Jennifer spent her mornings learning the art of Swedish & Shiatsu massage from her kind teacher, Mahinder. She also learned some delicious Indian cooking from his wife. Jennifer has been busy in the afternoons with a variety of activities: yoga, English conversation with Tibetan refugees, and volunteering her time taking care of young Tibetan babies! She literally had her hands full with activity!

Jennifer and Mahinder with her "happy" sign

Receiving singing bowl treatment from Mahinder

Cooking class! Making some delicious eggplant curry.

Note: "Excited" workers and Catherine yawning:)

Stylin'

The group with a spectacular view of the whole Golden Temple complex

Deb-sorry i havn't posted squat.

Essentially Amritsar is dirty and busy, not leaving much room to breath-at all. When we first arrive, we are slapped in the face with India once again- it's a bit of a change from little ol' Dharamsala. Once we finally get to the Golden Temple we are surrounded by thousands of people with knifes, silver bracelets, turbans, and more people. The Golden Temple- to get the best idea of what it looks like-look it up on Google. What it feels like (well to me) was oddly peaceful, considering there were so many people there. On the outside it looks like masses of people unorganized throwing various objects too and fro. When you look closer, it's masses of people throwing things too and fro, helping people. The place is a machine of goodwill. To get chai you must walk towards the courtyard (where everyone must cover their heads) where volunteers help clean the marble floor. Once inside the chai complex there is a man or women sitting on the chair handing out bowls for chai-she is also a volunteer. When I got to the giant vats of chai there is someone turning the spiket on and off. Once I sat down and try to chat with the women, men generally swarm trying to hear me speak my broken Hindi. Then the guard with a spear shoos them away. One you're finished with your chai chances are someone who is also done will take your bowl and put it in a giant grocery cart thing that, when full, will go to the dish washing section where more volunteers clean all the dishes. And so on and so forth. This place is completely run by volunteers.

A view of the big family chaos from above

With Sher Singh's family, a guard at the foreigner's quarters in the Golden Temple

India never doesnt feel temporary. but i feel IN it. some moments, never more than a moment, i feel like 'this is where i could be me for at least a while' but i never really know. buddhism says that i dont exist. only my mind and my body. so then i feel weird because according to 'them' we exist according to three things; the cause and conditions of our existence, our parts, and our label. at tushita I spent ten days in the mentality that you should always be present in the fact that you are your parents child,

The night train Yahtzee tradition continues....this time Peter takes 1st

This is just a glimpse of how excited they were to be in the mountains

Shiny, happy students

We landed safely in Leh yesterday and have been taking it easy, watching Bollywood movies, and sleeping the rest of the time. Our bodies are slowly getting used to being at 10,000 feet although going up the stairs leaves us quite winded. The group was ecstatic to be up in the mountains with fresh, crisp air to breathe leaving the noise and pollution of Delhi behind. It should be an enjoyable time here in Ladakh. We leave to go to the village of Domkhar tomorrow where we will be staying with Ladakhi homestays for one week. And then off on a week long trek! Communication will be very limited here but we'll try and drop a line when we pass through Leh!

Ellie's homestay family with little Rigzin and his abi-le (grandmother)

I sit in my Domkhar homestay with the TV blaring a Bollywood dance video, girls dancing in hardly any clothes and men wearing expensive watches, driving fast cars, and sunglasses. Such a drastic difference from the setting I'm sitting in. The 3-year old boy, Rigzin, is sitting and watching with innocent eyes while eating processed white bread and drinking butter tea. His mom is sitting on the dirt floor cooking thukpa over a wood-burning stove. The room is sparsely decorated--two posters: one of a beach with palm trees and the other, a herd of wild horses running though a river with the moon rising in the background. In between the two is a prayer wheel that is in constant motion. Constant motion. Is there any way to stop this powerful force of modernization that has seemed to be set into motion reaching even the most remote villages in Ladakh? The ancient colliding with the new? Surrounded by rocky mountains with little contact with the outside world--how could all the dancing, bright lights, money, and music not be appealing to these little innocent 3-year old eyes? If only they could understand my language...they would hear how much our culture is speeding up, so much that we often have little time to sit down as a family to eat dinner or just enjoy the silence of being together. Once the grandparents walked in, the TV was switched off.

Entering the beautiful Markha Valley.

We reached our 16,700 ft pass! Where's all the oxygen?

It will be a quiet week or so here on the blog as the group enjoys walking among some of the most spectacular (and youngest) mountain peaks and valleys on earth.

If they are extremely lucky, they may also enjoy a fleeting glimpse of the endangered and exceedingly reclusive Snow Leopard. Although almost never seen in the wild, paw prints and camera trap images such as this one taken in Ladakh prove Panthera uncia is still hanging on out there. More likely will be sightings of resident Blue Sheep, Ibex, Marmots, Golden Eagles, and the giant Lammergeier, with its incredible 10-foot wingspan. And plenty of Yaks.

Ellie sent word this morning that the group had a great trek, capped off with a Ladakhi dance party, complete with s'mores.

Next up: an early morning flight from the cold Himalaya down to the heat of Delhi before taking an overnight train to Varanasi, located on the banks of the Ganges River.

Pictures and reflections from the trek to come.

A glimpse into train life: Josephine on top, Piu in the middle, and Kushok hidden on the bottom bunk

We have just arrived in Delhi and it is hot! I'm definitely missing the colder weather in Ladakh. When we flew to Ladakh about 3 weeks ago, we were greeted by the incredible sight of the Himalayas poking through the clouds, which we could see from the airplane window. After a few days of adjusting to the altitude (over 10,000 feet), we went to live with Ladakhi families in the village of Domkhar.

But it's strange, not waking up to that crazy feeling of being around mountains. They were so close. They just kind of appear out of wrinkled plains. They were so big and bright and beautiful and blinding. The clouds would hang over mountain peaks- where does the snow stop and where do the clouds start? It was a lot quieter and colder up there. I had to remind myself we were still in the same country, still in the same world, looking at the same sky. Holy skies. The nights were drawn by stars, the silhouettes of mountains, and us, the observers- tiny, empty gazers looking up at spirals and galaxies, the River Ganga (commonly known in the west as the Milky Way), the constellations... all so clear and nowhere near.

Up north we'd gone from the town of Leh, to Domkar, a village hiding in dust, growing out of the fields by the Indus River, and then into the wild for a week of tramping and trekking.... through valleys and up to a pass at 16,000 feet. In between there have been some Bollywood slumber parties, a steep and slick mini-hike to a peak by secmol, and for me, an evening getting re-hydrated on a bed in the IV room. Yesss.

And now for a little fun or "time-pass" as they seem to say around here... hows about some Peterisms, classic phrases from our favourite Tibetan Kushok-la.

-shouting "Tee, sa wa sap!" as we're wildly dancing around a bonfire, pulling out Ladakhi moves we didn't know we had
-"Actually, it's sort of chilly up here!" referring to the Himalayan nights
-"bzzzzzmmm" as a mantra mumble-bee in his Bee costume
-"Pyu is become pyu again!"...(the name I've adopted)
-"... or somesing like that"
-"hwhaaaaack!"
-"this can be really good for you guys"
-"this is sounds good?"

Okey, time to go out Ganges style. Whaaack. This is sounds good?.

A glimpse into the graceful chaos of Indian streets

So today I 'favorited' India (re. the facebook function of 'liking' something, i.e. a photo, comment, or status [for the social networking inept]). We're in this place, Varanasi, where the smell is like that of and actually of burning bodies along the Ganges, and the colors are like drippy and ancient.

Something I've been enjoying is 'zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' which is contributing greatly to the black bike im visioning parked outside my jazzy, worldly, eclectic college pad as close to water as possible. Dont worry, I'm actually going to buy and ride a vintage and dangerous bad-assmobile. For real. Actually.

Anyway something I'm missing is like social incongruity and challenge, obviously that comes with a pretty specific level of investment/immersion with your environment that I lack. I'm keeping my month alone in india absolutely planless and everything is becoming cake right in front of

Time is really just a what we call the movement of change. And in Varanasi, the moment of change is a bit different.

It's a little more the pace of a boat ride along the ganges. The river pushes you one way but with a bit of rowing it moves the way you want. Although the current is too strong (sometimes), its steady until you run into other boats; its never too steady because if india were steady it would be called steadystan not hindustan. (ha.ha.ha)

But it could also be the pace of a tuk tuk, which has a slight hint of ($&^%*$&^#%%^#&^$ im going to die) and a spit here and there of fresh paan. The ride always gets you there though. Where ever "there" is there is room for interpretation.

Remember, this blog will stay up and can be utilized for communication and also remembrance. Feel free to post comments on the blog about how you are doing and feeling at home. This site is for you to connect.

Also, if you are feeling a bit lost at home, please check out these online resources for reentry. Reverse culture shock is very real and it there are tools you can use to help with this process. Perhaps these documents can help shed some light on a new world:

• SIT Study Abroad Reentry Toolkit

• Transitions Abroad: Coming Home from Study Abroad

• University of Missouri International Center: Coping, adjusting and getting involved

• Middlebury: Re-entry Resources