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| Pema Choling Nunnery |
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| A great view |
Last year, I went to tour Pema Choling Nunnery in order to
make a decision on whether or not I would teach there the following year. As I traveled through the busy town of Chamkar
to get to the nunnery, I felt eager to head towards a more remote, quiet place. Leaving behind the noise, the car
turned off the main paved road that led across the country, onto a narrow dirt
road obscured with jagged rocks, which made a terribly slow bumpy descend. However, every nauseous jerk was worth
it when I finally reached the beautiful two-story white nunnery with its
traditional motif framework. The
nunnery sat on a flat mountaintop with panoramic views of hillsides covered in
Bumthang’s famous blue pine trees that opened up to scattered villages and not
to mention a view on the west of a modern palace dedicated to the fifth King as
well as a gorgeous view on the east of a perched ancient temple built by
angels.
Walking through the entrance of the nunnery, I became
breathless at the sight of a slab-stoned courtyard that led my eyes across its
way to an astonishing focal point: a glorious temple on the second floor, which
sparkled with butter lamps through panel windows. I walked in the middle of the courtyard doing a slow 360-degree
turn taking in the neighboring mountaintops peeking into the courtyard. I tried to count the surrounding 25
plus doors on each level that housed over a hundred Buddhist nuns. However, all the nuns were away doing a
puja, so it was a quiet day and the only thing that I could hear was a little
voice within saying YES to the idea of teaching in the nunnery. I didn’t have to sleep on the decision
or even meet the nuns; I instantly knew that this would be a place that I had
to come back to.
Nearly a year later, I returned to the nunnery and
discovered that it’s more beautiful than I had remembered. The summer rains continued into fall keeping
the wild grasses green, roses budding and two lush vegetable gardens filled
with carrots, spinach, pumpkin, green beans, etc. This time when I entered the nunnery, two large hibiscus
plants were in full bloom with exotic white flowers, one on each side of the
entrance welcoming all into the courtyard. The enclosed stoned courtyard with its open sky was edged
with potted plants displaying in array of colors and there was a new wooden
display in front of the temple lit with hundreds and hundreds of burning lamps.
From the second floor verandas, dozens of Buddhist nuns in
their maroon robes and shaved heads leaned over to get a better look at their
new English teacher. Everyone
smiled at me giving a pleasant feeling in the air and they wisped me off for a
new chapter in my life.
In the short time that I have taught them, I have quickly
fallen in love with them and I have already seen tremendous improvement. The first few days of class, most of
the nuns were painfully shy to speak to me in English, although those in my
class have studied English before (the range of their previous study is up to fourth
grade to twelfth grade). When I
would talk to them, instead of looking at me or talking with me, most would bury their faces in their
robes while turning away to blush and giggle. In the beginning, my class looked more like a laughing
mediation class than an English class.
It took a few weeks of providing many opportunities in class
to practice speaking English with partners, for their shyness to subside and to
feel more comfortable. Some
explained that they felt funny speaking English since they rarely used it with
one another and they also felt a little self-conscious. But day-by-day, I watched the nuns
become more confident trying to speak English and after weeks of practicing, each
nun in my class gave her first solo presentation about her life. It was wonderful watching them stand
tall and proud, speaking in loud clear voices. It made me feel so happy and blessed to be teaching in
Bhutan once more.
