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Published: December 25th 2007
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On Our Way
We spent a day in Beijing on our way to the States. Many months have passed since my last entry. I’m in the US now and I guess I only think about updating my travel blog while I’m overseas and technically, traveling. And here at home, there’s not much to report except for life in the good ol’ US of A as most of you already know it. These days that means a little cold, a little grey and a little too much holiday food.
My Lama, Traktung Rinpoche, invited me home in October along with Lama Yonten, his wife Osel Drolma and our friend Gangri. (All of them have been written about in previous entries.) We scrambled for the month of September obtaining passports, applying for visas, assembling all sorts of supporting documents and finally, interviewing at the American Embassy in Chengdu. The process was hectic and I think I did the paperwork for the three of them four different times. There were so many mini-obstacles along the way it seemed there was no way they’d get to America this year.
Eleven PM the night before the visa interviews, Gangri and I finished the last batch of applications. Every document had to be submitted in both English and Chinese. A
Wacky Wild Animals
Traktung Rinpoche suggested I take the travelers to Cabella's, a hunting store that has an extraordinary taxidermy collection. This ended up being a highlight of their trip! few had to be translated from Tibetan into both languages. We’d been traveling for two weeks and the two of us were utterly worn out. Finally, we could heave a sigh of relief since the preparations were complete and the only things left were the actual interviews. We were tired, a little nervous, but generally feeling triumphant.
I looked at Gangri and said casually, “So what are you wearing into the interview tomorrow?”
“I guess this,” he replied, pointing to his white jeans with gold piping and a black t-shirt with a large red spider web on it. Stylish in China, but not really an interview outfit. I gasped! None of my Tibetan travel companions had ever done something like interviewed in a government office. They had rarely traveled outside of their home villages. It hadn’t occurred to me to explain rules of professional attire for an interview in the American Embassy. But how could they be expected to know such a thing? This was entirely my fault.
So we headed to Gangri’s suitcase to see our options. Eleven PM as it was, nothing was open. His outfit would have to come out of his luggage.
Halloween
The Tibetans attend their first ever Halloween party. I quickly discovered that he had only one other pair of pants - a pair of faded jeans with letters and symbols on them. He did have a rumpled up, white, Don Johnson-type jacket, though minorly stained on one lapel. He did have a crimson-colored silk shirt. So that’s how Gangri went in - white and gold jeans, white jacket, shimmery red shirt - looking like something out of Saturday Night Fever. He removed his enormous rhinestone earring and the Buddha necklace around his neck and he was good to go.
The interviews went marvelously and all three were granted 90-day visas to the US. Traveling overseas with them was a constant joy - things we westerners take for granted they viewed with great wonder. Smiling strangers who say “please” and “thank you.” Unlimited beverages on the airplane. Landing in Newark with city lights filling the nighttime sky. Clean bathrooms with toilet paper you did not have to carry in yourself. No smoking. People using inside voices. Waiting in queue in civilized, straight lines. On our flights, Lama Yonten had endless opportunities to practice his first and favorite English phrase. Everytime a flight attendant came by, he flashed his
More Costumes
I'm think I'm hunting Gangri. big smile and said, “See you later!” “That sentence really works in this context,” he said to me. “Because we’ll definitely be seeing them later.”
We arrived in the heavenly realm of America, and it is no exaggeration when I say that the food literally glowed with light for my first week home. American food is like no other. Colorful! Clean! Fresh! And somehow, it seems to shine with a halo of nutrition. Autumn in the mid-west is so rich with natural beauty. The Tibetans marveled at changing leaves and pumpkin patches. Being with them, I got to take every new sight in through their eyes. Yes, it’s true - our cars are huge and very sturdy. Yes, people really do follow traffic rules nicely. Yes, it’s amazing how people take turns at four-way stops. Everyday revealed new things to me about my homeland, new things to feel grateful for after my 17 straight months in the Third World.
The meetings between my Buddhist community and the Tibetan guests went very well. As a result, my Lama’s non-profit organization, Vision Builders, will be undertaking new projects in Tibet starting in 2008. One is a cultural preservation project, the
Auspicious Meeting
Traktung Rinpoche and Lama Yonten. rebuilding of a Buddhist gathering place in Aba, Sichuan. Another is the creation of a traveling theatre troupe aimed at educating Tibetans about tuberculosis. Did you know that nearly half of the Chinese population is infected with TB? And the statistics are especially bad in the Tibetan areas. I’m eager to get back there to get started on these projects. You’re bound to hear more from me about these as they come to life.
So I’m still in the US. I'd planned to be here for only the month of October, but some pesky medical trouble that began last spring resulted in a major surgery two weeks ago. Once I have the go ahead, I’ll head back to Tibet, probably during the first week of February.
In the meantime, check out the
Vision Builders website. And if you’ve $15 to spare, consider ordering one of our full-color 2008 wall calendars featuring breathtaking pictures of our projects in Tibet and India. You can order it
here. (Just scroll down to the link at the bottom of that page.)
Happy New Year!
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