Happy all the Holidays! Which ever ones you celebrate. I’m partial to Solstice. :) Time since my return from my last trip has really gone quickly and still not much alone time to recover but I’m starting to feel a bit more like myself. It’s a hard balance for this introvert because I really do also love my friends and family.
Almost three years ago I went to my 1st three week long yoga retreat in Mazunte, Mexico. I didn’t know anyone, or the teachers or the style of yoga. I needed a break in my visiting schedule from Julio and wanted to deepen my yoga practice. You may remember the emails around that time. Or not. Hahaha I met a couple of people who I’m still friends, almost with my current yoga/meditation teacher who led most of the retreats I’ve gone to since then.
One of the people I met was a Russian dude (whose name is not Boris) that had recently arrived in the area. He was at the yoga school one day, attempting to selling his pottery during our lunch break. I remember speaking bad Spanish with him when, thankfully, he said we could speak in English. He had some very lovely tea cups. I finally selected one to purchase. He had brought some hot tea in a thermos and I bravely drank a cup with this stranger. It was a delicious Russian tea. We had a nice short conversation, I took my tea cup and his card and left to find an omelet. As this was my first exposure to long term vegan diet I thought I needed eggs. When I returned to Portland I sent him a facebook friend request. He was kind and engaging during a time when I needed to believe that people could be genuine and kind. In our first Facebook conversation he suggested that I attend a *Vipassana retreat to help me though the rough time I was having. I haven’t yet made it to one but have scheduled one in March.
Fast forward to thanksgiving night and my Russian friend, still living in Mexico, flew into town. Literally just in time for Black Friday. Meaning that is why he came to Oregon, Black Friday shopping without tax! When I picked him up, he was starving, so we attempted to find a fast food drive-thru at 11pm on thanksgiving night. The 3rd time was the charm. The first one was obviously closed when we drove thru. The second drive-thru spoke to us when we pulled up. I replied that it would be a monument, as Carl’s Jr. isn’t big in Mexico or Russia. After some time deciphering the menu, I informed the drive-thru we were ready to order, but there was no reply. I spoke again, no reply. The Russian who had been living in Mexico decided to take things in to his own hands and much to my dismay honked the horn. Still nothing. I then drove to the window. The place was dark and empty. There was some laughing, of course, over the funny bonding experience of two people who had previously only had one 15 minute face-to-face conversation and a 3 year sporadic internet friendship. Finally, we found an obviously open drive-thru and he got some disgusting American fast food to tied him over til morning. Once at the house it was like Christmas for me! He had brought me: a new teacup with tray, tea, Russian sweets, a Russian socialist propaganda enamel pin, a laser cut wood ornament from his girlfriend’s company, some cocao beans and the cutest diorama in half a walnut shell of Mexican women in Oaxaca making tortillas.
It was a busy fun few days! I had thought he had friends here to spend time with and he thought I’d be working. But instead we had indian food with my boyfriend, two trips to Best Buy, a failed attempt to get to Multnomah Falls due to the busy holiday weekend, made it to horsetail falls, bridge of the gods and hiked to the top of beacon rock for sunset, a quick trip to my romantic interest’s farm to see some baby pigs and his fluffy white dog, Astoria to climb the column and made it to Ecola state park in time for sunset, except it was raining. We ate dinner two nights in a row at the all-you-can-eat Ethiopian buffet and saw an all woman hiphop show. Drank more tea than you can imagine and talked about politics and religion while not always seeing eye-to-eye but always listening with open minds. And after one canceled flight he finally made it back to Mexico with his overstuffed small carryon of electronics.
I then had a lovely 3 night weekend at the coast with some local besties. We had one of the most amazing sunsets I’ve ever seen in Oregon. We made some hilarious Snapchat discoveries, lots of laughing, a little crying and new vision boards!
A week later, my German friend Natasha, (also known as my fake daughter, she calls me mum), who I met in Guatemala almost 2 years ago, arrived. It was like christmas again because she brought me a beautiful pillow cover from Guatemala, where she had been living until a week prior to arriving in Portland. We were successful in getting to Multnomah Falls as we went on a non-holiday weekday! She was disappointed because I don’t decorate or hardly celebrate christmas, and for some reason she had imagined I was a great baker! Hahaha I think she got over it as we made some German style spiced wine, pear crisp (s) and played a bunch of scrabble. In the end we had a really good time doing a lot of nothing but talking and talking and eating and eating. She was busy working teaching German online and I started working right before she arrived so our time together was limited. But it was super nice to have her here.
I’ve recently tried to explain the connection I have with these new friends that have a mediation practice or background. It’s as if there is a basic knowledge of the other person, much like an old friend that you feel no time has passed between you when you see them again but without all the back story history. It’s also nice to have friends that can call you out on your shit in a different way than your long time friends can. :)
But with that said, if you are reading this and I haven’t seen you lately I’d really love to! Please make a date with me soon!
I acquired a part-time job where I used the following line in my cover letter: “Oddly enough, I enjoy physical and meditative activities like stacking wood, packing and moving boxes.” Let me know if you need any wood stacked.
As threatened, I’ve added these “travel updates” to an actual blog. So if you missed some over the last few years you can look back at the trials and tribulations of my life. The good, the bad and some of the ugly dating back to 2015.
Love and Hugs to you!
Serena
*Vipassana (my definition google it for mo-betta info) - a 10 day silent meditation retreat. Noble silence is practiced (this means, no talking, writing, eye contact or other forms of communication with others) . About 10 hours a day meditation broken up into 1 or 2 hour sessions. There is instruction for a specific technique.
Sunset Rockaway Beach December 9th 2018
Comments
Post a Comment