Hello there, friends!
So after an intense 8 days at the Deer Park Institute in Bir, the group arrived safe and sound to Amritsar 2 nights ago! Bir is a scenic little town that’s about a 4 hour bus ride from McLeod Ganj, with only one main road. Like McLeod Ganj, it too is occupied by Indians and Tibetans alike. Our days at the Deer Park campus were spent meditating in a beautiful temple, learning more about Buddhism, and stuffing ourselves with delicious vegetarian food. Accommodations were dorm style and super comfy and the group very much enjoyed the luxury of HOT SHOWERS! Meditations and discussions were lead by the cutest (and awesomest) little women named Meletis (who reminds us all of Edna Mode from The Incredibles!) One afternoon was spent hiking to the most beautifully secluded waterfall, while the another was spent traveling to and hanging out at a super sweet natural hot spring. During our time at Deer Park each student chose to spend anywhere from one to three days in complete silence, allowing for some serious self reflection. Although challenging, I think we all found our time in silence to be extremely rewarding! Several films were watched during the evenings including “Earthings”, a disturbing documentary about the horrible treatment of animals, and “Home”, a superb film about ecology! Bir was also the perfect place for each of us to practise our favorite pastimes; Alexa and Te/Chai/Thereasa/Tye spent their mornings running several miles, while Stephanie and Kira (who enjoys speaking in third person) accomplished some serious booty shaking. Ellen read fine literature, Nate (a.k.a. Smat Weezl) rescued injured puppies, John searched for cake to sustain himself, and Hayley regained her strength after being sick. The week ended with getting to hear the most memorable talk from Tenzin Palmo, a wise Buddhist nun and author who spent 13 years living in a cave! Check out her book “A Cave in the Snow” to hear all about her stories and wisdom!
Currently, the group is livin’ it up in Amritsar and enjoying some free food and accommodation! Yes, that’s right, I said FREE! The Golden Temple, a holy site of Sikhism, provides free beds for foreigners and free meals to thousands of people each day. The world’s largest free eatery, the Golden Temple serves about 80,000 people on weekdays and almost double that on weekends! All meals are vegetarian and prepared, served, and cleaned up by volunteers. It’s been a truly incredible experience for the group to dine amongst hundreds of Indians for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and we plan on getting in some legit volunteer hours this afternoon!
Last night the group took a trip to a nearby mall to see a Bollywood film! The movie was surprisingly entertaining and we had a jolly ole’ time. Tomorrow we leave for the Taj Mahal and I’m sure we’ll soon have exciting stories to tell from Agra!
Alvida!
Kira
