New Beginnings

It's been a little weird being settled in India in a brand-new place. I'm used to traveling and not knowing where I'm going, or I'm used to having everything figured out - my favorite lunch spots, how much items should cost, or where I am.

Nirman uses unorthodox methods for an Indian school, which is to say they focus on imagination and creativity rather than rote memorization. For the past three days I've been going through teacher training with around 30 Indian teachers. The majority are women, ranging in age from early twenties (the majority) to forties. There are some young men and one older man, and everyone has some level of English. A lot of the women want to talk to me, but only a few feel comfortable speaking in English, so two or three have taken to translating for me. Everyone knows my name, since I'm the only white person, but I am overwhelmed at trying to remember 30-plus names!

The training, led by a CMC professor, consists of lots of brainstorming on topics such as, "What is a child?" and "How can we use our imaginations?" It seems elementary to someone who's grown up with excellent teachers in a good educational settings, which I didn't fully realize until seeing that educational models aren't the same everywhere. For example, one of the teachers from last year demonstrated how to read a book to an elementary school class. She held up the book, showed the pictures, and asked questions before she read from the page - all things that I would have done instinctively, but teachers here don't normally read to their classes.

Nirman really encourages teachers to present ideas creatively and let children use their imaginations, and the canteen has books made by the students and examples of their artwork. To me, that's just what school looks like, but normally Indian schoolchildren don't spend their time making art or music or learning how to dance.

Today the teachers split into three groups to present a mini-lesson, on cooking, crafts, or games. I chose the cooking group and learned how to make dokpa, an Indian snack. It's comparable to polenta, except made out of chickpea powder and doused with a chili sauce. it's not too difficult to make, assuming I actually write down the recipe and can find ghee in America. Supposedly it goes with tea, but it's so spicy that I can't imagine how that would work. My fingers are burning from cutting green chilies, because we also made some in the afternoon for the two new interns who arrived today!

I'm Ba-ack

Sorry for the lack of posts, Mom. It turns out going to China took up a lot of time and energy (almost as much as getting a Chinese visa), particularly because it's even more difficult to communicate with people in Chinese than in Hindi! I think the fact that I didn't have any grasp of the numbers or food words before I went really hindered my ability to get my point across. Nevertheless, the Great Wall definitely deserves its spot on the list of seven wonders of the world. It is amazing. The steps are also really steep and slanted.

Beijing has a ton of things to do, good food, a large Western presence, and a fabulous subway (the buses leave something to be desired). I could go back. Generally, I went to developed China, where there was air conditioning, paved roads, and even sidewalks! I had major culture shock, partially because Chinese society really focuses on materialism in a different way than in India.

I stopped in Hong Kong on my way back to Delhi, and met up with Rena, one of my best friends from high school! Hong Kong is a party. We went out to dinner with an unknown family friend, who took us out to dinner. We ate lots of fish and pork and even had the traditional Hong Kong dish of pigeon. Rena and her family and I also went out for Shanghaiese food, which is fabulous. I really like Chinese food and most people in China were surprised at how well I could use chopsticks.

Then I flew back to Delhi, and the next day flew to Varanasi. I had a little bit of culture shock coming back as well -- India is still hot and humid. I've moved into the guest house at Nirman (www.nirman.info), which is where I'll be interning this summer (new address on the top banner -- send me mail!). More info on that later, but basically it is a school focusing on integrating creativity into traditional lesson plans.

Whilst I've been here, I've been busy cheating death: monsoon rains that leave two inch puddles on the school grounds, eating raw mangos using the Indian method (which involves squishing them around inside their skins, then opening a hole and sucking out the pulp) after dousing them in Purell, arguing with the Foreigner's Registration Office (it never ends), and last but not least, riding a motorcycle without a helmet (sorry, Mom and Dad).

Riding the motorcycle through loud, dirty traffic was the most exhilarating thing I've done in a long time. it was less bumpy than I expected, and less dusty, perhaps because I learned how to tie my scarf around my head and face. I assume this will prove to be a useful skill at parties.

Varanasi is the noisiest city I've been in, and is most decidedly an Indian place. However, I am slowly finding the places with air conditioning and hopefully things will pick up when school starts and other interns get here.

Mom - I promise to get back into the swing of things.

The Great Wall

I hope these photos load. I am having some trouble.

Nbd

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On the subway

I don't even know what to say.

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"I think the real point of a parasol is to look ridiculous."

Right, Kathryn. Not to shade you or anything.

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Loud and sonorous

The temple of heaven has a circular stone set of steps that puts you higher towards the heavens. If you stand at the exact center, it boosts your voice to make it particularly loud and sonorous. I need the help, so I tried it out.

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Temple of Heaven

K and I in front of the Temple of Heaven. We had to pay to get into a park, which I am morally opposed to doing, and then pay again to get into the temple, but it's gorgeous.

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Wine

Ancient Chinese wine glass. Not a joke. I don't even know how this is supposed to work.

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Lama Temple

The Lama Temple includes a sandalwood Buddha statue four stories high. It is enormous. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed. I tried to take one anyway, but it didn't come out. Take my word for it-it belongs in the book.

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Language

At the Lama Temple, the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet, we saw signs in four different languages. From right to left, Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, and possibly Uighur (unclear on the far left.) Also, the people here speak a very different dialect, with a lot more Rs at the end of words. Even though I don't speak Chinese I can tell the difference and it sounds funny.

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Breakfast in Beijing

Beijing is famous for a special yogurt that comes in a porcelain jar, so after we got off the train we had some for breakfast. C and I really liked it.

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Warrior

This is just an excuse for a close-up soldier photo. Seeing the warriors was my first encounter with large-scale Chinese tourism: a lot of people and a lot of tour groups. The census reports don't lie. There are a lot of people here. In the streets I don't really notice, but tourist attractions and buses are definitely more crowded than I'm used to, even in India. It seems especially weird because everything is nice here-the roads are paved, there are stoplights, the buses sometimes have air conditioning-but the masses shatter the idea of order I would expect.

In unrelated news, they checked our tickets three times in order to enter the space, and I had to pull out a fake student ID card at some of the checkpoints (I bought a student fee using K's legitimate student ID card). Chinese security also failed to confiscate C's pocket knife even though we had to put our bags through screener. I love beating the communists.

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The site

The terra cotta warriors are underground, but the government built buildings around the pits so tourists can come and look down on working archaeological sites, as well as see the soldiers where they were initially found, instead of in a museum. K and I had some interesting discussions on whether or not this creates ideal conditions for excavation, so I'll have to call Kelly to figure out the answer on that one. C commented on the difficulty of constructing a building without damaging the pottery in the ground below.

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Xi'an: terra cotta warriors

Kathryn and her friend Catherine (hereafter referred to as K and C) and I flew from Kunming to Xi'an last night. Xi'an isn't really near anything else, but has an underground terra cotta army that some farmers stumbled upon when digging a well. The soldiers are amazingly detailed and were once painted. They also held bronze weapons, directed chariots, and generally commanded troops.

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The biggest monastary in Southwest China

I went to visit this Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Shangri-La, which is called Gyalthan (I think) in Tibetan. It houses over 600 monks and was undergoing some construction while I was there. I also had to pay a lot of money (comparatively) to get access, which really differed from the donation based model I found in India.

The next day, back in Kunming, Kathryn and I went to the Western Hills with another friend, where we climbed hills (obviously) to get a great view of the city and the lake. The dragon gate was supposed to be the big attraction, but there was a stone forest that caught my eye. Supposedly the entire region was under water at some point, leaving these huge stone formations on top of the mountains.

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Cutest announcers ever

Adorable. They spoke in Chinese, which I could infer because I picked out one of the three Mandarin words I know. Also, I saw their notes.

You will be treated to an insanely long blog post since the lights on the overnight bus don't work so I can't read my book, and it's officially too dark to look out the window meaningfully.

Almost no one could understand any of the Tibetan I tried to use, except one thanka painter from Lhasa who proposed to me. I feel like this is par for the course in any Tibetan area.

I also hiked to a temple with the name "1000 chicken temple." I saw decidedly less than 1000 chickens, but took some great photos of the town. From the top, you can see the two sides of Shangri-La. One side looks like a city-it's built up with restaurants and hotels and places to buy cell phones. The other side is still a village. It's mostly green with some houses and one road. They haven't finished the road over the hill connecting the two sides of town, but from the temple you can see the huge contrast in living conditions.

I also visited the largest monastery in the area, and I think in all of southwest China. It houses 600 monks and has a lot of temples. I scaled a wall to reach a far-off sputa, and a lovely old Tibetan lady had to help me down because I misjudged the height of the wall. Oops. Hopefully I'll have learned my lesson by the time I reach the great wall.

The square in old town hosts Tibetan dancing every night, so I watched that. During the day, people sell trinkets, and there are barbecues set up everywhere. I tried grilled yak and peppers, which comes served on a skewer with a spicy, tangy sauce. I would love to replicate the recipe for my family but I'm pretty sure it contains MSG and am not at all sure I could find yak meat anywhere in North America. How different are yaks from bison?

I met many, many travelers and expats. Apparently there are 12 expats in the whole city, which I thought was a lot because it's a pretty small place. I also met a woman from New Jersey! She lives off exit 135. Yes, she asked me what exit I lived off of, even in China.

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Wednesday

I have no idea what's happening, except a large number of schoolchildren and their families have gathered in the square to sing and dance. They're all wearing Tibetan clothes and have been out since at least nine in the morning. The temple and enormous golden prayer wheel loom on the hill above.

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Construction

China is crazy, part two: This post brought to you by China Construction Bank, the one place Bank of America partners with so I can retrieve money sans atm fees! I can't believe they have no partner banks in India. Alright, I'm ending my bitterness.

On my first day in China, we went to a store to pick up a dress Kathryn had tailored. She got it refitted and was told to come back today.

We came back today, and this is what the storefront looked like. (If the picture didn't load, it's because my phone is acting funky, but imagine the inside of a store looking like a construction site, with exposed wires and wooden planks and men sawing and hammering everywhere.)

Two days ago, dresses and fabric filled the whole place, and today it was covered in sawdust. Apparently it will be finished in four days! Then they can move the inventory back. That is the quickest construction I've ever heard about, anywhere.

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Sleeper bus

China is crazy.

I'm currently laying on the top left bunk of an overnight bus to Shangri-La, a Chinese city that decided to rename itself to bring in tourist dollars. Or yuan, as the case may be. It's working.

There are three rows of bunk beds (only the middle is fully visible in the photo), each about the width of a person and approximately 5 feet, 5 inches in length. I put my feet against the end to measure. They're surprisingly comfortable, fully padded and air conditioned. We haven't started moving yet, but so far this is beating the he'll out of the overnight bus from Delhi to Dharamsala.

Thankfully I have a window on one side. At least I have something to snuggle up against. I can't imagine sleeping with metal railings on both sides of a top middle bunk.

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Golden Temple

This morning Kathryn and I biked around Kunming to pick up a dress she had made. Biking in China is an adventure, made more adventurous by the fact that I am wearing a skirt. However, cheap Chinese bikes have locks built in to the back wheel, which makes a lot of sense.

After lunch, Kathryn sent me to visit the Golden Temple, which is really made of bronze. It's a Taoist temple from the 1600s with a 14 ton bell from the 1400s. The bell is huge. I rung it for 2Y, which is about 35 cents. Personally, I found the bell tower more impressive, since it's three stories high and gives good views of the city.

Getting there was an adventure: I gave the cabbie a piece of paper saying, "I want to go to the Golden Temple" in Chinese, which went well until he accidentally drove to the exit and wanted to tell me that. He wrote me a note that I assume says as much, but I told him I couldn't read it. I think he understood that I couldn't speak but couldn't figure out that I hadn't written the characters myself. Oh well. On the way home I tried to say where I wanted to go in Chinese, which utterly failed, but I handed him the paper and he drove me home.

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Breakfast

I took a photo of the noodle soup I had for breakfast at 830 this morning, but my phone lost it somehow. To someone not from China, noodles with veggies, beef, and meat broth looks like lunch or dinner, but all the Western restaurants were closed at that hour, so Kathryn and I ate a real Chinese breakfast. I refused the beef but am pretty sure I got the meat broth anyway. The lady cooked the noodles in a separate broth really quickly, then put a bunch of stuff in a bowl. I asked Kathryn to make mine medium spicy, which meant I could eat it without crying. Success!

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Fruit shop

There is a fruit shop in the airport. There are also shops just called "shop."

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Ni Hao

Mom and I had a great trip. It was an adventure filled with lots of highlights and not much time for blogging. She's now on her way home, and I am officially in the "beyond" part of the trip.

I landed in China about an hour ago, cleared customs, and am standing in another security line. So far Chinese airports are like all other airports except for the fact that everyone speaks Chinese. My flight from Delhi was one of the weirdest flights I've ever taken, since it was mostly Indian businessmen who switched their sim cards upon landing. I think there were eight other women on the flight. One of them was blond, though! And there were a lot more blond people at customs than I've seen all over India.

Hopefully I make my next flight, given that I can't find my gate on the board, but I'm sure it will work out. Highlights so far: being stamped in and having the lady in the bathroom say Ni hao to me. That is the only word in Chinese that I know. This should be fun!

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Dinner!

Mom and I are on vacation from our vacation and eating fresh fish and drinking beer out of horse mugs (aka mugs with pictures of horses on them, not mugs the size of horses). We both stuck our toes in the Arabian Sea, so I have now touched the waters on both sides of India.

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Bangalore bontanicals

After landing in a partial monsoon last night, we eventually made it to the ground and into the bus, since Indigo does not have gate rights anywhere, it seems. Apparently in the 70s there were gate wars at airports in the US, and my favorite Indian airline has not yet found the money to get gate rights anywhere we've been. But they make their flight attendants wear wigs, which is hilarious.

This morning we went to the botanical gardens and saw lots of palm trees and over 700 varieties of cacti. The cacti caretaker offered us seeds, which we might have taken if it weren't illegal to bring plants back to the US. There was a 20 year old cactus inside!

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What part of the chicken looks like a ziti and has a hole in it?

It's still unclear. Mom wants you to know she came up with that title all by herself.

Lunch was good, despite the fact that we have no idea what that was. In mint sauce it was great. As Bex would say, it's all about the sauce.

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TAJ

We will skip the parts of the trip that sucked, like the ten hour car ride from Dharamsala to Delhi over entirely unpaved roads in the middle of the night, and arriving at the Delhi train station at 3 AM for a 5:30 train, and instead tell you that today, we saw the one of the seven wonders of the world. Photo proof.

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Mom in Mcleod

Mom spent just under 24 hours in McLeod Ganj and still managed to see just about everything. That should give you an idea of the size of the town.

After she arrived on the Kingfisher flight, we zipped back up to dinner with Liz and Kylie and their families, then sent them off and had ice cream for dessert, in honor of Mom spending so much of the day in Delhi's heat. She and I slept at the apartment for one final night.

The next morning, after breakfast at Peace Cafe with Sam and Julia, we packed and went to my host family. I hadn't been able to get in touch with Amala on the phone, but she answered the knock, and we joined her for tea and capse! Mom gave her some gifts, Amala gave Mom some gifts, I showed Mom around the apartment, and then we all started talking about jewelry. Women talk about the same thing in every culture, it seems.

After handing over the keys to my apartment, Mom and I headed to the temple, only to find out that it was closed in honor of HHDL's returning to town. We walked Kora and Mom spun the prayer wheels and generally commented on how beautiful, and steep, the walk is.

We got some lunch and coffee, did a lot of shopping, and went back to the temple. Inside, around 30 monks were chanting and participating in a chalachakra tantric ceremony, which meant they wore brocaded collars and hats with antennas and held conch shells and bells to aid their practice. It was the fourth day of a 7 day ceremony, and that day would run for 12 hours. I hadn't seen anything like it my whole time in McLeod, but Mom has pretty good luck!

Sonam, my old roommate, came to meet us at the temple, and I introduced the two of them and said goodbye to her for the final time. It's weird to think that after four months I won't be going back to that part of India any time soon, if at all. But I was so excited to show everything off to my mother, and introduce her to all the people and things that have kept me sane these past few months.

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Mom in Mcleod

Mom spent just under 24 hours in McLeod Ganj and still managed to see just about everything. That should give you an idea of the size of the town.

After she arrived on the Kingfisher flight, we zipped back up to dinner with Liz and Kylie and their families, then sent them off and had ice cream for dessert, in honor of Mom spending so much of the day in Delhi's heat. She and I slept at the apartment for one final night.

The next morning, after breakfast at Peace Cafe with Sam and Julia, we packed and went to my host family. I hadn't been able to get in touch with Amala on the phone, but she answered the knock, and we joined her for tea and capse! Mom gave her some gifts, Amala gave Mom some gifts, I showed Mom around the apartment, and then we all started talking about jewelry. Women talk about the same thing in every culture, it seems.

After handing over the keys to my apartment, Mom and I headed to the temple, only to find out that it was closed in honor of HHDL's returning to town. We walked Kora and Mom spun the prayer wheels and generally commented on how beautiful, and steep, the walk is.

We got some lunch and coffee, did a lot of shopping, and went back to the temple. Inside, around 30 monks were chanting and participating in a chalachakra tantric ceremony, which meant they wore brocaded collars and hats with antennas and held conch shells and bells to aid their practice. It was the fourth day of a 7 day ceremony, and that day would run for 12 hours. I hadn't seen anything like it my whole time in McLeod, but Mom has pretty good luck!

Sonam, my old roommate, came to meet us at the temple, and I introduced the two of them and said goodbye to her for the final time. It's weird to think that after four months I won't be going back to that part of India any time soon, if at all. But I was so excited to show everything off to my mother, and introduce her to all the people and things that have kept me sane these past few months.

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Mom!

After a lot of flying and some time in really hot Delhi, Mom made it to Dharamsala! Kingfisher is a major beer company that also operates an airline. Her flight included the president of Kingfisher and a minister in the Indian government, so a mob of chanting men and flashing cameras greeted her arrival.

We then went to have dinner with Kylie and Liz and their families, then wandered around town a bit. I've already introduced her to the monk who lives upstairs and the guys who served me breakfast every day for three weeks, and it's weird to realize how much a part of my life these people have become and how soon I'm leaving! Tomorrow we will visit the temple, then hop in a cab to get to Agra by Thursday morning.

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Made it!

One of my favorite traditions at the end of each semester (I am horrified of the thought of life refusing to split neatly into semesters) is to listen to "I made it" by Cash Money Heros. While normally this comes after the crush of finals and papers, this time it came after the drama of applying for a Chinese visa and a return visa to India, as well as planning my trip with my mom. Clearly I have programmed myself to operate only with high stress levels each December and May. But it makes listening to the song that much better! Which I did today.

We completed our retreat this morning, which was three days of hiking and watching Glee and chilling out. I was reminded why I came and why I liked all the people on my program, especially after we all spent our last night sleeping on the roof of the hotel. Everyone agreed that the roof made a better bed than the actual bed. That should tell you something about the state of some hotels here.

I cannot believe my study abroad time is over, although thankfully I have two and a half months left in Asia as long as Indian immigration lets me back in the country. It seems so recently that we arrived in Delhi and I marveled at buckets in the YMCA and the traffic on the roads. So many things I thought unthinkable four months ago are normal and expected now. Being away from my friends and family has pushed me to make decisions in a way I didn't before, because there are fewer people here I can ask for help.

Not everything has changed-I'm still loud, I still laugh a lot, I still do ridiculous things like hike in a do-rag and make uncouth jokes. But existing somewhere else brought out other qualities that I wouldn't have necessarily realized elsewhere.

Enough with that stuff: Mom shows up today! Our trip is mostly planned. I am sure we will run into many snafus along the way, but that's what adventure is all about. I'm so excited!

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Retreat

The end of research included much transcription, a little paper writing, a trip to Delhi, a 1000 rupee breakfast, multiple phone calls to multiple embassies and government institutions, and random other things.

I also met up with Julia Starr, who is my first CMC contact in four months! I lent her my apartment to visit.

We are currently on retreat, which means we're living in a hotel all the way up in the mountains, going on hikes and swimming and generally enjoying the end of our time here. But mostly I am super excited to see my mom and start traveling. At that point hopefully the blog will become more exciting.

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Airport?

I am sitting in an airport with a beautiful view of the mountains and the airline workers are literally carrying the bags through security and out to the tarmac. I'm not even sure they're being screened. The waiting area is smaller than a standard movie theater (let alone a megaplex). I am excited to see if the plane just rolls up to the door.

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One pot wonder

Liz and I are going to be great cooks when we get back to the states, if only because the knife I use will not fall apart in my hand and because we will have more than one pot to use. However, we persevered and concocted some delicious fried rice. Bonus: the peppers I picked out did not double as a home for worms!

Also, in case you're interested in an explanation of how worms get inside peppers, apparently worms lay eggs on the flowers that eventually become peppers. Both grow at the same time, so the worms reach maturity around the time you pick the peppers. Thanks, Bev!

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Kidding, this is really dinner

No worms, we think. Anyway, curry take two came out a lot better than the first time. We used flour to thicken up the sauce (as Bex would say, it's all about the sauce). I also rolled out the chapati with a cup, so they cooked more easily since they were much thinner. You can see the bucket of rice on the right. We really do use buckets for everything. Cooking with only bowls, spoons, one pot, and one burner has lead to lots of improvisation. The bucket with a plate as a lid served as a strainer for the rice, while another plate is the griddle for the chapati. And of course the cup is the rolling pin. I'm so excited to cook with real utensils!

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Dinner!

I found a worm whilst cutting open a pepper for dinner. You can just see him hanging out in the middle. Needless to say, that pepper didn't make the pot. I don't even know how they get inside.

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Yum

Doesn't dinner look great? It smells great. And it's so colorful! We're making curry and rice.

Guess how much they cost? 30 rupees. Also known as 75 cents. I know produce is cheap, but really.

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Strange

I just found a spider web inside my sneaker. This is the kind of thing that could happen in America but doesn't.

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Ants

I don't know why this is happening, but I can currently count five ants crawling along the wall right next to my bed. At this point I might have been in India for too long, because it's too much effort to kill them (and definitely not Buddhist) and way too much effort to shoo them outside. I am amazed by their ability to walk sideways and cling to the wall, and I wonder if the previous tenant spread sugar on the plaster or something to attract them.

I am slowly going crazy.

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Phone bill

Dear Dad, this is why we got cut off on the phone this morning. It says that I had .4 rupees left. I have never been that low, ever, because for some reason normally it cuts me off at 3 rupees. Then I can at least send a couple text messages to get myself out of trouble, but this time I only had one text message to my name.

Of course, then I went to the Western Union, which also recharges phones, and am back to being able to talk for multiple hours for approximately $1.50 per hour.

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Chocolate momos

Nellie is holding up a chocolate filled momo in this photo. The dough was also had chocolate in it, but that part wasn't very good. We also had chocolate peanut butter momos for dessert at, of all places, a Korean restaurant. Random. The dough made them taste weird, but if you stick with the normal dough it should be fine.

Momos are easy to make...in theory, because they take a lot of work. But I'm sure my brother won't mind helping with this since chocolate is involved. See, Derek, you might like some Tibetan food! Kathryn, I'll bring these to the Losar party next year.

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Necessities

Today the power went out in the morning, around ten, and came back on at four. Apparently this was a planned power outage that was publicized in the newspapers, but unfortunately I don't read Hindi. It's unclear if people go to their offices and sit or just have a holiday when this happens. Some larger offices might have generators, but the bank was closed today. Power outages have been long when they've occurred, but have been less frequent than I've expected.

The water pipes are quarter-sized in diameter and often leak, leading to the photo above. I didn't see any dogs drinking out of the bowls, but I'm sure this is how all the strays stay hydrated, and why our water sometimes runs out. On our hike to Triund, Anna noticed that a pipe was leaking and creating a mud puddle. Of course, one of the only underground pipes had spurted a hole, letting in dirt and leaving a slippery path in its wake.

I realize electricity isn't a necessity, especially here, but at home I wouldn't know how to survive without lightswitches and tap water. Here, we make do with the sun and bottled water.

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Recording

Liz stole Nellie's voice recorder, so I now have the audio of our audience with HHDL. I am overly excited about this happening. Voice recorders are pretty amazing. If you are interested in his talk, let me know.

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Happy birthday Mom!

I promise I'll get you a hotel in Delhi as a birthday present.

I love you!

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Research

We are in the middle of independent study period, where we pick a project and interview people, translate texts, watch, and generally participate in the Tibetan community to collect data and observations. Eventually we are supposed to create a 30ish page paper on the topic. Typically, I chose the Tibetan government, which is particularly pertinent because the exile population elected a new Kalon Tripa, or prime minister, in March. The results came out last week, and Dr. Lobsang Sanagy of Harvard won the election.

I happen to think my topic is fascinating, because the government in exile calls itself a democracy. In practice, though, the Tibetan people and government look to HHDL for guidance and would (at least in the past) submit to his will without even voting. That is changing, but it's interesting to figure out why.

Since it happened so recently, people are really receptive and open to talking to me about their involvement and experiences, and I've had some enlightening exchanges. Unfortunately, I can't really tell where my paper will go, or even if I'm actually going to have an argument. Sara Stern, I'd like to publicly acknowledge the fact that you may read approximately a bazillion pages of terrible writing on something you don't care about this year (and this is even before I start writing thesis....ouch) and that I also probably owe you something comparable to my firstborn child. Let's make a deal: if/when China releases Tibet from its clutches, we'll go kick it. Tibet is awesome but I don't think even I could persuade you to go back to China.

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The news

As I'm sure you've heard, since even I've heard here, US forces killed Osama bin Laden. Almost every person I communicate with contacted me to inform me about Obama's speech.

I was a little confused by the reaction at home. I don't think there's any reason to celebrate over someone's death. There might not necessarily be reason to mourn either, but apparently people at school set off fireworks and sang the national anthem. I'm genuinely happy I wasn't there.

As you might have guessed, we're fine. There has been almost no reaction, perhaps because we are in the Tibetan community rather than the Indian community at large. Even if we were in India proper, the people might be happy that the US found Osama in Pakistan. We have gotten multiple email warnings not to go to tourist places (oops) and not to go to group gatherings (double oops). I promise to try not to get kidnapped, or if I do to keep the blog going (kidding, kidding).

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Rain

It's currently pouring in India and I'm outside on my computer. When I opened my case today the keyboard was full of dust and dirt. I really hope my computer makes it through the summer. Then I will probably live in Poppa with Diggory and all the other LTAs and use those computers.

But seriously. It's a huge storm. I'm under cover but I'm scared to even pack up and move inside. Or move anywhere. It's ironic that the internet works at a time like this.

Books

Liz and I have read so many books this semester, and have been amazed by mentions of Tibet in a lot of them.

A very abbreviated list:

Harry potter 5
Three cups of tea
This is where I leave you

Any books that you'd like to recommend are welcome. Particularly if they can be found on the kindle.

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The porch

Liz and I did not have to go out for dinner yesterday. It was wonderful. Probably because all the produce is fresh. However, I've been trying to load the HP 7 trailer for hours and it's yet to work. Tradeoffs.

We have a balcony that runs the entire length of our apartment. It's shaded by trees and you can just see the cricket stadium on the right (the big red thing).

I had a hard time finding oranges today because they're no longer in season. The bananas are becoming less flavorful. It's also strange to see how small the veggies are here compared to the US. Thinking about things like oranges and bananas going out of season and the size of produce makes us realize how much US suppliers have done in the world of genetically modified foods. My grandfather would say this is a good thing. A lot of hippies here think it's terrible. I think the jury is still out.

Also, we live below a monk, and today Liz and I got his business card. Have I mentioned it's weird here?

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Michelle and Liz do something stupid again

Liz came up with this title. I happen to think cooking dinner is a fabulous idea. Probably because I cut up the vegetables (which we first dunked in boiling water to kill anything on them-welcome to India) and Liz has done the rest of the cooking.

Quote: "I've never made primavera without olive oil." -Liz

I'll let you know later if we had to go out for dinner.

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Apartment life

Liz and I are making dinner. We bought a stove for 1000 rupees today, and a pot and some dishes. The tomatoes smell great. Liz, the voice of reason, decided against a stovetop connected to a gas cylinder for fear that we would blow up the house (plus gas is annoying to get, and comes in big cannisters, and we live down three flights of stairs), so we bought a one burner electric hotplate. I have no idea if you can also get them for 25 dollars in the states, but I bet you can't sell them back at the end of your stay.

I also bought two AAA batteries for 50 rupees, which I know is a better price than at home. I might have gotten ripped off, because I saw them for 9.5 rupees each in the bazaar later. Although I don't have any 50 p coins, so I'm not sure how I would have paid that.

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KKG love

We love mail. The sorority sent Liz the cutest card.

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Meeting the Dalai Lama

Meeting the His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in the words of Julia, was “definitely the coolest thing I’ve done in my entire life.”

I don’t want to rule out the rest of my life yet, but it was absolutely amazing. Words may not do it justice. Also, if you are reading this at a computer with legitimate internet (aka, you are not in India), youtube the song “Oxford Comma” by Vampire Weekend and listen carefully. It is the perfect soundtrack for this post.

Our meeting was scheduled for 1:30, so Liz and I spent the morning making breakfast in our new apartment and running various errands. These errands included picking up our thankas from the shop, where they had been brocaded overnight. For full disclosure, I bought four thankas from this shop, which can best be described as a hut on the side of the road with a lot of paintings in it. I feel all right about this because some are presents and also because I saw him making them, sitting on the ground in his shop with a half-finished canvas in front of him. I came back so much that Liz and I got pretty good deals on our thankas. Then we picked up our chupas from the cleaners and got lunch before we went home to change.

Coming to India means doing away with things like hair dryers, straighteners, and pretty much anything that makes one’s hair manageable, and so we struggled to look presentable for the audience. Then we grabbed our bags of religious objects to be blessed (plus a baseball hat for my brother: Derek, I love you enough to sneak an unapproved item into the bag!) and headed out the door. A monk commented that we looked beautiful in our chupas on the way to the temple.

The area outside the temple entrance was more deserted than usual, and there were more barriers than normal, presumably so no one could drive a car up to His Holiness’s residence (he lives inside the temple complex). We ducked under some major scaffolding to get to security, where we went through a full pat down and submitted our objects to a tray for blessing later. We were left with only our passports and khatas (ceremonial scarves).

Our group, which consisted of 11 students, 2 TAs, 3 teachers, and Ani-la’s mom and her mother’s friend, sat in the waiting room for a while folding our khatas. Eventually, we got called in for the audience. We walked into a long hallway, holding our khatas and bending forward at the waist so as to keep our heads below HHDL’s head. The helper monks placed the scarves over our necks, which left our hands free to shake! The Dalai Lama has a strong grip. He spent a few seconds holding onto my hand and looked right into my eyes.

Once everyone had progressed through the line, we moved into a room with couches and armchairs and listened to HHDL talk. Two translators assisted him, and the group got the chance to ask three questions. He spoke for a long while about all the topics: we asked two questions on Buddhist philosophy and one on compassion in everyday life. Stephen asked about the relationship between karma and the laws of nature, Ed and Kylie asked how to apply compassion to people we meet in India and at home, and Nellie asked a question about a specific quote that is supposed to contain the entire Dharma in four lines. HHDL asked if she spoke Tibetan so he could answer in Tibetan instead of English. Thank goodness for the translators.

The Dalai Lama laughs a lot, and smiles a ton, and does not fail to make eye contact with each person in the room. Being in his presence really did make me tear up, although I’m not sure why. You can just tell that you’re in the room with someone special when he sits and thinks. He spoke well in English and listened intently to all the questions and answered carefully and thoughtfully. His answers showed his intelligence, but also his warmth and his humanness, which is something weird to say about a person that Tibetans consider a god. He makes you feel like he really cares about people, and animals, and worries about their well-being, which is a lot more than other people who supposedly care about people’s well-being, i.e. politicians or humanitarians or decision-makers or whomever. The world would probably be a better place if more people cared about people rather than other things.

The time flew by, except for the part where the room was really hot. HHDL got up from his chair in the middle of speaking and tried to turn on the air conditioning unit (it took him a while). He looked absolutely hilarious holding the remote with his lips pursed, and you could tell that the translators (both men in their 30s or 40s) just wanted to rip it out of his hands and turn it on for him, but couldn’t because that would mess up protocol.

Afterwards we took photos on some stairs outside, which I will post once I get them from Hong Kong, and then HHDL blessed all the things we brought by touching his forehead to the tray.

Overall, I would concur with Julia’s statement that meeting HHDL is definitely a life highlight.

Triund: View from the Top

Hong Kong took really great photos at the top of the mountain.

That is the view from the top of McLeod Ganj, where we normally stay. If you can see big white tent-like things, that is the temple.

Anna, Me, Stephen, Liz, Hong Kong, and Claudia

Home sweet apartment

Liz is busy writing her philosophy paper, and I am waiting to look at mine for the third time (philosophy papers are impossible. People shouldn't major in philosophy, but not because it's impractical. You shouldn't major in philosophy because it's hard).

Anyway, this is our bedroom. My bed is on the left, and Liz's is on the right. Our respective thankas are hanging above out beds, complete with the katas we wore when we met HHDL. Liz bought a medicine Buddha, while I just got a Shakyamuni Buddha (the historical Buddha). This will probably be what our rooms look like next year.

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We met HHDL

Amazingly powerful experience. Brought tears to my eyes. I shook the Dalai Lama's hand. Details to come. I'm still processing.

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Spring Break: The End

In case you ever wondered what the inside of rickshaw looks like, it's pretty much a go kart. With wires everywhere. Yes, this is how you get around in the cities.

Our rickshaw driver, Hari, took us around to all the temples, to dinner, and then to random places like this temple built in honor of Japanese Buddhists. We are not sure why, but it was something to see, and when you start your day at 6 in the morning, sometimes you run out of activities by noon and just let your rickshaw driver take you somewhere for 100 extra rupees.

That's Liz and Hari in front of the rickshaw. We met his son, named Shiva, listened to Hari sing and dance while driving (very difficult not to laugh), heard about the economics of being a rickshaw driver (he rents the rickshaw for 150 rupees per day, and has five children, a wife, and lots of school and food expenses) and paid him enough to put one of his daughters through school for a month. As he was driving us to the airport on our final morning, he started crying and said, "I wake up tomorrow and no more Madam and Madam!" I found it difficult to hold it together at this point.

He also drove us to a yogini temple. There are only four yogini temples in all of India. This was an elephant headed tantric goddess, but her face got destroyed in one of the many Muslim wars.

This is the yogini temple. The inside has 64 unique tantric goddesses, and the caretaker of the temple described each one to us. Then two priests blessed us and gave us flowers and red ribbons to wear, and of course everyone wanted money at the end. They even charged us for parking our rickshaw under a tree!

More spring break photos

This is the shack, I mean, post office, from which Liz and I mailed almost 40 postcards. If you didn't receive one, it's because the Indian "postal system" lost it. We had to wind through a really residential neighborhood very far from the main road to find this building, and once we got inside the man behind the desk had to call someone to find out how much it cost to mail a postcard to America.

Like good Indian tourists, Liz and I went to the zoo. We were the only white people there. They kept it surprisingly clean, and the animals looked well cared for. We did fun things like go on a tiger safari. There were bars on the windows of the bus, except for the driver's window, which was just open. Did I mention that safety in India is not paramount? The white tigers were the coolest thing we saw. The photo doesn't show it that well, but they have very clear blue eyes.

We also went to see huge Jain meditation caves. They're built like dorms right next to each other and are so short that even I couldn't stand up inside them. This one was shaped like a tiger.

This was the view from one hill with meditation caves to the other hill with meditation caves. They're below that temple. On our way up we ran into yogis on retreat. You'd think they'd pick somewhere that's not a tourist destination.

Krishna, his sister, and his brother, otherwise known as Lord Jaggurnauth, rule BBS. Also they're kind of cute.