Introduction
My name is Jonna. I am twenty years old and I am a junior at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville New York where I am studying languages, filmmaking and environmental studies. I grew up in Berkeley, California with my brother, Willy, who is 4 years, 4 months and 4 days older than I am. Four is our favorite number. My family digs camping, hiking, backpacking, and pretty much anything that involves being outside and not spending money. My other interests include the Oakland Athletics, lichen (a symbiotic relationship between fungus and algae), films, yoga, beaches and lakes, ultimate croquet (a sport invented and championed by my friend Molly and I in the spring of 2002), my dog Eliza, my cat, Kiwi, my rat, Thisbe and writing down funny or remarkable things that people say.
My interest in/devotion to human sustainability was incited when I first got my hands on the book, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. If you have not read the book, I strongly recommend it as a life changing work. The novel follows a Socratic series of lessons administered by an 800-pound gorilla to a skeptical human pupil. You will see the human culture from an entirely new and external perspective. After reading Ishmael I joined Common Ground, a small school within Berkeley High School, which focused on environmental and social justice issues. While in Common Ground I met other students passionate about deep ecology, with dreams of sustainability for our wasteful, urban world. I took environmental science, ethics and journalism classes and had the chance to visit organic farms once a week and learn about the challenges and advantages of sustainable agriculture.
While working on designing model sustainable villages in my eco-literacy class junior year, my friend Molly and I came across Findhorn in our research and we were captivated. I have wanted to visit the community ever since and am enormously grateful for this chance to live, work, and learn in a place where human harmony with nature and with the self are the objectives. Two phenomena that I believe are just as intertwined, as they are possible.
Prologue
For the past few weeks, following the end of my summer job at Lily Films, I began moving my mother out of our house in Berkeley. After finishing her Masters in Social Work last May, my mother was hired for a position near my grandma in Connecticut. At first I was heartbroken about clearing out the room I've lived in since day one, but it wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. I feel like I am stepping out into something completely new and there is no going back to childhood. It’s scary but very invigorating, too. We flew to New York last Monday night with my tranquillized dog crated beneath us in the belly of the plane. She had never been outside of Northern California in her life (of two years). She is doing very well in her new environment so far. I hope I can adjust as seamlessly to Scotland. My mom, Alicia, and I are staying with my dear beloved grandmama in New Canaan, Connecticut where I lived in second grade for a year when my parents were first separated. Many of my uncles, aunts and cousins(I have 30, ranging in age from 4 to 40) live nearby. I went into Manhattan two days ago to see my Aunt Susan and my cousin Tommy. Tommy and I are incredibly close even though I am six years older than he. We had oodles of fun when he came to visit me this past summer gallivanting around San Francisco and drinking smoothies. I took the train up to Yale yesterday to visit a friend from high school who stayed there over the summer working on the Yale Sustainable Food Project. The university’s program to bring organic food to campus was designed by Alice Waters, owner of a famous organic restaurant in Berkeley. He prepared a meal for me straight from the garden and it sparked my already heaping excitement to be at Findhorn. My flight leaves JFK on Thursday night and I will arrive in Aberdeen on Friday. I can’t wait to meet everyone and see Scotland for the first time. More...
On The Way Out
In less than 24 hours I will be in the air, headed for a little island off the coast of France known as the United Kingdom. I am trying to lull myself to sleep here so that I can get it together to leave tomorrow night, but I have just been sitting in this twin bed, staring at the telephone and thinking about all the possibilities of things that could happen to me very soon.
Possibility #1: All airline travel halts because of the skyrocketing price of oil. (most likely scenario)
Possibility #2: I don't understand anything Scottish people say or even gesture and hitherto become irrevocably lost on the way to Forres, never to be heard from again.
Possibility #3: I make it to Cluny College in time for dinner on Friday and am welcomed lovingly by my fellow students.
Possibility #4: I go completely insane trying to fit everything into my suitcase tomorrow and have to be checked into some sort of facility for over-packers.
Possibility #5: I get mistaken for a dog by the flighty, if good-intentioned people of American Airlines, am placed beneath the plane for the duration of the flight, develop a penchant for kibble and am thenceforth certifiably crate trained.
Possibility #6: I get so homesick that I cry and cry and cry until I am known to the entire Findhorn Community as "diaper baby" until mid-November when I restore my street cred by building the most sturdy and energy efficient straw-bale house the world has ever known.
Possibility #7: My plane gets rerouted to Anaheim and I have to spend the semester at Disney Land. (worst-case scenario)
These are the kinds of things relaying around my head as I stand on the threshold of this beckoning adventure. I didn't really believe it was coming so soon until all of my family members were leaving the house after my going away/early birthday dinner this evening, saying things like, "Get a good Scottish accent while you're there." and "drink lots of scotch!" Although these two things are not on my to do list for the coming months, they remind me that I am about to become part of a whole other culture pretty soon and I am remembering from past experiences of how special and mind-opening, not to mention entertaining, that is. I pray that this freak-out entry has been cathartic enough that I can get to sleep now. Let's call that possibility # good.
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Possibility #8
i.e. what actually happened.
After shopping for last minute items with Grandma in the morning I came home with three hours to pack until I went to pick up my mom from work and leave. I actually considered killing myself once I tried fitting everything into one suitcase. Here are the phases of the experience: Phase 1: "It'll fit, no problem"; phase 2: "it'll be a squeeze"; phase 3: "maybe I’ll leave my clothes here. They have clothes in Scotland, right?” phase 4: "I want to die."; Phase 5: "Whoa, there’s an expansion zipper on this thing!"; phase 6: "Everything's in! I did it!"; phase 7: "This thing is twice my weight. Must...get it...up...stairs...."; phase 8: "I hope there are strong, gallant men in Scotland who like to carry women's suitcases for them....."
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In One Piece
Everyone arrived safe and sound by dinnertime last night, miraculously, and we experienced each other as a group for the first time. I also saw golfers.
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A Grand Day Out
a photo documentary....
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A Minor Incident
The unsuspecting Jonna innocently makes a phone call...
Unwary of the dangers that lurk in the impatient queue...
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Experience Week Begins!
Today experience week has begun and we have met Fabien, our focalizer for the next seven days. He is a very sweet man from Tunis/Paris and he conveyed a bit of the history of Findhorn to us and gave us a more in-depth tour of Cluny.
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A Taste of the Park
Yesterday, Fabien gave us a tour of The Park. I saw many interesting designs for houses, some inspiring, some more conventional in appearance. My weather report proved accurate once again. Light drizzle in the to mid afternoon, followed by patchy clouds, giving way to clear skies at twilight. I met several well-mannered dogs on the tour as well as people. I think I’m going to like living there although it’s a bit chillier than Cluny. But it means we can walk to the beach from our backdoor! The first real Scottish person I've meet thus far came to us today in the form of Sandy, a lively, white haired man who lead us all in some traditional Scottish circle dancing.
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Cluny Kitchen!
I felt immediately at home in the kitchen this morning. The people in the department were funny and lighthearted.
We listened to music while we worked and every little thing I did filled me with joy. I made a huge couscous salad and put in a few more spices than the bland Scottish culinary style I’ve tasted here so far has allowed for. The whole morning filled me with an uplifting energy that is hard to explain.
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