Is it over already???

Well, I'm back in the states! It has been such a busy week! On Thursday, I flew to Delhi with some other volunteers. Let me tell you: Delhi is hot. Like...oven-hot. 114 degrees, but it felt like 123. And the power frequently goes out, so even though we had air conditioning in the CCS flat, at one point I thought I was going to die because it was out, and it was hot. However, Delhi is great! I (with another volunteer) went to the Lotus Temple, which is so beautiful. We hopped on bare feet across hot stones to get into the temple (we had to remove our shoes), and luckily a service started while we were inside where different people read or sang different prayers from different religions. It was beautiful. We also went to Delhi Haat, which is a market where you can purchase directly from the manufacturer for prices cheaper than you could find on the street. The craftsmanship of the fabrics, wood and metal work, and jewelry is amazing (and inexpensive). We also went to Humayan's Tomb, which is actually a huge enclosure featuring ancient ruins, including the tomb as well as a mosque dating from the 1500s. The pictures above are from that site.

So, Humayan's tomb was outside, and after being there we were pretty hot and miserable, so our driver took us to a mall. I haven't been as excited to be in a mall (nicely air-conditioned) since I was 15. It was fabulously clean and cool, and we ate at McDonald's, which featured a "Maharaja Chicken Sandwich" (I got the veggie burger). We also ate icecream from Baskin Robbins. It was a nice end to a hot morning.

On Saturday, before we left for the airport, we went and got manicures and pedicures at a spa near the flats. Now, this was the perfect end to a month of volunteer work.

After one 15-hour flight, one 4-hour layover, one 2-hour flight, and one 2-hour drive, I'm back in Cookeville hanging out with Ethan, Abby, and, of course, my dog. India is the best place I've been to, but I did miss Ed.

Hiking and Yoga

We made it to the top of the mountain on our second attempt! Well, maybe not the TOP of the mountain. We attempted to hike this trail that led straight up the mountain, only to discover that it wasn't a trail but perhaps a dried up waterfall. We were literally crawling up the mountain, until we decided to slide (again, literally) back down. Then, we found another path that led to some stone steps cut into the side of a hill that led up past a tiny temple and up to a small flat green area covered with boulders. Ah, the view!!

You can see also the goat I befriended at the bottom of the hill, where there is a wonderful, cold spring and plenty of green grass. A couple of people had their goats, cows, and sheep there. One little girl ran after us, waving and shouting "hi" while we were leaving.

The other picture is of a statue of Lord Shiva. It's not a very good photo, but it is a blue painted statue of the god holding a Triton, and it's near the suspension bridge I mentioned in my last post. Pretty cool!

Today, the staff hired a yoga instructor from Dharamsala to come out and give us a session. It was wonderful. So relaxing. He's coming back tomorrow!

It's hard to believe that I only have two more days in Palampur and two days in Delhi before coming back to the States. I'm ready to see everyone again, but at the same time, I'm really going to miss this place. Can't we all just move here, en masse?

Tomorrow: tour an agriculture college, yoga, and tandoori!!

An attempt at hiking leads to miscommunication...

So, another volunteer, Nemo, and I decided to go hiking this morning. We were determined to hike the mountain that you can see from our home base (it's not very big, more like a giant hill). We struck out, leaving the road to take a dusty footpath that wound through rice paddies and ended at some concrete steps leading to a white suspension bridge (weird--it's this bridge that pops up in the middle of no where). Over the suspension bridge, we followed the path through a village and past a temple (picture #2 above). Then, we took a path up the mountain. Up, up, up, on dirt, rock-strewn road. We made a wrong turn and wound up in someone's yard. It was a dirt yard with a sheep tied to a tree (bleating). The owners, an elderly lady and her two sons, came out to greet us. They convinced us to come inside to their little sitting room, which was thankfully very, very cool, with low ceiling, blue walls, stone floor. On the television was Sesame Street in Hindi. They offered us cold water, but we said no (of course, our stomachs can't handle the water here--we have to have "safe" bottled water), and then they offered us tea (again, I said no thank you). One of the sons asked us where we were from, and we told him Green Acres iin Palampur. We told them we were hiking the mountain, but unfortunately, the youth thought we were saying that we were lost and needed to get back to Green Acres. He insisted on walking us back down the mountain and all the way to the suspension bridge to show us the way.

So, we didn't get to really hike the mountain, but we made a very nice friend. He's in the picture with me above, and the lady is just a villager who followed us.

I love this place!

Om Mani Padme Hum

Okay, are those not the cutest 7th graders ever? These are some of the boys from my 7th grade computer class. I haven't had a chance to take a picture of the girls yet, but they are also adorable.

Yesterday, we went to Dharamsala after work, and I coerced one of my co-volunteers to go to the Tibetan Buddhist temple with me. The sign above explains the prayer wheels that surround the temple. "Om Mani Padme Hum," I believe, is the compassion mantra. I also coerced my co-volunteer to go into tthe Tibet museum with me (I paid his way, 5 Rs) (I think I'm the only one here who really loves museums). It was a good museum, with pictures and text explaining what happened to Tibet. In addition to pictures and text, there was a video of political prisoners who had escaped into exile, with footage of Chinese brutality. Very disturbing. Upstairs in the museum there were pictures of Tibet--the "roof top of the world." It is an amazingly beautiful place.

We ate dinner at the same place as last time, Carpe Diem, and we each ordered something called "Hello to the Queen" for dessert. I plan on reconstructing this at home. It was gram cracker crumbs with banana on top and icecream on top of that and chocolate syrup on top of that, with some coconut slivers. Yummmmy.

Hopefully there will be hiking today!

Tibet, Education, Cricket

This has been a busy week! On Monday, we went to hear an official from the Tibetan-Government-In-Exile speak about the "Middle Way" approach the Dalai Lama advocates. It was really interesting! The official, who is in charge of International Relations, gave us a history of the conflict between Tibet and China, which goes back to the Communist Revolution in China. The Chinese communists, in their fervor to "liberate" other cultures, invaded Tibet and made that country part of Communist China. I could go on... the Chinese government promised autonomy for Tibet but then interfered with the monasteries and placed many restrictions on Tibetans. The Dalai Lama and his officials fled to India, where they set up the government in exile, making many reforms to the Tibetan government in the process. The rest of the story is really about how Tibet has tried to negotiate with China so that the Dalai Lama and his government can return. The Tibetan government wants, not to be an independent country, but to be what it was originally promised: an autonomous body in China. Things improved for Tibetans in the 70s and 80s, when people were able to come and go more freely and monks were restored to monasteries, but now it is more difficult again for Tibetans in Tibet and outside Tibet to communicate with one another. One of the things that seems so frustrating is that Tibet and China have totally opposite perspectives, and even though the proposal the Dalai Lama gave to China last year stated point by point how their middle way proposal adhered to the original treaty (that China violated), the Chinese government rejected the proposal as "illegal" and as independence-in-disguise. One good thing that is happening is that the Tibetan arts and learning are being kept alive in Dharamsala and other areas of India. So, John, if you are reading this--I'm right about Tibet :-)


On Wednesday, we had the head of a local school, Father Joseph, come to the homebase to lecture on the history of education in India. Again, very interesting. He is a Carmelite (sp?) priest who has set up a very successful school here in Palampur. It has computer labs and physics labs, et cetera, and his students go on to become doctors and engineers. Much different from the schools where we are volunteering, where we are lucky to have chalk for the chalk board. He told us how the ancient Indian education system revolved around memorizing orally transmitted knowledge--and this knowledge all came from ancient Indian religious and philosophical texts (I won't attempt to spell the name). The education system was based on caste, unfortunately (only the two upper castes were able to go to gurus for knowledge, while the lower castes learned trades), but it was egalitarian regarding boys and girls--either could seek out a guru and become learned. It was when British rule came that the education system really changed--and from what we learned, not for the better, because the British system of teaching English and administration didn't take into consideration traditional village schools and other cultural differences--the system seems to have been basically to train Indians to work in the British administration. Ghandi was particularly critical of the newer methods of education, which left many children without any education at all because it was expensive and because traditional schools had to close because you couldn't advance in society any longer with a traditional education. I'm really simplifying what I learned from the lecture, but what it boils down to is that the education system in India is very complicated and even more so because of the post-colonial issues.



On a less serious note, after the lecture, I played cricket for the first time. It's a really fun game! Why hasn't it caught on the U.S.?



We also had tandoori food for supper because it was the last night for three of the volunteers, and the cook always makes tandoori for the farewell dinner. The tandoori oven is this tall cylindrical thing that sits outside and is heated in the bottom with coals. Chicken, paneer, and veggies are cooked on rods, and naan is cooked by slapping the dough (while holding a pot holder) to the sides (inside). The cook very kindly let some of us try putting in the naan. It is really, really hot inside a tandoori oven! My new favorite foods: tandoori-cooked naan and paneer (cheese).



More later!

Dharamsala

We've had a great week. On Thursday, we went to a tea estate and learned how tea is made. We walked all around the whole estate. In addition to tea plants, the owner has kiwi plants, mango trees, and lemon trees. When you crush a leaf from a lemon tree in your hand, it smells like the citrus fruit. The owner, a funny, rotund man with thick white hair and mustache and with suspenders, showed us the manufacturing equipment which is all in an ancient stone two-story building. There is a withering machine, a rolling machine, a grater, and a heater (also looking very old). This particular tea plantation was purchased from the British at the time of Independence, and most of the tea plants are 150 years old.

On Saturday (yesterday), five of us went to Dharamsala for the day. The pictures show two views from a cafe where we had tea and one view of the group taken at a restaurant called Carpe Diem where we ate both lunch and dinner, and where the waiters recognized some of our group from an outing earlier in the week. This restaurant seems to be the place where Europeans and Americans hang out. The food was good--fried rice for lunch and butter naan, potato/carrot veggie burger with spinach sauce, and a giant Kingfisher beer for supper. Dharamsala is the place where the Dalai Lama's government in exile is--actually it's called McLeod Gange (the city), but I think everyone equates Dharamsala with McLeod Gange. We did not make it to the Tibetan museum, instead spending the day shopping!! It was so fun. There are many, many shops filled with hand-crafted goods created by Tibetan refugees, and street stalls line the road. There are also a lot of European Americans and hippies.

We left after dinner. Our cab driver stayed in Dharamsala all day to wait for us, and the total cost of the trip (an hour ride up, an hour ride back, plus waiting all day) only cost 1200 Rs, which comes to about $24. Can you believe that? $24 for all day cab service.

Today everyone woke up late, and now we are enjoying our breakfast tea. Namaste!

More Norbulingka pictures

Here's what you're seeing:

1. Buddha altar in the temple
2. A painting in the painters' studio
3. A statue in the metal-workers' studio
4. The view outside the temple
5. A walkway up to the temple

Norbulingka Institute of Tibetan Art and Culture

Today, after we finished teaching and lunching, we were taken to the Norbulingka Institute of Tibetan Art and Culture near Dharmasala. The whole place is dedicated to preserving Tibet's culture. As you can see from the last two pictures, there are artists at work in the Institute. There are painters who regard the process of painting to be meditative--their paintings are of gods and godesses. There are fabric workers, like the woman above, who work on wall hangings and tapestries. There are also wood-workers and metal-workers. In addition, there is a temple (the group picture is taken in front of the temple--I'm kind of hidden in the back), and there is a library for learning. The library, which we were able to go in, had both books and rows and rows and rows of scrolls.

The first picture shows prayer wheels. As you walk by them, you spin them. They have ancient scriptures written on them.

Picnic

We went on a picnic yesterday (Sunday). The staff made us lunch, and we went to a pretty valley (featured in the first picture) partially wooded and partially open with a stream through the middle. Some of the volunteers played Cricket, while the rest of us just relaxed, reading and writing and dangling our feet in the cold water. Some kids came and bathed in the deeper part of the stream (really bathed--with soap and everything). The second picture shows the cow who tried to join our lunch. After lunch, four of us went hiking up a trail, and we met a local who, I think, proposed to me. He said "I love you, come to my house."

The third picture is me in my kurta, salwar, and dupatta. Abby, of course, was my inspiration for choosing pink. It's hard to tell, but there are yellow flowers embroidered on the shirt. It's not the most flattering outfit, but it's very comfortable!

Last night, I went with two other girls to a local's house (they had eaten dinner with them the night before). They are our neighbors. They were so nice! They served us chai and sweet rice. The sweet rice, they told us, is for lucky people. So I guess we are lucky!

Buddhist monastery, Hindu temple, and Monkeys

The pictures show: 1. A Buddhist monastery; 2. A Hindu temple; 3. A monkey (at the Hindu temple). Yesterday, we went to the monastery and temple. The monastery is where Tibetan Buddhist monks go to study Buddhist religion and philosophy for 10 years. We wanted to hike up to a temple that holds the mummified remains of the disciple of a saint who actually came from Tibet, and of course, it started raining (monsoon season has arrived!), so we trekked up a stone path, up, up, up, through the rain to the most beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and countryside. First there was a temple, and then there was a house further up that held the remains. A little boy belonged to the house--he came out and twirled his umbrella while we looked at the shrine. On the way back down, we stopped once more to look at the temple, which is brightly painted, and I was so busy looking up at it that I fell in a hole. Don't worry, I'm okay.

The Hindu temple is centuries old and one of the oldest in this area (Himachel). I believe it is dedicated to Shiva, the god often depicted with 10 arms to show that he, as a god, is able to do multiple tasks at once. We went into the main temple, which is carved from one stone, and watched some Hindus take a type of food from the priest. On the way in and out you had to ring a bell overhead. We had some excitement at the temple--monkeys! I had heard there were monkeys here, but this was my first glimpse of them; they were just hanging out on the temple grounds. On our way out, though, one of the volunteers walked too close to the monkeys (apparently, though she was about five feet away), and one of them charged her and grabbed her ankle!! She had not gone close to it or touched it or anything. One of our staff members said "Don't mess with the monkeys." Lesson learned. Now I know not to even make eye contact with them. Luckily she wasn't bitten.

Next thing I need to see: elephants. They are around here somewhere, I just haven't seen them yet.

Tomorrow we may go paragliding! This is a popular area for paragliders.

Going to the tailor's

We all went shopping today to Palampur's market. The first picture is where I went to buy fabric--two sets for two outfits, including matching scarves. The second picture shows the tailor's place--it's called "Maharajah's Brothers," but it is run by some fabulous women who measured me from head to foot to sew two outfits for me. The skills they have are amazing!

The third picture shows a cow on one of the market streets. I love that you see cows walking around everywhere here! They always have the right away!

We took a ride in an "autorickshaw" back to the home base (which is, funnily enough, called "Green Acres"). It was great. Three of us were crammed into the back seat of the autorickshaw, and we sped along the roads, the driver honking the horn and showing his skill in avoiding oncoming traffic. I wish I could drive the way they do here!

Tonight: tandoori food, which is being cooked now, for supper. Tandoori food is cooked in a special oven. It smells sooooo good.

Namaste!

My New Home

We're staying in little cottages. Palampur is so beautiful. There are mountains and terraced farming lands. There are cows everywhere and dogs and--though I haven't seen any yet--monkeys! I can't wait to see a monkey.

Today, we went to the school where we will be volunteering, and I met a bunch of students who very politely stood up when I entered the room and said "Good Morning Ma'am."

After volunteering, we ate lunch, had a Hindi lesson, and then we were all taken to the market in Palampur for a "scavenger hunt" where we had to find information or purchase things. My group had to find out how to hire a taxi or an auto-rickshaw and how to make weekend excursion plans. I loved the market! It was full of anything you could possibly want and tons of fresh fruits and vegetables! Luckily, the it is in walking distance, so we can go there anytime we want after the morning's volunteering.