Swaying in Swayambunath

Yesterday we started our day in Swayabunath! The three statues we saw were the biggest statues in Nepal! These statues are fairly new and have only been there for only about ten years, but it was exciting to see how many people were giving offerings. There were also offerings of flowers in water. Then we proceeded to visit the stupa, a.k.a. the monkey temple. We circumambulated around a few times and got to witness people give offerings to the temple of small pox. They hope for their children not to get disease or get it cured if they already have it. There was something many of us noticed, there was a man selling little birds. We had thought they were being sold as pets and we wanted to buy them to let them go, but that was the purpose. To buy them in order to let them go. Afterwards we proceeded to a class at the Tanka school. There we witnessed the different levels of paintings. There were the students, masters, and professionals. We got to pass around the art and see the differences in details. One of the most interesting things we noticed was that there were two types of Mandalas; the cosmic and traditional. The traditional were more based on story-telling of the samsara. The cosmic Mandala’s were incredible complex.

The next place we visited was Patan, there we had lunch and enjoyed walking around a little bit and getting to see a different part of town. The environment in the streets were similar to what we see leaving the guest house, metal houses and street shops.

The last place we stopped at was Thamel. Here we cannot wrap up all of our experiences because we got to explore on our own. We all had a different experience, but I think we can all agree that this part of town was different than what we had been seeing. There were more tall buildings and many more junctions that we could get lost in, just like in a city. Also, we saw a lot more diversity in this part of Nepal.

Today brought an entirely new adventure for the class. Despite the fact that some of us were feeling under the weather, we powered through and held a discussion outside in the warmth of the afternoon about the high hopes we have for the future of various communities. Our journey in the afternoon took us to a local nunnery that we reached by foot. Its gates stood off to the side of one of the streets, and behind them they opened up to a beautiful campus. The buildings were constructed from red brick, and to the left through a small quad, there was a few worship rooms.

When we walked into the first floor, the nuns were in the middle of practicing some of the chants, and were playing the same instruments we were introduced to at the monastery in Pharping. The second floor housed another worship room where the nuns who go to school were practicing. The worship room on the third floor was unoccupied but was still decorated with various victory flags and held the same purpose and meaning as the other two. We learned about the system that they use for recycling, and they showed us the various ways that they reuse the plastics and bottles. The delicate crafts were meticulously made by hand and could pass as factory-made items in a store. Our day as a class ended with some hot masala tea and cookies, and some time to socialize with a couple of the younger nuns.