Audrey (Australia)-The Learning Experiences Continue...

Hi All!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long. I had regular internet access at my homestay but I felt that I should be doing more productive things with my time than hiding in a room with electronics.

The homestay finished well. Our retreat at the Buddhist meditation center in Dharmanada was a really powerful experience. It was academic because we covered several different 'eco-philosophies' (views of humanity's relationship to nature) but also spiritual in that our teacher encouraged us to access our emotions and use all our senses to understand our relationship to nature. We had several experiential exercises, which included a trust walk, a creation story, and a truth mandala.

The truth mandala was an exercise created by a psychologist at Berkeley in the '80s when people were dealing with the threat of nuclear warfare. The psychologist, Joanna Macy, created the mandala so people could express the negative emotions associated with living under such a pervasively oppressive atmosphere. I won't get into the boring details but a lot of people opened up and it was a really good way to see the deep connections we share.

The other most eventful thing about my homestay was this crazy party I went to with three friends. We were told it was a doof but instead it turned out to be a house party with a bunch of crazy deliquent high schoolers on drugs. We tried to sleep in the back of a car with the trunk propped open and got harassed by a bunch of guys who were either trying to jack our car or force us to give them a ride. Eventually we went to sleep on a porch and fortunately missed the fighting that went on from 4am-6am. It was actually a little scary and has made me rethink getting into situations I don't know anything about...but a learning experience to be sure.

We got back to Byron Bay on Monday and had another two day workshop with a sustainability consultant. I found parts of it frustrating because we spent a lot of time on things I feel I already knew or could've learned on my own time. However we also touched on some really interesting ideas including frameworks for how to engage different groups and create plans for sustainable development. I feel that I now have the knowledge and ability to put my ideas and convictions into action...hopefully that will be true when I get back to school in the fall!

We leave for Tasmania on Sunday. I'm excited because we get to take a train and a ferry (boats, yay!) and also because I'm going to meet up with some Landale relatives, Chris and Penny Morton. After Tasmania I'm going to spend four days in Melbourne and hopefully spend time with Mackenzie and Ian (Claremont friends) before coming back to Lismore after Easter weekend for our Aboriginal camping trip.

I'm tired just thinking about it! I hope everyone is doing well and I'll try be more faithful about updates in the future (although my computer is going into storage until the end of March so my internet access will be questionable...)