Friday, July 10, 2015

Monks from Myanmar (in S. Korea)

While lecturing in S. Korea, I was invited to make a presentation on the brain to Burmese monks from Myanmar (Burma) at their temple in Seoul. It seems that I was the first female invited to make a presentation to them at their monastery. The temple portion was on the 4th floor (no elevator).  Since I enjoy ‘firsts,’ I was happy to agree. However, my titanium hips find it difficult to sit on the floor (so my head would be lower than that of the head monk) and completely impossible to sit cross-leggedanywhere. Fortunately, he graciously allowed me to sit in a chair. I tried to slump a bit so my head would be at least a little bit lower but I fear that didn’t last long as I started concentrating on what to share. It was great fun talking about brain function, especially since they spoke excellent English and a translator was not required. At the end of nearly an hour, they invited me to visit Myanmar and make a presentation at the home monastery. It would be fun to do that sometime. They also invited me to have my picture taken with three of them. Such gracious individuals; such an honor to meet them and talk about brain function.


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