Plum Village Summer Retreat 2011 - With the venerable Thich Nhat Hanh

On July 7th Jim and I went to the Plum Village Summer retreat together, me driving our camper and Jim on his BMW. Jim stayed the first week, then had "motorcycle meditation" as he returned to Cajarc, while I stayed a second week on my own. As an english speaking couple, were stayed at the New Hamlet, which is for single women, families and couples who speak French or english. There are three hamlets that make up Plum Village. Two smaller hamlets, New Hamlet and Lower Hamlet are for the sisters and each had about 200 visitors and about 40 sisters. Upper Hamlet which houses the brothers is twice as big, with about 400 visitors and about 80 brothers. There were four dharma talks by Thay (Thich Nhat Hanh), so we were bused to the other hamlets after breakfast the mornings of his talks.

People at the retreat are placed into families of about ten people, with 4 monastics. Our family was the Morning Star family and our working meditations was to make breakfast every morning. Since breakfast prep was during the morning meditation (beginning at 5:45 am) we broke into two groups. The sister with Jim in the photo, Sister Adornment of Intelligence, was the leader of our group. At 25 she was one of the first nuns to be ordained when Thay went back to Viet Nam 5 years ago to open a monastery, which was violently closed down by the Viet Nam government in the fall of 2009. The nuns and monks went into hiding and some 115 monastics have since left Viet Nam and joined his monasteries around the world.

I would describe Plum Village as a Summer Camp for Buddhists. We did more laughing meditation then sitting meditation. As a fund raiser for their library, on Lazy Day, (a free day mid way through the retreat) the sisters had a soccer match against the kids. Jim was the announcer and although he knows nothing about Soccer, he was extremely funny with his steady stream of off-the-wall comments. The players began with singing the national anthem of Plum Village, "Happiness Is Hear And Now." They even had a half time with music and refreshments. Jim announced that Lady Gaga was scheduled to arrive in a lotus flower, but couldn't make it at the last moment.

There were awards given after the game. One went to Wonderful Bamboo, pictured above with the purple T shirt dancing a jig after shooting a goal, for raising the most money getting people to sponsor her. The couple below (from Portland Oregon) with crowns of flowers, received an award for their generosity. It was their 18th wedding anniversary.

We met some wonderful people from all over the world. Our family included people from Denmark, Holland, Mexico, China, New Zealand, England, Sweden, Wales and the USA. All kinds of people come to Plum village. One woman was a military chaplain from the U.S. on sabbatical. Below I'm pictured with Annelie, a 30 year old world-class free diver and mountain climber. In May she became the first woman from Sweden to climb the north side of Mount Everest. She got into mediation at the age of 14 when she began mountain climbing, and realized it was as much about mental strength as physical.

Children and families are a big part of Plum Village. There are programs for all ages. Two of the women in my family, each with 12 year old boys, came back this year because their kids asked to. One family, in our family, were back because their 13 year old daughter was asked to come back for a month this year, at no cost, to be a "seed teen" because she had such good qualities. I often saw teen age girls walking hand in hand and singing Plum Village songs together. One group of boys gathered in the meditation hall every afternoon to make music together with a piano, drums and guitars.

After Thay's talks there was walking meditation in the plum orchard, with a pause for sitting meditation in the trees.

Jim loved his time at Plum Village and we are looking forward to going back again next year. I feel so very blessed to have the opportunity to go to Plum Village and be a part of this wonderful international community. Nothing in my life has ever felt so Right. I have found my home; a wonderful mix of Asia and France and everything in between.

Since Cajarc is just three hours east of Plum Village, after the first week, a couple from Vancouver stopped by and stayed two night in our second house, on their way to a Santana concert in Nice. After the second week a family with two children camped two nights in Cajarc while on their way home to Prague. And the 1st of September a group of 6 monastics, two sisters and four brothers, will be traveling to Nime for a conference. Sister Wonderful Bamboo asked me if they could stop in Cajarc for a meal, or possibly to stay the night while in route. Jim and I are very excited with this possibility. Just imagine, a group of asian monastics visiting our little French village and staying in our second house! What an honor it will be to host them. I will keep you posted.

Love, Robin

Flowery Light of the Heart

(my dharma name)

Africajarc '09

Africajarc is a major African music and cultural festival in our little French village. Africajarc happens annually, the last weekend of July and lasts 4 days.

Main stage area.

Since I couldn't speak any french, I first worked on the decoration committee making art to decorate the town.   This is one of my paintings.

I then made three films.   Check out Africajarc 05, on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkUVV9jJIEY

Now Jim and I host an art show and offer housing for two participating artists with their partners. 

Wednesday night, before the festival began, we took some artists, their partners and kids to our favorite restaurant, L'Olio. 

Sara, in the middle, just finished her university studies in sustainable agriculture in third world countries.  She did some of her work in Burkina faso, where she met, Nestor, sitting at the end of the table.   Nestor is showing his photo collages in our house.  Meeting people and making friends is a big part of why we stay involved.  

I decided that Africajarc qualifies as an 'Adventure of the Romahome' because we parked the Romahome in the parking lot designated for the volunteers, next to the Night Bar, which is being set up in this photo. (More on the Night Bar later.)  This way we can take naps, have extra sweaters, stash the camera, stock the frig with cold drinks and not be running back and forth to our house.  

This event is only possible because of the efforts of over 200 volunteers.

The whole town gets involved. 

Christine and her daughter, Clare, run the salon de tea.

This is our 7th year working as volunteers for Africajarc.  It feels like old home week, as familiar faces return to Cajarc to set up the main stage.

One thing Jim and I find amazing is, even though over ten thousand people will be in town over the weekend, there are only three extra toilets - all located inside a main concert area which has a holding capacity of 3,500.  It's not unusual that the main concert on Saturday night attracts a capacity crowd.

This year they installed a special men's urinal that is, I'm told, the new thing for concerts.  

 Yes - garbage cans!  This is France meets Africa.

As my friend Suzette commented when I posted this on facebook, "What are the women supposed to do, squat in the woods?"  Well..... I'm not sure what most women do, but personally I make sure I wear a long skirt with no panties, because there are no woods. 

Kids relaxing during the day on the waterfront.

I'll be blogging for the next three days.  Keep checking in.

romatherapy

Five days and 1200 kilometers later...

We left Wednesday morning on a 'Romahome to the Rescue' mission: to deliver our friend, Charlotte, and her paintings to the Sevenne, a department about four hours from the Lot.  Then to drive to le Gorge de Verdon, France's Grand Canyon. This is something Jim has been wanting to do since our first trip in 2001, and we figured the first week in July was our last chance for a trip before the tourist season arrives.  We were right.  If you want to come to France, come for the first two weeks of July and you will be just ahead of the crowd.

Charlotte is an American and has been living in France, married to a French man, Alain, for 30 years.  Both are artists.

 We drove over the famous Viaduct de Millau, which spans the Gorge de Tarn and is the tallest bridge in the world.  The tallest part is the same height as the Effel tower.

Arriving in Colignac, our first destination.

 The town consists of a church, the Marie (where the mayor has his office) and a single cafe.  

Alex met us in town.  She organized the show and had the keys to the church where we dropped off the art.  

Jim and Charlotte are celebrating with a glass of rose.

We followed Alex out of town, then left the Romahome at the bottom of their driveway, and got into the Landrover. Alex and her husband, Jeremy, live with their three children, in an exceptionally isolated and magnificent location, in an old stone home which they are restoring.  

Alex drove up the long steep road for twenty minutes, never getting out of first gear.  She showed us the spot where her father-in-law almost went over the cliff the week before.  You could still see the wheel marks.  Later Jeremy told us that he was too scared to get into the teetering car as they tried to pull it of the edge of the cliff.  The man with the truck and cable wouldn't get in it either.  So it was Alex who got in and drove it out.  You've got to be tough to live this way.  In the winter, when it snows, the road is not traversable so the car is left at the bottom and they have to walk down the road.  

When they bought the house it was a ruin, and had been for sale for 30 years.

HISTORY OF THE HOUSE:

Because of the isolated location, the 22 room house was used as the headquarters for the local Maqui, the French Resistance.  The germans knew that there was a headquarters near the town and gathered all the men in the town and told them that they would kill each one until someone told them of the location of the Maqui. A young man stepped forward, knowing that they would be seen coming, and the Maquis would have time to escape into the hills.  

Originally the word Maquis came from the kind of terrain in which the armed resistance groups hid, the type of high ground in southeastern France covered with scrub growth.  Although strictly meaning thicket, maquis could be translated as "the bush".  Members of these bands of resistance fighters were called Maquisards.

When the Germans arrived at the house a fire was still burning and a piece of coal from the fire was used to write on the wall, "We will see you in Berlin".  The Germans burned the house down and on the way back down the hill killed the young man.  A memorial to him is on the mountainside, where he was killed.  He was 20 years old. 

They live completely off the grid.  This is their outhouse.

View from the outhouse.  

After dinner Alex drove us back down the road (twenty minutes down and another 20 minutes back).  We slept in the Romahome and took off early to try to beat the heat of the day.  

Our first stop  was the lovely medieval village of Sauve. We were hoping to bump into the cartoon artist, R. Crum, who lives in this village, but had to be satisfied with a freshly mounted poster that Jim pulled off a wall.  

We absolutely loved Sauve and walked up to a terrace for a view and a drink. 

I give this town 5 stars, for beauty, charm, hipness, friendliness, views, architecture ...... Yes, I'd live there too!

Just about when I got to the point where I was starting to totally loose it from the long hot drive, we arrived at lake Saint Croix, situated at the mouth of the Gorge de Verdon.  

A word on camping in France:  Camping is a national pastime.  Every level of camping exists with each camp sight being rated up to 4 stars.  And if you can't find camping, just pull over and park you car.  No one will bother if it's just for a night and you are passing through.  

These people even brought a fan with them.

No motor boats are allowed.  We saw trout that measured a meter long and were told that they average 22 pounds.  

It was great getting in the water.  

Snow caped mountains in the distance. 

Driving to get to the other side of the lake and the mouth of the gorge, we went past some pretty spectacular scenery. 

This is where Lake Saint Croix joins the Gorge de Verdon.  

This is where the mountain run-off meets the fresh water lake.

From there we drove to an area east of Aix-en-Provence, to Mont Sainte-Victoire,  the mountain Cezanne painted.

Under the grey rock is red soil.

We pulled off at a parking lot for a trailhead and spent the night.  

After dinner, when the day had finally cooled down, we went for a hike.  

Saturday morning we were in Arles by 10 am for the Market.  We have visited to Arles twice before and love it for too many reasons to list, not the least of which is the Saturday market.


For our picnic of oysters and olives from Arls, we parked our Romahome on a dry part of a river bed below the medieval village of Sommiers.  

We walked into town to explore and have a coffee.   It's a lovely medieval town.  

We arrived at the Church in the afternoon, as everyone was freaking out about last minute adjustments for the show.  Charlotte needed her price list translated - and no one had a computer or printer.  The other problem was the Tango dance, as part of the spectacle / performance, and the head of the church said they couldn't dance the tango in the church. Jeremy explained that it was a protistant church and the head of the church was a communist. So?  

A word about separation of church and state:  

Since the French revolution there exists as strict  separation of Church and state (something the USA might consider).  The one place where there is overlap is with the buildings themselves.  The churches are considered historic buildings, they are owned and maintained by the state, and thus they are also used for cultural events.

The theme of the show was family, so the pews were removed and the space was decorated with furniture creating 'rooms'. The show included poetry readings, and the formentioned tango, which, at the last minute, was moved to the local cafe.

Jeremy and Jim with one of Charlottes paintings.

Alex reading a poem.

Tango dancing at the cafe.

I do want to tell a funny story here.  Jim left the church and was walking to join me at the cafe when he saw a woman crouched down looking into the grass.  Assuming she had lost something, he approached her and knelt down to help her look just as she stood up, pulling up her pants. 

We headed home on Sunday.

Stopped for lunch at another lovely village, Meyrueis.

We drove through another canyon called Gorges de La Jonte.