Final Days

I've come to Padum so soon because I need to find out about the bus back to Leh. Since it has no regular schedule, and only leaves once all of the seats are sold, I simply have to come here when we've heard it might be here to buy our tickets. Hopefully we'll be able to find it and buy our tickets today, I don't really want to come back here again. We'll see!

Things have been extremely busy around the nunnery. Khondro held a second puja last Friday, which means lots of cooking and the nuns are busy all day. Having her at the nunnery was fun, but exhausting for all of us. I can tell that the nuns are very tired now. On her last day, the villagers had a small party in her honor at the monastery, where there was singing and dancing. She gave a speech, but it was in Zanskari, so I don't know what she said. It was fun, and we got to sit up front, as one of her guests. She left early Monday morning, which meant that we all got up early to cook her some food and say goodbye. I was really tired at the end of the day, and fell asleep while waiting for dinner.

We did have a few quiet days at the nunnery, though. On Wednesday, Khondro took all of the nuns with her to Dzon Khul, the monastery that I'd already visited. A few stayed the night with her. She came back on Thursday afternoon, and it was busy again at the nunnery. On Wednesday, while only one nun who is took sick to go with the others, we had three visitors. One of our visitors is a woman from the French-speaking part of Switzerland. She came up to see if she could stay for a month or so at the nunnery, doing a retreat. As no one who could make such a decision was there, I had to send her away, asking her to come back the next day, when everyone would be back and they could decide. Once she found out that I speak French, we were conversing in French. It was really fun for me to be able to practice my French. The next day, she came back, and the nuns decided that she can stay. She came into Padum today with us to buy supplies for her time here. She's very nice, and I've had fun speaking French with her.

On Saturday, Lauren and I hiked up to a cave where a famous monk meditated in the 10th century, or so. I'm pretty bad about remembering all of the names, and can't remember the name of the monk who meditated there. The cave is up the hillside, just across the Zanskar River from Sani. We had to walk a bit away to cross the river, though. It took us about 3 and a half hours to walk up to the cave. We made tea there, and sat and talked for a while. It was absolutely spectacular up there, up the hillside. We were quite high up. I tried to take some good photos, but I feel that they don't quite capture the perspective that I had. Up there, we saw a rainbow in the sky, and heard the drums from a large puja happening at the monastery. It was amazing. I was also exhausted after our hike, and glad that Lauren knew someone in the village just bellow the cave, as we stopped there for tea and waited for the afternoon wind to die down a bit.

The exciting visitors haven't stopped coming. Yesterday afternoon, only a bit after Khondra had left, Karma Lekshe Tsomo arrived at the nunnery. Karma Lekshe is the founder of the Jamyang Foundation, the whole reason for why I'm here. It was known that she was coming sometime, but we didn't know exactly what day to expect her. She's visiting the many nunneries that she gives support to in the Zanskar Valley. With her is a woman who has been teaching in Kinnaur, and is traveling with her to help her document the nuns and take down what they are in most need of. They only stayed one night, though. We caught a ride to Padum with them.

It was so exciting to finally meet her. She is a Buddhist nun, and was ordained many years ago in Dharmsala by the Dali Lama himself. She is doing amazing work for the nuns of India and beyond. It was so interesting to talk with her, but I will admit that I was a bit scared at first. I only hoped that she was happy with the teaching that we were doing. She talked with a few nuns in English, testing out what they knew. It was great to have her there, but I only wish that she could have stayed longer.

Well, it has been quite a busy few weeks here. I can't believe that it's time for me to start heading home soon. I might be leaving as early as tomorrow, we just have to see about the bus. We'll have a few days in Leh, and I hope to book us a room in a guest house that has Internet at it, and is a bit outside the town. We'll have time and energy to explore the town, and maybe even buy a few local items! I don't think they make rugs here, but we'll see!!

I'll probably write next when I'm in Leh. Hopefully I won't have to come back to Padum again to book the bus ticket!