Greetings from the land of smiles!
We just reached the city of Chiang Rai after our relaxing meditation retreat! The resort like “New Life Foundation” welcomed us into their facilities for an eye opening week. Right as our bus pulled up to the center, we had a quick orientation meeting with the manager and some of the residents of New Life and then jumped into our meditation practices. Matthew, a New York native and former wallstreet broker, led our Buddhist information sessions and mindfull practices. He has been studying this culture for the past seven years and has been working with Carpe groups for four years. It’s safe to say we were in good hands!
In addition to meditating six times a day, we enjoyed the luxuries of a swimming pool, individual rooms, and WESTERN TOILETS. The food was pretty good but it wasn’t quite as aroy (Thai for delicious) as the food at Pun Pun Organic Farm (although some of our canivores were excited to see meat on their plates after so much vegetarian cuizine at the orphanage and Pun Pun).
The last full day of the retreat, we all participated in a day of silence… at least tried! We all agreed that the experience was interesting but all had twice as much to say the next day. We were also lucky enough to cross paths with Ani Zamba, a fully ordained female monk. She shared her 40 years of Buddhist wisdom with us and envoked some strong internal questions.
We would also like to stress that we are perfectly safe up north and away from the flooding in Bangkok. We will have to alter some of our travel plans but we are safe and dry!
News:
1. Turkey had a 7.2 magnitude earthquake recently. Over 2,000 buildings were destroyed and the government just accepted foreign aid. Hundreds, maybe even thousands are currently trapped beneath the rubble.
2. IBM names Virginia Rometty, their first femal chief executive. Rometty is currently a senior vice president.
All flights at Bangkok’s second airport, Don Muang, have been suspended due to flooding near the Northern border.
We love and miss you!