Change of Plans!!!

Typical India Style plans changed again and I am sure they will change again!

Unfortunately, despite living in a high altitude desert and not seeing a drop of snow/rain, mother nature decided to throw a snow storm party this weekend! Reaching Nubra via the world’s highest road in a snow storm is...impossible. So, I was able to watch an amazing Buddhist festival full of traditional dances, outfits and songs. All of SECMOL and VIS came and it was really nice to have the SECMOLpas there to give a personal guide of the monastery and explanation of the different steps of the festival.

The change of plans means a "normal" week of school - whatever that means! We always have surprise fieldtrips and guest speakers so it is still exciting. This weekend we leave for Urtse for flood relief work - I am SO excited!

Here is my latest essay for English class:

Smiling is my drug of choice. I feel ridiculous, foolish, and completely idiotic but I cannot wipe the grin off of my face. And the more I think about how ridiculous I look the more I smile, bigger and wider. I cannot help it, I do not know that I could eschew if I tried but I certainly do not want to stop. American music blasts in my ears, Hindi music thrums in the background, the base reverberating through the bus. I’m tired yet energized. Poor Alana sits next to me; a victim of my attempts at silent lip singing and crazy head bobs. Eventually I give up and my shoulders move back and forth, unable to restrain this crazy energy that is flying through me.

It’s a typical Indian bus with ripped seats and a sort of strange fabric that makes you think twice about putting too much skin up against it. It’s also a typical Ladakhi bus with the Dali Lama’s photo taped above the windshield, prayer wheels dangling from the unused rearview mirror. And of course it’s a typical Indian and Ladakhi journey, a thrilling amusement ride that require complete trust in the driver. My original fear when I see another car coming straight at our bus has been replaced with humor as I now understand road rules are non existent which results in a heightened game of American chicken. With trust in place and fear left back behind me, I only smile wider.

Army camps line the road, a subtle reminder that Ladakh is wedged between Pakistan and China with some of the most controversial boarder lines in the world. Wild dogs are everywhere, my biggest fear at night with their ever-growing confidence. Typical to any desert there are no trees, no lakes, no life to block my view across the vast valley. Occasionally our route takes us along side the Indus, it’s ice slowly melting before rushing downstream. Next to its bank lie the few sparse seabuckthorn bushes, a resource used so ingeniously by locals. Around the steep bends I can see straight ahead “my” mountain. Although it looks like a little sibling compared to the rest, I love knowing that my “home” lies at its feet. SECMOL school, an incredible foundation working to help increase education rates in Ladakh, is my base for my semester abroad.

Hindi music thrum, which I can shockingly recognize after a seemingly short month and half here, competes with chatter. My fellow VISpas, the nickname for students that are on the same trip as me, are spread throughout. Some are mingling with the SECMOLpas, students at the school we are studying at, while others are lost in their own world. I stare out window, intensely fascinated by the crystal blue sky, not a cloud to be seen. Such a vibrant blue makes the mountains pop even more than normal, their snow-covered peaks contrasting with the sky. The Stok Range, with its drastic points, is in its prime and I wish desperately I had my camera, normally my constant side kick. But then I sigh and my smile grows ever wider as I think about how lucky I am to have my camera, to be looking at these mountains, to be alive.

For a brief second my smile wavers as I think of the people in Japan, their country destroyed by yesterday’s tsunami. I feel guilty when I think of all the personal reasons I have to be happy – my mom’s recovery from a near fatal accident, my riding team’s first place finish at regionals, my two care packages waiting for me back at the dorm room. And I smile, guilty at first and then genuine as my eyes return to the magnificent mountains. Somehow the mountains are irresistible and melt away my self-doubt. A new song blares over my ear buds and my head starts to nod, unable to resist the music.

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.

Conversation

English Conversation is the hardest. I can handle comprehending how mountains formed, analyzing a short story or debating Buddhism but speaking about my own life is the toughest. Back in East Greenwich, half way around the world, I learned how to think, to process, to explain but this is completely different. I sit surrounded by a couple SECMOLpas, all their faces looking earnestly at me. I prepare myself to be honest and clear but each time I worry I will make a mistake.

I am learning the best responses to the easy questions like “I am from the village of East Greenwich.” The word ‘town’ is a foreign idea here and I have abandoned it in the hope that maybe I will seem less foreign too. I try to adapt and leave behind the world I know in America but it isn’t always easy.

Some of the questions like “how do you get water” leave me struggling. I feel so awkward, so strange when I explain that there are metal pipes under the roads that come to my house and then the water comes out of the faucet. And then I scramble to explain that a faucet is “sort of like a machine, sort of like the head of the pump in your village.” A few students understand but the majority look at me like I am an alien and I actually feel weird and confused about the technology we have in America.

By far the hardest questions are the ones directly about my identity. I have been asked about my aim in life, my career and my religion. I attempt to be honest but at the same time I feel pressure to fulfill some hidden expectations. Occasionally I receive smiles when my audience approves of my answer like “being happy” or a “doctor” but my answers only come after several seconds of mulling over the most accurate way to describe something that is so fickle in my mind. I receive the blankest stares when I try to answer the religion question. Wanting so desperately to be honest I normally reply with an “I don’t really know what I believe in yet.” I tack on the “yet” as if to prove that I am trying to find something that I believe in but it is more of a promise to myself then anything else. Rarely satisfied with that answered I have been questioned with a “Well, why?” I have not found an answer to that question either, not one that fulfills my own expectations or satisfies their perplexity.

Often I leave English Conversation questioning my relationship to the world around me. Today it dawned on me, while explaining refrigerators and icemakers, that our American world is so out of touch. While we use lights, cars, plastic bags or heat we are greatly impacting the rest of the real world that survives without any of these materialistic goods. John Mingle, one of our guest speakers, talked in depth about water shortages in Ladakh. One village, which was established over 1,000 years ago, has been forced to move to another site because water has not been able to provide crops. Maybe it is too complex an idea for anyone to fully grasp but I hope that when I return home I will think twice before turning on an extra light or using the water at full force.

SHAM TREK!

First of all I want to send all my best luck around the world to the Heritage IEA team as they compete at regionals. As much as I LOVE it here I still wish I could be there cheering everyone on! Sooo….kick some major butt Heritage girls!

My past week has been even more breath taking and awe inspiring then normal….if that’s even possible! I can officially say that I have completed a six-day, five night trek through the Great Himalayas! SLC or the Snow Leopard Conservancy works with families in villages throughout Ladakh to create home stays, a win-win for both trekkers and villages. As a trekker I received the best care in a traditional home while working along side the family to make meals, look after children and tend to the animals. The families receive an additional form of income but also the support of the Snow Leopard Conservancy in protection of their livestock and changing their perception of the importance of the local wildlife and landscape. Slowly villages are understanding that the snow leopard is an integral part of Ladakh and “revenge killings” are decreasing. To be a part of such a positive cycle is amazing, especially since I know this isn’t my last trek in Ladakh working SLC homestays!

While the East Cost slept Monday I set out with the aim of trekking to Yangtang. Still struggling with the altitude I slowly managed not only to keep up with the rest of the group (they were all struggling too) but also to make it to the village! My first home stay experience was incredible. I cuddled with several beelas (cats) and drank my first cup of chang (traditional barley beer). I practiced the dance of refusal – a true art in Ladakhi culture as hosts love to serve you again and again.

I am finding that hiking so high does not supremely strain my muscles or make me sore but leaves my lungs on fire. Sometimes I feel as if I am sucking in air through a straw and that there will never be enough. Everyone in the group laughs because it is not so much that the passes are that physically challenging – there just isn’t enough air!

I lucked out on day two of the trip by hitching a ride on one of the four ponies to the small town of Ulley. Riding, even on a stocky little pony up an insane hill, never fails to make me smile! I fed the pony a few of my favorite Goodday cookies, missing Bradley a whole lot! L But my host family’s little boy, Tenzen, cheered me up with his “nunba” dancing. Ulley is situated high in the mountains, a small village of only six or seven houses. At night the headlights of a car light up the walls of the mountain. Tenzen was so excited to see a car, a very rare sight, he was dancing and eventually ran outside in the freezing cold to greet the passengers. His excitement made me smile but also question the effects of roads into such remote villages. I also learned how to make chapattis – although I can’t guarantee success if I make them on my own!

Walking from Ulley to Hemis was beautiful! We climbed the second highest pass of the trip and celebrated with a game of Ninja before descending into the village. My host family was an memelay (grandfather) and abelay (grandmother). With their help I learned the best techniques on lighting a dung fire in traditional stoves. It requires a lot of kerosene and a few matches.

Our last hike was paramount to all the other days, albeit the most strenuous with an almost 13,000 pass. Flurries accompanied us the entire way, making most of the trip an absolute white out. At the top of the pass we hung prayer flags and wrote messages on them. Descending was invigorating with a constant stream of snowballs flying overhead. To top of the dayI had the best home stay with a nono (little brother – about 3) and a nomo (little sister – about 5). I hugged a baby lamb for most of the evening, the perfect heating pad while I watched the activities in the busy kitchen. My Memelay sat in the corner, clothed in traditional red wool, constantly spinning a prayer wheel as he chanted “om mani padmi om.” In the morning, after packing, I played with Nomo and Nono drawing nema (sun), khe (dog), khong (house) and Abelay. Before I left I handed Nomo my pencil as a small gift of thanks. Her face lit up like it was Christmas and she rushed to show her Amelay (mom). Something I always took for granted as a child was the seemingly endless supply of art supplies so when my Nomo embraced my small gift with such vigor it made me think twice.

My first home stay family had older children in college. However, when they were at home they had to walk two and half hours to school – on the same route that took us almost two days. While I struggle to breath at this altitude on a trek for pleasure they hiked every day as commitment to their education. To gain education I simply turn the car ignition and drive to school – they physically earned education with a commute of almost five hours a day. I worry that back home I will forget how incredibly lucky I am to access to education with such ease and will slip back into a state of complaint about waking up early or completing home work. I hope that I can at least think twice about my access to education and its quality when I go back to the United States.

Love from Ladakh,

Taylor

Alive and Very Well!

No prepared blog post today since I JUST got back from our trek...well I haven't even really gotten back since I still haven't arrived at SECOML! Tomorrow I am going to try to go to Leh and upload pictures and a new post so be on the lookout!

In few words the trek was amazing....like unbelievably amazing!

Every village was prettier then the next and some of the views....I was looking back at my millions of photos on my camera and I can't believe I was there! And it was only a few days ago!

Although we didn't spot the elusive snow leopard we did spot an ibex! It is sort of like deer/goat but much cooler! The horns are crazy! I have some photos that I can't wait to share!

I sort of promise more tomorrow - it all depends on Leh having power and wifi!

Love from Ladakh,

Taylor