a bit more about Dharamsala

Hello!

Life is well and good here in Dharamsala. In some ways I think we could spend our whole time in India in this town. My various activities have kept me overwhelmingly busy and I have a handful of other activities I would love to be doing that I just cannot seem to find the time for. What the Tibetan people are going through is just mindboggling, in so many ways I cannot process it.

I have befriended a local woman about my age that fled Tibet less than a year ago. In order to get here she had to walk for 11 days across the Himalayas, and not hike during the day, they would hide during the day and hike at night. Most of her group was hiking in thin cotton flats instead of winter hiking boots, and all of them did not have food for more than 6 days. Once she arrived in Nepal she was put on a four day bus ride, the buses here are like school busses in the US, only twice as full and twice as old. Since her arrival in India she has been waking up around 5 every morning to study English, she attends 6 hours of English lessons a day and frequently will ask her teachers to go have tea with her so she can have more practice. Her day ends around 1130 pm when she prays and than goes to bed. A really wonderful person and I are so grateful that I have had the opportunity to become her friend. The really mindboggling part is that her story is one of relative ease she was not shot at or interrogated, she did not have to spend a night in jail and have all her items of any value taken, she did not get too severe frost bite all things that many of the Tibetans here had happen.

We are still living at the pink house, although we are getting quite tired of the stairs. I think we packed quite well because at this point all I wish I had brought was more old cooking magazines. I gave my one away to some friends who had me over for dinner thought it would be great to give one to each person who cooks for me…. Something ill note for next time =) I think it is about time for me to go eat some breakfast, best to everyone!

Laura & Ian