Home!!

Hello Everyone!!

If you are still checking in with this blog, thank you very much.  I have spent the past six months reflecting on my experience abroad and I would like to share some of my insights.  It has taken a lot more time than I had anticipated to come to a thoughtful conclusion as to what the entire experience means to me.  I guess I should start at the beginning- December 15th, 2007.

If I close my eyes, I can see the image as if it were happening all over again- being in JFK in the the domestic terminal waiting for my connection to Portland.  Already I can sense a different type of atmosphere- people rushing to different gates, frustration at delayed flights, and long lines at the starbucks.  Immidiately I can sense a change in the environment. 

The connection to Portland was very short- 55 minutes.  Desending into Portland was a very special moment- seeing Bug Light Park where my grandfather always goes for walks and does his crosswords, seeing his house, and seeing South Portland- a home I had forgotten about.  It was scary to think of all the things I would see and do that I hadn't experienced for four months. 

Landing was a relief- THousands of miles, an ocean, and a hemisphere later, I arrived home.  Again, if I close my eyes, I can see it as if it were still happening.  I think this happens because I want to experience it again so badly.  Walking towards the reception area for all the new arrivals- I can see a small gathering of people.  Then I realize that my whole family and a number of friends were there.  I can hear a close family friend, Bob, say "oh there he is".  I walk through the door and my Mum comes up to me and I give her the biggest hug of my life.  Soon after I hug my sister, holding tight for a few moments.  There were so many of you there, thank you so much for the reception.  The girl that I was dating at the time was the one person I kept in contact with the most.  Seeing her at the airport and being able to hug her after so long was by far the best part of coming off the airplane. 

After a short time at the airport, and the distributution of ka-tas to all of my friends and family, I realized that my bags (yikes!!!) did not make it from JFK.  After filing a report with the airline, we all went back to my parent’s house for pizza and stories.  I found it interesting that my bags travelled thousands of miles from Delhi to Paris to New York, but were lost between the few hundred miles that seperate New York City and Portland! 

Ten days after I arrived home, I was on a plane again- travelling with the Saint Michael’s swimming and diving teams to Florida for our annual training trip. This was probably one of the hardest physical experiences of my life. I was completely out of swimming shape and was not ready for the 10,000 yards per day that our coach was throwing at us. I was able to survive however, and returned home for three days before I had to go back to Vermont for more training.

From the time I arrived in the States, I started to get more and more sad. Being back at school, away from my family caused me to become deeply depressed. I was having a very difficult time adjusting to life in the United States and was not happy with the person I was and the culture I was living in.

Because of these feelings, I made the worst decision of my life- I tried to take care of these feelings myself. Being abroad in a different country for so long forced me to care for my own feelings- especially because not that many people could even understand my language. Deciding to internalize my saddness was the worst decision of my life because it caused me to lose many relationships with some of the most important people in my life.

My relationship with my parents and sister deteriorated. I could not relate to their style of living anymore. I couldn’t stand wasting any food or water. I couldn’t stand the mentality of trying to get more and more of so many things including money, food, and material objects. I don’t blame them at all- it was just hard because I could not relate to this life style after living in India for so long.

Along with my poor relationship with my parents and sister, my relationship with my best friend and girlfriend at the time completely ended. This was the single worst decision I have ever made. Instead of trying to relate my pain and trouble with adjusting back to American culture, I pushed her away and tried to deal with the issues myself. Looking back at my situation, I wish everyday that I would have shared my thoughts with her, so that she could have helped me adjust back to this crazy thing called life.

The next five months or so would not improve. Only recently has my adjustment back to American culture improved. I still struggle with certain thoughts of what I experienced while abroad, but I have learned how to better apply my new perspective of the world to this culture.

While abroad in India, Nepal, and Tibet, I was able to learn from people who have been oppressed for about a half century. These people have taught me love, patience, and compassion for all beings- even those that oppress you. I strive everyday that I live to apply these basic concepts to my life in hopes of helping those around me. Coming back from my trip was the hardest time of my life. I lost a sense of myself, I lost love, and in the course of coming home I had to learn how to use my experience abroad so I could help others around me and not look at the negatives of American culture. I hope I have done this well. I hope I have learned about reverse culture shock so that the next time I travel I do not hurt others as I adjust back to American culture.

Thank you all for reading this blog and for checking in with the progress of my trip. Although my trip has been over for nearly six months, it seems as though it is just ending as I feel I am now well adjusted to this culture.

Peace and Love to You All!

-rob

Delhi...and home!

Hello Everyone!

I have finished my ISP and have been in Delhi for four days now. Since being in Delhi, i have seen the Taj Mahal, and gotten some important last minute shopping done. Today is my last day in Delhi, and I leave tonight (actually tomorrow morning) at 1:20 in the morning from Ghandi International Airport. I will be home on Saturday in the afternoon.

I am excited to see my family and friends. I am not excited to leave India. I have been in Delhi for the past few days- a city of 14 million, with everything backwards (literally- they drive cars on the other side of the road!) when compared to America. I'm nervous about American life, and how I will adjust to having everything I haven't had for the past three and a half months. Tap water, hot water, a car, a big house- I'm not used to these things anymore, so I am nervous about being thrown into it all.

I should get going, but I am excited to see everyone, and can't wait to share these stories with you. I am not quite sure what these past few months have taught me yet, I think it's going to take a while to settle. When it's processed, I want to post it on this blog so I can officially end these adventures. For now though- at least from anywhere in Southern Asia- this will be the last blog post. Thanks for reading, and see you all soon!

-Rob

Tibet Part I

Tashi Delek Everyone!

I am back in Dharamsala, India. For the next month I will be conducting my independent research project within this Tibetan Community.

It feels great to be in a free country again.

So many great things happened in Tibet. I won't be able to write about most of them, so here I'll try to just get the tip of the ice-berg. Hopefully later on I can go more in depth on my adventures on the plateau.

First thing's first- the altitude! Oh man, did I feel it!. Our lowest point during our trek was at Lhasa which is around 12,000 feet. Just going up a flight of stairs left me winded. It took me a few days to get some sort of aclimitization. During our trek, we hiked up a pass that was over 16,000 feet!!! The highest point in the 48 states is 14,500 feet. We were over 1,500 feet over that!!! It was unbelievable because even though we were so high there were still hundreds of mountains around us that were taller than we were. Incredible.

The situation in Tibet is not good. The Tibetan people live under direct control of the Chinese government and have very little say in how they operate their lives. Their political lives, education, and religion is all controlled with no freedom. Lamas, or high official monks, cannot stay at their monasteries in rural parts of Tibet. Instead, they must stay in Lhasa, so that the government can control what and how they teach Bhuddism.

In Lhasa, it does not even seem as though you are in Tibet. It seems like China. All store signs have Tibetan script but below them is Chinese script in bigger letters!! Pilgrims who travel thousands and thounsands of miles, prostrating the entire way to get to the Holy sights in Lhasa, must pay 1 yuan to enter the Potala Palace- one of the holiest sights in all of Tibetan Buddhism!!! It was very sad to see how Tibetan culture is being changed by the Chinese government. In the country side it is much nore subtle, but there is still a change.

There is so much to talk about my travels in Tibet. Hopefully during this month I'll be able to blog a bit more but I'm certainly going to save some of the better stories for when I get home.

Please take a moment each day to appreciate the freedom that we have as citizens of America. So often during my time abroad have I heard people tell me how fortunate I am to be able to say what I want, pray as I want, and live as I want. I think it's important for everyone to realize that no matter how frustrated we get over our current government at least we still have freedom.

Stay Tuned!

-rob

Nepal!

Teshe Delek Everyone!

Wow, the past 10 days have been incredible! I have been in Kathmandu since the 8th. This place is great. THe hub of all Himalayan trekkers, you get an array of common tourists and Everest mountaineers, all in the same street!!

We began our adeventure here by visiting the SIT Nepal house. This is the home base for the Nepal program students. Our program doesn't have a house because we are so nomadic. We began with a discussion of Nepal including history, geography, and safety. Because the Nepalese government is going under some changes right now, there is a lot of instability withing the city. Just over a month ago in September there were bombings of city buses in Kathmandu. Because of this, we were not allowed to take any form of public transportation- instead we had to resort to taking taxis.

The rest of the time spent here has been pretty rigorous as far as time goes. We have only had two days off. Those two days were spent going to Thamel- the tourist district. Here, I was able to talk to trekking store owners, and learn of their Himalayan travels- including many who have climbed Everest and many other incredible mountains!!! I was also able to get many gifts for friends and family back home.

Besides those two much needed days off, our group went to a health clinic everyday for two 1 and a half hour sessions with a Kkenpo. A Khenpo is a very highly learned Buddhist teacher- one of the highest in Buddhism!!! Each session was in the clinic's Shrine room. For the first session we went through a chapter of a Buddhist text, stanza for stanza, and learned its meaning and how to apply it to our daily lives. The topic of the chapter was patience- very important for a hectic, crazy Westerner like me!! During these teachings, the Khenpo taught in Tibetan, being translated through an English monk. During the second session, we were able to talk with the English monk and basically ask him questions and have a dialogue about Buddhism. During one of these sessions, we were able to have a lesson in mind training, or meditation. Here, I learned the basics of the Buddhist tradition of how to train your mind and strengthen it as a tool.

During this week, our group has stayed in Bhouda, a district just outside of Kathmandu. Here, just beside our hotel, is the Bhouda Stupa- one of the most important Buddhist pilgrimage sights in the world! A Stupa is basically a large (in this case, 5 stories high) which hold relics of the Buddha.

Tomorrow we leave Kathmandu and head for Tibet for a 15 day tour. This is our big excursion since we are studying Tibetan and Himalayan Culture. Unfortunately, this will be my last blog post until after I get back from Tibet. In China, there is no free speech. There is no freedom of religion. Arguably, there is no freedom at all. Because of this, people are not allowed to talk about Tibet as a free country. People cannot have a picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. People cannot even speak about him, or else they'll go to jail. I can't even bring my personal journal because it has so many references of His Holiness and a free Tibet. I won't be able to blog because if the Chinese government reads what is on my blog, I can get in serious trouble. I can't call home because every phone line is tapped. I can't email because every e-mail is censored.

It should be interesting to live in this type of environment- one in which the government has supreme control over its people. I can't wait for the next blog, one where I will try my best to give the most accurate depiction of what it's like to live as a Tibetan in a Chinese controlled Tibet.

Please stay tuned. See you at the next blog.

Peace,

Rob

Shira Bling

Hello Everyone!

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to the package that I received last week. It was such an uplifting feeling to receive familiar things from home.

I spent this past weekend at Shira Bling monastery with three other students. Our assignment for the weekend was to collect as much field data as possible through interviews and conversations about topics ranging from religion and politics to daily life and economics. Since the last week in August and until October 7th there have been continuous "empowerments" at the monastery. Empowerments are interpreting what the Buddha said, and using those interpretations to further oneself towards enlightenment. Because these empowerments were being taught by some of the most revered teachers in all of Tibetan Bugghism, hundreds of people from all over the world came to the monastery to participate.

The monastery is huge to begin with. One source told us it was home to close to 600 monks and nuns! It is set in the small Tibetan settlement of Shira Bling, about 2 1/2 hours from Dharamsala. To get there we took a public Indian bus. That in in itself was an experience! Packed full with local Indians, the bus sometimes only slowed down when people got off or on!

Because there were so many people at the monastery to listen to the empowerments, there were no rooms available for us- we had to camp. We asked a monk if he could lead us to a campsite, and we followed him to our new home for the next three days- the roof top of a monks' quarters! The concrete was not exactly a La-Z-Boy, but the view more than made up for it- surrounding the nearby main monastery was an explosive view of the Himalayas!

During our first night, we were able to witness a sacred ceremony in the main temple courtyard. Every 10 days, the monks and nuns build an incredible fire, at least 10 feet in height- and offer dozens of pots of food to the Local Deity. This pleases the Local Deity, which controls the local environment and protects the people of Shira-Bling. It is also a great way to gain merit- an ever present goal of gaol of many Buddhists. During the day, I was able to witness young monks make a dozen or so different pots of food. Later that night, these monks brought them across the courtyard and literally shoveled the food into the fire using plates. Sometimes they first offered scarves or other items of cloth. The pots were each so big that 5 or six monks had to help carry it across the courtyard- probably a nine iron to the fire pit. During this entire ceremony, which was about 2 1/2 hours long, I sat with the other students only about 20 yards from the fire! It was extremely hot! Also, a group of about 2 or 3 hundred monks and nuns sat on the other side of the fire, continually chanting to the drums and horns being played. It was one of the more incredible occasions I had ever witnessed in my life.

On the second night, while playing cards on our roof top camp site, one of the students in the group told us to look at the mountains. Just barely peaking over one of the mountains was a pale, cream colored circle- a full moon! It was around 8:30 at night. We took a break from cards and watched as a full moon rose over the Himalayas! It took only 2 minutes to get over the top- very quick and very beautiful. As it shone down on me, I slowly fell into a deep sleep, with the sounds of monks practicing their horns in the distance.

This next week will be very busy and very short. Tomorrow I am going to a teaching by His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama! For the rest of the week we are wrapping up our stay in Dharamsala, then on Saturday we take an overnight train to Delhi. From there we head to Nepal. Next stop, Kathmandu!

Thanks for reading!

-Rob

Classes and Homestay

Tashi Delek!

Things here are starting to wrap up in Dharamsala, India. Classes have been very intense the past month. We've had lectures on everything from ancient Buddhist philosophical concepts to Tibetan Activism in exile. Just the other day we were able to have a lecture by Lobsang Tsering, a leading figure in the fight for Tibetan Independence. It was the best class of my life. He spoke with so much passion and told the most heart wrenching stories of occupied Tibet that I thought I was watching Braveheart, George Washington, or some other freedom fighter from those times. This man has some of the strongest convictions on Tibetan Independence and was also one of the most inspiring speakers I've ever heard. He is also owner of the popular local book store, the Book Worm.

Next weekend, I am travelling with three other students to a nearby town called Shirabling. It's about 2 1/2 hours away. There we will be doing field research on topics such as the town's geography, economy, religion, and social life. We are responsible for travel, accomodations, and food. It is called the "village assignment" and is a sort of mini ISP (independent research project) which we will all conduct, by ourselves, for the finally 5 weeks of the program. This village assignment should get us accustomed to doing independent field research.

Besides class, the homestay is incredible. Sometimes I feel like I am learning more talking to exiled Tibetans than being lectured about them in a classroom. My amala still has not made a bad meal, and my Pala and I have had some of the most interesting discussions. I also feel a strong bond with them, especially as our coming departure from Dharamsala nears. It is interesting to experience a bond like this grow despite cultural differences- including a language barrier!

We have only two weeks left here, then back to Delhi. After a day in Delhi, we fly to Kathmandu, Nepal for about two weeks. There we will be given Buddhist teachings by a Kempo, a high ranking Buddhist teacher! After Nepal, we fly to Lhasa, Tibet for around 3 weeks.

Next week, before we leave Dharamsala, we are going to a teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama!

Thanks for reading!

-rob

host family, classes, waterfall.

Tashi Delek!!

So much has happened since the last entry and i have class in a half hour so i will try to squeeze everything in. I met my host family two days ago. They are incredible. I have an amala, or mother, and a pala, or father. They live near the library which is a 2 kilometer walf from my class room. it's not a bad walk though- the road goes right along the edge of the vally, at some points dropping off what looks like a thousand feet.

We have also started classes this week. Tibetan is the hardest subject I have ever tried to learn. If you ever need a challenge, go to the library and pick up a book and give it a shot. The teachers, or "Gen" that we have here are amazing. They are very smart and very forgiving. I have noticed that a lot of the people here speak at least two, sometimes three languages. Since Dharamsala is in India, there is Hindi spoken a lot. Also in Dhamramsala is the Tibetan Government in Exile, so there is A LOT of Tibetan as well. Along with these there is English.

The other day, Sunday, we had the day off, or "holiday" as my amala said. I decided to hike up to a waterfall with some friends. The trail was very well established- a lot of it being paved. Up at the waterfall there were some cafes almost carved into the side of the mountain. We had chai at this cafe called Shiva Cafe. It was made out of stone and the inside had numerous works of art and a man playing djembe. outside there were a group of monks playing cards. The monks here are great- very nice and friendly.

I have to go because I have class soon. To the fourth grade class at Holy Cross School: Dream often, and follow those dreams. This adventure has been a dream of mine since I was your age. I hope class is going well and study hard! I can't wait to come back and share all my stories.

Thanks for reading,

Rob