Location: Dharamsala, India

After a relaxing Sunday morning at the monastery, the group headed up to have lunch at Chonor House, a charming restaurant with traditional Tibetan decor. After a hearty lunch and a few games of mafia, the group divided into three teams of three for the Dharamsala Scavenger Hunt, as shown below. The proud winners were Olivia, Noemie, and Gharam! After the hunt, we had a momo dinner at Common Ground and headed back to the monastery for Josh’s forum about Buddhism. After an hour of heated debating and discussion that bounced from religion to politics, everyone retreated to their rooms and called it a day! And yes, because all the students were much too tired to write the blog, we, the staff, thought we’d take a day off the students and write one ourselves!

DHARAMSALA SCAVENGER HUNT!

1. How do you say “good luck” in Tibetan? (1 point) 2. What year did His Holiness the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize? (1 point) 3. What does “Dharamshala” mean in Hindi? (1 point) 4. Take a picture of a group member with 2 cows in one shot. (2 points) 5. Take a picture and video of someone from your group spinning prayer wheels while reciting a mantra. (mantra will have to be recited for the point to be redeemed later). (2 points) 6. Who is Dhundup Wangchen and where is he now? (2 points) 7. How do you say, “ice, poop and fat” in Tibetan? (2 points) 8. Name the major sects of Tibetan Buddhism and name one Lama or Rinpoche in each of the sects (4 points) 9. Can you buy yak cheese in Dharamsala? Why or why not? (4 points) 10. Name 15 Tibetan organizations in town and get their mission statements? (5 points) 11. What is the reason why many Tibetans don’t eat seafood? (5 points) 12. How do you say, “Is there sugar in this coffee?” in Tibetan (5 points) 13. Take a picture inside McLeod Ganj’s oldest building and get the inside scoop, including when it was built and who built it. (5 points) 14. What do the 5 colors of the Tibetan prayer flag represent? (5 points) 15. How did McLeod Ganj get its name? Is “McLeod” a Hindi word and what does “Ganj” mean? (5 points) 16. Take a picture of a group member with 5 different people from 5 different countries. (5 points) 17. Take a picture of and describe who it is. (6 points) 18. What is “gulab jamun” and come up with two jokes about it. (6 points) 19. Buy a map of Tibet (we will reimburse you!) (7 points) 20. Buy presents for the staff (we will not reimburse you!) 21. Take a picture of a team member playing carrom. (7 points) 22. Talk to a street vendor and find out how much they make a month selling handicraft, jewelry or momos on the street and how long they have worked there. Must take a photo. (7 points) 23. Take a video of one group member singing a Hindi song with a local while the rest of the group dances. (8 points)