a two week long update

Hello everyone-
I know that I’ve been absent for nearly two weeks. As everyone knows, Grandpa died two weeks ago and I took an online hiatus to process through it. When I found out, it was the first sunny day in a week of gray drizzle. I believe that Grandpa is in a better place and I feel very peaceful because I feel that he can finally see where I am right now in Scotland, instead of just reading about it. I like to believe that I'm carrying his presence around with me, it's a very good feeling. His funeral sounded beautiful, I wish I could have been there to see Nate in full uniform present Grandma with the flag. I bet it was amazing to see all of the people at the funeral whose lives Grandpa had touched. I am genuinely sorry that I could not physically be there, however I was there in spirit.

So that was the beginning of a long two weeks. Schoolwork has picked up quite a bit, and while I complain and procrastinate about it just as much as I did at University of Vermont, the workload is honestly much lighter. It's all relative. We watched an amazing movie called "The Power Of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" and it was so eye opening. I think that if our society doesn't change our value system or start to address the fact that oil WILL run out then we will be taking lessons from Cuba. How ironic would that be?! Cuba is the only economy in the world to have transitioned from being dependent on petroleum and natural gas to reducing to a fraction of former use. The government actually rose to the challenge and helped the transition. The government provided food for everyone initially and also FREE healthcare AND education. Oh Cuba. So, that was interesting. Part of me wants to sneak into Cuba and start a life there so I’ll make it through the peak oil crisis.

Besides that, all 18 of us students decided to sign out of dinner and cook our own. We had a potluck dinner, which was quite the ordeal as everyone in the group has different dietary needs. Actually, my friend Nora describes it way better than I ever could, so I’m just going to be lazy and paste what she wrote about it: "For us, this meant a lot of steps: signing out of dinner so the cooks could adjust quantities, getting passwords and keys into the other food sheds (besides the one where we get all our oatcakes and apples), being aware of all the different dietary needs in our group, coming up with enough ingredients for some semblance of a dish, preparing it, and organizing enough dinner utensils for everyone to join together in one house. I was prepared for it to be really shabby, thrown together, and our house opted to just make a raw dessert (apples, soaked sunflower seeds and raisins, dried coconut, and cinnamon, delicious!) and bring some food from the Community Center (CC, where we eat all our other meals), just to make sure we would all have enough food. I was blown away though, as everyone prepared loads of delicious food, all with an awareness of who could eat what, and spent money (not very much at all) and spent all afternoon baking spelt bread and EVERYTHING you could possible think of. We set up our classroom in a big, clean circle and attuned and everyone shared what they were bringing and what was in it and we all made toasts and there was so much joy. It was one of the first times we have really felt like a family to me." It was really touching and I felt like I was home. Afterwards we all just lay on the floor digesting food and sharing funny stories. Eventually we had a little dance party. It was quite different from any Saturday night that I would have had in Burlington, but everyone left feeling very happy and full of love. There are a few pictures of it up on my website. It was by far the best potluck I have ever attended.

(P.S. AS I WRITE THIS, IT IS SNOWING!)

During some point last week, we organized a showing of "the revolution will not be televised” which was a documentary about the coup surrounding Hugo Chavez in 2002. It was filmed by people who just happened to be in the right place in the right time. The film has been withdrawn from commercial distribution and Amnesty International confirmed that it was withdrawn from their 2003 Vancouver film festival due to threats of violence, not due to claims of inaccurate content. It was most definitely a radical viewpoint that depicted the coup as being US backed with the Venezuelan media in on the scheme, lying to the people about the coupe and taking the state owned channel off the air so it was unable to broadcast the truth. Chavez was taken out of Venezuela with the help of the CIA and the people rallied to support Chavez, once the military realized what was happening they too refused to support the coup. I'm not saying that Chavez is perfect, I will admit that I don't know anything about the situation, but I have realized that you can't trust the media AT ALL and need to do your own research on everything and not take anything for what it says. (Including this documentary) But it is worth seeing. I love how the showing of this was organized independently of class and how we all discussed it afterwards. It sure beats watching mindless movies to just pass the time.

Speaking of passing the time, we are running out of things to do here. Recently someone had a few sips of their own urine on a dare, it was the most entertaining thing that had happened in quite a while. This Wednesday there has been talk of a hard-boiled egg eating contest among the boys. That will be quite interesting/disgusting. Once you've been to the dances, the findhorn village store, and the two pubs, you really have to use your imagination to entertain yourself.

I recently bought the documentary (we're really into documentaries here) "Favela Rising". I actually saw the movie in class back at UVM. It is the amazing story about a former drug trafficker who lives in the slums of Brazil and how he gets fed up with all of the mindless violence and death around him. He starts a grassroots movement that uses hip-hop music and Afro-Brazilian dance as a tool against oppression of the poor, teenage drug armies, and corrupt police. The story is incredibly moving and inspirational. It shows how music is a tool for grassroots social change. EVERYONE needs to see this movie, and as I now own it, I will bring it home with me so everyone can borrow it. So I watched it with everyone here and they all loved it. It was a good choice to follow the Chavez movie with. I felt good that I could share this inspirational story with everyone; it is kind of a testimony that anyone can make a difference if you make the effort.

And Saturday was Saint Patrick's Day! I had (as I’m sure you can all guess by now) the QUIETEST Saint Patrick’s Day ever. There are a total of two pubs in the village and I did not feel like squeezing into one of them along with everyone else, so instead I made tea with a bunch of friends and we just hung out. We made tea out of the Gorse flowers, which are locally known as Joy Flowers. Their essence supposedly stimulates vitality, enthusiasm, and motivation. However as far as I am concerned, it was just another cup of tea.

This has been quite a long entry, so I'll wrap it up.

Aunt Sue & Grandma- I'm glad you're enjoying hearing about what I am doing. I hope that you both enjoy the sunshine and the sand at Myrtle Beach!

Aunt Kelly- we have four windmills here at Findhorn, they power all of our electricity and there is surplus that they sell to surrounding power companies! So if nothing else, perhaps Hamlin could turn a little profit. I think it's a great idea, keep me posted and send my love to everyone!

Oh, I almost forgot, I cut my hair recently too. It is VERY short. I don’t have any pictures of it up though, I just haven’t taken any. I’ll let you know when I do though.

Blessings!