Stretching myself in India

where else in the world??? :)
When I decided to try my luck and move to Asia, specifically South-East Asia there was one country that was definitely not on my list to visit: India. The few people I met from this country gave me the impression that this is a land of secrets and suppressed desires. I want to live my life freely, trusting the people around me and therefore I had no wish to come here. Of course what happened in fact was the contrary: on the conference in Sri Lanka I met a wonderful person from an Indian NGO who believes in the same direction that I do and that made me inspired to change my direction and pay a visit to the ancient land.
My experience so far is pleasantly surprising. I am astonished by the cultural richness, although the richness comes with the striking diversity. People do not understand each other once they leave their own state. A Tamilian cannot understand a Maharastran if he has not had the chance to learn Hindi...Ironically, English, the language of the colonialists, is the link between people coming from different parts of this enormous country.
And I cannot help but feeling stupid by the fact how little we "Westerners" know about this country...
In the midst of personal crisis, am pondering about the bigger picture and feeling my limitations. never too late to learn!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4m-j2o7yUk

Long time - no see: does not mean am not writing

Long time, indeed. I have escaped into other ways of letting out my thoughts and feelings, but now slowly, but surely am coming back to the realization that I need to write, write, write! to find my balance and letting out load what is going on in my (sometimes confused:) mind.

I have been enjoying the safety of my MSLS community since September and letting go of my worries of not knowing what the future holds for me. I have embraced the motto of one of our course here: leading from the future as it emerges. Beautiful thought - just it is bloody difficult to rely on and be patient enough to trust that everything will be all right in the end. So lately, my thoughts have been wandering around future and finding out where my passion is leading me...

Even though, I have been studying in the last two years, I still feel the need of learning - however, this time it is a different and maybe more challenging field: self-mastery. having participated in the authentic leadership training last week, I felt the call for more mindfulness in my life and conveying my message by leading by example rather than preaching. I crave for meditation and authentic present moments from masters who have been enlightened from an early age on. That could be one of the reasons why my compass is in the direction of SouthEast Asia...

Another passion is the relationship with people and dogs. I do love helping people and I do love the interaction with dogs and as per Misch's advice, why cannot I pair the two together and do something for personal development?

And then comes my ever-growing passion for educating children. Being a teacher, being a daughter and a granddaughter of teachers, it does form my perception and vision on education. And my lovely thesis is on this topic as well :)

So enough ideas to digest and combine and then distill. Ah well, it is gonna be another f***ing learning experience. :)

welcome and farewell at the end with this lovely song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIpjiYmjXh4&ob=av2e

Los primeros dias

It took us 2 days to get the rhythm of Camino which means basicly getting up at 6 am and walk on from that time. It¨s really worth it as there is hardly any things nicer than seeing the sun rising behind the mountains and observing little villages to get up.
However, our luck stopped as Kriszti became sick and we had to stay at a tiny village to help her recover. Nothing is without a reason though...:) we had a great time at this pueblo in the middle of nowhere and you will see how nice it was once I put some pics up.
Finally, today we were able to start again. We met some nice Bulgarians and we went on together and had much fun. Anyway, we were already mistaken for Bulgarians instead of Hungarians.:) Beforehand we spent a day with a nice Spanish family, the father was a policeman and did not speak a word in English, but we had a good talk in Spanish. He was taking care of Kriszti like he would be the father of her, which was really nice of him.
People are so nice around us,everybody respects pilgrims and wishes ´Buen Camino´ to you.
It is a trip I can recommend to everybody...
Hope you are OK and pls comment on the blog, you can do it in Hungarian! :)
Lots of love,
Melinda xoxo

Upon arrival and heading towards Leon

We made it to Madrid yesterday with ease. It is a city full of life and vibe, we went out for a walk and could do nothing but staying out until midnight. I guess it will be fun spending there a couple of days at the end of the trip.
Today we almost missed our train (as usual), but fortunately I remembered the other train´s departure so this was the first blessing on our trip. I hope many will come after this. :)
The first thing to learn on Camino is to do away with your shyness otherwise you won´t get much further. At the station you see no signs of where to go so we had to follow those armed the same way as we were (big backpack, walking sticks). We got no further than the second street when we realized that they DON´T know the way to the pilgrimage accomodation. Nevertheless we agreed to find our way together speaking to each other in half Spanish-half English.
So here we are in a police building where we got two places on the floor, but believe me it is heaven for me. The people are very nice and helpful and this town is lovely. Walking on the streets you got the impression that you are back to the 50ies. Love and peace rule the air.
Tomorrow we plan to walk 31 km so I guess I might not be able to write then...

Before taking off

I have been preparing for this journey for weeks now still I feel the most unprepared for it. I tend to pack in the last few hours lately, but this time I have already started packing days before, nevertheless I have a vague feeling that I will miss the most crucial thing to the trip...I have to work even tomorrow, but i find it really hard to concentrate.
What is more, I was fool enough to suggest having a party tonight so I can guarantee a nice face for tomorrow's meeting with our honorary consul. :) I don't think I will post any pics of that stage.