14　3/4-Helgaの薬師堂生活　　

We can’t get any worse, can we? これ以上悪くなりっこない！

昔は由緒ある寺子屋
　This shrine was a very important temple school for children around this area for a long time in Meiji era.
尼僧が冬以外は常駐
　When Helga was a child there was a nun/sister who had lived in shrine lodging and taken care of it.(except winter)
尼僧引退後ヘルガの家が管理人みたいな物
　After retirement of the nun, Helga’s father saw himself as custodian or caretaker of this shrine.
鍵を預かる　He had kept the key.
そんなわけでヘルガが引っ越せた
　That’s why Helga could move there.
悩み多き思春期真っ只中で家の中のゴタゴタにウンザリ
　She was in the throes of teenage angst and had been fed up with family matters in a tangle.
闇の中で8体の仏像と対峙しながら座禅で瞑想
　In the middle of the night, she used to seat in a kneeling position and spent in meditation for about an hour or so, in the center of the dark main hall and kept sitting face-to-face with eight Buddha statues.
昼間はみな穏やか They were all gentle looking in daylight.
夜中のロウソクの揺らめきの中では
But flickering flames of candle made their faces different ways in the darkness (lighting from underneath).
心配　困惑　決然　不機嫌　獰猛
　Sometimes concerned face, confused, determined, discontented and fierce face.
墓石に囲まれて気味悪いくらい静か
　It’s surrounded by many gravestones and eerily quiet at all hours of the night.
確かに不気味
　Yes, it was actually spooky.
刺激的で不気味でも　素晴らしい経験
Although the life there was very shocking spooky and hard, it certainly became an amazing experience for Helga.