love is the best sensation hiding in the lions mane

ayayay. the past week has been a rollercoaster of a lot of things. ive been avoiding posting because i didnt want to say anything but how great everything is. but what kind of honest, heart-felt blog would that be? entonces, the first week wasnt sparkly and giddy at all. in fact, it was quite rough (the product of which was a return to the words of thich nhat hanh and meditation, all good things). being thrown into a group of americans who are supposed to automatically be your best friends is never easy. i dont do well with shallow interactions. i am ready to go! to live! i want to share everything i know and love. i want to know what your soul is made of. i have to remind myself, of course, that many people are very different from me. i also really dont like being in large groups of americans in a foreign city. we are loud, stand out, and its almost impossible to meet people.
my host family is kind but my parents are working almost all the time, and it was sort of overwhelming to be stranded in a foreign house, not supposed to go outside because its dangerous. and of course, there are many cultural differences. it sort of feels like I am a 12 year old in the eyes of my parents, so im intrigued to see how things will play out. buuuut, ive been figuring it out! of course things have gotten much more enjoyable.
today we went into the historic old part of town. on the trolley on the way there we went through a giant protest of union workers. all i wanted to do was jump out and chant with them, but for one its illegal for me to participate in protests here, and two i really have no right to engage in such an event. i also met some chilean backpackers on the bus…but i had to remind myself that i cant just go with them around south america, i am in school now! this is a different kind of trip ;)at least for now.
aight, well i need to get home or mi madre will be terribly worried.

beeesooos,
lala

a lil tease

m.t., spanish hw on the roof

my roof ;)

rosita y yo

el panecillo

finally found a way to upload photos, but i need to sleeeeeep so will write more later.

love,

laurita

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

phew. so here i am. nearly 10,000 feet they say. walking up the stairs is akin to summiting everest, on top of the constant translation, i am EXHAUSTED. i always forget how tiring it is to always be trying to figure out what the heck is going on. but that´s how it goes!
we had a long orientation at CIMAS today where they told us all about the dangers and precautions (all in spanish)--of which i will spare you the heart attacks and anxiety. ahem. ;)

quito is beautiful, even more calm and slow than i expected. the spanish here, the city, remind me of water gently flowing over rocks in a stream.

met my host family and am at their house now...they had us sitting in a room, students on one end and families on other, and called out our names one by one. i was one of the last, feeling like a little puppy trying to look cute, wagging my tail, hoping someone would take me home. they obviously know me well already, gave me a bunch of roses! sigh. just wanted to give you a quick update but i have nothing profound or very coherent to say now. i am going to chill with my host sister rosita and giggle over my rusty spanish. time to hit the dicionario.

todo mi corazon,
laurita

hold on magnolia, its almost time

here in my room, bags are packed, listening to Sufjan Stevens and that feeling that is becoming so familiar bubbles up from my core and cascades from the crown of my head to form a grin on my face. pure love. excitement. awe. a tear--bliss from the well of life and unity within me--the wonders this life has brought thus far, and all the moments to come.

so its a red-eye to atlanta and a 12 hour layover and onwards to quito. but i am a lucky girl--my uncle has an old friend who lives there and has been kind enough to offer to pick me up and fill my belly with anything other than airport food. he knew my mom as a little girl and im excited to spend a few hours with him. things always seem to work out.

carrying love and happy thoughts of you to the equator,
lala

p.s. and just for fun, check out one of the most beautiful songs i have ever heard, will be on repeat as i sail southerly

Water to my roots, sun to my leaves :)

When I returned from India a lot of things sort of fell into place. I've been wanting to study abroad in a Spanish speaking country and Ecuador was by far the most awesome (and least expensive) option on the table. With the help of a hefty scholarship, Seattle gray, and an excellent interview, all signs pointed southerly!

So here I am, just back from the most wonderful journey in India, about to embark again.
I will be keeping this same blog so we'll definitely be in touch. I leave January 5th.

All my love and gratitude,
Laurita (meaning "little laura" in spanish :) )

Sometimes it takes a journey to come home

Have you ever done yoga before? Some of my favorite classes have been with teachers that take as much time to experience the effects after a pose as they do for the pose itself. It's like my 3rd grade music teacher who told us music is made up of silence and sound--puzzling and intriguing to a young mind. Both silence and sound, movement and stillness, are equally important in their differences.

After moving, traveling, experiencing, bouncing around spaces I could never imagine, I am at rest, at home. It's only now that I can really feel the effects of my travels, the music, the movement. People have told me I'm completely different, something new has blossomed within me.
I have had a really rough past couple of years, and I feel more peaceful and stable now than I have in a very long time. Even though I was terrified of going to India alone, it is the absolute BEST THING I could have done for myself. I feel a new energy to face injustice around me. I'm finding new ways that I can change my life today that challenge structures of oppression and injustice. There's a flame burning subtly but strongly within my being. I am so grateful for being afforded this life to learn, to share, to turn this lost ship just one degree back in the right direction.

I will briefly share a few things I learned from India that stick out in my mind:
-Self-sufficiency is an illusion. I would not have gotten anywhere without the help of so many people along the way. Having a Lonely Plant guidebook for India is sort of useful but won't get you very far. It's a lovely feeling to let go of control of most everything. Like jumping into the ocean and letting the waves rock you back and forth, you can't predict their movement but there's comfort in uncertainty.
-Plans are arbitrary. We make them but the universe often seems to have something else in mind. GO WITH THE FLOW, it's out of our hands.
-Laugh more, much more. Laugh at most things--it makes the most unpleasant experiences more bearable. Don't take things too seriously
-"Struggle with the saying: You will be needed in the movement when you realize you are not needed in the movement."
-Feel the fear, and DO IT ANYWAY :)

Thank you all for so much love and support.

Your most grateful friend,
Laura

A decent from the clouds: Nilambe Meditation Center

Meditation hall :)

Cloud livin'

hiking up to Nilambe, me myself and I

botanical gardens: Kandy

Tea plantations

Our hotel in Trinco (aka traveling with no guide book is the best thing ever)

Rafa y yo, and a delicious king coconut

Buddha felt like coming home compared to all the gods of India

This might be hard for some of you (cough cough dad:) ) to believe, but I love being quiet. I've arrived back into the city of Kandy from a wonderful retreat at the Nilambe Meditation Center. The schedule is a little something like this: 445 gong wakes us, 5-6 morning meditation, 6-630 the most deliciously needed cup of tea, 630-730 yoga, 730-8 scrumptious mindful breakfast, 8-915 working meditation, 930-11 meditation, 11-12 outdoor meditation, 12-1230 lunchmm, 1230-230 library hours and rest time, 230-4 meditation, 4-430 the precious tea and mindful talking time, 430-530 yoga, 530-630 watching the sunset, 630-730 chanting and meditation, 730 snack, and at 8 there is a talk or we retreat to our rooms.

I love being in a room with people for hours, just sitting, breathing, being quiet. I love walking in a forest with friends, no words needed to form such friendship and no words capable of describing the beauty of that very moment, the majesty of the trees. Words are another structure, a necessary tool, sometimes failing to do justice to a moment, a place, a peace.

When one is quiet, each moment is a fresh, blooming flower. Flashes of unspeakable beauty passed before me, memories of all the things that fill me with awe, all the people. And yet as the present moment whispers of the only truth capable of touching, a smile cracks on my face. What if "god" was a similie for the smile of a rare orchid, a hungry child, a lost friend? What if it was the wind waltzing with your hair, or every single molecule in your body? god, peace, allah, rama, love, jesus, prabhujee, hope, buddha, yahweh, earth.

I long for the breaking of structures, language, borders--so that our uniquely universal experience could decend upon our collective consciousness. We are all someone's child. We all come from love.

If you desire to check out more about this place, which I can imagine you must be, check out their website here :)
http://www.nilambe.org/

Namaste,
Laurita