Monks and nuns and tourists, oh my!


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Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Mcleod Ganj
March 10th 2008
Published: March 10th 2008
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Silly things the monks and nuns get up to:

1) Our nuns watch comedy car chases and people bashing each other up at lunch and dinner times on the weekend. They giggle.
2) One of our nuns has a Quiksilver Tshirt. Monks have been spotted sporting Converse and Nike shoes.
3) It's rare to see a monk or nun WITHOUT a mobile. Including IPhones.
4) Monks sneak out to play cricket when they're meant to have puja (prayer).
5) A monk was spotted playing a bloody shoot-em-up game in an internet cafe.
6) There's a blackmarket food trade going on in Tenzin's monastery -- the Indian cooks sneak sweets and other banned foods to the monks.
7) Nick taught his monks Uno, and they love it.

There's more, but I forget XD

Also, I love some of the signs about:
"Himachal Police - Better late than never!"
"Trees are love - save the trees!"
"Animals are peace and love - save the animals!"
"Birds die from plastic - save the birds!"

I saw a WWF sticker on a car in Delhi.

We found a place selling vegemite on toast. We've found places with GOOD PORRIDGE! And one place with decent coffee (Tenzin is happy. Very, very, scarily happy.) But we've yet to find a place with decent pizza for Daisy. We're trying though.

I keep getting messages from Airtel (my new sim card provider) saying 'Message cannot be displayed here'.
Also, anyone have any idea what 'muft' means? I get far too many promotional texts and calls, one of which said "Muft muft muft! *something in hindi* ringtones *more in hindi*". Also get calls with dead silence on the other end, or music. I've signed up to the Do Not Disturb register, so within 45 DAYS I'll have no more promotional messages! Something to look forward to...



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10th March 2008

:P
You know, I really like this subscription thing so now I really don't have an excuse for not reading your bloggy-ma-thingy! :P The Nuns and Monks sound absolutely awesome! XD (maybe they wouldn't get that shocked if they accidentally saw the lovely postcards of the "beach hotties" we could potentially send in the mail. :P Yay for amusingness of trip though! XD XD XD :P <3<3<3<3<3
10th March 2008

Wow, I just found out the reason you are in India now, ie. helping Tibetan refugees learn English! I must say I respect what you are doing a lot. The important thing is that in a world of globalisation, you are learning about Indian and Tibetan culture just as much as they are learning of Australia's (I hope). Cultural interaction is a wonderful thing as long as the transfer of cultural knowledge and experiences goes both ways, which sadly doesn't always happen. Often one civilisation has absorbed another, often technologically more primitive, but culturally just as if not more rich, which is something that should be prevented. Preserving the world's diversity of lifestyles and cultural environments, especially those close to extinction, is imperative for human society as a whole, similar to protecting the natural environment.
11th March 2008

Monks, nuns and holy people living dangerously :)
Hey Julia, This is Tom from China. We spoke a bit during the TEFL. I really like the idea of monks and nuns operating under the law. It sounds hilarious. Just goes to show you can have fun, even if you give up most worldy things. How's your teaching going? What's life for you like in India? I hope everything is going well :%
14th March 2008

julia, good to see you are learning the tricks of the trade!! you are a bad influence on those monks and nuns! missing u! xox
15th March 2008

:O
Lol! That sounds hilarious! XD Trees /are/ love. :3 How could you not love something that supplies us with oxygen to breathe and is a key part of the water cycle? ^_^ :o Vegemite!!! *laughs at your mobile spam* XD Mmm, now the Do Not Disturb register will be sending you stuff. :P PS: I hate the way this comment system removes all formatting. D: Any way of combating this? My comments generally have lines in between. XP
20th March 2008

Muft :)
Hey Kireness...Muft means "free"...

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