Hello Carpe friends and family!
The blog for this week may seem a bit rushed because I’m (Leine) filling in for our dear sick friend Makenna who is resting away an illness.
This week we have returned from our sweaty but rewarding trek, to McLeod Ganj, the home of the Dalai Lama (who we will be seeing tomorrow morning!) We took an extra night to clean off and rest before jumping into our week of cooking, injecting dogs, shopping, eating, meditating, shopping, sipping coffee, staying with Tibetan families, and shopping! We waved goodbye to one another on Tuesday evening and moved to our respective homes where we would become a part of Tibetan families. All of us have been treated extremely well with robust Tibetan meals cooked for us in the mornings and nights. My host family even bought me special jam to put on my pancakes in the morning that would put all other pancakes to shame (sorry mom…)
We met every morning to head up the steep mountainous roads of McLeod Ganj to a quiet meditation center where we attempted to wake ourselves up and slide into meditative practice. We were happy with the lessons we learned but most delighted with our mediation teacher’s silly laugh and “tasty” use of language in describing the spiritual path.
I believe I mentioned before that we may have done a bit of shopping… Let’s just say our bartering skills are now second to none and we scored some pretty awesome gifts that you all have to look forward to!
For me, and the others I’m sure, the most memorable experience of McLeod Ganj has been learning about the Tibetans we’ve been eating, sleeping, and living with in this past week. We met two amazing speakers who gave us their views about the situation in Tibet. I’m floored every time I hear about the conflict with China and Tibet and I am saddened that I had never heard about it before. All of us have a lot of thinking to do in regards to what we’ve learned. My gratitude is extended to the families who have taken us in and to the amazing people we’ve met this week.
