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

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