in honor of tibet

No, I didn't watch all of the Superbowl this year, but I did see this odd and not so great commercial.  The ad has caused controversy and personally, I don't know how it made it all the way to being aired during the Superbowl!?!

the full experience

Tonight we’ve decided to stay at Joel’s girlfriend’s parents’ home in Xinings. Think of the most stereotypical Chinese house and you’ve got the image. Origami, lanterns, pictures of cats and fluffy dogs, ugly sandles. The parents are so cute! 78-year-old Grandma was there too. We had lunch for over 3 hours! They shoved food down me as if I was going into hibernation and wouldn’t be eating for months. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve had to do the whole trip. I honestly thought I was going to explode. They must’ve made at least a dozen dishes. And one toast of Baizho after another! They’ve given me a Chinese name because Elly is too hard for them to say. It sounds kind of like nnie and means something like midnight concrete/clay/mixture. Again, we had to go over the whole vegetarian thing… they really don’t get it.

After we ran some errands around town, we came back home only to be greeted with the offer of even more food. At least this time it was a smaller meal of barley in wine and yogurt. Joel bought some movies about Qinghai life that are supposed to be really funny. We let Grandma pick out which one to watch and she chose the one that translates to ‘fuck wife.’ (We only found that out later.) It ended up being standup comedy so we didn’t understand anything- it’s all in Qinghai dialect. Grandma thought it was absolutely hilarious though. She kept elbowing me at the funny parts to laugh, as if I knew anything that was going on! I just smiled and laughed- but mostly at her.


tomorrow

mental exercise

We went to an antique/junk and wood market today. I would love one of their motorized bikes for school next year!

We spent forever in the Tibetan Medicine Museum. A Chinese girl who’s studying in Beijing befriended us and gave us a personal tour of the place. The place is home to the longest Thangka- ½ a mile long1 It was mentally and physically exhausting to follow! So, when we finished, Uncle Tim and I got blind massages. My back really hurts from it. I thought the woman was going to go right through my back. And Uncle Tim looks like he got seriously beaten up- he has huge bruises/welts all over his back.

Tonight we went from a club to bar to restaurant then back to the hotel room only to see the sunrise across the horizon. We laughed, talked, and enjoyed one another’s company. I feel like I’m starting to understand more and more Chinese. I wish I could talk back though.


tomorrow

no room at the inn

Today we had to find a new hotel, but there’s hardly any room anywhere between some bicycle race and the fact that we’re foreigners. One place finally agreed but said no as soon as Uncle Tim and I walked in. After some yelling and negotiation and bribery, they let us stay.


We found a lovely non-Chinese cafe (run by local missionaries) that had real, non-powdered coffee and fresh food.  Finally something familiar!

We had a lovely day wandering the city. Walked around, stopped in some tea shops, then picked up some fresh fruit at the market for dinner and watched the sunset. A new one today- a monk was trying to discretely take a picture of me so we offered to get him in it too. We laughed- I’ll probably end up in between pictures of Kobe Bryant and some Chinese actress… my dream.

Uncle Tim and I went to a Chinese nightclub for kicks and giggles. Outdated hairstyles, paid dancers, fine American music, state of the art dancing, and the gender separation you’d see at a Middle school dance… oh boy! I just couldn’t take the place seriously!


tomorrow

i fell into a...

Finally it was warm enough not to have to wear my mummy hood on my sleeping bag. I woke to a herd of yaks coming through the camp. A bit startling. Ever seen a yak run? It’s like watching a big sheet bounce around with four little peg legs sticking out of the bottom. They’re so funny looking.

We hiked further downhill until we arrived at the monastery where Jimpa used to live. We stayed in the 10th Panchen Lama’s father’s home who died just a couple years ago.

shocking- women working

water run

We went to another fire puja. This time it was initiated by a business from Lanzhou for the prosperity of the company. It was very commercial and didn’t have quite the same spirituality.

I just got back from an exploration to find another toilet. Mission accomplished. We did have to bust a door, but at least this new one has stable concrete around it. Our original one was a large hole with some old wood laid across to stand on. The wood bounced and squeaked so one wrong move and you’d be in deep shit, literally.

at least it has stable footing

We’ve been trying to get train tickets to go from Xining back to Shenzhen or Hong Kong. Turns out, the train tickets are super hard to get because of the Mafia. Jimpa has sent out different people to try to get some, but no luck. It’s a mess. Confusing and very weird.


tomorrow

life's a journey

For most of our hike today, the discussion was again my future. We finally concluded by setting my long-term goal to education.

an abandoned site

We came across another nomad camp where we were invited for tea and zampa. The woman gave us each a bowl of yak butter, cheese, and tea and she piled up heaps of barley flour into the bowls. We mixed with our fingers. Maybe I’m just getting used to the yak taste, but it was really good. Her young boy (maybe 2 years old) clung to her shoulders. He just held on everywhere she went, weary of getting too close to us.

We got a little lost today and didn’t find our camp until it was about dark. Some women in the village where we camped invited us for tea. We gave her daughter a Hershey’s bar. She snuck it outside and ate it all in one bite. She didn’t think we could see her, but we definitely could.

Jimpa neglected to tell us until tonight, but it’s his birthday.  What a great place to be for your birthday!

tomorrow

wish upon a star

I woke up to ice everywhere. Every step I took crunched. Jimpa gave us a lesson in Tibetan medicine this morning. Tibetan doctors diagnose patients based on their skin, muscle, and bone pulses in the arm. It’s really cool.

I walked mostly on my own today. I enjoyed my own pace. I sang songs, made up games, and reminisced senior year. I realized just how much I loved it! I thought about all the memories made last year and at Lovett. What great times!! -As well as the 14 year journey of which Lovett, my friends, and family were a big part.  I thought about how Nate will experience his high school years as an only child, and I won’t be part of it like he was for me. That makes me so sad.

We collected wood along the way in hopes of building a fire tonight. Mind you, we are in grasslands where there are no trees so it was a bit tough. But we were successful enough. There’s the decaying carcass of a yak right by us. I have developed a nasty, infected blister. We are at our highest camp and will begin descending tomorrow.

I guess we got a little too excited about the mushrooms last night because we had more for breakfast and mushroom dumplings tonight for dinner. Mushroom overload. What a beautiful night- mushroom jiaozi, cold air but a warm fire, and millions of stars!

tomorrow

i think i can. i think i can

I rarely feel my legs anymore. They’re sore, my joints hurt, and they get numb it’s so cold. 
There were Tibetan mastiffs barking up ahead so we positioned our party strategically so that we were prepared to fight off the dogs if needed. Needless to say- I dropped back from the frontline. False alarm. The dogs were staked down and the nomads invited us in for tea. Luckily, we agreed to go in because just minutes later it started hailing. It hailed and rained for quite a while. The woman turned out to be from the same village as Jimpa. The neighboring tent set up a plastic tape along the ground as a boundary in addition to ferocious dogs. Tibetan mastiffs are quite unfriendly. They’re trained to attack any and everyone that walks into their territory. So, last night we practiced how to fight dogs and sharpened the walking sticks. Joel says all he needs is a bottle of Baiju—right…

We are on top of the highest peak in the area. It’s beautiful and so powerful! There are little wildflowers wherever there’s not a pile of shit. I hope I never lose touch with this kind of expansion and beauty, peace. You can see for miles and miles and Himalayan mountains in all directions. Out here, my mind is so clear of petty, trivial things. The monks and nuns give off such great energy. At the same time, I know how easy it is to get wrapped up in shit at home and just go through the motions. And here, if I get frustrated, I can just walk a little faster and try a little harder and everything is ok.

We’ve set up camp in another beautiful site. It reminds me of the Sound of Music. The sisters picked wild mushrooms while we were hiking and cooked them up for dinner with homemade noodles. It was so delicious! It hailed again this evening, but luckily we had just finished setting up camp before it started. We all huddled together in the cooking tent, trying to stay dry and warm in the leaky tent/tipi. We all talked and laughed about Tibetan culture. Did you know that there’s no Tibetan word for “sorry?” The closest word is translated as “don’t be angry.” Somebody really should make a comedy out of this place. It’s funny but it’s real.

So the sisters and horse wrangler have a colorful flashing light hanging in the tent. We joked that they were having a disco party in there, but it’s to scare away the bandits or at least let them know that there are people here. If I were a robber and saw the light, I’d just want to join the party! It just looks ridiculous. We sleep with the mules and horses in between the white tent and our tents to keep an eye on them to make sure nobody steal them. Never a dull moment here! I’m in the process of thawing my feet out from frostbite with hot water bottles. Let’s hope I can sleep tonight with the cold. But, the stars are certainly beautiful despite freezing my face trying to look at them. The moon is so bright and the sky is completely lit up with stars.



tomorrow

always a story...

Last night was a restless night with a cat and her kittens. Uncle Tim is allergic to cats so we tried to keep them out, but that was a battle. They got in a couple times during the night. Joel and I ran around the home/room in headlights and just barely awake, chasing little kittens while Uncle Tim remained in bed, laughing at us and avoiding contact with the little nuggets.

blister care

We got up to go to another festival at another monastery a few hours away. It was different and really cool. The women sat on one side, and the men on the other while baskets and baskets of bread were carried on the men’s backs up to us. It was quite a powerful image seeing all that bread carried up the hill and placed before all of us. Then there was milk tea, and rice with yak butter-not too tasty.

from below

motorcycles and umbrellas 

thank you's and goodbye

Our camp for the night is beautiful! Right by a stream and nestled in a steep valley. My future has become the hot topic. What I should do, where I should go, what I should study, etc. It’s fun to think of all the possible options out there, but totally overwhelming!

tomorrow

somewhere in the middle

writing away

Today is the 16th. That means in exactly one month, I will go to my first day of college classes at UGA. This time last month, I was recovering from Bonnaroo. And then, May 16th was my graduation day from Lovett, home for the past 14 years. Meanwhile, I am somewhere in Tibet. Crazy!

We hiked back down hill. My knees are still on fire. It rained a good bit and everything got wet yet again. 

these are water powered prayer wheels- all so that the monks don't have to turn the wheels everyday

We're  sitting in the home of one of the monks in this small monastery, trying to escape the downpour outside. His walls are completely covered with posters of NBA stars, movie stars, and the Dalai Lama. He, like so many monks in China, has a big TV, motorbike, and cell phone. Not quite what I expected from the life of a religious monk. 

There are two monk boys, ages 6 and 8, who are focused on their studies and memorizing prayers. I don’t know any kids that age that could be a monk. We tried playing cards with them. They’re smart and quickly figured out how to cheat at the most simple game: war.

The government monitors every TV station so that China is always glorified and the one saving the distressed. There’s a good bit of beating and abusing women. All of the concerts are totally staged- the crowd is brought in, dressed up, and given props to wave, and the singer is some beautiful woman pretending to be Tibetan, lip-syncing and thanking the Chinese. 

tomorrow