Here are some older pictures. It's taken me a while to get them all online, but here they are...


As promised, pictures of me washing my clothes. I seem to be in the process of washing my socks. Also that’s Will behind me


My clothes drying


My friends the explorers. That’s Will, Julia, and Lucy. We went for a walk one afternoon and just kind of wandered around.


This picture is from the same walk. This man was walking his goats, and when we walked past, one of them came up to Julia and nuzzled her leg. It was maybe the cutest thing ever


Will playing with a cow (I think this picture is from when we were walking up to Lower Dharamsala)


This is from the lake and bird preserve, the name of which I have forgotten. He’s bailing water out of our boat. I admit it made me a little nervous


Some of the other boats


Passing food between the boats. In the boat I’m in you can sort of see Palkyi on the left. She’s Marissa’s roommate, and she’s teaching Julia and me how to play the dranyen (I don’t know how to spell that). On the right is Jampa, Julia’s roommate. In the other boat, there’s Eva in blue.


Marissa and Julia riding a bike with Sherab Dawa and Taylor chasing behind


Will and me on one of the bikes. This picture is deceptive in that it kind of looks like I could actually make the bike move. I didn’t have the leg strength or length to actually peddle the bike. We spent most of the time falling over


Pictures from the party. Here’s one of the groups playing human knot. On the far left in the green jacket is Taylor. In the middle in the green skirt is Kendell. On the right are Will and Taylor’s roommates.


The girls getting dressed up in chubas.


The gate to a Mahadevi temple that we visited on the way to Bir. From left to right, that’s Hanuman, Krishna, and Siva


On the left is Kali standing on Siva (I think), and on the right is Ganesha


At the temple, this monkey came right up and stole this bag out of Dan’s hand, and then proceeded to eat the contents.


Kali and Durga


This river ran through the middle of the temple area. While we were there, they were setting up for a funeral (two separate funerals actually). This picture is from before the funeral had come, but later it was taking place here.


This is the front of the Sherabling temple at Bir. Sherabling is a Kagyu temple (there are four main sects of Tibetan Buddhism: Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug). While in Bir, we actually saw a Nyingma temple, a Sakya temple, and a Kagya temple. Also, while we were in Bir, we stayed at the Sherabling guesthouse


We went to see Ani Tenzin Palmo while we were in Bir. She’s starting a nunnery there, and they took us on a tour of it. Some of the boys found a shortcut back by climbing this wall. Up at the top is Geshe-la (not the same Geshe-la as one of the other earlier pictures. Geshe-la is an honorific title. A geshe degree is a degree a monk can receive; it’s kind of like a Ph.D.), and you can also see Taylor and Tom.


This is Ani Tenzin Palmo. Also, that’s Justin’s back and Amber is the one filming.


Prayer flags at Tashi Jong, another monastery that we visited. It was really windy while we were there.


A stupa at Tashi Jong. It’s actually really cool, because you can see a tree growing out of the top of it. After they put someone important’s (I don’t remember who) ashes inside, the tree started growing. They kept trying to cut it back, but it kept growing, so now there it is. I think I may have overheard someone saying that that’s the kind of tree that the historical Buddha was enlightened under, but I’m not sure if I heard that correctly.


Monks on motorcycles (enough said)


This is Bubu, a dog from Sherabling that followed us all the way to Bir (it was like an hour walk). Some of the students later brought her in the car with us to bring her back to Sherabling.

So it’s been a while since I’ve had internet access. The party I said that we were planning went pretty well I think. During the party, it seemed like people were having fun, and afterward people told us they thought it went well. It didn’t go quite as planned, but it still seemed fun. We split into four groups and played different games. The two games that my group played were human knot and capture the flag. We had it planned that each group would play four games but we ran out of time. Human knot was kind of a short game, so afterwards we played a name game and some of the students showed Rachel and me a few Tibetan dance steps, which was really fun. Capture the flag went well too. After that all the groups got back together. There was a competition in which all the girls in our group (minus Amalia and I, because Amalia was already wearing a chuba, and neither my roommate nor I wanted to actually have to get up in front of everyone) were dressed up in chubas (traditional Tibetan dresses) by their roommates. After this there was a talent show, which actually only consisted of Amalia playing a Tibetan song on mandolin, Julia and I singing ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane,’ Eva and Diana singing the song from Titanic (which for some reason is still popular here), Taylor playing ‘Redemption Song’ on mandolin, and Julia, Justin, and Will playing air guitar (Justin actually played air drums I guess) to ‘Take Me Out.’ It went well, and I’m really proud of myself for actually singing in front of people. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I really do have pretty bad stage fright, and actually before the song I got so nervous that I ran off the stage and only came back because I felt really bad about leaving Julia alone up there. After the talent show we played a game where everyone has a balloon tied to his or her ankle and the point is to pop other people’s balloons without having your own popped. I’m pretty sure that I was like the first person out, mostly because someone was talking to me about what game would be next when the game started, so I wasn’t actually paying attention, but I probably would have gotten out pretty quickly anyway, because a lot of people were taking the game really seriously. After that we played a game called fruit salad, which was silly and amusing because it involved people trying to make themselves look like various pieces of fruit. Anyway, it was quite amusing to watch. But it really did seem like the party went well, and now I feel like I know more of the students here, and some of them even stop to talk to me sometimes now so yay.
Earlier that day, we went to a lake and a bird preserve (I forgot the name though). We went out on boats first, and then we had lunch by the lake. After lunch we took turns riding bikes that were there. It was really fun, and I took a lot of pictures there.
Last weekend (I guess the party was the weekend before last), our group went on a trip to Bir. On the way we stopped at Mahadevi Temple. It was pretty cool to see some of the things I learned about in Love and Religion last semester. Also, while we were there, there were two funerals going on. We were leaving right as they were starting, but we did see them preparing and starting the fires for the funeral pyres. I’m told it’s auspicious to see a funeral, so I guess two is double the auspiciousness. As with all sorts of other things here, death is much more out in the open than it is at home. It seems like in the US death is kept in hospitals out of the way, and funerals are kept out of the way in funeral homes too, and bodies are preserved to look weirdly life-like. Here it’s not so sanitized. A lot of things feel that way here, just sort of less tidy and more out in the open.
We stayed at the guesthouse of the Sherabling monastery, which had hot showers (I think that alone may have made the trip worth it). We went to see Ani Tenzin Palmo. She’s a nun, who came from England originally, and she spent twelve years in retreat meditating in a cave in the mountains. She’s written a book, and I know there’s been a book written about her too, so she’s pretty well-known, and we were really lucky to be able to talk to her. She’s very direct in everything she says, and she says a lot of things that are pretty controversial. She’s also totally a feminist which is really cool. She’s starting a nunnery now, and when one of the students asked her about the idea that being born a woman is a result of lower karma, she said that she flat out disagreed. She said that maybe at one point in time it was, but now there are opportunities open to woman than there were before. She even said that she thought maybe it was better to be a woman because there are fewer distractions in the monastic life (interpret as you will). Amber recorded the whole interview and said that we can all see her tapes, so I’ll try to pick out the quotes that I really liked if I get a chance.
Then we went to Tashi Jong, a monastery nearby. While we were there, we were able to go into a room where the preserved body of an old yogi is preserved in salt. Some of the group meditated there, and I know a lot people said it was a good experience (I was as usual at the back of the group, so I didn’t really know what was going on until after but anyway). We also saw where they make incense.
The next day we walked to the Bir settlement. Along the way we walked through the Suja School, which is one of the TCV schools, and it’s the school that my roommate went to before she came here. That day we saw a Nyingma temple and later a Sakya temple too. Also, we had an audience with a Rinpoche who also happens to be a movie director. He directed the movie ‘The Cup,’ which now I think I need watch. When someone asked if it was true that he wanted to be reincarnated as a rockstar in his next life (rinpoches are Dharma teachers who can control their rebirths, I think), he said that now he actually wants to be reincarnated as the president of the US. He even specified that he wants to be a Republican president, because he said that he thinks that Republican presidents are dangerous. He also made some interesting metaphors about the Dharma that I wish I could remember now.
The day after that we spent at Sherabling. They were doing a puja (a purification ritual) before Losar (Tibetan new year, which is this weekend and seems like it’ll be lots of fun), and we got to sit in the back of the temple for that. It was the way one imagines Tibetan chanting. There was some sort of horn type instrument, huge drums, and of course the low pitch chanting of the monks. They took us to see some of the other rooms around the temple. It was really cool, but it had gotten really cold the day before, and it rained all day, so I was quite happy to just get back to the guesthouse, put on dry clothes, and read.
On the way back from Bir, we stopped at a Siva temple also, and now here we are back in the swing of things with classes and all.
On one more cool thing…Palkyi, one of the students here, is teaching Julia, (maybe) Lucy, and me to play the dranyen, which I’m sure I’ve spelled wrong. It’s a Tibetan instrument, which is played kind of like a guitar. We had our first lesson with her yesterday.
I noticed how much my expectations have changed but also ways they haven’t. Yesterday I was in a good mood mentally and emotionally, but it was so cold and I really wanted to shower and I could feel my physical mood bringing the rest of me down. But I did manage to shower today, so I feel much better. When it’s cold and cloudy out, there isn’t really any hot water (yesterday there wasn’t any at all). Today the rain let up and the sun came out for a little, and I managed to get a kind of lukewarm shower. I was willing to be half an hour late to class for it too, because it started raining again, and I was afraid that by the time I got out of class the hot water would be totally gone. I was just so desperate to shower though, so it felt totally worth it, and now I feel much cleaner. So that’s where I am now, and I suppose I should stop writing this entry, since I won’t be able to post it until tomorrow at the earliest, and I do have other work I should be doing. I also have another batch of pictures that I plan to post too, so hopefully I’ll be able to get on the internet soon.

We’re finished with our first two weeks of class now. It’s strange to think both that I’ve only been here that long and also that I have been here that long. Weekdays are starting to feel pretty routine now, but weekends are still different. This morning I went to morning prayers as usual. Then I went for a walk down across the stream that runs next to the campus. I saw a girl walking three goats, which amused me because at first I thought they were dogs. After breakfast we talked about the party tomorrow. So about the party tomorrow…some of us in the group wanted to have some sort of get together for our group and the students here, because we (well I feel this way anyway) felt like we weren’t really meeting that many students here. I talk to my roommate some, and I sit with students here at lunch, but aside from that I don’t think I really interact with many of the students here, which I think is really sad, because I didn’t come to India to just hang out with the American students. I know I could just try harder, but I’m afraid of committing all sort of faux pas or something. So anyway, we’re having a party, but it’s going to be totally different than any college party at home. Dancing isn’t allowed on campus, so we’re going to play games. They’re mostly the kind of games I think of as playing at orientation or maybe camp. I hope it’s fun though. If all else fails, at least there will be tea and biscuits.
After we talked about the party, I went to talk to my roommate, because one of our assignments is to write a life history about our roommates. She’s pretty amazing. I can’t imagine being away from my whole family for as long as she’s been, but she came here to get an education, because she couldn’t get one back in Tibet.
In the afternoon, I walked up to lower Dharamsala with Will. It took us about three hours, it was uphill, and we got slightly lost a few times, but we made it, and it was actually kind of fun. All in all, I’d say it was worth it. There were some pretty nice views along the way, we both bought what we needed, and Will got to play with a cow along the way. We didn’t walk back though (we wouldn’t have been back in time for dinner if we had). We made it back in time for dinner, and now here I am in the computer lab.

Ahh...the formatting is messed up on the last post. Imagine that the comments go in the order of the pictures. I don't really know how to make this blog thing work. Enjoy the pictures though. I took some today of doing laundry, so I'll try to post those next time.

Tashi Delek (hello in Tibetan)


These are autorickshaws. They’re probably the easiest way to get around Delhi. The first time I rode in one it was pretty scary, but now I think they’re actually pretty fun


This is the bikerickshaw that we rode in


This is Old Delhi. It’s really crowded



A familiar site (Kate, I guess they’re here too)



Gandhi Memorial


Here we are on the train to Agra (where the Taj Mahal is). From left to right, there’s Geshe-la, Kendell, Emily, Eva, Julia, me, and Taylor


The Taj Mahal; touristy, but I had to take a picture


This is Lucy, me, and Marissa, and some boys who wanted to take a picture with us (I think they wanted to take pictures with Lucy and Marissa, and I just happened to be walking with them)



Cow (a common sight)


In the Agra train station on the way back. These kids were asking us for food and money, then they started playing with us. They really like taking pictures. The people from our group are Taylor, Marissa (with her mouth covered), Lucy, Kendell, Elise, Rachel, Diana, and Julia



This is the Imperial hotel, where we went in Delhi for wireless internet. It’s really ritzy, and it seemed so strange to walk back to the YMCA from here at night, because there were so many people sleeping in tents on the sidewalk



This was my first view of the mountains



Julia, Kendell, Lucy, Marissa, Elise, and I walked down to a stream that runs along side the campus the night we got here



This is the roof of the guesthouse



This is the view from the roof of the guesthouse


Monks debating (it’s a really big thing here)


The view from McLeod


Prayer wheels (Inside each wheel is a prayer written out. Every time someone spins one, it’s like sending out a thousand prayers. It’s the same idea with prayer flags. I just think it’s a very cool thing to think about)



Sarah (the name of the campus where we are right now). Julia, Will, and I were really excited when we realized that we could read it



Refugee artwork


Julia, Lucy, Will, and I watched the sunset when we were in McLeod (Julia was standing on the other side of me, so she’s not in this picture)


Sunset

I can’t quite believe that I’ve only been here for a little over two weeks. I’m starting to settle in I think, although I’ve been warned that culture shock starts to set in at around two weeks, so I guess I’m trying to be on the look out for that. We started classes this week. The schedule seems much more like high school than college. We have class from nine to three. Every morning we have language class first. The schedule is kind of loose, so it’s usually nine to whenever the lesson is done (it usually goes about an hour). We have a break, then at 10:30 we have philosophy or culture class (philosophy is on monday and wednesday, and culture is on tuesday and thursday, and on friday we have a discussion section about sort of everything from both of those two classes for the week). That usually goes about an hour and a half. After lunch, we have language again for another hour, except on friday. That’s pretty much what the schedule will be until we break to do our independent research (I forget when exactly that is, but I think it’s in like ten or eleven weeks).
Yesterday I moved into the dorms here. Our group had been living in the guesthouse (pretty much like a hotel), and I had been living with Julia (who apparently is friends with someone who is on the same program that Annie is on, which I think is cool). The roommate stuff is finally figured out now though. I had been told originally that one girl was my roommate, then another. The second person who I thought was my roommate is a nun who just came from Tibet less than a year ago, and she doesn’t speak very much English, so they had Amalia and I switch roommates, since Amalia already speaks Tibetan. So anyway, now I have a roommate. She’s in the teacher training program here, and she’s almost finished. Her room is up on the top floor of the girls’ dorm, so the view is amazing. We’re on the fifth floor, and the dorms are the tallest buildings here, so we can look out over the Kangra valley. I watched the sun rise from the roof this morning too, which was amazing. It doesn’t rise over the mountains, but it does light up the mountains peak by peak which is so cool to watch. It’s pretty quiet on the floor, because not many people live up here (which is also a plus in terms of how many people share the bathroom). Speaking of bathrooms, that’s something to get used to. The showers in the guesthouse never had enough (if any) hot water, but the showers here don’t have hot water at all. There’s a faucet that has hot water, so I’m told you’re supposed to fill up a bucket then take a bucket shower. I haven’t tried that yet, since one of the last things I did before I moved out yesterday was use the shower one last time, but I guess I’ll probably try tonight or tomorrow morning. I guess I should probably just start showering whenever it’s warmest. My standards for my own hygiene have changed since I’ve been here. At home, it’s shower everyday and only wear shirts once before wearing them. Now it’s shower every other day and wear shirts at least twice. It’s kind of gross I guess, but I only really brought three shirts (since I’ve been wearing tee shirts over long sleeve shirts and I only have three of each), and the less laundry I have to do the better. I have started to figure out a system for that though. In summary: soak, soap, scrub, rinse, soak, rinse. It seems to be working, but I can’t tell you how much I miss washing machines.
Yesterday we went to McLeod (Upper Dharamsala) for the second time. It’s an odd sort of touristy, sort of hippie-ish place. We went to the refugee reception center. There was some artwork done by kids there, and it was just like rip-your-heart-out. Ama Adhe spoke to us, while we were there. She was a Tibetan freedom fighter, who was imprisoned for a very long time. I think she was one of the only ones of everyone she went to prison with to have survived. She told us about her experience, which was pretty intense to hear, but what was most amazing was how calm and peaceful she is. She talked about how she used to be angry, but when she talked to the Dalai Lama, he said not to let her anger take over, and now she’s very peaceful about it all. She tells her story, but she tells it in a matter of fact way. It’s just amazing to think that she has overcome her anger despite all the things that happened to her.
After we heard from her, I spent the rest of the day with Julia, Lucy, and Will (other students on the program, from Wesleyan, Emory, and NYU respectively) wandering around town. We looked in shops and ate dinner and saw the most amazing sunset. Then we came back down, and I moved into the dorms, and I spent the rest of the night unpacking and reviewing the alphabet (which I know the word for in Tibetan now).
This morning, I finally made it to morning prayers on time (I had been late the other three times that I went). It’s a pretty cool thing to listen to. For the rest of the day up to now, Will and I wandered around some trails and along a stream that runs next the campus, and then I started making vocab flashcards. Now I'm in the room typing this, and hopefully when I go downstairs to the computer lab, it’ll be open so I can post it. Also, hopefully I can figure out the picture things.

So the picture thing is going to be harder than I thought, because I probably won't be able to connect my own computer to the internet at all. Right now I'm using one of the computers in the school computer lab. I'll probably try to burn some pictures on a cd from my computer and then I can post those. I need to buy a surge protector first though, because I've been warned that the power here is fairly unreliable. But anyway, I'll tell you all about what I've been up to or at least some of it...
I think the last time I wrote we were about to leave Delhi. To get from Delhi to Dharamsala, we took a bus. It was a little worrysome that the whole back corner of the bus had duct tape all over it, but it was fine. We drove for about 10 hours with a few stops the first day. We spend the night in a hotel in Pragpur that had a very British Colonial feel. We spent the morning there, and I caught my first glimpse of the mountains. It was just a very breath taking sight that I feel like I can't really describe without sounding corny. We then spent another three hours on the bus. We arrived at Dharamsala in the evening. Right now we're staying at a hotel on the Sarah campus (the school we're studying at), but we'll be moving into the dorms here next week. Everyone else has already met their roommates, but mine was in Delhi at the time, so I haven't met her yet. I spent the morning while everyone else was meeting their roommates talking to a nun. She just arrived here from Tibet less than a year ago, and she said that she didn't speak good English, but she spoke enough for us to communicate (and I thought she spoke very well). She taught me a few phrases in Tibetan, the only one of which I remember is "Ni mila Katie sugiyu". I don't think I spelled that right at all, but it means my name is Katie. I'm pretty scared and excited to start learning the language. Classes start monday. Last night the students here put on a culture show for us, which was really fun, and I have lots of pictures and a few video clips, so we'll see if I can at least post a few pictures. I had it figured out at the Imperial, but my battery died right in the middle. I should probably get off the computer because there are no more open computers and I'm sure people have more important things to do than I do right now. Also the basketball game between our students and the students here is about to start. Until later...