Lecture Bonus Day!

I had been so busy before the trip that I hadn't completed all of the planning and scheduling that I had hoped to do.  Since I had taught at the same monastery before, I figured I knew what I was doing and I didn't need to worry about it too much.

It turns out I missed a big change: I knew that we had one more day for math this year, but we also had one more day for physics!  Of course, I learned this on what I thought was my penultimate day of teaching.  Luckily, I hadn't completely prepped my slides for the next day. 

In the end, this was very fortunate.  Yesterday (when I thought I had only one day left) I hadn't been able to do conservation of energy in enough detail and it was clear that it did not make sense to the monks.  With the additional day, I spent the entire lecture time working on conservation of energy and the additional lab focused on energy measurements and calculations.

Of course, it would have been better to know my schedule earlier so that I would have made better use of the previous lecture, rather than rushing through.  I could consider this a valuable lesson in the value of planning, but many people seem to think I spend too much time planning as it is.

Now I truly only have one day left of lecturing.  I am looking forward to making the most of my remaining time, but I do feel the tears starting to creep up when I think about leaving.  Even though my time here was longer (by two days, oops!) than last year, the visit has felt shorter.  There has been a lot that I haven't had time for - like blogging - but my visit has been incredibly rich.  I will certainly return, and hopefully each trip will be two days longer than the previous one. 

Monk on a skateboard

Apparently skateboards can be purchased in the local region in India, to my surprise.  The skateboards are excellent for demonstrating inertia, low friction, and Newton's laws. We have possibly had a ton of fun with them as well!  Importantly, no one has gotten hurt (yet).

A Telescope at the Monastery

(Hopefully pictures will be posted later, when I get them from the photographer)

Drepung Loseling owns a lovely telescope, clearly optimized to be portable and simple.  Last year there was an evening where some of the physics instructors set it up and many monks were invited to come and see the planets and moon.  I saw fliers up around the monastery!  However, clouds quickly rolled in.  I believe that was the first time the telescope was used.  I wasn't there - I was either sleeping or working on slides.

Tonight, a group of us were leaving the monastery after dinner and I noticed the sky was clear.  Given the whole "monsoon season", this is a bit of a surprise!  I had previous discussed the lack of clear sky with some of the other instructors.  Seeing the clear moon and some planets, we turned around to find our Science Monk and set up the telescope.  Luckily, we also found the physics instructor who actually runs an observatory and could identify the planets.

Since it was last minute, we didn't have that big of a group of monks.  Many would walk by and someone would yell out what they could look at.  We were able to see the moon, Jupiter and 4 moon, Mars, and Saturn and its rings!  The monks asked many questions about the planets and moon, and many were excited by what they saw.  In many ways it was like having American students look through telescopes - some of them tried taking pictures through the eyepiece with their cellphones.

One of our instructors had a nice camera and grabbed the tripod for it to do long-exposure photography.  He got a number of nice pictures of the starts and planets by the monastery, the monks at the telescope, and a number of pictures of the instructors.  There was some fun with long-exposure "light writing" as well.

Amazing, I got to use a portion of my Tibetan vocab.  The days of the week are named after the planets, so I can name all of the objects we saw in Tibetan!  I don't know if the Tibetans have names for the specific moons of Jupiter, but I barely know those in English.

We hope to get the telescope back out tomorrow evening, as it is the monks' day off and many will be around.  I don't know if we will be lucky enough to have two clear nights in a row - the clouds did roll in today after we were out there about an hour.  Hopefully the sky is clear for a bit tomorrow, and more monks are able to look through the telescope.

Morning Meditation

Many people asked if I did much meditation at the monastery last year... no, not at all.  I hadn't even been aware of any opportunities, and I do not believe there was any.  This year, it looks like I will be able to do a morning meditation every day!

The Emory-Tibet program has a number of facets, and teaching science to the monks in India is only one part.  There is also a student program that brings students (mostly from Emory, but open to others) to India to visit the different monasteries and learn about Tibetan Buddhism.  Last year, I left Drepung before the students arrived.  This year, they were already here.

The students have a meditation session, but it is when we are teaching.  Geshe Lobsang Negi, who runs the Drepung Loseling Center in Atlanta, runs their meditation session and has agreed to run one for the faculty.  Of course, ours needs to be before breakfast, at 6 AM.

I've been to meditation sessions at the Drepung Loseling Center that he has run, so there were many similarities.  However, he has a small number of monks come up to do chants at the beginning and end of the meditation.  While the center in Atlanta is beautiful, it does not compare to being in the meditation room on the roof of the monastery!

I'm looking forward to continuing the morning meditations, even if it does require getting up before 5:30.  I'm still a little jet lagged, so I actually woke up at 3 AM last night.  While I am still spending all of my time working on class prep (and not much time sleeping), I can't pass up on the opportunity to meditate here.  I actually didn't have my notes finished for class today, but the lecture still went fine.  That hour was certainly well spent.

Compared to last year...

When I taught at the monastery last year, I experienced emotions that I did not have words for.  Possibly the jet lag contributed, but when I first arrived I was giddy with awe and could barely process what I was seeing.  Even after a few days, hearing the monks (hundreds!) chanting or seeing the detailed embellishments of the monastery left me in shock that such a place could exist.  And I was there.

I've done some amazing things in my life, but last year I quickly decided that this was the most amazing experience I had ever had.  I swore to come back and hoped to return many, many times.

I was very blessed to have the opportunity to return this year and eagerly signed up.  I possibly volunteered before anyone ever asked me.  However, I had a small fear that the experience couldn't be as amazing a second time.  Possibly the chanting would be less loud or the the paint less bright.  Maybe the thrill of teaching the monks depended upon the novelty.

Amazingly, I think I am having a better experience this year than I did last year.  There are many obvious ways in which I am having a different experience - living in a different guest house, traveling during Monsoon.  However, the lack of novelty of a second visit means that I have more context.  I'm still experiencing emotions that I cannot name and they feel less fleeting than those of last year.

After teaching here last year, I tried to learn more about Tibet and Buddhism.  Unsurprisingly, I read a number of books.  These ranged from the popular books written by the Dalai Lama and others to reach a popular audience to academic books.  I frequented the Drepung Loseling center in Atlanta, where I attended meditations and took a few classes on Buddhism.  Now I have a much better understanding (though it is probably still at a Wikipedia level) of the Tibetan history and the cultural experiences of my monk students.  Instead of only appreciating the beauty of the monastery building, I am also struck by the miracle that the Tibetans have been successful in preserving their culture and escaping genocide.  I wonder how many of my students have fled over mountains and overcome obstacles before reaching the monastery.

I am enjoying the teaching more for a number of reasons.  In addition to learning about the Tibetan history and culture, I worked on the learning the language.  Over the past year I made some progress being able to pronounce (badly!) written words and learn some vocabulary.  The vocab was mostly random words and phrases, rather than anything particularly useful.  While I cannot talk to the monks (other than the many who speak English), I was able to label my slide in Tibetan based on a list of words provided by one of the translators.  I think it makes the lectures more effective, and I enjoy listening for the words that I do know.

I am teaching the same class as last year, so I am able to improve and refine my slides, rather than start from scratch.  While this is taking as much time as last year, it is satisfying to fix the issues from last year.  My co-teacher and I have been working closely on how to best present the math and have the monks do hands-on activities.  It is nice to discuss the pedagogy and scaffolding, especially since my co-teacher has experience working with the monks at Emory.

Finally, there are a number of things that I am experiencing and participating in that did not occur last year.  Most of them deserve their own blog post, but I have deep gratitude for the hard work that so many people are doing to run this program.  It has been great getting to know the other instructors, most of whom are new to the program or to this location. 

Arrived at the Monastery!

My trip from Atlanta to Paris to Mumbai to Belgaum to the Monastery was mostly uneventful.  The flights were wonderful (yay, Air France!) and all of my luggage made it.  One of the people in my group did not have their luggage make it, so my concerns about packing survival clothes/supplies in my carry-on was warranted.  We got to the hotel in Mumbai extra late, due to waiting at the airport for the person to deal with the lost luggage.  I'm not sure how jet lagged I am - I didn't sleep for the first 24 hours, so I think my clock was well reset by the first night of sleep.

The flight from Mumbai to Belgaum was later in the day this year, and it ended up being delayed.  This meant we had many, many hours in the domestic terminal of the Mumbai airport.  I bought some scarves and a cell phone power source.  A group of us chatted and drank chai - not a bad way to spend the afternoon.  We landed in Belgaum in the evening, so much of the drive to the Monastery was in the dark.  It rained for half of the drive, which slowed us down substantially.

I will definitely get to witness Monsoon this year.  When we were at the hotel in Mumbai, the news said that Monsoon had reached Kerala, in the south.  I believe it takes about a week to move up to Mumbai - so we should have it in a few days.  It was raining for part of yesterday, but not very hard.

There has been one major surprise so far - I am not staying where I thought I would be.  The guest house (that I stayed in last year) is full, so many of us are in a second guest house.  It is on the other side of the Monastery, and is a bit older.  There is still AC, but it lacks many of the small items that had been in the room at the other guest house.  Luckily, I had over-packed and brought many things I wouldn't have needed had I been in the other location, like AC adapters.

The power outages have been worse this year, though I only have a few data points.  Last year the power outages were short, and there was only one long one.  The power was out almost the entire first night we were here - that was bad since it was hot and hard to sleep without AC.  I expect this will get worse, which is why I bought the power source for my phone.  It will likely be harder for me to regularly blog this year, depending on how bad the power outages get.

Otherwise, everything has been wonderful so far.  The food is as amazing as I remember and the monks are incredibly friendly and helpful.  It is nice to know so many of them already and be familiar with the common names - I am going to do much better at remembering names this year.  When we toured around the building, we looked into the neuroscience classes taking their final exam.  In the 3rd year room I recognized some of my students from last year! 

I'm excited to go off and start teaching today.  I don't have as much ready for later days as I would like, and I don't know if some of our materials for today (math assessment, afternoon lab) have been translated.  But the slides are ready and I'm feeling good about it.

Animals Sighted in India

Eventually this will have pictures, but I need to start making the list before I forget.  Vaguely ordered in terms of awesomeness.  Hopefully there will be updates on the drive to Belgaum tomorrow!

• 3 monkeys (no pictures though!)
• 1 mongoose (it was not eating a snake)
• 1 tiny hummingbird the size of a bee
• One parrot, seemingly racing the car
• A few geckos/salamanders of various sizes in my bathroom and bedroom
• A dozen or so feral dogs, a few of which want to be friends and get fed, but most of which know to keep away from people
• One adorable feral puppy that really wanted to be friends
• a number of black bees, the size of small sparrows
• Wild pigs, both at the monastery and in the middle of large towns
• Many cows, which mostly look too thin, one of which was dead
• A reasonable quantity of sheep and goats, in places that are reasonable to find them
• A few frogs, which became a bazillion frogs after the rains.  I was worried about stepping on them at night, but the closest call came when one jumped onto my foot.
• Beautiful birds - some varieties of cranes and similar birds.
• Butterflies, sometimes a dozen at a time.  Many likes resting on the walls of the guesthouse.
• A few cats, one of which went into the monastery during the rain.  Maybe it is still in there, somewhere.
• Ants.  Ants everywhere.  I had no idea I could peacefully exist with so many ants.

Jangchub Choeling Nunnery

This afternoon, Tsondue and I went to the nunnery (I learned its name: Jangchub Choeling) and I gave a talk and answered some questions.  There were about 40 nuns there, and the talk itself was in the prayer hall.  I wasn't sure how long I would be expected to talk for, or how long the talk would become with translation.  I also wasn't sure the level of physics the nuns would be familiar with.

After introductions, I asked them if they had studied much physics.  A few of them, but they said mostly biology.  I also saw that translation was making everything take longer than expected, so I scaled back my talk significantly.  I started with conservation of energy, connecting it with causality and giving some simple examples (such as dropping objects).  I then talked about how we observe that galaxies (it took Tsondue a long time to explain galaxies) rotate too fast, given what we observe their mass to be.  Hence, I talked about dark matter and how it is an open question that we are pursuing experimentally.

The talk, including introductions, took about 30 minutes.  I wasn't sure when they had dinner or puja, so I wasn't sure how long questions would go.  We ended up answering questions for about 45 minutes.  Some of the nuns spoke flawless English, but others asked their questions in Tibetan.  A number of questions asked me how science relates to specific ideas in Buddhism - Tsondue addressed one of the questions that required a detailed understanding of Buddhism.

My favorite question, the 2nd one asked: "When I first learned science, there were 9 planets.  Now there are only 8.  What happened to Pluto?".  I explained that it was just a clarification of terminology, since we now know of many Pluto-like objects.

There were also questions about biology, which I took a stab at (and admitted my lack of expertise).  Two of the nuns were responsible for most of the questions.  One had been enthusiastically taking notes the entire time, and the other asked for our contact info at the end.  I wish I could bring them back to Agnes Scott!

The Tibetan monks and nuns are incredibly intelligent and want to understand the world, but they come from a completely different perspective from science.  I got few "out of left field" questions from my monks, which I attribute to them already having one summer of science through ETSI.  The nuns asked more questions that showed that they are thinking about scientific facts that they are learning, but don't know the "scientific perspective":

• In E=mc^2, why is the speed of light c and not a or b?
• Science says that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.  In Buddhism we say the mind travels faster than light.  Can you explain why you say nothing travels faster than light?
• Are atoms living? 

The nuns were enthusiastic, and it seems like many of the ETSI people are interested in establishing better connections with them.  It was great to talk there.  They had snacks and water at the table we were sitting at, and gave us tea part of the way through.  (The nuns have fancy china, the monks do not)

Tsondue and I with the some of the nuns, in front of the prayer hall.

I'm really glad that this talk came together, since it seemed to be a great experience for them and I really enjoyed it.  There is now talk of trying to do more events like this while ETSI faculty are in the area.  Only a small fraction of the local monks are in our program, and our curriculum is fairly narrowly defined.  Giving topical talks and answering questions would be a great way to more broadly present scientific ideas here.

While I was sipping tea in the prayer hall, looking out at the nuns and listening to my ideas presented in Tibetan, I definitely thought "this is the coolest thing I have ever done".  It was a great way to end my time here.  

Last Lunch, afternoon

Today we had lunch in a different place - small, rather lavish, room on an upper floor of the monastery.  We were joined by the current Abbot of the monastery, as well as two former Abbots of other monasteries.  There was an offering ceremony (by a Tulku about the Geshe exam) made to us.  The biology instructors are here now, so some of the things I am seeing at the end of my time (this, Saga Dawa) is what they are starting with.

It looks like I will be heading over to the nunnery.  Since it is the only nunnery in the area, no one actually calls it by name (unlike the monasteries).  I'll try to figure out the name later today. It is still somewhat unclear what will occur.  There may be another physicist going who brought more demo equipment than I did.  Otherwise, I think I'm going to be lecturing (no slides or visuals or anything) by myself.  It also sounds like I'll be speaking in the prayer hall itself...

I'm not quite sure what to teach.  The nuns do learn science, but I'm guessing any audience would be made of a variety of ages and education levels.  I'm not used to "lecturing" without slides or visual aids.  Also, there will be a translator.  And I have less than 2 hours to prepare at this point... I'm thinking of trying to talk about some of the basic ideas in science, like conservation of energy.  I want to try to hit some topics I'd guess some are familiar with, but then try to draw connections to modern fields of research and unanswered questions: like dark matter.  

Class Pictures

This morning, right before class, we did a large group photo at the front stairs of the monastery with all of the students from both classes, the instructors, and translators.  I don't have a copy of that picture yet.

I wanted a picture of my teaching group and my students - we tried going to the front of the classroom, which was a terrible idea.  We could have crammed together, but then all of the pillars would have been in the way for the picture!  We went to the roof and I got some photos on my camera - someone came up with the nice camera, so I hope to get some better pictures later.

My students, translators, and Tsondue.  Our classroom is the windows to the right (in the picture).  The monastery in the distance is Gomang.

The teachers!

Did they learn anything?

Happily, my students have learned something.  I have done an initial analysis of the math assessment, and there is a statistically significant increase in scores.  Not every student did better, but some did incredibly better.  I was skeptical that math could be "taught" in two days, but it certainly looks like we were able to increase their math skills with two days of focused math instruction and practice throughout the physics section.

My students are now taking their final exam.  I am unsure how involved I will be in grading it - much of it is multiple choice, so I should be able to grade those questions, even in Tibetan.  I don't know what scores I would be "happy" with on the test.  I think the test is too long for the time they have to take it - nominally, 2.5 hours.  I expect they are better at staying focused on a task for that long, compared to American students.  It is clear that some of them had reviewed their notes, since today there were some very specific questions on material I had previously covered.

I really think this program is "working".  The students are naturally creative and inquisitive, but they are not used to approaching scientific problems.  Watching them in lab and based on the questions they asked, I think they are acquiring the ability to use a scientific framework.  Based on what the first year instructors talked about, it seems like there is a difference between the students' questions in their first year of the program versus the second year.

I want to learn more about Tibetan Buddhism, especially their approach to knowledge.  They are extremely logical and have a well developed system for analyzing and debating phenomena.  There are certain challenging physics topics - like the possible existence for a third type of electrical charge - that they might be able to understand much more quickly than American-trained students.  Pedagogically, it is always important to know what knowledge (and misconceptions) students come into your classroom with.  Here it is even more important, especially if I work with a different translator in the future.

Saying Goodbye

Tomorrow is my last day of teaching - and even then, it is mostly handing out the exam.  I want to cover universal gravitation first, but that is it.  Today we had a closing ceremony - all of the students piled into one classroom and there were comments from the administrators of Gomang and Loseling.  Us instructors made some comments, and we were presented with beautiful wall hangings.  I'm probably going to move my PhD in my office to hang this (once I figure out how to get it back to the US).

The biologists have arrived, who teach the next section.  It is strange to think of handing over "my" students and "my" classroom to them.  I've only been here slightly over a week - I don't feel ready to leave.  I'm not just planning on returning next year, I'm planning on returning most years.  While I may not be able to pick what topic and monastery I teach at next year, I'm sure I can make a request.  I'm already debating whether I want to teach the same topic, since I have so many ideas for improvements, or whether I want to teach the same students the next physics class in the sequence.

I'm not sure there are plans for what I will be doing tomorrow, once my students are taking the exam.  There was discussion of going back to the nunnery (whose name I should learn!) to give a small physics lecture.  If that doesn't happen, I'll be packing up.  We leave Thursday morning; it is a few hour drive to Belgaum, where our flight departs (probably) at noon.

Saga Dawa (Vesak)

The monastery, lit up specially for

Today is Saga Dawa (Vesak), which celebrates Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death.  I think that makes it Easter and Christmas, all in one day.  The lights on the monastery temple are incredibly impressive, and there is an extra amount of chanting today.  I even heard the horns, for the first time!

At Sunset.

Everything is beautiful, and the chants are louder than normal.  There have been lay Tibetans all around the monastery, and some of the students didn't come to class.  I went to one of the later pujas, which included a light offering.

I had been told that we could just go in the "front door" and there would be a place for us to sit.  But when you walk up to a huge door and inside there are a few hundred monks chanting... it feels a little intimidating to just walk in.  Especially since the monks aren't facing away from the giant door...  After a bit of standing outside, we went to the 2nd floor overlook area.

I'm most impressed by the lack of broken lights, especially after the storms the past 2 days.

From the overlook area it was easy to hear (and it occasionally bordered on deafening) and see.  I couldn't actually see who was leading the chants - I think they were blocked by the pillars.  After some time a monk brought us some cushions to sit on - as he walked up, I was expecting to be told to leave.  I keep feeling like I am going where I am not supposed to.  I'm somewhat concerned the Tibetans are too nice to tell me if I actually did...

After a little bit, the monks filed out for the light offering.  Everyone had candles, there was additional chanting, blowing of horns, and then placing the candles on the ground around the plaza.  The group of monks I teach are roughly my age, but this group had many teenagers and children.  many of them took to jumping over the candles and bushes.

Monks in the plaza chanting

Candles were left at the edge of the plaza, but it seemed like some monks were taking their candles farther away as well.

After the light offering, I went back up to my spot overlooking the prayer hall.  A group came in (I think they are from Taiwan) and made offerings at the altar and to the monks.  There was much more chanting, and I think a reading.  At one point, large groups of younger monks (maybe 10?) ran in - they seemed to be racing each other - and started pouring beverages for the other monks.  Later, there was some sort of ceremony involving 3 monks, elaborate outfits, and the altar.

My view from the overlook, towards the altar

I stayed for an hour (after the light offering).  As I was getting hot and thinking about dehydration, one of the monks brought me a juice box and water.  Later in the ceremony, there was a huge stampede of young monks who ran in and grabbed boxes in the front.  They tore open the boxes and started handing out the contents to the seated monks.  I'm pretty sure I saw bags of chips - I think other things were snacks as well.  Other monks dragged in tubs of bananas.  So, Buddhist equivalent of opening the stockings?

My joints were starting to hurt and I realized I had work to do for tomorrow, so I headed home around 10:30 PM.  I'm very glad that I went, and I hope that Saga Dawa falls during the Physics ETSI week in the future.  Its placement is based on a lunar calendar, so it could be a few years before my ETSI week and the holiday intersect again.  Next time, I'll find out if I was really supposed to walk in the front doors during the chanting and be a bit more bold.

Tour Day: Gaden

We started our tour by picking up the other ETSI instructors.  They are at Gaden, a monastery a short drive from our monastery.  They stay farther from the monastery building, so get driven in every morning.  It seems like the arrangements there aren't quite as good - no air conditioning, not as good food, etc.  So when I return in future years, I certainly hope to be back at Loseling...

Ganden is comprised of two different main monasteries.  Both were rather lovely.  Most of these buildings are very old - there was a large influx of Tibetans into India in the 1990's, so the monasteries grew a lot shortly after.  Loseling was built in the 2000's, though there are older (smaller) buildings nearby.

At Gaden we were able to see one of the kitchens.  These are at "industrial" kitchen scale, but don't feel like a factory.  Food gets made for 100s of monks, including pieces of bread and buns shaped by hand.

Mural at the entrance.

This is a side "chapel", where monks chant for the protector spirits of the monastery.

The prayer hall - monks would sit on the foam pads.

These statues are probably 8-10 feet tall.

I assume that candles were traditionally used, but now there is an assortment of colored bulb, flicker bulbs, and even some color-changing LED lights.  Offerings are made for each of the statues.

The central Buddha is about twice as tall as the others.

A 3-dimensional Mandala, depicting a temple where the gods dwell.  These are presented as gifts during visits from lamas and during important teachings.

A wok big enough to bathe in.  The stack of pans are steamers, and the burner is about 3 feet in diameter.

Cooks preparing to take the bread that has been made.  Monks rotate through cooking duty.

The many Buddhas are representative of the belief that there will be many Buddhas (enlightened ones).

Got me to a Nunnery!

(I had to get my pun on, sorry)

Just like Tibetan monasteries, there are Tibetan nunneries.  We went to one nearby - unfortunately, I didn't get its name.  The Tibetan nuns have a similar curriculum to the monks, but their educational structure was established much more recently.

We arrived as the nuns were filing in to the temple for lunch and chanting.  Once they started, we headed in as well.  I feel very awkward watching someone else's worship (and taking pictures), but I guess it is ok.  One nun had a microphone and appeared to be leading the chant, but it didn't really seem to be in unison.  Many of the nuns were chanting from books, while others seemed to have the passages memorized.

In addition to the many nuns chanting and us ETSI visitors, there were nuns serving food and other women sitting around the edge of the room.  The women were not nuns, but were also chanting and receiving food.  Most of the nuns serving food were younger.  They did offer it to us, but we couldn't have most of it since we didn't have silverware or plates.  We were given an apple and cup of kurd (yogurt).  The kurd was brought by an adorable nun, who was probably about 6.  The box of kurd probably was half of her weight!

Nuns entering their prayer hall.

The shoes here are a little more colorful than at the monastery.

The nuns eating and chanting.  This was smaller than the monasteries we visited.

Tour Day: Gomang

Gomang is the monastery across the street from where I am teaching.  I don't fully understand the system here, but it seems like there are always two monasteries that are together.  I'm at Drepung, which consists of Drepung Gomang and Drepung Loseling (I think).  I'm teaching in the Loseling building.  Many of the monks in my class are from Gomang.  In addition to their monastery, monks also have a specific house they are from.

Gomang was decorated with many garlands.  There is a major holiday tomorrow, so the monasteries are extra decorated.  At Loseling they have hung lights outside.  I hope to see them lit up tonight or tomorrow morning.

Gomang is slightly smaller than Loseling.

All of the pillars and support structures are beautifully painted, in the Tibetan style.

Doorways, when not in use, and hung with these types of cloths.  Tibetans seem to place emphasis on everything being beautiful.

I think the garlands are for tomorrow's holiday.

Another beautiful shrine.  Some of the figures represent different deities, Buddha, and different scholars.

Even the ground is decorated.  Also, the monastery floors are incredibly beautiful marble.  The building in the background is "my" monastery, Loseling.

Tour Day: Drepung Loseling

Our last stop on our tour was the monastery I have been teaching at.  I was very excited to see the main hall. Even after the other monasteries, this was very impressive.  I had walked through a hallway that overlooks the hall, but I hadn't been able to clearly see the shrine at the front.  This was bigger than the other monasteries, and seemed somewhat fancier.

I walked by this door on my way too and from my classroom.  Occasionally it was open, showing the splendor of the prayer hall and letting out the incredible sounds of the chanting.

Not our usual entrance to the monastery!  When going in to classes we take the "back way" and are allowed to keep on our shoes.

The main altar of the Drepung Loseling monastery.

Certain figures or works of art have specific sponsors.

The hall, where the monks sit.  There is a hallway that runs along the top, which I had looked in on previously.

Now I know what is on the other side of the 202 door!

Decorations at the top of the pillars, taking from the 2nd floor walkway

In addition to the beautiful colors, the building is decorated with ornate carvings as well.

Everything on the outside is beautifully painted.

Tour Day: Shopping and Tea in Camp 3

After lunch today, I hoped to go shopping in the local town.  I hoped others would go, since I didn't want to walk by myself or negotiate a rickshaw by myself.  Most everyone wanted to go, so one of the monastery's drivers took us.

We stayed in the main cluster of shops, which had many monks shopping and socializing as well.  There were a number of small Indian children begging - they were impressively persistent.  One of the women I was with gave one of the girls money, but they didn't leave after that.  Later, the monks gave them coins and the children left.

As we were about to walk back to Drepung (about 3 km) a large group of our ETSI monks (those who are translating and helping us) arrived and we joined them for tea under a tamarind tree.

There is more to town (Camp 3) than this, but this is where we shopped.

I figured out how to take a selfie!  Shopping area is behind me.

The monks invited us to join them for tea.  The tea is sweet and milky and very hot.