Back in Berlin

I am back in Berlin after my five week 'sabbatical', although I have calculated that I was in Berlin on 12 days during this time, either teaching English or attending meetings to do with the purchase and redevelopment of our new Buddhist centre. On one level it feels that I have hardly been away, but on the other hand I notice that the break has definitely done me a bit of good - maybe helped me to gain some perspective on my situation here.

During the nearly ten years that I have been here this is the longest period I have spent away from the activities at the Buddhist centre. This is of course no surprise, as it is the centre that is my overriding reason for moving to Berlin in the first place.

The last couple of weeks in Luckenwalde saw the rich green of the surrounding countryside rapidly turn brown and dry as temperatures have soared to intimidating heights, that means I have to get up early in the morning or wait until quite late in the evening to avoid running in temperatures of well over 30°C. One advantage of running so early in the day was that yesterday morning I enjoyed an unexpected sighting of a baby wild pig as well as a deer and several storks.

This morning my health checks continued with a visit to a radiologist, who scanned my stomach and liver, following a borderline blood test a couple of months ago. Happily I received the all clear.