Cooking class, motherly instincts and I'm a graphic designer?

Hello. Yes. I’m still alive. I’m sorry I went awol like that, it has been a crazy couple of days… and I’m going to do my best to remember it as accurately as possible.

Where did we leave off? Hmm, okay, four days ago, the day that I learnt how to make the T-momos in the early morning… remember? Classes were finally back to normal again, so I had the morning class with Tulku Jigme and then the 3 hours of English classes with my monks. Did I write about the big projects that I’m doing at all? I don’t even know… I’ll briefly re-explain just in case. So when I was sick in bed with a throat infection I had a stroke of genius, an epiphany… I realized that the class I had taught when I was half sick was the best class we had had so far. I wondered why and then I realized it was probably because I was sick and taking the class so slow. Turns out the monks work way better when they are not put under pressure. So there I was lying sick in bed having this moment of realization and within a few seconds I had an idea. I would, instead of doing a new things every day, plan a project that we could do over a number of weeks. In the end I decided on poster making with the two younger classes and biography writing with the older class. SO, how is it going you ask? It was the best idea I have had in a long while, the monks love it. The mix of creativity, they have a ton of fun, the fact that they get to go at their own pace and at the same time they are still learning… really, I thank you a thousand times sick Charlotte, you are a lifesaver.

Also, I found a baby in
a box

After the classes Paldin asked whether I wanted to go for a walk. Of course I said yes, I want to take in as much of the green as I can before I go back to the desert. The route we took was stunningly beautiful. We were in the depths of the Nepali country side where no one speaks English. Whenever someone would pass us and see me they’d strike up a conversation with me… in Nepali. After I’d exhausted all my phrases (AKA Namaste and tapaai ko naam ke ho) they’d leave. But there was this one, super old and super sweet, lady who I literally had a conversation with although we didn’t speak the same language. She’d speak Nepali and I’d speak English and we would just understand! We were totally on the same wavelength. She’d point to the clouds and say something, I knew she was talking about the rain and I said I have an umbrella, took it out and showed her… I could tell she was saying the umbrella was way too small, and I said there was nothing I could do, then she pointed to the village and reassured me that I could go get an umbrella there, and the conversation went on and on like this… with Paldin just listening in the background, smiling. I had NO clue whether what I was saying and what she was saying were actually in tune with each other, but afterwards Paldin was just in complete awe, saying how the conversation almost made perfect sense. And this is for you Ms Robin, it was seriously like the scene in ‘Translations’ with Moire and Yolland… minus the kissing… Anyway, then it started getting dark and we went to find a place to eat. We ended up going to a super sketchy shop where the monks go to get their Aloo. I ordered veg chowmein (these Chinese noodles which are everywhere here in Nepal) not expecting much, only to discover 30 minutes later that they make the best chowmein I’ve ever had… wow, don’t judge a restaurant by it’s sketchy-ness? Then there was a power cut in the village and we were forced to walk back to the monastery in the rain and in the dark.

Our monastery's dog, Baloo!
He's the only reason why I'm
not crying over Maks all night...

The next day was the day of the VIN meet up; they have monthly volunteer meetings where we all gather and discuss issues and exchange tips. I was supposed to go on my own to Kathmandu but the supervisor (a monk who is usually the go to person for the English teacher, who arrived 3 weeks after I did because he was visiting his home town) offered to drop me off at Boudha because he was bringing the Japanese lady to the airport. Turns out the Japanese lady was leaving! In the car she was saying her goodbyes and I was the one who was about to cry, not her… and just realize that this isn’t even my goodbye… I am SO not mentally prepared for the 26^th of July, the day I leave the monastery.

We arrived at Boudha and the supervisor showed me which bus to get to Balaju, Kathmandu. I would end up getting to the office WAY before everyone else would but I didn’t mind, I’d have time to do some wifi stuff. I got the best seat in the bus; shot gun, so off I went on my own, for the first time… Then about 20 minutes into the trip there was a tiny traffic jam, so we waited there, standing still when I casually glanced over to my right only to spot two familiar looking tourists sitting in a sea of Nepali people in the bus next to mine… they were Rachel and Colten! Yep, out of all the possible times and buses that we could’ve decided to take we chose the two that would end up next to each other in a traffic jam, I don’t even know… Karma? After another 10 minutes of travelling I got off at the stop, and 2 minutes later Rachel and Colten got off at the same spot… crazy, and perfect, because I had no idea how to get to the VIN office.

We walked to their hotel first and on our way we bumped into another person! Pat! With him was one of the new June 15^th volunteers, a French girl called Laura. We had a cute conversation and then we arrived at the hotel. There I had my first shower in 4 days (the monastery has been having water problems for a while…). I will never ever ever take a shower for granted again! After hanging out in the hotel room for a bit we made our way down to the VIN office. We arrived and realized more people had come earlier. We talked and I met all the new volunteers as well as volunteers who’ve been here for a long time but that I just hadn’t met before. Two Chinese girls called Ashley and Ming, another French girl, this one called Elisa, an guy called Barry from Australia, a guy from the US called Andrew, another American called Clem, a German lady called Julia… And guess what… I found out that a couple of them already knew me because of the blog! OH SNAP. Turns out Bhupi has put a link on their website and that people who are interested in teaching at monasteries have been reading it… OH MY. Barry said that his monastery experience is completely different from mine though, so I have to warn all of you who are reading this because you want to go teach at a monastery; every monastery is different!

We had the volunteer meeting, which was really helpful. I was taking minutes and feeling all professional. Then we split up and all the monastery teachers sat together and exchanged tips. I told everyone about my 2 week projects and they were all super excited; some are even going to copy the idea! Afterwards we had a Chitwan meeting. Because I was sick I didn’t end up going to Chitwan (a very popular national park in Nepal WITH ELEPHANTS) with our group of volunteers, so instead I am going to go with the new group of volunteers! I’ll be leaving this weekend! I am so so so excited.

VIN was then trying to organize a dinner with all the volunteers, in the end only half of us ended up going. It was at the Nepali Chopa… the ultimate tourist place; traditional food, Nepali dancers, red dots on your forehead when you enter the restaurant. The food was lovely, but we got Dal Bhat which is what we all eat every. Single. Day. So we were not too excited… the monastery’s Dal Bhat is WAY better, I need to find a way to compliment the monastery cook. The dinner took longer than expected and by the time we were done it was so late that there were no buses anymore! I was stuck in Kathmandu (unless I wanted to pay the taxi 800rps). Instead I decided I would stay in a hotel and get the morning bus at 5:30 am.

Everyone else has their day off on Saturday; I’m the only one who has their weekend on Sunday. So everyone was drinking and I was just sitting there with a juice box. Of course I was uber motherly again – tucking all the drunkards into bed by the end of the night… almost even read them a bed night story… I slept surprisingly well in the two beds which we’d pushed together that I was sharing with three intoxicated people. My alarm went off at 5:00 am and like a ninja I left the room as quiet as I could on my way to find a bus. The streets were really quiet and empty and it was lovely to see Kathmandu like that for a change. The entire trip took over 2 hours, I was back in the monastery by 7:30 am. I taught my classes and then by the afternoon I left to Kathmandu again; I had cooking lessons with Isuda (the VIN cook).

The final product!

I arrived in Kathmandu at 1:30 pm, I had taken the bus but they had dropped me at a place that I didn’t know so I took a cab down to Thamel. They did not drop me off at Thamel, just somewhere near it. So there I was stranded in the super busy city; I had no clue where to go. So I just followed my instincts and started wandering. And HALLELUIA BABY JESUS within 15 minutes I had found the bakery “Hot Breads” (of course I remember Hot Breads because they have the same chain of bakeries in the UAE) I could’ve shed a tear; I knew where to go from there! I magically made my way to Premium hotel, booked a room and had a nap. I woke up an hour later and called Isuda, she instructed me to find a cab and give him the phone. After some driving and a few more calls we arrived at the street. Isuda found me and we wandered through the alleyways to her sister’s house. Along the way her best friend found us. We got to a big house and I was really surprised, then I found out that her sister lives in one of the rooms in the house. There is a family that lives on the top floor that rents out rooms, the bathroom is shared. I entered the ‘house’ and found myself standing in a room smaller than my bedroom in the UAE. Except this room functioned as the kitchen, the dining room, the living room and the bedroom. I didn’t feel upset for them though, they are happy with what they have… all it made me think about was why in the west we feel the need to live in such big houses? Why do we need so much unnecessary space?

The three women were the best, although Isuda’s sister (who is pregnant by the way) and her best friend don’t speak English we still had the best time. We chopped vegetables, had something to drink and then Isuda started explaining how to cook fried rice. We also ended up making Aloo curry and Nepali pickled potato and cucumber. So as of now I can cook all three dishes! And they are actually pretty easy to make once you know the steps! THE FOOD WAS SO GOOD. Oh my, I was pregnant yet again with another food baby. At the end of the meal they all invited me to come around again in two weeks so that they can teach me how to make a dessert type thing who’s name I obviously forgot again… I am so excited! I made friends!

I then took a cab back to the hotel and met up with the other Charlotte and Spyro. They had been drinking the night before and were super tired and not up for going out… we ended up buying three huge boxes of juice and a ton of snacks and just stayed in the entire night, ordering food from the hotel kitchen to our room and reading each other’s blogs and talking about our experiences; it was actually a really, really good night… Charlotte had a mini freak out because she didn’t have her laptop with her but within 30 minutes we discovered it was under the table at the VIN office; we’d have to make a trip back to the office the next day.

We all had a lie in, Spyro left in the morning to go back to his monastery, and then Charlotte and I decided to go to a place called “Yummy” for breakfast; sounds promising right? On our way we bumped into Pat and he had breakfast with us. Then we went to the office. It was really quiet, Charlotte got her laptop back and then George came downstairs. He told us about Bhupi’s dilemma… a few weeks back Google changed their logarithm and because of it the VIN website is no longer on the first page when you google “volunteering in Nepal”, instead it’s on the 10^th page!!! And because of it Bhupi hasn’t received any emails from anyone interested in VIN for the last two weeks! There is nothing he can do about it except try desperately to get people to mention the website on their blogs or facebook pages. Now normally I wouldn’t ask people to promote anyone but this organization is so genuine, cares so much about the community and are so attentive towards their volunteers; they don’t deserve to be lost in the depths of google. So please, please, if you have some time share www.volunteeringnepal.org on facebook or on your blog (if you have one). Thank you a thousand times if you do…

Look. At. This. Puppy.

Yes, so Bhupi is looking for different ways to get the word out about VIN and he got an offer from a university magazine for an ad placement. George asked the group of people whether anyone knew how to design ads, I had no clue how but I have used publisher before to make my mom’s business cards, so I offered my help. I ended up spending over 3 hours on the damn thing… by the end of it I showed Bhupi and George and they were so so so happy, it was totally worth my time. So, I’m practically famous, I mean my ad is going to be published somewhere… line up if you want an autograph ok?

Then Charlotte started feeling terrible, she was really not feeling well at all… and knowing my freaking mother instincts you allll know what I did next. I helped her out for the next few hours, we went to her nunnery to get her medicine, and by the evening she still wasn’t feeling better so I decided I would stay with her during the night to look after her. We were planning to crash on the couches at the VIN office but then Bhupi offered us to sleep in his house! We agreed and off he went calling his wife telling her to make extra food. After a walk and a cab ride we arrived at his house. As the director of VIN I expected a really big house but he lives in a simple 2 bedroom, kitchen, living room and toilet flat… that just goes to show how good this organization is. Of course the food was delicious, and his little daughter was the sweetest; we watched Indian Idol together. Charlotte and I slept like babies in the huge bed and I woke up yet again at 5:00 am to catch the bus to Sundarijal, I had to teach again!

So this morning I arrived to the monastery at 7:30 am again, had class with Tulku Jigme and had the 3 hours of English class again… I did my laundry; finally learnt how to do it properly… Tenzin taught me, turns out I’ve been doing it completely, stupidly wrong for the past 3 weeks. Mom, you would’ve been so proud, I even got a picture for you!

Yes, so I’m back at the monastery, and this will be the first week where classes will be somewhat regular. That is until Thursday afternoon, when I leave for Kathmandu to go to Chitwan!

Holy smokes, can’t believe I just remembered the events of the last few days in a somewhat coherent manner… snap

Charlotte x