Fox Not Fax

What Words Mean


A few days before Rinpoche arrived for the 2007 Shedra, I went for a stroll around the Lotus Garden land. Much to my delight, I happened upon a beautiful little fox in the ridge of trees that separate the parking area from the upper field. I was excited because, while the residents are always sharing stories and photos of the wildlife they’ve encountered on the land, the most I’ve encountered —after numerous walks— are ticks in the high grass and woods, bunnies that hop around the yard at the house, and a little box turtle on the circular driveway.  

Exasperated, as I seemed to be wasting her time with such drivel, Adriana replied, "How could fox possibly get down in parking area? They all go to office!"

Jigme receives a fox in the officeAll foxes go to the office!
So there I was, feeling like I’d finally entered the hushed domain of any nature program, when the fox sensed my presence and darted away. Excited as can be, I raced up to Dekyi Gatsal, where most of the residents were supplying final touches to the building. The first person I saw was Adriana, a Czech national. "Adriana, I saw a fox !" I said.

Lifting a heavy box, she looked up at me and said, "Yeah?" Not exactly the response I expected.

"Yeah, I did," I said "it was really so beautiful." With her back to me, she said, "What’s so beautiful about a fox? We get them all the
time ."

My balloon was totally deflated. "We do?" I said. "I’ve never seen one before."

Adriana finally stopped moving boxes to look at me square in the face. "What are you talking about ? We get lots of foxes. Where did it come to ?"

Now downright confused, I explained, "Well, I saw it down in the parking area." Exasperated, as I seemed to be wasting her time with such drivel, Adriana replied, "How could fox possibly get down in parking area? They all go to office!"

BINGO. I got it : "No, not a FAX, a FOX, a FOX !"

"Oh, I see," Adriana said, "You saw FOX. I thought you said 'I saw fax' and I was thinking what in the world is she making such a big deal about FAX. I was thinking this is a really strange person making big deal about fax."

This quirky communication is not an isolated incident, but rather an everyday occurrence when living in community with people from many different cultures, countries, and languages.

Rinpoche looked at me, and I looked at Ani Zopa. Zopa-la looked at Kalden-la, and said, "What?"

Miscommunication? You might pay with a sunburn!
During the Shedra program, I had the pleasure of overhearing a conversation between Ani Kalden, a Greek national, and Khandro Rinpoche. Kalden-la was working on some European administrative issues for Rinpoche in the office. They had apparently finished their discussion and Kalden-la left the office. About ten minutes later she came back in and said, "Rinpoche, I need some head letter." Rinpoche looked at me, and I looked at Ani Zopa (an American national ). Zopa-la looked at Kalden-la, and said, "What?" Kalden-la repeated herself and said "Head letter, I need some head letter." Then, Zopa-la got that look on her face and asked "Letterhead?" Zopa-la, who has been with Kalden-la for a long time, has now become the official translator of Kalden-la’s English.

Of course my roommate at Samten Tse is Ani Drolma, a French national . When Drolma-la was in charge of the laundry at the Residence during Shedra, I was explaining where to put things and told her, "The sheets go in the linen closet." Now Drolma-la’s English is good, and perhaps it seems even better because she never says "What?" or "I don’t understand" or "I don’t know what ‘linen closet’ means." And in fact, she did not know what a linen closet was. Of course, I only found this out when a few days later I was looking for the sheets and they were nowhere to be found!

We are all rushing around the house getting ready to go when Drolma-la said "Get your cup"—or so I thought. I said, "Really?" And she replied, "Yes."

PicnicThe day before Drolma-la was leaving to go to France, Jetsunla decided to take us on a picnic. We are all rushing around the house getting ready to go when Drolma-la said "Get your cup"—or so I thought. I said, "Really?" And she replied, "Yes, Jetsunla said we might need a cup." So I ran all the way upstairs to the nuns’ dorm to get my cup. It didn’t seem all that implausible because, in fact, one might need a cup on a picnic.

As we were all walking out to the car, I had my cup in hand, and Drolma-la said, "You bringing that?" "Yes, you told me to !" I said, getting ready for what I now know means the revelation of a gross miscommunication. And she said, with a heavy, but beautiful French accent, "Noooo, I said cap." as she waved her baseball CAP.

So, I got in the car with my cup, not my cap, and went on a wonderful picnic with all my friends and got a sunburn on my head.


- Ani Jigme (an American national) is a Tibetan Buddhist nun who spends part of the year at Lotus Garden and the other part at Samten Tse, in India.

 

Photo Credit: Jigme receives a fox; Picnic: top left to right: Jetsunla, Britton, Zopa with pretzel eyes, Chris; front row, left to right: Drolma, author Jigme, and Lisa.
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