Last night I walked about a mile with my Dutch friend to the Saturday night market in town. We stopped for coffee on the way and ran into another volunteer from China who does the cooking here at Monte Vista. His name is Marco. When I first met Marco I asked him if he had been to America before, to which he replied, "No but, someday! I have heard about the very famous 'Root Sixy Six!'" He is referring to Route 66, and I told him I hadn't been there but yes, it was famous. He has a heart of gold. When he sweeps the paths here, he always says "I am sweeping the path, but I am also sweeping my mind!" with a huge smile on his face.
Marco joined us for coffee and then walked with us to the market. Neither of the boys bought much, but I walked with three bags of miscellaneous tropical fruit, some mango and sticky rice for breakfast the next day, and a few little dessert treats. My fruit included mangosteen, which is a new favorite of mine, bananas, a mango, a whole coconut, and a big bag of rambutan which is also a new delicious fruit to me. My grocery total was a grand 110 baht, less than $3.50.
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| Rambutan: Tastes s little like honeydew and grapes |
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| Mangosteen: Hard to describe, kind of like a sweet mellow creamy grape flavor. |
I do still feel like I might be getting a cold, but not too bad yet. Maybe a mini-cold. It doesn't help that I haven't been sleeping well the last few nights. One of the side effects of my anti-malaria pills that I take once a week is very vivid and intense dreaming. I thought this wouldn't be a big deal, but the only dreams I seem to be having are bad ones. Me being stabbed, me being cheated, and me being framed for stealing have been the topics of the last three nights. The wind has also been very strong at night here and it often wakes me up blowing in the trees violently. The lack of sleep this week is making me feel a little cranky...
But today will be a beach day I think so maybe that will help. I need to get the rest of my body caught up on getting some color- so far my face and arms are getting a little tan but the rest of me still looks like an Oregonian.
When I am in Chiang Mai I think I will participate in a 3 day meditation retreat at a monk temple there. It is by donation and you stay at the temple for the whole three days, eating only an early breakfast and lunch and fasting the rest of the day. You are not allowed to speak those three days, including communication using phones or internet. I am looking forward to it, and if it goes well for me, I would be interested in doing a 10 day retreat as well. Although I speak much less here on my trip than I did back home, it would be good for me to experience some silence in my mind if possible.
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| The 306 steps to the temple of Wat Doi Suthep, the temple in Chiang Mai where I want to do the retreat. |
I keep finding myself thinking of my past experiences and longing for them, but not living in the moment that I am in right now. I want to be mindful of the time I am in in the present moment- especially since my present moment took so much work to get to. Why am i constantly dreaming of my past and future here, but I can't seem to absorb 'right now'? I am hoping to find some answers or at least some direction during my time in Chiang Mai. There is also quite a bit of negative energy here at the yoga center floating around which is making it harder for me. I am a big sponge when it comes to other peoples energy and emotions so it is challenging to control my own sometimes. This is something I would like to work on during my time here in Thailand. I don't think it is something that I need to 'fix' about myself, because it is part of what makes me an empathetic person and a good listener. But it can be taxing on my own life sometimes when I am not in control.
Well, I am going to head out and enjoy my day. Miss you all so very much.
-H
I can't wait to try some Mangosteen and Rambutan!
ReplyDeleteFlipping back and forth between this picture of stairs and the "hill of doom" you had to walk up to the retreat... have fun with this one :)
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