The Himalaya!

Wow. Beautiful. Day one was wonderful...Sundarjil to Chisopani. I don't remember the distance we walked but we ended up 1 kilometer higher than we had started. I think Andy will be posting some pictures on his blog so check it out! (andygoes2india.com) He also has a much longer post I think so go read that.

We walked and chatted about attachment and life and all sorts of stuff. We ate yak milk cheese. We took way too many pictures. Nighttime I wore way too many layers to bed cause it was sooo cold! Oh and I think I got food poisoning because I vomited all night long :p. Andy took very good care of me!

Day 2 of the trek I spent in bed.

Day 3 we walked back the same way we came and Andy carried a lot of my stuff. We took more pictures and chatted more.

So even though we only made it out 1 day it was still fantastic. I was happy to find out that a group of 6 westerners (who looked fit to me...) moved at a much slower pace than us and they had porters carrying their bags! So even though I got sick I think I still win on fitness levels and awesomeness. I don't know how to describe how exhilarating it was to be out there in the mountains in the chill air. Just wonderful. :D

My stomach still isn't happy but I'm getting better. I'll be back for the Himalaya again someday, better equip ed with some kind of anti-food-poison herbal medicines :).

Today is new year's eve! I'll be in 2010 about 10:30 hours before all of you, so happy new year from the future!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxx

Christmas!

Happy holidays!!!! It really feels like Christmas thanks to the fact that I got to chat with my very favorite man, sir Oliver Barber. Well at least what I imagine Christmas is suppose to feel like since I usually don't celebrate :p.

Tonight I'm making a delicious fruit salad with papaya and clementines and pomagranite and ginger!!! Yuuummmmmm

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOOX

So. I'm not very good at the whole blogging thing, but I'm going to follow in Andy's footsteps and give it a shot since so many of you wonderful people actually want to know what I've been up to!

I just finished a one-month meditation course in Kopan Monastery in Nepal (Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism from the Galupa tradition--the one the Dalai Lama is from). It was super intense. Not at all what I expected, although I'm not quite sure what I expected. It's strange being back in the rush of the rest of the world after being with 200 or so westerners trying to better themselves through buddhism and 600 or so monks or nuns (the nuns mainly stay in the nunnery so we didn't see them much).

If you want to see pictures I started a photobucket account and told everyone to put up pictures! Hopefully someone will start uploading soon, the username is kopangompa

Ok. So lifechangingnes. I don't really know how to describe how I've changed because I don't think that outwardly I've changed much. I'm still the Ece you remember! I just feel calmer and more aware of my emotions and the emotions of the people around me. Though I feel calmer I have a whole lot more stuff buzzing around in my head.

Anyway, I'm picking Andy up in the airport on the 26th and we're going to do a trek of some sort through the Himalaya! The mountain air will be good as I still need to do some meditation and work out how I'm suppose to interact with the world with all this new knowledge. I didn't take refuge (Buddhist version of a baptism I think? haha I don't really know what a baptism entails) but I'm taking a lot of stuff from the Buddha Dharma (teachings) and trying to make myself a better person!

And after the trek we'll probably be heading down to Bodha Gaya to listen to some teachings from the Dalai Lama!!!

:D I love you all very very much!!!!!