Dharma Teaching in Portland: Cảm ơn co giáo.

Tôi rất vui được gặp bạn Prema

My favorite teacher was in Portland last weekend so I took the train down from Seattle to hear her. I had exchanged emails with her in the past and heard her teachings on cd and dvd, but it was a different thing altogether in the flesh. Lively, engaging, bouyant, and wise: these are the words I need to translate into Viet to complete this section. 

Các em có thể nhảy, quá

I was especially inspired by the way she taught the Tara Dance to the children, she was very clear and obviously had a great time with it. This is something I could do, it’s got all the things I’m passionate about: kids, Dharma, yoga, dancing, social and emotional development, Tara Dhatu. I need a dozen eight year olds right now, please.

Tôi dã có mọt vấn đề và tôi trở nên khó chịu.

One of the things Prema shared with us is something she learned from Dogma Kusho, who is also a teacher I love deeply and admire greatly. Damala told Prema and Prema told me/us, “The bigger the obstacle, the bigger the blessing.” Well, I missed my train home from Portland by about four minutes. OMG was I pissed and sad. They wouldn't let me camp out at the station, which closes overnight so I had to come up with and unplanned for wad of cash to pay for an extra night in Portland.  Since I was in town for a teaching on : "Tara Remover of the Eight Fears," I had no business getting that upset. Fortunately I got over it quickly and just chilled out.

Bài học là gi?

(Disclaimer: This Viet phrase might not be right, for after all, all I’ve got to work with right now is my iPhone VDict app. In general, I’m pretty much just using an online Viet translator to learn these phrases. Sometimes I get to ask a human for help, but not tonight.)  

What I’m trying to get at here is “What is the lesson?” as in, I vow to learn from this unpleasant situation, but I don’t yet know how that’s gonna look. I fear that this phrase might mean something like “which book are we using?” I’ll figure that one out later.

Today’s vocabulary:

rất vui                                  happy

được gặp bạn                       meet you

các em                                 children

có thể                                   can

nhảy                                     dance

quá                                       too (?)(Haven't asked a human yet) 

mọt vấn đề                          a problem

Tôi dã có                             I had

khó chịu                               upset

Trở nên                                become

Là gi                                     what is

Bài học                                 lesson

Điên                                     mad

buồn                                     sad

Slow Down, Girl: Giảm tốc độ trong năm 2011

Quá nhiều điều xảy ra tại một thời gian
In 2010 I had a relatively new (and very challenging) job, a new housing situation following 20+ years in my previous place, my mom got cancer and I got slammed with a giant unexpected bill from the IRS. I also got a couple of cute dogs, made some really cool new friends, had a few gratifying successes at work, and spent lots of time with people I love.


In October or so, I started to have some physical reactions to all the stress that was going on, but even that didn't stop me .

Tôi bị mất ghi chú của tôi nhiều lần năm ngoái
It wasn't until I started losing notes that I'd taken at various meetings that I finally cried uncle. Something I'm going to look into: it seems more than a little dysfunctional to me that my own heart palpitations don't bother me as much as screwing up on the job. 


Tôi sẽ thay đổi hành vi này
So I will do a couple of things to remedy all that.


First: I love yoga, so that tops the list. Teaching this year.

Second: I'm not even going to comment, it just makes me giggle and then I feel better. She's gonna be my new guru.

This week's vocabulary:


Giảm tốc độ            Reduce speed
trong năm 2011      in (year) 2011


 quá nhiều               Too much
 điều xảy ra             Things happen
tại một thời gian    at one time


Tôi                            I/my 
bị mất                      lost
ghi chú của             notes
nhiều lần                 several times/repeatedly
năm ngoái               last year       


hành vi này             this behavior
sẽ thay                    will change

(and this one I have yet to confirm with a real person: not sure but I think cười khúc khích means giggle)