So I wanted to write a little more about my February to September events but I don't know if the time will be available for it on my end! I just have never been so busy. I came back from Mexico City in February after finishing up my 20 day course at Dhamma Makaranda in Mexico. I was supposed to have a short break in Boulder and then head out for Chicago to team up with Andriy, a trainer out of Ukraine, to work on an SIT TESOL course. Instead I found that this course had failed to get more than 6 participants (for 2 trainers we need at least 8). This was quite unusual... the site managers here said it was the first time in 5 years of running the site this had ever happened. Luckily I was so equanimous from my 20 days of meditating that everything was still glorious. Then there was a course going on in Veracruz, Mexico, that might go and I would be running it alone... and this fell through. A call to the SIT home base in Vermont and I found out that Korea was also a bust, so I was stuck in Boulder.
So I made it to some local group sittings, enjoyed the good Nepali food and even tried a few dishes of my own... nothing I love more than checking out a random cuisine cook book from the library and trying out some new foods (even better when I can't pronounce it!) Then I read about a half dozen ESL and linguistics books I'd been given in Costa Rica, wrote some articles that had been on my mind (including one that had occurred to me during the 20 day about what it means to have "mastery" in the context of awareness), and went through my computer every day going over course lesson plans and adjusting sessions.
Then, after a very powerful visit to a friend in Milwaukee, I went to the Illinoi
s Vipassana Center in Rockford. It was my first time at a center since the 20 day, and actually, so sadly, I haven't been back to one as I write this now. Well, going soon to the Land of Dhamma should be changing that, I hope! I served the first course there, a Satipattana. I was kitchen manager for the first time and it was just wonderful, the best serving experience I'd ever had. From my own perspective I actually combined a number of things I'd learned about effective teaching and they had wonderful results... small things that have huge effects, like letting people choose what kitchen tasks to take rather than telling them... what this does to personal initiative and responsibility. Of course, I was also blessed with five unique and positive individuals who worked hard and got along exceedingly well... an French-Chinese American between jobs in Chicago who started hanging out here and really started changing in a good way, an American off to India after ending a relationship and grad school in a single day in Boston, a Thai married to a Texan, and a Korean heading back home after a while away. We 
enjoyed our work together so much that we were loathe to take breaks... people kind of looked for more work to do since everything was always ready with plenty of time to spare. We started making some great jokes that we'd take our show on the road, applying as one to serve courses over North America and caravaning together. I'd never had such a beneficial experience in a Vipassana kitchen! (of course, the hard times work on those important paramis too...)I was planning to stay on at the center for about 3 weeks, but my computer was having problems, and my Mac is the lifeblood of my entire livelihood (talk about trying to be balanced here!) So I went into Chicago and stayed with my Mom's close French friends in the heart of the city for a couple days. I met the other trainer, Todd, working out of Chicago and got set up at DePaul. Then I went to the Apple Store in downtown. They somehow got my desktop back, sold me an external hard drive then and there and copied everything on it, then took my computer in. As it turned out I lost *EVERYTHING* on the computer!!!! They gave me back a blank hard drive. Luckily I took my newly acquired back up and plugged it in... within minutes I was back and running. What luck!
I got a ride back to Dhamma Pakasa and served about 7 days of the following course. My mind was now on the upcoming TESOL course and the incredible energy it would take of me. So I was much more careful to take my rest and not over-work as I'd done last course... oh, how I love overworking at Vipassana centers, but I realized I absolutely could not arrive in Chicago with no gas in the tank.
I got back to the city tripping on all the city things you do when you're at a silent meditation center, and once again felt my James Bond life... Andriy had sent keys to an address in Boulder and I had those with me. I took appropriate trains and walked following a map, finding my apartment complex. A portly African American looked at me strangely and asked who I was looking for... this was Darvis and in the month to come we'd have plenty of talks, usually about Chicago sports, a guy with a huge heart that I was always glad to see and always brought a smile to me. Other times I arrive in places and pull keys from my passport case to open doors when other doors I'd just closed thousands of miles away on the other side of the world. In the next few days I'd find myself calling some phone numbers of friends in Chicago I hadn't seen, and getting together for good Japanese and veggie meals... Here is a picture of a big commotion that took place one evening after post teaching feedback... we thought another plane of anti-Americans who hate our freedoms had struck a downtown Chicago building with all the fire trucks present!
The SIT course in Chicago was the first one I'd ever run on my own. I was a bit terrified beforehand! These courses are almost indescribable amounts of work for everyone involved: trainers and participants. As I often tell people, I get six hours of free time a day and I usually use it for sleeping. The day is full and with planning and transportation, not much other time is free. Being a solo trainer was like this on steriods! All my lesson plans, copies, schedules, and tasks had to be almost totally ready the Sunday before the following week, because there was no other time. There was no other trainer to step in and lead a session as I stared at a wall and decompressed, responded to an email, made a copy, looked ahead and adjusted my mind for the next workshop, etc. The welcoming session on Sunday felt a bit rough to me... I was working with Anglos in the Midwest rather than latinos in Costa Rica and I realized I needed some adjustments. Luckily those were made and Week 1 was great, as was the rest of the course. At the beginning, I remember feeling so much tension that I was almost having troubles just getting through the hour sitting! By the end, it was just such a feeling of accomplishment... and a great, great group of participants to work with! Oh, and another neat aside, I was at DePaul University's downtown location, which basically is a 19 story building with us on the top. Being Catholic, they have a small quiet space for chapel on the first floor... this became my refuge for 20 minute meditation sittings before practice teaching, which really saved me... I don't know how I would have managed without these!!! My mind was such mush by the time that afternoon came, and this was like a short rest that put me right back in the game.
Oh, and the third week, I actually did have some time. I walked to Lincoln Park and laid on the grass, actually falling asleep. Then happend by Wrigley Field... this was my third time in Chicago and both previous trips that thrawted my hope to visit. The only game I was free was for Cubs-White Sox, and inner city rivalry that sold out months earlier. So I just walked by the park, and happily bought some $12 tickets, and happier still found out they were the real thing. So suddenly I found myself within minutes in the first inning of a baseball game, my first in I don't know how long! It wa
s really cool for a bit before I realized how unpleasant my sensations were becoming and realized how very little I had in common with just about everyone around me. I began to kind of wonder why I still followed sports as closely as I do and why this seemed like such a good idea. I had very little money on me because I hadn't planned on this diversion, and stayed until about the 8th inning when rain poured down...
And here's a nice picture of a flower I took when I visited a greenhouse by the park where I was staying:
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