ISP prep-time

SO... I've been back in Kathmandu for a little over a week now and it has been busy! Back to the rigors of language class - but only two hours everyday. The first week back was spent deciding whether or not I wanted to go to Dharamsala or Ladakh - but the decision has been made and to Ladakh I will go!!!! My plan is to go there and research the recent disastrous flood  that happened in August. Beyond that I'm not exactly sure where the project will take me - but I know it will be a great adventure. The only other people who are going are Erik and Jon but they plan on traveling around the region a lot so I will be pretty much on my own. But other than that not much is new here - just trying to get everything together. I head out on Saturday - we'll fly through Delhi and then up to Ladakh (with a nice fourteen hour layover in Delhi - but at least they just redid the airport so its actually not so bad). Hopefully, I'll be giving another update from Ladakh with how the research is going!!! Love you all!

Hello from Dharamsala

So we've been in Dharamsala since Friday and it has been crazy! My new family is really cool - mom, dad and 5 year old sister - they have two other daughters but they are away at school. My amala speaks really good english so I talk to her a lot and my pala is a tibetan doctors but speaks very little english and I color a lot with my little sister. We've been going to a ton of awesome, inspiring and thought provoking lectures from people involved in Tibetan activism and government and today we all got dressed up in chubas and met the Karmapa this morning which was a BIG deal and really really cool. They said to prepare two questions but he must have liked our group because he let us ask like five and he personally shook all our hands and handed out packets with blessed string and pills. He is only like 25 years old or so so it was a really relaxed audience. And then we went to Norbulinka and saw a ton of awesome artists at work on thanka painting, metal work, wood carving and applice. And finally we went to a nunnery that is really promoting nun's education. Basically it was a really long but good day

Ladakh Excursion: Mountains, Lakes, and Group Bonding

Hey guys! So I've spent the last week in Ladakh nestled between the two highest mountain ranges in the world the Himalayan and the Korakam at about 12,000 ft elevation. The air is clean and it feels like one of the perfect Wisconsin fall days when you step outside - there are lots of little willows and tall poplar trees and it is incredibly dry and dusty. But my allergies are way better and the scenery is unbelievable I keep trying to capture the mountains but I'm pretty sure its all in vain. So far this has been the best part of the semester and I'm thinking about trying to come back for my ISP. I have so many great stories to tell - but the internet is a little pricey so I'm gonna try and keep it short. Basically, we flew in and stayed at a really nice hotel for the first two days to acclimate although the altitude really didn't bother me at all so I went exploring in the city and climbed up to the palace on the hill twice for the sunset. Then on the third day we got on a bus (we've been spending far too much time on buses cause we've been travelling around like nomads but the scenery always makes up for the long bumpy rides) and we drove to SECMOL a school for kids who fail their tenth grade exams that is totally run by solar power. We spent the day there and then the next morning I woke up early with three other people (5 AM) and climbed the mountain behind the facility - it was fantastic!!!! Then we all got back on the bus to go to Tia the village where we did a short two night homestay which was really fun but too short to actually integrate ourselves but we dId a lot of walking and hiking around and the stars were absolutely unbelievable. On the last night a few of us climbed up to a high flat sandy saddle and did some really awesome stargazing. Then we all got back on the bus and drove to Ayu Sabu to the guest house where we spent the next 3days - it is right outside of Leh (the capital of Ladakh) only about a fifteen minute bus ride and they say an hour and a half walk. During our stay there we went into Leh a couple times for lectures and a little bit of research for our Ladakh assignment. Then we spent all of yesterday driving through the mountains and over the third highest pass in the world to get to Pangong Lake - this huge high altitude mountain lake that is absolutely awesome! It took pretty much all day to get there and we got there just as the sun was setting behind the mountains. We all stayed in two houses in a tiny village. Laura, Jon and I went for a run/walk before dinner (rice and dal) and then Julian joined us on a short walk to go star gazing. There are so many stars here and the milky way is incredibly clear it's unbelievable. Then we woke up early this morning to walk down to the lake and watch the sun rise over Tibet (2/3rds of the lake is in Tibet) Then we spend pretty much all day driving back to Leh - although we did stop to play with the marmots on the side of the road. 

From the stupa on an itouch

We got out of class early today which was a wonderful surprise and so I headed over to the stupa with laura and so I am currently painstakingly typing this on her iPod with a magnificent view of the stupa.the valley is surrounded by mountains that are ensconsed in huge white clouds such that all you can see are the nearest foothills.

The Weekend

"Was someone's stomach growling - or was that a leopard?" ~Isabelle (our academic director)

So for the weekend we went on an excursion to Pharping. Its a village outside of the Kathmandu valley known as a holy site for both Hindus and Buddhists. For Hindus it is home to Dakshinkali: a temple where every Saturday thousands of male goats are sacrificed to the Goddess. For Buddhists it is home to two caves: Asura and Yanglesh where Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambabha - the man who is given credit for bringing Buddhism to Tibet - fought off demons and reached enlightenment. In the stone there is both his hand print and a head print from when he stood up.

Other than touring these two holy sites and a few others we also had a dharma teaching from Kenpo Rinpoche a promenant lama in the area. It was a really awesome experience. He would lecture in tibetan which was then translated into english for us. Unfortunately, because we had been running around all day and hadn't had our ten cups of tea it was really hard to stay awake the whole time. The Rinpoche also had one of the most soothing voices ever. But I was sitting in the very front and managed not to completely fall asleep.

The bus ride there and back was one of the bumpiest I have ever been on - but the amazing views of cloud ensconced mountains and deep green valleys made up for the discomfort. Today we are going back to the Tibetan Medical School which I am very excited about. Leaving in ten minutes!

Kung Fu Panda

"The past is history, the future is a mystery, the present is a gift" ~Kung Fu Panda via Anil Chikartar

So I had a couple of rough days, but I got back in the groove and things are definitely looking up. To sum it up my allergies got pretty bad, had a really stressful and difficult Tibetan quiz, and the ATM ate my debit card, and basically I was just exhausted. But I got a solid ten hours of sleep and felt much better.

Then two days ago we went on a field trip to the city of Patan - and had an awesome walking tour lead by Anil. He walked us through the actual living streets - off the beaten path through people's courtyards. Throughout the walk he explained and connected the infrastructure of the city, the history of the city and it's monuments, and the ongoing restoration and development of everything. He is definitely one of the highlights of this program. He is such an inspiring person, and every time he talks about Kathmandu I leave convinced that it is the center of the world.

Gotta give the computer back to Vanessa so I'll write more latter! Love ya!

Saturday Cafe - on Sunday

I miss you guys so much!!! But everything is pretty good here. Mom how is your hearing?!?!?!? I never thought it was that bad over the summer. As for a phone number they gave us phones but I don't know if its international or what the fees are. The best way to go would probably be to figure out a time that I could borrow a computer and we could chat on gmail and work it out with the time change ect. And a light at Port Washington oh no! That's so sad. 

 

My classes thus far haven't been that hard but it is really hard balancing family time with school and friends and exploring and simple alone time. And learning tibetan is crazy hard - we have a quiz on monday that I'm pretty sure I'm gonna fail. I also really wish that I had my computer with me but luckily there are some really great people on the trip who are letting me use theirs a lot. My main problem right now is that I don't have any money - I though I had taken some out while putting the rest in the safe at the school but it ends up I didn't so I've been borrowing from people all weekend which I hate doing. A cousin of the family I'm staying with arrived a couple of days ago and will be staying at the house till around december. Her name is Sangel and she's 21 so its really nice to have someone around my age to talk to. 

Yesterday a group of us went on a serious adventure. We all got in taxis and took a crazy 45 minute bus ride to this national park that one of the guys in our group had heard of. Driving through the city was crazy! It was some sort of Hindu festival for women yesterday - so the streets were filled with women wearing traditional clothing and dancing and celebrating. Once we got in the park we went on an intense hike up a mountain in what was practically a rain forest. There were beautiful flowers and all different kinds of plants. The hike was for the most part entirely stairs until we made our way around to the other side when we entered into a cloud - it was really amazing. Everything was covered in mist and fog and the trees were an intense green. All in all we hiked for probably 3 hours or so before heading back to Bodha. 

Once back at Bodha a couple of us walked around the stupa and discovered a wonderful little cafe called Saturday Cafe - it has free wifi and an awesome menu. Laura and I split a mango sorbet and I got some delicious ginger lemon tea with honey. I tried to just stop by the family restaurant on the way home but Pala made me sit and wait for someone to come and walk me home - I honestly don't know if he thought I was lost or if its a cultural thing cause it was getting dark and you're really not supposed to walk home by yourself as a woman after dark - which sucks cause it gets dark around 6:30 and then I'm stuck at home. And nobody lives really close to me or even in my direction so I don't feel like I can stay out late with the group. But oh well, I'm accepting it as all a part of the cultural experience. 

Anyway I'm just hanging out at the cafe with Laura - hopefully gonna get some work done after getting my internet fix. 

Lunch Time

It's lunch time right at the moment but they give us about an hour to eat but as you know I only need fifteen minutes - so I'm currently borrowing a friends computer to email and blog.

My Tibetan family is really great. I have a father, an aunt, and a little sister. My little sister is 10 and she is really great. She speaks practically fluent English and was my mini guide for my first couple days with the family. My aunt (Sumila) and father (Pala) also speak English pretty well. They are letting my live in the alter room - so I have to be super neat :). The only problem is that the room is right on a very very busy road with lots of honking so I've been having trouble sleeping in the early morning hours and in general. They like to watch a lot of Indian soap operas which is pretty entertaining (they lived in India so they also speak Hindi). The food is pretty good - butkinda  greasy. I got to help Sumila make momos last night which was really fun and I'm working on the folding technique so I can make them at home. My family loves animals - they have a little dog and cat that live on the porch and then just the other day they bought a parrot that lives inside. My family keeps trying to make me have seconds and even thirds at every meal despite my protestations.

So we are living in Boudha - which is in Kathmandu but not at the center of the city. The community surrounds a huge stupa that is really beautiful and my favorite place to go so far. The tea here is great - they serve a ton of this really delicious milk tea - which is wonderful.

School is pretty good. We have an intense Tibetan language classes in the morning for three hours - it's really crazy. Then after lunch we have a couple of lectures with different speakers which have been really cool - there have been a couple really great ones. The group of students is really pretty good we're still figuring out group dynamics but I don't think there will be any problems. Everyone has a lot of interesting ideas and stories. There is only me and one other girl who didn't bring a computer and I kinda wish that I had brought it or at least my ipod but I also think I'm probably getting a better experience.

Its only been a week but it feels like an eternity! 

Still in Mequon

So I haven't left yet - but I am so excited and nervous to go! I still have some last minute shopping and packing to do but other than that it everything should  fit into my favorite backpack. Then all I have to do is make it to my flight on time and survive the 14 hours to Delhi and the 16 hour layover there before my semester officially begins with an intensive 2 day orientation in Kathmandu. After which I should be meeting my homestay family and starting classes!