Our time in Dharamsala is coming to an end - hard to believe we'll be leaving day after tomorrow. The students returned from their trek today, exhausted and uplifted - they had quite the time in the Himalayas, between gorgeous sunsets, thunder and lightening through the night when several were hit by a nasty bug (doing much better already, thankfully), and a walk back down enhanced by more hail. They're resting now, getting sleep before an early wake-up to attend Tibet Uprising Day at the Dalai Lama's temple (highly likely he will appear), various afternoon options, a last two-group dinner at a wonderful new restaurant run by an Italian-American woman (guess who discovered this place), and then departure tomorrow midday, jeeps down the mountain, one more overnight train to Delhi, then a flight to Kolkata, and the flight out to Bangkok after a night at a hotel near the airport. And when we land in Bangkok, there will be vehicles to take us straight to the beach at Cha Am for a few days of rest and reflection. So soon, we'll be mostly in transit, though I'll try to send some "closing thoughts" once we are landed in Cha Am.
For now, one more set of students' written work - read when you have time - these are response papers written under the title, Why Am I Here? and following up on a discussion Shawn and Colin had with them early on in Thailand, where they identified personal goals for the trip, and gave some first thoughts in answer to the title question. They were written a couple of days before they left for their trek, right before they did their service in the settlement/slum in Lower Dharamsala. I've taken names off this time -- and a few students asked that theirs not be shared, though some will come to parents only. Even without attribution, I'm sure you can see that they are being thoughtful and often quite insightful. Enjoy!
Tashi delek,
Peg
STUDENT A - My main goal here in Asia is to learn. Whether that learning is made playing and teaching kids, or price battling with a Kashmiri, I want to learn. I also want to make a difference. Even the seemingly small act of reading/talking with kids could inspire them later in life to study hard. Besides that, it's fun. When you're young, growing up, having fun is essential. It's even better when you can mix fun with learning. Although I wish we could have worked longer with kids, I'm very grateful for the time we did have with them. They're all eager and quick to learn new games, and it's that mental flexibility that will transfer to their academics. As far as my personal growth and learning, I feel very happy with my progress. I've noticed changes in my tolerance, and appreciation of my surroundings. Being up close and personal with the snow globe of harmony that is India enforces the appreciation I have for the opportunities in front of me. That appreciation in turn drives me to do whatever it is I can do to improve their lives, and at the same time inspire them to do the same for others. Today as I was picking up trash near our hotel, I was thinking about what effect I was really having. The importance of picking up trash is less so the "act" of cleaning, but the chance for others to see that you would take the time to pick up their trash. It sends a powerful message. A message that will hopefully be reciprocated. Ultimately, my goal boils down to leaving a place better than how it was when I arrived, and leaving the people I meet feeling as though we both have learned something, and feeling inspired.
STUDENT B - Why am I here? What could I possibly be doing here on the opposite side of the globe, where everything is so incredibly strange and foreign to me? And how is it that I'm so fortunate to be a part of the tiny percentage of people in this world that has pretty much everything we need? These are the questions that have been running through my mind on a daily basis throughout this trip. As to why I am here, or what I'm doing here, I think I have it figured out. Before we departed, my answer to that question was a little different. Having gone to Spring Street for so long, and hearing people's stories of their trips to Asia and how amazing it is, I've been looking forward to it for a long, long time. Everyone has always told me how life-changing it is, and how "good for you" it can be. Hearing about all this made me want to go pretty bad, and my reason was a lot more self-involved than it is now looking back. I wanted to come here, and push my own limits, learn more about myself and of course gain knowledge about a part of the world that I knew very little about. Don't get me wrong, all of this is still a big part of the reason why I'm here and what I'm trying to accomplish while I'm here, but ever since Thailand I've realized that a much bigger part of this trip is giving back to wherever we go.
There's so much for me, and for all of us on this trip, to gain while we are here, but there's also a lot we can give. For me, our time in Sarnath was the best example of this. It was probably the least comfortable part of the trip for me, and yet looking back, I really enjoyed my time there. Working with the preschool students was more rewarding than I ever expected. Thinking back to the talk we had with Shawn in Noh Bo when we were working there, one thing he said stands out in particular. He said that no matter how hard it seems while we are doing volunteer work, it will be over for us in a matter of hours or days, but it doesn't end for the people we are trying to help. I thought back to that a lot while working with the kids, trying to think of anything to do with them. I realized how ridiculous it was to not enjoy myself while working with those kids. When it comes down to it, it's just a few hours of my life, and just by being there with those kids I was making a difference. Just a few hours. During my time in Sarnath was when I really realized that service was one of my goals on this trip.
Have I accomplished my goals? I know I have gained more than I thought I would on this trip, and been pushing my limits. I understand a lot better now what all the past Asia-goers were saying about how it can be "good for you." Just being in India is a challenge, and I feel I've met it well.
My goal of doing service isn't as accomplished as I would like it to be. Luckily there's still time left, and I hope I can get more service in. Hopefully the weather will clear and permit us to go do work in the slums down in Lower Dharamsala. I'm looking forward to tomorrow if we make it down there, and if not I would like to find a way to help out around here. (The weather did clear, and the group got down to work on projects in the slum the two days they had before starting their trek.)
STUDENT C - I wanted to go on this trip because I wanted to travel to new places and see and experience new things. I also wanted to do lots of service work, at least more than when I went to Guatemala or Peru. Also because I had heard about it from others and because Peg and Ted would not be leading it again, both had a little say in why I wanted to go. My parents wanted me to go as well.
I think I have fulfilled my goal of traveling to new places. I have gone from home to Seoul to Bangkok and went on my first crazy Thailand taxi ride, much crazier than Peru, to the hot Shanti Lodge, to Erewan National Park and Wan Pen's amazing food, to the wonderful waterfalls, to my first Thai night train to Chiang Mai, to Chiang Dao, to Mae Sot, to a Karen refugee village near the Burma border in an orphanage, to blistering clearing of a field, to rice, to painting bamboo, to rice, to blistering clearing of a field, to gas and oil paint, to crazy!!! Kolkata, to a crazy Kolkata bus tour, to a Bodh Gaya scavenger hunt, then I got sick throwing up etc., to Varanasi, sick more, to exploring the ghats, to seeing fires of bodies burning, to Sarnath, to Dr. Jain's, to flower necklaces, to playing with kids, to exploring, to homestays, to playing with little kids, to handing out crayons, to "London Bridge," to "Ring Around the Rosey," to "Head, Sho8lders Knees and Toes," to my homestay sisters doing henna, to teaching kids, to saying goodbye to homestay, to an Indian night train to Agra, to the Taj Mahal with Kevin, to a bus to Delhi, to another night train to Amritsar, people sitting on our bunks, to loud talking, the Golden Temple at 4:00 in the morning, to standing in line to see inside with Kevin, to talking to Sikhs, to the Pakistani border, to being packed like sardines, to too many hands and arms grabbing, to a veggie burger!, to jeeps to Dharamsala, to cold, to rain, to hail, to fog, hopefully to snow, to shops, to exploring, to writing postcards, to trying to find a place that is open to do service, to picking up trash in the rain and stopping because of huge chunks of hail!!
I think I have done lots of service work. I wish that I could have done more but could not because of the Tibetan New Year. I hope we go to the slum tomorrow to paint. I like painting!!!! I have had lots of fun but I can't wait to get home to see my family.
STUDENT D - In Noh Bo, I listed my goals for this trip to be: immersed in a language, religion, culture, and people as best I could. I also wanted to see a new part of the world and look at myself in new ways after experiencing this new culture. I also wanted to look as much as I could into border issues and the Karen and Tibetan issues as much as possible. Besides all of this learning and studying, I wanted to do as much service and exploring as time and opportunities would permit.
Since Noh Bo, I feel as if all of my goals are at least partially completed. I learned valuable phases in Thai, Karen, Tibetan, and Hindi; I witnessed ceremonies, gatherings, and worship in Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism; and throughout my travels I have conversed with average and important figures of Tibetan, Karen, Thai, and Indian (and Punjabi) cultures.Seeing a new part of the world was easy, but looking inside myself was hard. Throughout Thailand and India, I have been learning how I react to conflict, stress, and group issues, and also thinking of ways to improve my patterns of thinking and reactions.
In Thailand I decided that one the things I would be studying in the future is border issues. I delved into the Burmese-Thai issue and learned about the large issues with all the tribes along the border. Since being in Dharamsala, I have been asking questions and listening to several important figures speak about the Chinese, Indian, and Tibetan issue. My studying has gone extremely well and I have learned innumerable things through independent and class projects.
On the service front, I feel as if I have been doing every opportunity possible and working full time at the assigned ones. In Noh Bo, Sarnath, and now in Dharamsala,I have been doing all I possibly can in the time provided. I really enjoy working with people and doing hard labor, especially when I know it is changing someone's life, now or in the future.
I have also been exploring the physical and cultural landscapes of India and Thailand. I have visited amazing temples, climbed mountains, spoken with strangers, and tried new foods; some of the things I have done, I never expected to ever do.
Overall, I have done all I came to Asia to do, and learned more than I ever anticipated about the new places and myself. Also, I never want to leave.
STUDENT E - I remember our meeting in Noh Bo and the discussion we had about why we came on this trip; our reasons for doing so and any goals we may have set for ourselves. Everyone went around and explained their reasons for coming; only I didn't raise my hand. I don't want it to seem like I didn't say anything for lack of a good/legitimate reasons for coming. Just that at the time, I felt I didn't yet know with certainty my exact reasons for coming (though I have them, do not doubt that I did). Throughout the rest of the trip I've thought about the question Shawn and Colin put to us and I decided I came for the experience. Not just to be able to say I've been to India and Thailand and check off those countries on a list of places to go. Not just because that was the trip to go on junior year (Asia! Go!). I came for the experience of the trip, whatever it might turn out to be (and how I would shape my own trip experience). I came so I could explore completely new and different places that I have never seen, so I could meet travelers, monks, little kids from villages in both Thailand and India, and see with my own eyes just how amazing Asia is (not only hear about it from upperclassmen). I really am interested in how my brain will process this, whether or not I'll be able to realize how the new information is being used to break and then form new schemas. Will I recognize my new schemas at work once the trip is over? I guess (I know) I came for the experiential education, and how that will translate into my future work as a student and myself as an individual, I am excited to discover.
STUDENT F - How do we find answers in the void? Empty spaces leave traces to an old-again place waiting for you, eyes ahead and two feet to set forth on a new path, lacking destination or any contrived aim, simply purpose of venture, of finding the understanding deep inside myself to accept what I know to be true and what I have yet to learn. So, why am I here? Why do I, born ... on March 7th, 1994, get to (no, am able to) be here, sitting in the foothills of the world's backbone, growing through experience and reflection, internal and external. In truth, I know I have the answers to my questions. They are locked away in the myriad of swirling light that is my (our) collective unconscious, for the truth I feel and the knowledge that has been confirmed through conversation and experience. I have felt all along and experiences seem to just unlock or dust off the archaic truth and purify the negativity, cut through false prophesies of materialism and egotistic individualism that results in a society that pulls itself apart. I constantly ponder "can't we converge as people in a more positive, spiritually enriching, environmentally friendly, and generally more healthy way? I know it's possible. ... I just don't know how. I am really at the point in my life of observance to take in all knowledge, and truth, without first offering up my opinion as if it is some priceless gem to be examined through. I'd rather listen and learn. So I am here for this, this second of regurgitation, manifestation of nothing and everything. I will find myself. I've been here before ... maybe?
STUDENT G - I have been asked to ask myself, "Why am I here?". I have tried to keep this question in mind and I have been digging deep within myself and I have realized that there are a ton of answers to that question. Some surface-level answers might insist that it was a uniquely rare opportunity or that I crave to see more of the world. These statements definitely hold true, but I've been trying to think deeper and see how joining this excursion would benefit me, as well as my relationships with others and the people with whom I share this beautiful world. The first answer that came to mind was that something I really needed in my life, especially in the past year or so, is perspective. We forget how easy it is to become attuned to our own lives and our own circumstances. I have found in my own experiences that it's easy to look at your own life as a baseline, or starting point, in quality of living. It's easy to want more and more. Coming to Asia has been really eye-opening this way. It's been a healthy reminder that there are many people in this world who literally have nothing. I feel so incredibly fortunate when I am able to have a clearer picture of how I rank in the grand scheme of things. I am fortunate to have filling meals every day, a functional family, a heated house with hot water, and a sense of belonging. I feel that one thing I have learned on this trip is how to independently accomplish my goals. As a minor, it is a rare thing to have as much independence and wiggle room as I have had this past month. I think that it is a really big part of growing up that a lot of kids don't get to experience until they are out in the real world as adults. My goals for this trip were: to learn to function independently as well as in a group setting, to get better at being grateful and happy, and to make contributions to those in need. I think these goals are all being accomplished extremely well, and I am proud of myself for this. I am definitely glad that I came on this trip.
