May 2 Day 76
I woke up at about 6 to see the Dharmshala post office. I knew that McLeod Ganj, where we were going, was close so I stayed awake. 30 minutes later we were there.
We asked an Indian family if we could use their phone, got ahold of our contact and waited for him to come. While we were there we talked with an Albanian guy who was there for a lengthy meditation course and was very friendly.
Wangdue showed us and dropped us off at Ahimsa House, where we would be staying. Meg caught up on sleep and I unpacked and putzed around until Wangdue came back at 11.
He took us on a walk up to town. There are two main streets in McLeod Ganj and we had a steep walk up to the main square from where we were staying. Cars and bikes were honking incessantly as we went, missing us by a small margin but at least there were fewer of them than in Delhi.
We were in the mountains so the weather was in the comfortable 20s. The road mainly had street vendors selling tourist stuff on one side and a mixture of businesses in buildings on the other side. Some people spoke to us but no one was hassling in a touty way. We got a tour of the centre and met everyone, Meg frantically writing down names as they were given to us. The centre was alive with activity with students, instructors and organizers going every which way. We left the centre and were dropped on in a great little cafe for brunch which had real French press coffee.
Wangdue then showed us where various shops were in the town and walked us back to the centre. We found out that we would be teaching two classes of English students. This came as a surprise to us as we had read that unless you had a multi-month commitment you probably wouldn't get your own class. LHA had two teacher departing in the next week, however, and so needed the help.
Wangdue and the staff answered a lot of questions and we were discussing our payment when we mentioned that we were not met at the airport. He was surprised by this and mentioned that this was the most important part of the orientation package. He discussed it with one of his colleagues but hasn't mentioned it again since.
We looked at some material in the library and then went to the Dalai Lama's temple complex for a quick tour. These buildings seemed utilitarian after the ornate temples of Bhutan and Thailand but were rightfully revered by visitors. There were many monks in the courtyard challenging each other with logic exercises by clapping forcefully after each question. There were some Vietnamese monks visiting, some in grey robes and others in shorts and t-shirts, which surprised us. One thing we've noticed is that even in the temples, flashing and glittery lights are used around pictures of the Dalai Lama and Buddhist deities. My western upbringing makes me think that this glitz is tacky but it is obviously reverent here.
We also saw the Tibet Museum, which documents the history of Tibet, mainly the Chinese atrocities committed since the invasion. It had the feel of a holocaust museum for obvious reasons but was well laid out and you could just move on if you didn't want to look at specific exhibitions.
Back at LHA we sat in with Sean on his advanced class which we would be taking over on Monday. He was doing Gilgamesh and had several routines for the students. There were about 12 of them, most coming in late and trying to settle at the back. when they had to read, their decoding was excellent but getting them to talk was like pulling teeth. He was very relaxed with them and they were all motivated to be there, no mandatory attendance was enforced. Whenever they were talking or looking at their phones it was about the assignment (there weer only four photocopies of the text so most students took pictures of the copies and read them off their phones.)
The room was basic, a whiteboard and some markers that kind of sometimes worked. There was a tv screen that could show youtube (and other websites, I assume) and most students had pencils and paper. There was a resource room with many British workbooks and a library of novels but scant materials such as glue, scissors etc.
After class we sat in the resource room grilling Sean. He had been teaching in China but was fined and had to leave a few days after he taught his students about what was really happening in Tibet. He was quite self-critical and wanted to focus on other things he was doing here. We generated a lot of possibilities about the class and planned to sit on Friday's class as well. We also met Coren, who was staying where we were and was helping to work on the monthly newsletter.
As we walked back we did some basic food shopping and were pleased to find that even small shops had reasonably good selection of products and prices. The prices were printed in rupees on every product, so we didn't have to haggle over every item. We picked up some basics and headed back to our room.
We went out to dinner and couldn't find the restaurant we were looking for and so went to a fancier place overlooking the square. We had a nice wine and i had an excellent biryani but Meg's pizza was a little sweeter than we like. Meg obsessed over a group of your men with big coiffs who were hugging and holding hands, speculating that they were gay prostitutes by the way they hassled cabs and tried talking to passers by. Apparently India is very conservative about such stuff and they were just hanging out.
Most places were still open as we walked back in the dark. The street was generally well lit and there was a little less traffic than during the day but we still wish that we brought a light. Back in our room we had some tea and went to bed under the fan (not because of the heat but to dissuade mosquitoes that Meg worried would get us in our sleep.)
I woke up at about 6 to see the Dharmshala post office. I knew that McLeod Ganj, where we were going, was close so I stayed awake. 30 minutes later we were there.
We asked an Indian family if we could use their phone, got ahold of our contact and waited for him to come. While we were there we talked with an Albanian guy who was there for a lengthy meditation course and was very friendly.
Wangdue showed us and dropped us off at Ahimsa House, where we would be staying. Meg caught up on sleep and I unpacked and putzed around until Wangdue came back at 11.
He took us on a walk up to town. There are two main streets in McLeod Ganj and we had a steep walk up to the main square from where we were staying. Cars and bikes were honking incessantly as we went, missing us by a small margin but at least there were fewer of them than in Delhi.
We were in the mountains so the weather was in the comfortable 20s. The road mainly had street vendors selling tourist stuff on one side and a mixture of businesses in buildings on the other side. Some people spoke to us but no one was hassling in a touty way. We got a tour of the centre and met everyone, Meg frantically writing down names as they were given to us. The centre was alive with activity with students, instructors and organizers going every which way. We left the centre and were dropped on in a great little cafe for brunch which had real French press coffee.
Wangdue then showed us where various shops were in the town and walked us back to the centre. We found out that we would be teaching two classes of English students. This came as a surprise to us as we had read that unless you had a multi-month commitment you probably wouldn't get your own class. LHA had two teacher departing in the next week, however, and so needed the help.
Wangdue and the staff answered a lot of questions and we were discussing our payment when we mentioned that we were not met at the airport. He was surprised by this and mentioned that this was the most important part of the orientation package. He discussed it with one of his colleagues but hasn't mentioned it again since.
We looked at some material in the library and then went to the Dalai Lama's temple complex for a quick tour. These buildings seemed utilitarian after the ornate temples of Bhutan and Thailand but were rightfully revered by visitors. There were many monks in the courtyard challenging each other with logic exercises by clapping forcefully after each question. There were some Vietnamese monks visiting, some in grey robes and others in shorts and t-shirts, which surprised us. One thing we've noticed is that even in the temples, flashing and glittery lights are used around pictures of the Dalai Lama and Buddhist deities. My western upbringing makes me think that this glitz is tacky but it is obviously reverent here.
We also saw the Tibet Museum, which documents the history of Tibet, mainly the Chinese atrocities committed since the invasion. It had the feel of a holocaust museum for obvious reasons but was well laid out and you could just move on if you didn't want to look at specific exhibitions.
Back at LHA we sat in with Sean on his advanced class which we would be taking over on Monday. He was doing Gilgamesh and had several routines for the students. There were about 12 of them, most coming in late and trying to settle at the back. when they had to read, their decoding was excellent but getting them to talk was like pulling teeth. He was very relaxed with them and they were all motivated to be there, no mandatory attendance was enforced. Whenever they were talking or looking at their phones it was about the assignment (there weer only four photocopies of the text so most students took pictures of the copies and read them off their phones.)
The room was basic, a whiteboard and some markers that kind of sometimes worked. There was a tv screen that could show youtube (and other websites, I assume) and most students had pencils and paper. There was a resource room with many British workbooks and a library of novels but scant materials such as glue, scissors etc.
After class we sat in the resource room grilling Sean. He had been teaching in China but was fined and had to leave a few days after he taught his students about what was really happening in Tibet. He was quite self-critical and wanted to focus on other things he was doing here. We generated a lot of possibilities about the class and planned to sit on Friday's class as well. We also met Coren, who was staying where we were and was helping to work on the monthly newsletter.
As we walked back we did some basic food shopping and were pleased to find that even small shops had reasonably good selection of products and prices. The prices were printed in rupees on every product, so we didn't have to haggle over every item. We picked up some basics and headed back to our room.
We went out to dinner and couldn't find the restaurant we were looking for and so went to a fancier place overlooking the square. We had a nice wine and i had an excellent biryani but Meg's pizza was a little sweeter than we like. Meg obsessed over a group of your men with big coiffs who were hugging and holding hands, speculating that they were gay prostitutes by the way they hassled cabs and tried talking to passers by. Apparently India is very conservative about such stuff and they were just hanging out.
Most places were still open as we walked back in the dark. The street was generally well lit and there was a little less traffic than during the day but we still wish that we brought a light. Back in our room we had some tea and went to bed under the fan (not because of the heat but to dissuade mosquitoes that Meg worried would get us in our sleep.)
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| The view from our balcony, note the high Himalayan mountains in the very back. |
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