Really, my life here is just not all that interesting, thus I haven’t posted in a long time.
But I just booked plans for Christmas so I thought I would let you all know. I got a ticket to London (it was free with frequent flyer miles :-) ). I’m going to attend a 10 day silent meditation retreat from the 20th of December until the 31st. I’ve been wanting to do one for quite sometime and finally the timing worked out. I figure excuses will always be there for not doing such a thing, but now is a good time to just do it, rather than making the excuses.
I’ll arrive there a few days early and tour London for a couple of days. Then I’ll go visit my friend Heather who lives a couple hours from London on the way to the retreat. After a day with her I’ll head to the retreat. I’m thinking I’ll want something quite mellow afterwards, so London on New years probably doesn’t meet that requirement. I’m thinking of either staying near where the retreat is, (it’s a little sea side town called Sheringham) or head toward Stonehenge (if I’m hippy enough to meditate for 10 days, I should be hippy enough to go to Stonehenge for New Years) and be mellow there. I leave on the 2nd.
For no extra charge, I was able to get an extended layover (22 hours) in Lisbon on the way back, so I’ll get a quick glimpse of Lisbon. (Seems I’m getting quick glimpses of lots of European capitols this year!)
So, if anyone has recommendations of budget accommodations in London, Sheringham, Stonehenge, Lisbon or anywhere else near these places that they recommend, I would appreciate it. Or if there are other things you think I would enjoy more than what I’ve laid out, let me know.
So, back to Namibia. I’m driving a car now. See photo. Yes, it’s a double cab pick up truck. It belongs to a 
friend of mine who is completing his PhD at Michigan. He wants to return to Namibia when he finishes it, so I agreed to babysit for him until he comes back (probably June 2009). I only drive it when I’m going someplace that I would otherwise take a taxi for, but its amazing how convenient it has been. I’ve attended a lot more talks and shows and things that I otherwise might not have because I didn’t want to be hassled getting a taxi. I’m going to take a few days off next week and go camping at Waterburg plateau (a national park) and its nice to be able to take off and drive myself to such things.
So, finally one other important thing. My favorite yoga teacher is moving to Canada. :-( She’s stopped teaching. I’ve been shopping for a new teacher and have been attending with two teachers for the last few weeks. I like them both okay for different reasons, but really preferred the one that is moving to Canada. I’ll probably chose one of these two after a bit, but for now, I’m still liking them both. This is part of the reason I haven’t started teaching yoga again since I got back, cause I’ve been too busy attending classes.
But, my favorite has told me that she is going to connect me with the Iyengar Yoga Institute in South Africa so that I can go through their yoga teacher’s training course. It’s a 3 year course that can be done through distance education with a couple of trips to Johannesburg each year. I’m not sure how it will work with my schedule, but I’m quite eager to do it, so I’ll try to make it work if at all possible.
The students this semester have been really wonderful. They are very positive and really try to make the best of everything. There is a better male/female balance and even a bit of racial diversity. They come from a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds and several have traveled internationally quite a bit more than Sarah Palin as well. They aren’t shy to express their viewpoints in class and we’ve had a lot of really interesting, lively class discussions. You can read their perspectives on the program at: http://cgenamibia.blogspot.com/ Yes, it’s a class assignment, so they do get graded for it. There should be a new posting every week, so it should be more interesting than my blog.
That’s about all I can report on for now. I’ll try to think of something more thought provoking next time. Bye!
friend of mine who is completing his PhD at 