please welcome

hi friends,

i'm saying a quick hi from boudha. i wrote a similar email to my parents yesterday, and my dad wrote back "hi from boudha? is that a place or your new name?" (he was kidding, i think). anyway, no, i haven't changed my name... YET. we'll see what this fall brings, though. maybe next time you see me i'll be insisting you call me shanti or dharma or something. but let's be honest--no, i won't. so yes, boudha is a place, and it's a place with an amazing, giant stupa (a religious statue you walk around to pray... but that doesn't do it justice. wish i could post a picture but i don't have one with me). it's one of the two main areas where tibetan exiles lives in the kathmandu valley (or are there more than two? someone correct me if i'm wrong) and it's where my dear friend amber works/lives. she just returned from a visit to the states and we flew here together. this morning the water was out (common in nepal). last night the electricity was out (even more common in nepal). her first day of work was getting off to a disorganized start (common to most places in the world). things were feeling a little stressful... but then she decided that this was nepal's way or welcoming her back, and i sort of like that. i, for one, have a stomache ache as i write this, which i'm going to decide is nepal's way of welcoming ME, back. so, as they say in this part of the world, "please welcome."

what do you think the odds are of this post disappearing before i finish it? i'm going with 75%.

oh, we had a couple of funny monk-meetings yesterday at the airport. the first was actually not that funny, and more awesome than anything else. we saw geshe dorjee damdul at the airport in delhi. he's HH dalai lama's translator, and i asked him if he'd be willing to speak to my students when we go to mcleod in october. he gave me a maybe, but that's not bad. i'm never very good at this whole lama thing (being super formal and respectful is somehow challenging for me. i'm way better at goofing around with people) so i always feel good when i make any kind of connection with a religious high-up. and he's such an amazing lecturer and teacher. the next meeting WAS actually funny... and to tell the story, i have to admit something embarrassing. which is that i'm reading "twlight," the teenage girl, pseudo-soft porn vampire book (don't worry--i'll be done with it before i meet my students). i was holding it while on the bus between the flight to nepal and the airport terminal, and a monk standing next to me asked me, in an american accent, if he could look at my book. turns out he's an incarnate lama, born in the U.S., recognized at 7, raised as a tulku in india, and a fan of twilight. he was a little bugged that twilight doesn't stay true to many of the original vampire myths, but he was willing to get past it because it really likes the chemistry between the two actors in the movie. just goes to show... we live in a highly connected, weird little world. and somehow those things all feel a little starker, a little more obvious, while i'm here. but it's probably because i've got my brain turned on. that said, it's good to be back.

alright, i have to head back to my room and meet amber as she'll be out of work soon and we only have one key. but i miss you all, and i hope you're doing well. the weather was so beautiful and fall-like right before i left. enjoy it. when i spend september in this part of the world, i always miss new england.

xo,
e.