snowfall in mcleod

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hello all 😊 today i awoke to the light sound of rain outside my doorstep. when i walked outside i saw that everything was wet and green and lush- and as i looked up into the himalayan mountains i saw a beautiful blanket of white snow! it put a huge smile on my face 😊 so pretty!!! the hiking boots i bought back home and have only used once here are coming in handy now 😉

so what has been going on for me lately? let's see...my knee is practically 100% better now! i am not sure if i mentioned it before- but when i fainted at vipassana i landed on my knee and bruised the kneecap and the underneath of my kneecap 😞 it looked awful- all black and blue! at the beginning i could barely walk! as time passed i could walk but for short periods of time only. and going downhill or downstairs was excrucitating! now i feel no pain at all. i am glad it is practically fully healed- because i really want to do this hike to the snowline. it's about 3 1/2 hours each way- and it's supposed to be amazing. and i bet it is even more beautiful now that it has snowed 😊 so i soon shall be doing the hike.

this past friday was a big tibetan freedom concert. it was in honor of tenzin delek- a tibetan who has been imprisoned in tibet by the chinese under what the tibetans believe to be false charges. tenzin believe in teaching the tibetans about their culture and keeping it alive- but apparently as the chinese are overtaking tibet by force they are not allowing the tibetans to 'be' tibetan. they must speak chinese and do only chinese cultural things in their own land. so tenzin was fasley charged with bombing a building- something that did in fact happen but the tibetans say that tenzin did not do it. as a result of this charge he has been sentenced to death- and the concert was to bring awareness to the rest of the world about what china is doing to the tibetans. there is a tent in the main area of mcleod where rotating tibetans go and sit all day and are fasting for 2 months- in the hopes of freeing tenzin delek.

it is so interesting to learn about this conflict going on between the chinese and the tibetans. i remember vaguely a while back when it was 'en vogue' for americans to have bumper stickers on their cars that said 'free tibet'. being the politically unaware person that i was (but am starting to no longer be!) i had no idea what the stickers stood for. but now i stand here in the midst of it all- and am learning about the struggle that the tibetans are going through. i do realize there are two sides to every story and i would be interested in hearing the chinese side of it as well. but at the end of it all- the story is just sad for both parties involved. humanity can be so inhumane to one another. i cannot wait for the day when the world realizes that we are all one people with one god who comes in many forms- in order that all the people of the world may have the opporunity to spiritually evolve. fighting over whose religion is better or whose culture is better is not the way to spritiually evolve. it is simply an example of people not yet awake. but i believe the world is slowing waking up. maybe not as fast as i would like- but never the less it is waking up! i hope to be able to contribute in whatever way i can to strengthening and furthering that process 😊

well what else can i tell you? i have been doing TONS of studying. i have spent so much money on books here- it is not even funny. well maybe it is funny 😉 i have actually bought very few consumerism type things. my money pretty much all goes into food, shelter and books. i have bought 12 or 13 thus far. the books here are so cheap in comparison to america. one author i am really interested in right now is based in america- but is widely known in the ayurvedic world here in india. his books back in the u.s. are $20 each. here they are $4. what a steal! when i traveled here i only had 2 carry on bags- so that when i go home i can buy two more bags and check them with the things i have bought while i am here. i have a feeling one bag is going to be all books. haha 😉

i have made some nice friends here in mcleod and have been alternating spending time with them and spending time with myself (gotta make sure i have my alone-time!). shirley- a girl from canada that i met online via an india forum board- is here volunteering and teaching english. we get together for lunch or dinner from time to time- and i enjoy her company. i also met a swedish guy named glen- and we went to the movies the other day. we saw 'eternal sunshine of the spotless mind'. i have seen it once but had no problems seeing it again. the 'theater' is more like a home theater in that it is filled with a bunch of couches and you watch the movie on a big screen tv from a dvd. it was fun 😊 and there is jonathon- an american from california and arizona who i mentioned before- we met before my vipassana course. as well as my roommate from vipassana- yael- who is from israel. both jonathon and yael are gone from mcleod now- but we keep in touch via email. then there are my two tibetan friends i mentioned before that i am helping with their english- darjay and darjee (same name- different spelling). i also recently finally met karma and jane- two people i was put in touch with by a tibetan man named tendar who works for the office of tibet in new york. when i knew i was coming to mcleod i called ther to get information about traveling there- and tendar got to talking to me and told me he had friends there he would connect me with. so karma, jane and i had been emailing for a while before i even came to india. karma is a doctor close to my age with experience in astrology, yoga, reiki and accupuncture. jane is an older lady from england who has lived in mcleod for 17 years! we got together for lunch the other day and they are a wealth of information about mcleod 😊 so as you can see- although i am traveling here alone- i am really not alone 😊

it is very interesting for me to meet other foreigner travelers who are visiting india like me. i am realizing it takes a certain kind of person to want come to india. the typical american who has a set amount of money and vacation time to spend will typically chose to go somewhere resort-ish with many things to do activitiy wise. india is not in the top 10 choices of the average american. but there is so much to experience and learn here in india! i think it should be on the top of that list! i am so thankful i came here. i am so very grateful that things worked out in a way that enabled me to come here. as most of you know i am not rolling in dough these days. being jobless and homeless- it is probably the last thing a sane person would have done with the little money they had saved up. but in my opinion there was no other choice for me. i had to come here. and i am so very glad i did. and i am so thankful for the people that supported me in coming here, who housed me and fed me so that i could save my money for india (mom, dad, paul!), who drove 6 hours to see me before i left for india (carmen!), who responded to my email about my upcoming trip and were excited for my adventure, and who have been religiously reading my blog entries and apparently enjoying them immensely! thank you you guys 😊

well i will sign off for now...i see the sunshine pouring through the window! i am going to walk around and enjoy the view of the himalayas 😊

until then...

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