Take me to my city by the bay~Day 4

Down by the bay where the rip gut grows back to my home I dare not go :)

So as I’ve stated above, we started out the day by my favorite place-the beach! We worked with the Presidio National Park rangers to stop invasive plant species in the bay area over by the golden gate

Yes, I know, very serious business saving the world in all from none other than the notorious weeds of the bay area.

Although I didn’t feel super impactful, I did learn a lot of about the biodiversity of the bay area and more reasons why I am going to one day live here.

In strawberry fields forever...

I also heard a lot from the main park ranger, Michael, who lives near the park with his wife and two kids. He said his wife was from Oklahoma as well and had moved to New York after graduating from Baylor and now teaches yoga in San Fran. His daughter is very into observing the environment (lil Jane Goodall) and his son love baseball. 

As I heard more about his life, I began to see more and more how the lives of people who lived here were not so foreign from my own. I didn’t need to be rich or well connected to enjoy this place and not get lost in it. 

After our intense weed pulling, we embodied the stereotype of land locked midwesterners enthralled by the ocean. Some of our team completely immersed themselves in it while others gliding along the foam and took pictures-utter joy.

We changed out of wet clothes and shook off our dirty feet before walking to China town. I must admit that the area really didn’t greatly interest me. Strawberries and macaroons kept me on a sugar buzz until dinner. 

Cuisine from Peru and Nepal were brought to us by our token international students who made homemade macaroni and spicy chicken. From there we were off to a Vedanta Hindu Temple. 

Now yesterday the little door on the religious portion of my brain had started to creak open. Today, it was blown wide open, leaving me to feel the winds of change and discomfort while learning intently a practice that intersected so uniquely with my own.

When the Swami walked in I was expecting a man from India or at least with dark skin, this man was white and elderly. He was dressed in peach robes I have seen in pictures of monks and spoke with an air of wisdom. 

We then went into the main service area and listened to songs sung in Sanskrit. When I read the lyrics I was very surprised to see how deeply they applied to my own faith.

They expressed beautifully the vanity of this world and the love of something greater that is full of love and hope. 

The Swami explained more about why this similarity existed after meditation. He said the Vedanta believe good and bad are at work in this world and help mold each other. 

He said God is like water in a shallow pool, it exists all around us and inside of us but because it reflects all that is around it, God can be hard to detect. 

We were able to discuss the many questions we had with a member of our group who is Hindu and Scott who is the enthusiastic religion major. 

It was hard at times to wrap my brain around this whole new system and try to understand this worldview. Although I did have moments of enlightenment, I realized that Hindu, much like Christianity, is not a one dose catch phrase. There was much philosophy that needed to be explored. The core essence of Christianity seems much easier for me to comprehend, but maybe that is because it has been evangelized so often. Through it’s sharing it has been simplified while Hindu remained more of a philosophy to be sought after. 

As you can tell, I’m walking a wobbly bridge as I head to new places, but I’m learning so much about my own faith and how that interacts with others. I can’t wait to continue to grow strong in that message of love and hopefully one day spread it more along the San Francisco Bay.