7
Location: Dharamsala
Today the GoBeyond crew headed off with our Lha learning partners in the morning. I had never thought about teaching as a career, but when I was working with my MLP (mutual learning partner) and a word was hard for them and then the moment they understood was a really rewarding experience. I like to call it the “light bulb moment,” haha! Another part of working with our learning partners is just talking with them about our cultures and the Tibetan situation with their exile and how they feel about it. My learning partner and also the students at Men-Tsee-Khang tell us stories of how they came over from Tibet. Their strength and compassion is the most moving and inspiring thing I have ever seen. I don’t think it will ever stop amazing me that even though these people have been through so much, they are so compassionate and have so much joy. Most of them came over as kids without their parents. Some had their siblings, but for many people, it was just them and a couple of other kids with maybe two leaders to get them across the Himalayan mountains. Could you even imagine doing that when you were seven years old?
We’ve been going to Men-Tsee-Khang for three days now, and every time we have a new group of students. It’s been a really good experience because we have had to figure out what are the best ways to help them with their English. So even though playing games with them is fun, it isn’t always useful. Today was perfect because we had just the right balance of games and helping.
When we were leaving Men-Tsee-Khang, it started to rain pretty hard. When our taxis dropped us off in McLeod, the rain was pouring down. I thought it was actually kind of fun because it felt like an adventure. We went to the main Dalai Lama temple for a little while for a prayer service. The prime minister and a few other people from parliament were there, and it was cool to hear their prayers.
Our leaders arranged a dance class for us tonight. Our dance instructor was the winner of Tibet’s Got Talent 2017, just FYI. He showed us hip-hop dancing and also traditional Tibetan dances that were interesting. It was just fun to do something different.
Even though it was raining so hard and that had an effect on our day, it was still a great day. In India you have to go with the flow, so even though things didn’t go exactly as planned, it was great just to be here with everyone.