In the fall of 2012, I took a much needed voyage to Asia.  In my two months away, I spent one month volunteering at the Rinchen Parli Monastery teaching English to Buddhist Monks.  This experience alone I could write about for ages as it is one of the most unique and fulfilling experiences of my life.  Perhaps I was going through a bit of an “Eat, Pray, Love” phase having just gone through a major break-up, and the death of my mother.  Whatever the cause, I needed this push.
I really lucked out when it came to being placed at this monastery. Â It was clean, had delicious food, hot water (sometimes), and it was safe (besides the rumor of the tiger who apparently roamed the mountain). Â Rinchen Parli is situated at the top of a mountain in the Kathmandu Valley. Â It was gorgeous. Behold the view from my bed… I woke up every morning above the clouds:
My days consisted of skipping breakfast (I decided not to have rice and vegetables at 7am and kept a supply of granola bars and instant coffee in my room) and preparing for my classes. Â I had morning classes with the children in which I taught them basic English. Â Here is my class working on a test I prepared.
Because of my American accent (who knew being American overseas would ever be a good thing), the monks wanted me to spend most of my time tutoring the adults. Â Apparently they had lots of volunteers in the past that English wasn’t their first language and an American accent was a sought after thing (the only time that will likely happen!). I insisted on keeping one hour with the children because they where a joy and so eager to learn, but promised I would devote my afternoons to the grown ups.
Even the youngest monk would seek out time for some very important coloring assignments:
Or paper-plane flying. Â Very important.
After lunch I would spend a few hours having one on one tutoring sessions with a few of the adult monks including the principle of the monastery, a teacher, a Tibetan refugee and an important Lama they stashed up in an amazing temple. Â These monks all had a very good understanding of English and our time together mostly consisted of me making minor corrections over conversations about Buddhism, Tibet, Nepal and even Obama, iphones, and Michael Jackson. Â With access to the internet and television the monks have windows into the world outside the monastery and it was often a pleasure to hear about their observations.
“Bob Marley wrote a song for monks…. it’s called ‘No Woman No Cry.'” ~Konchok Tsultim (teacher, Rinchen Parli)
Read more about my time with these monks (here).