Nicks Notes

Day 10
On day 10 we explored the Buddhist temple in attempts of registering for the one day retreat (which we succeeded in doing and is talked about in the day 12 post). We had a really great vegetarian dinner there and went on a beautiful walk / exploration of the area. If you want a really descriptive recollection you can check Sara’s profile. Later that night we all went to a movie together at the local movie theatre. It is really interesting how American the culture is here. The movies were all from the states and the music is all main stream songs from “the states” as the US is referred to here. But luckily, the diverse population, beautiful landscapes, and wonderful experience have made up for it. However, I have yet to see a kangaroo…

Day 11
We packed. This was a day to pack for our travel to Albury. Other than that, this day wasn’t really active. Mostly hanging out, loading pictures, and eating all the perishable foods.

Day 12
Definitely a high light of the trip, if not my favorite day so far – our one day retreat at the Buddhist temple! We arrived and got started at 9:00 am with tea and registration. After that we had an introduction to the retreat where we met our instructor the Buddhist nun reverend Yo. She was awesome! After our introduction we headed out to the court yard for Tai Chi! It was wonderful and I am excited to practice it more. After that was basic meditation, which I also intend to keep practicing. Then was lunch. We were instructed to eat in silence (most of the retreat was done in silence) and we were also instructed to chew our food 20 times so that we were aware of what we were doing and not letting our minds wander and overwork. A lot of the retreat was about being self aware (as is a lot of the Buddhist belief) and it was a really great experience for me because I tend to think far to much instead of just taking and focusing on what I’m doing. I’m glad I had the experience to open my eyes and “be awake” like the fish. I aim to hold on to what I learned. After lunch we got a tour of the temple and learned more about Buddhism. It was really interesting and very inspiring. We concluded with some deep meditation and a living meditation / feedback session were we learned a little bit more about Buddhism and had opportunity to ask questions. It was a wonderful, life changing experience that I recommend to anybody who’s even remotely interested. In fact, even if you’re not interested I still recommend it!