September 15th, 2008 8:25 p.m.

Sorry about not blogging yesterday. I was so exhausted I fell asleep the moment I came to my room. I tried to upload tons of pictures today instead, but the upload rate has been horrible the last few days.

So yesterday, what did I do? Let me think. So much happens in one day that I don’t blog about and so much happens in one day it is hard to remember it all as I start forgetting what day something happened. I wish I was kidding, but there is so much going on that I think it might take years to process it all.

Yesterday, Karma did return. Thank goodness! Tashi came by and picked up some of his things and talked to Rinpoche. Tonight Nomgyl dropped by to pick up his things. It is amazing at how much this is impacting everyone although they don’t really talk about it or show it. I think Nomgyl was crying in the gompa.

Up until they were told they would be deported it was way different. When the monks that would be deported entered the gompa they would prostrate. Now when they come by to pick up a few things they attend puja and you can tell that they know it is most likely the last time they attend puja here. There is such seriousness, reverence, and longing.

Nomgyl is the 2nd in charge monk. He has barely paid me any attention. Tonight, it was different. He caught my eye in puja and nodded to me. After puja I went up to him and shook his hand. I want to grab these boys (I say boys cuz that’s what they seem like to me even though some of them are my age) and hug their guts out and cry. But I shake their hands as they are men and hugging doesn’t really seem to be a part of the way they do things here. They hold hands all the time though. It is not uncommon to pass many men along the streets holding hands. That is definitely different here! I’ve held hands with Lama-la, Dechen, Anna, and Lakpa. Although usually it is just them making sure I get safely across the street. I do a ‘woo hoo’ every time as I have survived. Seriously! The traffic here is super crazy.

When we were going to see the monks in the jail our taxi driver almost creamed a motorcyclist. Everyone just laughed and made hand motions of the motorcyclist being killed. Even the motorcyclist laughed. The Nepali people in general are very relaxed and everything is fun.

So yesterday, I got to go with Lama Wangdu and Dechen to Patan to purchase more lockets. There Lama-la purchased a statue for me of Jambala (Dzambala and other spellings). I am overwhelmed by their generosity! I read up some on him this morning. Interesting how everything has much deeper meanings that what first appears. Jambala is a deity of wealth. But in his image there is so much symbolism that shows that he has become enlightened and sits above the suffering of life. His position shows that he doesn’t care about the wealth. He has a mantra and offerings that can be done to him. And the symbolism goes on and on. I was thinking ‘why would Buddhists care about wealth’ just as I came across writings that spoke of wealth being one means to freeing a person from worries so that one does not have to spend all of their time working, but instead can give to those in need and bless them as well as having more time to devote to their practice and studies. Very interesting perspective!

Lama-la showed me the old temples there. Wow! He did his best to tell me about various things and places. He even took me into an old (and I mean OLD) temple and blessed my head with the sacred waters there. Wow! Wow! Wow! How cool is this?!!

Oh, see I forget things! Yesterday morning I had a question and answer session with Lama-la. Of course none of my questions were answered, hehehe, but instead Rinpoche gave me some secret mantras. No, I cannot share them with anyone. To do so would break vows that I accepted by merely accepting the mantras. Thank goodness for the books Anna has made me purchase otherwise I would not have known about the vows.

I have several questions about the mantras and tried to ask about them today when I found out I would be given more mantras in regards to this and more would be explained to me before I leave. We will be having a Tibetan teacher come over to translate for me so that I can get the full depth of what Lama-la wants to teach me. Woo hoo!

Oh yeah, and last night while doing Kora (mantras around the Stupa) I ran into a ngakpa I met a few days ago. A refresher- a ngakpa is a Buddhist practitioner who does his practice full time but is still able to have a family and takes less vows than a monk and performs rituals for his community. For some reason this particular man is very interested in me. He made sure to talk to me as much as he could the day I met him. Then last night he wanted to exchange information. Then before leaving, he insisted that I come to his part of town so that he could take me to some monasteries and possibly give me some teachings. Many Tibetans came up to this man and received blessings and what not. Lama-la isn’t sure who this man is. That could be because I probably am butchering his name when I pronounce it. I am going to see if maybe Thursday Anna can go with me as I don’t want to go meet him alone just in case. Or maybe Lakpa, but Anna would be better as this man and she both speak Nepali and Lakpa speaks very, very little English. He usually just smiles at me and gets Anna to translate whatever I said.

Today, Dechen and I went into the main part of Kathmandu. Cool part was we skipped over the tourist area and went straight to the authentic part. Oh my! I got a present for my baby! I think you will like it. I hope to get you something else as well along the lines of what you were asking for. I picked up a couple more presents and got myself a pashmina. A beautiful maroon and black patterned one. They are a bit pricey for Nepal, but in U.S. terms they are about $13 which isn’t bad for 100% cashmere. I won’t be getting them as gifts for anyone though, hehehe.

Um… We did other stuff. I think my agenda for tomorrow is: wake up, shower (please let there be electricity as I didn’t shower today cuz of the lack of light), morning puja, run to the internet café, wash my clothes, eat lunch, then go to Swambu with Anna tomorrow. Woo hoo for Swambu! Swambu has tons of Hindu and Buddhist temples including the Monkey Temple! I am so excited to go there. We’ll spend a couple of hours there before coming back. Woot woot!

Have I mentioned the electricity on my blog yet? If not, there isn’t enough power in Nepal so areas lose power at different times. I don’t mind when we lose power during the day, but it isn’t fun when we lose it at night because it makes it difficult to charge my laptop and camera. And I fall asleep right away instead of getting any studying done.
We just switched to losing power twice a day. Now we lose it as varying times in the morning (for 3 hours) and varying times at night (for 3 hours). This morning power went out at 5 a.m. and then again at 3 p.m.

Almost all of the monks are sick. I think it’s the stress of the monks being deported. The older ones have had headaches and stomachaches. The younger ones now all have coughs, like croupy coughs. I hope I don’t get it!

I am halfway through my trip. I am a little panicked that I will get everything done that I want to. With Betsy and Tom visiting for a week it will make things a bit more difficult, maybe and maybe not. I really have no clue of the schedule. I want to purchase some ritual tools. I have to do it sort of last minute I think as Lama-la plans on giving me some more things and he told me not to buy too much. And I think for a reason. We’ll see. I want to take Anna and Lakpa to the Hyatt for lunch as a thank you for all of their attention. I want to have some question and answer time with Lama-la with an interpreter. That might not sound like a whole lot to do, but around here when you have no clue what you are doing from day to day it feels like a lot. Hehehe.

Anyway, I think I am beginning to ramble on in delirium now. I wonder what a vacation would be like… ahh… I will need one when I get back!