If You Blow A Monk A Kiss

I don’t like it when life is planned out and predictable for long period of time. I used to.. but I really enjoy not having a plan right now. So, our first weekend in Taichung the group hit the streets. I was determined on seeing mountains, and I remember our director say, “they are right down this road.” So 8 of us headed down “that road”. 4 hours later we had seen our first book shop, pet shop, nursery, and monastery. We went down the same road to the mountain, and turned down a series of small roads until we found an abandoned coffee shop, dead end trail, and best of all… a monastery. It was a mix of Confucianism and Daoism, and the man welcomed us in to a glistening shrine with so man intricate twist and turns my camera really didn’t know what to do with itself. At this point in time I was very thankful for CNT, a dreaded class at Butler, just for the sheer understanding of an ounce of the symbols and rituals. The monk was overjoyed to show us another shrine in a stark white room. After our photos were complete, he made sure we all got one together and then sent us on our merry way. For some reason I’ve felt the need to blow kisses. And although the monk was covered from head to toe in his robe and clearly did not have an abundance of kisses in his life, I blew a freaking kiss to this man. The stupidity of my actions temporarily paralyzed me, but the monk’s ability to laugh it off then allowed me to do the same.
We’ve been up to the mountain several times since, each time walking away with a different experience. Regardless of the experience, now I’ll know what happens if you blow a monk a kiss!