Life at Sarah College

Living at Sarah College was the experience of a lifetime! Here’s my attempt to give you the run down of my daily schedule:

6:20 am – Kalsong flips on the light.

6:25 am – I grumble about the cold.

6:26 am – Kalsong gives me boiled water (chu tsa po – hot water).

6:30 am – We run over to the temple for prayers.

6:30-7am – Prayers. Prayers are one of my favorite times of the day. The room is set up with the cushions on each side of the room in columns, everyone sits and faces each other (boys sit on the cushions closest to the entrance by the boys dorm and girls closest to the entrance by the girls dorm) The altar is beautifully decorated with a large picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a great painting of a Buddha, tons of religious texts, and butter candles. Then there is a monk who leads the prayers and everyone sings/chants along. There also are animals that make it into the room (only cats and dogs but I wouldn’t be surprised if a monkey made it in there!).

7am – Dash out of prayers to the breakfast line! Breakfast for the students consists of a piece of bread (large piece, I’d say about 5 inches in diameter) and either sweet tea (cha ngar mo) or unsweet tea (cha me ngar mo). Kalsong and I always get unsweet tea. Then we go back to the room and breakfast club begins! (Note: I made up the term breakfast club and there is no term equivalent in Tibetan, the girls were very embarrassed when I told them I called it a club but they get embarrassed when anything happens so I didn’t take it to heart.) Kalsong, Dolma, and Pema sit on Kalsong’s bed (we eat breakfast on our beds) and chatter so fast it doesn't sound like any language. I can’t believe how fast those girls talk. I sit on my bed and interject only when I need another topping for my bread. Toppings: CHEESE SPREAD! (THE BEST), jam that tastes like Jolly Ranchers, red crushed up chilies, green chili sauce, sugar crystals, and sometimes peanut butter and honey.

From Left to Right: Pema, Me, Dolma, Kalsong

7:30 am – Everyone starts to clear out of the room. I brush my teeth, wash my face, put on a bra and jeans (since I just sleep in long underwear and a long sleeve shirt I just keep that on for my days outfit!), throw on my jacket, look at my hair (its so greasy that nothing will help, Michelle comments on my lack of hair care but whatever) and head out to call my family (it's 6:30 pm in CA at this time)! Usually the conversation revolves around the monkeys or the dogs or the cats.

On the Left: The sink where i brush my teeth and wash my face! (Those are the water spigots to fill up our buckets in the background). On the Right: THE TOILET! No flush, the teal bucket is for throwing water in to get everything down the "drain". 

8:30 am – Breakfast for the Emory crew begins! I usually just sit and eat a bit more bread (shocking) and more cheese spread (yum!) and a few more cups of tea (just tea bag-black tea at this breakfast!).

9:00 – 10:15 am – Free! Kind of, usually I’m catching up on reading or working on a paper or doing some type of schoolwork. (Yes, I still have schoolwork even though I’m abroad!)

10:15-10:30 am – Michelle and/or I get Ani la or Cynthia la their choice of beverage for class. In Tibetan school it is polite to get your professors a beverage before class so that they don’t freeze during class (no joke). Ani la likes cha ngar mo (sweet tea) and Cynthia la likes hot lemon water (chu tsa po lemon?).

10:30-12:15 pm – CLASS. MWF – Buddhist Philosophy with Ani Kalsong Wangmo la and TTH – Tibetan Civilization and Culture with Cynthia la

This is where we have class!

12:30-1 pm – LUNCH! MWF we eat with our roommates in the main dining hall. Monday is my least favorite. Its this potato mush thing (everyone else really likes it..). Wednesday is steamed bread and veges. Friday is also a vege dish with rice. Lunch in the main mess hall is served very old school. You bring your bowl (ours were metal bowls) and your spoon and wait in a line. Then either timu (steamed bread) or white rice is placed in the bowl, then whatever main dish is being served is placed on top of that. Pema always brings spicy chili to liven up the meals.

1:30 – 2:30 pm – Tibetan class.  There is only one way to describe this class. CONFUSING.

2:30 – 4 pm – Free time! Otherwise known as 'waiting for tea time'. Studying maybe. Probably fooling around in the river or walking down to Gaggal (the small town with a great bazzar for basic shopping, about a 20 minute hike over a river and through some fields)

4 pm – TEA. The life force of India: tea breaks!

5:30 pm – Dinner in the main mess hall T/Th. Tuesday is FRIED RICE DAY! AKA THE BEST DAY! By far my favorite meal. Lots of veges, lots of rice, little oil and a bowl of all the same thing. (MWF we are still showering or washing clothes or walking or playing in the river). Thursday is tuk pa (noodle soup) which has dried cheese in it and it smells like body odor. So we all (including the Tibetan students) eat at the Canteen. Canteen = chow mein and parantha (bread like pancake thing filled with potato) or veg fried rice.

6:30 pm – Dinner in the guest house! Pema la and Kalsong la (the chefs) prepare quite grand meals for us EVERY SINGLE TIME. They are just delcious meals. There are at least three different dishes with soup and rice. Then tea is served after. I feel like a queen every single time they cook for us! Then we clean up. Which takes a long time but usually we sing.

8 – 10:30 pm ish – either watch a movie in the library, hang out with Kalsong, or frantically work on some paper or assignment.

10:35 pm – go to bed because its too cold to do anything else.

Speaking of cold. My fingers are going to fall off from how cold it is.

This is a rough estimate of what our lives our like at Sarah. There is definitely variation stuck in there. 

The shop and the canteen are two of the best places on campus. Chocolate, toilet paper, tea and notebooks are just a few of the items these great "stores" sell!