Back in waco

I went to the Ramanand Patel workshop in Austin this weekend. So great, on so many levels, partly it was just great to go to a yoga workshop in my own home town. To be there, and still have my life and not have to drive so far. The workshop was great in ways that far transcended that (see teaching blog) but still that mundane part was nice too.

Aside from that, Jeff and I hung out a good bit. I taught my Saturday morning yoga class. Tried the new Ethiopian place Aster's which was really good, watched the sunset in Zilker park.

Drove upto Waco this afternoon. Class went really well, both capstone and yoga. then went out to the wine bar with Stuart and Amy which was very fun.

Fun on Thursday

Last night, I subbed Christina's classes, even had my own double-dipper, Yeah Ari !

Then, Ari arranged a fun social event. Went to Maude's with Pamela, Jeff, and Jeremiah. My own frozen margaritas were excellent, though I have to say both Jeff and Pam had very strange tasting Mexican Martinis.

Great company. We told funny stories about vacations, blogging, Whole Foods, YogaYoga, yoga practice and not practicing.

Boring blog post, (but it was a really, really great day in Austin) more on the teaching blog to follow.

Back in Austin again

Actually, this is my third time back in Austin since last I posted.

I spent a couple days in Austin decompressing from jet lag. Then, I went upto Waco to teach a fairly brief pre-Easter week. Ended up coming down with a pretty bad kapha-cough by Wednesday evening and am just now swinging out of it. Taught a good bit of yoga over Easter weekend, hung out with Jeff, and mostly caught up on sleep. Just got back from a very brief post-Easter week in Waco and am back down in Austin until Monday.

It is nice to be feeing better. I can almost laugh without coughing.

The Week in Review

Well, the week in London is about over. All that's left is the trip to the Kings Cross area for Ethiopian Food. L and H and I pretty regularly seek out Ethiopian food on our various travels. We've had it in Chicago, New York, Dallas, for sure and I think Vancouver.

The food has been a real highlight of the trip. Even though I'm not used to eating so much at night anymore. We've had Lebanese, Thai, African/Morrocan, Indian, the nights preceding. All of it has really been pretty stellar. A few years back, we had a foods of the world dinner group. We'd pick a culture and everyone would bring an appropriate dish. So we just pretty much did a year's worth of dinner group in a week.

Here is a backwards accounting of the order of events. Friday This morning, we went to the British Library. The British Library may not sound all that exciting, but it really is. They have the oldest extant copy of the New Testament. Two Copies of the Magna Carta, all sorts of other Biblical Material and sacred texts from many other religious traditions, Shakespeare's First Folio, Letters from Jane Austen, Pinter's plays, and original Beatles lyrics. They have lots more than this.. but just to give you a sense of the range of things....

after that we rode a bus (yes, I got to go on the top of the double-decker. me and the BIC ers. we were having fun) over to the British Museum. Lunch in the Cafe, and well, how to blog about the British Museum... Rosetta Stone, Elgin Marbles, Famous Dancing Shiva... all the Assyrian and Egyptian 'stuff', it is really just an overwhelming conglomeration of the highest artistic expressions of human cultures. I still have the most personal resonance with the Greek sections of the Museum, but having read Gilgamesh several years now and now being a yogini, there were new associations that when I last visited.

Another highlight from this morning, going to Platform 9 3/4 at the Charring Cross Station.

Thursday. Henry led us through the Tate Modern, which I think now is my favorite museum. MOMA used to be... Jessy Jordan, a grad student of mine at Baylor, came down from Cambridge and spent the day with the group and it was good to catch up with him. After the Tate Modern, we had lunch at a pub near St. Paul's, walked through the Law Court area of London and went to the Temple Church (Davinci Code, Foucault's Pendelum) and went to the Soane House. Then the group dispersed and L and H and I walked around shopped, ate Indian food at Masala Spice, (they had Thali for the first time) and we saw a really great play, God of Carnage, with Ralph Fiennes.

Wednesday started off with Westminister Abbey which was really uncrowded. We then walked over to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard, saw part of the parade entrance in, but it was too crowded for me to see much, so I just headed off early to go over to the Intermediate Class at the Iyengar Institute.

Also a great experience. It is nice to be part of the Iyengar Club. Forward Bending week. Learned some new details about AMS and Krounchasana.

Looking forward to going home.

Filling in the Gaps

Was planning to go to a class at the Iyengar Institute of London this morning, but I couldn't get to sleep last night until almost 4:30, so getting up to get there for a 9:30 class was not going to happen. I practiced in the room instead. This morning the group is at the Tower of London. I have seen the Tower of London, once ages ago on my first trip abroad with Dad and then on my first trip with the BIC group. That trip to the Tower in particular, I remember as gruelling, I was really really jet lagged and all I wanted to do was sit and there was no where to sit, so anyway, I begged off. I will try to get to the Institute tomorrow while the group goes to Buckingham Palace (which I've also done before, same trips...)

This afternoon, we are headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Always a delight.

Other highlights from yesterday, making an umbrella shield against the gale force winds with several students as we waited to get into Canterbury Cathedral, walking in gale force winds and rain with Tom in search of scones. None to be had, though we did have a very nice tea (well, I had espresso and a chocolate brownie, drizzled with fresh cream, got to love England). The Canterbury Cathedral was also really impressive and we also went by the Pilgrim's hospital museum, where there is an intact roof from the 1280s.... (we met a young boy named Robert on the train to Canterbury who told us about this museum).

And I finished Eat, Pray, Love.

A Canterbury Tale

A few years back, Lenore, Henry, Curtis and I went to this very old church in Georgetown South Carolina. I think it was the oldest church in SC, built in the 1600's. There was a cemetery around the church and as I walked around, I just had this very calm peaceful feeling, and thought "oh, this is the communion of saints." It was one of the more profound spiritual experiences of my life. Well, today, I went to the oldest church in continuous use in England. St. Martins. It has a good thousand years on the south Carolina church. There have been services there since 597. Part of the marriage settlement for Princess Bertha from France was that she have a place to worship and so, being a princess, she got what she asked for.

Anyway, it was very much the same feeling. Cemetery around the church, uprooted ground, moss, trees. Tom also asked if anyone would like to lead a prayer and one of the students, Phillip, offered a really lovely one of thanksgiving and we ended with the Lord's Prayer and it was really amazing, to be in whatever way I consider myself to be part of a tradition with that kind of history. To participate in it via that particular place.

Canterbury has been a destination location for pilgrimages since shortly after Thomas a Becket's death in 1170.

we spent the day up there, there's more to write, but that's the highlight.

Anne in London

I am spending Spring Break in London. Tom Hanks, Lenore and Henry Wright, and I are taking a group of BIC students for a culturally enriching week in London. We are here. We arrived early this morning. took a bus in from Gatwick. Saw a vintage motor bike tour on the way in. We walked around the Kensington Area (saw the house where John Stuart Mill lived, and T.S. Elliot...and Robert Browning... the Mill house was surprisingly inspiring to me) then we walked all through Hyde Park, had lunch at a French Cafe and came back to the hotel. we are checked in, resting a bit before heading out to the museum of London.

I slept on the plane but am pretty jet lagged, sort of feel disconnected from the world. like the world is happening but I'm lagging behind a bit.

Back in the Blogosphere

Hello Avid Readers of Anne in Austin!

A lot has happened since the disco party. Some of it is great, Jeff and I are, well for lack of a better phrase, I 'll say Jeff and I are dating. (Yes Bethany, you can now read something into the blog!) and some of it not so great, my ex-husband Curtis died a week ago yesterday. Anyway, I've been busy with a lot of stuff that is difficult to write about in the public forum because it is so intensely personal for me and for other people.

But suffice it to say, both events have really contributed to my sense of being more and more rooted in my new life in Austin, and I'm really happy about that... so the details of dual citizenship resume.

Last weekend, I came back from Curtis' funeral up in Vernon, Texas, went to the yoga immersion. (More on that on CTs blog) and had dinner with my parents (and Jeff!) Sunday night in San Marcos. Headed back up to Waco Monday and have had an intensely busy week. Tons of meetings, tons of class prep to catch up on, really it seems like this is my first chance to write anything at all. I'm getting ready to go practice and am totally thrilled to actually have an hour to do it. What luxury!!!! Then class, then yoga class and out to China Spring to pick up my income tax forms from the best tax guy ever, David Hartman.

Teaching Philosophy blog update to follow after practice. Stay tuned.