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Published: October 10th 2008
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i am sitting in the saturday cafe in kathmandu. norah jones is playing in the background and i am surrounded by handmade clothes and shelves filled with books in a language i can read! there are quotes painted on the wall by mark twain and thomas edison. it's hard to believe i'm in nepal. i just ordered some tomato lentil soup and a grilled cheese sandwich, so i will type as i wait for my food to come.
it's day three in kathmandu and i am falling more and more in love with this place every moment. i can't exactly explain it other than to say nepal has a much different energy than india and i feel so much more at peace here. more at peace than i've been since i left the united states over a month ago. this month is a huge holiday for most nepalese people so many shops are closed because a lot of people have left the city to go home to villages to celebrate. this means kathmandu is a lot more quite and less congested than usual. that's great for me, especially after spending a day in delhi.
let me back up a
little. last monday was my last day in dharamsala. after a crazy week of a paper, presentation, and two tests all the work was finally done and we were given monday off to relax, spend time with our families, and get our things together to go.i spent the morning packing and running short errands, and the afternoon at home with my pala. eventually, it was time to head to where our group was meeting to get in our taxis. of course, my pala wouldn't let me carry anything so he strapped my huge backpack on his pack and my brother lugged my heavyass duffel bag. we were a little late and missed the group photo that all the students and their families took together but i didn't really mind because it meant a little more time i could spend at what proved to be an incredibly loving home to me for the past month. i said goodbye to my amala at the house. somehow, our lack of verbal communication due to her not really speaking english and me not really speaking tibetan made little difference in terms of a caring relationship. before i left she gave me a huge bag
of hot dried peppers that i'd become addicted to since living with them. my brother cordially shook my hand when it was his turn to leave me at the drop off stop, we have eachother a good palm squeeze and he turned and left with a smile. of course my pala stuck around til the last moment, and by then i was weeping. emotions took over me and i was suddenly flooded with an overwhelming sense of admiration for three of the most kind, loving, and compassionate beings i have ever had the pleasure of meeting. he wiped my tears away, told me not to cry, and wished me a long life as he presented me with a kata (a white scarf tibetans always give on significant occasions). what a man. what a man. what a man. what a mighty good man.
then it was a 3 and 1/2 hour taxi ride to the train station. we waited like 2 hours then got on the train for 10. i slept pretty much the whole time and woke up at 430 am as it was just about time to get off. from there we took a bus to our guest
iyshi
our neighbor baby who a week before i left started calling me "acha helenla" or sister helen house in the tibetan settlement area of delhi. there was a huge disgusting trash heap outside of the entrance to the refugee community. i went back to sleep for a while and when i woke up, had plans to take a taxi with two other students to the tibetan bureau to try and get a permit to go to southern india in a month to do my independent study. we found out that the permit takes 3 months unless we were to bribe the travel agent 3,000rupees so we decided to nix that idea. i'm still not sure if i'll be going south, after coming to nepal i'd feel pretty okay with staying here and avoiding the heat and the infectious mosquitos of south india.
in delhi, a few others and myself took a taxi for about 45 minutes to another part of delhi, found a subway, ate americanesque food and couldn't have been happier about it. then we went to the bahai lotus temple. the place was huge and beautiful and totally silent inside. i just sat and meditated for a long time, and watched all the different people pass by me with great intrigue.
the next
ultimate americans
enjoying soft serf at a mcdonald's in india morning we took a bus to the airport, waited for a few hours, then took a quick flight to kathmandu. and here i am! the past two days we've received teachings from a buddhist monk at a nearby monastery. two two hour sessions a day, with a long lunch break in between. the schedule of this week is much more relaxed than the previous month has been and i am really appreciating that. the monk has been going over basic buddhist principles, like the four noble truths for example. (the truth that suffering exists, the truth of the cause of suffering (ignorance, desire, anger, pride, doubt, and negative mental outlook), the truth of the cessation of suffering (that suffering can be avoided), and the truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (how to avoid suffering).
i am learning a lot i feel like i already knew but am hearing them in ways i've never heard before.
tomorrow is a free day and i plan on exploring more of the city. we are staying in the tibetan area called boddha and it's pretty small, one circle with the world's largest buddhist monument in the middle. our hotel overlooks
the black market
i didn't know this was a physical place until i went there and proceeded to be accosted by many sketchy men the stupa (which is the name of the type of monument that buddhist relics are kept in, like a tomb sort of with lots of sacred texts and allegedly parts of the buddha himself inside of it). we'll be here until thursday and then we head out out out of the city and towards the mountains. we'll take a flight to 8,000 feet and start hiking for 3 days until we get to the kingdom of mustang where we'll be exploring and camping for 20 days or so. no cars, little electricity, a once in an eon experience. we learned today that many enlightened beings have made pilgrimage there. i feel lucky.
i just bought the book "the dharma bums" by jack kerouac and will take it along with me.
i had a funny conversation with a sprint operator this morning because my phone is broken or just doesn't work here. anyways, she had no idea what i was talking about when i tried to explain to her that i wasn't in the u.s. and that i was in nepal. she'd never heard of it and everyone in the internet cafe i was using the phone in was smiling
and laughing and i couldn't help but to do it too. seriously! it exists. and its beautiful.
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Priscilla
non-member comment
Hey Helen I am really enjoying reading your entries, and can feel how much you are loving what you are experiencing, even when it isn't always fun. Enjoy your retreat, it sounds absolutely wonderful. xo Priscilla