I'm on the wrong bus!

Catching up on the week's notes...

This photo was taken some years back at Serra Negra
I woke up this morning from a disturbing dream. I got onto bus #102 (buses here aren't numbered quite that way) from my 'usual' bus stop even though I didn't recognise the route on the board attached to the side of the bus. Buses here have the main roads of the route written up on their sides - if you're lucky enough to get one to stop long enough to read it, that is. I took this one, being sure of the bus number.

Not long after, I realised the bus was going in the completely wrong direction. I kept yelling to be let off the bus, but no one helped and the driver ignored me. The bus took me on a roundabout  through an unfamiliar neighbourhood, then did a loop up a bumpy, unpaved hill and back down. By this time, I was in tears of frustration.

As the bus, once again wound through another unfamiliar neighbourhood, one of the passengers kept telling me "Sua machina!" Somehow my cellphone had started blaring out a local TV station. I was livid because it meant my battery had been wasted unnecessarily. I had just turned it off when the bus stopped. I was back where I started!

Now dealing with bus routes is nothing new to me. There is the constant fear in the back of my mind that I'll take the wrong bus or metro and end up late. One digit wrong can take me to the opposite end of the city. The concern is worse when I don't know the route or destination.

Right now, I know my destination - or at least, the place I want to... need to be. It's the route that's fuzzy. I feel as though I'm being taken up bumpy, unpaved roads, only to be brought back to reality by local transmissions and to find I'm back where I started.

On the other hand, it may just be that my teaching routine is once again changing and I spent much of the weekend carefully mapping out new bus routes and noting down bus numbers.

Dream... Live!

A young man on the verge of his dreams just passed this onto me. Thank you, Ohara!




The time is now!

Day by day

I call this the Metro Shuffle
Sveiki! A Lithuanian greeting, which means 'Health!'

Seems I never get the chance to write here. When I log in, there are friends to catch up on  and, by the time I'm done, I've forgotten what I wanted to say. Oh heck, who am I trying to fool? Honestly? I arrive on my blog, stare at the screen, trying to convert the week into words; thus scattering what little cohesive thought I started out with.

With this in mind, I'm going to attempt this in daily (or thereabouts) nibbles.

Last week, our focus for the week was on Tat's visit with the family in Lithuania. Jurgis enjoying his time there was one thing. It had been a dream of his for most of his life. She first stayed with Dalius and Oksana. The message I got was - I'm happy. In short, they were wonderful. I'll get the details later, as her pc died on her when she arrived in Lithuania and she hasn't been able to get it fixed yet.

From there, she went to stay with Teta Irena, Vaidas, Sonata and the boys. She was online more there and having a ball. When she was due to leave, she said it felt like she was leaving home all over again. I can't begin to express my thanks to all who made her visit there such a wonderful experience!

On Monday, I had no students (cancellations - joy!). It was good though. We were able to video chat with Tat via Skype and I finally got to meet the family. They're every bit as wonderful as Jurgis and Tat said they are. I can't wait to meet them in person!

On Monday we also go word that the front house is finally getting a tenant, but only for 15 days out of every month. That should be odd to deal with. Jurgis knows him, a nice enough guy, our landlord's business partner. We'll see how that goes. It does mean that Romany is once again restricted to just our half of the property, poor thing, though we do take him on walks more often now.

Tuesday started with a cancellation as I was walking out the door. I do wish they'd cancel before get all dressed up! That left me home for a couple of hours - good time to catch up with some correspondence. I later left for my next student after calling her to confirm the class. One bus, two metros and a 10 minute walk later, I was at the entrance to their office block and my delightful ringtone went off. I love getting calls because I love the tune! Anyway, it was the secretary. She needed to cancel.Ugh! Perhaps I just dreamed the earlier confirmation call.

Wednesday, I got to chat to a long lost friend (ok, not so long or lost) *and* my little girl! That was good. A surprise email made my heart skip happily : )

Thursday ~ dreaming of green pastures and soft, rolling hills ~

I dreamt last night that I was leaving an institution, a nameless, faceless multi-storey block with small, impersonal rooms. I was sitting on the bed talking to an elderly, long-dead friend and explaining why I was giving her a scarf, as I don't wear scarves and won't be needing it.

Two men came to blows in the metro car over the last half-inch of space and had to be separated by security. One guy, the shorter one, was told to get off. I felt for him, as he wasn't the instigator, but I guess the security guy felt he would be easier to control. The guy who was trying to pull punches was huge. Either way, they were both in the wrong. If the metro is full, you wait for the next one. The trains come through with only a minute or so between them during peak hour. It's not as though they'd have to wait a long time. The photo up above is where I decided to wait for the next one, but, believe it or not, there are those who'll still try to squeeze into that.

It was a surreal kind of morning. I swiped my security card through at the bank, only to be told "User blocked" - the kind of words that generally cause heart stoppage and panic. The nice lady at security consoled me with information that I'd be getting a sparkly new card. Whew! Apparently, they'd stopped that particular type of card. I got a temporary card and made my way to the student. At the back where the coffee machines are, there was a lady moving tables  and arranging mountains of diapers... in a bank? Turns out it's someone's baby shower. I waited. I got a message from an anonymous lady to call my student. Apparently he had a) lost my number and b) overslept, so there would be no class. Great! That gave me time to organise my new security pass. It's not a pretty yellow one like the old card, but it does announce me in bold letters as a "Professor". One very badly taken photo...


More good news this evening : ) The news isn't mine to tell and we're waiting for confirmation anyway, but it's starting to look as though 2011 is shaping up to be a good year. Ahh... nice!

I'm off to bed now. I woke up this morning feeling as though I was drugged and that feeling hasn't changed much. Does it show? =Þ

Oh... before I go... a few of you are TUT enthusiasts. Have you heard Mike Dooley's latest talk? It's awesome! If you can't find the talk, let me know and I'll upload it. It is available online at a few locations, but not for download. I saved it so that I can listen on my little ipod : )

Dreams

I woke up on the tail end of a fascinating dream. As some of you may know, I've been very interested in alternative healing for many, many years now. My interest started with herbs, then moved on to reflexology. Reflexology is the stimulating of points in the hands or feet, which correspond to areas in the body. The body is broken up in to energy meridians, so the energy runs from a point in the body to the organ you are treating.

I believe that our bodies are remarkable machines, where everything is tied in, all running like smooth cogs, interlinked. I believe in the healing therapies I've studied because I started out as the ultimate sceptic. Everything I use is what I've tried on myself and found it to work.

I have studied reflexology and herbalism over the years. As you know, I don't go to the doctor unless the situation is dire. My latest visit to the doctor let me to blood tests that showed that I was normal in every way and the couple that were 'out of synch' were so logical and something I can work on on my own. In fact, something I need to work on (you only need to see a photo of me to know what that is).

Since I started on this 'journey', I have studied EFT, TAT, acupressure and hypnotherapy. Studying, for me, has involved reading everything I can on the subject, doing research and taking every course I have access to. Last week, I did the exam to certify as a hypnotherapist. I passed and got my bit of paper. Thing is, like all the other qualifications I have, this one is a low level qualification, but it did give me knowledge and I can use that with myself and anyone else who trusts me enough. It sounds pat, but the more I learn, the more I find out I don't know and want to learn more.

                       ~ ~ ~

Back to my dream. I don't remember the lead up, other than that it involved a mess of transport typical of my working life, but I ended up in a hospital clinic setup. The place was very old. The furnishings were solid, very thick wood, painted in yellowing enamel paint that had obviously taken years of abuse, but was clean. With every aspect of the dream, the word 'ancient' comes to mind. There was a mess with documents I needed, again, typical of my life here. I never seem to have the right papers. Jurgis eventually arrived with the final paper I needed after a frantic call.

I was shown through to the doctor. He stood behind an old desk, in the style of the front desks. Behind him was a circular area with floor-to-ceiling shelves, every inch of which contained little brown bottles. I looked at the bottles and could visualise their contents. The contained liquids with samples in them. I was intrigued and, to me, it was strangely beautiful. I stood looking at them and wanted to write a poem about those bottles.

The doctor eventually sent me through for the actual blood test. As I walked into the next area, another doctor or technician was standing there holding a chart and pointing to where he was going to take the sample. He was a good few feet away, but I could clearly see the chart. It was a meridian chart with the liver meridian highlighted in a bright orange-red. This is strange because, with all my studying, I have a vague sense of the acupressure/acupuncture meridians, but struggled to memorize them, but in my dream, I knew that meridian very well and recognised it immediately.

I woke up at the point where I was standing rooted to the ground realising that the doctor was planning to stick a needle into my liver at the point under the ribs in the image here. I think anyone would wake up at that thought ; )

                       ~ ~ ~

Back to reality.

Last week, I was doing a lot of EFT and hypnosis on the subject of my health and my work, aka financial situation. One of the EFT masters suggested focussing on a point that needs working on (EFT uses acupressure points). I kept thinking that I don't know which point needs more work and how am I supposed to know anyway? I have my answers. Research into the liver meridian was the penny drop I needed. I had a few 'wow' moments this morning. So that's what it was?!

My morning didn't end there. I got two emails where the one agent I get work from had asked my old students (one who'd cancelled) if they want to return to class. The responses were that they loved the classes with me, but couldn't right now and would in the near future. Hey... a compliment! I'll take that!

More was to come though. The same agent, who's an English teacher himself with excellent English, has asked me to teach his three kids, each kid in his/her own class. Wow. I was dumbstruck. This teacher is a good teacher in his own right. He used to run a school. His old students rave about his classes and he wants ME to teach his kids?! A compliment indeed. I'll take that too! : )

All in all, the week is starting well with fascinating things to think about, follow up on and filled with hope. I like that.

Starting over

I found this article recently and it got me thinking. Actually, it doesn't do much to get me thinking of our dream. A while back, Kippy and Jaime wanted me to talk about my perfect home. Then just recently, someone mentioned being envious of a life of ease. I often say "I'm jealous" and you'll usually find it's relating to a certain way of life... a life we'd love to live again, a truly simple life.



Second Act

"We embark on a career path or a job before we really know ourselves at a very early age, but I think we're still a work in progress and over the course of your life you can stitch together a quilt of what you want to be and who you want to be." Lisa Schwartz

Now, if I were envious of a lifestyle, it's the one this lady has built for herself. That is a dream!

             ~ ~ ~ ~

             ~ ~ ~ ~

A couple more videos of people starting over and fulfilling a dream... truly inspirational! I've linked to the videos, so I don't overload this page for those with slow connections:

http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-mandy-aftel-20592908
http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-donald-arthur-20045514


Gypsy (back), Vilkas (left) and Noble (front right), our 3 Muskateers. Gypsy was the older, sensible one, who kept the brats in check. To the left was the raspberry patch - wild and thorny, but a thrill to harvest. Through the gateway behind them was the stand of mulberry trees, kids' paradise, and beyond that, the stream. The dogs were lying under the pretty, but infernal Tibouchina tree - the leaves, when dry, make excellent dye *sigh* It never comes out!

For those new to my list or those who missed the original post, this blog speaks about the life we came from, which is poles apart from the life we're in now. We'll have that again : )

http://tintalasia.multiply.com/journal/item/282/I_remember_Whensday

Last night, Tat and I were chatting. A possible hermitage came up, but she's not the hermit type, being gregarious and all that. We settled on farming with goats, who are pretty cool critters, with Jurgis taken along as slave labour, something he seems to thrive on. Ah... now there's a life, hm?

Starting over

I found this article recently and it got me thinking. Actually, it doesn't do much to get me thinking of our dream. A while back, Kippy and Jaime wanted me to talk about my perfect home. Then just recently, someone mentioned being envious of a life of ease. I often say "I'm jealous" and you'll usually find it's relating to a certain way of life... a life we'd love to live again, a truly simple life.



Second Act

"We embark on a career path or a job before we really know ourselves at a very early age, but I think we're still a work in progress and over the course of your life you can stitch together a quilt of what you want to be and who you want to be." Lisa Schwartz

Now, if I were envious of a lifestyle, it's the one this lady has built for herself. That is a dream!

             ~ ~ ~ ~

               ~ ~ ~ ~

A couple more videos of people starting over and fulfilling a dream... truly inspirational! I've linked to the videos, so I don't overload this page for those with slow connections:

http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-mandy-aftel-20592908
http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-donald-arthur-20045514


Gypsy (back), Vilkas (left) and Noble (front right), our 3 Muskateers. Gypsy was the older, sensible one, who kept the brats in check. To the left was the raspberry patch - wild and thorny, but a thrill to harvest. Through the gateway behind them was the stand of mulberry trees, kids' paradise, and beyond that, the stream. The dogs were lying under the pretty, but infernal Tibouchina tree - the leaves, when dry, make excellent dye *sigh* It never comes out!

For those new to my list or those who missed the original post, this blog speaks about the life we came from, which is poles apart from the life we're in now. We'll have that again : )

http://tintalasia.multiply.com/journal/item/282/I_remember_Whensday

Last night, Tat and I were chatting. A possible hermitage came up, but she's not the hermit type, being gregarious and all that. We settled on farming with goats, who are pretty cool critters, with Jurgis taken along as slave labour, something he seems to thrive on. Ah... now there's a life, hm?

 

Technorati Tags: vilkas,gypsy,farm,dream,noble,dogs,tat,lambs

Monster activities

I had a nightmare last night about flesh eating monsters. In fairness, an 'offshoot' of those monsters was the wood element monsters who were happy to just observe the strange looking humans. Yes, we were science fictionishly strange looking.

I think my nightmare might have had something to do with the fact that I needed to mark test papers today. I'm not even going to elaborate on that subject *sigh*

Our internet has been down for most of the day. I mean dead... totally. Our internet is another long story, as unbelievable as most such stories are from this end of the world. We get internet via our carrier, Telefonica, and through our ISP, Terra. On Friday afternoon, we got a call from Telefonica saying that our ISP, Terra, was to be down for maintenance for 6 months!! What the heck? Six (6) months?? Who goes down for maintenance for 6 months?? They are changing us over to another ISP, UOL for those 6 months and for a time, we will pay the same as we were paying with Terra, but after that, the cost will go up by no less than 200%. I foresee an unholy mess.

Today is Hamish's birthday. I wish I could call him. I hope he is having a wonderful day. I wish I could celebrate it with him.

We had another storm here today. The wind was crazy!

Seems it's sardine run time in South Africa again. Do have a look at this link and be sure to click on the slide show. Amazing! The locals line up on the beaches in hoards to get their share of sardines too. On the east coast, the annual sardine run is a major event.

Hm... supper is smelling cooked and my stomach is grumbling. Hope you all have a great evening. I'm off work today (if you can count marking depressing tests as being 'off work'), as it's Children's day here.

 

del.icio.us Tags: internet,dream,tests,nightmare,hamish

I dream of stairs

In this past year, I have dreamt of stairs quite often, going both up and down the stairs. The stairs never seem to have a negative connotation for me. That, in itself, is saying something, as, for most of my adult life, I have had a virtually paralysing fear of heights and particularly stairs. I would actually visualise falling down the stairs every time, no matter how small the flight of stairs was, and 'feel' the pain of the fall very realistically. I have overcome that fear in the last year or so, thank goodness.


Photo is taken from a blog on interior decor relating to stairs.
This particular one is a scan, I believe, from the magazine, Vanity Fair.

Last night's dream was of concrete stairs leading to a beach. The stairs went down between houses, but were quite wide and sunny. I was with an older woman. I am not sure who she was anymore, but I know she was someone relatively close to me. She went on ahead as we went down. As we got closer to the sea, I saw that there were houses that were flooded out, looking much like the more recent flood scenes from São Paulo. I looked down at them and said, no, that I'd be going back up. I turned and went back up. The flight of stairs was long, but sunny and not tiring at all. I danced and skipped up the stairs. I felt light. The scenes around the stairs were greener... not all houses.

When I arrived at the top, under the shade of a tree, I found George Irvine, another 'ghost' from my past. Not a ghost really. He's alive and well, albeit pretty old now. Back when I was a child, my gran had me deeply involved in many church denominations. When my grandfather died, Rev. Irvine, our Methodist minister, sat on my gran's bed and comforted me. I had asked something about heaven and whether or not I'd go there. I was one very unhappy little girl, already pining for my grandfather. He responded in his delightful Irish brogue that of course I'd get into heaven. Sure and wouldn't St Peter welcome me? After all, I'd been baptised, christened, dedicated, and blessed in just about every denomination! If there is one person back home who knows my family story well, it is him. He saw us through many of life's dramas, including, much later, the funeral of my first child. I looked him up not too long ago when I was looking for my brother. I knew that if anyone could find him, George Irvine could, but I was afraid he wouldn't remember me or my family. He's become something of a religious 'great' in Port Elizabeth, my home town.

Back to the dream. I went up to him under the tree and asked if he could remember me. He looked a little blank, so I related the story of how he comforted me when Jim died... and how he was there again when Ceinwen died. I woke up then... still not knowing if he remembered me. In the waking world, I pretty much know he wouldn't remember me and it doesn't bother me at all, but somehow, it bothered me in my dream.

I'm noting this dream because I haven't been recalling my dreams lately, something which upset me, as I really like recalling them and sitting thinking them through. Besides, they're often more fun than the movies. I've always been a very vivid dreamer.... even when awake : )

 

del.icio.us Tags: floods,dreams,beach,dreaming,george irvine,dream,stairs,spirituality

I had a dream

 

The dream itself, like all my dreams, was long and I don't remember much of it. There was one part that stood out near the end.

I was in bed and when I woke up, there was a spider's web at the foot. In the center was a very large, round, hard-shelled, rich chocolate-brown spider. It had a cluster white dots in the center of it's abdomen. This spider was surrounded by a few others, looking identical, but smaller. I was horrified when I first saw them, but was then fascinated.

Bear in mind, I have no fear of spiders. I respect them and will defend their right to be there. Indoor spiders usually get captured and taken outside to the plants. I have been known to photograph and film spiders. We had a spider at our old place (the one in the photo) that I even used to have conversations with.

I approached the web with the idea of finding out why it was there. Next thing I knew... you know the way dreams tend to morph... the web was moving and the big spider climbed down. Another morph later, and the spider had changed into a small, grey, tabby cat... not too stripey, which was walking on its hind legs (something like the cat in Shrek) and leading me somewhere. I don't know where it led me to, as the dream changed then.
I have a blog where I used to record all my dreams. I stopped posting in there, but I still like to record my dreams, so I might as well do it here. After all... they're a part of me too, right?

Apologies to those who are squeamish about spiders ; )
I found this:

To see a spider in your dream, indicates that you are feeling like an outsider in some situation. Or that you may want to keep your distance and  stay away from an alluring and tempting situation.  The spider is also symbolic of feminine power. Alternatively, a spider may refer to a powerful force protecting you against  your self-destructive behavior. If you kill a spider, it symbolizes misfortune and general bad luck.

To see a spider spinning a web in your dream, signifies that you will be rewarded for your hard work. You will soon find yourself promoted in your job or recognized for your achievement in a difficult task.  Spiders are a symbol of creativity due to the intricate webs they spin. On a negative note, spiders may indicate a feeling of being entangled or trapped in a sticky or clingy relationship. It represents some ensnaring and controlling force. You may feel that someone or some situation is sucking the life right out of you.

To see a spider climbing up a wall in your dream, denotes that your desires will be soon be realized.

To dream that you are bitten by a spider, represents a conflict with your mother or some dominant female figure in your life. The dream may be a metaphor for a devouring mother or the feminine power to possess and entrap. Perhaps you are feeling trapped by some relationship. 

Technorati Tags: dream,spider