8
Location: Dharamsala
Today was another day with our learning partners. My partner and I went to a small cafe. I had Bae Kan tea, which they said is a traditional Tibetan herbal tea. We had to leave early because we were meeting with the Dalai Lama’s ex-translator in lower Dharamsala. He gave us an introduction to Buddhism and told us that we create our suffering. After that talk, we got back in the taxis and headed up to lunch at an Italian restaurant.
After lunch, we drove up to TCV. Maya and I decided that we would make birthday cards for the Dalai Lama’s birthday with our class. Every child jumped up with excitement when we suggested this. We had thought they would only spend one hour on it, but they spent the whole time working on them. Many wrote things like ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘You are the glue that binds our nation.’ A few small kids, about the age of 5, came in and drew some pictures for him as well.
Dinner was rice, vegetables, and cucumber salad. When dinner was over, we started watching Kundun, which is a movie about the 14th Dalai Lama’s life. We stopped halfway through because it was getting late and we were waking up at 6 am to go to the temple for the Dalai Lama’s birthday.