connection

The pictures are:
*A funny pic of me looking a little like Cousin It
*Israel and his friend playing sitar and tabla
*The sitar and tabla
A willingness to freely give of yourself, without want or expectation of anything in return, and a gracious acceptance of that which is given to you. A connection made, a footstep changed, a glance exchanged, a life imperceptably altered. For me that is what the best of days would be. A continual melody of conections and my repetitive choice to accept their affects as a part of my life. As a part of who I am, to not deny the change that they affect on my life, to not deny the chorus of the creation.
Today I had the wonderful chance to run into the fire dancer, Ben, who I met a week or so ago, again. After he finished he said that he had to go and do a few more shows, but that I should come to the big street in Albycin with all of the Arabic shops, and to the fifth tienda up on the left, which was a cafeteria, around 11. One of his friends, Israel, was going to be playing the sitar with another guy on tabla, and a belly dancer. It was amazing for me to be sitting in a very small room, surounded by people smoking Hookah, drinking tea, and listening to the music as a belly dancer twirled around in the tiny space in between the tables. It was exactly the type of experience I had been hoping for when I decided to come to Granada. I wish that I had the ability record music, or that I would have been able to take pictures (the few that I have are pretty dark, a flash would have ruined the mood...) so that I could share some small part of the experience with everyone reading this blog. It was incredible.
Then afterward all of us went up to Israel's flat, which was just above the cafeteria, and had food, drank drink, played music, and generally had a great time. It seems that everytime I allow myself to have a seemingly completely random encounter, to make friends with some guy sitting next to me at waterstreet, or a fire dancer in the pasaeo de los tristes, a wonderful thing occurs. The risk, the first gift, the difficulty that I experience in extending myself to give some piece of me, and then let go of it completely, has seemed to be repayed unto me a thousand fold.
I do not how to adaquetly describe what it is like to sit in a little apartment, in an ancient building that has probably been around since Islam was the dominant religion in Granada, with people from a dozen different countries, speaking at least 4 different languages, and to feel at home, to feel like I belonged. All less than 5 hours after meeting everyone in the room. Incredible.....