Happy New Year!

Today's post is going to be cut a bit shorter than originally intended on account of my phone taking way longer than anticipated to upload pictures from Canada.

So, in lieu of that, I will say simply Happy Losar! March 2nd this year marks the beginning of the Tibetan New Year, which is called Losar (I believe it's the same in Bhutan... but don't quote me on that). If I understood my students correctly that one day in conversation class, Losar is traditionally celebrated by receiving new clothing, playing games, and eating lots of brightly colored noodles. I don't know about you, but I say that sounds like at least as much fun as the American equivalent of  getting drunk, watching a big shiny ball drop on TV, and kissing someone you may or may not actually even know.

I wish I could be in India right now to celebrate with my students and friends. Lately I've also been feeling like I really wish I could have been there for Holi, the Hindu spring festival where people throw colored dye at each other all day long (apparently). Go ahead, click on that link and tell me that doesn't look like an absolute blast. Maybe next spring, if I'm not off teaching somewhere already, I'll head back over there to check it out.

In related news, the job search continues. I've had a couple of interviews but so far nothing has gone past that. My top pick for the moment is Japan; solid pay and a first-world culture I've always found interesting makes it an enticing destination. I've got a friend who's currently teaching in China and trying to convince me to head that way. China isn't exactly near the top of my list of places I'd like to visit simply based on the fact that I tend to be a little outspoken on issues of human (and animal) rights and welfare, gender equality, and other such stuff, and China isn't exactly known for championing any of those. It's also the biggest reason I can't see myself teaching in the Middle East, even though they tend to pay better than anywhere else in the world. They can afford to, after all... they've got all that oil money. As a woman, though? Nah, not going to fly with me. I'd be deported before the first week ended.

Future Travel Plans in the Making

Hello there, friends!

I think I'm pretty much all settled in back here in Illinois. I've managed to only drive on the correct side of the road, order in English at restaurants, and still take quick showers even though now I have the resources to drag them out a little.

I got home just in time to pick up a bunch of Xmas party hours at Duke's Catering (call them if you ever have a party, wedding reception, luncheon, etc to cater; they'll take good care of ya), which is awesome considering I hadn't made a dime in the previous 4+ months. I love my job. Unfortunately, I am of the generation that has been hosed by the American higher education system, and thus I find myself with a retardedly large amount of student debt. I love my job, but I've been keeping my eyes open for additional work that will help pay the bills. (If you know of anything good, help a sister out.)

People have asked if I'd like to travel again, to teach English again. My answer is absolutely -- the question is where? And when, I'm not sure. I had planned on staying here in the US for at least a year and paying off some of the aforementioned debt, but lately I find myself wondering if I should just scamper off to some other corner of the world and teach for a while. I had a great time in India; as many people pointed out, if you can travel in India you can travel anywhere. My confidence has gotten a boost and thanks to the magic of The Internets, I can keep in touch with all of you. Four months really didn't seem all that long. I think I could do a year-long contract now, especially if I were getting paid decently.

I'd still love to see Europe, but my sources indicate that the opportunity to make a profit there is limited. Japan might be a better option for me, at least for the near future. At some point I'd like to make my way to Hungary, where my grandparents are from. I've always felt that if you're going to live in a country then you have an obligation to learn at least a few basic phrases in the local language; for this reason, there are places I'm just not all that interested in traveling to. Chinese and Thai intimidate me: China, Taiwan, and Thailand are not at the top of my must-see list. (Well, China I don't particularly want to visit for plenty of other reasons... I DID just get back from teaching a bunch of Tibetans, after all.)

In other travel news, I actually will be leaving the States again in a mere 2 months. This time I'm staying much closer to home, though -- I'll finally get to see Vancouver! It's a place I've wanted to visit for years now and just never seemed to get around to it. After spending a third of a year on the other side of the world, hopping a plane to the west coast doesn't seem like such a big deal. I hear there's also snowboarding to be done out there.

Adventure ho!

Post-India sushi!

P.S.: The short amount of time it takes to upload and post photos here, as compared to the last few months, is practically obscene.

Mind. Blown.

Go with what you know

Well, friends, this is it. Yesterday I spent the entire day running around McLeod Ganj spending time with my remaining friends; all the other foreign teachers at Tibet Charity have taken off already. It was a busy day, but a fun one.

I went for lunch with Kalden and Mike at Tibet Kitchen. I figured I should have Tibetan food for my last meal in the home of HH.

Mmm, thenthuk.

Then we went down to Nick's for dessert. Nick's has the best dessert in town.

And apparently their cappuccinos are good, too!

Me in my cool new hat Kalden gave me (it really goes with the chupa, doesn't it?), with Mike on Temple Road. XD

I had tea with the managers at Villa Paradiso and visited a few other friends before packing the last of my things and heading downstairs. Anil made me some gobi parantha for the road. While I waited on that, I looked out over Dharamsala one last time from the balcony. It's a view I'm going to miss.

The taxi that the guys at New Varuni called for me took me up to the bus station where I was met by a bunch of my students, Kalden, and Mike.

Yup... more katas!!

After half an hour of teary goodbyes and lots of hugs -- how can you not get a little misty-eyed when your students tell you things like "I will never forget your kindness"?? -- I got situated on the bus ("a very nice Volvo," just like when I first came here) and away we went.

If you look reeeeeeeeeeal close you can see me in my turquoise blouse in the middle of the bus.

And so the 12ish-hour bus ride to Delhi was underway. This time I was seated next to a youngish jewelry salesman named Dhaval who was quite friendly. I popped a couple motion sickness pills but still had to lay back, close my eyes, and concentrate on not vomiting for the first 4 hours or so. They even handed out little plastic bags, I assume for this purpose. I love the mountains, but I do not love driving in the mountains.

We stopped for dinner at a nice haveli; I didn't eat because it didn't seem worth it. I was sure I wouldn't have been able to keep it down.

When we reached Delhi, the bus drivers wanted to drop everyone off at the Kashmere Gate. Apparently it's where most tourists go, and as far as I can tell it's more or less a hub for travel. Luckily, there was one Tibetan guy on board who also wanted to go to Majnu Ka Tila, the Tibetan colony, so we stuck together and they took us there. He helped me off the bus with my things and down to AMA Hotel, where I stayed way back in July when I first arrived in India.

My plan was to stay in a neighborhood called Paharganj, per Brij's recommendation, but I was unfamiliar with the area, the hotel guy there wasn't the best about giving me information over the phone, and I had gotten dropped off IN DELHI at 4:30am. I was by myself at this point and not comfortable with hopping into any random taxi. So I went to AMA and the hotelier there was very friendly even though I'd woken him up at a ridiculous hour. It took us a little while because of the language barrier -- his English was fairly decent, but my Hindi is limited and my Tibetan is practically nonexistent -- but eventually I decided I'd just take the one room they had left and they'd book a taxi to the airport for this evening for me.

It was such a relief to get to a familiar place. If you're ever in Delhi, this is a nice place to stay. They have a really excellent restaurant downstairs, too!

I went out into Delhi via rickshaw to grab the last couple of Indian things (as opposed to Tibetan ones) I needed before coming home. I didn't even freak out! It was surprisingly unstressful during daylight hours. There are about a zillion people, sure, but I guess I'm more or less used to it now. It's not so bad.

One thing I've found that has made traveling solo much more bearable is that most people are helpful if you just ask. It's also been a tremendous help going places with people who know them the first time, and then returning later on my own. In this case, I was in Majnu ka Tila with Kalden and Palsang a few months ago, so now I don't feel so anxious about being back here. I don't particularly want to run around Delhi on my own for an extended period of time, but in this particular area I feel fine. The same thing with the Rajasthan trip: I passed through Pathankot on the train with Brij on the way down, and so when I went back on my own, I kind of knew what to expect. If I hadn't, then the whole train-breaking-down-in-the-middle-of-the-night thing would have really done a number on me.

I explained to the proprietors at AMA that I'd been here and I trusted them to take care of me, and they have been more than helpful. (I gotta write a bunch of TripAdvisor reviews.... maybe I'll do that at the airport!)

So now I'm hanging out in my hotel room, responding to "hey, just want to know how the trip is going" messages. Once I hit "publish" on this thing I'm going to take a shower, get dressed, grab a bite to eat at the restaurant downstairs, and make sure my luggage is arranged the way I want it. The taxi picks me up to take me to the airport in just over 2 hours... It should take about an hour to get there, and my itinerary requests that I report at least 3 hours prior to my flight time, so I should be fine. I'd rather be safe than sorry! Then I guess I'll see if I can find some airport wi-fi or sit down with a book and wait to board the long, long flight home. Altogether it's a little over 19 hours travel time, including the brief layover in Newark (only 1.5 hours this time). And with that... I'll be on my way back to American soil!

For all its shortcomings, India has endeared itself to me. I think I'll come back sometime. Who wants to join me?

Where has the time gone?

Bus ticket has been booked. Flight has been confirmed. Pretty much all the other foreign volunteers have gone...

And in less than 24 hours, I'll be on my way out of Dharamsala. It's so nuts to think about... Four months ago it seemed like I'd be here forever, and now my bags are packed and I've spent the last three days meeting with friends and students, saying goodbyes. I've met some really fantastic people during my stay in Himachal; I hope I can keep in touch with at least a few of them.

My aunt and uncle told me years ago that college would be the best years of my life, that I'd make the friendships there that would last the rest of my years. It didn't really happen that way. Sure, I made a handful of great friends, most of whom I keep in touch with thanks to the magic of Facebook, but for the most part college just wasn't for me.

This, though... I think this is what they meant. It's on this trip that I feel like I've grown and come into my own. I'm ready to tackle some new directions in life; I've got a bunch of great new people who have earned places in my heart. It's a great feeling.

That being said, I'm full of a mix of emotions. I'm glad to be getting home to see friends and family, but I'll definitely miss this place and the people here. I was offered a job, invited back for a wedding, and asked by at least a dozen different people if I'd be back next year. I don't know, guys. Maybe the year after. I've got to earn some money before I can afford to do the volunteer thing again, and get some things sorted out in my "real" life. I'm ready for it, though. I needed a break, I needed something totally different -- and I got it, and now I think I'm refreshed and ready to take care of business.

Bring it on, Life.

For those of you in the States, my plan is to reactivate my phone # on Thursday so I can turn off airplane mode once I land. I'll do my best to answer your messages in a timely fashion. ;)

It's been fun, McLeod. Maybe we'll meet again someday.

Honorary Tibetans

I returned to my room last night with the intention of thinking up "a few words" to say at the closing ceremony for this semester, per Rinzin's request. I didn't have any luck. If I've learned anything over the years, it's that you can't force these kinds of things; if the mojo isn't flowing, go to bed and hope that it's better in the morning.

So that's what I did. As luck would have it, I woke up with all kinds of ideas for what I should say. I ran through it in my head for a few minutes, hopped up and took a nice, hot shower, and then sat down and typed. It's been a little while since I had to write a speech -- it was nice and nostalgic. See, being on the speech team and writing OOs for 4 years prepared me for the real world! I win!

I proofread it quickly and decided that exactly one page was the perfect length; I gave myself plenty of time to get dressed because I, like a few of the other teachers, decided to wear a chupa to the ceremony. They aren't difficult to put on, per se, but like anything new, I knew it'd take a little getting used to. Last week I'd had one custom made by Tibetan tailors in McLeod Ganj with fabric I bought down in Lower D'sala. THE FABRIC HERE IS SO CHEAP, and there is so much of it! I wish I could just load up my suitcases with the stuff and bring it home. Sadly, fabric is also heavy, there's a 50# weight limit on checked bags, and I have other things I need to bring back.

In my humble opinion, a chupa is a little easier to figure out than a sari. Saris are just 4 meters (give or take) of 1-meter-wide fabric. There are a whole bunch of different variations on how you can wrap them, but there's a basic technique you've got to get down. Chupas are more like dresses with a blouse underneath. I find them elegant, even the utilitarian ones.

For those of you keeping track, I now possess a wardrobe that includes traditional Indian clothing in the form of saris and salwar kameez, and traditional Tibetan clothes, my new chupa. In fact, I got such good feedback and the thing was so darn comfortable I decided to get a couple of more blouses made to go with it. I figure I can also copy the pattern and make more when I get home if I decide to.

Anyway, I managed to get into my nice new outfit and over to Tibet Charity with enough time to run upstairs and print off my speech. Everyone acted surprised and feigned intimidation when they saw I'd actually written something. To tell the truth, I hadn't planned on going up there with anything more than notes, but it just happened that I thought of a few specific things I wanted to say and besides, I didn't want to get caught up rambling. It was only one page. Come on, that's practically nothing.

We arrived at Tibet Charity and were instructed to sit at the table in front, with all the students seated on the ground in front of us.

Mr. Director-la gave a short speech and then Rinzin, the coordinator of the education section, said a few words and asked each of us volunteer teachers to do the same. The speeches were all touching. Each of us talked about the sincere pleasure it has been to work with the students here, how it has been a life-changing experience we will never forget, how we are all grateful to have been able to come here. I was confident that I wouldn't cry during my speech (for some reason... history is not on my side here), but my voice did get a little shaky when I talked about how welcome they'd all made me feel. I told them I hope they understand how strong their sense of community is and how special and powerful that is, because it doesn't exist everywhere, and not everyone has that. I'm pretty sure I saw one of my students recording the whole thing, so maybe you'll be able to look it up on YouTube...

I didn't cry though, and we finished the rest of the ceremony with no glitches aside from the fact that there was some sort of bulldozer operating in the lot next to TC. That was a little distracting. Luckily, I was on the speech team (as I believe I mentioned previously), so I know how to project my voice.

Afterward tea and snacks were served and many photos were taken. (Photo credit for everything in this post goes to Neil. Thanks, Neil!) You can contact him at

The 4 on the left are my students: Tandin from Bhutan, and Jampel, Karma, and Yangchen from Tibet.

The Tibet Charity nurses in their signature purple chupas.

My students insisted we go up to our classroom "because they had something for me." Gusti and I followed them upstairs, they sat us down in chairs at the front of the room, and two of our top students, Jampel and Yangchen, said a few words about how they were so thankful to us for everything we'd done over the semester. They presented us with the white katas the Tibetans use to show respect to one another. Each of our students in turn came up with a scarf for each of us; by the end of it all I had so many of them I looked like a yeti.

 
I am not ashamed to admit that about 2/3 of the way through something clicked in my brain, some connection was made, maybe regarding the finality of it all, and, well... I didn't make a whole lot of effort to stop the tears from coming. My students are so damned sweet. I'm going to miss them.

We took more and more photos. Some of the pre-intermediate students I hadn't actually had in class for the last few months wanted photos with me.

After everyone finally left for the day, I went home to change my clothes and then returned to Tibet Charity for lunch. The plan was for a small group of us volunteers to head down to Lower Dharamsala to buy a whole bunch of supplies for Tibet Charity with funds that we'd donated. There had been discussion in the previous weeks about how best to spend the donation; we eventually decided to get a range of consumables, like toilet paper and toner for the printer, as well as a few infrastructure-type things like a water filter and some kitchen equipment. It was fun little adventure.

In the evening, the volunteer teachers all went out for one last dinner before those of us who haven't gone yet start leaving town. The other Americans are heading out tomorrow morning, Van will be going a couple of days later, and I, one of the first to arrive, will be the last to go, on Wednesday evening. Now that the end is basically here, I feel like I could stay another few months. Maybe not so much in the winter... the nights are already quite cold. There isn't any heat in most buildings, either, so that means wearing layers and piling on the blankets. It's not so bad. It just kind of makes it tough to get out of bed in the morning.

I'll be glad to have a heated bedroom again in another week. How ridiculously cold is it in Illinois these days?

Our Elementary level class! I'm so proud!!

***If anyone is interested in donating to Tibet Charity:
For reasons involving a fair amount of bureaucracy and governmental red tape, it's better to send "stuff" than money. TC could use learning aids like flash cards, games, ESL readers, or even any books that are in good shape and written in relatively simple English. If you want more details or other ideas, send me a message and I'd be happy to make a list based on my experience here.

Tibet Charity
Lower Temple Road
McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, Kangra Distt.
Himachal Pradesh, India 176219 ***

Pizza & Momos

This is it. I'm done teaching at Tibet Charity. Final exams were held yesterday; most of my students passed (a few of them have the extra credit to thank for that) and some did exceptionally well. 

Today Gusti and I took them out for a pizza party in Dharamkot. The students brought some momos, we ordered ten delicious pizzas, and everyone had a lot of fun.

They kept telling me to sit down and relax, but I can't help it -- I enjoy entertaining and if I'm in anything resembling a hostess position, I tend to get into it. I asked them if they have winter holidays coming up in Tibetan/Bhutanese culture aside from New Year's. They said no, but asked about what we've got in the US. I told them all about Thanksgiving (Happy T-day to my friends in the States!), which most of them seemed quite interested in, and they asked all kinds of questions about turkeys. I don't think they have them here. I told them how most Americans prepare a big meal for this holiday so the fact that we were all out having food together was, in a way, quite similar. It's like they'd gotten together to make a Thanksgiving-away-from-home for me, and they seemed pleased that they could do this.

They insisted on doing everything. The students wouldn't let Gusti or me cut the pizzas, they wouldn't let us serve the food, and they always gave us the first slices when a fresh one would come out. Tibetans can be very bossy, but when it's in the context of such hospitality, how can you get upset?

After finishing our lunch and taking a bunch of photos on a dozen different cameras, phones, and tablets, they instructed us to follow them "up to the mountain." When I asked how far they answered "not far," but pointed to some indefinite area wayyyyyyyy off in the distance. I joked that it would take so long I'd miss my flight home. I hadn't worn the proper shoes for a real hike; I knew we'd be taking pictures so I opted to wear my red jutis that I got in Jaipur. People have been telling me they're more like house shoes. This bothered me at first, but then I remembered: I don't wear shoes in the house. If they're shoes, and I'm wearing them, it's going to be outside.

I pointed this out to them, that I wasn't wearing anything that could possibly pass for hiking shoes. Jampel, the one monk, told me "the Bhutan guys are very strong, they'll carry you!" to which the "Bhutan guys" responded that Tibetans were stronger (it's true, they tend to be tall and tough in general), but one way or another they'd get me where we were going.

This is Dolker. She's super sweet, and a pretty good student, too.

The view just never gets old.

Eventually we came to a Hindu shrine where we took some more photos and then backtracked just a little to a grassy spot where we could chill, sing songs, and munch on snacks for a while.

When we finally headed back down to McLeod Ganj, they insisted on taking a shortcut -- the same shortcut that Kalden, Brij, Marie, and I took when we went up to Triund that one time. At one point my foot slipped a bit and I heard a chorus of "Ohhh!" from the students who were in the lead and down below us. Lobsang Dolma, one of my quietest but most thorough students, insisted on holding my hand the rest of the way to make sure I didn't fall, even though she had also earlier insisted on carrying my bag as well as Gusti's, even though she already had her own. "Tibetans are very strong," I observed. They asked me if the roads were "like this" where I live; I told them no, only in the forests in some places. Generally they are in much better condition. They seemed to take this as a perfectly good explanation as to why they could navigate the rocky, irregular path so much more easily than us westerners.

Regardless, we made it down with no casualties. What we had originally planned to be a 3-hour event turned into one that lasted all morning and into the afternoon. It was fantastic. I love the comfort level that you reach with people after seeing them nearly every day for weeks or months, and when the official business or class or whatever is done, everyone can just relax and have a good time together. This evening we had our last staff/volunteer dinner at TC, tomorrow morning we have our closing ceremony for the semester, for which I still have to put together a speech of some sort, and after that.... we're all done. I just have to tie up my loose ends around town as far as last-minute gift obtainment, pay my bill at the hotel, eat at my favorite restaurants once or twice more, pack up all of my stuff -- and decide what's not coming back with me -- and that's it. Get on a night bus to Delhi next Tuesday or Wednesday evening, make sure I tell my students ahead of time because I know at least a couple will want to see me off, and go. Exactly one week from this very moment I'll be somewhere in Indira Gandhi International Airport, maybe waiting to go through security, maybe chilling at my gate with a book, but I'll be having my final few hours in India. 

Four months sure flies when you're having fun. I knew it would.

Where should I go for my next trip? I've got a couple of places in mind, but I'm interested to see what kind of input I can get from my dear readers......

Supporting the local economy

मेरे दोस्तों नमस्ते !
I'm the kind of person who likes to sleep in. Mornings like today are somewhat uncommon: I woke up an hour before my alarm went off (even though I didn't go to bed until 2am), energized and ready to Get Shit Done. I even surprised myself.

I'm now well within my last two weeks here in India, which means it's finally time to buy all the souvenirs and things I want to take home. I had been putting it off because buying more stuff would mean I'd have more stuff to store, and with a trip to Rajasthan in the mix, during which I left the rest of my possessions with a friend, it didn't make sense to add to the amount of things I'd have to cart back and forth. I don't imagine I'll be moving again before my final trip to Delhi, so now the shopping can commence.

If any of you want something specific, tell me now. If you want something specific and expensive, I'll send you my Paypal address so you can get those dollas to me.

I went into McLeod Ganj for breakfast, enjoying a satisfying chicken sandwich with mango & coriander chutney on the patio, in the sun, at Moonpeak Espresso. I haven't been there in a while. On my way, I stopped in to a shop to take a look at something specific on my list for a gift. The middle-aged Indian proprietor smiled a lot and wasn't pushy at all; when I asked in Hindi if he had what I was looking for, he became excited as well. We talked for a few minutes, him showing me various items on the shelves in his tiny store, and even though I felt like it must have been painful for him to endure my butchery of his native language when he clearly could speak mine, he complimented me, saying that my Hindi was "bohut sunder" -- very beautiful -- and that I sound like I've been speaking it for a long time. 

All I have to say is LOL. Thanks, sir, but I don't entirely believe you. It's sweet of you to say, though.

After breakfast I headed up to the ATM because, well, the whole point of going in to town today was to shop and I needed funds. Over the last 4 months I have made friends with one of the shopkeepers near said ATM. The guys over there tend to hang out outside because their shops are tucked back from the street; it's easier to grab customers if they're more visible.

Taj showed me all kinds of pretty things, of which I purchased a few unique pieces for gifts this upcoming Xmas (lucky you if you get one of them!). He made a comment that he'd give me the "local price" because I'd been here long enough that "now you are a local." I told him "Baria!" to which he responded with a surprised "and now you also speak Hindi!" He was kind enough to let me practice a bit, only reverting back to English when I really had no idea how to get my point across otherwise. It's so much fun. It's like decoding a puzzle.

I try to speak in Hindi as much as I can, because that's the only way to get better at it, not to mention more comfortable with it. Most of the people I do this with seem initially surprised but then appreciative; I have had a couple of Indians tell me that many foreigners come to Dharamsala because it's a Tibetan area, and the Indian locals get looked over or even looked down on. This is unfortunate, of course, but it works in my favor in a way because I stand out as "that foreigner who has actually bothered to learn our language." Obviously I support the Tibetan community as well -- it's the reason I came here, after all; I do volunteer at a place called Tibet Charity -- but there's a different sort of inclusion I feel when I bust out what little Hindi I have with the Indians. It's like I immediately gain a bit of status in their eyes, like I really am more "local." Sometimes, in my desire to use it as much as I can, I catch myself nearly speaking Hindi with my students or other expats who only understand English... it's pretty funny.

One thing I enjoy about McLeod Ganj and Dharamsala is being able to say at least "hello" in a few different languages. I know how to say this and "thank you" in Tibetan, and that's pretty much it -- but there's something exciting about walking down the street and greeting Tibetans with tashi delek, then passing a westerner or two and telling them hi, and responding to the Indian shopkeepers' "Hello, Madam" or "How are you?"  or "Yes, taxi?" -- it's like navigating a town full of NPCs, I swear -- with a namaste or thik, aap kaise hai? or nahin, thank you bhaiya. I feel so multicultural.

Uncounting

The end of the fall semester at Tibet Charity is rapidly approaching. Classes end on the 26th, final exams are the next day, and then Friday there is a closing ceremony. I'm having a chupa made just for me for the closing ceremony, and I'm pretty pumped about it. I think it'll look nice, and the color should coordinate nicely with the new juties I got in Jaipur.

A couple of my Pre-Intermediate students have been asking me for help studying for their final. I've met with both of them the last few nights; I haven't seen either of them in a while. The one also said we are going to have to go have lunch sometime before I leave India. It's nice to be appreciated.

The current chapter in my class deals with countable vs. uncountable nouns, and today we introduced how much and how many. Teaching English can be tricky because it's hard to give students "rules" to follow; you tell them an uncountable noun, like "bread" (you say "some bread," not "a bread"... usually) can be made countable by adding the phrase "a piece of" in front of it: a piece of bread. Some rice becomes a piece of rice. No problem, right? Some meat and a piece of meat, some fish becomes a piece of fish... Then you get to some butter/a piece of butter and it starts sounding a little funny. It still works, though. When you make it to some grapes... well. Have you ever said "a piece of grapes"? I didn't think so. Regardless, they are handling it well. The end of the semester is always fun because everyone relaxes a bit. I'm not a huge advocate of keeping a distance between myself and my students; I want them to be comfortable with me and have fun in class, because that's how you learn best. Interested students are studious students. We laugh even more now than we did early in the semester; they understand more colloquialisms (today we went through "it doesn't matter," "got it," "leftovers," and other similar phrases) and give clever responses to my questions.

My hope is to make it through this chapter by the time finals roll around. We're just shy of halfway, with three days of class remaining. The power was out the entire class period today, so that meant we couldn't do any of the listening exercises that came with the textbook. We focused more on speaking and how to phrase questions and answers instead. I like to have a review day before each exam; I don't think we'll get a whole day this time, but I'm definitely going to try to give them at least half of one. Hopefully they'll all have done their homework.

I'm going to miss them when I go. I've collected a few email addresses; I'd like to keep in touch with as many of them as I can. I've met so many interesting people here in India, from so many different backgrounds. Some of the Tibetans were born here, in exile, and others have stories of crossing the mountains on foot, traveling at night because there was less risk of being caught that way. All of them dream of someday returning to Tibet. I've met some very cool Indians, and a couple of my fellow expats have entered the ranks of my best friends. As always, part of me can't wait to get home and see all of you -- but another part of me knows that I'll miss this place once I go. Even now, with two weeks remaining, I feel like I'm not entirely here. I haven't totally unpacked my bags in my new place; I'm not going to. I don't want to get too settled, because I'm just going to have to undo it all in a handful of days anyway. I've now stayed at 4 of the hotels near Tibet Charity. I feel like a nomad. I can definitely understand how people get addicted to traveling... it's been one of the most incredible experiences of my life. It's just what I needed, and I'm so grateful to everyone who helped make it happen.

Back to Class

While I was in Rajasthan, Gusti and my class managed to get through two chapters in the textbook. They  had a test scheduled for today -- I try not to have them fall on Mondays, but we're in crunch time now so I just went with it; plus I haven't been here to object -- so I figured it would make for a nice, easy segue back into teaching mode.

When a few of my students saw me in the hall before class I got surprised looks and excited hellos. It was like they didn't expect me to actually come back after my trip! I suppose, to be fair, I had told them I'd be gone "2 or 3 weeks," and at the time I had been leaning more toward 2, so maybe it's not unreasonable that they thought I just decided to stay.

They were curious about my trip so I told them briefly about some of the highlights: riding camels in the desert, the broken train on the way back... but some of them tend to make use of the full 2 hours allowed on test day, so I didn't want to cut into that too much.

They seemed to struggle with the test. Even my strongest students regarded their papers with furrowed brows and made extra use of their erasers. Everyone took longer than usual to finish. I had to clarify a bunch of points, and even then they seemed to have trouble.

They all finished, though, and on time.

I just finished grading the stack of exams, and oh my goodness... they aren't looking very good. I'm not sure what happened, but they definitely weren't lying when a bunch of them told me as they turned in their papers that the test was "very difficult." I wound up giving everyone an extra 10 percentage points so their final grades wouldn't be too thrown out of whack; we won't have time to re-take them, and since I wasn't here to make sure they understood the material, I can't say for sure what happened. When everyone in a class fails to understand, though, I don't think you ought to punish the students because clearly something else is up. Maybe the material was too difficult, maybe they rushed through it... I'm not sure, but it's my opinion that a student's understanding of the material is far more important than a grade, and if they can communicate effectively in English then I see no reason to bum them out with poor marks when it's probably not their fault anyway.

It's for this same reason that I'm with Van on the subject of recognizing the top 2-3 students in each class at our closing ceremony (we're against it): it doesn't matter if you get better scores than your peers, what matters is being able to use the language.

Anyway, I'm glad that's over. I think we may spend most of class tomorrow going over the test and trying to understand what the heck happened.

On a completely unrelated note, the areas around my hometown got hammered by tornadoes yesterday. It's my understanding that most of the damage was to property; relatively few people were injured. I wish I were there to help out. :( This is the first time I really felt the distance from home: there's insanity happening near a great many of the people I care about, and there's not a damned thing I can do aside from follow it online. A friend sent me this message (I hope you don't mind me reposting it, you-know-who-you-are):

You travel across the world to help refugees and thus inadvertently escape the apocalypse back home. I don't believe in karma or anything, but yeah. Karma.

Huh. I hadn't even thought of it like that.

The way I tend to be

Last night as I made my way up the steps of Pause Dwelling, I heard a familiar "namaste, ma'am" from just above and to my left. It was promptly followed by a short string of Hindi, of which I was able to make out just enough to stumble through a response of "I'm going to my room" (मै मेरा कमरा जा रहीं हूँ ). ... Or at least that's what I said, it might not quite be right.

He said something else so I hopped up the last couple of steps and around onto the balcony where he was sitting, and I took the empty seat next to him. Long story short, by the time I actually made it to my room I had a basic understanding of how to write Hindi -- not just try to mimic the typewritten text in books -- and I had also been assigned homework:

Who gives "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today" as a first translation assignment??

I also installed a Hindi keyboard and a flashcard app on my phone so I can study when I don't have internet. Brij gave me a couple of movies in Hindi to watch, as well as some music. The language itself really is, I think, relatively easy... it's just the fact that I'm learning a new language at all that's tricky. The grammar seems to be pretty consistent and now that I can read the script, I'm finding that most words are phonetic.

As far as English class at Tibet Charity, today we were studying possessive pronouns and rhyming words. Naturally, the book suggested I give them songs as examples. The ones it provided were Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman and Every Breath You Take by The Police (Every breath you take/Every move you make... boom, rhyming words). I took the liberty of adding my own personal touch and gave them "I was her love, she was my queen/And now a thousand years between" and "Then I remember you/And the way you shine like truth in all you do"... I couldn't help myself. Hearing them read the lyrics off the board was a trip, too.

At the break, Gusti suggested I give them some nursery rhymes to further illustrate the point. Neither of us could recall much, but I did give them "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star." They really seemed to enjoy it, and they understood rhyming well enough by the end of it that I was able to leave "sky" blank and they figured it out (rhymes with high, judging from the meaning, etc).

Then the book had an activity for us that involved filling in missing words from song lyrics. The song it chose, due to its high content of possessive pronouns, was this. I felt like I was either at a wedding reception or a high school dance. Imagine me teaching this to a bunch of monks and nuns. Pretty hilarious, right? Now I've got it stuck in my head.

So it goes. There are worse things in the world.

Truly affordable healthcare

I took my first of the "precious pills" from the Tibetan Men-Tsee-Khang this morning. I even woke up, took it with warm water, and went back to sleep under some blankets, just like the instructions said! As luck would have it, I also managed to avoid eating putrid food, getting into an accident, and having sex. So far so good!

After some thought I decided that I'd be missing out if I spent four months here, in the center of the Tibetan nation-in-exile, and didn't actually go check out the Tibetan medical facilities. Everyone keeps telling me about how you go in there and they diagnose you based on what your pulse feels like.

I'm intrigued. The 40 rupee price tag makes it even more appealing.

So today after class I went to check it out. I was told to take a number and have a seat by room C3.

After a wait of maybe fifteen minutes (and a line-jumping old Tibetan man), it was my turn. I went in to see doctor, a youngish Tibetan man of maybe 40, who was very kind and soft-spoken. He asked me a few questions, took my pulse in both wrists, and told me he'd write me a script for a couple of different medicines. I have some that I am supposed to take before breakfast, after lunch, and before bed, and then a different one that I take once a week. He also instructed me to "not take too many sweets" and to keep warm, especially on my lower back, and especially in the evenings. 

That sounds easy enough, right? 

After I paid (a whopping 550 rupees for a month's supply of these 4 different medicines, plus the office visit... I might have to move here just for the healthcare) I went over to the "medicine counter" where the women behind the glass read the doctor's order and filled little bags from jars of what looked like malted milk balls.

It's worth a shot, I suppose.

Yesterday in class the book had us practicing the form "What do you think of                 ?" "I like (him/her/it)." In order to do this, we were asked to make lists of famous people. It wanted four each of famous actors, famous actresses, pop groups, and TV "programmes." I had a feeling this was an exercise in futility, so I told my students to change it to famous men, famous women, musicians, and we did leave the TV programs as it was.

Here's the list we came up with:

Gotta love that Tibetan worldview.

Oh, and I also just discovered Memrise. It's like DuoLingo but with about a zillion more lessons. The only potential drawback I can see so far is that the lessons are submitted by users, so I'm not sure how accurate or regulated they are -- it's kind of like a cross between DuoLingo and Coursera. Regardless, DuoLingo does not yet have a Hindi program, so I'm taking my chances here. I also installed the Hindi keyboard so I can accurately type all the new words; it's taking some getting used to.

Make the vowel say its name

One thing I realized earlier is that some of the best classes we have at Tibet Charity are the ones that are not done, literally, by the book. My favorite ones to teach and, it seems, the ones that are often the favorites of the students as well, are the ones where we get off on some kind of tangent and explore some aspect of English that isn't necessarily in the lesson plan. A while back there was an entire day where all we did was prefixes, suffixes, and root words.

Today we wound up spending some time on pronunciation and spelling; the students had taken a test yesterday and I always go over it with them as a class the next day. Only one or two of them had spelled “twentieth” correctly, and when we read the reading passage I decided we could use some pronunciation practice. The main topic was how when a word ends in the letter “e,” the preceding vowel “says its name.” Obviously, like all rules in English, this is not an absolute... but it helped them distinguish between “Tim” and “time,” and I wound up teaching them a bunch of new vocabulary words in the process of illustrating the rule. We used words like pal/pale, tam/tame, slid/slide, and can/cane. They learned not only how to pronounce “crate” and “kale” but what they mean.

After that we did some sentence correcting on the board, which always goes over well. The first time I had them do it they were quite shy, but now that it's become a semi-regular thing they seem to enjoy it. I take sentences from their writing assignments and change some of the details but keep the mistakes. They go back and forth and help each other figure out how to fix them. I should probably spend more time developing exercises to supplement this, but we're not supposed to make copies aside from tests... so it's a little tricky. At least we have fun. Fun things are easier to remember.

This afternoon we said farewell to a couple of the teachers; Brij and Marie left on a trip to Rishikesh, where they will stay for at least the next week. As far as I know they don't have a strict itinerary, which is the same way we plan to see Rajasthan later this month. Everybody wish them a safe and fun trip!

While the two of them were getting their things to the bus to Rishikesh, I accompanied Verity, Gill, and Gusti to a meditation group that is held on Wednesday evenings here. They went once a couple of weeks ago; I had never been.

I think it was good for me. I'm going to try to work in a bit of meditation on a regular schedule and see what happens. I try to apply a lot of the principles that were introduced tonight anyway, but it's definitely something that could afford to be practiced and cultivated.

We did three separate meditations, the second of which was “walking” or “moving meditation.” It was a bit awkward at first, and then I realized that it was because dance is my moving meditation. When I'm home alone I put on music and just move, whatever seems like a good idea, I let the music guide me. That's what they were going for this evening, I think, but seeing as most people are too shy to really let loose in a room of people they don't know (I know I was the first few times I was asked to do it), just walking while drawing your awareness to everything you sense was probably the better way to go. Personally, though, I felt somewhat restricted. I decided I'll have to dance more in my room or maybe up on the balcony when nobody else is around.

I've been trying to work in a bit of yoga here and there, but it's mainly driven by my need to stretch. About a month and a half ago I took a yoga class in Bhagsu where we were instructed on how to properly do a headstand; I think I'm doing something wrong, though. Can anyone help? You yogis and yoginis out there... how do you do it?

What did you do over the holiday?

Oh my goodness... my students are great.

I have them write a reflection after every test, and every time we have any days off from class I have them write about what happens during the holiday. Last week we had the entire week off; HH the Dalai Lama was teaching Monday-Thursday, and so Tibet Charity decided to just close for the whole week since it didn't make much sense to have class only on Friday.

This evening I was procrastinating, whining internally about having to grade so many tests (not that many, really.. it was definitely whining) – I studied Hindi, I graded a little at a time and rewarded myself with other activities like rewinding the yarn I bought or doing push-ups, or making a list of reasons to stay until December and another list of reasons to leave a few weeks early. Eventually I decided to just buckle down and finish grading. After I got through the tests – which wasn't that bad – I remembered I still had to correct the papers on what they'd done last week.

Once I actually started doing it it went so quickly... lol... Their writing is a bit dry and predictable (usually) when they have to write about “your daily routine” or when they are asked to answer specific questions. When I let them write about what they want, though, some of them get really creative. I have a few students who must be getting pretty comfortable with me and/or with the English language, because they express these colorful, lively stories.

As it turns out, a few of my students went out to the Rewalsar/Manali area last week as well. One told me about how he and his friend got sick on the bus and threw up on the way to Rewalsar. He said that when he got there he “saw lake and statue so strong faith, but in the lake lot of fish so a little compassion.” Only Buddhists! He also worked in some of the vocabulary words we'd been using in conversation class. He did not vomit on the way back.

Another student, one of the monks, told me about how he and a friend went down to Lower Dharamsala to shop, and how they stopped for sweets and sweet tea. They met another friend on the way back who suggested they all go get some more sweets – and how they had a fun little discussion about how they couldn't keep eating like that because they'd get sick, and it's a good thing he bought new shoes to exercise!

Part of the test was to answer questions like “What do you always do?” and “What do you sometimes do?” Many of them answered that they always study English, but one said she always dances at home. I gave all of those answers smiley faces. Maybe they'll get stickers, too.

A few of my students begin nearly every writing assignment with “Hi dear teacher, how are you?” or “Dear teacher Magda...” I think it's cute. It's stuff like this that makes me want to stay. Regardless of when I leave, I'm going to miss them. I have a few of their email addresses; I'll have to get more of them. Maybe I can connect with some of them on Google+ (where you can filter who sees what much more easily than you can on Facebook). I have a few who ask if I'm teaching conversation class or if another teacher is; I suspect that they play favorites, and I know at least one of them comes to my class and not the others. I admit it makes me feel a little warm and fuzzy inside.

As far as the coming-home plans, it looks like financially it'll be pretty much a wash between staying until December or coming home a few weeks early. I'll see how I feel after the trip to Rajasthan, I guess. There are plenty of teachers here and I spoke to the boss, who said it would be fine to go whenever I wanted, so that's nice to know.

On an unrelated note, it looks like my room threw up on my bed. I'm an artist, I tell ya... that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Organized chaos: it's how I work best. I like having things neat and clean, but somehow I can never keep them that way for long. It just seems to futile to constantly be putting things away when you know they're just going to get taken out again... right? Plus when it's as humid as it is here, you almost have to leave your clothes out in an attempt to let them dry, unless you aren't concerned about that pesky mildew smell.

And now, since I did manage to finish grading all of these tests, I think I am going to reward myself with a bit of knitting before I get back to studying Hindi, or designing some kind of grammar drills for class. I think they need a little more structure in their writing assignments, and it's my job to provide that. Giving them sentences on the board to correct as a class has also gone over well in the past; I should come up with some more of those to give them. Hmmm......

Suggestions?

A lack of beggars

One of the differences we'd noticed in Manali was a lack of beggars roaming the streets. In Dharamsala there are days when you can't walk fifteen feet without having someone call out "Sister, hello! Hello! Namaste!" or a woman with a baby on her hip come up, tap you on the shoulder and say "No money, milk. Hungry baby." You feel bad, but you also can't save everyone. Apparently the ones who ask for things other than money, like milk, take these items and sell them back to the shopkeepers. I've heard stories that the children don't even always belong to the women holding them; one of my students told me the beggars go to daycare centers, borrow the kids, and return them along with a share of the day's profits in the evening.

Anyway, we're back in D'sala and that means our reprieve from the begging has come to an end. Manali was also a lot cleaner. Oh well.

Something else I first noticed in Manali but that has also carried over in other areas of the mountainous Himachal Pradesh is a profusion of sweater vests. This makes me happy. Well, their presence in general makes me happy, being a knitter... the fact that they are all made out of what is obviously cheap acrylic makes me sad. There are sheep and goats around here, you'd think they'd have some woolen goodies to wear. I guess all the good stuff gets exported. I've been working on a pair of fingerless gloves lately, because I forgot to bring some from home and I have a feeling I'll need them before too much longer. I'm a little bummed that I'm missing fall at home, but oh well. You can't have everything. I guess I'll just have to settle for spring when it rolls around.

In English teacher news, my students took their Unit 3 test today. This means that they'll probably get through 6 or 7 chapters total by the end of the semester, out of the 9 in the book. I guess that's not too bad, right? According to the veteran teachers, it's next to impossible to actually finish the book in the amount of time we have, so I'm not worrying too much about it. It looks like I'll be spending the evening grading.......

Oh yeah, don't send me any more stuff please. I am kicking around the idea of cutting my trip a little short and coming home earlier than originally planned... I don't want anything showing up here after I've left, because it'll be a real pain to get back! India's great, but I have things I want to work on at home. We also have had a big influx of teachers at Tibet Charity, so it's not like I'll be leaving them hanging if I take off a little early. I was actually the only teacher who was scheduled to be here the entire semester anyway, which I didn't realize until I got here; everyone else signed up for one to three month stints. I guess I'll see how the next couple of weeks go and go from there. Even if nothing changes, I'll be back in Chi-town on December 6th -- less than 2 months away!

Just because I think this post needs a picture:

This one's for my runner friends.

No, I didn't go. I didn't even bring my running shoes to India, which is probably for the best... the roads are really dirty here and I'd be really sad if I ruined the only comfortable pair of shoes I've ever owned (Reebok RealFlex for the win).

Catch you guys later!

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...?