THE MONASTERY

Today we moved to the monastery. We were picked up this morning in a 4-wheel drive by the monastery secretary/headmaster and a driver. We were officially welcomed with a white scarf around the neck before the 20 minute drive.

The monastery is a little out of town in what might be described as a rural area set amongst the mountains. It is a wealthy monastery which receives international funding. The building itself is impressive. The institute has been running for 10 years. It has about 80 students, from kindergarten upwards and each class has about twelve students. The students are all studying to become monks.

On the way out in the car we were told we would be teaching personal hygiene! Amanda nearly died.. personal hygiene to seventeen year old boys... that would be a challenge. We were given our timetable. We have about 14 classes a week. Five of these are with the kindergarten kids and three classes each with other different groups. Our first class was about an hour after we got there... nothing like being thrown in at the deep-end.

The older classes were actually a delight. They were respectful and paid attention and showed an interest in us and where we came from. In the two older classes most kids were named Kunga. In one class of 12 students eleven were named Kunga . The poor other kid, I asked him if he felt left out. They had varying levels of english, but none were fluent. Kindergarten on the other hand were little shits. They wouldn't stay in their seats and eventually we had 3 or 4 of them running around outside the room. However by the end we had them settled....a little. Things will get better.

We all eat together. Because it is a wealthy monastery there is no shortage of food. Three meals a day and morning and afternoon tea. In the dining hall they say a prayer first and then everyone can start. Otherwise everything is reasonably informal. There does seem to be a teacher's table. There are two other volunteers here at present. A German girl, Luka, who has just finished high school and has been here since September. Recently she became ill and went into hospital for three days. The hospital looked after her well, however hospitals here do not provide food. It is left to the patients family. In Luka's case two of the monks stayed in her room in the hospital to provide her with meals and look after her. The other volunteer is Helen, a retired teacher from the USA who will be here for three months. She seems well organised and has half a truck load of supplies with her. She has also had the internet connected to her room so talks to people at home every day.

The accommodation here is reasonably good. Though hot showers depend on sunny days. They warned us about the monkeys and told us to keep the windows closed when we leave the room otherwise the monkeys come in and eat the soap and toothpaste. That afternoon I heard the door open. Thinking it was Amanda I kept reading. When I did look up there was nobody there. I went outside and there were the monkeys eating something they had taken from someones room. They come down from the jungle every night and go back in the morning. Again all through the night we could hear dogs barking....even out here in the country.