Two weeks back

(Sunday afternoon)
The mysterious Swiss benefactors arrived yesterday while, incidentally, Jen and I were in the middle of doing our laundry. Naturally no one told us ahead of time so we watched, wet, soapy, and muddy, as the cars made their way up the drive at a complete loss to explain this anomaly.

An upshot of their arrival is the arrival of the guru and my friend. He found Jen and I hanging up our wash and asked me to the kitchen for tea. We talked with him occasionally translating for the other monks. After a few minutes our older monk with glasses said something and pointed at me. My friend laughed and fumbled a few times, trying to translate. I only caught the word 'weight'. Oh great, I thought, this will be the fifth man to call me fat since I arrived. Finding the words finally he explained that my monk was telling him that I was fat when I arrived but am not so fat now. After some consideration I decided to take that as a compliment.

In honor of our guests pooja yesterday went on for hours. I flitted in and out a few times before the drums called me back. A man made room for me on his rug before all the guests stood up to receive blessings and a prayer shawl. Once everyone filed up and back the group's teacher crossed the room and beckoned to me.

(few days later)
Jen and I have decided to officially christen our students 'mini monks'. Also we have a new friend. Rigzin arrived at the monastery a week or so ago. He speaks English well and never stops teasing and making us laugh. He's taken to hanging with us a lot which has the combined result of making us feel more included and relaxing the mini monks around us.

We played so much football this week. Plus Jen and I walked up the hill to the national park and spent a few delightful hours failing to climb to the top. You would think getting to the top of a hill would be straight forward. It isn't. On the other hand we did pass through a lovely village and kept accidentally wandering into people's front yards. Despite not reaching the top that was a lot of uphill especially since, once back, we spent over two hours playing football with the mini monks and Rigzin (Fancy Feet on the pitch).