We have been working at Indralaya for a week now (today is our day off), we started work last Monday. Work consists of cleaning bathrooms, helping in the kitchen, and working in the garden. Helping in the kitchen is pretty much just cutting onions until the tears are unbearable, shredding a million carrots, and mashing enough garlic to keep vampires away forever. In the garden, we've done our best to transplant some very sad cabbage and lettuce. For the most part, they have perked up and are now looking like they may make it to the end of the season. Other than that, we have ripped out two beds of kale, which adds up to about 3 million plants. We still have 7 beds of it to tear out...
The program this week was taught by Lama Glenn H. Mullin, some dude that studied Tibetan Buddhism with the Dhali Lama and various other famous Lamas in tibet for 12 years. He was extremely knowledgeable and quite interesting. Unfortunately, though, his mode of teaching was hard to follow and we didn't pick up on as much of the teachings as we would have liked to. At the program, we met a lot of interesting people. We had a good time chuckling at the weirder ones, but ultimately just enjoyed the community and acceptance that everyone got to be a part of. It was especially cool to be the youngest here and still feel respected and fellowshipped by everyone.
Next week's program will be on a form of meditation that we are pretty excited to look into and learn a bit about. It will be led by a guy named Jason Siff. He practices recollective awareness meditation. From what we've gathered, it's a more open ended approach than the classic, "clear your mind and breathe." it's more, "be aware of what your thinking and try and build on it in a productive way". We are hoping to see a bunch more interesting people.
We are currently living in one of the cabins in the camp. It's not big or glamorous, the nights are terribly cold, and you can see outside light through cracks in the walls, but its home and we love it. The camp hosts, Minor and Leonie, are the most rad people. They both welcomed us with open arms and were extremely appreciative of our efforts to work, even when it looked like we had killed a whole bed of lettuce. It's awesome to be surrounded by so many happy people and feel so accepted. Expect an update next Monday again. Love you guys and miss you all!
From left to right: David(duh); Miriam (Gender: um...), she was quite interesting, but we enjoyed talking to him and loved to see the acceptance of her from everyone else grow as we listened to his conversations; Leonie, she's the sweetest and an absolute pleasure to hang out with. She works so hard to keep the camp running and make sure that everyone is comfortable and happy; and Gale, the coolest dude at the program this week. We had quite a few long conversations with him about his many adventures around the world. Just a little bit of the diversity of the happy little community here at Indralaya.
Home sweet home
Home is where you can be a dweeb
Lama Glenn, the Irish- English Canadian who studied in Tibet and Nepal and loves Mongolia. Interesting.
This is the Teepee, where we occasionally do yoga, dance, and meditate
Deer and bunnies swarm the meadow. We can usually get within five feet of most of them.
David's spirit animal is a Sloth....
This is the Wisteria vine that grows on the patio outside of the dining hall. The sound of the bee's constant buzzing makes for a peaceful place.
Kale, that has gone to seed, is full of buzzing pollinators.
David, walking down to the dining hall
Our view of the ocean and the San Juan Islands
Exploring
Glamour shot
We apologize for the amount of ugly pictures of us. We spend so much time together, that seriousness is no longer a constant variable.
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