Summary of India

It's accidentally been 10 days since my last post. I'm not going to make excuses.

How are you? Text me. I have a telephone.

No really though, I've been trying to organize my thoughts. I've been running around because I've chosen to be homeless for the rest of the summer... so I've not been comfortable enough to write a serious post. HOWEVER- now I am alone in Athens on my futon lonely, sad, and semi-scared... so I'm now about to get down and dirty serious for this post.

This is gonna be more 'stream of consciousness' than 'sophisticated analysis'.

(Ya'll have made me nervous since returning. A lot of you have complemented me on my writing since I've been home and,, i don't know... I'm scared to write.)

We had an end-of-the-year-party on the last day of class. All the monks were there seated on the floor. All of us faculty were seated in front of them. Carol, the head-honcho, spoke. She said a few words, then presented us each with presents from the program. I got a khata and bag with "Save Tibet" on the front of it; oh I love it. Then we did a few more things... at the end,,,Carol asked us if we had anything to say to everyone. The teachers mentioned meaningful things about what they'd learned and experienced. I was about in tears when it was finally my turn. I'll never forget how it felt trying to muster up the perfect words, while simultaneously struggling to hold my tears back... All those people played a part in changing my life. I panicked. I looked around, making eye-contact with as many monks as I could and said, "I'm just happy to have made so many new friends." I fought the tears.
We had cake. I ran around to take pictures with everyone, including the Tibetan translator I'm convinced is an angel in disguise. Pictures, Pictures. We said goodbye to everyone. Dad and I left to pack. We had dinner. I felt so strange... I hardly spoke to anyone at dinner.
I kinda figured out I don't like saying goodbye on this trip. I made sure to say a serious goodbye to every taxi driver the WHOLE TRIP. It really bothered me to think that I LITERALLY wouldn't see any of those people again. In many cases, I avoided saying goodbye.

ANYWAY. We drove for 12 hours. I was very comfortable. Not scared. I even slept. I slept in the car. Two days ago I used google on my iPhone without WiFi to look up "the most dangerous country to drive in". Guess.

We made it to the airport. Toilet paperrrrr, yessss.
Plane to Paris. I just smiled thinking of those cute accents.
Dad and I waited for 5 hours for the next flight. We talked about things that I don't need to write down because I won't forget.
Finally- Hartsfield-Jackson. I was. So. Exhausted. Friends came to meet me like I was coming home from war. <3


This trip taught me more about existence than anything else has ever taught me about anything. I just kept thinking, "everything that is happening is way bigger than me." I would think that thought over and over.
(I'm struggling to write this part.)
Would I go back? Hmm... Tough question. I would go back for business. I would go back to do something involving Tibet. I would go to Dharamsala to experience winter. I'd go back to help something. I'd need a mission.
The conversations with the monks were monumental for me. I had no clue what I was getting into before I'd left America. ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE. These people walked through the Himalayas (I struggled to scale ONE FOOTHILL). One of the Emory monks explained to me how he manages to truly cope with the stresses of finals while his American classmates had panic attacks and ODed on caffeine. I mean, some of the things I heard from these people are beyond invaluable. I just hope my memory holds up. I'm already worried about forgetting.

Something that really moved me about India was it's stance on religion at the federal level. The religious tolerance throughout my travels was blatant. I've been religiousless for the majority of my life, but anyone who knows me knows I'm obsessed with religion. I've always been obsessed. India is also obsessed with religion. Statues of gods and flags and temples and banners and posters, tattoos, knickknacks, clothing, accessories, and just overall spiritual auras were scattered everywhere and all over. However... all of these things were personal. Nothing seemed to be put in place to convert me. I never ONCE was pestered or yelled at in a public place to convert or 'repent'. < The thought of that just made me LOL. There was NOT ONE TIME that someone asked for an explanation of my beliefs. And as far as I could tell, there was no propaganda promoting one belief over another. I of course, do not speak Hindi or Tibetan, so don't trust me wholeheartedly. But I truly believe those people are not concerned about who believes in what. Let me tell you why: In Hinduism, as well as in Buddhism, one has many chances to do what's right. If you steal from people on the daily, you'll just end up as a toad in your next life. Sucks to suck. You'll learn to be nice eventually. It's no religious person's responsibility to "save you". You have many chances to correct your lifestyle. It makes since that the majority of the people in India don't care about your devotion. If you believe in a lick of Hinduism you better be nice to people! For your own sake! In contrast- YOU'd better risk your life, as a Christian, to save me from the depths of hell because I only have this ONE LIFE to live for Jesus. It's YOUR responsibility as a follower of Mohammad to teach me that your way is the right way because if you don't- I'M GOING TO BURN... and you don't want THAT on your conscious, do you?. Do you understand what I'm saying? It's just a different way of thinking. So, with these monotheastic/atheastic religions being dominant in India for yeeaarrss- the government has emphasized the importance of religious diversity and acceptance in the national constitution. The Dalai Lama points out in his book that this idea has "ancient roots". Inscribed on pillars dating from 3rd century India is the quote, "honor another's religion, for doing so strengthens both one's own and that of the other." Lemme tell you, this was a breath of fresh air for me. I could go on and on about how the basic principles of India's dominant religions have shaped a more accepting/pleasant living space for them. But that's boring. I've gotta keep my ratings up or I'm never gonna make it on TMZ.

The animals in India are adapting to pollution like every other animal on the planet has ever adapted to anything- So I'm not worried about that. I don't wanna get too Portland on you and talk about air pollution... but India and China better get their acts together or else they're gonna reincarnate into an ocean trench next time.
No one has stared at me since I reached Paris, I don't think. Do you wanna know how that's made me feel as a remarkable human being?!!? HUH?! WHAT?!- AM I AVERAGE OR SOMETHING!??!
Look, I just don't really like walking on mountains. It's like how I don't like eating fish. I understand that others could have a great time doing both of those things. With that being said- Mt. Kilimanjaro looks like a tasty challenge. < And I can fully attribute that statement to the feeling of completing the hike in India.

There are a lot of people in this world with less money than me. Are all of them hopeless and sad over that? No, I don't think so. Should we assume that every migrant worker living with no air conditioning in a broken down, half-building in Delhi is more unhappy than us? I'm convinced we shouldn't. India is not one big frowny face. That's ridiculous. People without air conditioning and hot water are dancing and smiling all over the world. I did not come back from this trip more thankful for any material things that I have. Yepp. I said it. Even after all that poverty I saw. Except... for maybe my iPhone.
SHUTUP- lemme tell you why. When I need to know something about the world, no matter where I am in my daily life- I can look it up on my phone. When I'm about to pee myself if I don't know how big a blue whale heart is, I can google it (1,300 pounds). Humans need to know things. That's a characteristic that has made us so smart and successful as animals. We feel good when we know things- so we want more. And we progress. I felt happy when I googled the whale heart. I shared it with friends. We all learned something and felt happy. Wanna make people feel happy? Teach them something. Wanna naturally feel happy yourself? Teach something. Learn and teach. Everyone likes understanding things. Wanna make the people of the world more happy? Wanna progress as a species? Give everyone an iPhone.
No, but on a serious note- a certain someone hammered the importance of education into my head as a toddler. For money, of course. But we know it's deeper than that. I'm just saying. That homeless boy I talked to told me he didn't go to school. I heard stories about how Tibetans in Tibet weren't able to learn after the Chinese take-over because everything was in Chinese. The monks were so interested in everything the teachers said. I saw many, MANY children working throughout the day, instead of learning in school. I think I'm going off on a tangent right now... A lot of people in India have iPhones. School is mandatory for Indians (I asked). I dunno. I'm just sayingggg. I thought about this while I was there... So I oughta write about it.


I think this all is starting to get too abstract. I'm sad I won't have anything to blog about anymore. It was kinda fun!

I recommend ya'll go see India for yourself. I'm panicky about how I KNOW I have given the wrong impression. I'm just waiting for the correction comments.

:-) And this concludes all this junk.

Himalayas

Yesterday we woke up at 6am to climb a freakin' mountain.
I will be honest, I have been rejecting these plans since the very first day of being here on campus. Every time Dad would mention it I would roll my eyes. I just didn't see why a person would wanna walk up a MOUNTAIN. I don't even like to walk down the street!

I had an ommmmmmelet for breakfast.
Get it!?

Ok, then we got in the taxi. We drove up the scary roads that I'm not scared of anymore to McLeodganj... And then drove past McLeodganj. Up, up, and UP the mountains.

I have been scared many times here, as you all know. I have also driven in Costa Rica in a minivan on unpaved roads with my father as the driver on the edge of mountains. I have ZOOMED around Japanese mountains with an old man driver who claimed to be 'just taking little naps'. I have seen the light here in India already...But let me tell you something right this second- driving up to the start of the hiking trail yesterday was the scariest situation of my life.

Unpaved, loose, rocky, no guard rails, cliff-lined, one-laned, dug out of the side of a mountain, driver driving too fast, rinky-dinky car. Keyword: "cliff-lined"... Definition: WHEN THERE ARE CLIFFS OF DOOM LINING THE ONE-WAY ROADS ON A MOUNTAIN!!!

There is a possibility that I am being dramatic... But when I was driving to this place yesterday, my (big) muscles were tense the whole-dang-way. I was rehearsing my escape route in my mind constantly... Hopefully, if we ran off the road we would hit a tree first after going off the cliff. Once hitting the tree, our falling velocity would be slightly lowered- just enough so that I could get my head together to eject myself out of the car via door handle. Once out of the car, it would be imperative that I grab onto a tree or capture an handful of grass so that I wouldn't die on impact. Sometimes there were no trees past the edge of the road. It was during this time that I just hoped things would happen quick.

THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT OF ON THE WAY TO THE MOUNTAIN.
I think I'm more anxious than I used to be.


We made it, obviously. When I got out of the taxi I couldn't tell if I was shaking because of the rocky road or my fear. I made Dad by me my favorite masala (spicy) chips to apologize for putting me through that.

When I got done ranting about the taxi we started to climb the mountain. The trail was easy to point out. I should have robbed an REI before coming here.

We were climbing and climbing.

Dad: "This place reminds me of a certain kind of ice cream."
Me: "Rocky Road?"

Omg, this place was remarkable. I don't even hardly like nature stuff... But this place was something else. At first Dad and I couldn't breathe. The high altitude was really taking a toll on our oxygen intake for a good 20 minutes. I couldn't even laugh! But finally we adapted. (I just daydreamed about a goldfish flopping outside of its bowl and then morphing into a cat.)

We took pictures, don't worry. In fact, we too 278 pictures. I'm pretty sure Dad has a picture of every rock in the mountain range. Out of insanity I decided to
Wear a shirt I bought from a thrift store that only had the word 'HOOCH' written across it. I don't know what you think of when you hear that word, but I think 'hoochie momma'. So now I'm on a mountain lookin like a hooch in every picture.

So we climbed and climbed and I was in, literally, the best mood.

Lol, oh yeah- so then we get to a tea shop that was situated on The edge of the mountain about an hour up the trail. I got a chai tea, Dad a lemon tea. As we finished sipping this tea at a shop that I would consider is in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE... A group of boys walks up laughing and singing.


Guess who.
"ANNA!!!"
"omg, SHEKDEMAN!!"
And they lauughhed and we took pictures. Oh I just plain out couldn't believe it.

But then we left them and continued our trekking.
We climbed that mountain. Pictures were taken. People were greeted. Fun was had.

I had some serious daydreams of causing major landslides while climbing. In some places, it seemed, if one rock moved, thousands would tumble to the base of the mountain. All I needed to do was dislodge one rock...

This place was magnificent. Rocks had crashed and been ripped apart after India collided into Asia.. So sedimentary rock layers were jutting our of nowhere all over!! Often I would be walking along the trail and I would look over to the other mountains. That would make me lose my balance because everything was so big.
Oh, it was wonderful.

After one more tea break halfway up, we made it. It took 3 hours. Maybe a bit more. 3800 meters up. We walked up to the huge flat spot that was the top of the hill and took photos of us against the backdrop of the snowy Himalayas the we now had a perfect view of. These mountains were BREATHTAKING. And I don't lose my breath because of nature very often.

We bought lunch from a shop up there. Delicious and spicy.

We walked around. A Shepard was walking his sheep up and over the mountain. We took pics, duh. I think those were the first sheeps I have ever seen!
Then... We began the journey back. This was hard on the knees, much faster... But much more dangerous. So dangerous. One of us was surely gonna sprang an ankle. Oh, my feet were aching! The cliffs were a rush.

We made it down with our ankles!!!!
Basically, I don't think I could ever twist an ankle in my LIFE if I didn't twist one yesterday! It was treacherous.
The taxi ride down to McLeodganj was much easier on my heart than the morning ride. Partially because this driver went slower. And partially because I just didnt think I could die if I survived that mountain climb.


We went to a pizza place for supper and I ate like a cow in a trash pile!!!

To summarize, I will never do that again... But I'm glad I did it once.
I climb up a mountain to prove I can, and I climb down mountains to get the heck away from the freakin' mountain. #pizzamotivation

Club+India

Two nights ago Dad and I went into town to eat a nice dinner. We ate at the same place we ate with the two other professors that one time. I ordered the same thing I did before to decrease my chances of becoming ill. It was very tasty. There is a picture at the bottom. Dad and I also had some quality father-son discussion time as we sipped some Kingfishers. Picture of that at bottom too. We had some deep discussions.

Darkness fell over McLeodganj as we spoke.

After a while... We started hearing faint dance music coming from somewhere down below on the street. I peaked over the edge of the balcony and saw no festivals or people...

However- I did see a big black building with the words "Black Magic" written in black cursive writing. I reported my sight to my dad. Soon after, we were paying our check and on our way to BLACK MAGIC!

With a few beers in us, we walked up to the line to get in. The dance music was much louder this time. I walked to get into the line... But the security guard waved me up to him! And then he stamped my hand "PAID" And he stamped Dad's too. And then we left the line of clubbing-hopefuls. Sucks to suck!

And then we walked into the freakin' place. BOOM BOOM WAAAMP WAMMP blingablingabling! (Hindi lyrics) UN-TISS UN-TISS!
And everyone was jumping and dancing and singing every word. And so I was like, oh this is cool... Ok let's go home. But then the guy walked by with a hookah. Dad and I followed.

He led us to a big booth. I slid in next to a cute Indian couple. The waiter went to fetch us a hookah, so we were there alone with the couple. I was smiling so big cuz of the music! And I was looking around at everyone dancing! I actually wanted to jump up and down with them! But that's when I noticed... THERE WASN'T A SINGLE GIRL IN THIS CLUB. I mean, besides me and the girl-half of the cute couple next to me. I WAS THE ONLY GIRL.

Hookah came. Drinks came. And slowly but surely- attention came. I am telling you right now: I was Brittany Spears that night.

Dad sat on the outside of the booth and I sat on the inside. Even so, boys were leaning over the table to ask me my name. I was dancing my normal dances... But then I started copying everyone. And everyone wanted me to copy them. MY FACE WAS GETTING STARED THROUGH. Boys wanted my pictures. Boys wanted my picture so much that I had to start turning people down; "no, you already got a picture!" People were throwing off my groove tryna ask my name. Luckily, the owner of the bar (I guess) came and started blocking our booth off from the wild people. One guy had knocked over a drink! But I was just dancing and smiling to all the Indian dance music.

They were begging Dad to get up and dance with them. BEGGING. I thought that he should... Lol but he was starting to think this was a gay bar. Remember how I pointed out that boys walk around holding hands here? Yeah, so I was annoyed that Dad wasn't past that culture shock by now. But... I started noticing more and more gay-looking things. These guys were dancing together and singing to each other and holding hands and dancing!!!! So finally I had to ask the Indian guy next to me! And he said, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!! I'm starting to think that too!" and I LAUGHED. But he said it wasn't a gay club. So Dad got up to dance. Several times.

And I was just CHILLINNNN. Oh I was having so much fun!!! Several of the guys just wanted to chill too. This one guy wearing a blue turban was my BFF. He helped tell the creepers to get away and taught me good dance moves that i could do while sitting in my booth prison. I was living it up. And so was Dad... I took videos of that- just ask me next time you see me, I will show you all of them.

I got really annoyed with sitting in that booth. I could only see one part of the club. So I stood up. Everyone was having so much FREAKIN FUN AAAHHHH!!!! I loved the music so badly.
Keep in mind that the boys/men are still constantly swarming our booth. I was shooing people away and talking to others. Most people just wanted to know my name; "Anna!"

While i was standing on the booth I stuck my hand up to give one guy a high five. That was literally like throwing one steak to 100 starving wolverines. EVERY BOY NOW NEEDED A HIGH FIVE. Some even grabbed my hand and kissed it. I was ignoring everyone and trying to film people ... But Apparently there was so much ruckus over this that the security guy made me sit back down... But he didn't tell the new lady on the other bench to sit down! This made me mad.

Dad was having the time of his life, it seemed like.

The DJ played "Sexy and I Know It"... Finally I got to sing to them. They laughed. Maybe one day in my LIFE I will go without hearing this song, Briana.

When I had to go to the bathroom we had to hire a convoy to transport me through the wolverines.

There was one pack of dudes who just wanted to yell and holler and dance and sing to me and Dad. They were so awesome!! And they kept the nasties away.

Last call was at an embarrassing hour (like 11pm). So we all filed out. We ran into the nice boys in the street as we tried to find a taxi. Pictures pictures. I gave them all fist bumps to say bye... And they taught me to say "shekdeman" when fist bumping. That turned into an episode. I was shekdemanning everyone I saw from the club. That made them all so excited! I WAS PUMPED! And Dad was laughing!



AHHHHH SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!
I have doubled my Facebook presence since being here. I just keep wondering what their captions under our pictures will say.


We got a taxi and rode home. I hung my head out the window the whole ride to watch the stars. They have the same ones here.

I don't know what I'm gonna do when I get home to the states and boys aren't staring at me or begging for pictures or grabbing my hands. I'm not gonna be able to deal with all this male attention disappearing. Boys boys boys. *sigh* maybe I can find a way to live without it.

Pictures :-P

Sequence pictures of debates! *CLAP!!*These debates are very heated... So I have taken much video to show you when I return.
Also, there is a picture of them listening to teacher in between the debate pictures.
And also, a picture of a Skype convo with my lil sissy from last night.

Just 2 Pictures!

Here is a very, very typical meal from the cafeteria! We have cucumbers and rice everyday for lunch and dinner. Those meat looking things are of course not meat because I've been an herbivore for a few weeks now; those are mushrooms.

That monk is the self-proclaimed 'naughty monk' from the birthday dinner. He left his home as a child to escape his fighting parents. He also reminds me constantly of a certain friend's ex-boyfriend. *cough, cough, Kelli*

Here's a blog post.

Yesterday was an average day except I started feeling sick. Just a little tiny tiny bit. But I felt it coming- so I nipped it in the bud and took one of my 6 cipro pills. Yes, the doctor only gave me 6. And I take two-a-day. So I am safe for three days and then I will starve myself until I reach Paris on the way back.

Another non-average thing that was happening yesterday was that AP was here filming and snapping pictures and just being flat-out ANNOYING. I would classify them as a disruption. Blagh. Dad lectured though... So they filmed that a lot, then asked him for a private interview, which was good for him. But I do still wanna make those guys trip ... Maybe. Except for I am not violent anymore. Anyway. They are back here again this morning. Which is annoying because they were supposed to be here only yesterday. Don't look for me when this film Is released, I won't be visible.

Last night an Emory monk let me download some documentaries off his external hard drive. What do you think about that?
Lol anyway, they were all about Tibet in someway or another. I laid down to bed and started one up. It was (and still IS) called 'Murder in the Snow'. It was a series of interviews and actual footage (contributed by a mountain hiker). The setting was the snow mountains of the Chinese-controlled Tibetan boarder. A large group of hikers was there to hike. Everything was going normal until they started hearing gunshots. The filmer ran out of his tent to film whatever was going on. Turns out, it was a Chinese boarder control unit shooting at strings of Tibetan refugees who were trying to run across the Chinese boarder to Nepal. The documentary had interviews from some surviving Tibetans too! They explained the process of saving up for 4 years to buy a guide and walking for 8 days across the Himalayas and why they were trying to escape. They were headed to India. But the Chinese caught them at the boarder... With machine guns. Film showed two people being dropped by bullets, one of which was a nun. Others were captured and tortured, and others survived. It was very sad
This morning I woke up and went to breakfast. During breakfast I talked to another Emory monk the whole time. I mentioned the story of the documentary I'd watched.... And then he told me the story of his escape. He walked for days through the Himalayas to freedom at the age of 15. His family didn't go. He escaped. He told me how they slept during the day, and walked with no lights during the night. He saw 7 Chinese checkpoints. He told me why he left. He couldn't understand Chinese, and Chinese was the only language allowed. He couldn't afford anything. Protests were happening. And basically he wanted a free life. He got caught by the police in Nepal and was held captive for 3 weeks. But the Tibetan Refugee Center in that town finally came to bail him out and deliver him to Delhi safely. And so then he was eating breakfast with me.

Wtf, that is incredible.

Associated Press Being Annoying

Here is an example of AP bing annoying. See the two men with cameras!? They are literally in everyone's faces. I'm trying my best not to sabotage them...

Audience with His Holiness

Ok, finally. Drumroll. Bapabapa. Here is the story of the audience with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

So as you read in my last post, most of the day was about waiting for things. We waited an hour to get into the palace, we all sat down after rigorous security checks and wait for His Holiness to enter for maybe even two hours. As we entered the room we received another khata! There is a special way to fold a khata, so a monk showed me how. The Associated Press from Delhi had two camera men situated in the room. I instantly found them annoying. AP also had one interviewer/head hancho situated in the front too. Tim Sullivan. I was even worse annoyed with him. So, whatever. I was in the second row, dead center. Lena (the not-Korean) calculated that I was probably 12-15 feet away from the chair His Holiness would sit in. I sat and waited for basically 5 days in that chair, meanwhile- His Holiness The Vice President of Emory, his daughter, his wife and several other people were missing. We decided they were probably somewhere having a private meeting with the Dalai Lama (this was confirmed later). So we just sat, like I said.
We were in the front row of the crowd because the VIPs weren't seated- so I got a perfect view of the most vigilant security guard I have EVER seen. He was super cute, might I add, so he couldn't be harmful. Uh, yeah, just kidding- this man looked like the boss of all bosses. He stood, wearing a plaid shirt (probs from Rue 21) in a listening pose; feet spread should-width apart, leaning forward slightly, head tilted somewhat to his right to allow his left ear to have optimal hearing capabilities. He held a walkie-talkie with both hands right in front of his sternum. His hands never moved from that position. His head never moved. He was a statue... Expect for his eyes. His eyes darted around the room to follow the sounds his left ear was detecting. He was strong-looking. I'm going to shop at Rue 21 more. We made eye contact a lot. It made me scared. He was looking for threats or suspicious behaviors. I felt like eye contact was definitely suspicious. Sorry!

We also saw men with machine guns out the windows. Watch out.

This blog post is not about security man in plaid, it's about the Dalai Lama. He entered the room after about a month WITH the VIPs!! So they sat down in front of us. I was right in front of him. Well, actually Gary Hawk and his wife were directly in front of him, but my head was centered right in between theirs- so I had a clear/perfect view. Gary Hawk is accredited with all the success of this program because he started it. His wife is just his wife. So, His Holiness, I feel, was mostly looking at them two right in front of me... However *big smile* ... In order for His Holiness to switch from looking at Gary to the Wife- His eyes had to have seen mine in between theirs. #LiterallyWinning

So now I will get to the serious part. Boy, I was scribbling notes like a drunk bat during the whole talk, so here are my notes:
(things in "" are direct quotes as I noted them.)
- He has been interested in science since childhood.
-he insists that Buddhism teaches lessons based on facts.
- commented negatively on atomic bombs in Japan, "very very terrible"
- "we need serious effort to fix violence."
-"prayer is not the answer...prayer is for self. Action is solution."
- mentioned that prayer used to fix world violence is "wishful thinking". He giggled at that concept several times. He told a story about being at a big conference in Japan where people were talking about praying for solutions. He said when it was his turn to talk- he said he wasn't going to pray. He said he was gonna talk about solutions.
- "prayer will never bring world peace"
- stated that if we had been using all the money we'd used on weapons for agriculture and such things... That we would be experiencing positive effects right now.
- "religious reaching failed at bringing world peace," then suggested we try a different approach that appeals to everyone at one time.
- emphasized over and over that we are all born with the capabilities to be a loving and caring and compassionate person... But something goes wrong. We need to use science and other techniques to harness the innate goodness we all have. (basically that sums it up. He said it so much better though)
- said it is our responsibility to build right now for the generations to come.
- predicted that in the future we will not have a military for each country, but instead> regional militaries... Like one military for Asia, one for Europe and so on. Fun fact.
- other than that, he really inspired all of us, I think. It's just inspiring to hear someone with so much positivity and hope talk about the future. Again, I don't wanna get into it and be all sappy on the Internet... But this was pretty important to me.



So afterwards, the AP guy asked a really lame question about nothing and didn't show any respect. Blagh.

And after THAT it was picture time. Omgomg.

Omg.

Faculty (me/us) first!!!! We all began to exit the row to the side, then move to the center where His Holiness was standing. I was in the middle of the row, of course, so some people had already hopped up on the little stage to stand next to him. I kinda lingered below looking for where I should be because obviously I am the shortest person... So I was scanning the area when I saw His Holiness reach out his arm to me. He was saying "come, come, come" as he grabbed my elbow gently and pulled me up in front of him.
Omgomg.
So I was standing to his left, but in front of him... So I looked back to make sure I wasn't blocking him, which i wasnt.. But he acknowledged what I was doing, so I turned back around to face the crowd, and hunched/squatted down just a little bit to be funny. He laughed!!!! He laughed and put both his hands on my arms, just below my shoulders, and raised me up back to normal height. He said, "hahaha, I am just a little bit taller than you!" then assured me I was fine where I was.

All I could do was smile. I didn't feel like I was going to fall down like the last time I touched him. I felt completely at ease.

And then we took pictures. Several. Until the security jumped in front us and ordered the cameras down. And that was it. We all shook his hand and thanked him. He thanked us all back. And then we left.

We had tea and picked up our items we had blessed by Hi Holiness.
And the rest of the day was was just boring in comparison. So that's where I will end sit.

Some Notes About Tibetan Struggles

Yesterday was the day of the 'audience' with His Holiness. I have never heard the word 'audience' used in this way, so I always put it in quotes because I think it is kinda silly. Anyway, we did a lot of freakin' waiting on yesterday. Hours of standing and sitting around. During this waiting time I learned/heard some interesting things. I took notes and interviewed a few monks. My notes are scattered and sloppy. I wrote them with my new OVO pen i bought for $10 at the Drake concert. (Quick shout out to my brothers OVOXO.) Listen closely, kids. This is serious.

First topic of discussion was the security. Top notch security on the sacred grounds of His Holiness. We were standing outside of the main gates for at least an hour. I made a comment to a monk (I don't really like to use names... It's uncomfortable) about the security. He explained that His Holiness has received death threats recently. I totally could understand this... But I was shocked when he told me that he heard Indian security Had recently captured a female Chinese "trained killer" who came to poison His Holiness. That is serious. I have mentioned before that China considers the Dalai Lama it's biggest threat... However, the monk explained how Indian spy organizations are "highly skilled". I asked why the heck India puts so much effort into supporting Tibet when China is so furious with them. He told me the relationship was a kind of 'carrot and stick' situation. He said India allows certain protections, but emphasizes the restrictions of Tibetans in many cases. You know what I mean? Ok. So yeah, he went on to tell me about the Indian spies... He told me not to "underestimate beggars"... I made a confused dog face, so he explained. He said he is sure that India hires spies to act as mentally handicapped beggars in order to have eyes on the streets that people ignore. This blew my mind. There were several handicapped beggars around the palace and town that I had noticed. The monk said that even at his monastery there are beggars he says are 'hired' to watch out for 2 years... But disappear leaving no traces. :-O that's a 007 movie.

Later I talked to two other monks. They told me how hard/impossible it is to get out of Tibet and go straight to India (because China doesn't want to allow the Tibetans out). They told me that even if one does escape directly to India, Indian officials are extremely suspicious of the refugees; they suspect that they are Chinese spies if they actually are allowed by China to leave. Get it? So, instead of risking everything by escaping straight to India, most Tibetans try to get a visa to Nepal first. Nepal boarders both India and China. Once a person reaches Nepal, India allows the refugees free entrance in. No visa or nothing required. I would think that would piss China off. *shrugs*. Anyway. One of these two monks explained that he hasn't seen a single family member in 19 years... But that his mother is trying to get a visa to Nepal. It was a heartbreaking tale... But he stood there smiling, I could see the hope in his eyes. He held an entire bag of trinkets and prayer chords to have His Holiness bless so that he could send some to each family member. He held up a cloth tassel that he planned to send to his brother so he could hang it in his car.
The other monk talking with us told me he hadn't seen his family in 20 years. Once a Tibetan escapes Tibet, China doesn't let him/her return. For this reason both monks resort solely to phone calls to and from family members. However, This monk told me that it is widely accepted that one must be extremely cautious while on the phone with people in Tibet for fear of Chinese wire tapping. He told me that one time he said "don't you wanna come to India?" while on the phone with his mother... Causing his mom to freak out and become very uncomfortable. He now says that he restricts his phone calls for fear of the Chinese punishing his mother and family.

Y'all, this is real. I'm not saying that everything I have written is the absolute truth. But I am saying that the same stories have been repeated by many, many Tibetans. These people feel threatened by China everyday. They feel like refugees. Most Tibetans here were not alive during the actual takeover of Tibet and were born in India... but the spirits and hopes of these youngsters for a free Tibet is no less than those who crossed the Himalayas 50 years ago. I mean, that's what I have observed. I'm just a kid. Don't trust me.

The last thing I wanted to touch on is a story an Emory monk told me. He and 5 other monks are students (through this program I'm working with) at Emory. They have been going there for one year I think. So for the past while these monks have been meeting with Chinese study abroad students twice a month in order to have a dialogue about the conflict. About a million questions gargled and rumbled in my gut when he told me this. We all know that China has some serious media control regulations. Everything written in China must be OK with the government. Activism is not allowed (please note the blind, Chinese activist that just recently escaped to the US). And when there IS activism (such as the protests at Tianamen Square that lasted 7 weeks) civilians very often do NOT hear/know about it. So, the government of China is in control of what everyone hears. (You may know that Facebook is not accessible in China. I think some stockholders are hoping China will allow Facebook access to those billion people. Lol, as if.) Therefore, many Chinese citizens believe that Tibet has always been a rebellious part of China that holds violent people who want to overthrow everything and cause harm to everyone. So to get back to the meetings at Emory- the monks were completely flabbergasted to learn that these Chinese students were so clueless about their stories. The students just never had a way to know anything other than what China wanted them to know; it is obviously not the fault of anyone else but the government of China.
Around Sixteen years ago the current Dalai Lama named the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama (a high ranking teacher in Buddhist faith responsible for finding the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama). This child was stolen by the Chinese government. As in, China has admitted to the kidnapping of the child and his family. They call it "protective care". So anyway. This kid was stolen. And this kid has a huge responsibility...!! So the Chinese government has named a new Panchen Lama, which doesn't make any sense because the Lama was already named... And the Chinese government has no way of knowing who the crap the reincarnation of the Lama is. ANYWAY- 'missing' signs for the boy were displayed all over the palace. The Emory monks told me that the Chinese students recognized the new Panchen Lama as the real one. That is a problem. Wtf.


This was a rant, I now realize. I hope you can take something away from this post, though. If you feel that anything i have said is wrong, please tell me. Im not here to badmouth China. Lol and i certainly have nothing to gain politically from writing this... I just really wanna know what's going on. Also, don't tell China I told you.

PS; shout out to my bestie Kalia's momma! Hi!!

Random Things I Forgot

Quick bullet points containing forgotten details will be featured in this post.

-- The Internet is a serious problem for me here. In order to use the Internet I have to either wake up early as crap, or stay up in the dark outside of my room with the many many alien bugs. So I am rushing to write and keep service. Don't be offended.

-- I am starting to be good friends with some of the monks. They are so nice just constantly. And hilarious!! And cheerful!! And they always want to teach me about things.

-- One monk from not-our-classes asked me to go get pizza with him (alone) after class the other day. I said yes before I knew he wasn't in our class. Dad said no when I told him later on. We didn't know this monk. It was uncomfortable. Lol our monks told me I needed a bodyguard!!

--we had a birthday dinner/graduation party for the VP of Emory and the graduating monks two days ago. I sat at a table with only monks. This is what happened:
- one monk told me he joined the monastery to become a monk when he was nine because his home life was bad. His parents always fought each other. He said it wasn't a good life... So he left. His parents were sad because he was the only son they had.
- The computer boy from the program (Tibetan) told me that birthdays are not celebrated traditionally. He said that records of birthdays isn't even recorded a lot of the time. He said his parents don't really know how old he is!!!
- Some people provided entertainment at the dinner. One pair of Tibetan boys from the college performed a song they wrote that, translated, means "I dreamt I was in Tibet last night but I woke up in India so now I am sad"... One of the major lines in the song was in English-, "I am in exiiiiiiiiiile!" it was sad.
-my table was last in line for food, so I taught the monks the word 'caboose'. They repeated it for the rest of the meal.
- one monk told me how he used to hop a fence when he was young to go play games outside of his monastery. He described himself as a 'naughty monk' and we all laughed at him!
-many monks have told me how incredibly lucky I am to have been so close to the Dalai Lama. It made me feel shy and sorry that I had shaken his hand before these monks who have served the Buddhist faith and His teachings all their lives.

--in town the other day we were waiting for a taxi when a small girl came up to us carrying her baby brother. Both children were filthy dirty. Dirtier than any of the kids at Kitty's Flea market in Albany. They looked at us and made the same motion of eating with their hands as the child I had seen in Delhi. I nudged dad to give them money. He did.

- McLeodganj is a suburb made up of mostly Tibetans... But there are still many Indians working as sales people. Without going into much detail- Tibetan sales people are so much more pleasant to deal with on average. (that is so blatantly racist, omg. I'm just going to leave it though.)

- the Dalai Lama spoke a lot about Tibetan freedom the other day at his teaching.





And so that's it! A few culture notes and a racist comment for everyone to enjoy.

Field Trip

This morning I had a Skype date scheduled for way early. :-/ But my alarm didn't go off, so not only did I miss the Skype date, I was late to breakfast too. Because I was late to breakfast I ran into a monk that I otherwise might not have. He and I talked the other day about a Tibetan soccer tournament that was to be held here in Dharamsala. We both expressed how we wish we had the free time to ride to town to watch the game. This morning he came up to me and told me the Emory study abroad kids were going to watch the game! I was all like "shucks!"... but he said I should just ask to go!

On my way to make sure everything was prepared for today's lectures I ran into the man in charge of the Emory group. He invited me again. I told him I was worried about being a bad TA. He said I needed to come. Welp. I ran up to the classrooms and asked around. I was allowed to go!

We packed up into the car at 9am. The drive is beautiful, again. Tea fields are spread out everywhere along the way. We arrived in town. The sign said, 'Men Tsee Khang'. AKA, the 'Tibetan Medical & Astrological Institute'.

The first building we went into was the Astrology office. I don't believe in astrology, but they did. So they told us everything they do. They need your date, time, and place of birth, Plus a brief medical history in order to produce a horoscope. This horoscope could be one year long to one lifetime long. So I just don't believe any of this. Anyway.

Then we went into the museum area! This was much cooler to me. Many MANY different plants were out on display for us to see. Each plant seemed to have be labeled as the cure to several disorders... for instance- one pill was said to fix leprosy, epilepsy, and gastro types of disorders. The guide explained that Tibetan Buddhist belief revolves around balance. In medicine's case- balance of the body. He explained how Western medicine is made to only treat one problem... which may unbalance the body. He said it is necessary to keep one's body balanced, so these pills aim to help with all-around health. The area from which each plant is picked is a big factor in it's usage. For instance, if one has a fever- it would be necessary to use a plant that was harvested from a high-altitude; these are plants with a cooling nature.

Next we visited the pharmacy factory! The VP of Emory was with us... so we were allowed in even though no visitors are ever allowed to enter. Yippee!!!
This place was pretty bomb. All sorts of sorting and all wraps of wrapping were taking place here. Pills were sun-drying and plants were grinding. It looked like a Tibetan Willy Wonka factory.

Then we had tea in the Temple. His Holiness the VP of Emory sat on a couch apart from all of us. Anyways. People asked questions. Basically Buddhism is about Mind + Body (and also the release of suffering). Science and Buddhism can coexist easily because science seems to complement the Buddhist teachings very well. For instance, today a lady told me a story about how a monk she taught about cells in biology told her that ancient Buddhist texts emphasize eating well because their are millions of tiny sentient beings living inside of you that you are responsible for keeping healthy. The monk told her that her science class proved this text! Cells in the body need energy and nutrients to function to keep him going!
Another thing I wanted to point out really quickly is that His Holiness is known to have stated that if science ever disproves a teaching in Buddhism then the teaching will need to be revised. Well would you look at that.

Then we had lunch. It was during this time that I became friends with the VP's daughter. She is a very cool person. Who will never read this blog.

Then :-D soccer game!!! We trekked some way up the mountain to a large stadium with a dirt field and no stadium seats... but dug out dirt seating on. Like, the field was in a valley that they dug out of the ground, so all the seats were on the edge of the hole. Get it?? So yeah, the place was PACKKKEEDDD. We struggled to find good seats. Lol we didn't. Then it started to rain. And by 'rain' I mean 'serious hail'. Therefore- I climbed on top of a roof that had some covering. These players were GOODDD!! It was the championship match of the Tibetan Gold Cup between two teams that I have know idea who they are, but I do know that one team is made up of refugees from Nepal and one team is made of refugees from India. We voted for the Indian team. The weather was so bad at halftime that we decided to leave. This was a scary walk down a slippery mountain.

I bought things to be blessed by His Holiness tomorrow. Oh yeah, forgot to tell you- we are having a private audience with the Dalai Lama tomorrow. I'm just an under-qualified lucky batch. *shrugs*

Love ya'll.

First time touching THE 14th DALAI LAMA

We woke up as early as usual. Everyone here at the school was rushing and informing us of plans. The plan was for all of us faculty, monks, and Emory study abroad students to go the Tibetan Children's Village ( http://www.tcv.org.in/ ) in McLeodganj to hear His Holiness present his final teaching of three planned for our stay. This particular teaching was the only one we were all able to go to because we have been working... PLUS- it was the first official graduation ceremony for the 5th year monks in our class! It was a monumental day in the program for this reason.

I kinda didn't know what was going on... or how big of a deal this whole program is... now I do.

We arrived via taxi to the auditorium wayyy early. So we spent out time chillin' in front of the building watching all the chaos unfold as the leaders of the whole shebang tried to pull everything together. I was starting to get the the idea that this was a bigger deal than I had thought, even though I knew it was pretty huge to begin with.

We stood there with our badges for an hour, I think. Most of the time I was watching a skinny white man with HUGE earphones, black dentist face mask, and winter jacket meditate (I guess) while standing in front of the building. I was anxious looking at him. If he were doing that in an airport- he would have been arrested immediately. But in this case, everyone just watched and pondered. Eventually opened his eyes and walked over to the door where two men stood with machine guns. And started the ritual again. Right next to the back entrance to the stage. Suspicious. I felt like a complete jerk daydreaming that he were hired by someone to... I mean. I dunno. That jacket was big. Ya'll know I've been sweating. Just, suspicious. (now I feel like a jerk again)

Finally we walk in through the metal detector and onto the stage. We walked single-file to our cushions on the floor on stage left. The audience was unbelievable. Completely huge. Thousands of Tibetan students sat looking at us in their uniforms. I looked up to see the Emory students in the back looking down at us. As I looked down while walking to my cushion I saw our monk students looking up at me from the front row. I smiled big and waved. They are so cute.

We sat...

Across from us on the other side of the stage sat other monks and teachers. In the center of the stage sat a throne obviously meant for His Holiness. The throne has a side table with flowers and a stack of fruits. Finally, my eyes fell upon his holiness. (that sounded dramatic)

He sat in front of a desk with his back to the students in the audience. I could see him well. He was practicing his teaching. After about 10 minutes, He rang a bell, the room fell silent, and he moved to his throne.

Then, he spoke in Tibetan for about an hour. We all had little radios with earphones so that we could hear real-time translation. The translation/radio sucked butt. Nonetheless, I sat listening and trying to piece together the few sentences I actually caught. Luckily we were all given books too. The book was what the teachings were based off of. I will spare you the little details. Also, I will spare you the summary of the teaching... but only because I have no summary.... I really didn't get it. He started where we left off from the previous day, in Tibetan, with horrible translation, about things that I just don't really know about. Just being honest. But I listened. The things I did grasp were inspiring enough for a small capacity peasant like me.

He was a great speaker.

After the teaching was completed we began the graduation ceremony. The Tibetan organizer of the program (ETSI) spoke a few words, the Vice President accredited with the start of the program (who I'm just not particularly fond of) spoke some words (that were so typical and faux-inspiring and I just didn't really like him) about how he is just so happy for the success of the program (but mainly his personal success, I'm sure). Then other things happened and people talked and the monks came up on stage to receive their diplomas. All of the graduated shook His Holiness's hand and received a blessed white scarf called a 'khata'. I researched these before I came to India... so I was like all jealous and wanted one. Oh it was just inspiring. So that was the end of the ceremony. Then we left.

JUST KIDDING!

THEEEENNNNN someone else gave a speech about the importance of teachers or something... I can't remember because I was becoming severely anxious about what was about to happen. The spoke. And then... we were called to the front of the stage to receive our own khatas...

Ouch, I will never forget the feeling I had when we were called up. At first, I wouldn't stand. I didn't think I was supposed to because I was just the TA. So I sat, and Dad insisted I stand to walk up there... but jesus, Dad usually doesn't know what's going on. What if I walked up there and they only had enough scarves for the teachers?! Disaster! But Dad made me stand. I felt like falling. I felt uncomfortable and like I wasn't supposed to be there. This was more stressful than the feeling of meeting Colbie Caillat, Jason Reeves, Nelly Furtado, and The Weeknd all at once.. and equivalent to meeting all 5 of the Spice Girls for lunch. I was about to cry. But I walked up. I don't remember who was standing next to him or who whispered to him over my shoulder saying "the assistant" to introduce me... but I remember him placing the khata over my neck and shaking my hand and looking at me in the face.

And so that was that.

We returned to our seats and he spoke for a while in Tibetan, but then he summarized in English what he had said. He inspired the crap out of me to study hard. That's all I can really muster up to say about that.

I didn't wanna talk to anyone after the ceremonies. I kept telling Dad to shut up. I just needed to chill and think for a while. Look, I'm not a hardcore Buddhist. I'm not religious at all, we all know that. I don't get starstruck badly ever. And I'm normally a very calm person when it comes to serious situations. But something about this situation was different. This man is an idol humanitarian. I don't really wanna go much further into this for fear of not doing a good enough job at it.

Then we left. And ate lunch. And shopped for hours. And had an average day.




(This is too long to edit tonight. Goodnight.)

Random Things to Catch Up On

This post is about random things and the day before yesterday. I have been so busy that I have had no time to blog. I will mail you all apology-cookies .

The day before yesterday was a normal day. It was the day that I had tea out with the monks. After the tea we had class one more time. Then at 5:30 we were freeeee!!!

Characters: Me, Dad, Korean woman, other teacher.

Setting: Town on the edge of a mountain called McLeod Ganj. A suburb of Dharamsala.

Purpose of trip: to kick back, relax, and apparently to talk about everything I have no idea about.

Happenings:

We arrived out on the town with spring in our step. Mountain air in out lungs! Lurking danger of (literally) falling off the mountain! I has happy to be in town with people who knew their way around. They led us right to the stoop of their favorite restaurant for a nice mountain supper. It wasn't much different from sea level supper. ANYWAY. Wait, before we made it to the restaurant we were walking through the town. I was actually skipping, if I remember correctly. All of a sudden, out of the nowhere blue, a little Indian boy with big brown eyes popped up next to me and said, "Oh wow, nice haircut!" I thanked him and continued walking... But he ran to keep up! So we talked. Well, mainly I interviewed him. Question question question. He answered me in nearly perfect English. I told him he was the best English speaker I have met in India so far. He was flattered. Some of his answers to my questions were: I don't go to school. I don't have parents. My name is Sourage. I live alone over behind there. I learned English by talking on the streets. I am begging.
By the time he informed me that he was a beggar... We had reached the the entrance to the supper place. The boy asked for rice. I said I had no money. He said he doesn't need money, he needs food. I had to follow my group and I got scared of getting lost... So I told the boy to wait until we were done. "Wait on this street, I will find you!"

The restaurant was Indian. It had many stories, many nooks and crannies, stairs, many tables, and then- rooftop!! So duh we ate on the roof. We all got big Kingfisher beers. Kingfisher 'strong' for men, and Kingfisher 'light' for us little baby weak girls. We sipped and talked for forever. Also, we took pictures on the roof with the mountains behind us. How romantic. So we talked talk talked talk. I asked the two professors all about their work and research, followed by burning questions I had about the color red, hypnotizing chickens, optimal reading light, and graduate school. Most of the questions I had they couldn't really answer. So I just ate my food. Talk talk talked. The majority of the time they talked about their grown-up lives and grown-up travels and grown-up situations, all of which I was completely uninterested in. I think we were there for a day and a half. They all told me about their school experience and getting their confidence knocked by advisors (this was helpful and inspiring). Finally, with a few beers in all of us, we left the restaurant in search of a taxi.

But then I remembered Sourage.

I don't see him anywhere...

So I just left town. That was the 2nd time I had left a begging child empty handed.

We made it home safely in the dark down the mountain. We joked and laughed. Good folks.




Now, some quick random facts.

-as many of you know, I like picking up free money on the ground. Last semester I picked up a free $50 in coins. I always say- "every time you save a penny from the floor, you have more money." Sometimes I say, "the only thing free in this country is coined money on the ground."
Uh, no. The only thing free in THIS country is dust, dirt, and sun. Not a single piece of money to be found on the ground here. (even so... My eyes are locked on the ground out of habit.)

-this is the best place for a beginner vegetarians like me. Every single place has a large and well-labeled vegetarian section in the menu. Also, no one asks you where you're getting your protein from or WHY you have made such a dramaaaticccc life choice. It's just normal. Everyone is so helpful about telling me if there is meat in a dish.

-The Korean teacher is not Korean. Her parents are not from Korea. She has never been Korean and never will be Korean. So now I'm just gonna call her by her name- Lena.

- Momma, I'm looking for a spoon still.... :-/. Everyone else, I'm dealing with small amounts of my father's money to buy gifts. That's just the truth. I didn't bring money to spend. I'm just saying... Don't get your hopes up about sparkling gold gifts and spices from exotic India.

- love y'all.

Learning Tibetan

Today has been good so far! Remember yesterday how I said I skipped meditation? Turns out- there was no meditation yesterday! Or today!

I wanna focus this post around a particular conversation.
After class I was walking to tea, but I stopped to talk to one of the monks I have spoken to a lot since being here. He invited me to have tea with him and the monks instead of having tea with all the teachers and translators as I usually would. I asked if it cost money, he said yes, so I declined, but he insisted! So I went! Glad I did!!
This monk is very nice (duh). He has been studying at Emory for the past year! His English is very good. We met up with three other monks back behind a tea/goods shop run by Indians. We spoke over tea for the entire break.

So, my suspicions were confirmed; the monks like soccer. Lol I didn't tell y'all that was just a suspicion, oh I'm bad. So we talked about how Manchester United is rude and Barcelona FC plays beautifully and how players from Holland play uniquely. Lol, isn't that ridiculous!? These people aren't allowed to play any games at their monasteries. They are so sneaky to know all these world-soccer facts.
They all asked me about where I lived and about my school. I asked about their outfits and what the different colors mean on their clothes. They asked if i was happy here in Dharamsala. Of course I am.
For some reason I feel like monks are seen by the average person as being completely uniform and calm and quiet. As with any group of people, this is not the case! Each monk I meet is completely different from the others (what a silly thing to point out, I know... I just don't know exactly how I can explain this right... These are people, not gerbils. But obviously my 2 gerbils have completely different personalities, so one can infer that, duh, every individual human has a unique personality. Ugh, why am I mentioning this again??) . My god, they are funny. It is especially funny because in order to make a joke to me many of them must resort to hand motions and facial expressions- this is fun because they explain things so differently than we would! Basically- I would predict that playing Draw Something with a monk would be a freakin' HOOT.
At the end of the break I started asking the monk who invited me (I'm closest with him) how to say different things in Tibetan. I started a list. I will know Tibetan fluently by the end of this trip. Yay!

I'm in the middle of a review period for the monks and it's funny, so I'm going to go. Lol one of them is telling me what they are saying and the jokes!

Tibet

As we know, Tibet and China have problems.
Dad is completely unaware of anything that happens in Asia because all he cares about is Europe where his ancestors lived. Whatever.

We are in a place where Tibetans have escaped the Chinese to try their best to preserve there culture and traditions. Many, many other countries hold refugees, but India is probably the country with the most. As far as I know, the Tibetans here in India are living here illegally without visa or permit or 'green card' or nothin'. Other countries allow Tibetans in too... but they won't acknowledge them legally. The reason for this is that they don't wanna piss off China. China is extremely powerful, duh. China's trade is absolutely necessary for the US, as well as practically like every country. So, for a country to stand up and publicly insult the Chinese government by acknowledging Tibet is a total no-no. You can't just do that. Japan won't speak up, Korea won't, no one will. I spoke to a woman from Taiwan (also a country dealing with China in this way kinda) who explained to us that Taiwan does not agree with China... but chooses to deal with it in a quiet way. For instance, she is here in India to teach Chinese to the Tibetans so that they can better negotiate with the Chinese. It's her way of contributing to the liberation process. I heard yesterday Canada gave His Holiness citizenship, actually. What makes Canadians decide to be so right all the time?! Maybe it's Ice Therapy or something?...bahaha.
Like I said, Dad is completely unaware of anything, but- instead of asking ME, a student who just took a course in school on all this, he asks Tibetans and monks and Chinese people. This turns into super awkward situations at meal times. Maybe it's just me being 21 years old and thinking my father is awk. But maybe his complete disregard for anything not-Roman or Greek is finally catching up to him.

-Make an effort to figure out where you're going before you get there.
-Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
-Dads don't know everything.
-China is scary.
-Don't rant on your dad too much, but you can sometimes.

Summary of Day 3!

So, this is my third post of the day. I hope you're keeping track.

Today we did the Legos I told you about. Afterwards, we played with the heart monitors we put on the monks yesterday. Today is 24 hours after yesterday- so, in theory, we should be able to download a whole day's worth of data from their monitors and look at them on the computer screen!

Lol yeah.

So, these monks have no concept of technology because there is no need for them to. But what happens when a bunch of western scientists come and shove technology in your faces? - confusion and chaos.

Most groups got their data downloaded... But many struggled mostly because during the 24 hour period a button was pushed and data was lost... Lol this was awkward to deal with. But it was okay! We worked around it and I ran around the room and data was flying everywhere. We showed the monks on a line graph of their data what their heart was doing as they slept. They liked that I think.

Toward the end of this class I was called out by the head of the program. Omgomgomg.
She wanted me to sit down with the other class to show them how to use the monitors by themselves. She introduced me as the expert and that made me blush. But anywho. I sat down and taught them everything they needed to know. I even explained the concept of 'scrolling' on technological equipment! < useful information. It was good. I liked having one-on-one time with them.
Now I'm just stressing out about if they are using the monitors right!!!!!!!

I guess I will find out tomorrow. Maybe they will be able to catch me on campus to ask questions.

Also- yesterday I stepped out of a car only to twist my ankle and acquire a small cut on it. I mean, just in case you would like to know that.

Continuation

lol, sorry for being dramatic. I'll explain later.

So to continue my story...

The typing test was to show the monks that, in addition to repetition, sleep can help your motor memory. So, even though you're sleeping, your brain is still working! We went over all of their scores on the typing test, the results and such. It was very fun.

Next, I came here to write that blog- thinking I had a whole period of free time because the next 2 classes were just lectures. BUT- there was a problem with the printer that prints out the lectures in Tibetan for the monks! So we needed to call someone to come up the mountain and bring us supplies. BUT- the road was closed because the police are on strike or something... so the delivery man just went up the road as usual, which woulda been sneaky and fine. BUT- he was caught! SO- everything on our schedule was moved all around. That's why the instructors needed me!
The class that needed my help was doing another form of memory test. This test involved 2 hours of LEGOS (my major love when I was a little boy)!! Two of those pictures were posted on the facebook. The monks, of course, have never seen Legos... so it was a TRIP trying to show them how they all went together. But they figured out their own way to play with them (entire cars were made out of upside-down legos). One group constructed the twin towers, the empire state building, the statue of liberty, the streets of new york, AND the metro! It was fantastic! Others built temples and things. It was fun, fine, and fascinating. After, we had each group get up to present their creations by explaining what everything was (in order to help their memory of the pieces). Now, the point of THIS activity is to show how memory is fallible. As in, memory is constructed in pieces and can be triggered by other memories... but there is no way you can remember every little piece of everything. In a few days we will have each group try to reconstruct their buildings exactly how they were. We'll know if they do it right because we took pictures and counted each god-forsaken PIECE. It was fun. Oh, and I'm laying on my bed which feels as limestone would against my back and butt. Ya'll are all sleeping. I'm sending positive dream energy to you right now. Oooommmmmmmmm!

Quick Update

A few side notes:
- My whole body feels like the back of a sticky note. I sweat all day everyday. But I drink a lot of water.
- Every time I see my left hand I think of the time I was henna-assaulted in Agra. The evidence is still here.
- Monks like soccer.
- Tibetans are as stylish as the Japanese.
- The best food I have had since being here are the 6 boiled eggs I've had.

I'm going to be honest with you all- I skipped meditation this morning. I'm fool of such small capacity... :-(. But it's okay. I have spent too much time out of my days trying to contact people in America. I don't wanna do that anymore.
This morning the monks completed the 2nd part of a motor memory test. They started the test yesterday during the last class (at which time I was in town with Tibetans). Yesterday the monks practiced typing "42132" in a word document over and over as fast as possible. They took note of how many time they got the sequence of numbers right. Then, they all left class and slept through the night. This morning, the same task was repeated. The scores improved, of course. This task was meant to show them that repetition UH OH GOTTA GO OMG!!!!! THEY NEED ME!!

Heart Rate Monitor Experiment!

List of Leigh Anna's top 3 fears:
-Wasps in ears
-Wasps
-Idk, heights or something
Wasps in India are different than wasps in America. They are exotic, but in the bad way. In other words, I'm dealing with an alien species of my worst fear on a daily basis.

Today we woke up and meditated because that's the way things are around here. Soon after I ran to the lecture rooms to make sure everything was set up and the air conditioners were on.
Today was fun :-D. We split one class of monks into groups of 4 and then gave them 2 heart monitors. We were running around the room making sure they were all set up right! They kept mashing buttons! lol. But anyway, we got them all fixed up. The teacher's plan is to show the monks that the heart rate is controlled by the brain, not only during physical activity, but also in times of stress, anger, and other emotions. We are just trying to draw a connection between mind and body for them. We had the monks relax and take their heart rate. Then we made them stand up and take it. THEN we performed what is called the Trier Social Stress Test. For this test, Dad randomly picked a monk from the class to come up in front of everyone to answer questions. While in front of the class- I sat next to the monk and pretended to record everything he/she was saying! We took the monk's heart rate before and after the questions were asked. This test showed the monks how their heart rate was controlled by their mind without exercise! Isn't that cute!!!?!? Gah, it was so fun.
These monks are so nice (duh). Many have come up to talk to me. They call me Anna. One monk told me about the experiment his group is planning on performing. It was good!

During the next class, both groups had a debate. This was RIDICULOUS! Two monks would sit on the ground, while the challenging monk would stand up and yell and clap their hands LOUD after each point they made! THIS WAS WILD! I was laughing. We got good pictures, but I will have to upload them later cuz my laptop is about to diiieee. Story of my life (soml). :-) :-D miss yall. kinda.

Indian Men

So I have been meaning to write down my feelings and observations of India men since I first landed. I don't know why I have forgotten to do this for so long, but maybe it will spice up this blog a little bit.
Hopefully. Beware of sarcasm in this post, please.

As we all know- I am very beautiful. So, I'm used to people starring at me for long periods of time. However, I have never experienced the sort of stares that I have been receiving in India. I have been starred at more here than I have ever been in all of my days combined. When I say 'stare', this is what I mean- Long, continuous face stares. Right into my face. Right down through the windows to my soul. And right through the back of my head. That's the kind of stare I get from about 85% of men who see me in the towns. They are not rude about it. They don't make 'kissy lips' or whistle or winks or anything like that. They legit just STARE THROUGH MY FACE. It is for this reason that I am not offended. But it's still a thing to get used to. Some younger men (like my age) would see me driving past and holler something to get my attention. But those hollers weren't creepy in any way, I don't think. They just wanted my attention. I actually read about all this before I came... but the blogs I read saw these stares in a more negative light. It's just because I'm a foreigner with blue eyes and blonde hairs, I guess. At least, that's why I assume women and children stare at me. The blogs I read before traveling revealed that looking a man in his eyes is a sign of availability or something? Like an invitation. I don't really care about that. I freakin' stare at their faces too. But mostly I have my sunglasses on, so they can't see my eyes (I use this tactic in the States too ;-P ). Stare Stare Stare. It's innocent, as far as I can tell. Who cares?
However, if someone touches me I WILL be relocated to an Indian prison following my retaliation. xoxo

First Day on the Job

First lemme say this because I'm freaking out. I'm on a roof type area at the place where I'm staying. There is a monkey running in the tree next to me. When I look at the monkey, but shift my eyes a little to the left- I can see a snow-capped Himalayan mountain.

So that's what it happening in my life right now. What did I do in a past life to get me here?

To introduce this new section of blogging I need to lay down a few basic things. There are four main character groups that I need to define for you.

The teachers: This is the group I am involved in. This is devised of 5 teachers from Emory who have been invited to teach the monks here.

The Monks: These are Buddhist monks from all over the world, as far as I know. They are varied in age. Some are very old! They are here to learn about science! As I said before- China and Tibet have serious conflicts right now. Buddhism is not allowed under strict Chinese law, so some monks have escaped Tibet, but some have come from Nepal and other random places.

Study abroad students: These are students from mainly Emory who are here taking classes and doing other various activities. They are all my age and nice.

Tibetan Students: These are Tibetan students who are in college at this university. Sarah University. They are just like us :-). And extremely cute. This one guy shook my hand as we introduced each other and winked. SO charming!! These students and their families are living without a homeland. Their culture is being flushed out by the Chinese. Tibetans today are trying their best to preserve their heritage. It's really a sad situation... and I can feel myself becoming obsessed.


Ok, so we woke up this morning. I woke up 2 hours early on accident. But I waited, and at 6:30 (or something) we went to the main temple on the campus (the campus is VERY small). In the temple we all sat down on mats. The study abroad students in the middle of the room, the Tibetan students and monks all around us. In front of us, leading the situation, were 3 head monks. After we were all seated and ready the monks started chanting. A lot. Chant, chant, chant. Just like in the documentaries. We all began to meditate (or try). I was much more worried that I wasn't doing something right. Shut up! It was an intense situation! Then, the monks beed ('to be' in the past tense) quiet. Then we meditated some more. For only like, 15 minutes. We are beginners.
After this meditation we had a staff meeting. I shoulda read more about all the plans and stuff before arriving. Nonetheless, I worked today! I worked just fine and I feel like I was super helpful.
We began work with an introduction class period. In this class all of us were introduced to the monks. The monks sat on the floor smiling at us the whole time. I felt under-qualified, but I smiled right back; I couldn't stop! I stood up and introduced myself. The translator translated. And we were on our way. Next, I began assisting teachers. I spent the majority of my time with a lesbian, Korean?, GA Tech professor, smart, powerful, woman- AKA, my freakin' IDOL. We were setting up and testing heart rate monitors. This was embarrassing, I think... because when we were testing out the machines my resting heart rate was very high as I sat in front of her... and much lower when she left the room.
We worked on those, then did a lot of other stuff, crap, and junk. Then we did another class with the older students. These students are going to be conducting their own experiments this year! For the next two weeks they will be listening to lectures, but also working out their projects outside of class. The teachers explained the project, then it was over.
Next, we had tea. After tea I was invited to listen in to the study abroad's class lecture. The people in the class are nice, like I had said. Their class was about Buddhism, which I thought I had a good understanding of. lol. So many things were happening. :-) I'm looking forward to learning more.

Miss ya'll. I'm having a blast. I forgot to be funny.

Drive and Arrival in Dharamsala.

Namaste!
Today I from Delhi to Dharamsala for about 12 hours. During this trip I saw the countryside of India. I have good news and bad news. You'll get the good news first (because I'm in charge of everything). Good: Like I suspected, not all of India is covered with trash. In fact- the majority of what I have now seen of the country is clean! Boom! I was becoming very anxious about my blog portraying only negative details, and therefore skewing your perception of India... BUT I WORRY NO MORE! What I had been exposed to in the past few days has been slummy. What I saw today was very pleasant ^_^ ! Boy, I was worried I wouldn't see pleasant. I certainly did today.
Remember before I ranted when I said I had bad news? Yeah. So, Bad: All Indians drive the same. I went through mountains with no railings over cliffs of a billion feet in Costa Rica and I thought I was gonna just die. But add on to those conditions the Indian road-culture. How do you think I reacted to this equation? WRONG. I was fine. Key Word: "Desensitization". Definition: When you have almost lost your life enough times to where it just doesn't matter anymore and you hop into the front seat of the Toyota.
lol, no really, I was mostly fine today. I did a lot of thinking today in the car. When a child is exposed to a certain stimulus enough times through development, they grow accustomed and well adapted to handling that situation. In other words, every Indian has dealt with car in their faces enough times to where they are just simply WAY BETTER with awareness. That's my simple explanation.
I just realized that I am getting tore up by mosquitoes.

Culture Shock

Key concept: "Culture Shock"
Definition: When one's mind continuously relays the phrase, "omgomgomg what's going on omgomg."

I'm now going to tell you some things about India. I'm just gonna spit them out in no order because I'm trying to hurry because we have a car coming to pick us up in an hour or something. These are things I noted in the Agra-Delhi car ride.


Notes:

-Indians are very often BEAUTIFUL. In the poorest of areas one can see model-gorgeous people! Stunning eyes and pretty faces. Children are a-freakin'-dorable. I yelp every time I see a toddler.

-Billboards always display light-skinned Indians. I thought this was interesting considering that the average person I've seen is much darker. "Paint my face in your magazine. Make it look whiter than it seems." -Nelly Furtado sings that. This happens all over the world. South Korean pop stars use powder in music videos to appear whiter. hmm.

-Guys hold hands as they walk places sometimes. Men are very comfortable with touching each other while talking.

-Even if an Indian only knows 3 phrases in English, one of those phrases is "no problem". This makes me feel very secure.

** So now I will talk about the driving. This may be boring for you to read. But I want to remember my thoughts and notes. 1st, Pictures:




- I have heard this phrase thrice since I've been here: "Good horn, good brakes, good luck." This is the only law for the roads in India. (with the exception of New Delhi, which I have not been to. It supposedly has traffic laws.)
- I describe a trip on Indian roads as ' constant severe danger.'
- I would describe road-culture as 'functional anarchy'.
- A bike hit us yesterday. Insurance companies were not called.
-I have been on the roads for more than 12 hours so far since being here. I have not seen a single wreck or damaged car on the side of the road. No doubt, if I drive from Atlanta to Sylvester I will see more than 3 accidents. Hence, "functional".
- I was thinking about how I would want to start a neighborhood committee that would aim to lessen street dangers and would rally to produce a safer environment. Soon after I thought that- I unthought it because there is absolutely NO need- as no one seems to be scared or hurt. Roads appear to be dangerous while they actually produce no harm. It's like an optical illusion.
- Drivers hardly never use their rear-view mirrors, as there is too much happening in front of them to have time to peek behind! CHAOS.
-People run across the road without looking. Mothers hold babies on the back of motorcycles with one hand as the child sleeps, bounce bounce! Dangerous weaving by monstrous trucks.
-Every driver on the road is only looking out for his vehicle. Drivers try to find the shortest and fasted route to destination. This means they swerve all around the road and shoot through tiny spaces and do not wait for others or let others in front of them and no one WAITS A SECOND!!- they just GO!
- Our driver's strategy was to stay straddling the center line of a 2-lane road as to get a better view of the entire road. This way, he could weave left or right faster, depending on where other cars are. This is the same strategy I use for Temple Run. This man was using this strategy with my LIFE.
- I have detected some sort of honking language. Indians know if a honk means, "I'm right here!" "Move!" "What's up?" "I'm coming!" "I'm about to pass you" and "I'm literally about to smash all your lives together!".
- Intersections in India can be described like this: Close your eyes and imagine Spaghetti Junction. We know that Spaghetti Junction can feed cars onto I-85, 285 East, 285 West, and several other highways/roads. Imagine Spaghetti Junction, in all it's glory, without any side railings. Dangerous, huh? Now, imagine what Spaghetti Junction would look like if an over-sized elephant sat on it to squash all the bridges to one level. Without railings. Without stop lights. And with cars freely choosing which side of the road they want to travel on. This is a typical intersection in India.
- I read something that mentioned a study that showed that Indian cows prefer to be in the street because the toxic fumes from cars keeps flies away.
- No India appears scared. When we almost smash into someone while holding the horn... the pre-squashed person doesn't even look at us. They say, "Well I've never gotten hit before!"

That's all I wanna say about traffic. Now, we speak on TRASH. Obviously I have not been all over India, so I cannot speak to that degree. But here's the summary of the trash where I have been. Here are pictures.





- Trash is everywhere.
- Animals eat the trash. I have also seen humans looking for treasures in trash piles. Severe poverty.
- Boys pee wherever they darn please. And not how boys pee in Sylvester behind their truck or in bushes. But on town walls. Disclaimer: I must now point out to you that I have also done this in my adult life.
- I know people who cut Coke 6-pack plastic before disposing of them in trash cans for fear dolphins will die if they don't. India is laughing at you. These animals are fine.
- My ipod with my notes on this topic died :-/


END.

Taj Mahal and Day 2

I have been trying to upload photos onto the facebook,,, but the internet connection must not be good enough. So just remember all the things I say for so when I DO upload them- you'll know the story behind each one.
I'm in an awkward place in my head as I prepare to write; I don't know what you wanna hear about. Like, do you want the story of my day? Or my thoughts on the culture? Imma try to do both.
This morning I woke up accidentally 15 minutes before I was supposed to. AKA, 5 o'clock AM. I ate a protein bar and then we left for the Taj Mahal(which we could already see from our hotel window)! We even had a tour guide THANK GOD. Side Note: When I have a lot of unanswered questions my tummy gets really tight and I get anxious and rude. This morning I was beyond ecstatic to find out that we had a guide because I have been MISERABLE since arriving here because of my load of unanswered questions. But now I had a tour guide who I could use as my Wikipedia app. blahgh!
So we're at the Taj Mahal at sunrise (cuz daz how ya dooo it)and there were monkeys all around and camels. Little children wanted to shake my hand and teens wanted their pictures with me. Miley Cyrus status. So, here is a picture of me+Taj Mahal:


So, the Taj was beautiful and it took almost 22 years to build and it was build 400+ years ago it was built out of love and it was majestic and hand crafted and a work of art. It's one of the 7 wonders of the world. So that's that :-D. Daddy took ~894639 photographs of the place. I cut it down to about 1/3 of that and they will be on Facebook soon enough.
After the Taj we went to "The Red Fort". This was a very large place where the kings and queen and army lived. You can google that too, but pics will be up.
Then, our tour guide took us to various shops that had OBVIOUSLY paid him to do so. We bought things like tea and books. Doing this caused me to become exhausted. PERSISTENT SALES PEOPLE. I can't BARE. They all make me sit places and look at things and drink drinks and pay attention and answer questions and LOOK AT MORE THINGS. Even after we have paid a shop owner and are walking out of the shop's doors,,, he will ask us if we want to see ONE MORE thing. I can't deal with people asking me if I want things this much. Trust me, when I want something- I GET IT :-P. I don't want earrings. (Last night I wasn't hungry at the hotel restaurant. I was just chillin' with Dad. But Dad kept asking and asking if I wanted naan or juice. Then the waiter would ask me if I wanted naan or juice. I had to leave. So many questions. Omg, I forgot, I'm sorry, no more ranting.)
shopshopshopshopshop.
So now we are done with shopping and sightseeing in Agra! :-( ahh! Time to drive home. This time on the drive I took notes of things I thought of. That will come during my next blog entry after I nap. We have had busy days (lol, I've only been here for 2 days and done so much), busy bizy days.
You're all sleeping and I'm alone. bye. :-P


One more picture for yalllll!

That was our guide.
(I'm really just worried about ya'll seeing how cute I am in my Indian pants. The real photos of the actual India will be up on Facebook later so just calm down.)