I arrived at Tibet Charity this morning and was told that I had received "another package." Apparently this is not a common occurrence around here, because even from the very first one, people have seemed surprised that I am receiving mail here. Everything I have gotten so far has been fantastic (you are fantastic!), but I've gotta tell you -- I really don't need any more stuff! I really appreciate everything I've gotten, but it's expensive to send things from the US to India... don't feel obligated. Really. If you still decide to send something, though, we are no longer in serious need of dry-erase paraphernalia. ;)
This morning's package from my dear friend Nicholas included replacement knitting needles (which I was extremely happy to get since the ones I brought from home have sadly been broken.. all they've got in Dharamsala are crappy plastic ones):
I shared the dark-chocolate-covered almonds that accompanied them with my fellow teachers and the few of my students who were around. It's nice how we have a little community here: it's not unusual for someone to bring a treat to pass around after lunch for all the teachers and staff here. For a while it was dates, sometimes dark chocolate, and once we even wound up with gulab jamun.
Class went well; we wrapped up our lesson on adjectives that we had started on Friday. The book had, inconveniently, given a rule as "in English, an adjective comes before the noun it modifies." On the surface, I don't have a problem with this. The confusing bit came in during the one set of examples where it gave sentences like "That car is expensive." I'm sure we can all agree that in this particular case, the adjective most certainly does not come before the noun it modifies. We wound up spending some time going over how one sentence can be said both as "These boots are new" and "These are new boots," thus shifting around the word order, and other such examples. I decided to give them the homework of writing me a page in which they describe their homes to me. I'm interested to read through their work tomorrow.
This evening, after classes, I accompanied Gill, Marie, and the newly arrived Gustie (from Austria, who has taught here once before) to one of the local travel agencies to see about booking a trip at the end of the month when we have some time off from teaching. I may get some dancing in after all! We then walked up the road to Nick's, one of the better restaurants in town that also has the magic trio of qualities you want in a restaurant: good food, reliable wifi, and a toilet. They also do some damned good dessert. If you're ever in town, make sure to check them out.
We eventually found ourselves in a discussion about the Beijing Olympics and how some of our group couldn't believe they had been allowed to be held there, given the human rights violations that occur regularly in China. The others of us mused that in general, people seem to support the Tibetan cause, but governments are more concerned with keeping economic superpowers like China appeased. Sadly, it's nothing new; it's exactly what happens every day, all over the place. I could go into a rant about it, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say I've felt like this on a regular basis for the last few years.
So it goes. At least I've escaped the rampant materialism of the West for a little while; I think I'm going to have to get rid of a bunch of my stuff when I get home. If you want to call dibs on any of it feel free to let me know; be advised, however, that I'm not going full-on ascetic or anything, so don't get your hopes up for any of the particularly good stuff (like my PS3 or my sewing machine).
This morning's package from my dear friend Nicholas included replacement knitting needles (which I was extremely happy to get since the ones I brought from home have sadly been broken.. all they've got in Dharamsala are crappy plastic ones):
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| No, I can't tolerate plastic knitting needles. Yes, I'm a yarn snob. I am okay with that. |
Class went well; we wrapped up our lesson on adjectives that we had started on Friday. The book had, inconveniently, given a rule as "in English, an adjective comes before the noun it modifies." On the surface, I don't have a problem with this. The confusing bit came in during the one set of examples where it gave sentences like "That car is expensive." I'm sure we can all agree that in this particular case, the adjective most certainly does not come before the noun it modifies. We wound up spending some time going over how one sentence can be said both as "These boots are new" and "These are new boots," thus shifting around the word order, and other such examples. I decided to give them the homework of writing me a page in which they describe their homes to me. I'm interested to read through their work tomorrow.
This evening, after classes, I accompanied Gill, Marie, and the newly arrived Gustie (from Austria, who has taught here once before) to one of the local travel agencies to see about booking a trip at the end of the month when we have some time off from teaching. I may get some dancing in after all! We then walked up the road to Nick's, one of the better restaurants in town that also has the magic trio of qualities you want in a restaurant: good food, reliable wifi, and a toilet. They also do some damned good dessert. If you're ever in town, make sure to check them out.
We eventually found ourselves in a discussion about the Beijing Olympics and how some of our group couldn't believe they had been allowed to be held there, given the human rights violations that occur regularly in China. The others of us mused that in general, people seem to support the Tibetan cause, but governments are more concerned with keeping economic superpowers like China appeased. Sadly, it's nothing new; it's exactly what happens every day, all over the place. I could go into a rant about it, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say I've felt like this on a regular basis for the last few years.
So it goes. At least I've escaped the rampant materialism of the West for a little while; I think I'm going to have to get rid of a bunch of my stuff when I get home. If you want to call dibs on any of it feel free to let me know; be advised, however, that I'm not going full-on ascetic or anything, so don't get your hopes up for any of the particularly good stuff (like my PS3 or my sewing machine).
