Plan for the Next Month

This past week was not “normal” by any means. I spent Sunday and Monday taking care of 2/3s of the fallen VIS students who had succumbed to the tasty fried somosases we ate from a roadside stand. On Tuesday John Mingle talked to us about the direct effects of global warming in Ladakh and the villages he has seen. Yesterday I had Ladakh Then and Now next to the Indus river before listening to an agriculture official discuss the harm of pesticides.

This week we will be meeting with the inventor of the artificial glacier, recently named Indian of the year. We get to pick his brain about the design while actually visiting one of his glaciers.

I know the coming weeks will be even more “unnormal.” First we will cross Kardong La, the highest motorable pass in the world before going to Nubra, as the first tourists allowed ever. There we will attend a special Buddhist festival before returning to SECMOL for a few brief days.

After a few days of trekking to a remote village called Urtse I will be helping with flood relief efforts by building a new community center using passive solar energy. As a science class we will also try to help Urtse by designing and planning an artificial glacier to help combat growing water shortages due to global warming.

When I return in the beginning of April I will begin work on my independent study/exhibition project – possibly working at a Tibetan refugee camp. And that sums up my plans for the next month!

I will try to update everyone as much as possible but it can almost be assured I wont have much Internet access. When I do have access I am sure I will have lots to share and even more stories to tell when I return home.