This was my post for the group journal, found at www.auroville07.greatestjournal.com. I promise I'll post more about our amazing trip to Tiruvannamalai...once I get over how tired it made me :)

Another day in Auroville, and another set of new experiences and things to wonder at. I didn't realize that Auroville would be so conducive to change; each day, I barely have time to process one event before something new starts unfolding. Anywhere else, this process would take me so much longer...

Today was basically normal--or at least as normal as anything in Auroville seems to us. Yoga, breakfast (especially incredible today, thanks to Kalsang's genius), service learning (for me, Solitude farm where I spent a very calming three hours weeding), lunch at the Solar Kitchen (I loaned my bike to Leanne and walked both ways, which made me miss all the walking I do in Seattle), then class, which only lasted an hour so that we could participate in one of the most incredible discussions I've ever experienced. The talk was on forgiveness, led by two people--one whose daughter had been killed on the other's orders during apartheid in South Africa. Both of these people were so incredibly strong and courageous, and by the end of the two hours, the room was thick with the energy of the engaged listeners, everybody putting their ideas and feelings forward for the group.

I was struck recently by the genuine goodness of our group dynamic. We were all walking somewhere and I realized something about how I was reacting to our surroundings, and immediately turned to whoever was next to me and said it. It was only until later that I realized how fantastic it was that I didn't care which of our groupmembers I spoke to. This is, of course, only a tiny indication of the love and respect I feel towards everybody right now (must be all the chocolate I just ate). I really feel that this trip is only getting better and better...