Artistic Traditions of Amdo, Summer 2007

The home stay in the village of Gomer has been really nice so far. I really like my family. The boy, Gonpa Tar, is about 9 years old and as eager to learn from me as I am from him. The first night we stayed up until midnight going over Amdo/Tibetan, Chinese, and English words from books we both had. There are large Beetles he likes to grab and fling out the door like a frisbee. The beetles don't like it much because they want to be near the light (and they vocalize this with a shsst sound!) but I'm so glad to be among people who don't kill bugs! Gonpa Tar's mother, Soba, is just a little older than me and very sweet and beautiful. She tries to feed me too much but I'm glad she lets me do my own thing too. I woke up this morning and did yoga and then she let me meditate in their altar room. I'm learning and growing so much. We had our morning Thangka lesson with Drukwa this morning. He taught us the proportions of the Buddha head. He told us that the proportions came from someone measuring the Buddha's shadow when he went to the water. This afternoon we will go to Peng Chou's house to draw, he loves to practice his English with us. Well, that's all for now. De mo!

Michelle