Journeys of a Pregnant Virgin

Saturday, April 23, 2005.

I have been "entertaining" the possibility of writing a few lines here for some days now, and have decided to take the leap. This does not feel like an organic way to stay in touch with friends at home but having enlisted Yvonne's and Shirley's help in setting it up, and having promised quite a few people that "of course I will stay in touch," I will give it a try!

I have been in Switzerland for over a week now, and in Zurich since Monday. So much has happened - both outer and inner - that I don't quite know where to begin, but let it be with my arrival in Erlenbach (half an hour cab ride south of Zurich) last Friday at 3 pm - only to discover that I did not have a place to live. It turns out that the dear elderly woman who'd promised me a room was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a year ago and had lost track of the fact that the room was already in use. (There is more to the story but I don't feel like rehashing it right now.) Strangely I did not panic (maybe I was just too jet-lagged) and within fifteen minutes I'd called the Jung Institute in Zurich and told my sad story to one of the Administrators who immediately gave me the name and telephone number of her friend who had a room for rent less than ten minutes from the Institute. The next morning as I prepared to head into Zurich to see the room and attend our "Opening Semester Party" I received a call from my previous landlady's son-in-law offering me another (nicer) room in the house. Actually, since the elderly couple are being moved into an old folk's home as I write this, I would have had essentially the use of the whole house, including a gorgeous garden overlooking the Zurichsee, and a Steinway grand piano in the living room. Suddenly I had not one but two good prospects.

Well, here I am in Zurich. The room turned out to be a studio apartment which is what I'd always dreamed of having but thought I'd never be able to afford, and the landlady, while a little pixilated (sp?), is generous and eccentric and seems happy to have me here, having asked me several times already whether I'll be back in October. We went on a long walk this afternoon (I opted out of 6 straight hours of German lectures!) and tomorrow she leaves for Bali for two weeks. I can't get over my good fortune in getting what I'd dreamed of through such a strange, dare I say synchronistic, turn of events! From my large windows I see much of Zurich below me and the birds and church bells compete for my attention as I write.

I "took to" Zurich immediately in a way I never did to London or New York. It is a beautiful, gracious, civilized city, and about a month behind Vancouver in terms of Spring blooming, so I'm enjoying the blossoms for the second time around. I already feel comfortable here, as if I've been here several months rather than less than a week. As in Vancouver, I have everything I need within a 10-15 minute walk: the Institute, a large grocery store, a bank, post office, etc.

The opening party at the International School for Analytical Psychology (ISAP) was wonderful and not what I expected. We drank wine and chatted, ate, and then a Brazilian musician got us all drumming and dancing, training analysts and students alike, and I knew I'd come to the right place! I'm just sorry that I was exhausted and had to leave before the serious dancers got going!

Meanwhile, the lectures and seminars have begun and I am stimulated and inspired. There is a warmth and humanity to the place that I really appreciate and a sense of starting something new after all the anguish of the split from the Institute in Kusnacht. (Last night I dreamed that the two Institutes would offer about twenty lectures and seminars jointly soon - I'm not too sure what that means!) Last Sunday when I was still in Erlenbach I took a walk into Kusnacht and, I must say, there is something magical about the original C. G. Jung Institute, with its gorgeous setting and rose garden and the energy of so much of the Jungian world in and around it. But the psychic energy now is poisonous and I cannot be part of that. Everything I have heard since my arrival affirms that I made the right decision in coming to the new group instead.

One of my greatest delights in my little apartment is being able to listen to all of the music I uploaded onto my trusty little Mac I-Book (thank you, Yvonne, Brendan, Shirley!) with the help of superb speakers I bought just the day before I left. The sound quality is great and I have Bach and Mozart for company at breakfast, and a wide variety of other music the rest of the day. Email has not worked out so well - I have to do it over Shaw Webmail and that's slow and clumsy - or is it just me?

On my wander back from the Bahnhofstrasse - supposedly the most expensive shopping street in the world - I stopped into an English language bookstore and bought a lovely book called DIVINE BEAUTY: The Invisible Embrace, by John O'Donahue, which I am sure to quote here soon - it is a profound celebration and meditation on the importance of beauty in the world, a beloved theme of mine as well.

Enough for now. I still feel a little awkward - is this a letter? a journal entry? Am I pretending to write for myself, knowing you (who?) will be reading this? For now it is an experiment and I'll see how I feel about it tomorrow, next week, etc.

The Pregnant Virgin has arrived in Zurich and the pregnancy continues!