back in holland - new in oegstgeest

It’s been a long time, a long long time. And yet this post won’t cover all of it – I will leave my time in CTTB to your imagination (or just to another post), as I will most of my time in Holland. What then will I write about? About the last few days, beginning with Sunday when I moved into my room in Oegstgeest (suburb of Leiden). I only got here after a four hour train journey… usually it takes 3 hours, but this time I was stupid enough to miss a station and get out in The Hague HS instead of Leiden . A good test for my second precept of not stealing: traveling back the temptation is to not pay for it is strong and my internal lawyers had a lot of good arguments not to pay for the distance I had traveled too much; yet I did pay; and honestly, honesty feels right.

So now I’ve got my own place in the world!  A place with no parents or siblings, where I need to feed myself, and, not to forget, without internet! (I use the UB – university’s library – to access the internet.) Not having internet really gives me a whole lot of time. Though I do realize I miss some socializing: no msn, less e-mail, less blogging. Well, as for now this is perfect actually, and free (UB’s internet access is free to students :D)… maybe I’ll get forced into getting internet at my room in some weeks, who knows.

With a lot of free time – no classes, and thus no reading, yet, (and no internet :P) – I almost automatically take a lot of time for cultivation. The first few days back in Holland I had difficulty picking up my daily cultivation again – in CTTB it took less effort, I could just step into the Buddha Hall at the right time – but here in Oegstgeest the effort that goes into cultivation feels natural. Cultivation seems like the default setting of my activities at the moment. Though I guess this will not last too long.

Time for an embarrassing story… yesterday the institute for Religious Studies (= my institute! :D:D) was opened and I planned to get up early, go to the UB and then be at the opening way before it would start… it would start at 10:30. But, somehow, having gone to bed around 22:00, I still seemed to need sleep after 6:00, so I gave in and reset my alarm at 8:00… at 8:00 I decided to just turn around once, not using snooze but thinking I would get up in few moments. A few moments later I looked at the clock, which told me it was 10:10! It took me a few moments to realize what that meant, but once I did I was completely awake. Having changed my clothes, skipping morning recitation, breakfast and the bathroom I jumped on my bike and actually made it!!! A true miracle. As soon as I sat down, the opening ceremony started!
Peace,
fedde