

I went with the sports camp and crafts group today instead of my Anganwadi group as many of their members are sick and they needed the help, but also because they filmed their interviews today and none of them knew how to do it so I got to tag along and help. I loved seeing all of the kids playing soccer and being able to work as teammates - all of the life-lessons they were learning in action. I also enjoyed hearing what the two boys that we interviewed had to say about the camp. One of them, Aman, had being going to the camp since he was a young boy and now as a 19 year old help runs it. And the other two, a fourteen and sixteen year old, both talking of the impacts that the camp has made on their life through teaching them team work and other lessons in a society were most people do everything by themselves.

After lunch, we headed to the Mcleodanj, a nearby city that houses a more touristy market with jewelry, keychains, little buddha statues, etc. It was another very rainy day and our outing became a rush to buy all of our souvenirs and gifts before we headed over to the Dalai Lama's temple.
The temple was amazing and to be able to hear a prayer ceremony going on while we were there was amazing as well. A Chinese diplomat that had been a longtime supporter of the Tibetans was jailed along time ago but recently passed away in the jail, so the temple held a prayer ceremony led by one of the Dalai Lama's right hand men as he is away.

We stuck with the theme of the day and headed to a Tibetan restaurant for dinner. Let me tell you. Tibetan food is some of the best food I think I have ever had. It was very similar to Chinese food but much more flavorful and a larger variety. We had both steamed and fried momos (the fried ones were very welcomed as they felt greasy and well fried, just like home), as well as noodles and goat meat mini calzones (also very welcomed meat). It was this evening that made us all realize how much our stomachs have shrunk from the small amounts of food we have been eating, and we were all very disappointed at the smaller amount of this delicious meal that we could shove down our throats than we would have wanted. But time will go on and I now know what type of restaurant I will be looking for as soon as I get home.
No comments:
Post a Comment