last update: Sunday, April 21, 2002
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last update: Sunday, April 21, 2002
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anyone who knows me at all knows that i am not the journal type! instead of a day-by-day journal, below you will find sometimes scattered recollections of random days that i remembered to write down. the first 2 months, however, i did not have a web page, so i have inserted a couple of e-mails that i sent to a bunch of people, which tell of some of my experiences and impressions over that period of time. now, i am starting to write shorter, more frequent entries. the most recent is at the top. August 24, 2001 - letter to Mommy and Dad E.
Happy Ridvan!!! We had a great weekend so far. On Friday the Bahji Gardeners had to work so that we could get the place all ready for the Holy Day celebration today. Friday night was the beginning of this year's Youth Seminar. It's the equivalent of a weekend conference. It began with an opening reading, which was performed like nothing I'd ever seen before. My friend John, the lead vocalist in the band, and another friend, William, a pianist got up on stage. Will sat at the Steinway and tinkled out a few notes of a slow jazzy something. John stood at the mic. Will would play a little jazzy run then play some gentle chords while John started reading about Baha'u'llah's Revelation, then Will would play another jazzy something and they went back and forth for about 2 minutes like that. Then the quality of John's voice started to change. At first you would hear a little bit of stress on one or two words as he stretched it out a little. Then the rhythm of his voice gradually started to echo the rhythm of what Will was playing. Now there would be a word sung - not high or low or anything, it was in the same register as his speaking voice but it reminded me of the preachers that you hear on television. A few seconds later it was such that I was almost tempted to say "Amen!" as a few notes were sung while he read. As you can guess, for the last couple of paragraphs of the quote, which was from Baha'u'llah's Writings, he was singing this soulful, beautiful melody with full accompaniment on the piano. It was SO moving!!! They left the stage and another friend of mine, Saman, who is our female vocalist in the band, got up. She had told me that she'd be singing a prayer. What she hadn't told me was that she was singing the one that we worked together on putting to music. I don't know if I told you but a few months ago she came over and wanted to write a song, so I encouraged her to start putting the Writings to music since she wasn't feeling inspired to write any lyrics. So together we put a prayer for forgiveness by the Bab to a simple melody that she sings beautifully, which she did. I was once again struck by the talent of the youth here at the World Centre. John told me afterwards that he was really nervous about doing that piece. It was something that hadn't been done before, here at least. And it was something that he hadn't done before, and it's not easy to experiment on the stage in the auditorium of the International Teaching Centre building, in front of House Members, Counsellors, and all the youth. Next, there was also a slide show by Claudia Majzoub and we saw some rare photos of the house of the Bab in Shiraz and the prison in Maku, as well as what the site of the original Ridvan Garden in Baghdad looks like now, and she used pictures to take us through the Babi and Baha'i history. As she showed us the pictures, there was music in the background, and her commentary shared with us what major Writings (according to Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By) Baha'u'llah Revealed in each place. The keynote talk that evening was a presentation by House Member Ian Semple, on the Writings of Baha'u'llah, which was the theme of the Seminar this year. One of the things that stuck out in my mind was that less than half of the Writings have been published, and that's in Arabic and Persian. The amount translated into English is much much less. The analogy was made to the Ocean of His Revelation and that those of us who speak English have been given Shoghi Effendi's translations of what he felt was important. For example in the Introduction to the Hidden Words we are told that the essence of the knowledge of past Revelations has been "clothed in the garment of brevity" and placed therein. So even that would be enough. But anyway, we have been given a small pool to immerse ourselves in, while the Persian- and Arabic-speaking friends are drowning in the ocean! The sheer volume of what Baha'u'llah has revealed is astonishing. I got a feeling from that talk of the special nature of this Dispensation, where we have the Writings in their original pen. And so much! With the interpretations and elaborations of Abdu'l-Baha and further by Shoghi Effendi, we have a kind of map through them, and we were told that God Passes By is a good place to start (Mr. Dunbar has told us that repeatedly during his class too). Saturday morning's schedule began with breakfast and then another artistic presentation. The opening song was a duet for two violins performed by Na'im and Narcisse. This put us in a perfect mood for a song sung by 2 South Africans, Andre and Sindele, a capella. The harmonies were beautiful. They then sang the opening prayer and we were ready for an introductory talk by Steven Phelps. He also used the information found in God Passes By to outline the major Writings of Baha'u'llah and delved more deeply into the significance of the ones Shoghi Effendi has singled out. Interestingly enough, with the publication of "The Summons of the Lord of Hosts" the book of Writings just put out, the vast majority of the ones Shoghi Effendi has singled out, are now available in English. The rest will be available very soon in another volume. As always, Steven's talk was very detailed and interesting. We found out that the amount of Baha'u'llah's Writings in the Archives at present, would, if put together, fill 130 books the size of Gleanings. We also heard of those occasions which, as told by one of His amanuenses, who told of occasions where tablets of 2000 or more verses would be Revealed and then Baha'u'llah would tell him to destroy them. Of course, he felt that he couldn't do that and Baha'u'llah told him not to fear, because there were no ears fit to hear them. He said this happened not once, but on several occasions. We got an overview during that talk, of the speed at which Baha'u'llah revealed, and the volume of His Revelation. Now, excited about diving into the ocean, we split into our first workshop groups. There were a number of workshops which we had chosen from beforehand. My first was on using the arts to share the Message of Baha'u'llah. It was facilitated by Counsellor Joan Lincoln. It was amazing. The ideas generated from that workshop, covering all forms of the arts was unbelievable, I thought, for a 1.5 hour session with only 20 minutes in small groups for brainstorming and consultation. Mrs. Lincoln shared with us quotes from the compilation on Promoting the Arts, which is an excellent compilation. Every Baha'i artist or appreciator of the arts should read it, in my opinion. We then read some quotes from the Writings which had a rhythm or message that seemed to inspire artistic portrayal, these excerpts included parts of the Fire Tablet, the story from the Seven Valleys of a lover seeking his beloved, and other quotes with either poetic rhythm or strong visual ideas. We then had a treat, as Mrs. Lincoln played for us a song she had written inspired by one of the Writings we had read. We then split into groups and each person was instructed to come up with an idea for something artistic. When we came back together, the ideas included illustrated children's stories, music videos, interpretive dance, poetry, mixed media paintings, novels, spoken word performances, stage plays, fabric decorating, and tons more. What was exciting about it was that each person was thinking in terms of their capacity. It wasn't way out there. After a yummy lunch, we attended the second workshop. The one I attended was on Ethics. It was an overview of the Hidden Words, which as we had been told earlier, was the principle ethical work of the vernal period of Baha'u'llah's Revelation. Baharieh Maani shared with us an excellent summary of the major topics covered in the Hidden words, and tied together the Arabic and Persian sections. We had another break and then the third workshop session. My workshop was with Counsellor Grossman and the topic was Laws. He shared with us an overview of the Kitab-i-Aqdas and we also discussed laws that were recently made binding in the West, and those which have not yet been. The final talk tied everything together. It was entitled "Ideas into Action" and House Member Ali Nakhjavani, as always, inspired us to delve into the Writings, read them every day - at least morning and evening, study them, memorize them, allow them to be part of our lives and vocabularies, obey them and share them with others. It was the perfect, inspirational ending to a wonderful seminar. A group of African Baha'is (and Agatha from Solomon Islands) played the closing songs and prayer. And with the beautiful harmonies resonating in our heads and rhythm of the African drums in our hearts we closed the seminar. All weekend I was completely astounded at the high quality of absolutely everything. Being at the World Centre, you get used to things being punctual and running like clockwork, so although that in itself is a feat, it is one that we are used to here, but worthy of comment nonetheless. We were basically told when each session was, and from about 5 minutes before the start of each session, all attendees were there seated. The artistic performances throughout the Seminar were of very high quality and the variety was superb. There was also a lot of different styles performed, and there was an air of experimentation. The opening and closing talks were open to the whole BWC community so the adults, family visitors, and of course the youth were present. The workshops were inspiring and informative. The speakers and facilitators well chosen. The subject matter was very appropriate, especially as we purchased our first copies of the Summons of the Lord of Hosts last week. I left the Seminar inspired to read, and learn and share the Writings of Baha'u'llah, and I'm sure I'm not the only one! All in all, a weekend well spent. The cool part is, today is a Holy day, so we will spend this afternoon in Bahji for the First day of Ridvan. What a wonderful weekend!!!! Happy Ridvan!!! Wow! It's been a while. Told you I wasn't any good at keeping a journal. Life here got busier and busier.... So let me fill you in. I have now been at the World Centre for 6 months! I can't believe it!! From the beginning I realised that time is completely different here, but I didn't expect the first 1/3 of my service to fly by so quickly. At the same time I feel like I've been here forever. My flatmate, Savo and I still have a great time, the band is doing well, writing lots of songs and now recording. We've had 2 guest vocalists with us at different times, Lisa and Saman, who are both wonderful. I started a line dancing group - no country music!!! We dance to popular music, so far we've done Destiny's Child, Will Smith and Santana. I'm in the midst of choreographing a dance for the EYOS Finale. I guess I didn't fill you in on EYOS from the beginning... EYOS stands for Extra Year of Service. Basically the youth serving at the BWC volunteer in other departments than their own in their free time. They can also put in extra hours in their own department. The period of EYOS was from the beginning of December to the end of February. So the EYOS subcommittee tallies up all the extra hours and donates them to the Universal House of Justice. The idea is to make up enough hours as someone serving here for a year would have put in. The finale is on March 9. Musically I've been very busy. Other than the band, which, by the way, is called "Insight", I am working with some other musicians preparing to hopefully perform at a Naw-Ruz function in Jerusalem next month. I'm also learning how to play the guitar, which is a lot of fun. I've got lots of great people around to help me so it's the perfect opportunity - So many great players - David, John, William, Ryan and Nabil, it would be a shame not to try and learn from them.
Wow! What kind of time warp am I in that I close my eyes and open them again and it's 2 weeks later and I've done a million things without realising how fast the days are passing? So much has happened! I'm going to attempt to flashback and insert some memorable dates. Meanwhile, I just came from a meeting this morning with a Task Force for the Whole School Gathering. This is an annual event where all the youth and children get together to deepen on a theme and use the arts to develop their knowledge of it (and use the theme to increase their capacity in the arts). This year, David and I were asked to prepare a workshop on music. The gathering itself is on December 8, but the workshop facilitators met today with the task force to get an idea of what is expected. It looks like it is going to be a great morning with youth and children of all ages. So far David and I seem to have similar thoughts on what the focus and methods for working with this age group are, so I'm looking forward to preparing it. This afternoon I'm going to Bahji. Once again I am just totally grateful for the opportunity to visit the Shrines on a regular basis. Even though I work in Bahji 5 or 6 days a week, it feels totally different when I go there to the Shrine.
I am on fire! I've just rushed home from a presentation in the Auditorium. The Youth Activities Committee hosted a showing of the documentary "The Green Light Expedition" which is a 2-hour show of the expedition which Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum made through South America in the Amazon jungle. The highlights shown in this film were amazing, and the points that were made really hit home. In thinking about teaching I've always thought "what difference does it make teaching in rural communities, or native areas compared to teaching in cities and "developed" places. I figured everyone should have an equal share in finding out the Message that Baha'u'llah has brought. I've always admired the fact that people visit remote areas to teach, but have never considered it something that I should do. At one point during the film Khanum addressed this very topic. {to paraphrase} She said that there is this mountain that these people who have lived in their own ways and traditions and culture for centuries are on. They are beautiful and pure and have all of these wonderful qualities. Unspoiled by "civilisation". There is another mountain in the distance. This is the place where living by the teachings of Baha'u'llah can take us. In between is this valley of materialism and worldliness where we are. We have come down off our mountain and sunk to these depths and are now having to struggle to pull ourselves out. As the developed world reaches farther and farther into these remote areas, it is pulling these wonderful people down from their mountain to join is in this valley of greed and despair and all these things we are mired in. By sharing the message of Baha'u'llah with them before they are pulled down into this valley, it allows them to fly from one mountaintop to the other, without having to experience this low point in between. This doesn't mean that the rest of the world does not need it as much. But time is running out. This expedition was 25 years ago and she spoke of the urgency of getting into these areas and sharing with the people there the Message of Baha'u'llah. We're still so far from it. After the film, Mr. Ardjomandi, who was a part of the Expedition and a pioneer in Suriname, spoke. He had promised Ruhiyyih Khanum that every time he showed it he would share something. He told us that this was an action film. It's not something to watch and say that was nice. We need to act on it. This came on the heels of a wonderful morning practicing with the band. We worked on 2 new songs and again threw around the idea of putting together some songs as a group and traveling somewhere using music to teach the Baha'i Faith, either during our service here, or immediately following it. This has been a common thread in quite a few conversations in the past couple of weeks and is developing more every time. I don't know about the rest of the guys, but for me tonight was a definite push in some direction. This is something that I have to do. Ruhiyyih Khanum urged us all to do it, and Mr. Ardjomandi reminded us to heed her words. Now more than ever I'm resolved to make an action out of this! Just wanted to share that....
Amanda's birthday! A few of us have been planning a surprise party for her for a while now. It's kind of difficult, since Amanda has been dropping hints that she wants a surprise. How do you surprise someone who is expecting a surprise? You put a surprise in a surprise in a surprise. The Plan: Step 1. Get Amanda over to my house at the prescribed time. When she comes in "Surprise!" A few of her close girl friends are here and we're having a girls' night, just for her. She's not really all that surprised because, let's face it, we suck at surprises. It also doesn't help that the night before when she was over, she happened to look at my computer screen while my e-mail was open and caught sight of an e-mail with the subject "shhhhhh...it's Amanda's surprise birthday party"... so much for surprise.At least getting her here isn't a problem. Step 2. As the Girls' Night is warming up, we put on some music, the door opens and in comes a bunch of Salsa-dancing guys. Amanda LOVES Salsa, so this is the perfect surprise. Step 3. Just as Amanda is getting used to the fact that her Girls' Night isn't a girls' night and in fact she is at a Salsa party with some of the BWC's best Salsa dancers, in floods more and more of her friends and it turns into a full-blown party.
That was the idea.
The Reality: 1. Amanda was originally supposed to go to a class on her birthday so the party was planned for afterwards. On Tuesday, she decided not to go to class. Frantic e-mails were sent changing the time of the party, all was rearranged. Wednesday afternoon, she decides to go to class. More e-mails, more rearranging, OK the times are all set. She will come right over after class. 2. Class is delayed, goes on a little longer than usual. Amanda's show-up time came and went, with the Girls' Night people waiting patiently. 3. The Salsa guys' time approaches and they are wandering around Hillel until finally they are invited in and hidden in the small room off the balcony. 4. Class is still delayed, people who were supposed to be in the last stage of the surprise are arriving, pretty lost since they were supposed to meet in the lobby area downstairs. They don't know where the party is and Amanda will arrive at any minute to see her friends milling around looking lost. We call them up in stage whispers and hide them in the room off the balcony. Now the room is packed, there are Salsa dancers and friends packed in waiting quietly. Amanda finally calls. 5. Last of the stragglers are whisked in and hidden in the now hot, packed room. Girls' night girls hide behind the couch. 6. Amanda arrives, bringing a few friends with her. Girls jump out from behind the couch shouting "Surprise!". Amanda is. When you're expecting a big surprise party, 5 girls behind the couch is quite a shock. We shuffle around, getting things, putting a crown on her, someone suggests that we put on music, Amanda is probably thinking that we are the suckiest surprise-party throwers in the world! 7. The Salsa comes on. Amanda loves it. She turns around and to her amazement there are now guys Salsa-ing around, apparently out of nowhere.... now this is a party! "Surprise!" 8. The next song comes on, another bunch of people run out of the room shouting "surprise!" Amanda is now thoroughly shocked. She goes to the little room to see what else is in there. Surprise party successful! :o)
Yesterday evening we had our Ruhi Class. It is facilitated by Ann, and the other participants are Sahba, Kristin, David, Gabe and myself. We are studying book 2. It's very informative. There has recently been a change of venue so it was at Savo and my flat. It's so nice to have people here. For the last year or so while I was in Bermuda, I've had very "cosy" apartments that didn't lend themselves to entertaining. It's nice to be able to have people over and not feel that they are on top of each other. After the Ruhi class, David stayed behind and jammed on his guitar. The jam turned into a more focused session and by the time he left we had pretty much written a song. It's so exciting to be part of this creative process! I can't wait to get together with the whole group and polish it up. We have a breakfast rehearsal planned for Saturday morning. It feels like it is so far away! I found out yesterday also that Ann from Jamaica is here in this new orientation group. She was so wonderful when we were there at Easter, it's great that she is here. I look forward to seeing her and her daughter. This evening Savo and I had devotions. This is the 3rd time we have done it and it is really nice. We invite different people each time for prayers and music. Last night Rishma, Nesim, Devin and Julian came. David Gappy stopped by as well.
Another week has flown by faster than the speed of thought. I was pretty sick for a couple of days. Caught the 'flu. It's going around here. I still have a cough but I'm feeling great. I spent quite a bit of time on the site this week, added pictures, new sections, all sorts of stuff, which is really exciting. This is the section that's really been lacking though, and I'm working on getting it all up to date. I'm thinking that there's not going to be too much detail on the stuff that happened before now that isn't already in the e-mails that I pasted below. But from now on, it'll be easier to keep it up to date. Thursday, my first day back to work since I left early on Monday, we were caught in a massive traffic jam, and instead of getting home at the usual 4:30, I didn't get home until 6:45. On Thursday night, as I have done every Thursday since I arrived, I went to Mr. Dunbar's class. This is one of those extra bonuses of my service here. Mr. Dunbar's class is always a source of insight and knowledge and I hope that for the rest of my time here, I don't miss it. Rather than try to put it into the Journal area of my page, I've added a section just for that, as it is a weekly thing and I would like to share occasional thoughts on it on a regular basis. So far the link is empty, so don't bother checking it out yet.... After the class a few of us went to a great Italian restaurant in Ahooza. I really like going to the Ahooza. Not necessarily because it is the best place, but I like to say it... Ahooza :o) Friday was a great day, one of the most fun since I've been here. I started out by going to work in the morning. I worked half day. I then caught a sherut back to Haifa in time to meet John, David, Raina, Devin and Julian in the Hadar. We rushed over to the train station and arrived in perfect time to catch the 12:25 train to Herzliyya. The train was a new, really nice double decker one. It was such a great ride. I absolutely love trains. It was also great company. We talked and laughed the whole way. Herzliyya is a town not far from Tel Aviv, but it's one of the places we are allowed to visit. It's a major business centre with some large multinational companies like Motorola, Sun, and others and as a result has some great restaurants. We went to one that had a great selection and good service. I had red snapper and it reminded me of Bermuda :o) After lunch we walked around a bit and ended up at a really nice cafe for dessert (gosh we spend a lot of time eating!). They gave us some great seats in an upper area with comfortable armchairs. We sat and talked and there was an American couple next to us who we somehow ended up meeting. It turns out that he is a professional basketball player and she is a teacher at the American school. They were really nice. We then caught a bus back to Haifa, another fun and laughter filled-event! We stopped at Julian's and then we all got ready for the Ihtifal in the Auditorium. Mr. Sahba spoke on the inspiration for the design of the Terraces. These Ihtifal presentations are another thing that merit a separate page, so again, I've set one up, but right now it's empty. The presentation was excellent. After that a few of us went and visited the "Hidden Cafe". What a great place. It's outdoors but way back from the street. I really liked it there. After that some of us went to one of the Film Festival movies. I enjoyed it a lot, but it had been a long day. If we didn't have the tickets already I probably wouldn't have gone - it was the 11 p.m. movie! A long, but good day! I've just come from Bahji. I took a sherut to the Shrine. Again, I am overwhelmed at this blessing of being able to visit the Shrines! On the way there, my parents called. It was great to hear from them. They are doing very well. It made me very happy to hear them in good spirits. [Dad E, I passed on your message :o)] This evening is the performance at the PRC for Canadian Thanksgiving. I feel much less well-prepared for this gig than the other 2, but I think we'll manage. The guys are coming over to run through the songs another time before we go. After this I think we are really going to focus on working on new music and firming up our goal as a group. I think we have an amazing opportunity as musicians here with some time ahead of us to do something. If we get it together we can really do something that will benefit people other than ourselves. One more blessing to thank God for!
Yesterday was Blythe and Mona's wedding. I had the honour and privilege of being a part of the ceremony by joining David on the bass and David on guitar in providing the music throughout the ceremony. We have been working on the music for this for a few weeks now and it was the successful culmination of all those hours of practice to see everyone smiling as Mona and Blythe recited their vows to each other. The wedding itself was beautiful, the setting was perfect. It was on the lawn of the Dan Carmel hotel overlooking the plaza at Terrace 19 and under a beautiful canopy of trees. The weather cooperated and although the first rain was expected, it did not come, leaving the air cool and nice. The wedding went off without a hitch, perfect timing, perfect setting, perfect couple. The reception which followed was in the rotunda dining room of the Dan Carmel with a view from what felt like the top of the world overlooking Haifa. There was great music and food and dancing till late. It was very special for me to be a part of the wedding. Although I only met Mona this year, I've known Blythe's family for years and they have been absolutely wonderful to me and to my family. It was great to see Mary and Jordy, Samantha and Bavand, and Elizabeth and Neysan again, and seeing Bermuda shorts everywhere reminded me of home! Too bad Neysan chickened out.... As soon as there are pictures available, I'll add them.
Letter to Bermuda Bahais e-group Friday, August 31, 2001 Wow!
They say time flies here, but I never thought it would be this fast! 4 weeks
already, this is unbelievable! Last
week at work I spent the week with the Haram-i-Aqdas crew. They are the ones who
make around the Shrine of Baha'u'llah look absolutely perfect when you visit. I
remember going there in May and seeing everything, and thinking how perfect it
everything was, the sand in the cactus beds, the lawn, the paths, the ...well
everything. Somehow I got the impression that this being the Most Holy Spot, of
course everything is perfect. Last week I learned that this is not true. Not at
all. A typical day in the Haram-i-Aqdas crew begins at 6:30 a.m. when they go to
the toolshed and collect the rakes, buckets, mops, brooms, clippers, and any
other implements needed for the "morning cleanup". I don't know how
many people have a Norfolk Island Pine tree somewhere near their yard, but
everyone knows that they drop those long strange ropey things. I didn't realise
it before, but there's a Norfolk Island Pine just outside the Shrine, and lo and
behold, a whole path of them from the Collins Gate to the Shrine. These
beautiful majestic trees have not lost their ability to drop their needles, just
because they are in the Haram-I-Aqdas! They have the honour of dropping their
dead needles on the Haram-i-Aqdas. The lawn, the paths, the sand beds in between
the paths, everything is covered with them in the morning. These are picked up
first thing every morning, in addition to the olive leaves and weeping willow
leaves, and dropped olives at this time of year. These are on the lawn, in the
sand beds, between the pebbles in the path, everywhere! So I soon discovered
that when you look around and see all that perfection, it is the result of hours
of painstaking labour. Each sand bed is swept - yes swept with a broom, lightly
so as not to put spaces in the sand.... The pebbles in the paths where the white
path and the red path meet are separated individually. The marble stairs all
around the Shrine are first swept, then mopped, the birdbath water is changed,
the flowers in urns are watered, paths raked, and the whole place is MADE
perfect every single morning. It was a unique opportunity for me to be present
when there are no pilgrims and the Shrine is closed for cleaning. It was closed
from last Sunday, when I started in the HA crew. There are no Baha'is visiting
the Shrine at this time, and members of the public are not allowed in now while
it is being cleaned. But still, every morning, every leaf, errant stone, pine
cone, dropped olive, everything is picked up. During
this time of cleaning, there is lots to do. The caretaker of the Mansion at
Bahji called us frequently for help moving rugs around for airing, on Thursday
we had assisted in carrying a particularly large, heavy rug, and afterwards he
told us that we have carried the rug of Baha'u'llah's room. On
Sunday, following our morning cleanup, we had a special project. Inside the
Shrine of Baha'u'llah, there is a small courtyard with plants in it. There are
citrus trees, low ground cover, edging plants, climbing ferns and jacarandas. In
the middle is an urn and there is a path of small rounded pebbles. When the
Shrine is cleaned out annually, the ground cover and edging plants are removed,
the citrus trees are replaced, as are the border plants and for the ground cover
plant, cuttings are made, and after the ground is prepared again, the cuttings
are put directly in the soil. I had the special bounty of being a part of the
uprooting, cutting, and replanting of the plants in the Shrine. This project
took 2 days, during which my mind boggled at the thought of serving in the
Shrine. The Most Holy Spot. During that time, all of the rugs had been removed,
there was scaffolding up and the jannies were cleaning the windows and
windowsills, the painters were scraping paint in preparation for a new coat, at
some points there were about 20 people working in the Shrine, yet you could
still hear a pin drop. The total respect of everyone for the fact that this was
not an ordinary place that we were cleaning, was very obvious. Sunday
night I had a study circle which I am participating in. It is a joy to be taking
part in this process again. I'm hoping all is going well in preparation for the
tutor training in Bermuda next month. Monday,
after spending another day serving in the Shrine and Haram-i-Aqdas, I came home
and prepared dinner for some friends who were coming over. I had found a couple
of musicians here and organised a small jam session with a guitarist and a
singer. The guitarist, David, is from Costa Rica and did not admit at the time
that he also sings, and the singer, John, is from Colorado and performs in
musical theatre professionally, I didn't know he also played the guitar. David
also invited another David, a bassist from the Seychelles. We got together
Monday night and started jamming. It was amazing. We ended up doing 3 of David's
songs. A Hidden Word (Arabic #7), and 2 other songs he wrote, all 3 in Spanish.
We decided to play at the arts cafe which the youth activities committee is
hosting tonight. At some point that week I was also asked by the youth
activities committee to co-m.c. the arts cafe.
On
Thursday, we spent some time cleaning up the garden surrounding the Mansion next
to the Shrine. While raking out under the jasmine bushes, one of the other girls
in the crew came over and said that by the expression on my face I looked like I
was somewhere else, flying. And that's exactly how I felt. It was utter
disbelief that this is where I was and having the mansion behind me and the
Shrine straight ahead, the aroma of jasmine, combined with the realisation that
not only was I privileged enough to be there, but I was there SERVING, was
overwhelming. The
week flew by. Visits to the Shrines in Haifa, attending Mr. Furutan's talks at
the Pilgrim House in the evenings I was available, working, Mr. Dunbar's class
Thursday night, devotional meeting at our place on Tuesday night, all sorts of
stuff. Friday
night, there was a movie night. The BWC choir sang the opening prayer.
Apparently up until recently the choir has been pretty small, involving 10-20
people. Friday night, there were 60+ members, myself included (in the tenor
section). I remember sering the choir perform at the May events and it was kind
of surreal being in the same choir. The movies shown were excellent. In the
first one, Mr. Douglas Martin, who was then with the Office of Public
information (now a House Member), gave an interesting introduction to the Baha'i
Faith and Baha'u'llah. The second movie, was about Shoghi Effendi and the
Guardianship. What made it really special was that for most of the movie
Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum shared some personal stories of the Guardian, some
memorable experiences humourous anecdotes and other tidbits of information. On
Saturday, my roommate, Savo, and I slept in and when we woke up we prepared
lunch together. We decided at that point that this is going to be a regular
thing. 2 weeks ago we made roti and curried fish, shrimp and potatoes. This
saturday we made rice, baked fish and beans. it was delicious. We invited our
friend Shalisa (Rishma) from Suriname and she and her brother Michael came by
and we had a great afternoon together with a couple of other people dropping in
and out throughout the afternoon. Last
Sunday saw the beginning of my service in the greenhouse area. I spent the first
few days this week becoming acquainted with the operation of the greenhouse. The
actual work is very similar to what I did at Aberfeldy, so I have the advantage
of not walking completely blind. I really like the people I'm working with.
There are Catherine and Leslie from the United States, Catherine is the Admin
Assistant for Northern Gardens but also helps out in the greenhouse. Leslie is
in the greenhouse part time as well, as she is taking over the courier position.
The people I will be spending the most time with, though are Brenda, a
Fijian youth who is a lot of fun and great to talk to, and Merav, an Israeli
student at the college nearby. One of the cool things Merav told me when I first
met her was that the reason that she chose the University in Akka (she is from
Jerusalem) is because she was hoping to be able to work in the gardens at Bahji.
She has come to the gardens since she was little and always wanted to be back
there. Band
practiced again Wednesday night and was amazing. We are performing at the Arts
Cafe under the name (and the spelling is still not confirmed), "Brrrri-Tah...
pa-teeda TAH" Basically it's a vocalised percussion beat. OK we're having
trouble (and fun) naming the group – you should see the names we threw
out!.... We are performing at the Pilgrim Reception Centre tonight at 7:30...
I'll let you know how it goes! Geesh,
this e-mail is getting pretty long. So I'll try to summarize... Greenhouse is
great. I'm taking the opportunities to go to talks and classes. Making lots of
new friends from everywhere. Hosting what is to become a regular devotional
meeting. Taking part in a study circle. And above all, being able to visit the
Shrines at will. During orientation week and the time immediately following, I
repeatedly asked for tips and advice from people who had been here for a while,
and seen people come and go. There were 2 recurring themes. One is that at the
end of my service, I should be able to look back and say "I served
Baha'u'llah and the Universal House of Justice to the very best of my
ability." The other thing that people said is visit the Shrines. So many
people leave here saying "I wish I had visited the Shrines more
often." I have decided not to be one of those people. During orientation
Mr. Ardjomandi gave a talk. It was very emotional and beautiful, but one of the
things he said is that we should develop a relationship with the Shrines. When
you see a friend every day, it gets to the point where no matter how long it has
been since you last saw each other, you can pick up where you left off. 'We have
this unique opportunity, living here, to become close friends with the Shrines.
When we leave here, the only time we come back will probably be on Pilgrimage or
3-day visits, if ever. Returning to the Shrines we will be able to pick up where
we left off. Developing this relationship with the Central Figures of our Faith
takes precedence over anything we do. Classes, talks, playing music, hanging out
with friends, all of these are secondary. And it’s not like I have to choose
one or the other. The Shrines are open from about 1 in the afternoon until 8:30
p.m. so it is easy to find time in just about every day to go there. I also have
the bounty of living about 5 minutes’ walk away from the Shrine of the Bab,
making it all the more easy. When I stop to think about all of these bounties
I’m being given, I get a little nervous sometimes. I realize that the only
payment that I can give for them is service. Not just now, but for the rest of
my life. Praying
for you at the Shrines. Please remember me in your prayers too. Luv, Krisia :o)
Edited version of letter to my parents, August 24, 2001 Hi
Parents *Snip*
I
can't believe how quickly the time flies by here. I feel like I'm in a strange
warp where days are like hours.... I
start in the greenhouse on Sunday. This week I mowed the lawn in front of the
Shrine of Baha'u'llah... had a little problem in one section but the grass
should recover before the pilgrims come, and you can't see that part from the
path anyway.... :o) There
will be a full report on this week sometime this weekend, so you'll hear the
story. *Snip* I
put the healing prayer to music 2 days ago (the short one). It has a kind of
bajan folk rhythm in the middle section... i was thinking of you while i was
writing it and how you used to drum on the table all the time with your hands...
I had a jam session here at my place on Monday with 3 guys who are musicians.
David McKinney is from Costa Rica, has an absolutely amazing voice, and plays
the guitar. He's written some really good songs, which we worked with on Monday
and will perform at an Arts Cafe next friday. John Hicks is from Colorado,
trained vocalist and also plays guitar. He is a professional musical theatre
performer and now is our rhythm guitarist and is doing some great background
vocals. David Gappy is from the Seychelles. He plays the bass guitar and also
happens to have some recording equipment here in Haifa. We're waiting for
inspiration for a name for our band. We're working really well together. The
songs we are performing on Friday are all in Spanish because David wrote them,
but we are planning to work on more stuff. It's really exciting to have found a
group of fellow musicians already. Did I ever thank you enough for making me
stay with the violin when I really didn't want to? I know I say it all the time
to everyone else, but I'm not sure if I ever really really thanked you :o) I
also tell parents of other young musicians that there will come a time when
their child does not want to play anymore, and then they have to be come the
"meanie" and not let them quit. I swear I tell that to the parents of
every kid I meet who plays the piano or violin or flute or anything.... Everyone
always says "I wish I had kept with playing the (insert any instrument
here)..." I remember you used to say how you wished you had learned an
instrument. No one ever says "I wish my parents had let me quit playing the
______..." Anyway,
thanks again. And again. I
have to go now. There is a movie night tonight and they are showing 2 videos.
One is "Introduction to Baha'u'llah" by Douglas Martin, and the other
is "Shoghi Effendi: The Sign of God on Earth" Talk
to you soon. luv, k
:o)
Letter to Bermuda Baha'is e-group Friday, August 17, 2001 - Week 2 Allah'u'Abha! What
I'm going to do is share some of the things I've been doing, and hopefully in
the process I can capture and put into words some of the emotions I've been
experiencing along the way. Last
time I wrote, I was in the middle of orientation activities, and moving and
stuff. The orientation schedule was pretty hectic, but the first thing I
realised was that my life in the past few years, and especially the last few
months has prepared me well for the type of schedule I have here. It struck me
throughout the orientation, as it had back in May during the Inauguration, how
all details had been thought of and taken care of. Of course, the orientation
has been developing for a while and obviously its development has been
systematic and already there was a great example of systematization and its
results. During
the orientation I felt like a sponge, just absorbing all of the talks,
presentations, information, tours, and of course getting to know the other
people in my group. There were 19 of us, and we bonded from the very beginning.
During that week though, knowing that after that I would be serving in Bahji
during the day and would not generally be running into the Haifa staff during
the day in the lunchroom and all around the World Centre, I made an effort to
meet lots of new people during that week, and really absorbing my surroundings. One
of the things that I remember most from the orientation was how it was impressed
on us not to ever forget where we are. Of course that's so hard to imagine now,
when everything is fresh and new, but I'm trying to come up with ways to be
constantly mindful of how special and sacred it is here, how limited my time
here is and how to make the most of it. I think one of the things that helps
already is getting messages from you guys that remind me of the fact that just a
couple of weeks ago I couldn't just take a 5 minute walk and be in a Shrine, or
that my commute to work didn't involve the Most Holy Spot! Last
week there were some great activities... aside from the orientation dinner that
was hosted for us, my evenings were mostly spent doing other things. Thursday
evening, after visiting the Shrine, I went to Mr. Dunbar's class for the youth.
We are studying the dispensation of Baha'u'llah by Shoghi Effendi. The text of
it can be found in the book The World Order of Baha'u'llah. One of my goals
while I'm here is to better understand Baha'i Administration from its historical
perspective, and these classes are EXCELLENT! On
Friday after our orientation walking tour of Haifa, I hosted lunch for my
orientation group.Savo and I have been blessed with a big apartment that's
perfect for entertaining so it was great for having everyone over for lunch.
That evening I went to dinner at the home of Debbie Kirton. For those of you who
don't know, she is a Baha'i from Barbados serving here. There were some other
young people there, including Rishma from Suriname who I met at Sparks of Peace,
and Verdia's sister Allison from the Caribbean. We had a great time and
afterwards I went to a recital that was being put on as a gift to the Baha'is by
an Israeli pianist, and her friend, a violinist. She had visited the terraces
and wanted to offer the concert as a gift of thanks for the gardens. It was a
beautiful performance and they were both well received. Afterwards I went to a
cafe with some friends. On
Saturday I got together with a couple of friends (Shingo from Japan and David
from Costa Rica) and made the sherut journey to Bahji. Although I had been taken
there the week before along with two guys from my orientation group, as it's the
first thing we do when we arrive here, it was different going in my free time
because I wanted to and could. After praying at the Shrine, I went to the
Pilgrim House for tea, met more people, some of whom I'd met before, but had
forgotten, and spent about an hour there, just enjoying it. Saturday
evening, I was able to go and pray at the Shrine of Abdu'l-Baha (the Shrine of
the Bab is closed for cleaning). And again I realised what a bounty it is to be
able to visit the Shrines at any time. That
evening I made my first visit to the mall. Haifa is not just the World Centre...
:o) After a felafel, wandering around the mall and talking with friends, and a
movie it was home to bed for me, and the end of a very special day. The
orientation week, with its talks and sessions during the day and dinners and
other activities at night was a beautiful start to my term of service. It
finished on Sunday morning but since I wouldn't have arrived at work in time to
actually do anything that afternoon, I was scheduled to start working on Monday.
I spent last Sunday afternoon in the Hadar shopping for a pair of sunglasses,
which, come to think of it, I haven't seen since Wednesday.... hmmmmm. Monday
morning was my first day serving in Bahji. I met some of the other commuters
just around the corner in front of the Pilgrim Reception Centre and we headed
out at about 5:40 a.m. As many of you know, so far my biggest challenge in
adjusting to my new life at the World Centre will be the shift from starting
work at 9 a.m. to being ready to be picked up for work at 5:30 a.m. So far so
good though. It's all about systematization :o) My roommate actually starts work
at 5 (no matter how bad you have it, there's always someone with something
worse!) so as she leaves home at 5 minutes to 5, she knocks on my door. Those of
you who know me know that that in itself would not be enough to do the job of
waking me up, but since my watch alarm, Palm alarm, cell phone alarm and alarm
clock are all going off within the 2 minutes just prior, I'm able to get up when
Savo knocks. A big glass of water just before bed also aids me in moving rather
quickly out of bed upon waking.... So
Monday morning I was issued my work uniform, pictures coming soon. Suffice it to
say that if one sees what I usually wear, and feel most comfortable in, you've
basically seen my uniform. It's a pair of forest green cargo pants, and a green
BWC Gardens t-shirt, and brown work boots. I love it :o) We also got straw hats
and some accessories (a pair of secateurs and a strange little digging tool,
whose use I have yet to ascertain, and a belt clip).I had a tour of the gardens,
got my schedule for the first 2 weeks, and met a bunch of my colleagues. Again,
everything was well organised. They also have someone else who just transferred
in, so we are pretty much being oriented together, although they have us doing
different things sometimes, since his position is administrative. I spent the
morning with the irrigation guy, and the afternoon in the greenhouse. I also had
a meeting with my coordinator, where I found out that I will be going straight
into the greenhouse. The person who was formerly working in the greenhouse full
time is going to be the courier. One of the interesting things about working at
Bahji Gardens is that there are a number of Israeli workers there. The lady who
will be working in the greenhouse with me most of the time is Israeli and has
already started teaching me Hebrew... I can count to 4 :o) During
the course of the day there were a couple of people going to Mazra'ih to get
some roses so I had the bounty of helping out. In addition to the roses we left
with pomegranates, limes, and some fresh herbs, and lots of smiles. My
second day at work began with a tour of the mechanic shop. The mechanic was
pretty impressed that I knew the difference between straight gas and mixed gas -
the joys of owning a bike in Bermuda! :o). I spent a lot of the day in the
greenhouse, then spent an hour or so with Tinny from the Philippines, who is
responsible for Integrated Pest Management at the Northern gardens. Wednesday
I was scheduled to spend the whole day with OGC, the Outlying Gardens Crew. The
gardens at Bahji are separated into a number of areas, but the main division is
between the Haram-i-Aqdas, or Holy Court, immediately surrounding the Shrine,
and the outlying gardens, which Include the west walk where we entered in May
when we went to circumambulate. The OGC consists of 2 guys, Jiaoji from Fiji and
Roel from the Philippines. We had a ball out there! They started by showing me
how to clean up the olive trees. I have a little story that I have to provide
some background for. Back in May when we were walking towards the Shrine, it was
my first time in Bahji and I was completely taken by the beauty of the gardens.
We were surrounded by these beautiful olive trees and I remember for a little
while, while I was walking with my mother, saying how cool it would be to climb
one of those trees, because they looked perfect for climbing. I remember saying
at some point that the trees were calling me to climb them. On Wednesday, when
Jiaoji jumped up onto one of the limbs of the tree we were cleaning, and held
out his hand to help me up, I felt like Baha'u'llah was answering me and He knew
how much this was something I really wanted to do. I realised that I had been
given the opportunity to do something that was very special to me, and that this
whole period of service is like that. I have opportunities during my service to
do things that I never imagined I would be able to do. Jiaoji told me at the
time that I didn't have to come up if I didn't want to, but nothing could have
stopped me from climbing that tree! It really brought to the front of my mind
the need to keep my eyes open for all these opportunities that I have now that I
will never have again. Yesterday
we had more orientation activities and it was Thursday again, so Mr. Dunbar's
class was last night. Yesterday was one of the opportunities that I have while
I'm here. The short-term orientees, following our morning of seminars, met with
the Universal House of Justice. I'm not yet able to put it into words, but I
hope at some point to be able to share my impressions of that experience. Right
now the words still escape me. I'm
looking forward to hearing from you! Love
and prayers, k :o)
Letter to Bermuda Baha'is e-group 9/8/01 Allah'u'Abha! What I'm going to do is share some of the things I've been doing, and hopefully in the process I can capture and put into words some of the emotions I've been experiencing along the way. Last time I wrote, I was in the middle of orientation activities, and moving and stuff. The orientation schedule was pretty hectic, but the first thing I realised was that my life in the past few years, and especially the last few months has prepared me well for the type of schedule I have here. It struck me throughout the orientation, as it had back in May during the Inauguration, how all details had been thought of and taken care of. Of course, the orientation has been developing for a while and obviously its development has been systematic and already there was a great example of systematization and its results. During the orientation I felt like a sponge, just absorbing all of the talks, presentations, information, tours, and of course getting to know the other people in my group. There were 19 of us, and we bonded from the very beginning. During that week though, knowing that after that I would be serving in Bahji during the day and would not generally be running into the Haifa staff during the day in the lunchroom and all around the World Centre, I made an effort to meet lots of new people during that week, and really absorbing my surroundings. One of the things that I remember most from the orientation was how it was impressed on us not to ever forget where we are. Of course that's so hard to imagine now, when everything is fresh and new, but I'm trying to come up with ways to be constantly mindful of how special and sacred it is here, how limited my time here is and how to make the most of it. I think one of the things that helps already is getting messages from you guys that remind me of the fact that just a couple of weeks ago I couldn't just take a 5 minute walk and be in a Shrine, or that my commute to work didn't involve the Most Holy Spot! Last week there were some great activities... aside from the orientation dinner that was hosted for us, my evenings were mostly spent doing other things. Thursday evening, after visiting the Shrine, I went to Mr. Dunbar's class for the youth. We are studying the dispensation of Baha'u'llah by Shoghi Effendi. The text of it can be found in the book The World Order of Baha'u'llah. One of my goals while I'm here is to better understand Baha'i Administration from its historical perspective, and these classes are EXCELLENT! On Friday after our orientation walking tour of Haifa, I hosted lunch for my orientation group. Savo and I have been blessed with a big apartment that's perfect for entertaining so it was great for having everyone over for lunch. That evening I went to dinner at the home of Debbie Kirton. For those of you who don't know, she is a Baha'i from Barbados serving here. There were some other young people there, including Rishma from Suriname who I met at Sparks of Peace, and Verdia's sister Allison from St. Vincent I believe. We had a great time and afterwards I went to a recital that was being put on as a gift to the Baha'is by an Israeli pianist, and her friend, a violinist. She had visited the terraces and wanted to offer the concert as a gift of thanks for the gardens. It was a beautiful performance and they were both well received. Afterwards I went to a cafe with some friends. On Saturday I got together with a couple of friends (Shingo from Japan and David from Costa Rica) and made the sherut journey to Bahji. Although I had been taken there the week before along with two guys from my orientation group, as it's the first thing we do when we arrive here, it was different going in my free time because I wanted to and could. After praying at the Shrine, I went to the Pilgrim House for tea, met more people, some of whom I'd met before, but had forgotten, and spent about an hour there, just enjoying it. Saturday evening, I was able to go and pray at the Shrine of Abdu'l-Baha (the Shrine of the Bab is closed for cleaning). And again I realised what a bounty it is to be able to visit the Shrines at any time. That evening I made my first visit to the mall. Haifa is not just the World Centre... :o) After a felafel, wandering around the mall and talking with friends, and a movie it was home to bed for me, and the end of a very special day. The orientation week, with its talks and sessions during the day and dinners and other activities at night was a beautiful start to my term of service. It finished on Sunday morning but since I wouldn't have arrived at work in time to actually do anything that afternoon, I was scheduled to start working on Monday. I spent Sunday afternoon in the Hadar shopping for a pair of sunglasses, which, come to think of it, I haven't seen since Wednesday.... hmmmmm. Monday morning was my first day serving in Bahji. I met some of the other commuters just around the corner in front of the Pilgrim Reception Centre and we headed out at about 5:40 a.m. As many of you know, so far my biggest challenge in adjusting to my new life at the World Centre will be the shift from starting work at 9 a.m. to being ready to be picked up for work at 5:30 a.m. So far so good though. It's all about systematization :o) My roommate actually starts work at 5 (no matter how bad you have it, there's always someone with something worse!) so as she leaves home at 5 minutes to 5, she knocks on my door. Those of you who know me know that that in itself would not be enough to do the job of waking me up, but since my watch alarm, Palm alarm, cell phone alarm and alarm clock are all going off within the 2 minutes just prior, I'm able to get up when Savo knocks. A big glass of water just before bed also aids me in moving rather quickly out of bed upon waking.... So monday morning I was issued my work uniform, pictures coming soon. Suffice it to say that if one sees what I usually wear, and feel most comfortable in, you've basically seen my uniform. It's a pair of forest green cargo pants, and a green BWC Gardens t-shirt, and brown work boots. I love it :o) We also got straw hats and some accessories (a pair of secateurs and a strange little digging tool, whose use I have yet to ascertain, and a belt clip).I had a tour of the gardens, got my schedule for the first 2 weeks, and met a bunch of my colleagues. Again, everything was well organised. They also have someone else who just transferred in, so we are pretty much being oriented together, although they have us doing different things sometimes, since his position is administrative. I spent the morning with the irrigation guy, and the afternoon in the greenhouse. I also had a meeting with my coordinator, where I found out that I will be going straight into the greenhouse. The person who was formerly working in the greenhouse full time is going to be the courier. One of the interesting things about working at Bahji Gardens is that there are a number of Israeli workers there. The lady who will be working in the greenhouse with me most of the time is Israeli and has already started teaching me Hebrew... I can count to 4 :o) During the course of the day there were a couple of people going to Mazra'ih to get some roses so I had the bounty of helping out. In addition to the roses we left with pomegranates, limes, and some fresh herbs, and lots of smiles. My second day at work began with a tour of the mechanic shop. The mechanic was pretty impressed that I knew the difference between straight gas and mixed gas - the joys of owning a bike in Bermuda! :o). I spent a lot of the day in the greenhouse, then spent an hour or so with Tinny from the Philippines, who is responsible for Integrated Pest Management at the Northern gardens. Wednesday I was scheduled to spend the whole day with OGC, the Outlying Gardens Crew. The gardens at Bahji are separated into a number of areas, but the main division is between the Haram-i-Aqdas, or Holy Court, immediately surrounding the Shrine, and the outlying gardens, which Include the west walk where we entered in May when we went to circumambulate. The OGC consists of 2 guys, Jiaoji from Fiji and Roel from the Philippines. We had a ball out there! They started by showing me how to clean up the olive trees. I have a little story that I have to provide some background for. Back in May when we were walking towards the Shrine, it was my first time in Bahji and I was completely taken by the beauty of the gardens. We were surrounded by these beautiful olive trees and I remember for a little while while I was walking with my mother, saying how cool it would be to climb one of those trees, because they looked perfect for climbing. I remember saying at some point that the trees were calling me to climb them. On Wednesday, when Jiaoji jumped up onto one of the limbs of the tree we were cleaning, and held out his hand to help me up, I felt like Baha'u'llah was answering me and He knew how much this was something I really wanted to do. I realised that I had been given the opportunity to do something that was very special to me, and that this whole period of service is like that. I have opportunities during my service to do things that I never imagined I would be able to do. Jiaoji told me at the time that I didn't have to come up if I didn't want to, but nothing could have stopped me from climbing that tree! It really brought to the front of my mind the need to keep my eyes open for all these opportunities that I have now that I will never have again. Yesterday we had more orientation activities and it was Thursday again, so Mr. Dunbar's class was last night. Yesterday was one of the opportunities that I have while I'm here. The short-term orientees, following our morning of seminars, met with the Universal House of Justice. I'm not yet able to put it into words, but I hope at some point to be able to share my impressions of that experience. Right now the words still escape me. I'm looking forward to hearing from you! Love and prayers, k :o)
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