It’s been a busy time since leaving Warsaw. An eleven hour train ride to Budapest followed by a 26 hour drive led me back to Chateau Fondjouan near Mur de Solonge in France. I can’t believe its already been a year since the last European Yoga Festival.
On one hand I really wasn’t ready to leave Eastern Europe. I felt like it was a shame to blow through so fast. On the other hand, I was feeling a bit tired from over 3 months on the road and thought it would be nice to drop my pack for 3 weeks.
In exchange for volunteering to be a part of the festival setup crew I’m treated to a lovely campsite, free admission to the festival, and all meals along with extra added benefits such as access to the Chateau facilities before and after the festival. There's no need to spend so much as a penny, during the entire time, while I catch up with familiar faces and friends from last year.
I arrived at the Chateau on Saturday Evening after meeting up with Kata in Budapest for a straight through drive across Austria and Germany. Kata is one of a few people I’ve kept in touch with since last year’s Festival via Facebook. She happened to be volunteering for set up as well so it made perfect sense for me to meet her in Budapest. Kata is Hungarian and lives in the city. She’s also a very hard working individual with a company that employees fourteen people. Kata manages it all at a breakneck pace so Yoga is a way of getting herself to slow down and take a breath for a moment.
What I can’t believe is that it’s already Friday! The first week has been a very busy time under less than ideal conditions. Last year the weather was more or less perfect aside of a day or two of rain. This year its been all about wind and rain with an occasional short period of sun.
Despite the mostly lousy weather I’ve managed to keep a dry camp and am really enjoying myself. Given the time I spent at the Chateau last year and the fact that I already know most of the crew I get a family home like feeling being here. The group is made up of a nice assortment of individuals who enjoy taking a little different approach to life. My work awhile, travel awhile lifestyle doesn’t seem foreign at all to those I’m now spending time with. The supervisor, Jerome, has a management style that’s perfectly suited for the situation. It all makes for a very nice environment in which I’m happy to be for the time being.
With all of the travel, work duties, group activities/meals, and dealing with poor weather I’ve had little time and not much inspiration to write. By the early part of next week things will free up for me so I intend to be more active on the blog. Time just got away from me since the last post.
I’ve included two photos with this story. One is a picture of the Chateau during a glorious break in the weather. The other is of a waiter at a nearby coffee shop I went to last year. I regretted not getting a photo last year so I got one with him this year.
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