads in Romania are not that bad after all. Here in India our taxi driver was a very good one but the roads are impossible to drive faster than he did. Near some cities, there was so much chaos that I 've never seen before and I honestly don't know anyone to manage to drive better than this guy. But the last 100 km was so long.. They wouldn't finish. We managed to get to Bir at 1.30 am, after almost 40hours of traveling and not sleeping. I was so tired that even after 7h sleep in the bed, I didn't want to go flying. But I did  and it was great.The place here in Bir is great, amazing views, friendly people (friendlier than in Delhi I might add) but being tired I didn't want to deal with potential dubious retrieval so I flew in the area for 2h in my first day.Funny fact is that obviously with huge luggage I did not bring my hairdryer. The local solution was to go to the hairdresser, pay him 20 rupees and dry my hair with his hairdryer.

Bir bus station area

The habit here in Bir is to wake up very early if you want to fly far. Sure, that was not the case for me ( because in the first few days I had to get used to the new area of flying, have the mindset that I can do longer flights, you know, confidence troubles) but the others were kind of desperate to fly more and more and so at 8.30 we were already in the cab on our way up. The trip from Bir to the take-off takes about 45 minutes by taxi and it costs 600 rupees. The whole time we had a personal taxi driver, a guy who waited for us every morning at 8.30 to drive us up.The take-off is always crowded even at 9 a.m., with people launching even if there is no thermal, just enjoying the views. In the first days we showed up the inversion didn't let me go too high, but I had nice flights trying to be patient in the air ( the only thing I could think of was Ivo telling Andrei Turnu at the SIV course: be patient, you have to have patience )

Bir -landing area 

  The food in Bir is mixed: you can have Indian dishes, Tibetan dishes or international cuisine (pizza, pasta, falafel, etc). I have tried many of the restaurants there and everywhere the food was good and did not have any problem ( as I thought I would have).The weather here in Bir is usually OK for flying after the monsoon period, so the start of October - mid-November and also in the springtime April-May. But this year it seems that the monsoon had extended and the weather was still very humid the first 2 weeks of October. Problem is that after monsoon come stable days... There was an inversion layer around 2300m and it is mostly ok if you fly on the higher mountains in the back, but from the take-off, you have to reach out to the inversion and fly only above it. If you fall under it, you struggle a lot. So all these being said, my 3rd day of flying in Bir was a complete frustration because I could not get above the inversion for 1h45min. I started to think that I'm a mess and I don't have any idea how to fly. So I landed, pack my glider, return to the homestay and enjoy a nice afternoon visiting the village and one of the Buddhist monasteries in Bir. 

Photos from various Buddhist temples in Bir

the best Masala tea@ Garden Cafe in Bir

After a memorable day of flying, Vlăduț decided that he can sacrifice one day for flying with me, just to give me confidence in flying some distance. Although the day seemed to be the same as the day before, it actually was better as most of the people who took off in the morning managed to climb above the inversion. So did I and first personal record I broke today was the altitude one, I reached 3300m, the highest I've ever flown before with a paraglider. We decided to go to Dharamshala and back and Vladut flew with me all the time, practicing his patience and waiting for me to climb and then waiting for me to glide and so on. The view was just amazing, it's absolutely breathtaking flying near so high mountains. And we flew only in the front, not going on the main ridge actually. On our way back from Dharamshala, on a green terrace where I was trying to get a climb, I saw some animals moving around. They were probably impressed with our colorful wings so they gathered from the bushes and trees. As I could not climb very well there, so losing some hight over the terrace, I was wondering what animals were they so I looked more carefully and I realized they were grey monkeys, like the ones from the Jungle Book. I was so amazed that I circled again around the terrace and I managed to scare some of them away, still, I saw some small baby monkeys.The flight was the longest I 've ever had, duration and distance, flying 6h4min and 85km flat triangle. So 3 personal records in one day. Plus I managed to sum up over 100 flying hours this year, till now. Yep, pretty cool feeling!

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:raluca_dd/23.10.2019/04:46

The strange feeling here is that every day is different and you can not tell until you fly. You cannot say in the morning if there is a good day or not, the weather can change very quickly and you just have to adapt.When there is overdevelopment or raining or strong wind, you can go visiting some more Buddhist temples.One good thing about the food here is that they have a lot of vegetarian dishes, so I actually haven't eaten any meat in India. I think that this is a good thing for me and I will try to keep this habit longer.The drinking water here is not a problem as I heard about the rest of India. They have here some fountains and everyone drinks from there. I tried not to use so much plastic, so I brought my own metallic recipient for filling it with drinking water.The problem here is the trash. I did not figure out how they collect the trash but most of it gets in the rivers, so the water from the river is only clean on the mountain where are no people. Otherwise everywhere here people throw the trash in the water or they burn it.Another thing you can do when not flying in Bir is renting a bike and visit the Buddhist monastery called Palpung Sherabling, 40 minutes ride from Bir, Dharamshala direction, but on a secondary road(I cannot explain the chaos is here on the roads even when it is not a big city). The whole visit worth it, not only because we saw a big group of monkeys at the monastery, but because I had the best ginger-lemon-honey tea ever and we were also witnesses at the monks' prayers during their ritual. That was an intense and very rhythmic experience in the temple where children and adults monks were singing and reading their mantras and playing on two big drums and horns. I don't know much about the Buddhist religion but the atmosphere was impressive and somehow not that different from our Orthodox church inside monasteries.After many local or very short xc flights, I manage to focus and stay in the air longer time so I get to fly more distance. The classic route is to take off in the morning, go west to Dharamshala, come back and go east to Camp 360.

Baijnath bazaar

The few first days in November weren't that great, it was very unstable weather and it rained for one night that I thought it wouldn't be flyable the next day, but it was. The weather is not very predictable, but it is flyable almost every day.One day we decided that it is no worth going up to the take-off because it was cloudy so we went to a small hike in the wilder parts of the village to see a small Hindu temple. Then we decided to visit a village near Bir, Bashnat, a few km away. So we took the bus because now we were 5 so we don't fit in one taxi. The ride by bus was very cheap and we really enjoyed it. In Bashnat we visited a 1000 years old Hindu temple, just amazing. All sculpted in stone with a lot of decoration.If you like Indian clothes, you will find tons of them in bazaars, all kinds and colors. The trouble is that especially in the countryside there are not ready-made, so you can buy a kit containing one scarf and two textile materials fo trousers -salvar and for the dress named kurta. After that, you have to go to a tailor to sew your new clothes to fit you. It is quite cheap to do that, so I managed to buy a full kit with 750 rupees and paid the tailor 300 rupees. The tailor was very professional and the kurti was amazingly beautiful. We were out dressed in them, celebrating my new distance record 122 km flat triangle, Vlăduț's 150 km fai triangle and the last night in Bir of Kevin and Lisa, our new friends from Australia.

https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:raluca_dd/5.11.2019/04:41

For the last week, we have visited some other places, Palampur and the tea plantations and Dharamshala with Dalai Lama's temple. The bazaars are full of stuff to buy as souvenirs. Himachal Pradesh is an amazing area. All the people we've met were friendly and kind and we decided to come back again next year.Delhi is one of the most polluted cities in the world. We had to wear masks to be able to breathe filtered air, especially because in this period, many people use to burn down their fields and also there is a holiday called Diwali when everybody burns firecrackers all over the place for 3 to 5 days. So the quality of the air is very much reduced because of this. The initial plan was to stay for 2 nights in Delhi and one day to visit Agra and the Taj Mahal. We abandoned this plan when we found out that the quality of the air was very poor with a hazardous risk. So only one day in the big city was more than enough to understand why people in India we talked with prefer to stay on the mountainside, away from the big crowded 28-million-people capital.We enjoyed taking photos with lots of people in Delhi, where we happened to get to a Sanskrit Meeting in an exhibition complex.

1000 years old Hindu Temple in Baijnath

Tea plantation @ Palampur

in Delhi with Alexandra and some nice dressed girls

India, we will come back for sure!

the chaos in Delhi

the veggie momos

[tsgcharlottesvillevirginia]

2019 Holiday Gift Guide //Giving Back

We like to make philanthropy a regular part of our lives, but especially so during the holidays. Below we’ve identified some of our favorite local non-profit organizations. If you’re moved to do so, consider making them a part of your gifting this season. 

International Neighbors. This amazing organization’s aim is to equip Charlottesville’s refugee and SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) Neighbors with the skills and networks that are critical to independence, thus empowering them to progress from surviving to thriving in our community. Donate. 

Music Resource Center: The MRC harnesses the universal power of music to help teens in the Charlottesville area reach their greatest potential, regardless of their financial means. Bringing together great mentors, high-quality equipment, and a safe, fun facility to provide lessons, dance, practice space, recording facilities, and so much more, area teens from 6th-12th grade are given the tools to achieve their musical goals. Donate. 

Charlottesville Area CASA. The Piedmont Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Inc. advocates for the best interests of abused and neglected children and youth in our area that are in the foster system. This holiday season you can give back and support a CASA kid. Donate. 

Charlottesville Albemarle ASPCA. The SPCA is a no-kill shelter that advances the compassionate treatment of animals by providing sheltering, medical care, and behavioral services for dogs and cats and acquisition of “forever homes” for animals in their care. Donate. 

IX Art Park. The IX recently received official non-profit status. Their mission has always been to make art—in all its forms—a daily reality for everyone, giving meaning, inspiration and purpose to people’s lives and creating community through culture and education. Donate.  

The Women’s Initiative. A wonderful resource for our community, The Women’s Initiative provides women with effective counseling, social support, and education, regardless of their income, so they can transform life challenges into positive change and growth. Donate.

Jefferson Area Child Health Partnership. Child Health Partnership supports the community by helping families who face the challenges of child illness, developmental delays, and the challenges of everyday life that come with limited resources. Donate.

[fangirlnationmag]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) brought in an estimated $220 million during its opening weekend in North America. That’s a lot of people. What many fans of the franchise don’t know is that before the new film arrived, it was precluded by the book series Journey to the Last Jedi which leads up to the film. Even fewer fans probably read the series. Among those books were Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray, and Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson. These books filled in some of the gaps within the saga, as well as provided more depth to the new film.

Amilyn Holdo

Amilyn Holdo was first introduced to Leia Organa in the book Leia: Princess of Alderaan. She served in the apprentice legislature with Leia on behalf of her homeworld Gatalenta. Although at first Leia had trouble communicating with Amilyn; who is more known for speaking in metaphors than direct communication, the two become fierce friends and allies. Amilyn’s indirect communication style may also help to explain why she didn’t feel it was necessary to communicate her plan to the entire Rebel fleet during the film.

Amilyn’s purple hair in The Last Jedi is reminiscent of her youth when she often wore bright and extraordinary clothing in order to set herself apart from her people. Amilyn’s dress in the film is closer to true Gatalentan fashion. The people of Gatalenta are known to dress in plain and simple clothing. This dress choice might also indicate that the young Amilyn followed some advice given to her by the young Leia, but I’ll let you read the novel to find out what the advice was.

During the film, you might have noticed that while many of the Rebel’s crew members expressed fear and concern after the First Order tracked the Rebel’s through light speed, Amilyn remained calm and collected. She’s had a lot of practice at keeping it cool while in mortal peril. In the book, Amilyn was a member of Leia’s pathfinding class. The class was to help Leia learn to climb a mountain by herself to complete a challenge of the body. Amilyn’s goal for the course was to become comfortable while in mortal danger and she happily put herself in dangerous situations while in Leia’s company on several other occasions, often against Leia’s wishes. Judging by her sacrifice in the film, it’s apparent that she found the comfort she was seeking.

Phasma

Remember in the film, when Fin; also known as FN2187, hit Phasma so hard that it broke a piece off of her helmet, revealing both her skin and eye color? What you might have missed during that moment was the significance of Fin seeing even part of Phasma’s face. There are very few living people in the universe who have ever seen Phasma without her helmet on, and it seems like she’d like to keep it that way.

Phasma’s first appearance in the Star War’s Cinematic Universe was in The Force Awakens (2015). Phasma was given her own Journey to the Last Jedi novel titled Phasma which, in detailing her origin story also explains that she was brought into the First Order by Armitage Hux’s late father Brendol Hux. Brendol Hux; who had seen Phasma without her helmet, suffered from an unknown illness not long after bringing Phasma aboard as both his personal guard and as a lead trainer for stormtroopers on the ship the Finalizer.

No living person in the First Order has ever seen Phasma without her helmet off except for Brendol Hux’s previous personal guard Cardinal, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Aside from Cardinal and now Fin, only two other potentially living people have also seen Phasma’s face, the Rebel spy Vi Moradi, and one of Phasma’s previous followers a woman by the name of Siv. This fact makes the brief portion of Phasma’s face revealed by Fin noteworthy.

Crait

The Rebel base known as Crait is the first Rebel base that Leia set foot in. She found it when she was sixteen years old, during her time in the apprentice legislature on Coruscant. Leia was doing some research and discovered strange traffic patterns heading to the salty planet and took a ship to discover the cause. There she not only discovered a Rebel base, but also her adoptive father Bail Organa who was at the center of the Rebel activity. This marked a turning point for the family and also Leia’s involvement in the rebellion.

To discover more, check out the books (I suggest the audiobooks which have music and sound effects):

A list of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi Books

A Guide to Every Star Wars: The Last Jedi-Related Book Coming December 15

History You Might Have Missed When You Watched Star Wars: The Last Jedi Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) brought in an estimated $220 million during its opening weekend in North America.

[wordfighter]

All around the world, chapter 4

Summary: It has been ten years since Emil saw his friends and he decides to take a vacation to see them. Type: fanfiction/chapter story Words: 1297 Category: Stand Still Stay Silent Genre: Friendship, hurt/comfort Rating: Teen Characters: Emil, Lalli, Tuuri Warnings: Lots of talking.

Read it here or at ff.net

Emil's legs froze as the boat stopped by the dock. The other passengers passed him, disappeared into Keuruu and Emil finally refound his legs. They shook a little as he made his way down the gangplank. Lalli watched him as he moved, didn't move himself and when Emil's feet reached the dock he stopped.

”Lalli?”

Emil's hand started shaking, he lost his grip of the presents he was carrying. Lalli took three quick steps forward, managed to catch them and Emil's arms pulled Lalli into a hug. The Finn felt less fragile than he remembered and he hugged him a little tighter.

”I missed you.”

Lalli froze at Emil's words and Emil waited for the other to answer, maybe ask where Emil had learned Finnish. It took a minute, then Lalli opened his mouth.

”I...” he started, his Swedish staggering. ”I...”

Emil laughed, pulled away and put his fingers to Lalli's chin, closed the other's mouth. Lalli smiled, returned the packages to Emil, and Emil held the bigger one towards Lalli.

”For you”, he said. ”Don't worry, it's not poison.”

Lalli accepted the gift, blushed a little. Emil looked at his friend, waited for him to open it. A squee cut through the evening.

”EMIL! By the gods, you're here!”

She ran up to him, threw her arms around him and Emil almost dropped her gift.

”Hi Tuuri”, he answered, sticking to Finnish even though the woman had greeted him in Swedish. Her jaw dropped when she heard him.

”You're talking Finnish? When did that happen?”

”I've had some years to practice.”

She turned to Lalli, hit his upper arm.

”You knew”, she said. ”You knew he was coming and you didn't tell me!”

Lalli tried looking innocent and Emil laughed.

”He didn't, I haven't told anyone I was coming here”, he held the square gift to Tuuri. ”For you.”

”Oh, Emil, you didn't need to”, she started and unwrapped the gift. ”Eeeeeeeee, Emil, this is... It must have cost you a fortune. And I don't have anything for you, you should have told us you were coming. Where are you staying? How long will you be here?”

”A month, don't have a place to stay yet.”

”We could have prepared something, why didn't you let us know?”

”I wanted it to be a surprise.”

”But what if we hadn't been here?”

Emil shrugged.

”Then I would just have had to discover Finland on my own.”

Lalli still hadn't opened his gift, just held it close, looking at his cousin and best friend. Emil smiled at him and Lalli lifted a hand, placed it on Emil's cheek.

”You're thinner.”

”I'm in shape, no more baby-fat for me.”

Emil patted his stomach and Lalli tilted his head. Lalli opened his mouth again, then looked away and Emil turned to Tuuri.

”So, any chance of the two of you giving me a quick guide around Keuruu today?”

”Oh, of course!” She grabbed his hand and led him towards the buildings. Lalli followed close behind. They stopped by the dining hall first, then went past the barracks so Lalli and Tuuri could drop of their gifts. Lalli tried sneaking in without letting Emil see his apartment, but Emil followed him before he could close the door.

”Cozy”, he remarked and Lalli blushed, pushed him outside again. When Tuuri opened her door she called inside and a tall man with glasses and short gray hair came to the door. He smiled at Tuuri, and she kissed his cheek before introducing him to Emil.

”This is my partner, Tauno. Tauno, this is Emil, one of the people I told you about.”

Emil and Tauno shook hands, Tuuri asked Tauno if they could host Emil for a couple of weeks, but Emil laughed and declined the offer, not wanting to end up in the middle of a love story.

”Well, you can't stay with Lalli, his house is too small”, Tuuri stated.

”In worst case I'll sleep in the woods”, Emil said. ”I'm a captain, I can fend for myself.”

Lalli pulled at Emil's sleeve and Emil reacted by pulling his arm away from him a little to fast. Lalli frowned when he noticed it and Emil laughed nervously. Lalli gestured outside and Emil smiled.

”Seems like Lalli want to continue. It was great meeting you Tauno, I bet we'll see each other again. You don't need to follow us, Tuuri, we'll see each other tomorrow, okay?”

Tuuri looked slightly hurt, but nodded and gave Emil another hug before he and Lalli left again. The two walked in silence around the wall that seperated the civilian quarters from the military ones. They ended up meeting Onni, Emil exchanged some words with him, and then they continued. Emil didn't press Lalli to talk and Lalli didn't make any move to try. Not until they were almost back at Lalli's place.

”You can stay with me... if you want to.”

”Are you sure?”

Lalli nodded and Emil smiled.

”I'd love to. Just promise me to tell me if it gets too much for you, okay? I don't want you bottling everything up like you did when...” Emil looked away. ”...when we were in Denmark.”

Lalli patted Emil, led him back to his apartment. Emil put his backpack down, settled down on the bed. Lalli went over to the present Emil had gotten him, lifted it and sniffed it. Emil smiled, watched as Lalli untied the bow and opened the box. Lalli's eyes got bigger as he pulled out one of the cookies and nibbled it.

”Lalli-approved?”

Lalli nodded, sank down on the bed. Emil waited as the Finn finished the cookie and then Lalli looked at him.

”Thank you. I missed you too. Your arm...”

Emil pulled at his sleeves.

”It's nothing, can we not talk about that tonight? Tell me what you've been up to.”

”Scouting. Helped in Pori. Not much.”

”Really? Just the same old? No girlfriend, no hanging out with friends?”

Lalli shook his head. Emil leaned back against the wall.

”I had a girlfriend, she was great. We broke up about one and a half year ago though.”

Lalli nodded and Emil raised an eyebrow, causing the Finn to look away.

”You've kept in contact with Torbjörn and Siv or something?”

Lalli shook his head, kept his eyes away from Emil.

”Did you send your spiritanimalthing to spy on me?”

Lalli laughed slightly.

”Luonto. Didn't send it. Too far for me.”

”...Did you get Onni to spy on me?”

Lalli shook his head, bit his lip.

”Talk later.”

”You have work to do?”

”Tonight.  Will ask for time off when back.”

Lalli also leaned back, put his hands behind his head. Emil looked at him, smiled.

”It's great seeing you again. You were my first friend you know.”

”Your cousins.”

”That's family, it's a different thing. Sune and Håkan have joined the military now, Anna is moving to Iceland.”

Lalli looked at his watch, settled up again.

”Need to go. I won't be long. You can take the bed.”

”You sure?”

”I never use it.”

Emil nodded, his mind wandering back to the days in Denmark when Lalli mostly slept beneath either his or Tuuri's bed. Lalli changed into his scouting uniform, grabbed his rifle and waved goodbye. Emil found himself a more comfortable position on the bed, searched his backpack for his pyjamas and changed out of his travel clothes. He buried himself under the covers, grabbed his book and read a little before falling asleep. He woke up again six hours later when Lalli returned, greeted him and then both of them fell asleep. Emil rolled over to his stomach, his hand fell down and Lalli moved his hand closer, both unaware about the movements they had just done.