《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 65 (143):招待善男信女

What I will be hosting, to be exact, is a series of retreats to be held at the Ashram this spring. During each retreat, about a hundred devotees will come here from all over the world for a period of a week to ten days, to deepen their meditation practices. My role is to take care of these people during their stay here. For most of the retreat, the participants will be in silence. For some of them, it will be the first time they've experienced silence as a devotional practice, and it can be intense. However, I will be the one person in the Ashram they are allowed to talk to if something is going wrong.

正確地說，我要在今年春季將在道場舉辦的一連串靜修活動中，擔任招待的工作。每次靜修期間，約有一百名來自全球各地的善男信女前來進行爲期七至十天的禪修。我的任務是在他們停留期間照料其需要。靜修期間，參與者靜默不語。對某些人而言，這是他們頭一次體驗靜默的禪修，可能是一種極端的體驗。不過，若有任何差錯，我就是他們在道場當中的說話對象。

That's right—my job officially requires me to be the speech-magnet.

沒錯，我的職位要求我做一個以說話取勝的人。

I will listen to the problems of the retreat participants and then try to find solutions for them. Maybe they'll need to change roommates because of a snoring situation, or maybe they'll need to speak to the doctor because of India-related digestive trouble—I'll try to solve it. I'll need to know everybody's name, and where they are from. I'll be walking around with a clipboard, taking notes and following up. I'm Julie McCoy, your Yogic cruise director.

我必須聆聽靜修學員的種種問題，然後爲他們想辦法解決。他們可能因爲打鼾狀況而必須更換室友，或因爲與印度相關的消化疾病需要找醫師諮詢——我得去解決。我必須記住每個人的名字，知道他們是哪裏人。我必須拿着寫字板走來走去，做筆記，進行後續工作。我是你的瑜伽領隊。

And, yes, the position does come with a beeper.

沒錯，負責這個職位，將會配給你呼叫器。