Dharamsala

Tashi delek! (Tibetan greeting, means "good luck" approximately)

So here we are, last major stop on the itinerary, a place to both exhale after the challenges the rest of India serves up, to rest, restore energies, and to learn/explore/give back for an extended period. We arrived Feb 28, and will stay until March 11, with a couple of days out (and up) for a trek. The rest of our time here is a combination of talks with locals, both informal and arranged for the students with representatives of the Tibetan Govt in Exile, GuChuSum (the organization that helps ex-political prisoners), the Tibetan Youth Congress (who take a more activist position on China than the "company line" of His Holiness' administration); of service projects, both individually chosen by the students (so many options here) and with our friends from Tong-Len who work with the slum dwellers in Lower Dharamsala (we'll be starting work as a group there tomorrow); and of opportunities to explore, connect with locals and fellow travelers, pursue individual research projects... plenty to do, but also plenty of time to simply immerse in a culture all our students feel a fundamental affinity for -- Tibetans share a good many values and attitudes with Americans, speak excellent English, and love to connect with our students.

All of our travelers are healthy or on the mend - those who caught "the bug" (a stomach thing for the high school group, something respiratory for the college group) have recovered, and all are making the adjustment to altitude (slow down, eat more, keep hydrated) nicely, enjoying the wide variety of excellent foods available here. The weather has been cold, sometimes rainy, but sunshine is predicted for tomorrow onwards. Snow has been plentiful just above where we are in McLeod Ganj, which is good news for the local population (no water issues as there sometimes have been here), but not great news for our trek (3 feet of snow where we usually camp!).

Losar (Tibetan New Year) is also having its impact (places shut down but people often open their homes, and there will be a beautiful ceremony at the Dalai Lama's temple on the 5th); the trek for each group will happen soon after that; and we are all looking forward to the 10th, our second-to-last day here, which is Uprising Day for the Tibetan community (the anniversary of the Tibetan resistance to the Chinese invasion), and a time when the Dalai Lama will give a public talk.

So while there is plenty of time left, every moment still counts, and we are all relishing the multiple experiences that fill up each day. I'll try to send one more set of quotes from each of our students sometime while we are here -- they are certainly now in a position to comment on any number of aspects of their individual and collective journeys. Thank you all for helping make it all possible!

Peace
Peg