People whose paths I've crossed so far...

I was uploading some photos tonite, and, along with feeling nostalgic about the people I've already met and said goodbye to, thought it might be nice for you all to see the people who I've been spending time with and talking about.  So, here are some of the main characters who I have enjoyed meeting and who have become friends over the course of the last 6 months.  (As you can see from my descriptions, one of the things I am reveling in in meeting all these people is their diverse backgrounds and movements from their places of origin to current place of being.)

(By the way, that was written last nite when I first did this post.  Silly me, I tried to add one picture, and it messed up the order of all the pictures.  It is now the next morning, and I've just reuploaded all photos for the 3rd time!  I'm no longer feeling nostalgic, just cranky.  If the order isn't quite as flowing and logical as I might have liked, blame it on blogspot!)

The blonde woman in the first photo is Marelle, South African, but living in Paris for the last 20 years.  I just found out last night that she was photographed back in the day by Helmut Newton in Picasso's daughter's apartment.  She also met Catharine Deneuve!  Oh la la.

You will recognize me and my tummy in the next photo, sitting alongside Chef Bob, the other loud-mouthed American here at Moulin de Chaves.  We are sitting outside the main building to the left, which was originally a mill.  The river is immediately to our right and good for swimming and canoeing.  Across from Chef Bob in pink is the only French member of the work team, Elisa, who lived in Thich Nhat Hahn's Plum Village Zen Community for the last 16 years or so.

Next is sassy 16-year old Jaya, Gail and Martin's daughter, and behind her you can see Chris, another Brit and one of these fascinating long-term dharma bum wanderers who I'm meeting, making me feel like the most conservative person here.  Lots of people I'm meeting at some point quit their jobs, packed up their belongings into storage and hit the road.  Many of them have been travelling for 5-20 years, doing odd gigs here and there.  None of them are trustafarians, or trust fund babies.  A foreshadowing?

The two people putting up the tarp are Ian and Caroline, both Scots and 2 of the 4 people who run and/or own Moulin de Chaves, the center where I am living currently.  We are at Caroline's house in the village, about 2 minutes bike ride away.

In the next photo in forefront is Gail, and behind her, her hubby and the amazing teacher here, Martin Aylward.  Gail and Martin are both Brits and are the 2 main drivers behind le Moulin.  The couple in the next photo are Michelle, my friend from San Fran,  and David, half French half British.  Michelle already left about a month ago.   The last photo of France shows Sybille, an Italian-Swedish woman who was a nun in Burma for a few years, and Omer, the Israeli guy. 

 

Then jump back to India: You'll see friends and staff of the school I was studying at, JK and Mohan.  My singing teacher Manju is sitting crosslegged on the ground across from me, as she did every day for our lessons.

The cute photo of 4 is Soumya, dance teacher at the school, friends Anu and Gautham who worked on staff and were the cutest couple around, and Dilna, who I studied Sanskrit from for 4 days, enough to learn the alphabet, but not to remember it.  Then, Kannon and his family at their house where I had dinner.  Every time I thanked Kannon for taking such incredibly good care of us, running every errand we needed and answering every question, bringing me dehydration salts and serving us all ladle after ladle of food, he would just smile and say, "It's my duty," a phrase I became very acquainted with in India, which almost always sounded sincere.   

The skinny guy on the ground was my talkative yoga teacher, simply called Swami, at his request, and then friend Sreeja.

Now jump back to London, where I visited my friend Sarah, the one with dreads, who I met in East Jerusalem last year.  Her Scottish lass Jude is alongside, and friend and filmmaker Jess is there with them in Mucky Pup, the pub where Jude and Sarah met.  

I took a little train trip an hour out of London to see an old friend and roommate from the year I lived in Taiwan, Yimei, and her baby boy Nicolas, whose Japanese was at my level!

The three lasses are again, Sarah and Jude and Merijn, another friend from my house rebuilding trip to Palestine last year.  Merijn came from Holland to visit for the weekend I was in London.  Neal, looking serious in the pub as he contemplates which episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer we should watch.

Then jump to Vienna, where you see one of two Franziskas, who are Alys' flatmates.  Like the two Jills, but with names that are harder to spell.   Then there's Alys, one of my oldest bestest friends from my Stanford days, who was the reason for my visit to Vienna.  Alys is now Dr. Alys Xavier George, by the way!  She's pictured here making me traditional Viennese taflspitz, a meaty delight the likes of which I have not seen in my past 4 months of near vegetarianism.  The two German frauhleins retaught me how to play the Italian cardgame, canasta, that I used to play with my grandparents when I was a kid.

My first night in Vienna, you'll see me with Marius, a friend since my first visit to see Alys years back. 

Lastly, my new friends in Paris, where it all began during that cold month of January.  

:)  Smoking is Shermine from Montreal, my old boyfriend Karim's sister, who I met again in Paris.  I had my first absinthe bar experience and my first froglegs-in-France experience with Shermine.  In the picture of two gents is Vincent on the left wearing glasses, and his ex-student, Tahir on the right.  Vincent is French but not from Paris, and Tahir is from Niger but with French citizenship, recently returned to Paris.   Next is lovely Saskia, Vincent's wife, who cooked many a fabulous meal for me and who is another emigree to Paris from Germany.   The photo of the view is the first photo I took since landing outside of the States, from the window of the apartment I rented from Vincent and Saskia.

There!  Thanks for sharing my nostalgia.  I would love to have pictures of you guys, too.  Some I have, many I don't.  Send me a picture you like of yourself so when I show new friends pictures of old friends from home, you'll be in there!  :)