Post 3: The Honorable Lama Sherab

Being a teacher is not always the most exciting job. A lot of it can seem repetitive what with lesson plans and writing exams and reviewing grammar week after week. There are days, however, when something incredibly unexpected happens.




I was asked to put together a last minute English lesson for a client that was going to be visiting Prague for a short amount of time. The entire background I was given on this student went like this:

My boss: "Jared, can you put together a 90 minute, onetime, introductory lesson for a B2 adult learner who's going to be visiting here from Tibet next week?"
Me: *distracted trying to prepare for other lessons "Sure, just send me an email with the date and time and I'll throw something together."

Honestly that was all the information she felt she needed to give me about this lesson.

The day of the class arrives and I've got this cute little lesson put together about traveling and getting to know a city and all that stuff, assuming the client is a tourist and will be traveling Europe. Pretty solid plan I would say.

The first clue that something was up should have been that my classroom had been set up with a mini buffet table. Normally we might put out some sparkling water or something with a VIP client but apparently my lesson was catered for some reason, but I didn't think much of it. I'm almost entirely set up for my class when I look up to see something I really did not expect: our administrative assistant walking towards my classroom with a severe, professional-looking young woman on her left, and who I honestly thought was the Dalai Lama on her right. I'm talking full robes and a radiating aura that I felt unworthy to look at. (In hindsight it was probably just the robes but still...)



They come into my class as I'm standing there with half a mini sandwich stuffed in my face and our administrative assistant just smiles at me and walks away. The CIA-looking business woman turns to his eminence and says something in what I can only assume is Tibetan. She then turns to me and says, "May I introduce to you the honorable Lama Sherab".

INDEED you may.

I spent the next 90 minutes learning about Tibetan Buddhism and meditation practices with a highly regarded guru from Tibet. This guy was unbelievable. He was incredibly humble, smart, and open about his life and world view. He was in Prague as part of a tour through Europe teaching meditation to the western people who, in his opinion, need it the most.

After an hour and a half with this man I was ready to quit my job and tour with him, but I thought that walking him to his tram stop and getting him back to his hotel would be sufficient. As we got off the tram near his hotel, the most unexpected thing of the entire experience happened:

The Honorable Lama Sherab: "Jared my friend?"
Me(fangirling so hard):  "Yes Sherab?" (He asked me to call him by his first name, nbd)
The Honorable Lama Sherab: "Are you by chance on Facebook?"
Me: "Of course"
The Honorable Lama Sherab: "OMG add me."

And that is the story of how I became Facebook friends with a meditation guru/lama from Tibet.