Since I wanted to experience as much as I could about the culture of Nepal, I decided a six-day Buddhist retreat at one of the monasteries in town would help me dive right in.
I arrived at Kopan on Friday (Feb. 19) afternoon, found my dorm room (actually, any dorm in the U.S. looks like a hotel suite compared to these), met my roommates, Pauline (from Holland) and Renata (from Italy) and headed to dinner.
Since I was there alone, I knew I would have to work up the courage to make friends - otherwise it'd be a long six days on "campus." After I grabbed my plate of food, I sat down at an empty table and waited for fellow retreat-goers to join me.
Thank goodness a couple of hilarious guys from D.C. sat down across from me - Scott and Ethan - who would be my sanity saviors throughout the course. They quit their jobs as teachers, and are traveling the world together. Amazing. And it's even more amazing how much I came to absolutely love them without really knowing them - besides the smart-ass comments - before, during or after our classes or meditations (thanks Ethan).
The week at Kopan was wonderful and difficult. I'm grateful for the opportunity to attend a retreat - without the worries of work, or a schedule...or life in general. I was just there, ready to soak it in. But I found it hard to meditate in a room with 60 people, especially after sitting cross-legged for more than 7 hours a day - and I found my mind racing with random thoughts and memories.
Religion is also a difficult pill for me to swallow - and when I originally signed up for this experience, I had the expectation of discussing more philosophy - but was met with a course involving 65 percent religion, 35 percent philosophy. Either way, the discussions were always interesting (whether I agreed with the ideas or not) and it was wonderful to be a room with people from all over the world.
At the end of the retreat, there was a special Puja (prayer) event at Kopan - and about 1,800 monks were visiting the monastery. They would hold long prayer services and make offerings to Buddha. In the afternoon, the little monks would have debates with the older (and more experienced) monks, then return to their long-winded prayers and chants.
Glad I did it, wouldn't do it again, but met some fabulous people, learned about Buddhism, saw some monks and nuns, had some wonderful writing and reflection time, ate a lot vegetarian food and soup, shared a bathroom with 30 people, and had fantastic views of Kathmandu at sunrise and sunset.
