Day trip with the Director

Yawn. It's been a long day.

Every semester one or more trips are organized by Tibet Charity for the volunteer teachers as a thank you for coming all the way to the Himalayas to teach their students. When you volunteer to teach here you definitely don't do it for the pay; we don't get a paycheck, we don't get our flights paid for, we don't get accommodation provided for us. We get free lunch every week day and occasional other perks like today's day trip to a (relatively) nearby Tibetan settlement called Bir (say “beer” and roll the R).

The Director accompanied us. This was an important aspect of the trip, because the first place we stopped was at a school for Tibetan children in Chauntra. He used to be the principal there some ten years ago.

See the egret in the tea field?

This dog ran right up to me once we got out of the taxi. They are so friendly!

A sapling planted in 1998 at the school.

The students assembled! They sang songs.

They had the day off today for a fete. There were stations set up all over the school yard, and someone said each child had been given 180 rupees to spend on games.

Guess how much this bucket weighs! It's kilos, not pounds.. so we Americans had to do some math as well.

We were shown around the campus. The kids at this school learn exclusively in Tibetan until around age 10, when they are taught English. They then learn in these languages until age 15 or 16 or so, when they are then introduced to Hindi. They only take a bit of Hindi, enough to communicate in everyday life around India.

They are also taught a number of handicraft skills. This helps explain the number of Tibetan handicraft shops around McLeod Ganj.

Some of the students' paintings.

More paintings.

Yep, chalkboard.

Flower pot making class! (Seriously, I'm not kidding.)

Traditional stone carving.

Oh look! They have a kniting class!

Check out that intarsia!

Where do I sign up?

In the girls' dormitory we found a group of students having a snack. They told us their typical schedule consisted of waking at 5am, doing yoga, having food, debating, “self-study,” morning prayer... and then some other things they didn't specify... and then they had to be in bed about 9 o'clock in the evening.

Mantra about calming your mind, outside the meditation/prayer room.

Inside the prayer room.

Tsering, Gusti, and Gill looking over the courtyard.

Tsering-la with one of the few students who was at the school when he was principal. She was in kindergarten at the time.

Tsering-la and Verity talking in the dormitory. A friend of his made those stuffed animals for the kids so they wouldn't feel homesick.

We visited a monastery.

Big Buddha.

At lunch we had a really interesting discussion with the Director about some of the finer points of the Tibetan/Chinese “situation,” as most people tend to call it. He told us that Tibetans have “ICs,” or Identity Cards, in lieu of passports because they are legally considered stateless citizens since Tibet is not recognized as a country. Those who live in India, such as himself, must apply for a visa extension every few years even though they may have been born here and/or lived here their entire lives.

He told us how visas are granted to Tibetans in Tibet on the basis of pilgrimage or education. There have been stories of people going to Nepal or other neighboring areas to work for a few months so they could honestly say they had left Tibet for work as opposed to study; if they cannot provide proof of enrollment in an educational institution they risk getting in trouble with the Chinese police, and that is not something you want.

Many Tibetans in exile don't have contact with their relatives in Tibet because it's simply too risky. In Chinese-controlled areas like the capital, Lhasa, you can be arrested for simply carrying a photograph of the Dalai Lama (at least one of my friends here has had this happen). Can you even imagine?

After lunch we visited a noodle factory,

The Director bought a few (kilos of) noodles.

and then another monastery. This one belongs to the sect of Buddhism the Karmapa comes from. There are four sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama is the head of one but he also leads them all. Each other sect has its own leader, and the Karmapa is one of them. The Dalai Lama and the Karmapa are both believed to be reincarnations of the original holder of their respective titles. Apparently there is currently some dispute over the identity of the true reincarnation of the Karmapa. The Director told us that the matter has gone to a court for ruling. We discussed how this doesn't make much sense, having a civil institution rule on matters of religion – just as how in the US religious institutions are constantly trying to meddle in civil matters. It just doesn't make sense. Separation of church and state is a glorious thing, and it's important to maintain it. We also discussed how it would be great if less money were spent on religion and more on education.

Painted, carved wood around the doorways.

Lots of intricate detail in the paintings.

Look at these sculptures! They're made of BUTTER AND WAX.

We were able to get an audience with the leader of this particular monastery, Tai Situ Rinpoche. He's a lama and one of the teachers of the man regarded by the majority of Tibetans to be the true reincarnation of the Karmapa. He was very welcoming and spoke excellent English; his knowledge of geography was also better than most Americans I know. The walls of his receiving room were lined with small Buddha statues peeking out from the glass of cabinets on the walls; a quick calculation and I determined that there were 96 of them in all. His chair and the low table in front of him were ornately carved. Gifts and offerings covered every available surface.

We asked if he could give us a brief teaching on the dharma and he offered us this:

Don't do anything harmful or negative.

Do everything positive.

Tame your mind.

Twelve hours later and we're back in McLeod Ganj having some mixed veg and roti for dinner. Oh, and no car sickness! Ha, I told you I'd be prepared the next time! Now I've got a day to pack for our trip to Manali. Hmm, what to take...?