In between all the buzzing activity of the course build-up, there was also a different side to the last four weeks. Volen from Bulgaria beautifully captured some of the more quiet moments of friendship, reflection, relaxation, and meditation. Enjoy!

„We are so quick! Everything is smooth – the EC and the Summer Course teams are working perfectly together.”

Ingo from Germany

„After four years, it is clear how important it is to meet regularly over the years and spend some time together in order to make the team cooperate more smoothly. And this year many people have surplus, many things are done much earlier.”

Roman from Czech Republic

„Amazing build up with lots of friends from all over the world with lots of surplus.”

Sven from Germany

„Being at the Europe Center is incredible. So many people gather, share their skills, discover new dimensions, and gain from the exchange. Everything always fits perfectly.”

John from USA

„Great building-up phase! More relaxed then ever, a lot of fun and a good mood everywhere! A lot of people but still a cosy atmosphere.”

Ricarda from Germany

„Coming here, especially, from Australia, is amazing. You can really see the potential, and how much our Lama inspires people. So much activity, so much joyful effort and so many deep connections developing so fast! I’m so glad I can be a part ot it every year and wish that everyone have the conditions to join in!”

Matt from Australia

Nowadays we have a few sunny days after a lot of rainy hours. So when you consider that the mud outside the gompa tent was similar to that inside the tent, you can imagine how difficult it was to set up a wooden floor. The work is not only happening with construction or building up the course. We have a bunch of friends who at the same time are quietly working on their computers – preparing the moreEC campaign, graphics, registration systems, program schedules, translations and much much more.

Of course we are not only working: we have lectures of the traveling teachers who are here (like John from the US or Peter from Spain), movie evenings, late night talks and – surprisingly – parties in the Bau-Cafe

..and only a few days and we meet with our Lamas and thousands of our friends! Life is great at the EC!

Many friends stayed to help after the 2nd build-up weekend, and we have never seen the big tents go up in such a short time. So many people having so much fun together despite being soaked to the bones while putting them up. We are truely amazed at the spirit in this year’s build-up phase and would like to thank everyone who came for their great support and diligence!

And then there was a very special supporter of the work – following a movie night together in the Diamond Room, Lama Ole joined the boys for some serious wood chipping behind the barn. Afterwards he returned to his desk to work on projects like an interview for “Buddhism Today” together with Caty and the team.

Still there is of course looots of work left until the course starts – so please come, put up your tent in the sunshine and join the fun!

On the pictures you can also see the new dishwashing machine for the course. No more bringing your own dishes and cleaning them yourself afterwards – just pick up plate and cutlery and enjoy the service!

In beautiful sunny summer weather, the pick-ups, trucks, and forklifts were constantly driven up and down the hill with tons of wooden bars for the kitchen floor. The hardworking friends putting them together on the course site were supplied with refreshments and sun protection by others whenever it was needed. Saturday night was relaxing time – chatting and dancing in the Baucafé after looking at the plans for the new EC building.

Step by step, the kitchen floor, stairways, and some security fences as protection at the steeper parts of the grounds are being built up. All over the place the familiar beeps of the walkie-talkies could be heard…  it feels like summer course a bit already! The course site is growing by the day – people are arriving,  staying to help and enjoying each other’s company.

We all loved the family-like atmosphere and and felt at home as alyways. Thanks to the EC team and everyone involved!

The EC-addicted North Sanghas

The weekend started with a lecture from Kai Burmeister who shared the history of the EC project. Kai told us about the Lama’s vision, the work of the inspired people who were trying to implement that vision for almost 10 years, the success of buying of our beautiful Europe Center and of it’s running for the last 3 years.

The topic of this weekend was not only Summer Course issues, but also the main topic of the upcoming course – the start of the fund-raising campaign for the new buildings “More EC”.  Stands with information about the campaign will appear on all the main courses of this summer- Karma Guen, Kuchary, Tenovice, Becke and Lolland, but the main kick-off will be at the International Summer Course.

The teams discussed not only organizational questions, but also the spirit of the Summer Course – working out of surplus, human development and our idealistic view. It is not only important to work well as separate teams, but also to be interconnected with other teams and share information.

The last day of the meeting, as is usual for this time of the year, is also the public statue exhibition at the EC. We are grateful to all the SCT meeting participants who helped us to clean, prepare the house and to represent the Lama in the most beautiful way.

• the EC Steering Team met, as every Sunday, to work on an agenda of questions, issues and tasks that accumulated over the past week
• Shamar Rinpoche greeted all while on the phone with Lama Ole
• Lama Ole finished a manuscript of a new question-and-answers book and a first part of a three-part article on transmission
• the Summer Course core team summed up the very successful weekend and fixed the program of the upcoming Summer Course 2011
• Manfred K. came from Munich to set up a new address book system for Lama Ole’s team (aka “the pool”)
• Bulgarian friends visiting the EC drove home happily with 3 new statues for their centers
• 2 film crews shooting documentary movies about Lama Ole and Hannah came to the EC to discuss their projects and their financing
• the Press Team sent out a statement about the recent events in the East
• a new Diamond Way Musicians international group was created, putting together sangha musicians who want to support various projects (e.g. movies) with their music
• old water boiler in the villa collapsed – accidentally, all the experts were around and replaced almost it immediately
• the new EC road sign was designed
• we (finally) sent out Lama Ole’s New Year’s cards

And this was just the 3 of us talking about things we were involved in mostly outside of the Summer Course team weekend program. The other 90 people attending the weekend would add much more to the list as their teams met to prepare the Summer Course: the gompa team, the transportation team, the finance team, the purchasing team, the registration team, the dharma shop, mini-market & merchandising teams, the cafeteria, the childcare, the sound team, the kitchen team, the medical team, the I-grow-EC! team… you name it.

Life’s never boring! Especially at the EC.

So here’s a walk around the cafeteria tent with the “World’s Best” shop, the “Meet & Connect” area, coffee bar, the “I Grow EC” stand and Paul’s famous job center – as well as some impressions from the communication team meeting in our “Baucafe” and from the kitchen tent – with pretty much everything ready to go for the course!

We’re very much looking forward to welcoming you here within the next days. However, if you cannot make it to Allgäu this time, you can still join in via live streaming from the lectures with Lama Ole during the Transmission Week and by watching the space on this blog, of course! We’ll keep you updated as well as we can.