A father's love

Another week has passed for me in Mcleod Ganj. I am now beginning to get the hang of how the Tibetans pronounce Mcleod Ganj. It sounds more like "Mcludgunj". I find this to be quite funny cause when they would say it, I thought they were saying something else, with my eventually realization of "Ohhhh, Mcleod Ganj" in my obvious American accent. At this time with the weather getting nicer, there have been a influx of foreigners. For the most part it is ok, and they seem to be conscious and respectful. But I have noticed from talking to people that the Israelis who come to Dharamsala do not have such a nice rap. Unlike the other tourist who come to this area to learn about Tibetan culture, the Israelis come to party. I have not had direct contact with them, but to me they seem fine. I guess I would hate to think that they come here to start trouble, I have been warned to not associate with them. From what I hear, most of them just got out of military service and then come here. This is just one of many interesting things that I have encountered. Here also you can get cable TV, and Dolma she likes to watch XZTV which is a station from Lhasa, Tibet. I think it is quite a interesting station for all the shows on it are in Chinese dubbed over in Tibetan. There is one particular show that I have watched with Dolma all most everyday that I have been here. It has Tibetan actors, and the storyline is based on Old Tibet, and actors speak in Chinese, and it is dubbed over in Tibetan. I found it odd to have Tibetan actors speaking Chinese with their own language dubbed over them. At least it is the only show with Tibetan actors, the other shows are just straight up Chinese shows. Dolma also loves those Hindi movies, or in reality she just loves the songs. I have watched more Hindi movies in the pass two weeks that I have in my entire life, which for me is quite amazing. Dolma would watch a movie and if there is not a song playing she'll start getting distracted or will start a conversation, but as soon as a song is on, she stops everything and is singing along turning up the volume. When the song is over, the volume goes way down that you can't even hear the movie anymore. Of course I will make fun of her, saying the you might as well just fast forward through all the talking until other song comes on. My time with Dolma has ended though, I will miss her. I am now her neighbor. She helped me find a apartment, which is kind of nice. It has no view, unless you want to count the crusty moldly house in front of it as a view. Also, after this weekend I will begin to teach a beginners english class. All throughout last week, I was sitting in on the class to get a feel of what I was to do. The lady who was teaching it, Anne from England told me that there was a student who has been absent because he had kidney problems. This student is a monk who had escaped out of Tibet, and as it turned out he needed to have his kidney replaced. Since he was unable to find a suitable donor the monk's father walked through the Himalayan mountains to give his son his kidney. After the operation the father went back to Tibet. I was amazed of the love for one's son especially since my own father had not been apart of my life. In a way I was envious of the monk since his father truly cared for him. While my own father is totally unknown to me. This story will give me the motivation to be loving father towards my children like the monk's father, and not to be like my father. Changing topics, I have been studying Tibetan pretty regularly. I constantly get frustrated. Even with having a tutor it does not make it any more easier. My tutor is trying to learn english, so we trade lessons. But when it comes down to explaining some of the questions I have, he has a lot of trouble. I do have to say that I am feeling more comfortable in using Tibetan, eventhough it is extremely choppy. I will work hard to improve it.

Pax