hi everyone. i have a few minutes to spare so i thought id ramble on a little about what we've been doing. first of all, i hope youve seen the pictures we posted onto shutterfly. its only 15 or so, but if you havent seen them its worth 5 minutes, so email me (thane3@gmail.com) and ill send you a link.
we are still in the tibetan community of McLeod Ganj, teaching english every day to our monk friends. i am very impressed with the progress that 2 of them are making, and while the 3rd is moving more slowly, i of course admire his determination and persistence. these men work all day in the monastery, and sometimes spend the day in the house of a family that has requested their assistance in praying for a sick relative, etc. but they still find the time to come struggle with a very difficult language.
what makes it so easy for everyone is that we truly enjoy each other's company....sometimes we go for long walks, or wander around in a nearby garden, sit on a rooftop and drink tea while the sun sets, or go out for dinner together. but usually we spend the afternoon cooking an enormous meal and eating together, then sitting around talking and laughing and practicing our conversations. we've been trying for several days to take them all to a movie, but can't convince the theater to show one that would be appropriate and helpful to them.
last night, we gave up and were determined to all go to the movie, whatever it was. but to my alarm it turned out that both theaters were playing the same movie, samsara, a story about a tibetan monk who renounces his religious vows in search of, well, sex. he then proceeds to have a lot of sex, and ends up with a family of his own and another world of committment he wants to leave. somehow i didnt think this was the best choice for our celibate friends. (by the way, we saw the movie and it was really good...i reccomend it).
above all i am blown away by these peoples' high spirits, genuine graciousness and genorosity. they sometimes grab me on the street while theyre walking back to the monastery, insist i come in to their room for tea, and suffoate me with gifts. mandalas, cookies, any kind of food that happens to be lying around. kendall got a pair of socks yesterday. we had a tea party for tenzin's birthday (see the photos on shutterfly) and he had bought better gifts for us than we had for him. on his own birthday!
while i can by no means say this about the indians, i have truly fallen in love with the tibetan people. despite their horrendous political and social situation, the suffering they have become accustomed to as a people, and their own inevitably tragic stories, they maintain an inherent happiness ive never seen before. i just finished the autobiography of the dalai lama, freedom in exile, in which he discusses numerous situations in which he encountered refugees, newly arrived in india, in the midst of absolute tragedy, but somehow laughing their way through it. losing family members left and right, they persist with an unbelievable optimism. sounds hard to believe when you read it, but i can see it in their faces even today as i pass them on the street, in the children running around care free, the hard work and determination they all live by. it seems somewhat ridiculous to me to see a community of tibetan refugees whose streets are lined with indian people begging for change. even the indians with good jobs emit a constant sense of being downtrodden, depressed, miserable. but i dont think, in over 2 weeks now, that ive ever seen a tibetan without a smile on their face.
today is diwali, the indian new year festival, so theres been lots of explosions and noise and sorry attempts at fireworks in preparation. but we'll see if the indians can pull off something impressive tonight.
gotta run and will say more later - i feel like i forgot to mention just about everything i intended to write.
thane
we are still in the tibetan community of McLeod Ganj, teaching english every day to our monk friends. i am very impressed with the progress that 2 of them are making, and while the 3rd is moving more slowly, i of course admire his determination and persistence. these men work all day in the monastery, and sometimes spend the day in the house of a family that has requested their assistance in praying for a sick relative, etc. but they still find the time to come struggle with a very difficult language.
what makes it so easy for everyone is that we truly enjoy each other's company....sometimes we go for long walks, or wander around in a nearby garden, sit on a rooftop and drink tea while the sun sets, or go out for dinner together. but usually we spend the afternoon cooking an enormous meal and eating together, then sitting around talking and laughing and practicing our conversations. we've been trying for several days to take them all to a movie, but can't convince the theater to show one that would be appropriate and helpful to them.
last night, we gave up and were determined to all go to the movie, whatever it was. but to my alarm it turned out that both theaters were playing the same movie, samsara, a story about a tibetan monk who renounces his religious vows in search of, well, sex. he then proceeds to have a lot of sex, and ends up with a family of his own and another world of committment he wants to leave. somehow i didnt think this was the best choice for our celibate friends. (by the way, we saw the movie and it was really good...i reccomend it).
above all i am blown away by these peoples' high spirits, genuine graciousness and genorosity. they sometimes grab me on the street while theyre walking back to the monastery, insist i come in to their room for tea, and suffoate me with gifts. mandalas, cookies, any kind of food that happens to be lying around. kendall got a pair of socks yesterday. we had a tea party for tenzin's birthday (see the photos on shutterfly) and he had bought better gifts for us than we had for him. on his own birthday!
while i can by no means say this about the indians, i have truly fallen in love with the tibetan people. despite their horrendous political and social situation, the suffering they have become accustomed to as a people, and their own inevitably tragic stories, they maintain an inherent happiness ive never seen before. i just finished the autobiography of the dalai lama, freedom in exile, in which he discusses numerous situations in which he encountered refugees, newly arrived in india, in the midst of absolute tragedy, but somehow laughing their way through it. losing family members left and right, they persist with an unbelievable optimism. sounds hard to believe when you read it, but i can see it in their faces even today as i pass them on the street, in the children running around care free, the hard work and determination they all live by. it seems somewhat ridiculous to me to see a community of tibetan refugees whose streets are lined with indian people begging for change. even the indians with good jobs emit a constant sense of being downtrodden, depressed, miserable. but i dont think, in over 2 weeks now, that ive ever seen a tibetan without a smile on their face.
today is diwali, the indian new year festival, so theres been lots of explosions and noise and sorry attempts at fireworks in preparation. but we'll see if the indians can pull off something impressive tonight.
gotta run and will say more later - i feel like i forgot to mention just about everything i intended to write.
thane
posted by thane at 4:14 AM
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