# Chapter 15: Leaving the City Behind While I was away, Hurricane Sandy was ripping through Staten Island. It was the worst natural disaster my hometown had ever seen. Countless houses along the shoreline were torn apart, hundreds of families lost their homes, and a handful of people were killed by the sinister weather. My family was unharmed being that our home was stationed in the center of the island. However, friends and relatives did suffer tremendous losses. > [!reflection] The Irony > I considered it bizarre that while such a devastation was happening at home, I was surrounded by monks and nuns, in and out of the recitation hall chanting, praying, and bowing—safe from harm and distanced from tragedy. I would be destined to return home in another week and the island would be different—I would be different—life would start all over again. --- ## Finding a Place to Stay I needed a place to stay for the remaining week of my journey as I was getting ready to leave CTTB. I wound up asking Spike and Angela if I could stay with them in San Francisco for at least a few nights. I still wanted to spread myself out and collect different experiences in different places. There was a hostel I wanted to check out in Berkeley and a couch surfing lead in Oakland that would fill my remaining nights. Spike and Angela warmly agreed to have me stay at their townhouse in San Francisco for a few nights, which made me happy. --- ## Bittersweet Departure Leaving the City was bittersweet. I had made good friends while I was there and I hoped to see them again sometime. The City had taken good care of me and its sacredness will forever reside as a space of purity in my heart. > [!important] The Journey Continues > My journey was to continue at street level through the urban landscape of the Bay area—within the world outside the gates of the CTTB, where darkness, demons, angels, and light mingle together to create the free world. --- ## The Ride to Berkeley I caught a ride with an Asian guy named 'Young.' We hadn't spoken much during the recitation. He was soft-spoken with long dark hair—a very gentle guy who was closely related with the monastery. We drove through the hills of Marin and down to the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, an affiliate of CTTB. The monastery happened to be serving a decadent lunchtime feast in honor of a special visitor... Bhikku Bodhi—royalty among present-day monastics. --- *Next: [[Ch 16 - Bhikku Bodhi]]