It wasn't all work at the retreat... Each night we had a different festivity to keep Amanda from getting her reports written! :) First night was VOLLEYBALL... which means, I was pretty much real excited. Unfortunately for my girly arms the "volleyball" was actually a sorta flat soccer ball so no jump serves but the "practice" ball WAS a volleyball (go figure?) so I tore it up over on the practice field. Boom.
The second night was CRICKET. I don't know how to play cricket. I guess I should have printed up a shirt stating that fact because no one on the team knew this until I was on the field. I still was allowed to play though and fielded a couple balls, even scored two runs! My first hit, however, will stay the most memorable as I was so excited to hit something that I reacted on instinct... and instinct is... baseball :-0 So, I dropped the bat and ran like the wind. Unfortunately the guy running from the other side of the pitch was so confused by my antics that he got tagged out.. :(
Some of the offerings presented for Buddha near the steps of the temple.
My favorite part was actually the morning walks to the Bodhi Temple. This temple marks the area where Prince Siddhartha Gautama (founder of Buddhism and known as Gautama Buddha later) attained enlightenment while sitting under the Bodhi tree. The existing tree at the temple is actually a true descendant of the one that existed there in 288 BC (says wiki). He spent a week under the Bodhi tree and then did various activities around the complex, which make up six sacred places in the area.
Worshipers around the Bodhi Tree.
Each step of his is marked by a stone marker.
The fourth week he spent at Ratnaghar Chaitya and the fifth at the Ajapala Nigrodh Tree where a pillar stands to mark the spot. He sat the sixth week next to the Lotus Pond (where now the main attraction is the numerous catfish in the pond that swarm to bread thrown in the lake... not to puffed rice though...) And the seventh week he sat under the Rajyatana Tree, marked now by a tree.
At the pond in the sunshine... :)
To start my journey in appreciating my time here at this temple I found a small book in the "library" of the retreat. I honestly thought it would be full of quotes but it had a small introduction to Buddhism and some tales for children about not killing / saving the lives of animals and karma (as good things always happened to those who were kind to the animals.) And you know what, between those stories and Meggha's taunting, I didn't kill anymore mosquitos while I was there... :)
Our workday started at 9am at the retreat so a group of about 6-10 people every morning gathered at 5:30am to make the trek to the temple. It was pretty amazing just to see so many people gather at that hour!
The first day, I had brought my camera but as it happens there is a 20 Rs. permit that you must buy to take photographs in the temple. I thought it was pretty lame to get caught taking photographs without paying my 40 cents so I waited to take pictures until the 2nd and 3rd day. Those two days were actually great days to go as the first camera day was very foggy and eerie while the second was bright and clear. It was a good time, even if I was a little tired the rest of the day! :)
We had a full day of workshops each day entailing CARE projects and talks about healthcare workers in India, which were all very interesting I and think very useful for both their work and mine.
