Part One: It is the eve of the Tibetan and Chinese New Years, which this year fall on the same date. I am in a small Tibetan village in Aba, which is located in the heart of Sichuan Province. Aba’s favorite point of boasting is that it is the home of the panda bear. Every Chinese school child knows the English word “panda” and I’m told that all panda bears in zoos around the world are actually only rented out by China. China owns all Panda bears, and don’t you forget it! I’m staying with Trulku Yonten, the Lama I worked [View Full Entry]

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For those of you following this story... here is a happy picture of Shangbo and Tashi. Lamas' blessings work in mysterious ways! [View Full Entry]

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Happy Winter Holidays to All! Greetings from the cold and filthy city of Xining. This week, I’m wrapping up my semester at Qinghai Normal University. It has been a terrific jumpstart to my learning motor and I feel much better equipped to spend some time in more remote places again. Next week, I will travel into Golok and after visiting a few friends in their hometown villages, I will head to Houngyon, a Tibetan town in Sichuan province. This is the home of the Lama I was studying with in Beijing, and I will work with him again for the whole [View Full Entry]

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For those of you following the girls' school project in Golok, I've just posted a new photo gallery. Please see it here. For individual biographies of each girl, please click here. Enjoy! [View Full Entry]

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Shy Schoolgirl I’ve moved again, this time stationing myself in Xining, the largest major city near Golok. These days, Tibetan winter is in full force so it is a two-day trip between here and there. Xining is flooded with nomads on their way to Lhasa for the winter. There they will go on pilgrimage, visiting and circumambulating sacred sites. Now that there is a new train to Lhasa, it is just a 25-hour trip from here to there. I’m in school fulltime at the Qinghai Nationalities University, taking 14 hours a week of Tibetan conversation, grammar and reading comprehe [View Full Entry]

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Many of you have asked about making contributions to the girls I'm working with here in Tibet. Here is the good news. Thanks to the ingenius suggestion of Julia Smillie, you can now donate easily and securely through paypal. Just send it to my account (zangthal@mac.com) and remember that even $5 goes a long way here. I'm about to buy mittens for all the girls and found some really warm ones for just 11 RMB each. That's just $1.40 for you. You can still see their adorable faces here. And if you are interested, I've attache [View Full Entry]

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For the last month I’ve been traveling about like a troubadour. My trip began in Xining, which is the closest major city to Golok, an eight-hour mountain drive away. Seeing a relatively modern city again was quite a shock! I felt like I was living the high life - restaurants with actual bathrooms, a few western faces, streets free of human waste and roaming cattle - amazing! After a few days of errands, I journeyed to Chengdu, a major city in Sichuan province, and there I met Dockpo and his cousin Trulku Yonten, who is now my primary teacher. The three [View Full Entry]

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Finally, photos have been added to my entry called "Five Cats, 22 Orphans and 24 Nuns." Please view them here: New Pictures Also, I've posted a new photo gallery of the girls' school, including individual shots of all the girls. Soon bios will be added to their pictures. See it here: School Gallery Stay tuned for more upcoming travel news, as I'm headed to Beijing. [View Full Entry]

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FINALLY - pictures have been added to this entry! Also, for a complete photo gallery of the girls' school, visit: Gallery These days, my studies are slow. I have no official teacher at the moment, so I'm feeling frustrated and a bit downtrodden. My conversational progress seems to have halted and I'm not sure how to advance to the next level, especially without a teacher. I spend a fair amount of time in the presence of Tibetans so I have lots of language exposure, but I can't seem to make some very necessary jump t [View Full Entry]

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(To visit a more elaborate photo gallery from this trip, please visit: http://web.mac.com/zangthal/iWeb/Site/Darlag%20Trip.html) The Colorful Grasslands and Rough and Ready Cowboys Last week I headed with Holly, Anne (Belgium), and Angela (US), back down to Darlag for festivals and consecration ceremonies at Traling Gompa. At last - the weather is warm, the wild flowers are in bloom, and the mountains are covered with a rich carpet of green. This is the time of year that Golok is famous for. Since Holl [View Full Entry]

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