"Home" Sweet Home

A week can seem like a long time in some circumstances, or sometimes it flies by and you wonder where on earth the days went. For me, the week has literally disappeared before me and I find myself on a Saturday trying to recall what it is I actually did all week. McLeod Ganj is such an easy place to be and you find yourself very quickly in the day to day routine - I now see why it is a haven for travellers and people who find themselves drawn back to this place year after year. Life is simple. It is easy. And to top it off, you are surrounded by beautiful mountains, smiling Tibetans and I can get a good coffee. Well, maybe not Melbourne Degraves St style, but they have an espresso machine and cakes to die for, so the days blend into one another and the hours pass without too much trouble.

The view from my bedroom window

The beginning of the week saw dark storm clouds loom and the day literally turned to night and the heavens opened, I did say we were closer to God, but it did feel a little too close. With the wind and the rain like that for 24 hours, it left not much to do. And when the power went, keeping warm was the priority. The power cut in and out for nearly 24 hours. Something that the locals said never happens but I am learning very quickly that it is not unusual for daily outages. It is ok, you make do. Candles and a warm blanket, a trusty head torch and things are fine. Even sitting in the Cinema last night and the power went, we sat and chatted for awhile waiting for the Kings Speech to resume but alas, after an hour, we called it quits and headed home. "Come back tomorrow, we will finish the movie!" the guy said, so tonight, we go back to see the last half of the movie. No one seemed to care, it happens. At home, you can imagine the disgust, but here, it is part of everyday life. And the "cinema" , well a few chairs, a projector and makeshift screen, but given it is low season we got to pick the movie so for $3 it's not too bad really.

"Greetings" from Mcleod Ganj

I started work on Monday with an AIDS prevention organisation doing some editing work on a magazine they are producing. AIDS/HIV is a problem in the Tibetan Community so the work they do is extremely relevant and spans all Tibetan communities across India. I am also tutoring English to a girl and then my favourite part of the day is conversation class - between 4pm-5pm each day, any students wishing to improve their English arrive to practice with a teacher and converse. There would be up to 40 people crammed into the tiny class room for 60 minutes of chatting. Each day you have a different group of people and different topics to discuss, the people and the conversations are wide and varied. My first day, a group of 6 monks and I chatted about movies and music - one of them says, I love action movies and hip hop. Who would've thought that these guys that dedicate their lives to studying buddhism could tell you about the latest Hip Hop release. Oh, and Justin Beiber is a favourite, I can't even tell you what songs he sings but they seem very knowledgeable. The age of internet I guess. They are so grateful for your time and it is loads of fun, I learn about their country and they learn how to wolf whistle (I had to show them a special talent yesterday and they had never seen whistling with your hands before). I told them it's how you round sheep, they loved it.  The smiling faces, their embarrassed attempts at describing their favourite sport and the heartfelt thanks really do make it worth while.

Tibetan Cultural centre

It is low season at the moment so the town is a buzz with locals but limited with tourists. There are a few other volunteers here so I have some people to explore the area with and also have a bite to eat. Everything is in walking distance and we are spoilt for choice with places to eat - Italian seems to be a favourite here so pizza options are endless. Today we hiked up to a waterfall and tomorrow is more of the same - as I sit here and sip my latte, eating my chocolate & banana cake I think, I can get used to this :)