Arrival at the Monastery

So today (Wednesday), Dennis and I arrived at the "Siddhartha Foundation" where we will both be spending a few weeks as "Teachers of English" to the monks at the monastery. This was NOT the original monastery that I was supposed to be volunteering at, but as my local guide (Sanju) says "Such is how things work @ Kathmandu"; things just change last minute; and one has to just go with the flow of such changes.

I'm at a new internet cafe, and there is no direct USB port for me to connect my camera to this computer, so I WON'T be posting pictures for this post, but hopefully I can figure something out in the near future (pictures do make a huge difference!).

Anyway, it's nice here at the monastery. It's in the Northern side of Kathmandu; which is a little more quiet; and it hugs closely to some of the hills/mountains. I may decide to do a little one day hike this weekend, we'll see! It is also different than what we Westerners have as an ideal of a monastery in Nepal/Tibet. It's still in parts of the city; yet it's NOT; since it's a monastery. So there's the bustling of the city; yet there is also the serenity of the monastery, all mixed in with sights of local poverty as well. Dennis and I explored some of this, by testing out some of the local foods from the street vendors. I had some roasted corn and some "momos", which are basically Nepali dumplings (beef). Pretty spicy, yet delicious.

Ironically, these locals DID NOT rip me off, unlike some individuals in the Thamel area (tourist zone). I was unable to speak Nepali to find the price, and each time they gave me back change; the local food, costing me only pennies in Canadian currency (well more towards 20-30 cents). I offered to give more money, but they refused. Interesting experience.

Oh yeah, before I forget, bumped into an interesting individual yesterday, Jenny, who quit her job and is travelling abroad for a year, creating a blog to help people find volunteer opportunities on their own as they travel abroad. It's pretty interesting, here's the link: I LOVE Travelling.

Till next time!

- Julius