The first centre activity of the year was the 72 hours prostration retreat end of May. Following that the building season was opened. First we noticed several damages which had occurred over winter:
The roof of the sangha-house was damaged to a large extent, all the tiles of the southern side were broken or gone. These damages we had often, they appear due to the extremely strong winter storms. That is why we decided to cover the roof with a plate for now, which can be fastened and secured better than tiles. An agent of the Allianz was there and noted the damages, the insurance will cover the costs. Due to the recommendations of a carpenter we also made the down tilt steeper and heightened the roof.
The provisional building in the centre of the place, that is used as storage room, course kitchen and Cafeteria, also was damaged so strongly through the wind, that reconstruction doesn’t pay. It all was quite ugly anyway, which is why we took it down completely. Instead we constructed a pretty new kitchen/cafeteria house.
Sheet metal flying around have slightly damaged the roof of the lama house (only a few tiles and a few corners of plaster) and the little generator house has disappeared completely, sort of gone with the wind. We built a retreat house with two rooms and separate shower and toilet. They are limited to the sangha house by a dry wall and thus protect the retreat area. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to finish the building completely. A leafy roof and a nature stone front are to be added to give it a cave-like character. Another dry wall supports the slope in front of the lama house. In front of the Sangha house we constructed a beautiful pergola made from wood with a straw roof. By this the “gypsy camp-feeling†has disappeared, which reigned due to using the camouflage nets and plastic foils as sun protection.