
I arrived back home in Colorado after the drive and was welcomed to the high altitude the following morning by discovering we had a gas leak and had to dig up a 50- foot section area of earth in order to get the pipe out. So we managed to do this, and somehow I fit in the time to unpack, pack again, and leave everything in order so as to exit the state a few days later. So a two hour drive to the Springs, a flight, enter O'Hare Airport and head down to the subway, 45 minutes later get out and discover myself in the middle of the downtown with skyscrapers

all around. Denise met me and showed me to their nearby condo, my home for the next month. We chatted over dinner and went out afterwards for a small walk, going past DePaul University where I'll be working... about three blocks, 5-10 minutes!!! Feeling so much gratitude what can I say... some of the participants have over an hour each way for commute time. Thank goodness for that American Express washroom in Paris where my mom met Denise so many years ago! The next day I spent exploring my new city, which wasn't hard considering how central I was to be living and working. As you can see to the left here, one of the first things I found was the many interesting ways that the police officers find to patrol the city.
The famous Michigan Avenue is just parallel to the st

reet I'm on,
Wabash, along with the Art Institute of Chicago, many others museums and aqauriums and parks and things of that nature. Also the incredible architecture of the city, which has no rival as far as anything else I've seen in this country. There also has to be some kind of Chicago style-- and also is reflected in so many of the restaurants nearby that boast dozens of framed photos in the windows of celebrities from contemporary times as well as from many decades back. I even noticed a large framed portrait of Louis Armstrong as I walked by the McDonald's this morning! (You can see me in the picture above... I am the person on the far right, a green shirt)

A day later I walked to the office across the street from DePaul and met some fellow meditators to get a ride for the 2 hour trip to Rockford, near the Wisconsin border, to attend a 3 day Vipassana course. It was a beautiful center, just recently established, that has a capacity of about 50-60 students with the recent constructions of male and female dormitories. These are quite nice in that they offer private accomodations and near-private bathroom facilities to every student. A hard course battling loads and loads of agitation, short and sweet, enough to enjoy the fields upon fields of crops, red barns, grain silos, and farm equipment that extended in every direction. And nice to see some familiar faces from VMC here, and meet some new ones, the short course attracting those needing a little juice to their practice. Below here I'll add yet another photo to this entry, of the Illinois Vipassana center....
1 comment:
Hello, My New Dhamma Brother!
This is Gabriel. I'm in the kitchen at Dhamma Pakasa checking my email on my laptop. We are recouperating after a "vib"rant Metta Day. Very good to chat with you today, Mr. Joah.
Looking forward to seeing you next Sunday.
With much warmth & metta,
Gabe
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