Today I stayed in bed. Yesterday at noon I became very sick. A little bit earlier as expected. But I was mentally prepared. Sow yesterday we all had a very very big culture shock. Seeing a violation of human right from so close is crazy. Something we can not imagine in Europe!!
Today my Nepali and Belgium friends took very very good care for me!! I got rise with salt and milk again and I HAD to drink salty water (not the best thing to taste). While I tried to regain strength by sleeping. Kristof gave football, Melodie gave volleyball, Jonas Dr and Sofie gave juggling and pyramids, Olivier and Hans gave ping pong and Jonas De Leener took pictures and made some movies. After the sports lessons we gave theory about the body and about the importance of your own safety if you want to help people in an accident (first aid) we also learned them how to replace an injured victim
as well as how to check for breathing and heartbeat. We also learned how to move a victim into a save position. Afterward we went to Bouddhanath to meet Karma, we saw his lovely daughter and had tea in his shop/house. We also walked around the Bouddhanath stupa to get some good karma. We ended our day without electricity. Good night!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
06-07 Birthday of his Holiness Dalai Lama
We woke up at 5:20 with the sound of a gong on the background. Today we wanted to join the morning prayers. When we entered the temple all monks were sitting crossed-legged and were singing. We took a seat at the back and enjoyed a one and a half hour during Tibetan prayer. The monks made music with special instruments and drank Tibetan tea during the ceremony. We also tried the tea but this was too salty for some of us. Today it wasn't just a normal prair session because it was the 75th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. All day long we would celebrate him.
At 7:30 we left with 2 buses full of monks to the celebration which took place at the other site of the city. After 5 minutes driving the worst thing happened. A whole army of police officers stopped us and told the monks that they weren't allowed to go to the event. The government of Nepal has strong bonds with China and you all know the situation between China and Tibet. Therefore the police officers received orders that no monk could go to the celebration of the Tibetan leaders birthday, the Dalai Lama. The police sent us from police station to police station. We had to wait a very long time but it didn't help. Police men where very rood to the monks it was realy realy sad to see. We always hear about violations of human rights but seeing it and stand face to face with it, is hartbreaking!!!! The monks had to go back to the monastery ofter 3hours waiting in the bus (they were not alowed to leave the bus). It is so hard to imagine that there are people in the world who aren't allowed to follow their religious practice and cannot go wherever they want to go. We can conferm that democracy doesn't exist in this country. It was all really sad for these monks who are full of peace and love.
Back in the monastery a couple of monks dressed themselves like ordinary persons and made a second attempt with us to reach the ceremony. We had to drive all around Kathmandu to reach the Tibetan community. Everywhere in Kathmandu were road bloks to prevent Boeddhist monks from going to the celebration. Luckily our trick worked! On the Tibetan event there were a lot of Tibetan speakers and also performances of Tibetan music and dance. Everywhere you could see pictures of the Dalai Lama. And on everycorner we could get free rice and free Tibetan Tea. During lunch we went to a local "restaurant". But we had to stop a few times because Brecht was getting lot of stomac problems. The food in the restaurant was realy tasty but we asked our selfs questions about the hygiëne... In Nepali restaurant you get all you can eat always, when we left we could even fill our drinking bottles for free, incredible. When the celebration was done we we went to the Zoo with the 2 monks who accompanied us. It was really funny and we saw a lot of beautiful animals, Bengal Tiger, Rino, Angry monkeys. It was realy beautifull but also realy sad to see all those animals in to small cages. Also here we had to stop sometimes for Brecht his stomac problems. Very tired we returned to the monastery. Brecht went to bed and got some water with salt the rehydrate. We hope tommorow he will be better!
It was quite a day... I will never forget it!
Mélodie
At 7:30 we left with 2 buses full of monks to the celebration which took place at the other site of the city. After 5 minutes driving the worst thing happened. A whole army of police officers stopped us and told the monks that they weren't allowed to go to the event. The government of Nepal has strong bonds with China and you all know the situation between China and Tibet. Therefore the police officers received orders that no monk could go to the celebration of the Tibetan leaders birthday, the Dalai Lama. The police sent us from police station to police station. We had to wait a very long time but it didn't help. Police men where very rood to the monks it was realy realy sad to see. We always hear about violations of human rights but seeing it and stand face to face with it, is hartbreaking!!!! The monks had to go back to the monastery ofter 3hours waiting in the bus (they were not alowed to leave the bus). It is so hard to imagine that there are people in the world who aren't allowed to follow their religious practice and cannot go wherever they want to go. We can conferm that democracy doesn't exist in this country. It was all really sad for these monks who are full of peace and love.
Back in the monastery a couple of monks dressed themselves like ordinary persons and made a second attempt with us to reach the ceremony. We had to drive all around Kathmandu to reach the Tibetan community. Everywhere in Kathmandu were road bloks to prevent Boeddhist monks from going to the celebration. Luckily our trick worked! On the Tibetan event there were a lot of Tibetan speakers and also performances of Tibetan music and dance. Everywhere you could see pictures of the Dalai Lama. And on everycorner we could get free rice and free Tibetan Tea. During lunch we went to a local "restaurant". But we had to stop a few times because Brecht was getting lot of stomac problems. The food in the restaurant was realy tasty but we asked our selfs questions about the hygiëne... In Nepali restaurant you get all you can eat always, when we left we could even fill our drinking bottles for free, incredible. When the celebration was done we we went to the Zoo with the 2 monks who accompanied us. It was really funny and we saw a lot of beautiful animals, Bengal Tiger, Rino, Angry monkeys. It was realy beautifull but also realy sad to see all those animals in to small cages. Also here we had to stop sometimes for Brecht his stomac problems. Very tired we returned to the monastery. Brecht went to bed and got some water with salt the rehydrate. We hope tommorow he will be better!
It was quite a day... I will never forget it!
Mélodie
Monday, July 5, 2010
05-07 First sport lessons.
Here we are again, what a luxury every day we can update our blog through wireless Internet. Indeed Tinlee the future head of the monastery has installed wireless internet. Wonderful!To return to the mysterious surprise that Hans brought us yesterday.The luggage of Hans and Jonas Dreesen was mixed up. This means that Hans his bag arrived earlier in Kathmandu before he did unfortunately. And Hans traveled with the luggage of Jonas Dr. (They had promised us everything would become in ordre). Hans arrived but without luggage. This means that the baggage of Jonas Dreesen had disappeared. But to prevent unnecessary anxiety we didn't want to worry Jonas his parents yesterday. We were reassured that that the luggage would arrive yesterday evening. But this was not the case. To our great joy Jonas Dreesen has finally found his luggage today thanks to good care and help from one of our hosts Karma.
This morning we started to organize the groups and the distribution of the t-shirts we got for free from BVLO (which our greatest thanks). The other t-shirts that we got from the youth service in Halle, we will distribute in the mountain village. The monks also got new shoes and shorts, they were very very pleased.Afterward we started our sport sessions. Melody gave rope skipping, Kristof football and I Yoga. The others provided the necessary photo shoots. Hans and Jonas Dreesen recovered the bag at the airport. After 3 hours sport. We have given the monks a theory lesson, in Nepali, on hygiene. Thanks to the DVDs of the project Kids on top. After the necessary hygiene tips we headed toward the pool. Yes, in Nepal they also have pools to our big surprise. The younger monks were allowed to swim there together with us and Tinlee . I think I have the first under water picture of a Buddhist monk. The kids loved it just like us. Afterward we made a great hike to get to know the environment. We finished the our walk back in the monastery where we received again a delicious diner! The youngest monks even got some extra food because they were so hungry from “swimming”. We ended our day with a basic lesson on Buddhist philosophy from Tinlee and his friend Tups. Tomorrow we go .... hmm the names are so weird here. So tomorrow a full day excursion with the monks to celebrate the birthday of HH Dalai Lama. But first we will attend the morning prayer, so alarm clocks are at 5:20 brrrrrr too soon! Goodnight
This morning we started to organize the groups and the distribution of the t-shirts we got for free from BVLO (which our greatest thanks). The other t-shirts that we got from the youth service in Halle, we will distribute in the mountain village. The monks also got new shoes and shorts, they were very very pleased.Afterward we started our sport sessions. Melody gave rope skipping, Kristof football and I Yoga. The others provided the necessary photo shoots. Hans and Jonas Dreesen recovered the bag at the airport. After 3 hours sport. We have given the monks a theory lesson, in Nepali, on hygiene. Thanks to the DVDs of the project Kids on top. After the necessary hygiene tips we headed toward the pool. Yes, in Nepal they also have pools to our big surprise. The younger monks were allowed to swim there together with us and Tinlee . I think I have the first under water picture of a Buddhist monk. The kids loved it just like us. Afterward we made a great hike to get to know the environment. We finished the our walk back in the monastery where we received again a delicious diner! The youngest monks even got some extra food because they were so hungry from “swimming”. We ended our day with a basic lesson on Buddhist philosophy from Tinlee and his friend Tups. Tomorrow we go .... hmm the names are so weird here. So tomorrow a full day excursion with the monks to celebrate the birthday of HH Dalai Lama. But first we will attend the morning prayer, so alarm clocks are at 5:20 brrrrrr too soon! Goodnight
Sunday, July 4, 2010
03-07 Second day in the Monastry
Another day full adventure.To find out everything you will need to continue following our blog! Today we enjoyed picking up Hans from the airport. We where realy happy to see him. And we where very happy that Ilion travel Halle payed for his new ticket. We are so thankfull for this very good service!When we picked up Hans he brought us some new surprise but more about that later on this week. Nobody should worry Hans is in very good health and full of courage (and fatigue, at the moment he is sleeping as a rose, I am happy he does not snore).After picking up Hans we ate a delicious meal and pulled towards Thamel with the whole group. In Thamel we went looking for sports pants and shoes because after a year the little monks sit through all of their shoes.We also have visited just about every trekking shop in Thamel (or so it seemed). And we are very pleased that we took walkie talkies with us to keep in touch of who is winning when our taxis race to our destination. It is also very happy when we lost each other. We are extremely well taken care off by our hosts. There is a new young monk who will gradually take over the leadership of the monastery. His name is Tinlee he is 27 and after 11 years studying he has his master degree in Buddhism. He is very intelligent and has established that the children now get eggs with their breakfast and eat more fruit and get a more balanced menu during the week. The monks were very happy with the first aid material we gave them thanks to local pharmacies of Halle and Pepingen and to Hansaplast it self!Tinlee is also very enthusiastic about our sports program.
The monks have just finished seven days of exams: Englisch, Tibentan handwriting, drawing, memorizing and philosophical debate. Now they get one week vacation this ensures that we get carte blanche for our lessons. SUPER!
We will perfor 4 times 45 minutes of sportsessions with always a 15 minutes break between. All monks will be divided into 4 groups after each session and will then pass on, after wards they get a theoretical session on first aid, sanitation, recycling and English. Tomorrow we will join the monks after our lesson in the local swimming pool. Unbelievable, to my great surprise, our female companions brought their bikinis. Fortunately we will be able to help our self with sport shorts, we did not expect to swim in Nepal.Now it is time to sleep
The monks have just finished seven days of exams: Englisch, Tibentan handwriting, drawing, memorizing and philosophical debate. Now they get one week vacation this ensures that we get carte blanche for our lessons. SUPER!
We will perfor 4 times 45 minutes of sportsessions with always a 15 minutes break between. All monks will be divided into 4 groups after each session and will then pass on, after wards they get a theoretical session on first aid, sanitation, recycling and English. Tomorrow we will join the monks after our lesson in the local swimming pool. Unbelievable, to my great surprise, our female companions brought their bikinis. Fortunately we will be able to help our self with sport shorts, we did not expect to swim in Nepal.Now it is time to sleep
Saturday, July 3, 2010
03-07-2010 Arrival Kathmandu
Hello everyone,Friday afternoon we took the train to Zaventem, the lovely people of the Don Bosco Church in Buizingen came to say goodbye. (Super friendly)Our adventure began from minute one when we checked in for our airplane. Apparently long beards (such as hans) are not allowed to pass without a fight. Anyone could easily check in except Hans. His proposal to shave his beard was of no use to the situation. Finally the desperate air hostess let us depart to Frankfurt and from there she advised us to contact Qatar Airways.After an exuberant flight and a marathon at Frankfurt Airport towards the Qatar desk, we came to The identification that our travel agent made a mistake and that Hans really had no ticket .... how is this possible ? Inconceivable, indeed!After much calls back and forth between Qatar - Qatar - Lufthansa - Illion Travel Halle the verdict fell, heartbreaking, we had to leave without Hans and he was forced to buy a new ticket. I didn't understood how this is possible, because I had the prove of our tickets.... After the local clerk had promised me to take good care of Hans and our travel agent Illion Travel told they were investigating what was wrong we took obligatory our airplane without Hans. I must say his calmness was admirable. Hans took a later flight, Sunday morning he would arrive in Kathmandu. After this history, we arrived in Doha, where the desert dust caused a very bad visibility. The terrible heat at 6:30 AM in the morning after a chill airco trip was a thick pill to take. After a new flight of 4 hours we finally came in good health to the refreshing Kathmandu. Karma and Dawa welcomed us with open arms along with a horde of Nepalese people hoping by carrying our luggage to win money. Luckily I already had experience with this situations from last year. In our Hyper-big-van we disappeared into the chaos of Kathmandu traffic. Again in the monastery we were received with open arms. We were assigned rooms in their new guesthouse, we can proudly say that we are their first guests. This guesthouse was sponsored by local donations and will later serve as a source of income for the monastery in order to relieve Pema Dorjee so he could go to the next project work. Having funny friendly chats we had our beautiful elegant rooms and a fine DALH delicious meal. Pema Dorjee La also phoned to hear if we have well arrived and notified us the happy news that he is trying to do everything to meet us during our stay in Kathmandu.Now we leave you to catch up our sleep, tomorrow morning I go with Karma to the Kathmandu Airport where we will welcome Hans with our four open arms and a big hug!
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