KMAC
Katherine Mather Joined: December 21st 2008
Logged in: November 1st 2011
Logged in: November 1st 2011
- Happiness is not in our circumstances, it is in ourselves -
Infected with the travel bug from a very young age with immense gratitude to my family and Girl Guides! Been exploring ever since. My children were born on the road and yes I am a testament to the reality that you can 'Have Children And Travel'. Enjoying my yoga journey, the kindness of strangers and my current occupation of spreading happiness.
ॐ शांति शांति शांति....
Travel Blog Posts
creating
Before donation day we did lots of rock painting and made some bookmarks and posters. The group was made up of Avatar Puri, Rajendra and all the foreign children that were at the Ashram: Cal, I and the two girls from Slovenia. We set up a construction area under the White House and drew and painted. Then we chose a good day to have a market stall. We gave the Karma Yogis half price and we gave a free painting to the Swamis in the Ashram. We did it while the group was there and lots of people were from Europe so we got some Euros as well as Indian Rupees. In the end we raised about 36572 rupees!! We tried to give out receipts and keep some records but there was always more money than ... read more
such tiny umbrellas, such HUGE laughter
Still caught up in the bureaucratic bits about the next job appointment in China. So we'll enjoy longer stint in India in the meantime. Have been teaching some yoga classes to visitors and also had the very good opportunity to be a student now that some of our inspiring longer time Swamis are leading morning classes. Pot painting has been one of the projects keeping me amused here. Afternoon walks with Tulsiji and the dogs, a bit of horseriding, meals with longer time karma yogis, random moments with resident Artist Mirtaji, sitting with Mataji, practicing harmonium and constantly searching for what mischief the boys are up to fill the days in Jadan. Evenings I'm sleeping more than I ever did. I guess that's the flip side to massive days and low supplies of chocolate!! Seeing things ... read more
after rain in the desert
Had lovely three days with Swamiji and few special yogis in Jaipur Ashram. Now He's on the way to Europe and we're enjoying time in Jadan. Finished the hat I was crocheting for Cal when we left Jadan last time. Put a lot of my processing s into those stitches! Raining here. Very unseasonal but much appreciated. School is thriving. Two new teachers with sparkly eyes. They have play room now with all the resources I've bought in the times we've come as well as things us and others have sent. So glad its being used. The children are getting so much from the prac experiences. Lots of sweets being eaten as someone passed their BEd today. They have already been teaching for some years. I guess no different to how I played the game. First ... read more
is it a good day for lemonade?
We didn't spend long in Delhi. Caught a festival train from where we were (not too far over the border from Nepal) up to Delhi and then caught another train back to Agra. Some Uni students befriended us and shared their bunks with us. We attracted a lot of attention as usual what with being a family of foreigners, plus the fact I was knitting quadrupled the interest! The whole carriage seemed to look up whenever I put the wool down and had a unanimous 'well get back on with it' tone to their body language. One thing the Indian people ARE is masters of body language! Quite a contrast to the Chinese people's lack to show emotion. Crazy slow train journeys. Very late, as per Indian style!! Met many interesting characters of course. My first ... read more
class time
"We met Tsering at the border when we crossed over from Tibet into Nepal. He chatted to us while we waited for our bus to Kathmandu. Tsering invited us to visit his school there later in the week. He was on holiday visiting his family. He said we could come to the school to find him and guess what? WE DID! At the school Aiden and I went to the classrooms and had a look around. It has a good view at the top! There's lots of rooms to hide in! The children looked happy and they were studying hard. They made some good posters to put on the wall to share their learning. I asked what we could do to help and Tsering said he wanted to paint a new picture on the wall. First ... read more
Flower Om
‘I LOVE TO HAVE FUN. I LOVE MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS. I LOVE THIS BEAUTIFUL PLANET EARTH. THE REASON WHY I CHOOSE THIS CAR IS BECAUSE IT WILL TOTALLY SATISFY MY REQUIREMENTS FOR OUTDOOR LIVING. WELL.... TOMORROW, WHERE SHALL WE GO?’ Classic 4WD sticker art before we left Tibet.... We’re back in the land famous for its landscapes, hospitable locals, singing bowls, monkeys and handcrafts. While the Mountains are magnificent and one of the reasons tourism is thriving here, the Nepalese do not share our passions for trekking up them! We’re sitting in a garden in Kathmandu at a guest house owned by a French man. It’s a gorgeous day to be alive. Aiden: “I’d like to have next life as a cat”. “You aren’t coming back” Cal replied. “You’ve already been everything else. Human is ... read more
by train to Lhasa
This is the epitome of Spirituality.... however you may define it. The shining eyes and smiles of the Tibetan people are the most concentrated group of pure, happy ones that I've had the pleasure to meet. So vibrant..... the colours of their cloth, their energy, the sound of their language.... The whole place is an enchanting medley of people, animals and majestic mountains. The only down side seems that it's not easy to be a vegetarian in this part of the world though one can't blame the climate for such things. It's certainly quite dry out here. The good news is the locals are becoming quite savvy with greenhouses to grow more veg and solar is in abundance. After a magnificent rail journey, our guide welcomed us to the 'Roof of the World' at the train ... read more
"Mum finally said yes"
My life has slowed down immensely in every respect with the formal study behind me. My head is virtually empty which is quite a strange space to find myself in. Enjoying the changes though. One of my inspiring Swami's did a talk about how its easy to carry an empty or full matka (one of those Indian pots) on your head, but not easy to carry one that is half full as it sloshes around.... I'm usually carrying the full one so it's really a different space to be in to carry an empty one! I'm applying for a few different places to work and am happy to go anywhere. Really open to whatever the Universe throws at me! Such a difference as usually I create what I want and this time I have virtually no ... read more
Serbian Pavilion
We went to the Shanghai World Expo, it was really cool in weird way there were lots of pavilions showing that country’s culture and ideas. As it seemed half the population of China wanted to see the Expo we had a hard time getting a hotel and we had to move hotel almost every day we were there! There were many people at the Expo so the larger countries had lines that could be up to 4hrs. We decided that we would visit some of the small countries first. We went to the Serbian Pavilion, In this pavilion we learned all about the Milankovitch Calander which was made by a Serbain Man by the name of Milankovich. This calander only looses 1 day every 43000 Years, which is much more accurate than the callender currently accepted. ... read more
family outing
I have had the luck of pretty much being able choose my jobs at sea. Last year I had the pleasure of conducing a beaked whale survey in the tropical waters of the coral sea. This year I would be sailing from Cairns to the Solomon Islands. The trip started as most trips to sea do; rough and with about half the crew spending most of the trip lying down, praying that the seas would calm and they can again resume some sort of normal life. The rough seas started a few hours out of Cairns and didn’t stop until we rounded Guadalcanal and headed into Honiara many days later. While in the Sol we had the great opportunity of spending a considerable amount of time in the Russell Islands, a beautiful part of the world. ... read more
