One of the many reasons why I am back in Nepal to attend the course, is because of the course teacher this year. Her name is Venerable Robina Courtin. An Australian nun who has been ordained since the late 70’s. I have been to a couple of her one hour “talks”. Probably better described as “full on, in your face, rapid fire, no nonsense, get to the point, honest” rant, than a talk. If you ask her a question at the end of one of her “talks” that doesn’t have a yes or no answer, you better be very prepared for what follows. I have heard she calms down some for her longer teachings, like this one. It should be interesting to see if this is true. No mater what, she is a good teacher. Her Buddhist backgound is very varied. She has been an editor, author, teacher, teacher in prisons and regularly leads groups to Buddhist holy sites to raise money for her many charities.
Below are some photos from Kopan.
My shared room. My room mate hasn’t arrived yet.
View from room.
View from the other window in the room.
View from the roof of my building.
Kopan nunnery down the hill, with a new stupa being built to the far right in photo.
New stupa being built at nunnery. When finished, it will be a replica of the very famous one in Bodhgaya India that marks the spot where Buddha became enlightened. The scaffolding you see is all bamboo. Said to be stronger and lighter than steel.
Boudha stupa with the airport in the background. Kopan is on the flight path of many of the planes that leave the airport. The noise can be very annoying at times.
While I was on the roof of the building taking photos, I kept hearing small boys laughing and making a whole lot of racket. This video shows what they were doing.
Inside the bag that they are trying to carry, are the cushions that will be put on the floor of the new gompa for people to sit on. If they weren’t having so much fun trying to move the twenty or more bags that they moved, you might have thought that it was forced mini monk labor.
This is where all of those cushions ended up. The new Chenrezig gompa. I have heard that there will be 280 students this year. But they haven’t confirmed that yet.
This will probably be my last post for a while. Since the course starts today and my room mate arrives today. I won’t be taking many photos or posting them. The best time of the day to get any type of internet connection on my phone that I use as a hotspot, is eary in the morning from 1am to 5am. I brought an old phone with me and purchased a pay as you go sim card here for $1.50, just in case Verizon didn’t work here. Which it does sort of and when it does, it’s very expensive. I paid $20 for 16 gigs of data. Verizon charges $130 for 2 gigs and roaming charges for a month!
Peru - The Amazon 
Nice view from your room!