Full circle

Sometimes life just seems to come full circle. I'm at my friend Usha's house now and she doesn't have a computer. So I'm using her friends' computer, who is German. So guess what...so is his computer. Lucky for me, I've had to read this blog in German before, so I know what I,m doing now. Fun.

So, I have officially been in Europe for 3 months now. And Monday, I will have been in Greece for a month. I am leaving next week for Italy where I might have a job working in Olive trees in Tuscany. We'll see.

My time at Brian and Gillian's ended yesterday and the dogs were VERY sad to see me go. I was sad too. Although, here at Usha's, it's been nice and quite...except for the OBVIOUS construction going on down below Usha's house. But that's a given by now.

Usha has a completely self sufficient house. It's run by solar power and she collects rainwater in a cistern. She has gardens and rents out 2 rooms during tourist season. It's an amazing place and I have my own little apartment here. The only real downfall is that my shower is outside and outside is nice and cold right now. Conserves water though. I'm not running to take a shower anytime soon.

I had a list of things to tell you about, but I'm going to cut this short so I can go help Usha make dinner.

I just have one little ditty for you today...in Greece, they don't flush their toilet paper. YUP, you read right. You throw it in the trash bin. I guess the pipes are too small and get blocked really easily...YUM! Again, conserves paper.

I miss all of you and hope all is well.

One last thing. I wanted to wish Little Mary a GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Remember to make a big wish when you blow out you're candles...I love you!

Love-ME

Happy Belated Easter!

Easter is Greece's BIGGEST holiday. It was a little wild here. They actually white wash their houses for the occasion. They shot off fireworks midnight Easter morning. The dogs loved that one.

Things are going great here. The sun is out and it gets warmer every day. Today I sat with my feet in the water for awhile. It was freezing, otherwise I would have been swimming.

I've attached a few photos and I can't quite remember in what order they're in. I know one is of Rupert and Kukla on our morning walk. One is of my Easter socks from the back yard on Easter day. The sunrise (when the dogs get me up) from my bedroom, Me filling the water jugs at the spring. That's the ruins of an old Turkish house behind me. And the last one is from today. I'm on top of this island that used to be a Fortress in the Byantine Era. It's ruins of a whole town up there (the original town I'm staying in). I wanted to attach a picture of what the island looks like-but my next one I guess.

Brian and Jillian have changed their plans and are coming back tomorrow. Only two weeks, but I'll take what I can get. They said I can stay on and help with their gardens and then I might go stay with Usha for a week or so. After that, I'm off to Italy. I'm meeting a friend from Dzogchen Beara and we're going to explore a little. I figure, I'm all the way over here, I might as well...right?

I went to town yesterday and went with a woman here, Gloria, to the butcher...WHOOOOWEEEE! LET ME TELL YOU! The meat locker was right there and Gloria asked if they had any lamb. The butcher walked into the cooler and walked out with an ENTIRE HALF OF A LAMB! Cut right down the middle! The head, organs and even tail made it onto this half too...YIKES!!!! The butcher cut the head off to start (the eyelashes were still on) and hung it on this chain with about a dozen other heads. I hadn't noticed that lovely decoration until then. Gloria picked which pieces she wanted and he cut it right there. I started to look around, as to not get sick, and noticed they had pictures of happy cows, sheep, pigs and chickens all over the walls. WHAT KIND OF SICK...? Anyway-I stepped outside and waited for Gloria. Later, we went to get a drink and the Taverna had about 8 Octopus hanging on a line like laundry-double Yikes. They dry them out and then when people order them, they cut pieces off of them right from the line. YUM! Needless to say, I was not hungry yesterday at all.

The GOOD animal news is though that while we were in town, Gloria's cat had 4 kittens. We came back and she was feedin them in a little box. I have pics of them too, but the blog only allows me so many.

So, my alone time is up, but it's been wonderful. A crazy change from the constant buzz of the Retreat Center.

I miss you all and wish everyone well.

Oh yea, one little ditty-Apparently they make soup out of the sheep heads and the butchers' sister said they're really good baked. I'll take her word for it.

April Fool's Day!

HELLO FROM GREECE! I made it safe and sound. I left Dublin at 8am, and got to the Hostel in Athens at 11pm. Wonderful. That includes a 2 hour time change and 6 hours at London Luton Airport. All in all, not too bad.

Athens, however, I would not recommend to anyone. It is huge, congested and extremely dirty. Actually, Greece is a pretty dirty place in general. And when I got to the hostel, I had a lovely surprise in store for me. They had "overbooked" the hostel, but told me not to worry. That they would put me up in the hostel next door. Well, let's just say that the hostel next door was lacking in just about everything. I'm not going to go into too much detail, well, because there's too much detail. Let's just say that if I hadn't slept on the cold, linoleum floor of the Airport the night before, I wouldn't have appreciated the bed I was lying in.

I got up the next day and made my way to the bus station which was, of course, another adventure. The bus ride was 6 hours from Athens (Yahoo!) and I had one minor incident with that too. At one of the stops, I got off the bus to use the bathroom. When I came out, the bus was gone. I started to panic because my bags were on the bus (also because I was supposed to be). An older woman started talking to me but it was all Greek to me...smirk (I had to get it in at least once). After a few minutes of her sentences becoming more pronouced and louder and me still not understanding a word, I walked away almost in tears. I walked up to the ticket woman and asked if she spoke English. She said she did, but that was an overstatement. The only thing I understood was "Come back in an hour". My eyes bulged out of my head. Just as I was about to completely lose it, a military guy walked up to me and said "He's just gone to refuel, he'll be back in a moment". I could have kissed him.

A man on the bus tried talking to me, but again, we didn't speak the same language. I pulled out my little Greek phrasebook (Thank god for that purchase) and we had a conversation that consisted of pointing at different phrases in the book. Boy was I glad to be off that bus.

So anyway-to make this the longest blog entry ever, I made it to Monemvasia. It's a GORGEOUS town in southern Greece. The people I'm working for are wonderful and the house is absolutely beautiful.

First of all, they rented me a car. And I feel like I'm driving my little Echo again, only smaller. I've attached a picture of it, I love it. I miss driving so much, it feels so great to be behind the wheel again. Of course, last night I got it stuck in a ditch at my friend Usha's house. I know Dad was there chuckling when I had to tie the back end of the car to the front end of Usha's van and she had to pull me out. Usha said I seemed like a pro at that. I just laughed and said "you have NO idea".

My day starts with waking up at 7:30 and looking at the Aegean Sea through the glass doors at the foot of my bed. I let the dogs out and feed the cats. (4 dogs and 4 cats). I then take two of the dogs, Rupert and Kukla, for a walk through a grove of Olive trees and wildflowers overlooking the sea. It's a great way to start the day.

Brian and Jillian (whose house I'm watching) have organic gardens that I'm allowed to eat my way through. Unbelievable. They have a few different types of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, onions, beans, carrots, artichokes, beets and many different herbs. For fruit they have banana, date, orange and lemon trees, grapefruit bushes and strawberries. They have Almond trees and of course Olive trees. Not all of the fruits and veggies are ripe yet, but I have had some unbelievable food so far. They also have a spring up the hill that I bring big glass water jugs up to and fill them. Now that's fresh.

But don't you worry, to keep consistent with my life, I was happy to see construction vehicles next door. Luckily for me, there is a Hotel being built about 100 yards away. The work starts at about 7am, 7 days a week, and goes all day. It's nice to see that my construction curse knows no limits.

So that's all for now folks. I could go on forever, but instead I'll try and update this more often. I've attached some photos, but I know they're pretty bad. The one of me is in town at a Taverna, having a coffee. The others are of the car, and then 3 of the dogs. Rupert's the one in the basket, Zoe is the blond and Kukla is the little one laying on the roof of the Horse stable, with my clothes drying in the background. And oh yea, by the way, it's cold as hell here. Thnk god I didn't get rid of all my sweaters.

Love you and Miss you-Me

Time in Ireland Running out

Howdy Everyone! I'm Back! I have had an unbelievable amount of trouble trying to get on this blog in the last few weeks. Sorry.

If you can't tell from the picture, Tamarra and Katie have made it to Ireland. They showed up on last Monday afternoon. A little weird to have 2 of my world's come together, but it was also wonderful. Tamarra got to see where and how I've been living and to meet my friends there. She got to meditate in the amazing Shrine room and of course partake in my going away party...I'm collecting them.

Leaving Dzogchen Beara was extremely difficult for me. It's only been 2 months, but I have become extremely close to quite a few people there and if I decide to go back, most of them will be long gone. I will never be able to explain everything I've learned from the people there, but it was a life changing experience.

On a lighter note-you're all going to love this. On the way out of Beara, I took Tamarra and Katie through the Healy Pass. I don't know if any of you recognize that name, but it's referenced in the freaky farmer, who was looking for a wife, story. Well, guess what? Yup, you guessed it. I told them that we should not get out of the car, but there was a beautiful spot that Tamarra really wanted a picture of. I told her alright, but to keep an eye out for a blue beater car...not 4 minutes later...here comes a blue beater down the mountain. Tamarra starts walking towards the car quickly and katie and I are following behind. As the car gets closer, Tamarra recognizes the toothless grin from my blog photo. She turns around and says "Let's step it up a notch ladies" and we all take off running for the car. He pulls over and is out of his car in a flash. As we're now sprinting for the car, he's only a few feet behind asking us how are hoidays are. Still running, I say "Fine Thanks!" and we jump in the car. Just as he gets to the back of the car, Tamarra guns it and gravel flies up from under the tires. As we drive away, we look out the back window and katie says she saw him swing his arm and snap his finger like "Drats, another one got away!". The Freaky Farmer strikes again. So to all you ladies out there with the inkling to visit Ireland...DO NOT GET OUT OF THE CAR AT THE HEALY PASS!

We stayed in Killarney that first night and went to the Killarney National park the next day. We stayed in a little town called Doolin, by the Cliffs of Moher the next night, and the Cliffs are where the picture is from. It was too bad because the Cliffs are becoming a cliched tourist attraction. Still beautiful though. We made our way to Galway after that where we stayed for 2 nights. We went out to the Connemara National Park and hiked up Diamond Hill. 1400 ft-HUGE accomplishment for me. And after 2 days in Galway, we headed for Athlone, which is halfway between Galway and Dublin. The Hostel we wanted to stay in had been demolished 4 months ago and replaced with apartments, so we went to an old "traditional Farm Hostel" in the middle of nowhere. We thought it was just us out there until about 10 Irish Forestry guys walked in like the 7 dwarfs and entertained us for the rest of the night, in front of the biggest best fireplace I've ever seen.

Last night was our last night in Ireland and together. We drove into Dublin and had Indian food for dinner. We drove out to the hotel that Tamarra and Katie rented their car and took a nap in the car. Then we hung out in the Hotel lobby for a few hours, just prolonging the inevitable. We took the shuttle to the airport and hunkered down for the night because we were all leaving in the morning. I love sleeping on linoleum.

This morning I left Ireland. I'm sitting in the London Luton airport waiting for my flight to Athens in 4 hours. I'm extremely tired, but I miss Ireland already. What an amazing place. Stay tuned for stories from the land of sunshine and olive trees. Love ya-Me

Technical difficulties..again

No PIcture, sorry. I'm lucky enough to get on this site, let alone to upload anything.

Why I'm writing is to let everyone know that something is wrong with my hotmail account. I'm getting all of your e-mail's, and was responding to them right along, but wondered why I hadn't heard anything back from anyone...until...I sent myself an e-mail. And another one, and another one...nothing. I've now tried sending them to some of my friends here...and still nothing. A few other volunteers also have hotmail and brought me down here to show me that THERE'S works. But then I pull up mine to show them what it's doing and they say "Oh...hmmmph. That's not right." No kidding. Anyway-I apologize everyone. I am very happy to be reading your e-mail's though. I'm just frustrated at the amount of writing is floating out in cyberspace with no place to go. If it keeps up, I may change e-mail addresses, so keep a look out for me in another form.

Tamarra is actually on her way to NYC to get on a plane to come to Ireland...YAHOO! She will be in my neck o' the woods on Monday. Just in time for my going away party (YES, ANOTHER ONE! I love it!). Then Tuesday we're off to explore. I'll hopefully find a computer that works along the way to keep you updated on those adventures. Two Martz's on the island. I don't know. You may not need to read the blog-you can probably watch it on the news. :)

Anyway-Then I'm off to Greece. I'm not sure what the computer status will be there, so don't be alarmed if you don't hear from me.

I'm off to town to collect some bits and pieces. Miss you all! Love-Me

Notice anything different?

I couldn't figure out was so weird about this sheep until one with EARS walked up next to him...yikes. This picture was taken at Barley lake near Glengariff. It was a wonderful day.

I'm in town again, and today, I borrowed a friends' bike. I got here a lot faster, but the way back is going to be a bear. It's uphill pretty much the entire 7 miles. I never had to walk back last time because Harry (my boss) came and picked me and another volunteer up that afternoon.

Well, I have some exciting news. You're all going to hate me, but here it goes. I got a housesitting job...in Greece. For a month. My friend Usha, who lives there, has some friends who are going on holiday and need someone to take care of their house and dogs. She thought of me and called me a few days ago. I checked flights and things and I'm off.

It will, unfortunately, cut into my time at Dzogchen Beara, but this is an opportunity I don't think I can pass up. Tamarra's coming to visit over St. Patrick's Day and I will leave the Beara Peninsula on March 20 with her and her friend. We will travel for a few days and then we'll all leave Ireland from Dublin. Tamarra to the States and me to Greece. This also means that I had to extend my ticket back to the States. I'm leaving that open at the moment.

The place I will be in Greece is about 5 hours south of Athens. It's about 2 miles from the sea and it's an organic farm. I don't know much more right now because I only just bought the tickets and started planning. But don't worry, I will keep you all updated.

By the way, I wanted to thank you all for your fun comments. It's my favorite part about this blog. I look forward to reading them every time I come on here. I miss you all and wish everyone love and happiness. Love-Me

I will walk 500 miles

A photographer came to stay at Dzogchen Beara and we went out exploring one day. He took this picture of me while we were out. He's also working on a project where he's taking portraits of people meditating for an exhibit he's doing in May. I got a chance to be one of his portraits and my mug will be on a wall in Dublin.

I walked to town today. Well, almost. I got an hour into it and a friend drove by and picked me up. But still, I got in some good excercise and the scenery's wonderful. I went into the SuperValue grocery store and was standing in the dairy aisle looking at cheese. There's a lot of Irish cheese and I've found that I'm not that big o' fan of it. So as I'm trying to decide between bitterly strong and something they call "Vintage" cheddar, many people are coming up and reaching past me to get their cheese. One of the men leans over, picks up his cheese and as he's walking by me says "Excuse me, which one of these cheeses would you recommend?" and bursts into laughter. Nice. The sense of humor here is priceless.

Things are going great still. I have today and tomorrow off and I'm roaming the countryside. No wedding bells with my sheep farmer, but something tells me that I haven't seen the last of him.

I'm sorry there's not much to report today. I'm going to take my random purchases and wait for another friend to come pick my butt up and take me back. Ciao