Burning Man

Festivities

Pictures from Sierra Nevada World Music Festival and the wedding of Maia Nickel and Chris Mangone

23 and Parasite Free

Photos (slightly out of order): Sarah, Donna (one of the managers) and Tony (the fabulous gardener), Me and Michael, my head blocking the view of the non existant waterfall in Thailand, french friends in Thailand, the sunset view from Jeff and Jacque's kitchen, a beautiful beach, the Octagon room, the forest, a view of Mana and the guardian crystal from the top of the mountain on the land, views from the mountain, the kitchen, the Tara Sanctuary, the bungalow I stayed in in Thailand.

Hello from kiwi land!
So, I've switched hemispheres, and as far as I can tell the toilet flushing isn't drastically different, but most of the toilets I've seen flush with more waterfall style than swirling action. So, sorry to leave that unsolved for you all.
But, on to other news...

I spent my last week or so in Thailand in this little itty bitty town called Pai. It's about a four hour bus ride away from Chiang Mai and it's out in the countryside which was a nice change from the bustling city. I stayed in a little bungalow overlooking a garlic field, where cows were grazing and the sun was shining which was quite a (nice) change from the airconditioned apartment I'd been luxuriating in in Chiang Mai. Life is real slow in Pai, there's not a lot going on. It's geared for the backpacker scene so there's lots of cafes to hang out in and yoga classes to take and that kind of thing. Unfortnuately, not all the cafes were winners, I ate some of the worst food of my life in Pai. It was supposed to be a vegetable curry but was really a lot more like snot with noodles. So bad it was fascinating. I went on a couple of great hikes, one to a waterfall that was virtually non existant because it's the dry season. Despite the lack of waterfalls, the forest was full of butterflys, hundreds of them flying all around through the trees and around my head which made it a truly magical experience.

To get to New Zealand, I embarked on a four hour bus ride, followed by a 14 hour train ride followed by a 12 hour plane ride, all of which had five hour layovers in between. Quite the extensive journey, but I finally made it to Aukland where I was picked up at the airport by Jeff, a family friend who took me to his and Jacque's lovely home on Hearst Island just oustide Aukland. I spent three days with them, walking around Aukland a bit and adjusting to my change in surroundings. We also went to a dance performance called Black Milk which was extremely well done and moving. It was choreographed by Douglas Wright, the premier choreographer here in New Zealand and was full of powerful images and food for thought. Words can't describe. Jeff and Jacque were so welcoming, I really appreciated having a place to make a soft landing in a new country. A million thanks to them.

Right now I'm staying at the Mana Retreat Centre on the Coromandel peninsula. It's on the NE part of the North Island and it is just gorgeous. The center is surrounded by beautiful forests, with lots of little winding paths that curve through the hills. They lead to lots of little treasures spread throughout the land. The sacred spiral is a relaxing place to lounge in a tree, on the Goddess Path, figurines of voluptous women greet you from their resting places in the roots of trees and crevices of rocks. The earth makes a bit of a hollow sound in some places when you walk because layers and layers of roots have left the soil spongy on impact. And tree ferns spread through the canopy, the kind that make you think a brontasaurus is about to come crashing through the bushes and munch the top off of one. Birds are everywhere singing their calls, kakas (New Zealand parrots) and dozens of others constantly flying overhead. Other than that it's completely silent, no noise from the road makes it this far up the hill.

So, what am I doing on this magnificent piece of land besides wandering around in the woods? I'm a wwoofer (WWOOF stands for world wide oportunities on organic farms), which means I work six hours a day five days a week in exchange for accomadation and food. So, my tasks include anything from scrubbing toilets and making hospital corners on the beds, to making raw banana ice cream for 40 people, to weeding in the garden. Working in the kitchen or the garden are my preferences without a doubt, folding toilet paper into little triangles and scrubbing sinks all day just doesn't feed my soul for some reason.

The people I'm working with are really nice. A short description of my fellow wwoofers: Michael is from Germany, has been travelling the past 5 years and came here to connect with the fairies in the forest, Lisa emigrated to New Zealand from England and is taking some time off from work to wwoof and enjoy life, Tatiana is from France and can ring the gong for dinner like a professional, Sarah is a psychic/makeup artist from England, and Krista is an extremely genuine Austrian woman. So, we make up a group of varied backgrounds, but still manage to be highly successful when it come to getting things done. For example, last weekend when we had a 30 person retreat at the center and one of our cooks was sick and the other's daughter was having a baby, we wwoofers were left on our own to find a way to feed all those people. Lucky for them we pulled through and made some delicious food and even scattered flower petals on the salad.

After work there are all the perks of being here. There's an extensive library where I can feed my brain all kinds of information about how I really should stop being in my mind so much, paths to walk on, a sauna to use, a room called the Octagon to dance or stretch in, and a magical place called the Tara Sanctuary that's built using sacred geometry and has the most amazing acoustics I've ever heard. Just one person singing can sound like a whole chorus of angels. It has a bell tower that rings at 9am and 6pm every day. Being in there when the bells go off is a bit like having the top of your head unscrewed and then having rainbows swirl around in the place where regularly your stressy brain would be.

In other news, it's my birthday next week and I think I might have a parasite. I went to the doctor, they extracted every kind of fluid/waste my body has ever made and on Monday I hear the news. I just hope they won't have to amputate. But, the 29th is my birthday so I'm hoping to be 23 and parasite free by then. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

So far, my conclusion is that I love New Zealand. It's gorgeous, it's acceptable to go to the grocery store (or wherever else) barefoot, the accents are charming and the roads are winding, what else could you want? I'm leaving here May 1 to do some more exploring and head down to the South Island, which is supposedly even more fantastically beautiful. So, that'll be nice. It's really doing me some good to be in a place where natural beauty is more abundant than buildings, the air is clean and the ocean sparkles like diamonds off in the distance. I'm still looking for hobbits, so I'll keep you all posted on that one.

Love,
Liz

Runny noses and silver dust

These pictures are, a scene from a temple, a couple from the orphanage, a shot of Zoe, Dahlia, Zoe's family and me all dressed up for the Jewish holiday Purim, pounding herbs at Thai massage school to make herbal compresses, lots of buddhas at a market here, a traditional house up in the hills, snake whisky, a hot spring they cook eggs in rather than swim in, a night out on the town, art made out of durian, and Zoe with an adorable puppy

Loved ones,

I'm still here in Thailand, but only for about another week and a half. I've spent the last month in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. It's the first time I've been in one place for more than 10 days in a really long time and I've been loving it. Zoe and I had a lovely little apartment to share for the month, complete with a refridgerator, hot water and a swimming pool. Definately luxurious. So, my daily routine has included swimming in the pool at least once, and pulling fresh cold coconuts out of the fridge whenever I've got the urge. Not to mention eating delicious thai food for about a dollar a meal, enjoying beautiful tropical weather, and the smiles and laughter of the Thai people.

Chiang Mai is a truly wonderful place to be. So wonderful, in fact, that about 50,000 ex-pats live here. So, there are westerners everywhere and the town is an interesting mix of shops and restaurants geared for tourists, others for the locals, and lots of overlap in between those places. The apartment I've been staying in is right near the university so there are lots of young people everywhere. It's a nice part of town, very new, with lots of coffee shops and places to eat. It doesn't have quite as much flavor as the older part of the city, but it's inexpensive and the pool makes it all worthwhile. And, it's really neat to see all the young people walking around. It makes me question the whole concept of "foriegn" because a lot of the young folks are wearing the same thing as you would see in the states, listening to the same music, text messaging eachother and going to University. I can even get a bagel at the place on the corner. There's also a big scene for the gay youths. Lots of lesbian and gay couples out and in plain view. The culture here is a lot more open to different sexualites (recall from my last email all the stuff about ladyboys).

The only downside of Chaing Mai that I've noticed is that the air pollution is terrible. It looks like there are lots of low grey clouds, but they're not clouds, they're smog. For those of you thinking that it's probably just like LA, nope...it's worse. Some fragile farang (foreigner in thai) even develop coughs while they're here, and lots of the locals wear surgical style masks when they're out and around town. It's especially bad this time of year because the surrounding farmers are burning their fields.

But, what have I actually been doing with my time? Zoe and I did a two week Thai massage course at the Old Medicine Hospital here in Chaing Mai. We were taught how to pull, push, press on and move the body around in what the Thai people call a "relaxing massage". It's definately different than our western concept of what a massage should be, but they taught us some valuable skills for stretching out your kinks even if it might be slightly more acrobatic than the massage you're used to.

I also did a few days of a silver smithing class where I learned how to cut, sand, solder, polish, and bend silver into jewlery. It was an amazing experience for me. I think I've found a new passion, a new art form that hits a deep cord within me and brings me a lot of joy. I had to tear myself away from the class, but hopefully there will be more working with silver in my future.

I've also gone to play with little kids at an orphanage here in Chiang Mai a few times. I've been working with the 1-3 year olds and they are absolutely adorable. They just want to be held, and don't get quite as much as attention as they might like so they are full of hugs and smiles and laughter just waiting to be brought out. (Yes, some of them cry non-stop so it's not all giggles and cuddles, but that's what you get when you've got a room full of toddlers). They all just got over a case of the chicken pox, so when I met them they were covered in scabs from the pox, had snot running out of their noses and were very endearing because it was just so incredibly toddler-like.
Other than that, not much to report. Except...I did recently have a dream that I was the pope...that was interesting. But, mostly I've just been enjoying being in one place for more than a few days and have just been kind of hanging out and living life. It's been really nice.
On April 3 I head to New Zealand. I'm looking forward to it, I'm going to be doing work exchange at the Mana Retreat Centre for at least part of my time there, and it sounds like a wonderful place with lots of great workshops and beautiful land.
Hope you all are well.
Love,
Liz