First, I should begin with a formal apology to my mom: while I was sick I was able to write her numerous times to tell her my latest news. With my newfound health, however, I have been back to my Energizer self with little free time, so she has again had to go through Alex-withdrawal. My sincerest apologies; hopefully this makes up for it.
After my breakfast of fresh, warm nan with natural peanut butter, eggs, and chai tea, I meet my group at 8:30 am to begin work at the elementary school. Everyday we have been painting a fence and building and bedding a garden until noon. We walk the 20 minutes up the mountain to the school, passing an average of at least 40 roadside monkeys, relaxing on the shoulder or rummaging through the garbage along with the roaming cows and the crows. I learned quickly not to walk with food in hand, for they are not at all gun shy to approach you directly expecting you to share.
After walking back, I would work on the Rogpa storefront mural until I either volunteer in ROGPA Cafe from 1:30 until 8:00 pm or until I volunteer at Conversational English at 4:30. The mural will go in front of the Rogpa shop with the Rogpa logo and a big psychedelic landscape (artistic vision gratis of David from England.) I'm not going to lie: I'm pretty excited for the Dali Lama to pass our shop front on the main strip and ooh and ah over our work. No autographs, please; this is our humble donation to Rogpa's greater and worthy cause. Rogpa Shop and Cafe is a non for profit community space designed to create opportunities for unemployed Tibetans, local entrepreneurs, writers and artists while promoting ethical consumerism. The Rogpa Charitable Trust is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Tibetan culture and empowering low-income Tibetan refugees to become self-sufficient. Initiatives include the Baby Care Center providing free childcare to working Tibetan parents, the Raise the Tibetan Flag Campaign, and the Vocational Training Center. (tibetrogpa.org.) I take ingredients in and out of the fridge, make cafe lattes, serve pie, do dishes, and make sandwiches, in a nutshell. But perhaps my most worthy contribution is chatting with travelers from all over and dancing behind the counter with Richie (also English) to the radio. We like to think that we attract more customers this way.
For the Conversational English, Tibetans and English speaking travelers are welcome. It is a marvelous set up to provide practical practice with English for Tibetans, and travelers benefit as well by learning about Tibetan culture. There are support organizations all over this town just like this one to help Tibetans run by westerners. It is wonderful that westerners can come to a place like this with living relatively inexpensive enough that they can afford to volunteer extendedly and not see any income.
In the evenings, I return home to my host family for what is always a delicious dinner sitting at the end of my bed (where I sleep is also dining room/ living room/ tv room) watching Chinese soap operas dubbed in Tibetan or world news with my family.
There have also been the other minor excursions: early morning hike to waterfall before work, visit to Dali Lama's temple, perusing shops, watching sunset from mountains, and today a visit down to Daramsala where we were blessed by the Karmapa (the head of one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism) in his temple and followed by a visit to Norbalinka. Norbalinka, which literally means the summer palace of the Dali Lama, is now used as a museum for the preservation of Tibetan art forms. On our tour, we saw artists at work on the famous intricate Tibetan Tonka paintings, Tonka fabric designs, wood carvings, and repousse' copper and tin moldings or life-size Buddhas. These pieces are all made with completely traditional methods using neither big machinery nor long assembly lines.
Yesterday was Alex's excursion day. Before our home stay began, the rest of the group did a mountain trek and stayed the night, but I was still too sick. But now with my newfound health and energy, I could not pass up the opportunity when it arose. Three Australian that I had met were making the trek and staying the night even further up the mountain, so I went along. At 7:30 am with warm gear and my host mom's fresh baked brown Tibetan bread in tow, we headed up the mountain. Mcleod Ganj itself is at 1,800 meters, but in the eight total hours of hiking up and down we must have reached at least 4,000 meters. After we reached Triund, the usual destination at one peak with a scant one guesthouse, two food stands, and a couple of mules, we continued on. We had our sights set higher. We had our sights set on snow. Two days past it had rained in Mcleod Ganj, and the mountain peak in the distance was covered in snow. While I, in general, would usually cherish a late November too warm for snow, my excitement grew with that of the three Australians who had never before seen water in this peculiar, new snow form. As it is becoming chillier quickly, we were sharing the mountain with very few others, so the feeling was complete majesty. An image from a moment in time: looking down in front at rocky incline, to one side at white piles of snow and to the other at steep drop off, above at warm, burning sun, in the distance ahead at snow covered peaks surrounded by a blue, cloudy sky, and in the distance behind at tiny villages and homes down the mountain. Even walking home by myself (I could not stay the night because I would miss too much volunteering) I did not leave my elevated state of independence and exercise induced serotonin bliss until the last half an hour or so when the litter became beyond collectible (as I had been collecting all the way down) and my looming foot blisters began to show their rosy faces. Lucky for me, I had my host mom's fresh brown bread for energy on the way up and a pot of chai waiting for me at my return.
Mcleod Ganj is a town of energy. It is booming with fresh exiles, innovative volunteer organizations, and travelers seeking to explore new views and understandings of the world. It is reminiscent of San Cristobal de las Casas in the Southern Mexican indigenous region of Chiapas, with its high altitude, its size, its dynamic native to traveler relationship, its many volunteers and NGOs, its fresh, conscious and worldly culture of live music, international cuisine of local organic and health food, and its flyers everywhere. You can find language, cooking, yoga, Reiki, meditation or music lessons, you can get Ayurvedic healing or a Thai massage, or you can perhaps exchange one service for another. There is every sort of restaurant, as well: the Peace Café is vegetarian Tibetan, Carpe Diem has any cuisine you can imagine and is run by adorable Nepalese boys, Jimmy’s Italian Kitchen has live jam sessions on Saturday night, and Khana Nirvana has organic food and documentaries, speakers, and open-mic nights all throughout the week. JJI is home of the delicious Tibetan breakfast and is owned by the mother of the Exile Brothers, the famous Tibetan rock band of three brothers that recorded their last album in Bob Dylan’s studio. While eating breakfast with Mike one of the brothers came in; he definitely had the rock star image with the long, shaggy hair, the tattoo, cigarette, and suave, non-chalant attitude. Very cool.
With its two main strips, this town is large enough to have many resources available but small enough that you are constantly walking by the same friendly faces. Time to begin planning my return!
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