Dharamsala

I hurried from Amritsar because I heard the Dalai Lama was giving a speach. I made it for the speach but turns out I didn't need to hurry because there were many opportunities to see the Dalai Lama. I was with two German girls and we didn't have a radio to hear the translation so we listened in Tibetan and I shared my embroidery thread with them and a Tibetan nun and we all made friendship bracelets while we listened.

I found this photo on the Dalai Lama's website and put a box around myself!


After the German girls left I met Sachi who's from Berkeley CA and traveling around the world filming a documtry about the phenomonon of "speed cubing" i.e. competitions where people solve the Rubics Cube as fast as possible. The record is 7 seconds! Sachi and I stayed in a sweet apartment with a kitchen. We were friends with our Tibetan neighbors. At first they seemed really cool. They cooked for us and we had fun with them but after a while we relized they wern't that cool after all and we stopped hanging out with them. After Sachi left I moved in with four friends and we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen. They were a lot of fun.

Me and Sachi

I got a cappichino every morning served by Tibetan warriors ; )

Rosie and Keira, two of my roommates
When I ferst arrived I ate lots of Tibetan food, momos (like bready potstickers) and Thanthuk (noodle soup). Sachi and I took a momo cooking class at LIT and learned how to make potato momos, spinach momos, and chocolate momos! After the first couple weeks I was pretty sick of momos and ate mostly western food.

momos!
I learned a lot about Tibetan culture and history. I watched many documentaries about TIbet and listened to the stories of political prisoners and many refugees. March 10th was Tibetan uprisning day. It marked 51 years of the Illegal Chinese occupationof Tibet. Unfortunately I was sick that day and overslept missing most of the Dalai Lama's spech. I read it though and it was great. Normally I love protests but because I was sick I was feeling really overwhelmed by the crowed and didn't march down to lower Dharamsala. I have some regrets about not participating in the festivities more fully.

One weekend my roomies and I drove up into the mountains and went paragliding and then camping afterwards. It was amazing! I thought I would be scared but I wasn't at all. Taking off was so easy. As soon as the parachute opend up it just picked me and my tandem professinal right up and away we went! We were in the air for nearly an hour! On our way down we came in high about the landing area and did a big spiral all the way down. It was so fun! I guess I was lucky that I didn't feel sick because most of my friends got nauseous and some people puked.



Coming in for landing

safely on the ground and watching my friends land

I came to Dharamsala to work with Art Refuge UK, an art therapy organization. I worked with another volunteer and a Tibetan staffmember who translated for us and we taught an art class to the Tibetan refugee children who had just arrived. Unfortunately in a month I was only able to assist in teaching about 5 classes. There were very few new refugees because it was close to the end of the season. Most refugees come during the winter when the borders are more difficult to patrol. The Chinese government was also putting pressure on the Nepali government to return the refugees to China and not allow them into India. It was a good experience but unfortunate that there wasn't much to do and that it is becoming more difficult for refugees to make it to Dharamsala.

This is me with Lhakpa and Amma on my last day in Mecleod. You can see some awesome children's art behind us.
I found some other volunteer activities to help fill out my schedule. For two weeks I worked in a free childcare for Tibetan babies and toddlers under the age of 3. They were adorable! Unfortunately Iw asn't allowed to take photos. The schedule got a bit repetative but I was missing them after my two weeks were over. My last week was a bit more relaxed and I worked on my painting of a stupa and prayer flags. I also volunteered a few times in the English conversation class at LIT mostly helping Tibetan monks and nuns practice their English.

Here's my painting. As finished as it's going to get.
I was so happy in Mcleod and so sad to leave. I was very comfortable in my life there and enjoied my roommates emensely.