Life is Life is Life

            It is very easy to romanticize the idea of moving to Nepal to a year. People from home are always sayings how jealous they are and that they are living vicariously through me. However it’s time you all knew the truth. Picking up your life and moving across the world is hard!!!!! I guess that is why in the end so few people actually do it. When you move to the developing world you put yourself at risk of sickness, injury, theft, lack of resources, loneliness, All of which I have experienced. So let’s stop pretending like a year abroad is all fun and play. A year abroad is a year of life, and life is hard.

            However once in a while you meet someone or you experience something that is so amazing it’s almost magical. These are the romantic experiences you dream of when you move to a place like Nepal for a year, these are the experiences that make all the other stuff worth it.

            One of the more popular way to make money is to become a Thangka painter. Thangka is a painting done on a hand made cotton canvas, , usually depicting a Buddhist  deity, scene, or mandala of some sort.  A month ago I came across a Thangka studio in our village that is fully employed by community women. While watching the women work I became truly inspired and knew I had to be apart of it. With the help of my Nepali friends I was able to work out a deal where I can come and learn this art for.

            This month was unfortunate in regards to my work with the youth because they had their final exams. However this opened up my schedule to begin my classes. On my first day we began making the canvas.

 The canvas is simply a piece of cotton that we sew and connect to a wooden panel. Once the cotton is mounted I rubbed a white liquid on it that made it strong and sturdy.

 

This procedure took less than an hour. So when we were done I began to learn the painting technique. Learning this technique was a true test to my patience. These painters use a technique where to fill a space you do small dots over and over again. I worked on a second that 1 square inch and it took me 300 hours. Not to mention it was awful!  

After seven hours a day, three days in a row, I finally began to see improvement in my technique.  Once my teacher approved, I was permitted to begin drawing the outline onto the canvas.  This is where it got interesting. I learned that these painting are not hand sketched! They are traced on to the canvas using a copied black and white version of the painting. It became clear to me how all the women were painting the same painting.

           Once the tracing was done, the painting began. After spending all day, everyday, in the studio I finally finished the sky. That’s right JUST the sky!!! With only 10 weeks left in the village, and youth groups starting up again, I’m realizing that I may have bit off more than I can chew.

            Whether I finish or not, being given the opportunity to spend my days with these amazing women, watching them and learning from them is extremely powerful experience. The type of experience you search for and hope for. The type of experience you dream of.