Author: kloncke

Email 3, Part 2: Language Learning

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From email update March 30th:

LANGUAGE LEARNING

Fortunately, my language skills are beginning to improve. Thanks to its location and purpose, Dhamma Neru is actually a wonderful place for learning two different dialects (“idiomas”): Kitchen Spanish (“¿Puedes cortar las remolachas?” “Can you cut the beets?”) and Dhamma Spanish (“Que todo los seres sean felices.” “May all beings be happy”).

And some great translations:

English: “to give birth” :: Castellano: “dar la luz” (“to give light”)

English: “mischief” :: Castellano: “travesura” (I dunno, I just get a kick out of that word in both languages, heh)

Email 3, Part 1: Kitchen Crisis

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From email update March 30th:

KITCHEN CRISIS

After a 5- or 6-day work period of center maintenance (much of which I spent lugging and laying huge slate stones for an outdoor walkway in the men’s area — literally ‘making a path,’ hehe), I reported for kitchen duty for the next 10-day course, along with a dozen brand-new volunteers. During introductions, we were told that since the position of kitchen manager involves a lot of intense responsibility, the job would be split, 5 days apiece, between two people: Anjel, a long-term server; and Natalia, who had run the kitchen when I served at the end of February. Okay, cool.

Less than 24 hours later, Natalia and Anjel have both backed out. And guess who is named the new, sole kitchen manager? That’s right, the only one who doesn’t speak Spanish. Yo.

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Ya Estoy En Casa

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In reverse chronological order, some homes of the past five months. Except for the month when I was walking from home to home every day. Hopefully those fotos’ll come through soon!

This morning at the beach apartment. Is there a "happy spice" Spice Girl?
This is the apartment where I'll be living in August...
This is the apartment where I'll be living in August...
Funny, this place felt like home the moment I walked in, as a visitor.
Funny, this place felt like home from the moment I walked in as a visitor.
Note the ankle bells. Nuria is a wonderful bellydancer!
Note the ankle bells. Nuria is a wonderful bellydancer!

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Email 3, Intro: Springtime In Spain!

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From email update March 30th:

Hóla querid@s!

It’s me again, popping up to say qué tal. I hope this note finds you happy, taking good care of yourself and those around you.

Okay, first of all, Thank You So Much for sending me mail! Good heavens, people. A couple of weeks ago, just as my first brief spell of homesickness set in, I got a text message from Courtney and Jonathan in Barcelona telling me their mailbox was full of letters for me. Wow. I truly appreciate it so, so much! I hope they were half as fun to send as they were for me to read, which I finally got to do last night, having arrived in the city for a < 48hr break between serving meditation courses up in the hills. All such beautiful gifts — many, many, many thanks.

Here’s the thing, folks. On the one hand, I want to keep this short. On the other hand, there is so much to tell! So let’s compromise, shall we? I’ll divide the news into categories, and you can read any/all of the sections that interest you. Sound good? Here we go!

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[To be continued…]

Las Flores del Jardín: Dhamma Neru, Spain

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It was a little over one year ago when I announced to my friend Matt that I dislike flowers.  Flowers in general.  I believe I called them “too ostentatious.”  Heh.  Joke’s on me now, I guess.  This spring, the beauties at the meditation center (completely barren when I arrived; then a paradise a few weeks later) just sucked in all my attention like dainty little nuclear-strength vacuums.  This helped me to stay present, especially when meditation got hard.  This is my thanks to them.  Wassup, y’all.

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