Monks eat mooncakes, too (Take 2!!)

Once again I'm trying to send something to the blog, now using a different
email address. I also resent what I wrote before, although the couple of
first messages from the mountain I didn't save so they are gone...

Maybe I'll write a little message here first to recap something from those
messages.

First of all, THANK YOU, KIITOS, MERCI and XIEXIE to everyone who sent me
all those lovely birthday wishes and messages, it really means a lot to me
to know that all of you are out there, I'm truly grateful to have you in
my life :)

So, I have been back on Jiuhua Shan in Anhui province for the past couple
of weeks, staying in a little Buddhist temple. The place itself is
absolutely beautiful, probably the most beautiful place where I have ever
lived. The temple sits on a cliff on the mountain, overlooking a beautiful
valley and rows of maountain behind it, usually blue in a curtain of
clouds.

From the edge, just behind the temple, or even through the window of our
room, you can see the most amazing sunsets over the valley, with the sun
burning red and colouring all the clouds and the whole sky.

At night, you can see a million stars in the clear sky, or to walk outside
by the moonlight...

At the temple, there are just a few of us, 10 or 12 in the past couple of
days. Most of the people arrived on the same day as I did, so it has all
been a pretty new thing, trying to establish a regular temple life instead
just a couple of people living there. So the master has been busy laying
out rules, this and that, and trying to organise everything. In the
process he has been shouting his head off more than once for people making
silly little 'mistakes'. Especially hard, when he keeps changing the rules
and breaking them himself, it's hard to keep track!!

As for me, I am mostly treated as a guest, although the master calls me
his 'disciple', too. But when he outlined everyone's responsibilities at
the temple, mine came down to studying Chinese and learning about Chinese
culture. So my time has been often spent reading my Chinese books, talking
to people, and walking on the mountain. Also, I've spent lots of time in
the kitchen, helping out and trying to learn from our cook Bao Yu (who
gets paid only 400RMb, worth 40 euros, a month and is thinking of
leaving!), she knows what she is doing.

My birthday also went by nicely. Although nobody at the temple knew it was
my birthday, we had a celebration as the Chinese mid-autumn festival
happened to fall on the same day this year. So, after the evening prayers,
we put a big table outside in the moonlight, covered in cakes, fruit, nuts
and all kinds of goodies. And so we sat out, eating and watching the
bright moon, listening to old Ru Yuan tell stories of when she used to
live alone in the temple, and how she came there in the first place, when
there was nothing there.

And yes, mooncakes!!! mmm :)