Ok, so I need to apologize for me not writing because of a lack of internet and then me over writing because i get the internet for a couple minutes...
So, last time i wrote i was in Delhi... then... i left and went to a completely new world. We drove 10 hours to Pragpur... where? Exactly. Pragpur is a TINY TINY TINY village 10 hours north of Delhi. We stayed in the most beautiful estate- long story short this estate has been in the owner's family for 11 generations and he had to turn it into a hotel because he couldnt afford to live in it and repare it at the same time. We were put into pairs and then lived in these beautiful beautiful beautiful rooms for two nights... my room had roof access and so a couple of my friends and i spent the first night talking on the roof looking at EVERY SINGLE STAR IN THE SKY. Not only were the skies clear but we were actually closer to the sky than i usually am in New Jersey or New York... we saw so many shooting stars and we could point out constilations and it was beautiful. The next day we walked to the village and found a tailor who ended up making us each an Indian suite by that evening... he was such a sweetheart and gave everyone tea and delivered the suites to our rooms (sounds like a huge deal... and while it was... the village is literally one square mile.. soo.... not so much but it was still really nice). Oh, and the meals at the estate were fantastic- the name of the hotel is called The Judges Court and i HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who finds him or herself in the middle of Himachal Pradesh...

So, finally we made our way up to Dharmasala and came to IBD's Sarah campus. Oh My God. I LIVE HERE NOW. We chose our roommated (it was awkward... we literally stood in a circle and chose our roommates) and mine is named Tsering (meaning long life in Tibetan) and she is from Lhadak (which is about 2 days north east of here...). She is really sweet and is studying to be a teacher (most people are because HHDL told the Tibetans to educate educate educate). Most of the other roommtes are nuns which is also interesting. The first day was funny- unpacking was hilarious... i am here for 6 months in total and packed what i thought was nothing and my roommate has EVEN LESS!! I have two shelves... one for books... one for clothes... Talk about becoming a minimalist... i am NOT even close. That first day we made our way up to Lower Dharmasala (sounds weird...) we took a public bus there... picture 100 people on a 30 person bus... and when we got there we just ate and walked around and bought our buckets (for showering) and our spoon and bowl (for meals) and we got a mug (for tea) and a towel. I also bought a kitkat and was shocked at how much i missed chocolate after not having it for just one week. While we were in Lower Dharmasala I was sitting with the program leader and we noticed a dog sitting in the middle of the road- so Cynthia told me that the dog is probably waiting to die.... so i said to myself "um... no. not going to happen" so i took her rug and tried to push the dog to the side of the street (needed the rug because the dog definitely was sick and I never got the rabies shot... ok so i finally (after 2 minutes of standing in the middle of an Indian road... not smart at all) and then a shop-keeper started hitting the dog with stick because he didnt want a sick dog in front of his shop... so i yelled at him and then went back and moved the dog to the other side of the road and then a nun took it to the hospital. I dont remember if i wrote about it when i was in Delhi but dogs in India are really suffering... it is interesting because the cows live like kings and the dogs are suffering. I am used to living in a country that skins cows while they are alive so that they can be put on a bun in the nearest McDonalds and dogs wear nicer shoes than i do... I would believe that a medium between the US and India would be best because dogs here are really really sad and I have never been a big dog-lover but my god, my heart actually breaks here. So... when we were leaving the town we were walking to get onto a bus and i saw a dog getting rapped... first of all I should preface this story by saying that all of the female dogs have WAY too many babies and they just look tired and sad all the time... none of the dogs are neutered/spade... and it is really sad. In Delhi most of the female dogs stood with their butts touching so that they could not be attacked by a male dog.... so. This time their technique didnt work so i ran up to the dog to kick it away and i screamed to get it away but the male dog was just attacking the female dog (the scene was an actual copy of the rape scene in the movie Showgirl- really fucking scary). I then got yelled at because again, everyone is scared to get rabies blah blah blah... i am still mad at myself for not being able to stop it. On the bus everyone said that we can't help everyone and everything and I dont really know how i feel about recognizing that... I dont want to admit that that is true.

I have to go in a minute and so i will write my next story quickly...

So, we came back to campus and we had dinner and then a movie night with our roommates... woo exciting! movie night!! cool! right? not so much. We watched the movie Tibet: Cry of the Snow Dragon and all i can say is that that movie would be intense if i were watching it in Short Hills New Jersey... BUT watching that movie in a room of kids who fled Tibet when they were 6 and have not seen their parents for the past 15 years is quite intense in its own right... If you want to understand where i am and what i am doing and who i am being surrounded by and the language i am learning PLEASE watch that movie... it is quite intense.
Sorry my thoughts are all over the place i am late to dinner and that is a big no no here...

so what else am i doing here? i start classes tomorrow- i have about 200 pages of reading due every day this week blahhhh... BUT do not feel bad for me because the weather has been beautiful and i have been sitting on the roof reading / watching over the Himalayas...

Oh, we had campus clean up yesterday and i told my friend i would help her with her task... little did i know that she was on garbage duty this week.. SO what did we do? we took the entire campuses garbage (i think my household of 4 persons has more garbage in a week than they do) and we sorted out all of the paper from plastic to bottles to glass to newspapers and divided it all and then burned whatever cannot be recycled... it was incredible.

What was NOT incredible was KNOWING what we put in the garbage... In India they do not use toilet paper.. you cannot throw it down the hole ( notice i am not saying toilet because there are no toilets... there are holes in the ground... and you have to squat.. and i have bad knees... and yes, it has been quite interesting) so.... while the locals use their left hand to wipe themselves... the Americans still use toilet paper and throw it out in the garbage... and yes, then we have to sort through it on Saturdays.. so guess what? I will be a hell of a lot more careful about what i put in the garbage... gross

one day i will tell you what is done with female products... again, these people take recycling to a whole new level.. it is brilliant. gross. but brilliant.

Ok, ok ok ok i must run i am getting in trouble but i will try to write more cohesively on wednesday.

Jela Jayong (see you soon in Tibetan!)