"What has protein? Broccoli?"

Disclaimer: I'm going to try to make up for the lack of pictures in my last two posts.

Monday, 6 October 2008

First: retroactive pictures from His Holiness' temple in Dharamsala:

Thangkas of, I think, the previous Dalai Lamas.

Big Buddha statue behind his throne.

So I'm sitting on a train going back to Delhi. Trains in India are definitely an experience. "No, middle-aged Indian man, I do not have a ticket, so there" is the story of our life. We supposedly get to Delhi at 4:45 a.m. We have that day free in Delhi, and then the next afternoon we fly to Kathmandu. A week in Kathmandu and then we go to Mustang. Excitement. I can't believe how fast this has gone by--it really doesn't seem like it's been five weeks. Maybe two? Three? It's still so weird that I won't be in Dharamsala anymore. It's been my home for over a month, and by the end I really didn't want to leave.

Again, I highly, highly, highly recommend studying abroad/traveling/living in another country, especially one that isn't based on western traditions (read: most of Asia). It's so incredibly interesting to be in a culture that is the opposite of your own. Everything is so different here. Even the nutrition facts are different--you can find out how much 'Energy' in kcal you get in each certain amount of grams. Also, Indian drivers are way better than American ones (I think I've said this before. . . oh well). If you stuck an American on the roads here, not even considering the other drivers, the American would last maybe a mile. Not joking. (Sorry, mom.)

The past few days have been crazy. A paper due on Wednesday, a presentation on Thursday, a couple of other little assignments here and there, a big language test on Sunday as well as the first test for lecture. That wouldn't usually be too bad, except that we are expected to spend so much time with our families. My family is great (more on that later) and of course I'd like to sit and watch silly Indian TV and make small talk with them. I think we all have felt a little overwhelmed lately--all of this work combined with needing to spend time with our homestays is a little much.

So it's been a while since I updated; this is probably going to be long. First, the Mini-ISP to Tso Pema.

We left D/sala at 5 a.m. by "tourist vehicle" (taxi), and got there a little after 11. Tsering la, one of the program assistants and language teachers, had to stop and throw up a couple of times along the way. Anyone in our group who gets even remotely carsick gets sick every time we ride on these roads. Tso Pema is a pilgrimage site for both Hindus and Sikhs and Buddhists alike (see previous post). It's a pretty small town, with the main attractions being the three small Buddhist monasteries (two Kagyu and one Nyingma), a Hindu and Sikh temple, and the caves of Padmasambhava.

It was a beautiful place, though I'd envisioned a pristine blue lake and extraordinary caves in the hillside, etc. What I found out was that it's not the facilities or the small, green 'lake' itself that makes the place holy. It was a 'duh' moment. We found out when we got there that we were still going to have language class. What? One language teacher went with each of the five groups (to translate, we thought), but it was also apparently so that we could have class. I didn't bring my language book, and neither did about four or five of the other students. None of us knew we would have class as well as our weekly languange test on Sunday. What a rip-off.

Little monks. Self-explanatory.

We drove up to the caves where Padmasambhava is said to have meditated, etc. His footprint was in the side of one of the caves. Judge for yourselves. We picked up a really nice old man who needed a ride back to Tso Pema. He lives up on the hillside and is the caretaker of what is thought to be Padmasambhava's back. He sat and did mantras with his mala beads the whole ride down, and looked as if he had not a care in the world. He was genuinely happy; we tend to keep running into that here, especially among the older Tibetans. Again, the nicest people I've ever met. Period.

We ate at the same restaurant four times (I think). They had two of the best things ever--tomato and cheese grilled sandwiches and nutella crepes. What? It was called the Kora Community Cafe. Kora is the Tibetan term for when you circumambulate around the outside of a holy lake, monastery, temply, stupa, etc. The cafe was right at the end of the Kora of Tso Pema, and was frequented by westerners (and Israelis, which I tend to group with westerners for some reason since they are "Enjis" as well. (Enji=Tibetan term for foreigner/white boy).


This is Pema Tso (Tso Pema backwards? Seems fishy, but could be totally legitamate). Darby saw a printed-out flyer of someone wanting to practice their english conversation skills, and so we called it. This girl showed up, and gave us a lot of good info for our field notes. She's 23 (24 by Tibetan measurement, which I didn't know was any different--apparently they start measuring age from conception instead of birth). Very nice, very shy. We met her again the next day. She'd been in Tso Pema for 5 months and taught Tibetan grammar at one of the Kagyu monasteries.


Picture break:

The Nyingma monastery we stayed at had the largest butter lamps I'd ever seen.

Cool door, basically.


Hand-painted. Ring bell to enter.

India has the most impressive statues ever.

I found a yellow hat!


Darby and I went to talk to someone at one of the Kagyu monasteries. We talked to the General Secretary, who spoke awesome English. We got tons of info from him (yes, this field trip involved work too), and at the end asked if we could see the monks doing puja.

Puja is the term for, basically, a ceremonial offering/group prayer & chanting/something like that. People request puja from the monastery and pay for it. It's sort of like lighting a devotional candle (I think that's what it's called) at church. People request it for a variety of reasons--their brother is sick, someone died, etc. But the thing is, they never (or usually never) ask for it specifically for one person or anything like that. They ask for the puja to be for all sentient beings, and even though they may be thinking they're doing it for a loved one or whomever, they don't actually say it. Some may request it for "my sick brother and all sentient beings," but even that is rare, he said. Very interesting way of looking at it. We only caught the last five minutes or so of it, though. But the crazy thing was that while we were watching the monks (from 4 to elderly) read from texts, play the crazy horn things, hit the drums and use the cymbals, a couple of younger monks went around handing out food to the other monks. Then they gave us each a bag. Yes, the monks who survive basically just through donations, gave us some of their much needed food. They did it without hesitation, and they did it with the best of intentions. These people are so unselfish and so generous it's ridiculous. Those are two things I'm going to miss when I go home. [Then we went and gave money at the front of the temple. (That box of apple juice made my day)].



We went to an assembly of the local Indian school. A girl from our group (Sally) had gone to ask questions about the education in Tso Pema (we each had our own little topic in addition to religion to investigate, mine being geography/environment), and, long story short, all six of us ended up at a school assembly where the students learned about/commemorated the whole India-British independence thing. It was kind of weird, but really funny. As the guest of honor, Sally had to give a speech. It was as ridiculous as you might think it was.


Picture break:

The little kids playing around the monastery were having a great time with us.


View from the top of the mountain where the caves were. Foothills of the Himalayas.

To the cave:




Prayer flags galore.




Leftover incense from what our teacher took into the shrine.

Yep.


Shrine to His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama; typical and common.


This is a typical dishwashing station.



I just liked these two.


Scale of the Guru Rinpoche statue.


We came back from Tso Pema on Sunday, had one free day instead of the usual two. On Wednesday the paper was due. Lame.

I bought the new Ben Folds album on iTunes the other day. Thirteen dollars is about 600 rupees, and that is the most expensive thing I've bought since I've been in India. Whoa.

In the past week, Tenzin Tsundue and a nun who was originally from Germany came to speak. Tsundue is a fairly young poet/writer/Tibet activist who gets a considerable amount of attention, and the nun was very interesting--we got to see the westerner-turned-Buddhist nun perspective, one that we don't usually get to see.

I'm disappointed that I haven't gotten to see any of these presidential/vice-presidential debates that have been going on. I mainly just want to watch Sarah Palin make a fool of herself instead of only reading about it. I just hope common sense will prevail in this election. We need some more of that. My ballot better get to me or I'm not going to be a happy Indian camper.


These people work in the basement of Yong Ling, the kindergarten where we had class. They make hand-made beads to sell for profit. The quality is phenomenal.










Yesterday (and the day before), my family had monks come and do puja at their house. The more well-off people sometimes pay monks to come do a personal puja for them for a variety of reasons, my family's reasons being that my amala is about to go to Delhi and sell sweaters until February, and it's for her health and good fortune as well as that of the rest of the family. Also, they like to support the monastic community--if you can, you should is the basic understanding here. About five or six monks were at the house from 7 a.m. until maybe 5 reading/chanting from texts, making tormas (butter sculptures), and many other things that I didn't understand.

Today was a (relatively) lazy day. Woke up to an awesome thunderstorm, then went to the hotel to bring Darby's backpack down for her (she's been sick, and either has "an amoeba" like our good old friend Stephen Coger does, or she has giardia. I don't know which is worse, and they couldn't do a test until today. Obvoiusly no time to go back today, but the medicine they gave her supposedly treats both. Sweet.).

Packing was a chore, but I got it done. I only left one thing, which I guess is good, but it was one of my few long-sleeved layers that I'd planned to take to Mustang, which I guess is bad. Oh well--the rate for the Nepalese currency is about 1:60, so I'll just pick up something (along with a sleeping pad) when we get there.

At about 3 we had a late lunch with my pala, and then at 4:30 we went up to meet the group and say our goodbyes. We were almost late because we were waiting on Khusang, the little girl, to get home from school so we could take pictures. Ended up just going up and catching her on her way down.









I'm going to miss waking up to this.

Me and my family, Stephen Coger and my family.



My pala wouldn't let me carry my backpack up the hill.









Darby, her pala, and Ngawang la, the monk (and soon-to-be-Geshe) who was living with them.









My family, including my amala's elder sister and husband-in-law.




The goodbyes were tearful for many (and maybe the opposite of tearful for some?), and I ended up with four katas--one from my family, one from Darby's pala, one from Ngawang la, the monk and soon-to-be-Geshe who is living with her family and translates for them, and one from our language teachers. These people truly opened up their homes and lives to us for a month and once again made my point about Tibetans being the nicest people ever. They are living in exile in homes usually no bigger than a college dorm room or two, often have less material goods than a college student, and have to deal with their country being lost and their people suffering immensely, yet they are so happy and so, so generous with what they do have. My family had the other Stephen (Stephen "B") over for dinner every single night that he was in D/sala, offered for him to stay with them (us), took him to the hospital when he was sick, and asked me every day if he was coming to breakfast. The same went for Darby--my amala gave her knitting supplies when she showed interest, took her to the hospital as well, and sent me with soup for her when she felt bad. I got both their e-mail and snail-mail addresses, and will definitely keep in touch.

Three of our language teachers (Nyima la, Tsering la, Champa la).

Last crazy jeep ride from Dharamsala.

Bye!

As I'm finishing this, I'm watching fireworks from outside my little train window. It's about to be some sort of holiday, I think. Hmm. No dinner tonight. Also, it's 11:20, and that is way past my bedtime.

It's going to be hot in Delhi. Ah! (If at any time anyone wants me to elaborate on something I've written, just let me know. Just thought I'd throw that out there.)


Wendesday, 7 October 2008

We got to Delhi at about 5 a.m. and made our way to Majnu-ka-tilla, a Tibetan colony where we stayed for the night. We spent the day talking to Geshe la's cousin Pachen about going to south India for our ISPs (you need a permit to go to Mundgod, the Tibetan settlement there where Drepung Loseling Monastery is). Recent news from Mundgod: you must read this.

We spent the day in Delhi with Stephen Coger (our last in Delhi and our last with him until we get home!). It was pretty much amazing. You know why? Because of food.

They have a Subway, a McDonalds, a Sbarro, and a Ruby Tuesday all within 30 feet of each other. So for lunch I had a 6-inch sub (they don't have pork or beef--just lamb salami, roast lamb, chicken ham, etc.--like most restaurants in India), Darby and I split 3 pieces of Sbarro pizza, and we all got soft-serve and chocolate sauce at McDonald's. It was amazing. We were going to go to Ruby Tuesday (just for you, Ryan la) for dinner, but were too full by the time dinner time came.

After lunch we checked out the black market at Nehru Place, where you can buy pretty much anything. I had a headache, so I left early to go with a couple of other people to go to the Lotus Temple. I did buy the PC game BioShock (attn: Troy) for Rs. 100. It didn't work.

The Lotus Temple was amazing. Quite possible one of the most beautiful places of worship I've been to yet. I hadn't heard of the Baha'i religion before I came here, but it seems to be very interesting. You couldn't take pictures inside, which made me unhappy--but oh well. You can't even find any pictures of the inside online. The one to the bottom-left is an aerial shot (not mine, obviously). As you can see, it's shaped like a lotus and has pools of water around it. The lotus is a very prominent symbol in most of Asia, especially Buddhist/Hindu dominant countries. While we were sitting there (you couldn't talk inside), about 5 people came and there was a mini-service. Basically, one person came and sang a song/prayer from each of the major religions (as far as I could tell). It was really moving--the echoes in that building were phenomenal.










(Indian families just ask white people to be in pictures with their families. They don't even want the pictures--they want you to take them on your camera. Ha.)

After that four of us crammed into a rickshaw and spent almost an hour and a half going to the other side of Delhi back to the hotel at Majnu-ka-tilla. Quite the experience, those rickshaws are.

The next day we left at 9 a.m. to go to the Delhi Airport to fly to Kathmandu, Nepal. It was only a 45 minute flight through Jet Airways, and we got moist towels, drinks (and free Heineken. What?) and a really good meal (with nice silverware and napkins). You might get a drink on an American-based airline flight. Crazy.

Delhi is hot, smelly, dirty, and polluted. We have yet to find the "hidden charm" of it.


Friday, 9 October 2008

It's been a while, but I just haven't had time to update anything. Transitioning from India to Nepal wore on all of us, but we made it and it's awesome.

(I'm sitting on the ground outside my hotel room to better pick up the internet. Shakira is playing somewhere loudly. What is the deal with India/Nepal and Shakira? I've also heard Hotel California twice since I've been here. It seems like Asia gets the older and sometimes more ridiculous western songs long after they stop being popular in the West.)
(View from hotel room)

We're staying at Boudha in Kathmandu. The Boudhanath Stupa is right outside our hotel. There are actual relics from the historical Buddha in it--they know because they've had to repair it over the centuries, and they've seen them. Crazy.

It's pretty much amazing. We're going to some private teachings (with a German English-speaking translator who is pretty much the coolest guy ever), but today I'm going with Darby to the hospital.


(This is where our teachings are.)




We go to Mustang in a week. Excitement very soon. Except that two of my camera batteries have been freaking out and I might need to find some more.

The walls of our hotel are crazy-decorated. It's really cool. More on that later.

This is 30 seconds away from me.