MET UP WITH DOUG TUESDAY MAY 6

I didn't sleep well at all last night as there was no wake up call at the hotel and I was afraid I'd miss the 5:05 bus to the terminal for my 7:30 flight to Barcelona. All that worry for naught as I was sitting at the gate all through security and everything by 5:30! Doug said Dad and I are alike in that we're never late, but early!

EasyJet May be a bargain flight ($100) but I paid for it! I had a middle seat, no choice it was just assigned, and the SMALLEST space ever! Kerry would never have managed with her long legs; they just wouldn't have fit! But it was only two hours and Doug and Phap Yung were waiting at the end!

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the sangha organizers from Barcelona (BCN) drove us to the beautiful former nunnery and now a spiritual/Zen house that has all kinds of events held there. The nun in charge is also a trained Zen master and there is a lovely Zen do, like a meditation hall already set up there. There were also several really old and some debilitated nuns living on the third floor and they were wheeled outside to enjoy the gardens in the afternoon. I put my bags in Doug's room and walked around the grounds and first two floors. there was a library with many of Thay's books but not in English. All I could find was a book about why the world debt from third world countries hurts all of us in western countries and failures of the IMF and World Bank to do anything about these debts and helping third world countries to develop. It taxed my brain too much so I got my iPad and book out of my bags as soon as I could.

 

 

Doug was in planning meetings with the local sangha people and seemed under stress as things/locations had to be changed at the last minute. Even where the monastics were staying had changed but this certainly was a lovely location.


Thay arrived with Sr. Chan Kong and a few attendants around 3. They had taken this high speed train from Madrid that Doug had taken Sunday. Gets to Barcelona on two-three hours! I remember traveling with Kerry, Doug and Geoffrey in 1992 when we came from France and when we crossed the border in Irun, we had to change trains as the track size was different. Soon you will be able to take this train from Paris to Madrid through Barcelona traveling at 300 miles/hr.!! It'll be faster than flying when you count getting to and from airports!

Soon Doug and Phap Yung left to greet Thay at the train station and Doug rode back in the van with them. He said he wasn't happy with the driver he had arranged from Madrid as he was jerky and not smooth. Doug seemed to be the go-to person for everyone who had questions about anything! I think it will be crazy  rush for him until next Monday with the public talk Thursday; the retreat on the weekend and the flash mob meditation downtown are all over. Then most of the crowd leaves and just a few of us stay as Doug and some others teach a 5 day course in Mindfulness in Education at the U of BCN.

Doug greeting videographer

 

Thay arrived and got settled in and then almost immediately a taxi arrived and he and Sr. Chan Hong and their attendants hustled back out. I asked someone where they were going. Apparently the attendants had said they had found a market similar to ones in Vietnam and so Thay wanted to go himself without any fanfare that usually accompanies him when he goes anywhere. So off they went. When they returned, They sat outside to await the arrival of the 50 or so monastics arriving from a 9 hour bus ride from Madrid. Doug came outside and invited me over to the table where they were sitting and Thay greeted me personally which he has never done in ten years! I sat with them and told Sr. Chan about a recent conversation with Neil Heslin, a Sandy Hook parent who had attended a retreat last fall at Blue Cliff in NY state. He told me he was planning to go to a retreat in June in Plum Village that Doug had invited him to after Blue Cliff. BTW, where I stayed in Stamford on my way to Europe, Sue Kelly told me they were dedicating a playground in Stamford to Jesse Lewis, Neil's 6 year old son who died Dec. 14. I just saw on Facebook that they had a big ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Finally they all arrived and I saw a few familiar faces and got hugs from my "sons and daughters" like Sr. Trai Nghiem, Dylan, Phap Do from Deer Park, z, and other familiar faces. I had had lunch earlier in the second floor dining room and then had dinner. Doug and Phap Yung and I climbed up a VERY narrow spiral staircase to this high tower at the top of the building that gave great views! It had netting over the openings I'm sure to keep the pigeon poop out. I can't imagine any nuns ever climbed up here but maybe to get closer to God?




After dinner I never saw Doug and knew I wasn't staying here as there was no room - they had moved three mattresses into almost every room to accommodate the monastics. I had finally met Pilar, one of the main organizers (whom Doug said had difficulty delegating tasks so some things got screwed up). Anyhow she had emailed me and had said I she'd arranged a room for me at the Residence near the campus. but I didn't know how I was to get there. I knew Doug was meeting with all the monastics somewhere after dinner so I hunkered down on a sofa in the lobby and was almost asleep when one of the guy organizers whom I had met but who spoke no English said let's go! I got in this car with Aon from Bangkok who had traveled with the group from Madrid and she had taken a month holiday to do this from her printing business there. We were both staying at the same place but she had a printed out reservation. But Pilar had come through and my room, a lovely double (I'm getting a roommate from the states who's on the retreat panel, so I 'm guessing an educator) will arrive tomorrow.

 

I was SOOOO tired I closed the drapes, didn't set an alarm and woke up at 8:10 In a panic as I was supposed to have breakfasted and meet Aon (pronounced on) at 8:30 and we were to metro to Sagrada Familia and meet the bus tour group at 9:45! You never saw Susan move so fast!! I even slipped into breakfast and slapped together a ham and cheese on toast and a slice of pineapple and slip it into my bag for later! We got to the right spot on time to relax and have a fresh squeezed orange juice before Doug and the group arrived! His question was did I get a bed!!