Our next stop was a nunnery. Girls go to a nunnery something like the boys go to a monastery, though there are differences. Boys are expected to become novice monks during their lives while the girls are not “expected” to go to a nunnery. Girls do not get Novitiation Ceremonies when they go to a nunnery. Many girls choose to go to a nunnery for educational opportunities, though there are also many other reasons. And this nunnery, like most in Burma, is a Buddhist nunnery.

This nunnery is supported by the people of Mandalay. The government does not support it. There are about 285 Buddhist nuns in Mandalay and about 150 of them live here. This nunnery building in the first photo was started in 1956 and it is still under construction today. The ages of the nuns in this nunnery was from ages 8 to 68. Monks go to the streets at dawn and collect food donated directly from people. The nuns go to town two times a week to collect food donated by people. The head nuns are in charge and assign the work to the other nuns.

1. This building is the nuns main building but the complex has many other buildings. Again, construction began on this building in 1956. You can’t see the whole building in this photo as it was a large structure.

2. This is the first floor of the building and this photo only shows about one-quarter of the building. I had better photos of the other side but there was almost nothing on the other side, while this side at least had many bags of donated rice that you can see.

3. We held a lengthy Q&A with these three nuns. It was really quite interesting asking them questions. They were a bit shy at first but seemed to warm up as the conversation went on. We also donated some items to the nunnery.

QUICK QUIZ: What is the Average age of the three nuns? OR, if you prefer, how old is the nun on the right? (since both questions have the same answer) (See answer at end of this Post)

4. You can see the nuns lining up for lunch. The nuns only get two meals a day: breakfast and lunch. If they get hungry after lunch, they can only have water or juice for the rest of the day.

5. We weren’t allowed to go inside but this made a nice photo. Most of their lunch looked to be rice, though they did have a little something to put on the rice. Their dinner bell is just to the left of this photo, it’s the tip of an old bomb shell.

What is the Average age of the three nuns? 37 (33 - 40 - 37)