Life Lessons

This post is going to be short because I'm in between classes, but there should be a really long one coming.  A lot happened yesterday.  Top on that list was our 3 week trip to Tibet being cancelled.  Admitting a group of young Americans to the TAR was apparently a security risk the Chinese government was not willing to take.  Instead they opted to deny us one of the permits we need.  We had already received the military and foreign affairs permits but the bureau of tourism denied the paperwork we needed from them 36 hours before our flights left Kathmandu.

The precautions we took to avoid this were extensive and the fact that our plans have crumbled anyway is a good indicator of just how volatile the situation in Tibet is.  Adding to the grey mood is the fact that our instructors are seriously concerned for the well being of the SIT contacts we had made in Tibet as most have now been black marked by the Chinese and some are likely in very serious trouble with the regime for their association with us.  In a way what we are experiencing is more genuinely Tibetan than our trip could possibly have been have been.  We are feeling a small fraction of the pain that our language instructors and program aides -nearly all exiles- must feel.

Still, I cannot say enough about the organizational skills of the crew here.  Literally overnight they organized a 3 week trip to Mustang, Nepal which I'm sure will be incredible.  We leave on Saturday and since this post is getting loooong I'll stop talking now.

Also I've been horrible about taking photos, but since I'm here, It's pretty easy to snap a quick photo of the classroom (with a few of my classmates in it):

Boudha

I'm now living in Boudhanath Kathmandu, home to the colossal Boudha Stupa. Below is the view from the roof of the Pema Guest House (my home for now).  You can see one of the many monasteries here in the foreground and several in the background.  They're so common that one of a friend was consistently mistaking the sounds of airplanes overhead with the omnipresent chantings of the monks.

Besides tea and meals I also made my first foreign purchases yesterday.  My watch stopped working the day I arrived, but I found a watch maker who replaced the broken part for 50 rupees (~65 cents)  I also found a barber; haircut and straight-razor shave, 140 rupees (~$2.00). 

First Few Days In Pharping

So sorry I've been slow at updating, but today is the first internet connection I've had (though it is slooooow).  

I've spent the last few days in Pharping living just up the hill from the DakshinKali temple, the Hindu holy site which hosts the greatest number of animal sacrifices annually of any place on earth.  I was up at 6:30 yesterday morning to watch, but the tremendous line of devotees waiting to sacrifice had been moving since well before 4am.  When I left, the line of people, along with their roosters and goats was still growing steadily.

After an hour and half long bus ride this afternoon I'm now in the considerably more urban and tech-friendly Kathmandu but before leaving I did climb to the Monastery built around the cave in which Guru Rinpoche, the man who brought Buddhism to Tibet, achieved enlightenment.  I took shelter inside during one of the brief but fierce rainstorms which seem to pepper the Kathmandu valley this time of year and took this photo from a balcony afterward.  The buildings in the distant sunlight, I believe, are the outskirts of Kathmandu.