I would like to share my final journal entry from my last day at the nunnery, because I think it reveals the true ways in which I’ve been touched by this experience. Or at least the feeling. “It is my last day here at the nunnery. I woke up with the same feeling in my stomach as I have when I’m about to take an exam or perform on stage. Tight, anxious, anticipating. I can’t believe I’ve been here for…
I would like to share my final journal entry from my last day at the nunnery, because I think it reveals the true ways in which I’ve been touched by this experience. Or at least the feeling. “It is my last day here at the nunnery. I woke up with the same feeling in my stomach as I have when I’m about to take an exam or perform on stage. Tight, anxious, anticipating. I can’t believe I’ve been here for…
I have about a million more – but here are a few pictures to paint some sort of visual of my Himalayan adventure… Abi-lay (grandmother) and I became best friends over the summer. I told her I wanted to send her photos of us together, but she told me that she doesn’t like looking at herself in pictures. Last summer, she threw all her photos over the bridge into the river! This photo was taken in Karsha village where I…
It’s proving to be a summer of firsts. My first time traveling alone, first time in India, first time being in the mountains, first time experiencing Buddhist culture, first time teaching, first time doing research of any kind. Just as I questioned my ability to teach, I wondered why I was ever selected to perform research. I have no qualifications and I’ve never done an interview in my life. Okay I interviewed a 90 year old war veteran for my…
It’s proving to be a summer of firsts. My first time traveling alone, first time in India, first time being in the mountains, first time experiencing Buddhist culture, first time teaching, first time doing research of any kind. Just as I questioned my ability to teach, I wondered why I was ever selected to perform research. I have no qualifications and I’ve never done an interview in my life. Okay I interviewed a 90 year old war veteran for my…
1. Patience is the mother of all virtues. It is a lesson I keep on learning. In Zanskar, things happen on their own time, at their own pace. Need to send an important email? Well first you have to wait a few weeks for tourist season to actually begin. When it finally begins, then you have to wait full weeks at a time before getting to use twenty expensive minutes of slow WiFi. Then you have to wait in Padum all…
1. Patience is the mother of all virtues. It is a lesson I keep on learning. In Zanskar, things happen on their own time, at their own pace. Need to send an important email? Well first you have to wait a few weeks for tourist season to actually begin. When it finally begins, then you have to wait full weeks at a time before getting to use twenty expensive minutes of slow WiFi. Then you have to wait in Padum all…
The nunnery is literally transforming before my eyes. Well I suppose I’m the one who is transforming, really. The place hasn’t changed at all, merely the way I’m experiencing it. When I first got here, I felt like I was drowning in titanic waves of unfamiliarity. Everything was too different. Too foreign. I claimed to be a lover of all things new, but Zanskar was out of my league. I counted the hours until I could go to sleep and…
The nunnery is literally transforming before my eyes. Well I suppose I’m the one who is transforming, really. The place hasn’t changed at all, merely the way I’m experiencing it. When I first got here, I felt like I was drowning in titanic waves of unfamiliarity. Everything was too different. Too foreign. I claimed to be a lover of all things new, but Zanskar was out of my league. I counted the hours until I could go to sleep and…
Teaching English as a second language is definitely not as easy as I thought it would be. Actually, that’s not true. I knew exactly how hard it would be. I was anxious about having to teach for months before coming to India, because the fact of the matter is (and it’s no big surprise) — I’ve never taught English before. Okay yes Mom, I’ve tutored before, but it’s not the same thing. I’ve never been THE teacher in a classroom. Never Madame Hanna. Never the…
