So the public teachings ended a few days ago. Every year the Dalai Lama gives a series of public teachings and anyone can attend. We had to get identification badges, but that just requires a few passport photos, a passport to prove who you are, and five rupees. Every day for about a week and a half, His Holiness would teach in the morning (9:30-11:30) and the afternoon (1:00-3:30). This year he taught on two different texts: Bodhicharyavatara by Shantideva and The Essence of Refined Gold by the Third Dalai Lama. He taught in Tibetan, but since so many foreigners come to hear also, they have translators. Everyone brings little radios and headphones, and there are different frequencies for different languages. It’s a lot of sitting still (or fidgeting if you’re me) and legs falling asleep and all that, but it’s really amazing. People have all sorts of reasons for coming, and some really are kind of strange, but on the whole there is really an interesting crowd. Also, the amount of devotion and faith present is kind of overwhelming. It’s also really like this big community. Every morning they hand out rolls of bread and in both the morning and afternoon, they walk around and offer tea to anyone who wants any; you just have to bring something to hold the tea. The tea in the morning is butter tea, which is really kind of an acquired taste. Some people like it, but to me, it seems like drinking melted butter. I really like the tea in the afternoon since it’s sweet tea. I missed a few days of the teachings because I was sick (admittedly I probably could have gone either day, but I threw up one night and my stomach hurt the next day and I kind of just wanted to stay in bed (a decision I kind of regret now that the teachings are over)), but I did listen on the radio both days. The only day I didn’t get to listen on the radio was the day I went to the hospital with one of my friends. Three people in our group so far have amoebic dysentery. I’ve been to the hospital three times with three different people so far. Don’t worry…no one’s like dying or anything. It’s more just like to go see a doctor and have things tested. It seems like almost everyone in our group has gotten pretty sick at one point or another so far. I’m just waiting for something to hit me, and to be honest I still can’t quite figure out how I’ve managed to dodge getting these amoebas. My standards of what can be talked about in polite conversation have kind of changed here, and I keep having to remind myself that no one who reads this wants to hear about well, considering that I just talked about people having dysentery, you can imagine. Aside from the various stomach illnesses people seem to have, things are going pretty well. The sun is finally out, and I feel like I’m finally warming up and drying. The last day of the teachings it was pouring rain and it even hailed a bit. I was lucky to have found a seat in the covered area, and it was so crowded that I wasn’t cold at all, and I didn’t even notice that the bottom third of my skirt was wet until I had to move to get on my knees for the Bodhisattva vow, but even in the uncovered areas, it didn’t dampen the mood. People were still crowded in under umbrellas. It was really intense.
The teachings ended after the morning session three days ago. In the afternoon we went to see an Oracle who wasn’t there, but I guess we’re going to try again next week. The day after the teachings ended was pretty much a day off except for language class, but language class is kind of fun, so it was nice. Yesterday we started having regular class again. We had culture class yesterday which was actually interesting (I mean the class is interesting usually, it’s just that recently we had been doing a lot of like history and politics, and neither of those areas are really my thing, so it just didn’t interest me as much, but today we talked about compassion and violence and non-violence and killing out of compassion and stuff like that, and I thought it was really interesting). Also, I was a little late to class because there were no taxis at the hospital (I was there with another friend who also apparently has these amoebas), but I brought back some freshly baked bread from the bakery next to the hospital so I think it was okay (although Amber wasn’t too happy that I just sort of passed it around and everyone touched it and unsanitary and all that, but it’s true that I’m a total enabler (ie I bring back pizza for people who are sick to their stomachs if that’s what they say they want for lunch)).
Today we had philosophy class in the morning, and in the afternoon we went up to Steve and Karen’s place in Dharamkot for discussion. We usually have the weekly discussion in the library, but they invited us up there and it was quite nice. After the discussion we hiked around for a while. The views were amazing. I wish I could just bring you all here to show you. I tried to take some pictures, but even if I were a good photographer, which I’m not, I still don’t think I could have done it justice. For dinner, we went to a pizza restaurant in Dharamkot, which was amazingly good, and I’m starting to think that during the independent research period, I might want to stay there (in Dharamkot not at the restaurant). I’ll have to look into it, but it seems really nice, because it’s like a 20 minute walk from Mcleod, but it’s so much more quiet and peaceful. I’ve got a bunch of pictures to post too, so I’ll see if I can do that as well.