Hamburg

I sit in a cafe in the heart of Hamburg.

I pulled into the home of Claudia Christine, at about 11 PM Friday night.   Hamburg is not a quaint little town like I have grown used to cycling through Germany.   Instead, its a really really big city!  

 It took me an epic cycle through fields, then forests, then a sprawling industrial area.  Yes, you know you're lost when you start cycling pass mammoth manufacturing plants, then chemical factories with so many tanks and pipes that look they like a Borg spaceship!  It took another hour or two from the center and commercial outskirts to make it to 34 Gronlander Strasse and Claudia's house.

However, my moments since have made it all worthwhile. 

 Claudia and I have been drifting from one magical encounter to the next.   Claudia is the Humanity's Team country coordinator for Germany.   I happened to have arrived on just the right weekend to make an HT meeting.   I spent a great afternoon with about a dozen HT teamates.   I had a chance to invite them to participate in the 1Mandala project and hear about life, culture, and spirituality in Germany.  

Here are a few of their peace portraits!

The Hum of Hamburg

I sit in a quiet forest.

Beyond the distant hum of Hamburg rumbles in the distance.

A light rain falls.

The patter is so close and so real it quickly drowns out the city.

It is so loud that it becomes a great quiet.

As I merge with the city I will take drop of the silence with me.

----

written in the forest.

The Spoke Incident

Holy smokes.

Its amazing how things can go so quickly from good to bad.  One moment I am cruising down a nice road on a sunny spring day.  The next, two spokes blow out, my wheel is massive warped, and I've lost my top quality, ultra crucial, cycling glove.

Yikes.

My friend Wout asked me the other day what I would do if I had a major mechanical problem and no money.

Well, Wout... here's your answer in the way that it actually happened:   

I was just able to keep cycling despite massive friction between my tire and frame.  I figured my wheel was toast and I would somehow have to get a new one despite the fact I was in the middle of the countryside and a long long way from any bike shops, not to mention the money issue.  

However, my glove being still retreivable I decided to retrace my steps.  I cycled like a lame duck back the way I had come

A few slow kilometres later... on the side of a field, I saw it.

Not my glove... but an old discarded bike wheel!  

 I pulled over and set to work.  Mircaculously, it was the same size as mine.  I salvaged and exchanged the parts I needed.   I've never replaced spokes or re-tuned a tire, but as the moon rose and my friends the stars joined me, I managed to do it.

After several hours of intense work, the new tire spun smoothly in my fork.  I lay down in the field and thanked the universe.   I was a little proud of myself too!   I seriously didn't think it could be done.

It had been a long day.   I headed in to treat myself to some spaghetti at an Italian restauraunt where the owner had given me some tomatoes as a gift earler in the day.  It was only a kilometre or so from where I now was.   Ahhh... nice.

Now to find my blessed glove!

Coffee Crystal Mandala

(photo missing -  to be uploaded when I get my USB cable)

As I mentioned in my last blog, I just never know what you're going to get when I order a coffee.  You'd think, with a coffee, how many variables can there really be?  Let me tell, I keep experiencing something new all the time.

Today it was the sugar.  The restaurant served these intriguing sugar crystals.  Not cubes.  Crystals.  

Well... how cool would it be to make a mandala out of crystals I thought.  

And so... I made one!

Starbucks Sketch

This little sketch was composed sitting in front of Louisa in the Starbucks in Bremen's centre.  

We have a bad habit of going to Starbucks together.  You must understand though, that traveling through so many lands and never ever knowing what I am going to get when I order a coffee, its just so nice, to know what you are going to get, and to know that it will be good.  Just that, makes star bucks appealing.

Anyhow, while we sipped our coffee, Louisa was talking about something.  I confess I don't quite remember what. Perhaps I wasn't listening.  Nay, I was listening-- but rather to the curve of her cheek and the twinkle in her eye.

Humanity's Team Connection in Leer

As I have been going through different countries I have been connecting with Humanity's Team groups and members.  Humanity's team is an organization all about Oneness-- and it has put its moral support behind my project.   There's nothing but resonance between myself, my project, humanity's team, and HT folks.

The other day, I had the immense pleasure of connecting with a Humanity's Team group in Leer Germany.

As I expressed in my last post, I was feeling daunted by the strange new land that I found myself in.  just as I had grown comfortable speaking Dutch and making my way through Holland here I was confronted by a new language, culture and road signs!   It was a jarring imposition!   

But it was also Saturday that I had been invited to join a Humanity's Team gathering in Leer Germany.

It was immediately apparent that "I was not from around these parts".   Christophe, the leader knew a little bit about what I was doing and introduced me.  I am afraid I might have detracted from the normal meeting schedule!   To my slight embarassment everyone had many questions.   

"Where in Canada did you come from?"  "How far have you biked?"   "How old are you?"  "Do you have kids?"   "How do you pay for traveling for a year on a bike?"  

However, much more interesting were their questions about Humanity's Team.

The group had been gathering for the last three years to read together CWG.  They knew about Humanity's Team, but they had no idea what it was up to.   They were extremely curious to find out about their fellow teamates in Canada and around the world.   How many teamates are there in Canada?   In the US?  What are they doing?  What is HT doing in Canada and in the World?

As the 1Mandala project has been getting established I have been interacting with HT country coordinators and HT leaders internationally.   Consequently, I actually have a fairly good grasp of what HT is doing these days.   They wanted to know if HT was doing more than just giving out free hugs!  Nothing against free hugs of course, but I was able to share with them some of HT's recent and current undertakings.

Most notably my 1Mandala project!

I'd been getting a little down on the momentum of the project lately.   Again, all this changed with the excited and enthusiastic reception my description of the project received.  Everyone wanted to know how to participate.  One lady volunteered immediately to translate the project into German.  Another, sent her peace portrait in that night.

Wow.   Nice!   Christophe and Brigitt gifted me with a warm bed and meal.   I was able to indulge in such great luxuries as a shower, washing my cloths and hosing down my bike!   Ahh!  This may sound a little silly... but....   I kissed the bathroom floor with gratefullness.

Mass in Delmenhorst

I write from Delmenhorst, Germany.  

This morning, Louisa and I decided that we would attempt a religious experience.   As we woke up in our little field, we could hear the Church bells calling us from all directions.   We packed up the tent and headed in the direction of the nearest 'ding'.  We were lead to a strikingly modern Catholic cathedral.   From a distance and in the fog it looked a little like a factory.   We arrived in perfect time for mass.  

Usually I find attending Church services in different places a wonderful way to not only have a moment of peace, but to hear and learn some new words, and most of all connect with new people.  Inside was archetecturally quite impressive.  Alas, despite the fantastic abstract stainglass window that swept the contour of the Church, the service itself wasn't nearly as engaging.   The singing was mubbled, the sermon was spoken too awkwardly, I couldn't pick anything out.  Then, it ended, and everybody left.   And that was that.  Not even a coffee time or a hello!   

Oh well... it won't be the last German service I attend of that I am sure.  Onwards to Bremen!

A side note... on the right hand of the page I have just added my status updates from Twitter.  This is updated everytime I make it online!