Just Something to Think About.

I have been recently contemplating quite often the differences between life in the West and life here (at least for my daily life at the monastery). This experience of living in a simple Monastery in the third world has given me much more appreciation for a lot of basic things that we have in the modern developed West. For example, stable electricity, clean and filtered running water, Western toilets, double beds, electric stoves, clear roads (only a few potholes here and there); instant access to the internet (basically ALL the time) and basic infrastructure (ie. the monks here incinerate their garbage! But there are public and private garbage disposals systems here as well).

We kind of take all of this for granted in the West, but it's because of stable infrastructure, technology and wealth that we're able to have all of this; and it's very humbling when; for example; you're in the internet cafe and the power just turns off. Or just taking a cold shower (which is pretty alright during a hot summer day; but come winter?). Or just having a stable internet connection and NOT having to dodge potholes and cars while strolling down the road (oh wait, we DON'T walk on the roads in the West - we have sidewalks! ha!).

On the other hand, don't let this seem like I'm only saying how great we have it. There's quite a few things we can learn from developing third world countries, ones like Nepal. Expanding on my previous post, the people here face more challenges; yet seem just so much more content and satisfied with their lives than we do at times. Perhaps it's just a symptom of being that much closer to the frailties of the human conditions; that leads one in the third world to easily appreciate what they DO have (ie. family, decent food, shelter, basic sanitary health, the opportunity for education).

Personally, I'm enjoying my time in the monastery. It's nice to have a set schedule. Wake-up at 5 (or sleep in til breakfast at 7); blog/plan, lunch at 11, classes at 1 and dinner at 6. It's a pretty consistent schedule that has room for free time. But I do sorely miss home and Canadian life as well! Sigh, the paradox!

Anyway, here's a few random pics:

Me in front of a Hindu Temple @ Durbar Square (Patan). It was so Hindu; that I wasn't able to enter inside of it.

Durbar Square, Patan.

A few of class 3-4 monks helping with Dinner Preparation.

Yep, they're a bunch of Cows, just wandering the streets. Since Hinduism is quite prevalent in Nepal, the Cow is considered to be a holy animal and thus are NOT to be killed. They eat Buffalo meat here, poor little Buffalos!

Teaching, My History Students and a Deeper look into Nepali Life

I've been teaching the older monks Canadian History now for the past two-three days and it's been a challenge, indeed. Distilling 8000 years of information in a few days (ice age, right up to the era of First European Contact in the 1500s). What's also challenging is knowing whether or NOT I'm pushing the monks too hard, I still get blank stares 1/2 the time, yet I'm certain that this is the only way they'll get better in English, by using it and listening to it in a 'normal' topic, such as history. We'll see though, eh.

These are some of my students:

Sonam; he's been in the Monastery for 10 years, if I understood his English correctly.

This is my 5-6 Class. Dennis taught them the first week; so this is a really good picture of them all. I'm not sure if they like ME THAT much. I'm really testing the limits of their English by throwing Canadian History at them (Dennis specialized on games)!

As promised though, I wanted to blog a little more about the status of Nepal in general. I still haven't found the appropriate words to articulate the striking paradoxes that I witness everyday, such as the happiness within such poverty; the calmness within the chaos of no infrastructure and such stark contrasts between modern life (ie. cell phones, internet cafes) and traditional life (ie. farming and traditional religion); living side by side; on the same street. It's something quite hard to articulate (I guess I just tried to eh?); perhaps some pictures will better illustrate how the locals are and how life is here. These pictures (above and below) are courtesy of Djamilia, she's a little shy about her pictures; but I think she's done a great job!

These next pictures are more of the monks at the monastery (Siddhartha Foundation).

They're sitting outside just waiting.

Lunch time, eating together. They only get Eggs - twice a week. It's a treat. But don't let that fool you. They're quite healthy. Daal and Rice twice a day, it's pretty damn nutritious. It just definitely isn't the same when you're talking about variety and choice.

Below are some more pics of us wandering around the monastery-area.

A bunch of school kids that we bumped into while walking around the monastery. They're all smiling and in uniform and walking beside a rice field (yeah; so were we).

A local farmer.

The two pictures below are of parts of Kathmandu City. Notice the architecture and also the sharp contrasts of hanging clothes and the buildings.

Yeah, it's been an interesting experience indeed and there's hundreds of more pictures; but they still don't capture how life is here and I think I'm still processing and learning myself. Such sharp contrasts; happiness, calmness amidst poverty and chaos. It's definitely NOT what is normally advertised in those "infomercials" playing on our televisions all the time. The people here CAN use financial assistance; governmental assistance, assistance with infrastructure, food, water, education, etc. But they're definitely NOT as helpless or hopeless as they're usually portrayed on TV.

It's an interesting phenomenon. Hard yet simple lives; and in some ways; happier and less lonely than the average Western life (at least on an emotional level).

- Julius

Weekend at Thamel

So yeah, it's been a few days since I've written on the blog, eh. Sorry about that. It's been a different sort of weekend, as I returned back to "Thamel", which is the tourist district of Kathmandu; and went to stay at the Quest Office for the weekend (with the local NGO - they have offices near Thamel and places to stay for us volunteers). The people at Quest have been great and greatly hospitable (and the uVolunteer staff has been amazing as well, with emails, skype contact and paperwork for me to do =); that's how I know they care!). Here's picture of the team from Quest:

Top (Left to Right): Sanju, Baby, Djamilia, Lauren, Sila
Bottom (Left to Right): Dennis, Deven, Julius

They were quite absolutely amazing as well, and surprised me with a birthday cake Friday morning. I should have seen it coming; since they're just generally amazing people and take volunteers in as if we're family. But for whatever reason, I was 100% caught off-guard with the birthday cake. Here's some pics.



But yes. That's about all I want to write about right now. I just started teaching a 2 week curriculum on Canadian History with the older monks, so I have to do much more advanced preparation! I'm a law student, NOT a history teacher!

I have so much more I want to write about: the status of Kathmandu, infrastructure, much more on the daily lives of the monks and I have tons of pics of it too (we've been on quite a few adventures), but I'll just have to post them later, the duties of a teacher calls!

Till then.

- Julius

Daily Life at the Monastery and Teaching Lessons

I've now been living at the monastery for exactly one week and it's been quite the journey. I'm pretty much settled in now with the day to day life here and have recently been learning more and more about the day to day lives of the monks and also how the whole monastery is run. We also have a new teacher on board with us (for the next 2 weeks at least and I'll post about her in the future, she's been a great addition to our team and good for brainstorming lesson ideas).

I am going to attempt in the next little while to go more 'in depth' into life in Kathmandu and in particularly, at the Siddhartha Foundation. I feel that this will help me process the experience and also give you all a deeper and more REAL understanding of what's actually going on in a third world country. It's going to be a challenge to articulate something that one really has to experience first hand, but I will try my best as I believe this is probably one of the largest lessons I will learn in this trip - the realities of living in a third world country, a country that IS considered to have a significant proportion of its population living in "extreme poverty"; more specifically, living with less than $1 USD/day (which is 70 Nepalese Rupees - which could cover some certain basics, such as food, water and potentially shelter as well; depending on where and with whom you live with and if you do your own cooking).

It's also something that I believe that I will process and learn more about, even when I return back to Canada, so I dare NOT say nor claim that I truly know how life is in the third world; all I can reflect on are my opinions and my experiences.

Anyway though, before we delve into this topic (which I probably will in a future post); I wanted to share more pictures of the monks, in the classroom and in their chanting room. Chanting is their primary mode of worship, which they do 2-3x a day; for 1-1:30 hour sessions; sometimes as early as 5:30 am. It is quite the experience, I've sat in on 1 or 2 already. Here are some pictures; they were great enough to be OK with me taking pictures even during such a sacred activity:

NOT the best picture, didn't have flash. The picture in the centre is their Root Teacher, the teacher of Khenpo Rinpoche (however, he has passed away). You can't make it out, but the picture on the right is the Dalai Lama.

This is their chanting room, which is right beside the three larger teaching rooms on the ground level. Holds around 40-50 monks, I'd say.

On a personal level, teaching has gotten a little easier as the kids have grown more comfortable with me. I ended up teaching Classes 3-4 (Approx. age 11-14) about the lives of Jet Li and Jackie Chan (since they loved action movies so much); I put them on the spot, by asking them to do a quick oral presentation on an individual of their choosing; modelling it on biographies that I presented to them. It's been quite a success; and I only have 3 more presentations left for tomorrow. The teaching week goes from Sunday to Thursday; so tomorrow will be the last day of the week; and next week I will teach Classes 5-6 (Approx. age 15-18). I'm strongly considering teaching them about Canadian History, can't hurt learning about the history of the West.

Here are some pictures of my class and the classroom.

Listening intently and copying down notes.

I'm working them hard! Group work, while brainstorming about their individuals. This is on the ground floor of the monastery. One of the larger 'teaching' rooms.

- Julius

ESL, Law Students and a Little Trekking Around Town

So I've taught my first few lessons of English to the monks and realized how difficult it really is to be a teacher. My respect and appreciation goes out to all my friends and colleagues who do this as a profession, I've only done it for a few days and it is quite challenging. It's interesting because most of these kids are quite smart and know Nepali and/or Tibetan pretty well. However, they don't have the confidence nor the practice in English to be totally fluent.

It reminds me actually of the first year of law school, where we have EXTREMELY intelligent individuals (1st year law students); struggling to understand the 'legal language'. I just had a taste of how some of my professors must have felt, explaining a concept and then looking into the crowd of a bunch of blank faces, no one really willing to give an appropriate answer. So there you have it, 1L Professors, I appreciate your efforts and patience!

Here's some random pics of the Centre. I really need to take some pictures of the kids while I'm teaching.

This is Thupten (finally got his name); just lying in the middle of our room.

These pics are just of Dennis messing around with the sleeping dog!

Today I also went on a little trek with my colleagues, to the local Lord Vishnu Centre, see pics below.

Lord Vishnu in a pond, in the middle of the Hindu Temple. The monks tell me that the story goes that his figure came down from the Heavens and hence was NOT man-made. At least that's the story!

Scenes from the Temple.

Don't have much else to articulate right now; just have been busy planning lessons. Please leave comments and share with others! That's how I tell people read the blog and motivates me to write more (This is the first time that I've been blogging consistently)!

- Julius

More Pictures, Days off, Sightseeing and Facebook

I've decided to post more pictures, most of them are just from sightseeing or wandering around during my days off or just before arriving at the Monastery. Something interesting though crossed my mind today as I was in the internet cafe. I looked around and I see a bunch of young children, and they're on facebook. Being the curious person that I am, I glance over and see that one of the young boys is messaging a girl from the United Arab Emirates. It's CRAZY! Facebook has DEFINITELY changed the world. Even youth in 3rd world countries (yes, it is the capital city, but STILL); are able to connect with OTHER youth around the world; instantaneously. We'll see what all this means for the world in 10, 15, 20 years from now; but definitely the world is a smaller place now; via location and via $$.

Here are some pics, enjoy!

I played a local game with one of the monks. It's a cross between checkers and pool! I tried my best, but he schooled me, BIG TIME =).

Just watching some movies on the TV. They have access to Bollywood, Hollywood and Chinese movies. Crazy! I ended up watching "The Warrior's Way" with them.

The Cricket Pitch. On Saturday, the classes have matches with each other. It's quite competitive, actually.

These Pictures were taken when I was "trekking" up to the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park. I didn't know how far the park was, nor was I ultimately prepared for trekking, but it was a good few hours of my time. Apparently there's a nunnery in the park (which spans over 159 sq km) in which there's a beautiful view of all of Kathmandu valley, I might just make another trek there sometime and do the journey.

Rooftop of a local school, overlooking the valley.

Nice shot of the valley from above.

Can you find the monkey??

Dharmashringa - Vipassana Centre

Below - Sightseeing at the Boudha Stupa.

The Boudha Stupa

Nun meditating with a bowl and rice.

The four above pictures are from the Boudha Stupa, quite beautiful.

Just a nice scenic shot from the valley. Cool architecture too.

Notice the bottom right corner? Chickens and Motorcycles, what can I say?

Typical Street in Kathmandu Valley. NOT as crowded as the Thamel Area. When you're there though, it feels 10x more hectic, as there are car honks and everything else going on simultaneously.

- Julius

The Monastery: The First Few Days

So, I've arrived at the monastery, the "Siddhartha Foundation" and taught my first introduction class of English to the monks, alongside my friend and colleague, Dennis! It was quite the experience, it seems that Teaching English to a class of young boys will be quite the challenge, even if they are officially "Buddhist Monks". Kids will be kids, and perhaps I had some hidden presumptions, but it seems like the younger ones are more interested in action movies (ie. Jackie Chan, Jet Li) and sports (European Football and Cricket) than Buddhism!! But then again, I've only been here for a few days, it'll be hard for me to judge.

One of the Older-Senior Monks: Yisia (I have to confirm with him the spelling). Really nice guy, showed Dennis and I around the first day we arrived at the monastery.

Also following a conversation with one of the kids here, I found out who was the Guru, or lead teacher of this monastery: Khenpo Rinpoche. I did some research on the internet and found his bio (link above - oh internet, you work wonders). He seems like a very interesting and compassionate individual. It seems as though most of these kids that I'm helping to teach are either orphans or come from families generally in the "extreme poverty" category (ie. not enough food to eat, etc). Although I wouldn't call the living conditions in the monastery "the high life", all the basics are provided: good and nutritious food, clean water, shelter and a formal education (which I have the privilege of being a part of). Although I am familiar with Buddhism and Asian Culture, I am still shocked by the respect and courtesy that is shown to Dennis and myself as guest volunteer teachers. Although definitely NOT the most luxurious, we have our own private squatter bathroom, a 'nice' two bed suite and they literally bring up 3 meals a day for us and take it away after we're done.

The Siddhartha Foundation - This is only their temporary home, they are raising funds to build a building with more adequate facilities up in the hillside. This may take a few years.

This is the "Suite" where Dennis and I share. Last night we heroically expelled a "Daddy-Long-Legs" and a few mosquitoes from our room, w/o any casualties on either side.

Dhal Bhat - Local Nepali special. Most people eat it 2 times a day, and at the monastery, that is what we're getting for lunch and dinner. It's mainly rice with Dhal (lentil soup), but as you can see, we get a few sides as well, got to love the French Fries (Sorry Dennis, I mean "Chips").

The food is pretty good, but I'm still getting used to it. It's a bit spicy and I think it also has to do with the local water, their water filtration/sanitation/sewage system is definitely not at par with our Canadian one and my Canadian stomach has not fully adapted, even with all the vaccines I've taken, ha!

Kathmandu is truly an interesting place. This would be officially my first time in the "3rd world", and it messes with your head. On one hand, you witness extreme poverty (just tons of beggars, garbage, traffic, scammers, etc); and yet on the other hand, cell phones are aplenty, internet cafes are accessible, and monks play cricket and watch Jackie Chan movies on Saturdays! All this within an unstable government system that is unable to really provide adequate infrastructure to guarantee the necessities of life. And within all of this chaos, the Nepali people just seem.... so happy and content. Especially when one finds himself within the confines of the local monastery; where amongst the surrounding chaos; all one finds himself doing, is eating, playing, chanting, reading, some basic chores and sleeping. Life's definitely NOT ideal, but it's NOT bad at all here at the monastery.

Here's some pics of the monastery pets, I forgot their names =(.



Till next time.

- Julius