3/29/09 Sad Ending to March

March started out so well since it came on the heels of Tsagaan Sar but I'm afraid it ended on a sad note. Two of our staff lost family members in the last week.

Davaa, our director, lost her father. He had been ill and Davaa had been spending more and more time taking care of him in the last couple of weeks. But he was 84 and she knew it would be soon. She was so overjoyed when the nuns from Dolma Ling went to the house to pray in her father's last hours. It really meant a lot to her and her family.

Traditionally, an offering of money is made to the family when someone dies. Then a few days later, it's what we in the west might call a wake. Visitors come to the families home to visit. Food and drink are offered. Ueli, Glenda, Khulan, Ven. Gyatso and I went to Davaa's family apartment. While we were there many others came to visit and to eat. It seemed almost like a mini-Tsagaan Sar although the mood wasn't very festive. We got to meet more of Davaa's large extended family. I'm glad we could stop by and give her our support.

Davaa said the next day they would cremate the body and she might stay a few days at the monastery attached to the crematorium. Cremation being the preference of Buddhists here it seems. Even after she returned to work, she said sometimes she would just burst into tears, especially at home when she realized he was 'really' gone.

A few days later, Munguu's grandmother passed away. Every day Munguu would go home to care for her grandmother who was 94. Again it wasn't unexpected but families are so close here. Munguu's family apartment is to small to accommodate visitors so she had us meet her at a restaurant where we could pay our respects. Again, we were served food and drink as part of the wake. Munguu said the family dug the grave themselves (grave diggers wanted $100 to dig the grave) and her grandmother was buried in a cemetery, a custom brought by Russians. Another custom is giving visitors a gift for coming, so Munguu gave each of us a bag of goodies.

Once they have had time to adjust, I might ask more about Mongolia's customs surrounding death and the dying. Both are now back at work, but I think it will be a while before things are back to normal, at least for them.

3/21/09 Spring = Change

Yes, spring is definitely in the air. The temperature is increasing along with the number of pickpockets targeting Westerners with fewer layers on, even one's wearing grubby Carhart's. Don't worry, they didn't get anything, guess my 'big city' radar is still working but it's a strange feeling to see the 'trap' close and you just missed getting 'caught'. But, also with the changing weather, I got my first flu bug. The Cafe was so nice to bring soup up to my room when I didn't get out of bed until after noon. Maybe it's all due to cabin fever and everyone's need to 'get out' and do something different after the 'force you back inside' kind of winters we have here. But, on a personal level, it's the perfect time to try out some positive changes.

The night before I was laid up in bed with the flu, I completely re-arranged my room which is difficult when you only have three pieces that are movable. But, in the end, it seems I've doubled the amount of free space. At least I can stretch out on the floor without bumping into things. And in an effort to get a handle on the myriad of projects I have going at any one time, I now have a 'project' board on my wall. Instead of post-it's, I have scraps of paper tacked up with 'blue-tack'. Now, every morning I can see what is the most pressing thing I need to do that day, although just the sight of the whole thing laid out can be a bit daunting.

Oops, I think I've added more to my lists.

Along with everything else, I've decided to try and change some of my work habits that just weren't healthy. Remember when I was working 24/7 in my room only coming out for class or meals, and then I moved into an office with some of the other staff. Well, that was getting to be the same 24/7 in the office and never away from work. Definitely not healthy, and sometimes not that productive. So, now I am not allowing myself to go to work until after 10 or 11. (remember I don't finish teaching until 8pm sometimes). I've kind of set up a 'personal' desk in my room and a 'work' desk in the office. And the same goes for after class at 8, no work.

That, in theory, should give me time to do 'other' things besides work. What else could there be? Well, the plan is to look at taking care of myself a little better. My morning routine is written out on paper to look like this; stretching, 20 minutes of yoga, my prostration exercise routine (that's sort of a Buddhist joke, sort of), and starting off walking in the morning after cleaning the stupa which I hope will lead into running again soon. After breakfast, it's a solid 30 minutes studying Mongolian. As it gets warmer I want to start sketching outdoors. I'm fascinated with all the shop signs that have a humorous mix of Mongolian and English. And after work, it will be time for a book and I can maybe try and learn to play my Technopipe, my electronic bagpipe.

But there are a lot of other things happening personally too. I finally got caught up with all my emails - how many people can say that! Sent letters and postcards out to very-patient friends and family. Filed my taxes although I didn't get as big of a refund as I had hoped, being so poor and all. I helped Glenda set up a tsa-tsa workshop so she can make tsa-tsa's anytime she wants (she has a commitment to make 400,000 from Lama Zopa) but we hope others will want to come down and learn too.

Our tsa-tsa space

On the work front, I definitely am not left holding an empty bag. Visitors to my English class website, jimbagsh.blogspot.com seem to be increasing every week. I finally got Roy going with his own blog for his 'Lamp of the Path' NGO, so if you want to read about the work he is doing check out LampofthePath.org. Work still goes on getting ready to launch DharmaEnglish.org sometime at the end of the month, or beginning of April. Just waiting on the first recordings from "Prince Siddhartha: The Story of Buddha" author Jon so we can set up the poscast and begin the book 'online'. With much delay, Tsetsgee and I are finally starting to rough draft the first lessons for the Beginner book (10 lessons each for three books). I still think June is too optimistic to print the first copies of 'book one' but who knows, we could experience a miracle. Sometime in April, I will complete the transition to a new curriculum, moving from rote grammar to entirely conversation for all my classes.

That's just on my work ticket. Roy left last week for a long overdue holiday and Glenda will leave next month where both of them will be at a month-long retreat in France. But I will be far from lonely. Venerable Gyatso, an Australian monk, has arrived and will be staying just down the hall from me for the next six months. He was the resident teacher here for four years and then he just finished a three year retreat. Everyone is delighted that he agreed to come back to Mongolia. And the Ani's hopefully will be regular visitors every weekend too.

And if all that isn't enough, I've added more 'work' to my schedule. Now that the Ani's are here, I can have a more formal class setup with Geshela. I printed off an English for Tibetans textbook for all three of them and now we have lively discussions with their beginning English. Baiglama, the children's program coordinator at Dolma Ling, has asked me to help her university translator's class get more English practice. So, every Saturday afternoon, I'll teach another conversational class like my Intermediate-1's. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll add more 'work' in the near future. [laugh]

3/14/09 Post 1000!

Blogger tells me I have 1000 blog posts with this one. Guess that says something, not sure what. I sure everyone is still reading these.

Last Sunday was Woman's Day here in Mongolia, held on the same day world-wide as International Woman's Day. Here it is a very big deal, a national holiday even. Since it was on Sunday, a lot women either took Friday or Monday off. Just to give a comparison, Soldier's Day is in two weeks (like Veteran's Day, but also considered Man's Day) and it is not a national holiday. Women Rule in Mongolia!

I have some of the greatest nieces and nephews in the world but I want to tell you about the coolest grand-niece a guy could ever have. Gabrielle is one of my brother Chris's grandchildren. She's 10 and for a school project they wrote letters. Gabby was so excited to be able to send a letter all the way to Mongolia. That was in November. I'm such a bad uncle that it took me till now to finally write a reply and got it in the mail sent to her school. I did 'phess' up and send her an apology and she sent back:

"You're not a bad uncle at all. You're the best uncle after Shaun (her uncle and my nephew). And don't hesitate about the letter. And don't worry. We don't get out of school till May."

My incredible grand-niece Gabby

I think Spring is finally getting here. Wednesday it was warm enough we even had a snow storm, snow just like at home. Not a common occurrence here in Mongolia since it is so cold and dry. And by Sunday, we'll hit the 'definitely spring' ZERO C (36F). Yippie!

And if all that isn't enough to shout about, the Ani's have returned. Yes, last week Ani Tsultrum returned from Kopan Nunnery in Kathmandu Nepal. And with her, she brought a new nun, Ani Samten who has the energy and laughter of a teenager. I am so happy to have the Ani's back, and not just because of their cooking. During the week, they will be at the Dolma Ling Nunnery but on weekends, we'll see them here at the Center. We have decided to work on their English and since they speak Tibetan, I will teach them with Geshe Tenzin on Sundays. I was able to find an English book for Tibetans online and printed each one a copy. I'll let ya' know how it goes.

And with Tsagaan Sar and spring right around the corner, I've decided to do things a little different in this 'new year'. But maybe I'll save that for another post. [smile]

And here's one final pic of, you guessed it, the Ani's cooking for Jim yet again. How is a guy supposed to loose any weight around here!

Mmm, what's for dinner?

3/9/09 Web Sites x 4

Sometimes I just can't think of anything to write. Not because nothing is happening but because it's difficult to express what is happening in words. But, here I go anyway.

Besides my regular English classes, I've been working on other ways, especially using the internet, to help my students improve their English fluency. Some of you probably know I have a 'class' website called 'Jim Bagsh' ('bagsh' means teacher) where I post my class handouts and audio recordings of these and other news or stories. That way the students can both read and listen to the English.

For example, some of the things I've posted with both text and audio is President Obama's inauguration speech. And recently, a fellow blogger and graduate student, Monica Sanford, recorded a story for me from her blog 'Buddhist in Nebraska'. And this week I posted all I could find online about Medical Terminology for some of my students who are in medical school.

Our center only teaches Beginner to Intermediate English classes. I had thought that my Advanced students would have enough English to begin to study the dharma in their second language or maybe take advantage of the mediation classes Glenda teaches. What would be even better is if they could read the dharma in English at an easier level side-by-side with a Mongolian translation. And of course. the text read in English so they could listen too would be even better. That was how DharmaEnglish.org was born.

We are so fortunate that Wisdom Publications has agreed to let me post 'Prince Siddhartha: The Story of Buddha' on the web. About ten years ago, the (Richard) Gere Foundation sponsored the translation and publication of the book into Mongolian. So, with both the English already translated into Mongolian, it was pretty easy to print everything up side-by-side.


But, wait, it gets even better. Both Roy and Glenda know the author, so I contacted him and Jonathan has agreed to record a reading of the entire book for us to post on the website. So everyone can either download an MP3 or, if all goes according to plan, subscribe to our dharma podcast. I can't tell you how excited I am about this new project.

The book is divided into 30 short chapters written in Intermediate English so it's perfect. After that, I hope to publish, side-by-side again, stories Venerable Gyatso wrote when he was the resident teacher here in Mongolia. He arrives soon and will be staying here again for the summer so I hope I can convince him to record the reading of his own words. After that, we'll see if I can get other Buddhist teachers and authors to submit dharma stories written in easy English.

A sample of the side-by-side English-Mongolian

Speaking of Roy, he's the director of Lamp of the Path, a social services NGO that is part of FPMT Mongolia. For a while now he has sent out email newsletters to everyone who is interested in the work Lamp of the Path is doing, like the free medical clinic, the soup kitchen for the poor or the children's program. In today's world, it is almost essential to have something on the internet. So, in the next few days, before he leaves on holiday I will be starting his new blog called LampofthePath.org. So, with WanderingTheWorld.com that makes four websites I'm involved in.

3/1/09 Happy Tsagaan Sar

The holiday really began for us on Tuesday morning. Everyone was supposed to work a half day but you could almost feel the giddy excitement had on the eve of the New Year. Soon after everyone got to work, we all gathered in the gompa. I had been working feverishly to get tsa-tsa's made for all the staff, 40 in all, plus a few special tsa-tsa's. As acting Director, Davaa presented each employee with a Buddha tsa-tsa. Sort of like a year-end-awards ceremony, I then presented special White Tara tsa-tsa's to Iveel, who we never see because she's busy cooking our wonderful meals every day, Dagir, who keeps the whole center spotless always working with a smile, and Munguu, who can hack through Mongolia's bureaucratic paperwork jungle like no one we know. And last but not least, Glenda and I presented Davaa with a Tara Wheel tsa-tsa and a Buddha panel tsa-tsa. Roy took more tsa-tsa's to be present to the staff at Dolma Ling and even more were made for those at the Golden Light Sutra Center in Darkhan.

Gold-painted Buddha tsa-tsa's

Presenting Iveel with a White Tara tsa-tsa

For Glenda, Roy and I, Tsagaan Sar was pretty peaceful. I'm glad I wasn't here alone. Tsagaan Sar is a huge family affair and if you are not part of a family, it can be quite isolating. Traditionally I gather that everyone visits the oldest relative in the family. On the second day, everyone visits the rest of the relatives. And on the third day, it's time to visit friends. Even though we were scheduled to work, it definitely didn't seem like that was going to happen.

In the morning, everyone gathered in the gompa again to make our own formal family Tsagaan Sar. We all sat around the tables full of food, in order of age. In a wonderful tradition of showing respect and thankfulness, the second oldest kneels in front of the oldest arms outstretched and rubs both checks (in leu of a kiss) wishing them a good year to follow. They sit down and then the third oldest greets the oldest, then the second oldest and then sits. This proceeds until the youngest, which happened to be Amaraa, greets everyone in turn starting with the oldest. Then we all sat around while Amaraa and Naraa served us hot Mongolian tea (milk, salk, and very little tea), then sweet rice, while we all chatted away.

What wonderful traditions Mongolia has

Everyone thought the whole New Year was a very auspicious one indeed. The weather was wonderful, by Mongolian standards, and crime had disappeared for the two days of Tsagaan Sar. Finally, as the oldest, Naraa gave gifts of money and chocolate to everyone present. I thought that was the end fo the celebrating until they said that everyone was getting ready to go to Tsetsgee's house. The center has a car but no one wanted to drive so they asked me to. Lucky for me traffic was light, although one car did try to side-swipe me. I guess I'm a good driver, or else everyone is used to evasive maneuvers because no one noticed. I couldn't even imagine how much trouble I would be in if we got a wreck or even just got stopped by the police. Not sure my Missouri Drivers License carries much weight here.

Remember that black cloud I was talking about last week. Well, there is a silver lining. I want to thank everyone publicly for your generosity in helping Tsetsgee's family. The money will help pay for repairs and for things lost in the fire. I can't thank you enough. What was even more amazing is that Ichka did everything he could to get the house repaired and ready for guests in the few days before Tsagaan Sar. It's that important to the coming year that nothing is left to chance.

We all piled into the living room where Ichka held court. It really was a fun time. As we all settled in, he proceeded to tell us more about the fire and the damage they had to repair. The fire started in the washing machine which was so destroyed, only the motor was left. The refrigerator was toast. The surprise was that even though the outside case of the TV was severely melted, the TV still worked. Ichka said that the living room where we sat was destroyed so you could see through the roof. He was almost casual about how black soot covered everything they owned in the rest of the house. Still, they got it fixed and I never felt more welcome in someone's home.

Ichka describing the fire

One thing that kids in America could learn was that throughout the whole celebration, Tsetsgee's children never stopped running back and forth bringing food, drink, and whatever else was needed for everyone's comfort and enjoyment. And they did it with smiles on their faces.

Glenda and I with Tsetsgee & Ichka's family

Lots of food was served and toasts were made. And again, the singing started. Everyone got a song started and then everyone helped them finish it. It was a wonderful feeling to be part of this family, both Tsetsgee and Ichka's, and the family from the center.

Duuriimaa sings her heart out

And last, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who sent children's books to Mongolia. I know that postage wasn't cheap but we managed to collect over a hundred books for the children's programs at Dolma Ling here in Ulaanbaatar and also in Darkhan. And my thank you pales in comparison to that of the children themselves.

THANK YOU!