Books (and Monks)

(Oh dear, sorry this picture was supposed to go on a seperate post. Oh well though.)
Monks: Bottom left is Dorje, the one next to him who looks incredibly surprised is Karma, the one who is trying to look very macho next to Karma is Nima the youngest monk aka Richard, the one on the bottom right is Shakya who runs around all day saying "one, two, three, double three" and screaming "A-P-P-L-E, APPLE!" at the top of his lungs, the monk in the middle starring at the camera like he has no idea what it is is Suku, the one to his left hidden by his shoulder is Dawa one of the newest monks, and the monk in the way back is Dorje (Dorje #2.)

This is a picture of one some of my students, showing their nice handwriting skills! They all seem to think that the closer they are to the camera lense, the more front and center they will be in the picture. So whenever I pull out the camera, it results in a stampede of monks to get as close as possible to the camera lense. I have to explain to them that they need to step back alittle bit. Some even come and put there face about 4 inches away from the lense and do some sort of Superman pose. Anyhow, this picture was taken at the end of class, so they had mostly filled up their papers with writing. They are very proud of how their writing is progressing, and feel the need to show me ever single time they write a new line of words. So, I will be sitting at my desk at the front of the class, supervising to make sure they are writing and not hitting each other over the head with pencils. After every line they write, each monk will loudly proclaim "MISS!!" and proudly hold up their paper for me to see their newly written handiwork. It's quite cute, but after about an hour of 250 "MISS"'s, it gets a tad tiring. But oh well, I am glad they are proud of their progress. I usually say something like, "Oh, great handwriting Nima!" or "Wow, Karma, great job!" and they smuggly look at the monks to their right and left and show them the newly written line.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kinsolver: Fantastic! I recommend this book to everyone. I loved this book for many reasons. First of all, I thought it was written wonderfully. I liked how she wrote the book from the point of view from all the women characters, especially the four daughters. (I also liked it because there is one character named Leah...) Also, I felt that I could relate to the characters in many ways. The family of Southern Baptists (I think thats what they were...) picks up and moves to the Congo on missionary work. Although I am not from the south, and definitely not a missionary, I could relate to their feelings of adapting to an entirely new culture, and way of life. Also to adapt to their changing states of mind about what is important, and what is not important. Highly recommend this book.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky: Another hit! I was so sad to be done with this book. I can't wait to read it a hundred more times. How I love this author, if I could choose anyone in the world dead or alive to meet, it would absolutely be Dostoevsky. After reading this book, I had an urge to pack up and move to a Russian village, but decided I should not act on such a hasty decision. Well, I found many reoccuring thems in The Brothers Karamazov that I had noticed in Notes From Underground and Crime and Punishment. How wonderful the characters are! Ahh, I love it! I thought that Mitya was similar to Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment in his nature. At one moment he is the epitome of a nice guy, the next he is of on some crazy binge, doing something wild. This is why I love Dosteovsky characters so much: because they can be the most insane madmen at one moment, and then the next moment they are completely rational and clear thinking. But even when they are insane madmen, you still love them, and and feel sympathy for them even when they do something bad. Anyway, from what I could tell from the introduction The Brothers Karamazov pretty much sums up Doestoevsky's whole life: his thoughts, how they changed, his philosophies, before he was sentenced to go to Siberia, after he came back from Siberia, before he was married, after he was married, when he was a liberal, then a conservative. Anyway, I of course, loved this book as I knew I would. Crime and Punishment is still my favorite book, but this might be second.

I am now embarking on "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. I sort of feel strange reading this book while living in a monastery, but we will see how I feel when I am done with the book... More to come.