Today is our first free day after 8 straight days of class... woohoo! Yesterday we had a talk by a guy (I forget his name...) who has been to Beijing 5 times to directly negotiate for Tibet as envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In other words, he's a big deal. It was quite interesting, obviously His Holiness is a proponent of his Middle Way approach to Tibetan autonomy instead of independance. This is a big point of contention in the Tibetan community.
Tibetan is going well, we know enough to be able to read the language now! Thats a pretty big stop for an alphabet that is completely new. There are so many exceptions in how letters sound. In addition to learning the 30 letters and 4 vowels, we also have to learn the three suoperscript and 4 subscript letters, which all change their root letter in a different way. Its pretty exciting!
Dharamsala is really great, its a really fun place to be and to hang out in. I think that I'll be coming back here for the five weeks of independant study project. My idea right now is to research activism in exile, specifically regarding the build up to the 2008 olympics in China. Its crazy that we only have 2.5 weeks left here before going to Nepal. We're all really looking forward to it!
My homestay has been going well, my amala is awesome. I tried making momos the other day, what a mess... My pala can make like 8 different shapes, and I could barely make them stick together.
On another note, I'm sick... I spent last night in the hotel.
Keep on rocking,
Sam
ps, the title of this blog is kind of misleading, we only go to Tibet for about 3 weeks, most of the program is actually in India.. But oh well.
pps, is anybody actually reading this blog?
Learn Tibetan:
Sim ja nango = good night
Nga lo nyeeshutsachik yin. = I am 21 years old.
5 comments:
Sam! I am reading your blog!! Well, I mean I just did today because I found in my wallet the little scrap of paper on which you wrote the web address. Yay!
Your semester sounds fantastic so far. I hope it only gets better! Go Sam!
Also, I started a blog too about Kenya because I leave in about 5 weeks. It's very exciting! Read my blog if you've got enough internet access!
All the best, Bobbie T/E
http://bobbiesuete.blogspot.com/
hey Sam
i'm reading your blog!! i check multiple times a day to see if you've posted something new! I'm very sorry to hear you're sick. i hope it passes soon.
What is a momo? sounds interesting.
love mom
hey sam it's max, your god brother
I found this from your facebook and I've been reading it... it sounds really exciting. don't stop writing!
keep on enjoying your trip
I'm "actually" reading your blog too! It sounds like you're settling in pretty well - sucks about being sick :o/ but unfortunately it just kinda gets to be an occasional fact of life, no matter how careful you are.
I'm super-excited to hear your thoughts on Nepal in the coming weeks! I understand some pretty crazy political stuff has happened in the past few days (don't know how much news you get)...the Maoist party representatives have pulled out of the Nepali government after a year or two of trying to work with them.
-Renée
I'm reading! Keep it up!
-Dan
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