Well haven't I been slack at keeping up with the blog. Not like I don't have a lot of time right now. I arrived in Eymet in the evening of November 19th. The house is wonderful and the village charming. Unfortunately, I arrived with a nasty head cold and I didn't really do much for the first week - except cough, blow my nose and feel sorry for myself. I rented a car only for week thinking that I would get things sorted out right away but that hasn't happened. I tried to make the most of having a car the first week and did some exploring of the villages nearby - there is a fabulous Sunday market in Issigeac. As of Monday though, I am now without a vehicle. If the weather holds I will use the bike to get around.
I was very keen to go to Plum Village for what they call a Mindfulness Day. Plum Village is the retreat centre of the Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh and it is only 12 km from Eymet. In August 2011, I went to a 5 day retreat in Vancouver with Thay, as he is affectionately called. I took away a lot from that retreat and was really happy to find out how close Plum Village is to where I am staying. On the 22nd, I dragged my stuffy head to Plum Village hoping I wouldn't get everyone sick. I read on the website that you should bring head phones with a long extension cord for translation of the teaching. I only had my ear buds for my Ipod. I assumed he would be speaking in French and figured if my ear buds didn't work I could pick up enough in French. I couldn't find a plug in for English and when I saw one that said French I thought "great", he's speaking English so I didn't bother looking any further. Well turns out he teaches in Vietnamese, his mother tongue. Needless to say I didn't get a lot out of the dharma talk so I used it as a meditation time. After the teaching we did a beautiful walking meditation through the property followed by lunch. Then after lunch there were different sharing sessions - one that was in English!!! They offer the Mindfulness Days on Thursdays and Sundays so I hope to take good advantage of them but that means I need to find a car. I could ride the bike but the days are getting shorter so it may be dark when I come home. I may try riding this Sunday and if I have to leave early I will.
The other thing I really wanted to do was get going with some French lessons. I just missed out on a two week intensive course in Bergerac - of course being 25 km away that means having a car. There is a bus that goes once in the morning and comes back around 6:00. It is also the school bus and if I understood right, the students have precedent over the seats. I'm not sure how that works if there is no seat for me. Hmmm. I caught it on Monday afternoon when I returned the rental car and it worked out fine. Anyway back to the French, I started looking for some courses, there is an Association Culturelle here in Eymet but they don't let you join in the classes once they've started. I just got a call back from a tutor and she sounds great and the price is right but we don't start until Dec 8th. So to supplement I've contacted a course where you learn via Skype. Hopefully, I can start that right away. In the meantime I have scheduled an hour a day to listen to a Coffee Break French episode and work in the book that I brought with me.
I was prepared for things being difficult. I think being sick didn't help my moral much and I was having those thoughts of "What am I doing here?". I have always struggled with a lack of patience. Yesterday, however, I went for a walk up to a lake and took the time to think and realized that there is no hurry. I should appreciate the time that I have alone and not try to rush things. I feel so much better having shifted my thinking. I was panicking that I have been here a week and haven't accomplished anything or really met anyone. So what? I'm living in France, isn't that what I wanted?
Socially things are looking up. Last Friday I went over to the wine shop and introduced myself to the Irish woman who owns it. The comments in the guest book here were all so positive about her. She is lovely and has invited me to a wine tasting at the shop tonight. So hopefully that will start the ball rolling with meeting some people. Also every second Saturday, there is Jazz at the cultural centre so I plan to go to that as well.
That's it for now. If I wrote this last week I would be complaining. Today, I feel really content - amazing how the same thing can look so different if you view it from another angle!! So that's my lesson for today - if you don't like something, look at it from the other side! Lots of love to everyone.
I was very keen to go to Plum Village for what they call a Mindfulness Day. Plum Village is the retreat centre of the Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh and it is only 12 km from Eymet. In August 2011, I went to a 5 day retreat in Vancouver with Thay, as he is affectionately called. I took away a lot from that retreat and was really happy to find out how close Plum Village is to where I am staying. On the 22nd, I dragged my stuffy head to Plum Village hoping I wouldn't get everyone sick. I read on the website that you should bring head phones with a long extension cord for translation of the teaching. I only had my ear buds for my Ipod. I assumed he would be speaking in French and figured if my ear buds didn't work I could pick up enough in French. I couldn't find a plug in for English and when I saw one that said French I thought "great", he's speaking English so I didn't bother looking any further. Well turns out he teaches in Vietnamese, his mother tongue. Needless to say I didn't get a lot out of the dharma talk so I used it as a meditation time. After the teaching we did a beautiful walking meditation through the property followed by lunch. Then after lunch there were different sharing sessions - one that was in English!!! They offer the Mindfulness Days on Thursdays and Sundays so I hope to take good advantage of them but that means I need to find a car. I could ride the bike but the days are getting shorter so it may be dark when I come home. I may try riding this Sunday and if I have to leave early I will.
The other thing I really wanted to do was get going with some French lessons. I just missed out on a two week intensive course in Bergerac - of course being 25 km away that means having a car. There is a bus that goes once in the morning and comes back around 6:00. It is also the school bus and if I understood right, the students have precedent over the seats. I'm not sure how that works if there is no seat for me. Hmmm. I caught it on Monday afternoon when I returned the rental car and it worked out fine. Anyway back to the French, I started looking for some courses, there is an Association Culturelle here in Eymet but they don't let you join in the classes once they've started. I just got a call back from a tutor and she sounds great and the price is right but we don't start until Dec 8th. So to supplement I've contacted a course where you learn via Skype. Hopefully, I can start that right away. In the meantime I have scheduled an hour a day to listen to a Coffee Break French episode and work in the book that I brought with me.
I was prepared for things being difficult. I think being sick didn't help my moral much and I was having those thoughts of "What am I doing here?". I have always struggled with a lack of patience. Yesterday, however, I went for a walk up to a lake and took the time to think and realized that there is no hurry. I should appreciate the time that I have alone and not try to rush things. I feel so much better having shifted my thinking. I was panicking that I have been here a week and haven't accomplished anything or really met anyone. So what? I'm living in France, isn't that what I wanted?
Socially things are looking up. Last Friday I went over to the wine shop and introduced myself to the Irish woman who owns it. The comments in the guest book here were all so positive about her. She is lovely and has invited me to a wine tasting at the shop tonight. So hopefully that will start the ball rolling with meeting some people. Also every second Saturday, there is Jazz at the cultural centre so I plan to go to that as well.
That's it for now. If I wrote this last week I would be complaining. Today, I feel really content - amazing how the same thing can look so different if you view it from another angle!! So that's my lesson for today - if you don't like something, look at it from the other side! Lots of love to everyone.