Sunday: A Day Away from Class

Sunday was a day off from classes for the monks and teachers.  Instead of class, we took a field trip!

At 9:00 am, we all gathered in the parking lot in front of the monastery.  After a short time, a large, white bus came up the hill and stopped for us.  We all piled into the bus and were on our way.  To where, I wasn't too sure.

Up and down over winding roads, we came to the Dzongsar Monastery after about an hour.  The Dzongsar Monastery is home to one of the monks who is attending the science workship at Sherabling.  We took our shoes off and entered the main temple and were shown around the various rooms. All of the monks knew the history of the paintings, wall hangings and statues and were very patient answering all of my questions.

On the way out of the temple, a monk appeared from one of the inner rooms.  We recognized each other from a previous workshop he attended when I taught.  He invited me into his room and wanted to make some tea for me, but another monk said we didn't have time.  Instead, we just posed for photos and said our goodbyes.

Next up on the field trip was a picnic.  We reboarded the bus for a 30 minute ride to the top of a mountain.  As soon as we got out of the bus, the monks marked off a patch of ground to play cricket.  They set up some hay bales to prevent the ball from rolling down a hill and a concrete block as the wicket.  After the first game, it was time for lunch.

Out came the momos!  Momos are Tibetan dumplings and are one of the monks' favorite foods.  Everyone stacked their plates with food and enjoyed the meal.  But soon, they monks were ready for another game of cricket.

Apparently, each team won one of the cricket games and there was no time for a third and deciding match.  Instead, we got on the bus again for a 30 minute ride to the paragliding landing zone in Bir. 

Bir is a world-class location for paragliding and there were many paragliders in the air and plenty of tourists at the landing zone watching them pilots come back to Earth after taking off from up in the mountains.  Of course, we had to have another cup of tea while we watched.

By the time we finished tea it was already 4:15 pm and it was time to return home.  Some of the monks decided to walk back to the monastery instead of taking the bus.  I decide to join  them on their hike.  Through the forest and meadows and over a few hills, we made our way back to Sherabling monastery in about an hour.  Just before sunset and in time for a little relaxation before dinner.