Up the Mountain!

One adventure to the next! Our program transferred from Sarah College to the upper campus in Mcleod Ganj today. I was very sad to be leaving Sarah and all the friends I have come to love. Kalsong, Dolma and Pema will forever be the best breakfast club comrades. Kalsong la and Pema la (different ones and they are the cooks!) will be the reason for my crazy yoga and running expedition for the next four weeks but made some of the best food I have ever eaten! I’ll especially miss waking up for prayers and walking to the front of the breakfast line for who knows what reason. I can’t believe we left!

After a bitter sweet goodbye and promises of trips to see each other, the crew left Sarah and now we’re all up in Mcleod Ganj. I would like to start by saying IT IS COLD! Like two pairs of socks, long underwear, two long sleeve shirts, two jackets, a hat, and a nice cup of chu tsam po (hot water). Yes, I drink hot water to keep my hands and soul warm. It works well. Nobody drinks coffee here. They call it “tsik cha”, which translates to “burnt tea” because they think the taste resembles burnt tea… 

Here’s a picture of Steven (scuba steve) and me carrying our stuff up (down and around) to our houses! (Michelle was taking the picture.) I wish I could post a video because the way to my host mom’s house is INCREDIBLE. I walk through these narrow “paths” that shouldn’t lead to anything but they do. Its like a maze! Incredible. I slowly found my way to a ma Dolma la's (my host mom) house. With a red tin roof and a very noisey ugly rat dog that barks all the time, I’ve slowly made myself at “home”. Besides my fingers getting ready to fall off from the cold, I’m really comfortable here. 

Here’s a picture of our front door. I’m sitting on my bed taking the picture. The kitchen is there with the pot and pan and Dolma’s bed is there on the left. There is the table and to the right (not shown in this picture) is the shrine. 

Here’s a picture taken from the front door. The bed you see is mine! And in the middle is the table, the shrine is right by my bed and the hot water and cooking supplies are under that greenish yellow cloth. 

Dolma (my host mom) speaks very little to no English and I speak no Tibetan. It’s working well. She made “t/dhen tuk” (don’t say the k but say it a little, ya that’s Tibetan). It was some of the best food I have had this whole trip! However, I was pretty much forced to eat so much that I wanted to pass out. She also had this extremely spicy powder that I dumped into my bowl thinking it was the same stuff we had at Sarah. Wrong. I was in tears, my nose was running and I could barely taste anything BUT my second bowl I did not put any in. T/den tuk is a soup/pasta dish that is boiled.

Dolma’s T/den Tuk (I wish I took a picture but I felt that it would have been rude):

First make the noodle dough:

            Two cups of flour and a bit of water

            The dough should pull of the sides of the bowl and resemble play-dough

Roll out the dough into about 5 circles (a little bit bigger than a saucer) and about ¼ inch thick

            Slice the circles into strips and set aside

Chop one small onion

Put in pan and simmer

Pour in water (no clue how much)

Pour in oil (no clue how much)

Chop one small tomato

Chop one small piece of ginger

Chop a couple handfuls of spinach

Chop a couple handfuls of weird looking cabbage/lettuce stuff

Chop an Indian carrot (they’re red and HUGE)

Put in ginger, then tomato, then carrot, then spinach, and then cabbage.

Remember how the rounds of dough were cut in strips? PULL the strips of dough into 2 cm pieces (they will expand in the cooking process)

Cook for a while

Serve! Makes enough for 4 people or one Tibetan woman and one college student.

It’s time for bed because 1. My pinky fingers are frozen. 2. Dolma is falling asleep while saying her prayers. 3. I’m about to go strangle the dog. 4. Its 8pm. Time for bed in Tibetan land.

Wish me luck! Tomorrow we’re either visiting a lama or going shopping for Losar (Tibetan New Year!), either one would be great!