February

The weather here apparently knows it's february, because it got hot. Wear a short sleeve shirt, sweat in your chupa, steaming bucket shower hot. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My roommate and I went to prayers this morning. Prayers begin at 630, so we left five minutes beforehand since the temple is literally next door. Before they started, Sonam and I circumambulated the temple. I didn't realize what we were doing until about halfway around the building. I get the vibe that she's pretty religious, since i didn't see anyone else doing this except for one monk. Also we showed up before some of the monks and nuns, and she does more prayers and burns incense in the room.

Buddhist temples (or at least this one) are set up with a main alter at the front, but men and women sit on opposite sides facing one another. They chanted for 30 minutes, and it made me feel at home even though I don't speak Tibetan and had never heard any of the prayers before.

One of the more striking differences between Buddhism and western religions (specifically Christianity) lies in architecture. I fell in love with the state church in Vienna because of its columns and lighting and heard mass sung at the Vatican while the sun streamed through the windows and mixed with the music. Both of those experiences made me understand how people could believe in god. Places like st. Patrick's and the Notre Dame make sense in this context, where people build these huge beautiful monuments to god. But the temple here looks like a VFW hall with tankas hung around the walls, and the prayer feels different. Instead of praying to some higher power, people sound like they're working on themselves. Facing other people helps instigate that ambiance.

After breakfast Sonam helped me put on my chupa, which comes with all sorts of ties and buttons and has the added bonus of being impossible to fold. Hearing the candidate speak was super interesting, especially because the idea of exile politics is kind of radical and also a little weird, because it seems difficult to provide services to a scattered refugee population (and government should be all about regulation and services, right? Not that pesky foreign policy thing).

I have also discovered the key to enjoying Tibetan: taking a hot shower beforehand. Win. Also, http://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/wbkb/2010-11/releases/201101313tm6jr

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