I walked by the first small room with the big monk, and it was still crowded; so popular or too small of a room? I did not have the energy to find out. So although people were still hanging around, I thought it was time for dinner, scheduled for 6. I had a big bowl of veggie broth, veggies and brown rice. Not even the delicious and hot meal was able to bring me out of that almost comatose exhaustion: I forced myself to eat, although I was hungry (but exhaustion was stronger than hunger); taste was like in a dream, although it was delicious.
I told one of the sisters that I would go to sleep, regardless of any activity scheduled until bed time. All the sisters look the same to me, except someone with some obvious remarkable feature. I had never seen monks and nuns with this austerity of attire: starting with their heads, which are totally shaved for both genders. This is particularly striking in this freezing cold weather. Even the color and style of their robes make some other monastic look ostentatious.
I went to sleep 7pm and although I woke up when my roommates came in and later on when 2 ladies were snoring, I was so totally dead beat and at the same time relaxed, that I would fall asleep again and again and again, no matter what and how many attempts to interrupt my sleep.
For some reason I cannot explain, it feels like coming ‘home’.
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