Living Meditation

When I was on the flight from New York to Jo’burg, I watched a TV program where Gordon Ramsey was on a culinary tour of Thailand. Between his restaurant stops, he ventured to a monastery and had a private lesson in walking meditation with a monk. The monk explained, as we all already know, that meditation is meant to slow our lives down and allow us to be more mindful of every little thing we do.
I feel as though, somehow, I was vicariously endowed with some meditation skills from this monk.
The pace here is incredibly slow, and I haven’t even gotten frustrated!
Most of you who know me, know I am rather organized, like things a certain way, and that when I set my mind on something, there is no stopping me. This is particularly pronounced when I move somewhere new – all I want to do is unpack and settle into my new abode as quickly as possible. Yet, for some strange reason, this urge hasn’t hit me here in Zimbabwe. I’ve now been on the farm for over 4 days, and I haven’t even unpacked yet. In fact, I haven’t even moved into my permanent cottage! This is rather incredible, as it’s entirely against my nature.
The reason for this slow move is that the cottage isn’t properly equipped for move-in. It didn’t have any essentials, like kitchen supplies, cleaning supplies, a fan, window screens, food… nor did it have a proper mattress, couch or rugs. As a result, I’ve spent a full two days in Harare shopping for things for the cottage. And THAT has been a slow and frustrating process. First of all, there is no ONE store where you can get almost everything, like an Ikea or a Walmart. Secondly, things are quite a bit more expensive here than in North America so I keep opting not to buy things, hoping to find them cheaper, only later to realize that I should have just bought the original item! Nonetheless, the shopping is now complete enough that I am officially moving in tomorrow.
So, tomorrow, I clean house, unpack, and settle in with the kitties. And Monday I start teaching. I am looking forward to starting a routine so that I can begin to do some of the other things I want to do here, like ride horses, go hiking, and play my guitar. I’ll be back soon with more impressions and things I’ve noticed about the country, people and culture. Signing off!