Angry men, delicious food and T-momos!

So much stuff has happened the last 2 days!

After I was done uploading the blog post two days ago I started making my way back to the monastery. On the way an old man (who I had briefly met before with one of the monks) called me into a tea shop and offered to buy me tea. I had met him before and the shop was full of people so I figured it was okay. I entered the shop, sat down and within 5 minutes the old man had started throwing a tantrum. Out of nowhere he started ranting to me, very loudly, about how he HATES Nepali people, and how he HATES Indian people… the shop was full of Nepali people but he didn’t care. He kept this up for a good 15 minutes, declaring how he loves Americans and Europeans and how in his heart he is American. He said that it’s Nepali people who only care about money and about nothing else… I have a feeling he’s never been to America or Europe… He was growing more and more enraged, so much so that a group of people started to gather around. There I was awkwardly sitting across from this possessed man with people all around us. Yeah, so I was feeling super uncomfortable, absorbing all his negative, angry energy like a sponge and wanting to cry (of course). As soon as I finished my tea I rushed out of there. The next day when I was back in the village a number of people came up to me to ask me if I was all right… turns out this really is a village and the episode with the old man going crazy whilst talking to the new girl was the latest story…

So much love for these amazing people!!!
They just radiate happiness

Other than that everything has been going great! On the same day that the encounter with the old man occurred the man and woman who own the shop where I go for internet invited me (they finally found someone to translate their Nepali into English) to have lunch with them the next day! So yesterday at 11:00 am I went off to the shop with Paldin (who had to do some internet stuff). When I arrived they were already busy cooking away, it smelled amazing! Really, these people are so nice; you can just feel their warmth. So whilst Paldin was doing his internet stuff I was attempting to make small talk with the couple, whose names by the way are Ramsaran and Giatri. I call them Ramsaran-ji and Giatri-ji out of respect though (thanks for the tip Carol, they were so pleased). Anyway, so there I was watching them cook whilst Ramsaran-ji was calling out all the names of the vegetables they were throwing into the pan; chimi, aloo, tamta… Then Paldin joined the conversation and we started talking about their family. Turns out they have a son and daughter! As soon as the conversation started Ramsaran-ji left the room, he came back with a photo album, his laptop and a DVD disc. We looked through the photo album and then he showed us what was on the DVD; his daughter’s wedding video… he is the epitome of a proud father. The video involved cheesy music, shaky cam and bad animated effects but it was so great either way… if I ever get married I’m totally getting one of these videos made. You know, I could just ditch university and start up a company in Nepal that makes those kind of videos… Ooooh

The food was ready at 12:30 and Paldin was invited along too in the end. We were guided to the dining area where Giatri-ji loaded tons of food onto my plate… oh my, I’m a really small eater so I didn’t know what I was going to do. The meal consisted of Dal Bhat, Chimi-Aloo (my favorite one of all the things I tried), Aloo, Chickpeas, spicy pickled stuff and sour pickled cabbage. So much of the food was spicy so I was not having the time of my life (I’m such a wimp with spicy food, don’t even get me started) but I managed it by mixing it in with the rice and lentils. In the end I ate SO much food that it felt as if my stomach was going to explode… whenever my plate started looking empty Giatri-ji loaded it up again. I’m pretty sure I gained about 5 kilos just that afternoon! They told me all (via translations through Paldin) about where the vegetables had come from; their garden, even the rice! Turns out they have a patch of land where they grow everything that they eat (I could shed a tear of envy). Ramsaran-ji proudly declared (in English!!!) “no chemicals!!!”. What a dude. I asked whether they could show me their garden some time and they said of course. I’m so excited!

I don’t know how I managed the 10 minute walk back to the monastery with my super full stomach, but eventually I got there and I crashed onto my bed for a nap. At around 2:00 pm I went down to Paldin’s room and we watched some Russell Peters, hilarious, of course. Then at around 3:00 pm I had to go down to the village because Colten was coming for a visit. It was so badly organized though, I didn’t know when he would arrive and he didn’t have a phone on him because Rachel had taken it with her to the hospital, stomach bug. I sat there waiting for a bit, then I figured he’d probably come around 4:30 pm because that was the initial time we had planned the day before. I decided to go check my email for university stuff (I’m busy picking my courses) for half an hour and they I’d go wait again… at 3:45 pm I left the internet place and went to sit on the edge of the road where the bus usually stops. I sat there for more than two hours, all the way until 6:00 pm! Then I decided it was time for me to make it back to the monastery, I’d tried. I texted Rach and she said that Colten had probably changed his plans and had run off with a hippie he’d met at Boudha or something. She apologized on his behalf.

So I was walking back to the monastery, I wasn’t feeling annoyed really (I swear the Buddhism is affecting me), I had had some good tea and a great conversation. However, once I started walking up the ramp into the monastery monks started shouting at me “Zizi your friend! Zizi your friend!” …COLTEN HAD BEEN WAITING AT THE MONASTERY FOR ME FOR HALF AN HOUR!!! Turns out that Colten had arrived to Sundarijal at 3:30 pm, I had literally JUST missed him. And he didn’t know where he was supposed to go and ended up climbing a mountain up to what he thought was a monastery (which turned out to just be a pretty roof). At the top of the mountain (after almost two hours of walking, oh my God) he found a guy on a motor bike who told him that there was no monastery there and that he would drive him to the monastery. And that’s how he got to Nyingmapa. Colten was so chill about it “it’s okay, I had such a good walk in the green, I did some meditation and read my book”… so proud of him. Seriously though, this is so typical. There I was waiting for 2 hours whilst he was already at the monastery…

I showed him around the monastery, introduced him to my students, showed him my room (which turns out to be only one forth the size of his room; he’s at a super rich monastery) and I introduced him to my neighbor Tenzin. They totally clicked with each other and ended up having a really long conversation, I was partly in the conversation partly in heaven because Colten had brought a whole jar of peanut butter which I was hogging. Colten was invited to have dinner at the monastery, he’d never tried Thukpa (the Tibetan dish) before. All they eat, for breakfast, lunch and dinner, at his monastery is Dal Bhat, so he was super excited to be trying something different for a change. Whilst at dinner I asked the cook (through one of the monks) whether he could teach me how to make T-momo, the thing we eat for breakfast every day. He said yes and told me to get to the kitchen the next morning at 5:00 am! 

Then the older monks (who had been at Boudha all day again) started arriving and I introduced Colten to them all, we’re all the same age so it was kind of cool and strange… of course most of the conversations consisted of football. Then we were informed that there would probably not be any more busses at this time in the evening! Uh-oh, dilemma. So we were making our way to the village when I remembered that I had made friends with a guy with a motor bike! I asked the monks whether they could ask him if he could take Colten (Colten offered to pay for the petrol) back to his monastery. The boy went to ask his father and in the end the father offered to take him! This is Nepal! So Colten got a ride back and I sat and had some tea with Chelsea, Sonny (the two monks who’d helped me) and the motor bike guy. 

Wet hair + T-momo pride!

When I got back home I set my alarm to 4:30 am and went to bed. This morning I woke up with a super sleepy head, got dressed and made my way to the kitchen. There the cook had already started making T-momo, he showed me how to roll the dough and how to shape the dough (a twist and pinch). I actually got the whole twist and pinch thing in one try and I was so proud of my efforts, I was so ready to make some T-momos! My pride quickly disappeared when I realized that I am the slowest person ever, the cook was done with all of his side of the table when I had just made 7. But he reassured me that it was all okay and that I was doing super good. The T-momos were then steamed for 10 minutes. So simple, yet soooo good. He told me that I should come back in a week and he’d teach me how to make the dough itself! I think I passed the test! He gave me 5 T-momos to take with me and I almost died (normally we only get 2 every morning). So this morning I am on cloud nine surrounded by T-momos and happiness.

My monkeys!

Today I have regular classes again (yesterday I only taught the youngest ones since there was another big Pooja in Boudha) and then tomorrow is the VIN volunteer meeting! I’ll keep you updated, wallah. Till next time!

Charlotte x