I am sitting by a pond full of lotus flowers. This year is already half over, yet the buds of the lotus flowers have still not bloomed. They take their time.
The sun shines on the lush green and bowl shaped lotus leaves. Yesterday, I saw water collecting in these leaves, swirling around with the wind.
I gaze at the forest behind the pond. The enormous trees reach almost to the light blue sky. Their leaves rustle, as if they are all waving to me excitedly.
I smile back. Alongside the pond a bird hops through the meadow. Even though he can fly, it must be beautiful to wander on the Earth sometimes.
I feel how Mother Earth holds me. Throughout my life and until the end of my life she will do so.

Since my arrival here (Plum Village), I have realized that I have found another paradise on this Earth.
Surrounded by nature and by mindful and loving people I feel safe and so alive.
This place in southwestern France reminds me of my two homelands (Germany and Vietnam). Here lotus flowers and bamboo trees grow along with a few banana trees amidst Western European flora.
Here, nuns and monks in dark brown robes and shaven heads live. Most of them speak Vietnamese and I feel a slight heaviness because even though we share the same homeland, I hardly speak their language.
I feel that it is easier for me to connect to the Western nun because all my life I have tried and learned to adapt to Western people, so that I can be a part of them.
Those who are now unfamiliar to me are those who I share the same roots with.

I go inwards repeatedly. Bells ring regularly in this place. They remind us to pause and return to ourselves. Over time I learn that there is a home that needs no words, where language barriers do not become walls. That is the place within me.
In Noble Silence we spend the time from dusk until morning. During this time I learned that the most important language is that of the heart.