Experience Week

Monday night: we did a group sharing/check-in, and then a woman named Isla Marie came in and did an inner-life sharing with us. This consisted of breaking up into small groups and doing a meditation about what spirituality was to us, what made our heart sing. We then shared in our little groups and then met again in the big group and shared some of what we experienced.

Tuesday morning we did group discovery games which were cooperative games. We did a game of "hug tag," a human knot, a mirror game, some movement work, and a lot more. We did a game where we were assigned different animals and with our eyes closed had to find the other members of the group who were making the same animal sound as us. It was the same game that we used to find our KP groups at Rowe my first year of camp.

The afternoon was our first Work Department. I think I wrote this before, but I'm working in the Park kitchen, cooking for the community. I washed and cut a lot of greens, and helped assemble lasange verduras for dinner. It was a really nice time, and the food was delicious. I love eating food in a community that I've helped to prepare. It's really satisfying.

After dinner we had another sharing and a man named Brian came in and shared his experience with seeing nature beings such as elves. He once saw Pan in the Botanical Gardens of Edinburgh. It was a really interesting talk. Out of it I found a memory of an elf named Elmer who lived in my wall when I was little and watched over me when I slept. I hadn't thought about that in so long.

This morning we had a nature outing. We went to a place called Randolf's Leap. I took a lot of pictures which I will figure out how to post soon. I also spent some time writing and drawing trees. It was really nice to just be in nature. I sat by the meeting place of the Findhorn and the Divy rivers and watched the foam swirl past. I felt like there were messages swirling past me, creating pictures and stories for me.

When we got back we took a tour of the Moray Art Centre, which is on the Park. It's a nice space, and Randy, the man who gave us the tour, had a smile and laugh like Max Wolkowitz, which made me a little homesick. Randy has a very Bennington concept of art and expression which was interesting to hear, especially from someone reminding me of a Bennington student.

The afternoon was work again. We were making Mexican and so we washed and cut up beans and then shelled broad beans. I had been in a very introverted, reflective place when we started, but by the end I was excited and smiling again. And the food was fabulous. As usual.

The evening consisted of hearing from a woman named Mari who told us about the structure of the community and how decision making is done here. We talked about schools and the youth in the community.

I started this yesterday, so where I wrote today...it is now yesterday, and so on.

This morning was work project. We went up to the Cullerne Gardens which are one of the main food producing gardens of the Foundation. We were basically clearing some garden beds that had been neglected for a while. It was exactly what I did at the beginning of the summer to prepare the garden in my front yard before planting. I helped clear two beds and it was a beautiful day so it was really nice to spend the morning outside.

After lunch we had group time It was creativity time and we went down to the beach as surprisingly, it stayed sunny all day. The goal was to make a piece of community art in nature. However, first we went swimming. The North Sea is cold, but it was invigorating, and the waves were huge. It was lots of fun to float and drift and swim. After the first few minutes, my body started to adjust and I really started to enjoy myself. After swimming for maybe 20 minutes, the last of us managed to detangle ourselves from the sea and we began our art project. It came out pretty well I thought and was a lot of fun. I did take pictures, and I will post them soon, poss tonight if I don't fall asleep...it's getting late. So maybe tomorrow morning instead. This week is incredibly busy, most of our time is very structured, and there isn't that much time except late at night to write and download pictures and such. So soon, readers, soon. I promise. Emily V. one of the students also decided to shave her head a few days ago and this manifested on the beach. So we all cut a bit of her hair and now it is very short and uneven, close to being shaved, but the buzzer we got died after a few strokes...so it's a process.

We had the evening off, which was excellent. Most everyone decided that they wanted to go to the village to the pub. I wanted to go hang out and have a drink, but not stay all evening...however, I did have my drink(a local beer called Sheepshaggers...it was pretty tasty), but ended up hanging out a lot longer. Once I got there, I was having such a blast and didn't want to leave. So I stayed until everyone left, hung out, Hannah had some fish and chips with local seafood from the bay which was very exciting. Findhorn Village is a fishing village, so serving the fish caught that day was super exciting to me.

After we came home, a group came back to Long Meadow and played music and hung out and drank a bottle of wine that Samantha had(I keep naming people and they are mostly students...maybe I'll post a list at the end of this, just for reference). It was a nice time. Oh! And Tristan, who is someone I went to Bennington with(lived in Perkins...was only there for a little while, I don't remember how long), who also knows Mickaela(another student) from home, has been backpacking in Scotland and ended up here tonight and hung out and is having breakfast with us in the morning. So it was nice, and a little strange, to see a familiar face. And now here I am. Tomorrow morning we have off, so we're all cooking breakfast together in Long Meadow and then we have work departments and a sharing at night. So, until next time my friends....