Some Post-Trip Reflections

It's only been a few days since I've returned to Canada, to both Toronto and London, Ontario; but the differences in lifestyles lived in Nepal and Canada are stark and quite noticeable. I don't have access to the camera at this moment, so will be unable to post some of the pictures that I took on the last day of my Nepal trip (hence -> I WILL have at least 1 more post, in which hopefully I will also wrap up some more information and links on the organizations that helped me out; if you [the reader] are interested in doing something like what I did or in helping out the Siddhartha Foundation directly).

My life in Canada is more emotionally and mentally hectic. Meals to plan, courses to choose, friends to see, dishes to wash, money to manage. The contrasts are very stark compared to the simple and organized lifestyle that I lived in the monastery at Siddhartha Foundation. There are however quite a few advantages to my life in the West. There is definitely more freedom, more choice and more potential for growth, affluence and comfort.

I just hope that in the coming weeks and months, that I'll be able to incorporate some of the simple life principles that I've absorbed via my time at the monastery. I can't ever go back and just renounce my life and 'become a monk', but I could simplify certain aspects of my life in a more orderly fashion, bringing more peace and awareness in what sometimes is a hectic schedule of planning and doing.

How does that LOOK in daily life? BEATS me, but I do know that holding this intention and distinction will hopefully play a role in providing an answer. That's about it for now and indeed the end of a chapter or journey of my life, a great one indeed and thanks for reading this with me!

I have my own personal blog that I started a year or two ago: Julius Ko but I haven't posted for basically over a year (when I started law school). This blogging experience has been quite rewarding for me on a personal level, YET it does take time. I'm NOT one of those individuals who just loves to blog every single day! But perhaps, I could blog occasionally, perhaps a few times a month; to keep the trend. Tell me what you think and perhaps check out my blog occasionally, I think I have it set up with my facebook account as well.

Till then, I have enjoyed this internet journey of blogging about Nepal 2011 - Volunteering Abroad.

- Julius

Internet Cafe, Pasta and the Last Day!

Ok. So this is my last day at the monastery, I'm leaving back to Thamel in the afternoon. But first, lets talk a little bit about the local internet cafe that I've been using. I decided to conduct an on the fly interview with Renuka, the owner of the internet cafe.

Me: When did you start the internet cafe?

Renuka: 3 years ago.

Me: Why did you start it?

Renuka: To support the education of my younger brothers, who are both currently attending University.

Me: What's the BEST thing about operating an internet cafe?

Renuka: Meeting different types of people.

Me: What's the WORSE thing?

Renuka: Dealing with customers and customer service!

Me: Thank you!

Renuka at her desk!

Phone booths for international and local calls.

Last night, we did end up cooking pasta for the monks. Tyler and I miscalculated a little bit about the portion sizes, so the monastery cook had to cook a pot of rice as well, to add to the portions. It was pretty damn cool, because most of the monks have never ate pasta in their lives as well, a fitting 'go-away' dinner for me as well.

Our Big Pot of Sauce, it actually took some time to prepare it.

Pasta!

Moi.

The monks about to enjoy their pasta!

And oh yeah, Yeshey (the head monk) was gracious enough to provide a suitable going away breakfast, see below, CORNFLAKES with MILK!!!!! HA!

Cornflakes from this morning (it's Thursday here)

Me and Yeshey

Tyler and Yeshey

I will miss the monastery! A bientot!

- Ju

The Quest Office and the Final Days at the Monastery

As my trip winds down (this is actually my last full day at the monastery); I realize how much I will miss all these monks! It's been a good time, yet it's also about time to head home and return to my life as a law student! I said that I was going to blog about the Quest Office and post some pictures on it.

Quest is the local NGO that is the intermediary between uVolunteer and Siddhartha Foundation. Their office is located near Thamel and I highly recommend them for anyone looking for a local volunteer agency at Nepal.

Where I slept when I stayed the weekend, and most likely where I'm going to be tomorrow night, my last night in Nepal!

The washroom facilities are much more on par to our Western Standards and there's also ample supply of warm and hot water.

Nice Kitchen!

The Front of the Office. I noticed that I forgot to take any pictures of the actual "office", but it's all good, you get the picture.

Anyway, the last few days. I've been a lot more relaxed with the monks. Time is running out, so the teacher/student barrier was being removed! We've had quite a few visitors as well, with sponsors of the monastery from Hong Kong and France and also Khenpo Rinpoche himself dropping by. It's been good. Tyler and I are also planning a special meal tonight (my last supper @ the monastery); we're going to do home-made pasta. Apparently the monks haven't eaten pasta before, or at least very rarely, so lets see if we can effectively cook pasta for 80 individuals; all for $20 CDN!

Just one of the monks posing for me and above, it's some handwashing that Tyler and I did. Yes, we used soap and water only. I figured I had to experience that at least once.

Goofing around with the monks. Teaching them some card tricks, etc.

Singee (the monk) with Thupten, the greatest dog in the world!

Et (And!). The Next Post.... All about the local internet cafe and the owner! The origin of the majority of these posts!

A Hike, Noodles and Grateful Monks!

Sorry for NOT blogging as often as I once was! It's just been the settling down of my trip in Nepal and also me pre-adjusting myself back to Western Life (checking emails, reading the news, etc!). Anyway, the past few days have been pretty damn awesome!

This is a picture of me and Classes 5-6 right AFTER they wrote my test for Canadian History. I'm still marking them and will be handing it back to the class tomorrow afternoon.

I have a story that is pretty damn spectacular, at least from my perspective; and it all started with an innocent hike with my friend Tyler up to Shivapuri National Park. The park hosts an impressive peak at approx. 2700 m high and also a nunnery called Nagi Gompa. So Tyler and I decided to hike up this mountain, making it pretty much a 7 hour journey up and down the mountain, with us scaling at least over 800 m vertical.

A Goat

Great View 1/2 way up the park.

The above two photos are pictures of Nagi Gompa, inside and outside.

The whole time, we only packed water and no snacks. So I'm complaining the whole time about wishing how I could just have some NOODLES!! Fast forward to today, Tyler and myself, with the help of Yeshey (I misspelt his name on a previous post - Yisia) decided to purchase over 60 bags of noodles and 40 eggs to create a mini-snack for the monks at the monastery. It was quite a hit. See below.

The cooking team working hard!

The final product.

I was told that the monks were praying for Tyler and myself, because we 'sponsored' the meal!

It was a pretty awesome feeling at the end. The whole thing costed us approximately 1100 (approx $15-16 CDN) Nepalese Rupees and we were able to make over 80 monks smile and be grateful to us. And all because I was craving noodles during a trek! Go figure.

- Julius

Daily Life: The Monastery and Outside

I've posted already on the daily life in the monastery and also life in Kathmandu, Nepal. However, in this post, I'll attempt to go in more detail of what goes on and hopefully I'll be able to upload some more pictures as well. Before I start, I'd like to say, thank you for reading the blog! And if you haven't read the other posts, feel free to read them as well. I'm writing this for myself yes, but also for others as a mean to share my experiences abroad; as that in of itself can create impact and change in others (such as yourself).

First, life in the monastery is quite different than life outside the monastery. It's so much more simpler and calmer inside. We have set meal times each and every day: 7 am, 11 am and 6 pm. The monks ring the gong at 5 am daily, waking everyone up. Some do chores such as cleaning, sweeping and washing the toilets (they probably do a better job than I do back home, ha!) and others help in the kitchens (to prepare the daily mails for over 80 individuals). There's generally chanting at 8 am, 10 am, English classes at 1, chanting again at 4 pm and sometimes also at 7 pm. It's a full day with mini-breaks in between and that's when volunteers like me can play sports and games with the monks and also sit in the chantings.

The rooms of the monks. They usually share the rooms with 1-2 other monks. It reminds me of when my 3 brothers and I had to share bunk-beds in a room not so much larger than these ones. Comfortable yet humble lodgings.

Incineration area for the garbage! The monks light it on fire weekly. Is it legal? I have no idea, but there's no garbage collection in this area, or perhaps it's too expensive for the monastery, who knows.

Just monks doing their chores.

I'm NOT sure if I posted this picture already, of the monks all eating together in the kitchen area. It's also where they watch Hollywood and Bollywood movies on Friday/Saturday. Also reminds me of my childhood, when my brothers and I would gather around the TV, watching James Bond or Jaws!

More Sweeping. He was doing this at like 5:30 am, I had to take a picture while he was sweeping outside my room. Notice the broom, it's made from sticks. Definitely MORE bio-degradable than our synthetic plastic ones at home.

Yeah, a half-broken outside tap (it doesn't shut off properly). They generally use this faucet to wash their clothes or to take a quick rinse after a game of football or frisbee (eh, I've done it too). I also tried to hand-wash some clothes with only soap and water (like the monks); it's pretty damn hard to do, detergent is DEFINITELY more ideal.

The monks here just got their heads shaven. I think they do this once or twice a month. They do switch the razor-blades, basic hygiene is kept. Good timing for these monks too, a bunch of them just came back from chanting for the well-being of their teacher, Khenpo Rinpoche.

Life outside the monastery is a lot more hectic. As I posted previously, the infrastructure in Nepal is one of the third world. The roads have potholes in them. The garbage collection is non-existent in some parts, there are constant power outages (even though the country has a vast potential for clean hydro-electric energy) and a coalition Government is struggling to form a valid constitution.

There are beggars on the streets, street vendors and stray animals running around everywhere. You stand in the midst of poverty; as rice patties and corn fields line the sides of the roads. It's definitely an interesting place, and I haven't lived with a 'host family' yet; so I can't definitely comment on how life is outside a monastery, I think it can definitely vary in comfort levels. I've talked to a few volunteers that have been spending their times at local orphanages and their conditions were much worse, with quite a few children sharing beds; and not having proper plumping for their toilet facilities.

That makes life look pretty damn good for the monks at the monasteries. And it is. The only thing is though, apparently over 1/2 of the monks do not finish their Buddhist studies, some leave in the middle of the night and never come back. I was quite shocked when a monk told me that. The path and life of a monk is NOT for everyone; and some choose to fend for themselves; instead of sticking to all of the vows.

Monastery - Update

Yeah everyone! I'm back! Haven't posted for a few days, it's been a little hectic recovering from my sickness (just a little stomach sickness) and then my two roommates returning to their home countries. Hence, I've been back and forth from Thamel and the Monastery. Internet Access hasn't been the best recently as well and just now; the computer was READING my camera but it wasn't detecting the pictures! Facebook hasn't been too friendly with me as well; some of it's privacy settings were having issues with the computers here (figure that one out, eh.). I'll see if I can get a few posts ready and just upload the pictures another day.

So yeah, my roommates Djamilia (from France) and Dennis (from the UK) have both left; and I have a new one, Tyler (from Australia). The past few days at the monastery have been good. I've been settling into the lifestyle more and more and have been bonding and playing with the monks more as well. We've been playing soccer (European Football), ultimate frisbee and cricket.

I'm NOT exactly sure why I haven't been posting as much recently. Perhaps I'm just more well-adjusted now and things don't seem as shocking (hence, the urge to write about it) or maybe it's just because I'm more than half-way done now and I've already started contemplating on how life is going to be again once I return home. I'm considering giving up my Blackberry; and going instead for a leaner plan. Last time I spent a chunk of time outside of Canada (3 months in Hong Kong - Summer 2004); I returned and gave up my cell phone altogether!

It's crazy, the quirks about our spending habits in the West; you especially notice it when you spend time in a foreign country; when it's less developed. It just makes you question more where and how you spend your money; and perhaps change it a bit. I'll blog later more about the monastery; how things work, etc; but I'm considering sponsoring one of the monks there (but in this case, it would also be sponsoring the monastery directly - since it is organized also as an institution as well). We'll see though. There's so many questions and information to ensure that your money is going to the right hands, etc. You just never know sometimes!

But yeah, I have under two weeks left at Nepal and hopefully I'll have at least 5 more blog posts left in me! It's actually quite an investment of time and effort blogging consistently, blogging itself has been quite an experience for me. So please comment and tell me what you think about posts or what more you want to hear about (I'm going to do a more detailed post on our daily schedule at the monastery, one about Quest Volunteer, one about the Internet cafe; and a few others!) and share with anyone and everyone that will benefit from this!

- Julius

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