November 22nd from Nepal

Hi all,

Since I last checked in, things have been going very well. I got over the sinus cold that I had acquired while putting in 350 hours of overtime for the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding’s annual fundraising event. For those of you who don’t know, I decided to quit Tanenbaum for good two days after that event when I was told that I would be getting an 87% cut in my post-event bonus despite the event netting 250% more than expectation (over $500K total). Though this disappointing news wreaked some havoc on my trip’s budget, I feel it will be best for me to move on from Tanenbaum and therefore was all part of some “divine plan” for me to explore other opportunities.

A few days into my trip, I was notified by the abbot of the monastery I am staying at (and my principle spiritual teacher), Shyalpa Rinpoche, that he would like me to stay on in Nepal and serve as his executive assistant. He would also like me to take a leadership role at the monastery some day. He would like to hire me starting in the fall. That means that the next four months will be a trial run of working as his assistant, in addition to 2-3 two hour sessions per day of spiritual practice (what I came here to do). One of my first assignments is to figure out how to make yogurt each day for 120 monks/nuns/staff at the monastery and make an arrangement with a fruit wholesaler to deliver fruit twice a week. I will work with a few monk assistants in making the yogurt and slicing up the fruit, and then distributing it in large vats to the nunnery, monastery, and staff quarters. I think this work will be a good tribute to my mom the nutritionist, as it will vastly improve the monk’s diet.

I now teach English to the senior Buddhist teachers at the monastery, with two classes of two pupils each five days a week. My students are good-natured monks with great senses of humor and eager to learn (ages 30-45). One is a reincarnated master who has earned a Ph.D. in Buddhism (called Khenpo in Tibetan) and we get along particularly well. One is a painting instructor, one a Tibetan language instructor, and the other a philosophy teacher.

Some of my friends from the U.S. came here to attend the ceremony and I’ve enjoyed going on day trips around the Kathmandu valley with them. Since I have experience in Nepal , I serve as the guide. On one of the trips, we rented a mini bus and headed to a colossal state park called Nagarjun Mountain Forest Reserve. It is controlled by the military and is home to Nepal ’s former King (he reportedly lives in a modest two bedroom cabin with his wife). He no longer has any formal role in the country and is not allowed in the palace. His son killed the entire existing royal family in 2001 and framed his cousin (who was the prince at the time). The media bought his version hook, line and sinker (that his cousin, the prince, did a mass murder-suicide), but the country did not buy this nonsense, and as soon as a new government was elected in 2008, one of the first orders of business was to kick out the fraudulent king and his murderous son from the palace. (When I was in Nepal in 2000, the “murderous son” killed two people with his car and shot another person at a restaurant who was looking at his girlfriend. Since he had diplomatic immunity, he could commit crimes left and right without punishment).

Anyway, we arrived at the park after closing hours and had to beg and plead to be let in. After ½ hour of negotiations and a small bribe, we were let in the park. The road was unpaved and rut/rock filled, suitable only for a jeep. Our mini bus driver reluctantly proceeded up the mountain for 1 ½ hours and cringed every time a rock scrapped the bottom of the truck or a branch from the forest scratched the side of the vehicle. As we neared the top, I saw a red panda cross the road and scurry into the forest. These are very rare Himalayan creatures that look like small bears with red fur. Then the spectacular Himalayan snow peaks came into view and the trying, bumpy mountain drive paid off. We climbed the viewing tower at the top of the mountain, which features 35 mile per hour wind guests, and threw small rice-paper prayer flags into the Kathmandu Valley below.

Our next adventure involved myself, my friend Harry from New Jersey and Khenpo (the Tibetan Ph.D. English student). We rented a taxi for the afternoon to take us to a town in the southern part of the Kathmandu Valley , where the full panorama of the Himalayas can be seen. The ride there featured many glimpses of the colossal white peaks, in addition to one of my favorite scenes in South Asia —colorfully dressed woman harvesting rice. The taxi driver took us up a windy mountain jeep road to the top of a hill that features the best view. The hill features a temple to Kali, the blood-thirsty Hindu goddess whom Nepali Hindus worship by killing animals in the presence of her statue and pouring blood on it. We enjoyed the mountain views and set back for Kathmandu . That’s when the adventure began. Apparently, the rough mountain roads had taken their toll on our small taxi car and as soon as we got into the country (the middle of nowhere), it gave out on us! Khenpo had a class to teach that night, so we needed to find another way to get home. Lucky for us, a local bus stopped by within seconds headed for Kathmandu (about an 90 minutes away) and we hopped on. The ceiling of the bus is about 5’10” (plenty high for the average Nepali) and one local took mercy on me and offered a seat to me based on my height. I spent the rest of the ride talking with a Nepali English teacher and listening to American hip hop music blasted on the bus speakers.. My traveling companions eventually found seats as well and the bus dropped us off at the edge of Kathmandu for a mere 37 cents.

Sights on the roads of Kathmandu include:

--Children squatting in an open sewer to use the bathroom

--A primitive three wheeled tractor spewing out black smoke as it pulls a 20 foot high stack of hay

--a two-ton black bull sitting in the middle of the city’s main highway, surrounded by it’s sacred cow entourage

--a man carrying a refrigerator via a strap on his forehead

--a herd of goats walking against traffic

--a 75 year old woman with 1,000 wrinkles on her face carrying a sack full of firewood on her back piled up 3 feet past her head

The first few weeks here were marked by a battle with the monastery dog’s at night. They bark at 150 decibels throughout the night and sleep all day. I have found an effective technique, however, which I learned from my sister: pouring water on their fur from the balcony above while they are in their barking frenzy. They quickly shut their yappers and lay down to lick off the water, generally keeping quiet the rest of the night. Now, as all the foreign guests have gone home, I have a nice room at the end of the monastery far away from the dogs and can get a full night’s rest!

Today, as a part of my new job as executive assistant, I have to take a monk with a foot fungus infection to get some tests done and pick up some plane tickets for the family members of the abbot.

All for now. More photos here.