I've started writing this blog entry about 15 times now. This is the last time. No editing. Just raw stream-of-consciousness. I won't be offended if you skip ahead to the next entry.
Went to the south of Germany for New Years. It was an eventful arrival. As the plane was in the air, i was stricken by the fact that the signs for the flight all had "Frankfurt (Hahn)" written on them - what if Hahn didn't actually stand for "International Airport", as i had assumed? So i got up the nerve to ask the German couple sitting next to me 1) if they spoke english and 2) if they knew whether there was more than one airport in Frankfurt. Fortunately, they spoke english and told me that, no - we weren't flying into the main airport in Frankfurt. Instead, we were landing somewhere TWO HOURS outside of town, and from the other airport (which was, incidentally, where my train was scheduled to depart from). I thanked them and proceeded to spin over all the possible outcomes of this situation. The problem was, i had arranged to take a train from Frankfurt International an hour after my flight landed. Now, i would be at least an hour later, depending on when i could get a bus or train. Turns out, the trains were delayed an cancelled due to snow anyway. So - i spent the night in Frankfurt, in large part due to the paramount wisdom of Ottmar Sensei.
Johanneshof is a large farmhouse style building, nestled in a small farming community in the foothills of the Alps. There are villages every few kilometers - scatterings of houses and barns, thick walls and tiny windows. Thick walls, several stories high - these folks are prepared for a long, cold winter. Then come spring, the fields will be plowed and the tractors fired up for their few months of work. Its the type of place you'd imagine Little Red Riding hood hurrying down the path with a basket of hot biscuits for grandmother, wrapped in her snug cape.
A nice place to practice, to face the challenges posed by our world and our spinning minds. There is a warm, populous group of lay-practictioners who frequent this place, and it feels like a big community center. It is a sangha center - in all senses. People travel from near and far to spend time there. By the time i left, i was able to deduce from context the gist of the work meetings, and sometimes the schedule for meal preparation, even with my weak knowledge of German.
These became the most useful phrases:
"Bitte enschuldigen sie mien schlectes Deutsch" - please excuse my terrible german
"Wie git es dir?" - how are you?
"Wie heist du?" - what is your name?
"Wo kommt das ein?" - where does this go? particularly useful for the kitchen.
I will certainly plan to go back. I like Johanneshof.
The trip back was almost as eventful as the journey to the place. It was certainly as many hours traveling. Upon arriving at Frankfurt Hahn airport early, i discovered that Ryan Air doesn't have a terribly sophisticated system with which to manage passengers. When i inqured about moving up to an earlier flight, the agent consulted a printout dotted with yellow highlighter, and pronounced cheerfully that all flights were full. When i asked if i could be on the standby list, i was informed (a little less cheerfully) that it would cost me: a fee to change my original booking, PLUS the cost of the new ticket - some 400 pounds typically. Hah! So. I waited and took my seat in my booked flight. I was rather elated to arrive home, finally, with all my luggage intact albeit at 4 am. Thanks to Ryan Air for making this trip a grand adventure!
That's all for now folks. My classes are starting and the days are slowly, slowly getting minutes longer. It still resembles afternoon for most of the day, but i am optimistic that by the time my term ends, there will be more daylight in my life.
Happy New Year. Sending good intentions to all.
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