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.