(Sunday afternoon)
Rigzin and I are sipping coffee and waiting for my favorite restaurant to open. We succeeded in retrieving one package from the post office. My first package and my three letters are MIA.
Last night my boys sent me off in style. Buddhist style that is. Nearly every boy presented me with a prayer shawl, I had three garlands of marigolds they made for me, and they fought over who got to carry my bags down the hill to the van. I didn't cry till I was in the van. Luckily Choying (the one who took me to the clinic) rode down with me as far as Lazimpat before saying goodbye for the last time. Then I really cried.
In one day I went from thinking the monks were just used to me being around to realizing it meant something to them, me just being around. Even one of the older monks showed his feelings in a monumental way. My last night I was eating dinner on the couch when Rigzin comes in with his plate and a bag. He said his brother didn't know what to give me as a thank you so he brought me momo for my dinner. I nearly cried. Rigzin's brother was one of the shyest around me and never spoke more than five words to me in two months.
Who came up with this whole leaving thing anyway? It felt like I was leaving home for a second time. What am I going to do without Padpal (my favorite) to smile at me and then run away. My littlest mini monk and his goose-step to dinner every night. Wangel with his huge ears. Thuktop the fabulous football play and his lookalike with his evil grin and gangsteriness. Rigzin who brought so much light and joy into my last few weeks with his mocking, jokes, and smile. And Choying, my first monk friend who talked to me when no one else would, included me in conversations, asked me to sing for him, and woke me up early to take me to the clinic for a shot (and only laughed a little when I cried in the doctors office). And, of course, them telling me constantly that I am so much thinner than when I arrived. Of course, their actual translation was "miss was fat when she came. She is much less fat now." But hey, I'll take it.
Rigzin and I are sipping coffee and waiting for my favorite restaurant to open. We succeeded in retrieving one package from the post office. My first package and my three letters are MIA.
In one day I went from thinking the monks were just used to me being around to realizing it meant something to them, me just being around. Even one of the older monks showed his feelings in a monumental way. My last night I was eating dinner on the couch when Rigzin comes in with his plate and a bag. He said his brother didn't know what to give me as a thank you so he brought me momo for my dinner. I nearly cried. Rigzin's brother was one of the shyest around me and never spoke more than five words to me in two months.
Who came up with this whole leaving thing anyway? It felt like I was leaving home for a second time. What am I going to do without Padpal (my favorite) to smile at me and then run away. My littlest mini monk and his goose-step to dinner every night. Wangel with his huge ears. Thuktop the fabulous football play and his lookalike with his evil grin and gangsteriness. Rigzin who brought so much light and joy into my last few weeks with his mocking, jokes, and smile. And Choying, my first monk friend who talked to me when no one else would, included me in conversations, asked me to sing for him, and woke me up early to take me to the clinic for a shot (and only laughed a little when I cried in the doctors office). And, of course, them telling me constantly that I am so much thinner than when I arrived. Of course, their actual translation was "miss was fat when she came. She is much less fat now." But hey, I'll take it.
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