Dear friends,
Classes have begun and it is a lot of fun so far, though the atmosphere of the program and the mood of the people here has definitely changed. Applied Sustainability was really intense and presented a lot of information about how unsustainable the world is in our first class (which was 6 hours long), which freaked a lot of people out. Our professor is really focused on the importance of community in sustainability which is nice for me because I can understand it better that way, but also nice in general because a lot of people only present knowledge about sustainability and ecovillages in the context of science and food and housing and waste management (which are all important aspects too, and things we will be going in depth into) but there has to be sustainability in the people who do the work and make the commitment as well, and that is created in large part through community. Also when we talk about the sustainability of groups it merges into our other classes. The classes are very well connected which I think will in the end provide an amazing holistic overview of sustainability that I will be able to apply to my life in more mainstream culture very well. Which of course is what this program is about. But anyway, you can read my teacher's blog here (link also at sidebar). I like it a lot. I also like Jonathan because he starts all his emails to us "Dear Friends" which is how I sometimes start correspondences too.
Today we had Group Dynamics and Conflict Facilitation class. This class is really interesting to me because I have learned facilitation skills in an environment fairly different from here, and to learn about essentially the same concepts with a different vocabulary and style is going to be a big, possibly difficult experience for me. Also a lot of my facilitation skills come from groups in which I have been working with other leaders - either in a co-operative sense or in leading conferences to help others develop their own leadership skills (and people here aren't all leaders), and in a community where all the participants share a set of basic beliefs, which is very helpful in group work, and which we don't have here. And finally, conflict facilitation is not something I have done a lot. I have been involved in a lot of group conflict but have only had to facilitate it a small number of times and am very excited to build skills in that area.
On Sunday a lot of my friends jumped into the ocean. I didn't go down to the beach to see this happen but they all stopped by our bungalow (it is the closest one to the beach, about a 10 minute walk, and a 7 minute walk in the other direction to the other bungalows and our meeting space) afterwards and we made them tea and hot water bottles and they sat by our radiators and warmed their pink hands. But speaking of tea, we have tea breaks twice a day. They are close to mandatory and they are splendid. I eat a lot of oatcakes and oranges and apples and drink a lot of ginger and lemon tea and because there isn't very much variety in food here usually we all talk a lot about things we would like to be eating instead of oatcakes and oranges and apples and ginger and lemon tea. But in all honesty I don't know how I survived this long without oatcakes and have carved quie a large space out of my heart for them to nestle right in and I am already planning to take many boxes of them with me out of the free food shed when I leave because if separated from them at this point I will likely go into shock. But if I do tire of them, of course I have the option of a rice cake instead. Or a hard rye-bread thing. Or maybe if I am feeling particularly wild, some cornflakes.
Tomorrow we have creative class and then we are going to see castle ruins with a Scottish bard and visiting a tiny secluded beach-cove (I don't really know ocean terminology) and then I have Kitchen Party (kitchen clean-up after dinner in the community dining hall, we just call it KP) and then we are watching a movie called The End of Suburbia. Probably sometime in between all of those things I will eat some potatoes and carrots and beets and also I will think of you.
Love,
Nora
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Photos
Hello all,
The weekend has been pretty slow, we've had a lot of free time, which has been spent mostly by us all laying on the floor in our big group space and doing our reading homework. Classes start the day after tomorrow! Tomorrow is going to be spent doing more group sharing - this time about education history and learning styles, which is really exciting. I can hardly believe that there was time scheduled for this before classes started. I've already been talking a lot about school and learning with people here and a lot of people seem to be coming from a similar place as me, so I know we'll all be able to support one another. How sustainable of us.
Today there was a craft fair put on by the Ecovillage Training (EVT) group, who are 30 people from around the world who are here for an intensive month-long course to learn about ecovillages and how they work. A lot of them are involved in some sort of sustainable program or community at home, and are here to bring the knowledge they gain back to that group. I got two really beautiful necklaces there, and had some good talks with some of the EVT people. We've been doing our dances (the sacred dance and the ceilidh) with them, but haven't had a lot of time to get to know one another. After the craft fair four of the EVT members did presentations on their communities from home. It's really inspiring to be around all these people who are so committed to sustainability. Later, our teacher for "Applied Sustainable Ecovillage Living," Jonathan Dawson, gave a presentation about the Global Ecovillage Network (he is the secretary of this organization, I think), and talked about different ecovillages around the world and what they are like, and showed lots of pictures. I learned that in Thailand, people ordain trees as monks and tie yellow cloth the color of a monk's robe around them so that people won't hurt them or cut them down. He also talked about how two big ideas that come out a lot in ecovillage living are the reclaiming of power from professionals (through things like construction of one's own dwellings), and also the preservation of traditional skills and knowledge (in virtually any field) because it does no one any good to rely on methods of production that could potentially become obsolete were we to run out of fuels, which is basically on of the big assumptions that ecovillages are running on (that we will run out of oil and other fuels at some point). I am not doing a very good job of describing all of this, but it's fascinating. Just tell me if you ever want to talk about it, I'm sure I'll get better at explaining it all after I have lived here longer.
I've put a little link to where my pictures are on the right side of this blog, but you can just click on this too. Right now a lot of them are of the people I am here with, but I promise I'll have more pictures of The Park and Cluny and everything as I get more settled.
Love,
Nora
P.S. Probably one of the most exciting moments of my entire life occurred earlier today when I realized that Dolly Parton had a tour date in Glasgow in a couple of weeks. It's sold out though, which I think happened in a matter of days. I had no idea. I'll just have to wait to see her in a more reasonable place, like the USA.
The weekend has been pretty slow, we've had a lot of free time, which has been spent mostly by us all laying on the floor in our big group space and doing our reading homework. Classes start the day after tomorrow! Tomorrow is going to be spent doing more group sharing - this time about education history and learning styles, which is really exciting. I can hardly believe that there was time scheduled for this before classes started. I've already been talking a lot about school and learning with people here and a lot of people seem to be coming from a similar place as me, so I know we'll all be able to support one another. How sustainable of us.
Today there was a craft fair put on by the Ecovillage Training (EVT) group, who are 30 people from around the world who are here for an intensive month-long course to learn about ecovillages and how they work. A lot of them are involved in some sort of sustainable program or community at home, and are here to bring the knowledge they gain back to that group. I got two really beautiful necklaces there, and had some good talks with some of the EVT people. We've been doing our dances (the sacred dance and the ceilidh) with them, but haven't had a lot of time to get to know one another. After the craft fair four of the EVT members did presentations on their communities from home. It's really inspiring to be around all these people who are so committed to sustainability. Later, our teacher for "Applied Sustainable Ecovillage Living," Jonathan Dawson, gave a presentation about the Global Ecovillage Network (he is the secretary of this organization, I think), and talked about different ecovillages around the world and what they are like, and showed lots of pictures. I learned that in Thailand, people ordain trees as monks and tie yellow cloth the color of a monk's robe around them so that people won't hurt them or cut them down. He also talked about how two big ideas that come out a lot in ecovillage living are the reclaiming of power from professionals (through things like construction of one's own dwellings), and also the preservation of traditional skills and knowledge (in virtually any field) because it does no one any good to rely on methods of production that could potentially become obsolete were we to run out of fuels, which is basically on of the big assumptions that ecovillages are running on (that we will run out of oil and other fuels at some point). I am not doing a very good job of describing all of this, but it's fascinating. Just tell me if you ever want to talk about it, I'm sure I'll get better at explaining it all after I have lived here longer.
I've put a little link to where my pictures are on the right side of this blog, but you can just click on this too. Right now a lot of them are of the people I am here with, but I promise I'll have more pictures of The Park and Cluny and everything as I get more settled.
Love,
Nora
P.S. Probably one of the most exciting moments of my entire life occurred earlier today when I realized that Dolly Parton had a tour date in Glasgow in a couple of weeks. It's sold out though, which I think happened in a matter of days. I had no idea. I'll just have to wait to see her in a more reasonable place, like the USA.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Terms Explained
Finally! I am going to explain angel meditations and sacred dance. And other funny things we have done.
Angel meditation was a process we did in order to find some guidance for the semester, both individually and as a group. It is a big part of the Findhorn community, and it is done by all work groups and other groups and individuals at the beginning of the year, or at the beginning of any project or time together. It is basically a longer meditation during which a person will focus on 'angels' or guidance or anything really, I guess, and at the end are invited to chose an 'angel card' that has a little picture and a word written on it (it is kind of like attunement, the idea is to be drawn to a card but that doesn't happen for everyone). The word on the card is something then that is focused on throughout the experience, or year, or semester, or time spent in the work group. Maybe it is something you need to work on, maybe it is a quality that will guide you, maybe just a word to remember and come back to throughout. The word I chose (I'm not really very comfortable with angels) is strength. I think that probably a person could find a connection to any word in the deck (of 72 cards) but this one fits very well for me right now, as I am getting through having mono, which is making me weak, I am coming back to school after a long hiatus, which is a struggle for me, and because living here is stretching and big and different. The group angel is beauty. We all agreed that we are especially beautiful people, and we will have to wait to see what else this card means for us other than that we are attractive. I think my favorite part about angel cards is that the "intention" card has a little picture of an angel playing golf. What?
Sacred dance was something we did the second or third day we were here. It was with this other group of people who are studying here for a month, to learn about ecovillages and sustainability. Kind of like we are but all ages. The dancing was really fun, a lot of music and traditional folk dances from different European countries. Mostly circle dances. Yeah. Sacred dance sounds a lot more out there than it actually is. We attuned before and after it. We always attune. Tonight we had a ceilidh, which is I guess the name for a big Scottish party with traditional Scottish dances. I laughed so hard it hurt to laugh. We had to polka, but no one had ever polka-ed before. There was a lot of spinning and circling and prancing and jumping and clapping and trying to make figure eights, which I was really bad at. It was incredibly fun.
After the ceilidh we walked to Findhorn village, which is separate from the Ecovillage, and about 15 minutes on foot, to the pub. All the non-drinkers/people who didn't want to drink got yelled at to drink something by a very angry man, but we didn't want to drink anything! So we had to leave. I guess you can't be in a pub at all unless you buy something? I had no idea. I guess maybe that is because I have never been to a pub or bar before but maybe this is just a rule in Scotland? People seemed to think it was strange. So my housemate and I came back to our bungalow and drank tea instead and now here I am, writing to you.
We've done a lot of intense sharing and bonding and getting to know each other and the community, which has been a lot of fun. Findhorn has so many secrets! I guess not secrets so much as lots of history and intricacies and processes that take a long time to understand or know about. This program is doing a really good job of giving us the opportunities to figure them out though. Today we met our teachers for our classes, which start on Monday. It's strange to think about going to school because we've all been lulled into this state where it kind of feels like we're on a vacation (a very busy vacation), and also because the idea of going to school in a place like this is just alien. I just don't associate places like this with classes and papers. The "experience week," as everyone's first week here is called, is completely necessary as coming here I think most people would probably experience some sort of culture shock and starting classes would potentially be very difficult. The teachers look really great though, as do the classes. You can read about the them on the Living Routes website (I link it on the right side of this page), to see what/who they are, because I think that would be easier, but I will be sharing a lot about them in here later.
I'll write more when I'm not exhausted from intense folk dancing and late-night walks and days full of community-agreement-making (our other big activity today) and mono. Be safe and stay healthy!
Love,
Nora
Angel meditation was a process we did in order to find some guidance for the semester, both individually and as a group. It is a big part of the Findhorn community, and it is done by all work groups and other groups and individuals at the beginning of the year, or at the beginning of any project or time together. It is basically a longer meditation during which a person will focus on 'angels' or guidance or anything really, I guess, and at the end are invited to chose an 'angel card' that has a little picture and a word written on it (it is kind of like attunement, the idea is to be drawn to a card but that doesn't happen for everyone). The word on the card is something then that is focused on throughout the experience, or year, or semester, or time spent in the work group. Maybe it is something you need to work on, maybe it is a quality that will guide you, maybe just a word to remember and come back to throughout. The word I chose (I'm not really very comfortable with angels) is strength. I think that probably a person could find a connection to any word in the deck (of 72 cards) but this one fits very well for me right now, as I am getting through having mono, which is making me weak, I am coming back to school after a long hiatus, which is a struggle for me, and because living here is stretching and big and different. The group angel is beauty. We all agreed that we are especially beautiful people, and we will have to wait to see what else this card means for us other than that we are attractive. I think my favorite part about angel cards is that the "intention" card has a little picture of an angel playing golf. What?
Sacred dance was something we did the second or third day we were here. It was with this other group of people who are studying here for a month, to learn about ecovillages and sustainability. Kind of like we are but all ages. The dancing was really fun, a lot of music and traditional folk dances from different European countries. Mostly circle dances. Yeah. Sacred dance sounds a lot more out there than it actually is. We attuned before and after it. We always attune. Tonight we had a ceilidh, which is I guess the name for a big Scottish party with traditional Scottish dances. I laughed so hard it hurt to laugh. We had to polka, but no one had ever polka-ed before. There was a lot of spinning and circling and prancing and jumping and clapping and trying to make figure eights, which I was really bad at. It was incredibly fun.
After the ceilidh we walked to Findhorn village, which is separate from the Ecovillage, and about 15 minutes on foot, to the pub. All the non-drinkers/people who didn't want to drink got yelled at to drink something by a very angry man, but we didn't want to drink anything! So we had to leave. I guess you can't be in a pub at all unless you buy something? I had no idea. I guess maybe that is because I have never been to a pub or bar before but maybe this is just a rule in Scotland? People seemed to think it was strange. So my housemate and I came back to our bungalow and drank tea instead and now here I am, writing to you.
We've done a lot of intense sharing and bonding and getting to know each other and the community, which has been a lot of fun. Findhorn has so many secrets! I guess not secrets so much as lots of history and intricacies and processes that take a long time to understand or know about. This program is doing a really good job of giving us the opportunities to figure them out though. Today we met our teachers for our classes, which start on Monday. It's strange to think about going to school because we've all been lulled into this state where it kind of feels like we're on a vacation (a very busy vacation), and also because the idea of going to school in a place like this is just alien. I just don't associate places like this with classes and papers. The "experience week," as everyone's first week here is called, is completely necessary as coming here I think most people would probably experience some sort of culture shock and starting classes would potentially be very difficult. The teachers look really great though, as do the classes. You can read about the them on the Living Routes website (I link it on the right side of this page), to see what/who they are, because I think that would be easier, but I will be sharing a lot about them in here later.
I'll write more when I'm not exhausted from intense folk dancing and late-night walks and days full of community-agreement-making (our other big activity today) and mono. Be safe and stay healthy!
Love,
Nora
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Love
I'm not quite sure where to begin because even though I've only been here five days or so, an almost unimaginable amount of things have happened. I already feel like the five people I'm living in my bungalow with are my family, and I'm no less close to many of the other people here. It's wild. The greater Findhorn community is really interesting, we all have a lot of questions every day and I think we'll continue to learn new things about it until the last day we are here.
But to start.
Our group has eighteen participants and two focalisers. We are all from the USA except for Anna, who is from Sweden, and Melissa (one of our focalisers), who is from South Africa. Everyone is wonderful. We have done a lot of bonding work and getting settled work. It's all at once very different and very similar to YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalist) things I have done before, which is a challenge for me because I am used to things being a fairly specific way when I am doing intense community work. I think I can describe Findhorn as YRUU's older relative. It's like this because a lot of the people here are older; a few years ago there was even talk of it becoming a retirement village (but then a lot of families had babies and a lot of younger people moved in). So a lot of the practices aren't designed for youth or based around youth needs, and a lot of the Findhorn group agreements or practices are ways of doing things that I think I see so far as more mature than the way YRUU does a lot of things, maybe based on a deeper respect and understanding. Though I think YRUU does some things in a way that works better for me. I'm not sure yet whether it is good or bad or neither to compare YRUU and Findhorn as much as I have been. I think it's natural because YRUU is the only other community experience I really have, though it's strange because I haven't really even thought about YRUU very much in the past year, and I definitely didn't think I would be talking about it this much or at all in this journal. Either way, it's very interesting to me to see the similarities and differences.
One of the things we have done the most often is attunement. Attunement is a process that is done at the beginning of every organized group activity here. We all hold hands in a circle and the focaliser of the group leads us in a short meditation-like moment. We know it's over when the focaliser starts a hand-squeeze that travels around the circle. It is, for me, a really great way to focus my attention and energy into the activity or work that is about to happen. Attunement is also done at the end of most activities (everything so far but meals), and at the end of work shifts sometimes we all yell "HOORAY!!" and it is really great and joyful. The other time we have used attunement is to choose our work departments. It was basically a longer version of the tune in or out we use for activities, a focaliser led us in a sort of meditation on the choices of work departments, and we were invited to see if any option leapt out at us or if we felt any special connection or pull to any of the departments she named. We were also advised to not worry about making the "right choice" and just to trust in ourselves. I think attunement is really neat in general. Our house did it after a house meeting last night, and sometimes there is a suggestion to attune together after we have intense conversations when we are just hanging out. It usually ends up silly when we do it on our own, and it's silly a lot of the time when we do it with focalisers, which has also made it a lot easier to get used to.
Anyway, I chose/attuned to work in the Cluny Hill gardens, which means I work on the grounds, in the vegetable and flower gardens, and with the bees at Cluny Hill, which is a hotel and community that is part of the Findhorn Foundation but is a ten minute bus ride away in the village of Forres. It's a beautiful old place, with a totally different feel from the Park, which is where we are most of the time and where we live. It's sleepy and quiet, and while the Park isn't a bustling city or anything, Cluny certainly is more chill and relaxed. And whether or not it happened by attunement, I definitely feel like the gardens there are the right place for me. It's great to have a chance to get out of the Park and see more of the area, and I can already tell the work will be fabulous. Sverre (?), the garden focaliser, is a man who has a lot of wisdom to share. On our first day he took the four of us (me, Sarah, Seth, and Caitlin C.) around on a tour and told us lots of great and inspiring stories and things about gardening with love and his experiences in how working with plants with love makes a difference. The 'motto' of Findhorn is "Work is love in action" and it's so apparent in the landscape, in the people, in the energy and feel of the whole place.
I still need to tell you about sacred dance and angel meditations and some other things but it's pretty late here and I'm getting up at seven thirty for yoga in the morning so I'll catch up a little later. I hope the weather's gotten better at home since I've left and you're all doing well.
Love,
Nora
P.S. The food here is sort of surreal. There are beets EVERY DAY! and I ate the best potato of my entire life today. This is a really big deal because potatoes are my favorite food and I have eaten a lot of them in my life. I'm not eating any sugar (that's not from fruit or other whole foods) or wheat while I'm here to see how that affects me mentally and physically and though I'm kind of experiencing some withdrawal and cravings it's just not as hard as I thought it would be because the kitchens (staffed by people who have attuned to work there) are just so flexible and have so many options, all well-labeled for people with different dietary needs. A lot of people on the Living Routes trip are taking this as a time to experiment with their diets and try out new ways of healthier eating so we are all supporting each other and it's really exciting and fun and is making all of our bodies feel really great, or at least really interesting.
But to start.
Our group has eighteen participants and two focalisers. We are all from the USA except for Anna, who is from Sweden, and Melissa (one of our focalisers), who is from South Africa. Everyone is wonderful. We have done a lot of bonding work and getting settled work. It's all at once very different and very similar to YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalist) things I have done before, which is a challenge for me because I am used to things being a fairly specific way when I am doing intense community work. I think I can describe Findhorn as YRUU's older relative. It's like this because a lot of the people here are older; a few years ago there was even talk of it becoming a retirement village (but then a lot of families had babies and a lot of younger people moved in). So a lot of the practices aren't designed for youth or based around youth needs, and a lot of the Findhorn group agreements or practices are ways of doing things that I think I see so far as more mature than the way YRUU does a lot of things, maybe based on a deeper respect and understanding. Though I think YRUU does some things in a way that works better for me. I'm not sure yet whether it is good or bad or neither to compare YRUU and Findhorn as much as I have been. I think it's natural because YRUU is the only other community experience I really have, though it's strange because I haven't really even thought about YRUU very much in the past year, and I definitely didn't think I would be talking about it this much or at all in this journal. Either way, it's very interesting to me to see the similarities and differences.
One of the things we have done the most often is attunement. Attunement is a process that is done at the beginning of every organized group activity here. We all hold hands in a circle and the focaliser of the group leads us in a short meditation-like moment. We know it's over when the focaliser starts a hand-squeeze that travels around the circle. It is, for me, a really great way to focus my attention and energy into the activity or work that is about to happen. Attunement is also done at the end of most activities (everything so far but meals), and at the end of work shifts sometimes we all yell "HOORAY!!" and it is really great and joyful. The other time we have used attunement is to choose our work departments. It was basically a longer version of the tune in or out we use for activities, a focaliser led us in a sort of meditation on the choices of work departments, and we were invited to see if any option leapt out at us or if we felt any special connection or pull to any of the departments she named. We were also advised to not worry about making the "right choice" and just to trust in ourselves. I think attunement is really neat in general. Our house did it after a house meeting last night, and sometimes there is a suggestion to attune together after we have intense conversations when we are just hanging out. It usually ends up silly when we do it on our own, and it's silly a lot of the time when we do it with focalisers, which has also made it a lot easier to get used to.
Anyway, I chose/attuned to work in the Cluny Hill gardens, which means I work on the grounds, in the vegetable and flower gardens, and with the bees at Cluny Hill, which is a hotel and community that is part of the Findhorn Foundation but is a ten minute bus ride away in the village of Forres. It's a beautiful old place, with a totally different feel from the Park, which is where we are most of the time and where we live. It's sleepy and quiet, and while the Park isn't a bustling city or anything, Cluny certainly is more chill and relaxed. And whether or not it happened by attunement, I definitely feel like the gardens there are the right place for me. It's great to have a chance to get out of the Park and see more of the area, and I can already tell the work will be fabulous. Sverre (?), the garden focaliser, is a man who has a lot of wisdom to share. On our first day he took the four of us (me, Sarah, Seth, and Caitlin C.) around on a tour and told us lots of great and inspiring stories and things about gardening with love and his experiences in how working with plants with love makes a difference. The 'motto' of Findhorn is "Work is love in action" and it's so apparent in the landscape, in the people, in the energy and feel of the whole place.
I still need to tell you about sacred dance and angel meditations and some other things but it's pretty late here and I'm getting up at seven thirty for yoga in the morning so I'll catch up a little later. I hope the weather's gotten better at home since I've left and you're all doing well.
Love,
Nora
P.S. The food here is sort of surreal. There are beets EVERY DAY! and I ate the best potato of my entire life today. This is a really big deal because potatoes are my favorite food and I have eaten a lot of them in my life. I'm not eating any sugar (that's not from fruit or other whole foods) or wheat while I'm here to see how that affects me mentally and physically and though I'm kind of experiencing some withdrawal and cravings it's just not as hard as I thought it would be because the kitchens (staffed by people who have attuned to work there) are just so flexible and have so many options, all well-labeled for people with different dietary needs. A lot of people on the Living Routes trip are taking this as a time to experiment with their diets and try out new ways of healthier eating so we are all supporting each other and it's really exciting and fun and is making all of our bodies feel really great, or at least really interesting.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Finally
I am at Findhorn now. I made it! Here are some stories from my journey:
I started out my travels on February 15th, in the afternoon. That morning, I got a phone call from my doctor saying that I had mono. There was talk of me not being able to travel until later, or to not go at all, but I guess for me those just weren't options I could consider. I'd put a lot of myself into getting ready for this experience so I decided to just head on as planned. So I ate a cupcake and headed to the airport. Healthy.
It was pretty smooth sailing, minimal delays, and I met some extraordinarily interesting people on my flights. On the first one, from Indianapolis to Chicago, I sat next to a girl around my age who was an "urban pop" singer. She was going to Russia to perform (she was Russian and Romanian), and spent the entire flight glueing little crystals onto her cell phone. She showed me a picture of her pet chihuahua, Lil' Romeo. I tried googling her, but I don't think she's famous enough yet. Her name is Vika though, if you want to try. On my second flight, from Chicago to London, I sat next to a woman who was going to visit her father for his 89th birthday. She told me about growing up on her family's farm in India, and also talked a lot about dolphin therapy. It was really fun. We exchanged addresses and she promised to write me in 4 months.
Anyway, I made it through customs in London easily, and landed in Inverness, Scotland at 1:30 in the afternoon, on the 16th. After some confusion (the place we were all supposed to meet up was not actually called what we were told it was) I took a bus into town, and luckily met right up with Marga and Ashley, two girls on the program. We walked around a bit and got some food, but mostly we waited on this town square-like monument next to a shopping mall (I could distinctly see the Claire's store inside, it was very strange to see such an American store there) with our big bags as the rest of our friends slowly trickled in. I think about eight of us showed up by five (it was surprising to me that the weather was nice enough to sit comfortably outside for 3 hours), and then we left for Findhorn with our focalisers, Erin and Melissa.
Focalisers are what in most other communities would be called leaders or facilitators. I think the word focaliser is used because ecovillages usually have a spiritual aspect. Findhorn definitely does. I thought I would be much more uncomfortable with this, but I think I was imagining it to be a lot more New Agey than it actually is; so far I've been very comfortable with everything we've done. Though I must say that because I'm very skeptical about these sorts of things I have been preparing myself for a long time to be able to do activities like sacred dancing, angel meditations, and attunements (all things we have done so far) with an open mind. I'm fairly certain that if I had come here without that preparation I would be in a very different space right now. And don't worry, I will explain all these activities. It's okay if you think any of the things I'm doing are creepy or weird. I'm sure I'll be doing things that push my comfort levels, and I'll probably do things I think are creepy or weird too. But I'm hoping to keep as much of this openness as possible.
It's late here now, so I'm going to head to bed, but I'll get you all updated soon, I promise. There's a lot going on and I really want to try and convey as much of this as I can to you, at least at first, so you can understand the basis for what I am doing as and the place I am in as well as possible. This experience is a lot different from most study abroad programs, and I think it will be hard for me to get anything across without saying a lot. So I'm sorry if it's hard for you to get through a lot of words, I know I use a lot of them. I'll hopefully have pictures soon too, if you're more into that.
See you later!
Love,
Nora
I started out my travels on February 15th, in the afternoon. That morning, I got a phone call from my doctor saying that I had mono. There was talk of me not being able to travel until later, or to not go at all, but I guess for me those just weren't options I could consider. I'd put a lot of myself into getting ready for this experience so I decided to just head on as planned. So I ate a cupcake and headed to the airport. Healthy.
It was pretty smooth sailing, minimal delays, and I met some extraordinarily interesting people on my flights. On the first one, from Indianapolis to Chicago, I sat next to a girl around my age who was an "urban pop" singer. She was going to Russia to perform (she was Russian and Romanian), and spent the entire flight glueing little crystals onto her cell phone. She showed me a picture of her pet chihuahua, Lil' Romeo. I tried googling her, but I don't think she's famous enough yet. Her name is Vika though, if you want to try. On my second flight, from Chicago to London, I sat next to a woman who was going to visit her father for his 89th birthday. She told me about growing up on her family's farm in India, and also talked a lot about dolphin therapy. It was really fun. We exchanged addresses and she promised to write me in 4 months.
Anyway, I made it through customs in London easily, and landed in Inverness, Scotland at 1:30 in the afternoon, on the 16th. After some confusion (the place we were all supposed to meet up was not actually called what we were told it was) I took a bus into town, and luckily met right up with Marga and Ashley, two girls on the program. We walked around a bit and got some food, but mostly we waited on this town square-like monument next to a shopping mall (I could distinctly see the Claire's store inside, it was very strange to see such an American store there) with our big bags as the rest of our friends slowly trickled in. I think about eight of us showed up by five (it was surprising to me that the weather was nice enough to sit comfortably outside for 3 hours), and then we left for Findhorn with our focalisers, Erin and Melissa.
Focalisers are what in most other communities would be called leaders or facilitators. I think the word focaliser is used because ecovillages usually have a spiritual aspect. Findhorn definitely does. I thought I would be much more uncomfortable with this, but I think I was imagining it to be a lot more New Agey than it actually is; so far I've been very comfortable with everything we've done. Though I must say that because I'm very skeptical about these sorts of things I have been preparing myself for a long time to be able to do activities like sacred dancing, angel meditations, and attunements (all things we have done so far) with an open mind. I'm fairly certain that if I had come here without that preparation I would be in a very different space right now. And don't worry, I will explain all these activities. It's okay if you think any of the things I'm doing are creepy or weird. I'm sure I'll be doing things that push my comfort levels, and I'll probably do things I think are creepy or weird too. But I'm hoping to keep as much of this openness as possible.
It's late here now, so I'm going to head to bed, but I'll get you all updated soon, I promise. There's a lot going on and I really want to try and convey as much of this as I can to you, at least at first, so you can understand the basis for what I am doing as and the place I am in as well as possible. This experience is a lot different from most study abroad programs, and I think it will be hard for me to get anything across without saying a lot. So I'm sorry if it's hard for you to get through a lot of words, I know I use a lot of them. I'll hopefully have pictures soon too, if you're more into that.
See you later!
Love,
Nora
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
I Blog
I leave for Scotland in two days, if the snow will ever stop falling, my bags will arrive from FedEx, the Dell man will make it up my driveway to repair my computer, and the doctors will call me to tell me I don't have mono. The snow is really the only thing that might stop me, but golly, a lot is riding on my Wednesday.
Now I have a blog. I have actually made two other blogs before now. One was a livejournal, which I've had since I was fourteen years old, and it's hidden, because it's embarrassing. I think there might be poems in there. The other is one I share with my friend Becky, and if you want to read it just let me know. It's really silly. I don't know yet if I'll be embarrassed about it in five years. This blog, however, is just about me going to Scotland to live in the Findhorn Ecovillage (see links at side for more information about the program I'm traveling with). It's about me going back to school (modified school, as all travel abroad programs seem to be, but school) after a year and a half, living with 17 other students (and many more ecovillage inhabitants) in this weird and incredibly cool place where, 30 some years ago, some people made 40-lb cabbages grow by praying. As the legend goes.
Also, after my semester at Findhorn is over, I'm traveling with my partner, Nate, for 3 weeks around Europe (thank you Mr. and Mrs. Redman), so I will try to write about that too. And since we aren't going to Finland, those 3 weeks will probably mostly be about me trying to convince him to go with me to see this in Italy. We've never been to Europe so if you have any suggestions of what to do there, please let us know. My plans so far include pretending I'm Lilliputian and taking a nap in the ear of the giant knitted rabbit, but I just don't think that can keep us occupied for 3 weeks.
Anyway, I'm happy to be going, happy to be doing something that feels really right. It's big and a little scary to be venturing out into a whole other continent all on my own but it's the kind of stretching I need to be doing right now and I'm glad I didn't wait one more second to do it.
So thank you for reading, friends! I love you all in a big way.
Now I have a blog. I have actually made two other blogs before now. One was a livejournal, which I've had since I was fourteen years old, and it's hidden, because it's embarrassing. I think there might be poems in there. The other is one I share with my friend Becky, and if you want to read it just let me know. It's really silly. I don't know yet if I'll be embarrassed about it in five years. This blog, however, is just about me going to Scotland to live in the Findhorn Ecovillage (see links at side for more information about the program I'm traveling with). It's about me going back to school (modified school, as all travel abroad programs seem to be, but school) after a year and a half, living with 17 other students (and many more ecovillage inhabitants) in this weird and incredibly cool place where, 30 some years ago, some people made 40-lb cabbages grow by praying. As the legend goes.
Also, after my semester at Findhorn is over, I'm traveling with my partner, Nate, for 3 weeks around Europe (thank you Mr. and Mrs. Redman), so I will try to write about that too. And since we aren't going to Finland, those 3 weeks will probably mostly be about me trying to convince him to go with me to see this in Italy. We've never been to Europe so if you have any suggestions of what to do there, please let us know. My plans so far include pretending I'm Lilliputian and taking a nap in the ear of the giant knitted rabbit, but I just don't think that can keep us occupied for 3 weeks.
Anyway, I'm happy to be going, happy to be doing something that feels really right. It's big and a little scary to be venturing out into a whole other continent all on my own but it's the kind of stretching I need to be doing right now and I'm glad I didn't wait one more second to do it.
So thank you for reading, friends! I love you all in a big way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)