These are our language teachers.



Taylor and Christian carrying Eva after the meeting with the Dalai Lama



Eva's goodbye party



Eva's party again



This is where we went to see the Karmapa



Elise, Julia, and me at Norbulingka, where we went to lunch after seeing the Karmapa



TCV



Julia and Marissa at Khana Nirvana



Rose (the baby who's mother is usually at Khana Nirvana) and me at Khana

So I haven’t really posted much lately. Everything is starting to feel routine, like this is really my life. I guess I should try to catch up a little bit though. Since spring break, we met the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa. I think I probably don’t need to explain who the Dalai Lama is, but I’ll explain who the Karmapa is, since he’s not as famous. The Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu sect, which is the largest of the Kagyu sects. There are four main sects of Tibetan Buddhism, Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug (the Dalai Lama is Gelug). The Karmapa lineage is actually older than the Dalai Lama lineage. The first Karmapa was born in 1110, and now it’s the seventeenth (This Dalai Lama is the fourteenth in his line).
So the day we met the Dalai Lama, we had a meeting in the morning to prepare questions to ask him (we were told that we could ask him three questions). After the meeting we had about an hour before we had to meet again to go down to his residence. We all went our separate ways to run errands, eat lunch, get dressed, etc. Also during that hour Steve got a call saying that the Dalai Lama was sick that day so our meeting was being moved up by a half an hour. Steve ran around town and found most of us. I, however, had made the mistake of going out to run errands before putting on my nice clothes, so I was trying to put my chupa on as quickly as possibly (I can proudly say that I can put on a chupa all by myself, but I can’t do it very quickly). Anyway, eventually most of us had gathered and were ready to go, so we left the Om to head down to His Holiness’s residence. Unfortunately, Steve had not found Will, Josh, or Kyle, so none of them were there. I freaked out a bit, but all three of them arrived while we were still waiting in the security line, so that was good. When we got in, we walked up to his residence. We all got to shake his hand, and he talked to us for a little bit (unfortunately we didn’t get to ask our questions). It was really cool though. Also, he was wearing white flip-flops. I don’t really know why that’s important, but I was amused.
We went to see the Karmapa the next day. He’s actually my age (he was born in 1985 or 1986 I think). He escaped from Tibet when he was around thirteen, I think. He’s kind of under house arrest right now. I’m not really sure what’s going on there, but I know that he’s one of the few incarnations that both the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama agreed on, so I think it doesn’t look good for the government that he decided to escape to India. That’s what I’ve heard anyway (most of my information about anything here usually comes from listening to other people’s conversations). Anyway, it’s kind of intense to realize that we’re around the same age. We got to ask him the questions that we prepared for the Dalai Lama also, so that was pretty cool.
Since those two meetings, classes ended, independent research started, Eva and Will both went home (actually Eva left in the time between the two meeting technically), and Tom, Taylor, Diana, and Alex have all left to go to their independent research. Also, Julia, Lucy, Marissa, and I moved to a new hotel. Marissa and I are on the first floor facing the valley and on the other side of the valley are the mountains. It’s a beautiful view. Also, now we have our own bathroom, a fan, and a tv in the room, and the mattresses are actually pretty nice (amazing compared to all the other mattresses I’ve experienced in this country so far), so I’m quite content. It’s strange to think that the program is going to end so soon though. On May 23, we’re all going to meet again and hike up to Triund for the program wrap-up, on May 26, a bunch of us are taking an overnight bus down to Delhi, and on May 28, I get on a plane to London. It all seems so soon. I’m going to be so sad to say goodbye to everyone though. I’ve already had to say goodbye to two and that was too much. It won’t be the end of India for me though. After two weeks of exploring Europe with Amy, if I can get all the flight stuff sorted out, I’ll come back to Delhi. I got a grant from Swarthmore to continue my research, so I’ll be back in India, and the visa stuff and transportation and all that work out, hopefully I’ll be able to go to Nepal and Tibet also, so cross your fingers for me, and let me know if you want to travel with me. Traveling with other people is always more fun. I guess that’s all I have for now. I have a few more pictures to post, so hopefully I’ll get that to work next time I go online.

We met the Dalai Lama today!

Thosamling



The whiteboard at Thosamling



A monkey at Corbett



Elephants



Another monkey



Luke, Elise, and Will on the safari



Elephant in the bushes



Pretty butterfly



Langer(sp?) monkey



The cabin we stayed in in Corbett



The bunks in the cabin...mine was the bottom bunk



This monkey stole the food out of my backpack



Me and Will rafting down the Ganga in Rishikesh



Me in the restaurant in Haridwar

So spring break was really fun, despite the ridiculous amount of time I spent on unpleasant busses. On tuesday, I met up with Josh and Kyle here. It was really strange, because Josh was the first person I've seen here, who I knew from before being here. It was really interesting hearing about their travels all over India, and it makes me realize how sheltered we are here in Dharamsala on this program (traveling also made me realize that). They helped me catch the bus that night and gave me good advice about traveling. That night Will D and I took the overnight bus to Dehra Dun. It was like a 15 hour bus ride, and when we got there I lost him, but I did manage to meet up with Will and Marissa, who were coming from Tso Pema, and we called Will D, and eventually met up with him again, so that was all good. The next morning (at like 4:30). Will and I got on a bus to Ramnagar (that was about a 7 hour trip). We met Elise and her brother Luke there, and the next day, we went to Corbett national park. There was an awful lot of bureacracy to deal with, but we eventually got in. We went on a safari that afternoon, and saw a tiger and her cubs, a lot of elephants, some deer, monkeys, birds, and crocodiles. Luke and Will both have good digital cameras, so I'll try to steal some of their picutes, but I'll post some of my pictures that I took too. We went out again the next morning and saw more elephants. We also sat on a watchtower and looked for more animals (well they did...it was really warm out, and I fell asleep instead). That night Will and I caught a bus to Haridwar. The next day we went rafting on the Ganga (the Ganges) in Rishikesh (about an hour away from Haridwar). I wandered around Haridwar some too. I didn't get to see any temples because we thought the bus back to Dharamsala left earlier than it actually did, but I did walk down by the Ganga. That's kind of the summary of what happened, and I'll post pictures too.

What comes to mind when you think of spring break? Partying? Laying by the beach in a cute bathing suit? Hanging out in a nunnery? Probably not the last one, but that is, alas, how I spent the first few days of break. This all came about in the same way that most things in my life come about, I kind of fell into it. So some of my friends here really wanted to do a meditation retreat over spring break, and earlier I was worried that I wouldn’t have any spring break plans, because it seemed like everyone either had relatives visiting or wanted to do a retreat. I had resigned myself to the possibility of traveling alone (although anyone I mentioned that idea to had rather harsh words about it, rightly so I suppose), so just to see what everyone else was going to do, I went to the meeting about doing retreat. Geshe-la, who I think might be our group’s guardian angel if monks can be such things, found out that some of us were interested in doing retreat, and despite my asking to have ten question marks and all sorts of other indications that I really wasn’t sure that I even wanted to do a retreat next to my name on the list, I got caught up in all the plans. Of course, I could have said no, and no one would have been offended, but by this point Geshe-la had put so much work into finding places for us, that I didn’t really want to say no. So on Friday, I went with Geshe-la, Kendell, and Julia to Thosamling nunnery (Geshe-la even went with us and arranged for one of the IBD cars to take us all down, and when we got there he made sure we were taken care of). It is amazing there. It’s surrounded by beautiful fields and the view of the mountains is spectacular, and the place itself is so nice. It’s a nunnery and retreat center for Western women, so it was kind of nice to not feel so other for awhile, although there are so many tourists here in Mcleod, that I don’t really feel quite so other here anyway. Also, they’re really careful with the food there, and it’s so good. I ate my first salad in India while I was there. If you told me a year ago that I would be so excited by salad, I would have though you were crazy, but alas. While I was there, I did meditate a little, but I think I spent most of my time reading, walking, and napping. It was probably the two most relaxing days of my life. So anyway, that’s how I started my spring break. Kendell and Julia wanted to stay longer, so they’re still there, but tomorrow I’m going to be catching a bus to Dehra Dun, so I figured I’d come back up to Mcleod today (as I write this, today is Monday, but by the time I post it, that will no longer be the case) to have some time to get ready. I actually spent most of the day hanging out with Eva and her brother, which was fun. I hadn’t really had a chance to do much of the touristy-type shopping and looking at stores since we got to Mcleod, so today I got to do that. I bought two new shirts, a new bracelet, and a mala (because that’s what most people do when they come out of retreat...they go shopping. I think I’m failing in some spiritual aspect here), and tomorrow I’m going to go to all the used book stores (at least all four that I know of). It’s a twelve or thirteen hour bus ride to Dehra Dun, so I need some books to read. So tomorrow I’m catching a bus to Dehra Dun, with one other student from the program, and hopefully we’ll be able to meet up with two other students from the program when we get there (I say hopefully, because none of us have cell phones, and I don’t even know what bus they’ll be coming in on or what time it’s supposed to arrive or anything of that sort). Plans are rather ambiguous after that. Perhaps going to an animal preserve (the guidebook says you can ride an elephant!); perhaps staying in Dehra Dun; perhaps going to Haridwar (I don’t know if anyone else I’m traveling with wants to go there. The Ganga runs through it, and it’s a holy city that usually has a lot of pilgrims (these are both my reasons for wanting to go and other people’s reasons for not wanting to go)) or Rishikesh. So we shall see.
About the last entry…I said I’d actually explain where the pictures were from, but then I got lazy then I got sick (probably from swimming in the river, silly me), so I guess there was never really any explanation. The fort is Kangra fort, and it’s really beautiful. The river runs next to it, and it was a hot day, so we decided to hike down to swim. We must have looked strange, all half dressed and jumping into the river, but it was so fun, and it felt so nice after the hike. Also, I don’t think I actually got sick from the river, I think it was just bad food, and considering how sick other people have gotten here, I think I got off lightly. Seriously, four or five people have had dysentery, and I’ve only gotten sick twice, and it’s only lasted like a day or a day and a half each time. I don’t know how I’ve been so lucky, but trust me, I’m thanking my lucky stars. Also, our audience with the Dalai Lama (!!!) is in two weeks!

Here are some more of my pictures...all of them except the first two are from today, and now the internet cafe is closing soon, so I'll actually write about today later.


An 11th century manuscript of the Prajnaparamita that was brought to Dharamsala by a refugee. They even let us touch it.



The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives



The Kangra Fort



A view from the top



View in the other direction



Where I sat to eat lunch today



Eva, Lucy, and Marissa



Tom, Kendell, and Elise



Diana and Eva



Will up in a tree



Will, Emily, Tom, Dan, Kendell, Marissa, and Lucy on the bank of the river



Will, Alex, Tom, Rachel, me, Eva, Diana, and Taylor



Diana, Justin, Tom, Elise, Kendell, me, Eva, Will, and Amalia



The Devi Temple



Another view of the Temple



Walking around Kangra



Puppies and hemp plants