November 3, 2009

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And now my schedule starts to look a little bit different. I was planning to leave the monastery Nov 1 and to go to Agra and see the Taj Mahal, do some yoga, go to Varanasi and Bhodgaya. BUT, I have decided to stay at the monastery as long as possible instead. I have decided to fly to Thailand from Delhi instead of training/busing it to Kolkata over two weeks. I really like it here and I want to stay here as long as possible. I am getting regular meditation teaching from Mingyur Rinpoche (who, if you've never heard of him is the bomb) and people here are so nice.

Some of you may know this: I used to practice Zen Buddhism. This is quite different. The monks here are way more laid back, in fact everything is more laid back. I was playing soccer with some of the monks a few days ago. I've made friends with the monk who runs the canteen (meals options:noodle soup from a package, momos (like Chinese dumplings), the ubiquitous chow mein, and friend rice; snack options: cookies or chips.....it's a little grim, thankfully I eat with the workers from Singapore. They are doing the carvings and painting on Tai Situ Rinpoche's new apartment). There's a Kiwi woman here who teaches the monks English every night and she's invited me to come in as a guest. They are working on creating an english-language play right now about some of the main stories in Buddhism and tomorrow night I'm going to watch them and give them feedback. Then, two days after, the whole class is going to be an acting class. We'll play lots of theatre games, I think I'll do an acting warm-up with them (voice, body, relaxation), then I think I'll have them rehearse their scenes again. I just want to get them up on their feet and get them hungry to tell some of their own stories through theatre. Maybe I'll do a writing activity...I'm not sure...It's only 2 hours after all...

I think it will be quite different than the students I've had in the past. The teacher told me that (because of their meditation practice) they are incredibly sharp. She read me the list of words they came up with when they were supposed to find words that rhymed with each other....I don't think my vocabulary as an English speaker is so accessible to me. I'm nervous, but excited, I just want to do a good job.

Yesterday, I hung out with 3 monkeys outside. They were in the tree above me and I was reading below. I had to keep an eye on them though, because monkeys can be really nasty. I've also seen wild parrots, I don't know if I mentioned that in my previous post, but that was very exciting and felt exotic.

Jo and I had a slumber party last night. She lives in the Green Guest house, which is where the more permanent residents stay. She went into retreat today, so it was kind of our last hurrah. We highlighted her hair with purple and pink (the purple fades into the pink tips), watched some of a movie, picked apart a box of Indian sweets (GAH-SO SWEET) and laughed our butts off.

Oh: general impression. People here sing. In India, people just sing, at the top of their voice, no self-consciousness. Even if they don't know the words. It's pretty fantastic.

I'm also going to come into the drum class and teach them some basic Jazz and Rock patterns on their drum sets. Sweet!

I think that's it. Today's schedule: meditation round 2, do some research online (what I am presently avoiding), dinner, reading, walking, exercise....a pretty relaxed day now that Jo's gone into retreat...

very much enjoying my stash of dates, sourdough bread, orange juice, and fresh fruit.

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