Wifi means pictures!

We are currently in McLeod Ganj, a place famous for serving as the residence of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and also, as we have come to realize, headquarters for many Tibetans including Tibet government buildings like the supreme court.  Tibetan culture is still very much alive here where you hear the Tibetan language spoken everywhere and many people here still wear traditional Tibetan dress.  This city is important because it houses many Tibetan refugees and continues to accept them as they arrive.  This means that there's a continued need for volunteer effort to help care for people by offering them medical care including therapy for any trauma they may have suffered.  It also includes services meant to teach refugees (and anyone else in need) skills that will help them to succeed in India.

Today we were able to volunteer by teaching English for a few hours.  There were four students who showed up but no other volunteer teachers.  One of my students was a Tibetan monk who only came to India three months ago and we had a very interesting conversation about what it was like to leave his home and his family.

(Other volunteer projects include the care of McLeod Ganj itself which, I guess, has become increasingly more dirty -- read: littered -- with the increasing number of tourists that come here.)

Shira's two students

There's a relatively large complex here that includes a monastery, the residence of the Dalai Lama, residences of other monks and nuns, temples and shrines and beautiful natural space.  There's a traditional clockwise rotation that brings you past the most important buildings and give you pretty incredible views.  Here are some pictures of what we saw there:

Jordan and Buddhist prayer wheels

Notice the Tibetan prayer flags

Hebrew signs!

We have been hearing Hebrew and seeing Israelis everywhere!  Although we have not found Israeli food here like in the past few places we've been, we have seen an abundance of Israeli signs.  Here is one advertising a Tibetan cooking class that we would have liked to take but couldn't.  Tibetan cooking is surprisingly wonderful!  It's everything I love about real Chinese food: fresh vegetables, flavorful broths and protein-bearing tofu.  We've gone for a few months without really understanding what we're eating, so to see in-tact vegetables is most welcome.

Views from our hike

This morning we started the day right by taking a relatively short walk/hike to the Bhagsu waterfalls.  It was a little rainy and pretty early in the morning which meant that there were no other people.  The views were again, splendid!  We've really been enjoying being in the mountains.

More views from our waterfall hike

Our Japanese meal

Food that needs a picture!  We found a vegetarian Japanese place that was not-for-profit (all their profit benefits Tibetan aid organizations).  Everything pictured here cost about four US dollars total and was completely delicious and different.

"I'm wet"

It's very rainy here and we got wet.

We took a cooking class where we learned how to make three different Indian dishes (unfortunately not Tibetan) and bread!  Here's Jordan looking very professional.

Internet cafe is closing up and I must go!