McLeod Ganj, Dharmsala, India (11.4 – 12.8.07)
11.5.07 After a VERY LONG 12-hour bumpy, overnight, supposedly 1st class bus ride from Delhi, we arrived here in Dharmsala, India - the foothills of the Himalaya's on Sunday, Nov, 4th. After a taxi-ride up the steep side of these mountains, we arrived at the Tibet Charity Multi-Education Center for Tibetan refugees at McLeod Ganj, the city that India gave to the Tibetans when China took over their country and which the Dalai Lama now calls his main residence.
What a LONG bus trip! But it even included a 2nd FREE bathroom break, but the 2nd one was at a very dark – Mafia-looking gas station, where there were no doors, lights or anything, just a wall…to which one went behind to…you know what!
We found the place locked up, but soon the smiling, friendly manager came riding up to the taxi stand on his motorcycle, to show us the way to our temporary hotel. We had a nice talk & then settled in to finding our way to dinner at a 5-table Tibetan restaurant, which had quite delicious food.
The next morning, we had the day off to rest & explore! We went back to the Gakyi (Tibetan Vegetarian) Restaurant, owned by Mrs. Kalsang Dickyi. She appears to be an excellent manager & they have delicious meals – a variety that seems to appeal to a variety of tourists. We have now just had breakfast of eggs, Tibetan brown bread (this could used as door stops), curd (yogurt) & hot ginger/lemon/honey tea. They also have delicious oatmeal ‘porridge.’ Chuck & Kirst had ‘barley’ porridge – it was ok, but not my favorite. We also found a nice computer center that has ‘Skype’ so we can call & talk with Kels for as long as we want – computer use is only about $.75 an hour.
After staying in our 1-room hotel, we found a more permanent place to stay for the 5-weeks. The 2 young men, who were just finishing their month teaching stint, showed us their apt. It is away from the traffic, a little higher up the mountain, so the night-howling dogs aren’t so loud. We had lived on top of each other, with Kirst having a small fold-out cot on the floor, but now we have quite a spacious place!
After a day to recover from the bus trip, we are now teaching! Kirst has an adult morning class (9-10:30). Chuck & I each have private students from 2-3pm. I am working with a young housewife, Yangdon, in her apt & Chuck is with a beginner monk. We both teach a conversation class at 3:30 for an hour. Yangdon is really cute – friendly & eager to learn! She has 2 sons, one is 13 (at boarding school) & the other is 5 y.o. - he loves my rubber chicken that I have hanging on my backpack!
So...we have been hiking up & down these steep hills to get to the school, hotel/apt, restaurants, etc. Who needs a community center to work out, when there are steps to climb! We seem to be getting in shape, whether we want to or not! But it is nice to be here - cleaner air - not like Delhi, where it is difficult to breathe because of so much pollution!
A big surprise - the Dalai Lama is here for about a month - just came several days ago, so we signed up for a morning of his teachings - I am sure it will be packed!!!
11.9.07 This morning we attended a 3-hour teaching of the Dalai Lama at his temple. Kirsty saved us a place on the floor with a mat & cushions - there must have been hundreds there - they served everyone butter tea, but we skipped out on their lunch & went down the road a piece for momos. He taught in Tibetan to the Mongolian/Russian group, but we listened to it on a FM radio in English - can't say I got all of it, but some of the ideas.
This afternoon we shop, rest, read, & sleep. Our apt is great, but the bed...less than a double size for Chuck & I & it is VERY HARD, so I took the small bed in the LR & got a few hours rest about 5am. We are getting the hang of this place, but don't think we are really cut out for this "developing" country stuff!
11.11.07 We just finished lunch & stopped at a bakery to get comfort sugar items to eat & some for our apt. We spent the morning reading & having a delicious fried in butter- oatmeal patties, tea, & curd on our sunny balcony. Kirst made a great fried sugar coating for the oatmeal!
We do have to watch out for the monkeys on our walk home - they get quite aggressive! Mating season! It is best to carry a rock in our hands or at least pretend to carry a rock, so that if the monkeys do come after you, you can throw or pretend to throw it at them & they scurry away.
Yes, we found a GREAT little apt! Although there is no central heating, we have a bedroom/kitchen, bathroom with shower & western toilet, & a living room! Chuck & I tried to sleep together in the less-than double rock-hard bed, but whenever one turned, the other had to also, so we gave up on that idea! I now sleep in the single in the living room with the TV & refrigerator. We tried pulling the cushions off the couch for each of us - that sort of works - we also looked into getting cushions made - but...don't know - another 4 weeks to go - will probably get the hang of HARD beds?
Dharmsala - cleaner & more organized than Kathmandu or Delhi. Delhi was so thick with black & acidy air pollution, that it was really hard to breath - I had to wear a mask.
We saw the Dalai Lama on Friday for a teaching he did at his temple especially for a delegation of Russian-Mongolians. We bought cushions, sat for 4 hours, were served tea, & listened to the English translation on a cheap FM radio. He wasn't laughing as much as he did when he was in Portland a few years ago.
11.15.07 Teaching English is fun – Because my student's son is at boarding school & can get lonely, we are making a photo album with captions that she writes in English & then also with a Tibetan translation below each picture. He can take it back with him to school in December. She seems to like that idea.
Chuck & I do daily planning for our conversation class – we have a warm-up, then for example, we had them debating the virtues of eating with chopsticks, fork & spoon, & fingers. They had great fun with that! We also played a card game of nouns & adjectives that they LOVED and have requested every day since with requests to extend the class another half hour!!!
So...I have finally got some pictures on my blog – it takes a really long time to download them, but….I have many more to show you all when I get home!
We are finally getting a rhythm to living here - almost got the grocery thing down - but carrying it up the mountain to our apt is 133 steps straight up from the road OR if we go the long way on the road (with no steps) there are the monkey families to negotiate – can be quite challenging! It is wise to either have a rock in your hand – ready to throw at them or pretend to have a rock in your hand as you aim for them. It is mating season & they are fighting! It is also a bit dangerous to get between a mother & her baby! AND there are lots of those! Didn’t think I would need rabies shots, but some of the other volunteer couples got theirs - if you get bitten, the treatment requires less injections if you have had the initial ones. Oh well, next time we will know…if there is a next time???
11/18/071 We are going on Week 3 of teaching & it has been a lot of fun! One of the teachers, Trevor had his last day on Friday. It is now the last week for another lady, Birnie, from Boston. Chuck now has 2 private students & I am still working with Yangdon. She patiently demonstrated how to make vegetable ‘momos’ on Friday, while Kirst & I attempted to shape them like she did, 3 different shapes - cresent, round, & square - but it is quite a skill & we didn’t come close to getting it right. After they were steamed tho’, they all tasted the same - delicious!
She invited the other teachers – we had a great time eating momos & mushroom soup. I brought a lemon cheesecake from a restaurant that we love. It was a great time with opportunities for pictures for her son's photo album. Hopefully, he will love it!
Kirst has an intermediate English class of about 12 – she just returned a few minutes ago, from a hike with one of the monks who has never hiked before. They were gone ALL day – so guess he liked hiking & they didn’t get lost – the 1 map for this area, apparently is not accurate. Kirst also has 2 private students – it is so interesting to find out her lesson plans for each of them & her class. According to some – she is quite popular!
The Tibetan students, monks, and others that we have met are quite incredible people - even tho' they have had to flee their Tibetan homeland - often in the night to escape the tortures of the Chinese, they are sweet natured - love to laugh – love to sing our silly songs, love to play card games & are so eager to learn English! They make use of every opportunity to take a class or practice. Some of them are here from other parts of India just so they can get this opportunity to learn or practice English. They also love to debate, as that is also part of what they do to learn Buddhism, so...we had them debating in English - something simple, the virtues of eating with chopsticks, fork & spoon, & fingers. They had fun with that! We also played a card game, Apples & Apples (nouns & adjectives) they LOVED it!!
A ‘McLeod Ganj’ kind of day
We just finished lunch & stopped at a bakery to get comfort sugar items to eat & some to have in our apt. We spent the morning reading & having a delicious, fried-in-butter, oatmeal patties, tea, & curd on our sunny balcony. Kirst made a great fried sugar coating for the oatmeal!
Daily life in McLeod Ganj:
- Beds - very hard! No springs much less inner-springs or ‘pillow-top’ softness! The last few nights have been very cold, so I put my emergency metallic blanket on top of the mattress, but under the sheet to protect me from the penetrating cold of the mattress. It seemed to work last night, but it is awfully noisy! And maybe it just wasn't as cold! We may invest in a heater.
- Heating – We have beautiful warm, sunny mornings, but…it gets cold in the afternoon/night, especially with no central heating or space heaters. Long underwear, wool hats, socks, mittens, & jackets are sometimes needed under several blankets at night. Sometimes we heat water on our 2-burner gas stove - gives a little warmth with the extra humidity!
- Showers - be quick! Once the 10 gal. tank of hot water is gone, your done! Electricity is expensive, so we try to remember to turn off the switch to the water heater when we leave for the day.
- Laundry - The water we catch in a bucket while showering, we use to do laundry. Also, with the left-over clothes water, I wash the floor & clean the toilet. (The bathrooms have drains & everything gets wet anyway.) We hang our clothes outside on the balcony-line early in the morning to capture the sun before it hides behind the hills or apts about 12N.
- Monkeys – It feels like WE live in a ZOO!! They are everywhere, all the time. Our balcony doesn't have the wire screens on the top of the railings like some apts, but many balconies have that as protection. So the people are caged - not the monkeys! They typically run through our area every morning on the tin roofs & then at night too, but they can scamper about anytime. One big male comes out on the end of the branch of the pine tree next to our balcony and gives it a good shake - then he runs back - probably trying to impress the ladies!
We enjoy a cup of tea/coffee on the balcony, but we have to keep watch – yesterday, they climbed on the railing behind Chuck (a foot away) & then came back into the apt a few minutes later - jumped up to a shelf & grabbed a package of cinnamon. Chuck yelled at him/her & s/he dropped the package right away. So….we watch our open door & our backs!
Several days ago, I had left the door open & while Chuck was watching the news, a monkey came in & stole our spagetti which was on the 3rd shelf! He then sat on the next-door roof & kept watching our door - quite sneaky & smart! Hard to outsmart these characters! SO... no open doors anymore!
- Water - We are appreciating the preciousness of water even more now! We just pumped & treated a 15-liter bucket of water for cooking on Saturday. It is now Tues AM & we have about ¼ left. We also pumped enough to fill 12 bottles. They are also now empty, so ‘pumping’ is our 2-3x/wk evening activity. Thank goodness for Kirsten’s water pump! I had brought a $100 Steripen to sterilize water – which hasn’t worked since I got here! This water is clear, but the water in Kathmandu would have still been brown, if I had only the Steri-pen to sterilize it – IF if had worked!
- Restaurants - so many to choose from AND they have wonderful food that seems to be quite reasonable & delicious. There is such a variety to choose from & we can always get a breakfast. The pastas, pizzas, sandwiches, drinks, vegetable & Tibetan food is quite creative & so FRESH!!
- Meals - Chuck usually makes tea, oatmeal, & toast in a pan for breakfast. We pay 100 rupees per month per person ($2.50/month) for a lunch at school, which consists of rice, dhal (lentils), & sometimes-steamed vegetables like spinach & mushrooms. Quite delicious! Then on our way home from teaching at 5PM, we typically eat out for dinner.
- Codeine available – OC! (over the counter) I happen to get a bad cold/cough in Kathmandu that has lasted till now. Kirst luckily had a spray from the states, Zicam (recommended by my sister, Bobbie) that I would also highly recommend. But my cough continued to get worse, so I wasn’t able to sleep. I couldn’t get codeine in Nepal, but the local McLeod Ganj pharmacy had it – mixed with Tylenol – so that has helped the nasty cycle of coughing. Unfortunately, Chuck got the bug & now Kirst has had a sleepless coughing night – codeine didn’t help!
- Acidophilus - Highly recommended! We take it twice a day & so far so good! Plus it is part of my daily routine to eat curd (yogurt) every day as well!
- Beggars – We are greeted every morning by several near our apt with an English, “Good morning or Hello.” Some seem to accept our greetings back with the same, Namaste or the Tibetan Tashedilek (sp?). Other Indian women carrying sleeping babies in a front cloth call out for “milk m'aam, no money.” Other children ask for the same, “No money, only milk for my baby sister/brother.” Apparently, it is common to give a container of milk, only to find out they have sold it. There is also the problems of pimps, so giving them $, clothes, or other things, may just be a pimp payment. It is also naïve & bad policy to encourage child begging. Some of the lepers that we have met seem to be friendly and not aggressive, so we have bought fruit to give to them. When we don’t have anything, they are OK with that too – not angry.
- Daily Commute – My collapsible walking stick is handy for going up & down these 133 narrow, steep stairs (with no railings) to our apt. Falling is NOT an option – it’s a long way to the bottom or one may end up in the gutter with the raw sewage! Plus there is NO decent doctor or hospital within miles - maybe a few hours away by bus or flying from here to Simla? We also have to dodge the beggars, shoe-shine boys, trucks, motorcycles, vans, 3-wheeled auto-rickshaws, cows, donkeys, dogs & of course monkeys. Interesting journey - just to get to school!
- Barking Dogs – What's with the dogs??? During the day, stray dogs are sleeping everywhere – even in the middle of the street! But…at night, there seem to be hundreds running about & barking ALL night! These dogs look like they are fromonly 1 of 2 breeds - the small, white, fluffy family or the big, brown, short-haired family. Why they bark all night & no one does anything, I don’t know??? Kirst asked one of her students & he said until the dogs start barking, he can’t go to sleep. He also said, the dogs protect the people with their barking…didn’t make any sense at all! If the dogs are warning people with their barking, why would it be easy to go to sleep?
- Street Vendors – They sometimes call out to us, but we have been here so long now, that they are used to us just walking by without buying anything. I try to support the women – today I picked up pants & a Tibetan skirt - the lady who made it allowed me to take her picture. The sewing shop employs refugees from Tibet.
- Cable TV (83 channels, but mostly all in Hindi). Tonight, we watched Seinfeld! We do get BBC World, ESPN, HBO, Animal Planet, Star World, & Z Studio. It is soooo nice to be away from American TV! We don’t have to hear Bush speak (or try to speak), nor do we have to listen to our ethnocentric news! What a concept – there is a whole world of news out there that has nothing to do with the US!!! How refreshing!
- Honey Lemon Ginger Tea – our favorite! Always made with whole, fresh ingredients!
- Plumbing – pipes everywhere lying in the gutters, tied to trees, coming up out of cement, connected to multiple other pipes – many of the leaking! Water escaping everywhere. My father, the plumber, would be horrified. Our sink is just connected to plastic hose, it is not attached to the wall & there is no U shaped pipe to prevent back-up gases…
- Electricity – wires everywhere – obviously no city codes or any standard codes at all! Building Codes don't seem to exist.
- Internet - We asked our apt manager this morning if we could hook our computer up tonight. He said it wasn't working, because the Indian who owns it, has unplugged it to hook it up to someone else. To get the indian to re-connect it, the Indian needs to be paid a fee. Then when he unplugs the other person, that guy will also complain & also have to pay a fee to get it hooked back up. It is quite a game! Expensive for the Tibetans. One can't complain or one will be banned from having the service at all!
- Bathrooms- Sometimes there is a choice of western or squat toilets. Our apt has western! Kirst's apt has squat. Public toilets do not usually have soap, toilet paper, or anything to wipe your hands on. So…best to bring all your supplies with you!
It is quite an interesting life! I will pick up 3 pans of brownies in an hour to take to our school so that we can share a little Thanksgiving with about 40-50 students. We also have a Thanksgiving song, a wordsearch & a BINGO game for the afternoon - if we can find a copy machine...a shop owner died, so the stores were closed this morning. But our Thanksgiving party will be fun! Then for supper we have signed up for a Thanksgiving dinner of sorts...pumpkin soup, spinach & potato momos & carrot cake. We will sit on a cushioned/pillowed floor with at least one other American lady from Boston and a Briish couple. Interesting combination of people for Thanksgiving!
PS. Yesterday we found out that the lady that has been making our lunches at the school came down with typhoid! YIKES!! Hope our vaccinations hold out!
PS 1/10/08 - Despite the hard beds, the cold, & the steps - we already miss the people and are trying to figure out how & when to go back!
