Howdy.

Tsongma la Ju-le. Never would've guessed I'd be in India for the third time around, but here I am back in Ladakh, and my Ladakhi is getting pretty good! Each trip is different. This time around we got to go rafting on the Ganges and camp on it's banks (our first real night's sleep in India). Then we spent a week at the center of the Drekung Kagyupa school of Buddhism in Uttarkhand. Each day we had courses in Buddhism and Bodyik (Ladakhi/Tibetan script), and sometimes went to morning prayers and debates (between young monks in training). I asked Kenpo Tamphel what his favorite thing about being a Buddhist is and his answer was 'that we are encouraged to challenge the Buddha's teachings'.

I'm happy that I'll be able to share this Ladakh experience with a friend from home this spring, when Susannah comes to India from Athens, Georgia. It's always hard to come up with the anecdotes that really describe this experience, once I'm back home. I've tried to do that a little bit on this blog. But to be able to share the physical experience with someone will be so nice.

Till then, we've got a trek through Sham, a trip out to western Ladakh, and we need to build another greenhouse on the campus--one that I can stand up in. Also, it will be interesting to be in Little Tibet during the 50th anniversary of the Chinese occupation. Our unit on Tibet will coincide with that. Yesterday we read aloud chapter nine from The Dharma Bums during breaks from hiking up the mountain next to campus (it's a chapter about hiking up a mountain). So classes are going smoothly. I'm looking forward to a day off tomorrow...maybe a morning run, meditation on the Indus, read my book, practice Ladaksi/Bodyik, make a sandwich...ahhhh yes