My First Week at Osel Ling

Sunday, September 21

Every night I seem to be sleeping better - although there was a protest last night at 11:00 p.m. with lots of shouting and sirens and whistles and general commotion and I was up with the sun at 5:30 a.m. so it wasn't as long as I would have liked it to be. This morning was scheduled as free time, so I had a quick breakfast of toast and jam and headed to Thamel to take advantage of their relatively high-speed internet. I was able to upload my first couple of entries and was scouting around the market for a cold diet coke when one of my compatriots found me and told me there'd been a change of plans and we had to go to language class immediately. So we strapped on our bandanas (to guard against the pollution as much as possible) and started walking. It's only about a 30 minute walk, but it's not a leisurely or enjoyable one. We crossed the streets holding hands and celebrated each time we made it accident free. At the VIN office we had our last formal Nepali instruction and then headed back to the TPH to pack and go our separate ways. At 2 p.m., Bhupi hailed a taxi and we loaded in my bags. Then he got on his motorbike, said he would be following us and told the driver where to go. After a short 15 minute ride, we pulled up in front of what was obviously some sort of significant landmark in the city and...no Bhupi. The driver knew about 10 English words amounting to "Where's brother?", to which I replied, "I don't know", and "Where you going?" to which I replied, "I don't know" and "He pays me very little", followed by a sad face (from him, not me). Five minutes, then ten minutes go by and I start going through my emergency back-up plan. This was an easy one - I'd have him take me back to the TPH and surely I'd eventually find Bhupi. After about twenty minutes of sitting in a hot car surrounded by two months worth of luggage, Bhupi pulled up and signaled for us to follow him. We went up a winding series of alleys and then stopped as the road ended. Kebita (a VIN employee and our language teacher) was there to meet us and we unloaded my bags and transferred them to a wiry and very strong looking sherpa. Then we proceeded to climb some very steep stairs heading towards the monastery. I didn't count the stairs (I might before I go) and I have no idea how far it was, but it took us a little over half an hour - it was quite the climb! But it was worth it because the monastery, the grounds, the view, are all absolutely beautiful! I was met by Emily, a volunteer from the UK who has been here for 6 weeks and is leaving at the end of the month. We had tea with the Kenpo (he's like the abbot of the monastery) and then Emily showed me around a bit. Osel Ling is on the top of the hill (in case you didn't already get that) and the sight of the city in the valley and the surrounding mountains is stunning. The air is fresh and clean and the traffic below is barely audible. Hooray! My room reminds me of a dorm - spartan but very comfortable - a bed with a couple of drawers beneath, a night stand, a small shelf/desk with a chair, and an attached bathroom/shower. We even have a small kitchen to ourselves with an actual refrigerator - quite a luxury here! We grabbed dinner from the huge pots cooking on the wood stove (and dinner was, you guessed it - rice - daal baat, to be specific, which is lentil soup poured over rice with some vegetables thrown in) and chatted a bit about the classes I would be teaching tomorrow. No orientation, no shadowing, no student files, just me and a bunch of little monks in 12 hours. Should be interesting. I'm too tired at the moment to even imagine what I'll do so hopefully something will come to me in the night:).

Monday, September 22

Well, nothing came to me in the night. Just the sounds of several dog packs at war. They have morning prayers at sunrise (5:30 a.m.) and then a morning meal at 7:00 a.m., which I missed because I was leafing through my resource books like mad, trying to figure out a lesson plan. My first class at 8:00 a.m. was compromised of seven monks, ranging in age from 12 - 19 and although the teacher who had the class before me did her best to share what information she had, I felt like I was flying blind and hand-cuffed, given I knew nothing about their skill level and could barely communicate with them in their own language. I muddled through somehow but can't imagine what I'm going to do for 50 more classes. My next class was filled with 13 monks, ages 6 - 14. Let's just say that living in an all male environment with very little supervision hasn't exactly made them a calm bunch. And it's next to impossible for me to try and impose some sort of discipline because they can come, or not, and I don't even have the vocabulary to give the simplest of commands. As you can imagine, my basic Nepali instruction, and those you get from courses and books, aren't exactly geared for the classroom. My third class was a repeat of the second and I did my best to get through it without any of them hitting each other (although there was some dragging and pulling). Next time I can get on the internet, you can bet I'll be googling "alphabet games".

So I made it through my first day teaching; I'm hoping to do a little more research tonight on some classroom ideas, study a little more Nepali, and see what tomorrow brings.

Tuesday, September 24

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. this morning and spent some key time with my Nepali dictionary so I could manage today's classes a little better than I did yesterday. It's amazing what a difference "please sit down", "please write your name" and "don't shout" can make in a classroom full of little boys. And speaking of little boys, I had 17 show up for my afternoon class, only there were no empty class rooms so we met on the lawn, where it was barely contained chaos until it started to rain and then I just had to laugh as the little monks helped me put away all the supplies I had strewn about. I had tea with Kenpo (Tibetan tea - which tastes like tea with 3 tablespoons of butter and 1 teaspoon of salt added, if you can imagine), and we chatted about the monastery and the U.S....and don't ask how we made this transition, but I ended up trying to help him fix his iPod. I saw his iTunes library and there was no Californication or reality TV, just lots of Buddhist teachings - for real.

Wednesday, September 25

I wouldn't say I've hit a rhythm, but I am starting to settle in a little bit. I went down the mountain after my first class and bought some peanut butter and bread (oily, sugary peanut-looking spread and white spongy slices of something with no nutritional value whatsoever). I've learned from Emily that lunch is always veggies and curry over rice and every once in while we have a sponsored meal with extra vegetables. Dinner has a little more variety and is always one of three things: chowmein, little pasta dumplings, or soy stew - all served over rice. I've been so hungry that I've eaten my bowlful at every meal but in case I just can't eat rice for breakfast, I've got a back-up plan. My classes went a little more smoothly today - thanks in part to the nametags I asked them to create, no small task since many of them don't yet know the alphabet and the sounds from their language don't always translate. It's only been a couple of days but I find myself very much wanting to mother the little monks - they don't really know how old they are but I swear some are 4 or 5 and they so desperately look like they need a hug and someone to wipe their snotty noses. I've never seen so many snotty noses! They don't seem to be keen on tissues here in Nepal (except for to sell to foreigners at inflated prices) and so there's a lot of expectorating and other bodily function noises that I'm not used to hearing in polite society. Although there are 100 monks here, I've only interacted with the youngest ones, and when we're not in class they tend to be a little shy. One of the smallest ones followed me after class, stood at the door to my room and just looked around as I put my bag and supplies down. His eyes settled on an inflatable globe I'd brought with me so I took it outside and we played in the hallway for half an hour, neither of us saying a word. I get the feeling he gets pushed around, being so small, and when our game was eventually interrupted by some of the bigger monks, he got pushed to the back and started to walk away so I ended the game and told him I would see him tomorrow. Well, I just said "tomorrow" in Nepali, so I hope he understood. Shortly thereafter it was time for "noisy" puja (really, I wish I could tape record it for you - it's a cacophony of horns and gongs and kids screaming) and then "quiet" puja before dinner, which is a really lovely ceremony where the older monks (and the younger ones, if they can read Tibetan) chant and drink tea for about 90 minutes. The temple is in the middle of the compound and it's really beautiful - very intricately decorated and impeccably maintained. I stay in my room for noisy puja, because I can hear it just fine, but go to the temple for quiet puja. Dinner is at 7:30 and it's dark, so shortly thereafter I'll retire to my room and prepare for tomorrow's class. Ah, the monastic rat race!:)

Friday, September 25

I made it through my first week:) My classes are going well and in fact seem to have grown (20 monks in my afternoon class!); I managed to record and correctly pronounce everyone's name; I've only resorted to peanut butter and bread twice and I've successfully hand-laundered two sets of clothing - all in all a good week.

And now, some random thoughts/observations:

UP AND DOWN THE MOUNTAIN:
684 stairs one way. And that doesn't include the rocky, down-ward sloping paths that connect the various stairways. Also, 8 dogs, 13 chickens/roosters and 10 goats. One way.

KARMA:

During evening Puja last night I felt a sting on my left forearm and instinctively slapped it with my right hand, successfully destroying the intended target. I felt a flash of satisfaction before it dawned on me that I had just killed a sentient being IN a Buddhist temple DURING a prayer ceremony. I'm f'ed.

OOPS:

I'm very conscious of being in an all male environment and am trying to be respectful of the fact that I am living here among the monks as a guest (when even the Buddhist nuns have to live in a separate building). Our rooms are dormitory style, in a U shape around the temple. So I did some laundry today because after two straight days of rain we finally had enough sun to dry wet clothes. I hung the shirts and pants out on a rack on the outdoor walkway but hung my underthings in my room on a line from the window to the chair. And who should come calling at my window....Kenpo! (to ask me to explain why Bush needs 700 billion dollars and what's the financial crisis about anyway, but that's another story). They're so counting the days till I leave.

Next post: pictures!