International Women's Chorus Plays Hemis Festival

Hemis Festival with the International Single Traveling Women’s Chorus

Well here we are, the Chorus of course, spending a day at the masked dances at the Hemis Monastery. This is an annual festival that originated over a thousand years ago. After pushing & shoving among the crowds a few of us ended up in the front row and a few up on the upper floors. Raining, raining, raining. Is this a good time to say my expensive LL Bean outer shell with a million zippers to control ventilation outperformed itself? I remained happily dry and warm. Maybe I should also mention that my feet stayed dry and comfortable in my smart wool socks and just my Keen sandals not to name drop!















Last year I needed a walking stick to get up the steps to the monastery and this year, I am happy to say, I have not used or carried my walking stick – my leg grows stronger by the week. Thanks Brooke wherever you are!























Then the hit of the day when the chorus took up residence half way down the mountain in the wind and rain to perform several International hits such as Dancing in the Rain, Somewhere over the Rainbow, Row, Row, Row your Boat, etc. The performance lasted approximately 45 minutes. The countries represented were Germany, Holland, United States, Britain, and Israel. Here are a few clips for your enjoyment.















Members of the chorus partaking of afternoon tea.




























Beginning of the Mask Dance at Hemis

Oriental Guest House Family Puja

Oriental Family Puja & Oriental Stuff

I love being back with the Oriental Guest House Family, they are so caring and fun to sit and hang out with. One of the very nice events they involved me in was a family puja (Buddhist ceremony). They usually celebrate this particular one in the winter for good health but they have a few family health problems so the puja was celebrated now. I was very touched to be there and they allowed me to take some pictures.



Kester and Karin were there as well – I felt glowing by the end. Kester is from Great Britain and Karin is from Germany.


















































The family has made many changes to the guest house this spring before I got here. My friend Meg found it to disturbing so she checked out of the Oriental, Tamara’s room, and moved to a quieter and less expensive guest house. By the time I arrived everything was in place and Tamara’s Room had plumbing that worked (sorry Meg, I love that room). Here’s a chance to say my Pigeon couple is still here – when I arrived there was a dead baby in the nest – the next day they had removed the baby and were tidying up the nest. The following day they did the egg thing and they are taking turns sitting on the egg. They work so hard and deserve to have this baby live.

Soooo, back to changes. The family removed the old dirt floor kitchen and replaced it with a large stainless steel kitchen with marble floors and the works. They have a new cook who is fabulous so most evenings I eat right at the guest house. Dinner costs 95 Rs which is about $2.50 USD on any given day. I’ve eaten out four times so far to have a little protein from chicken and mutton. I’m also snacking on yak cheese and sometimes (yikes) coke and Lays potato chips however I like Phuntsog’s homemade chips better here at the guest house.













They’ve also enlarged the front garden and made a nice new walkway to the C building & dining room. It gives ama leh lots of space to grow green leafy veggies (cabbage, lettuce, etc.). Out back they have more gardens for herbs, mint, cilantro, tomatoes, potatoes, ladies fingers which we call okra, etc. They also have several cows.














Please note there are three members of the International Single Women's Choir in this picture

Sponsorship

I wanted to make sure that the Maine sponsors, who sent packets with me, got to see pictures of their students accepting their gift.

Michelle Clark’s student: Tashi Laskit

Joli Greene’s student: Rigzon Yangdol

Joli Greene’s student: Kunzang Dolma

Patricia, John & Jesse’s student: Stanzin Tonyot
Stanzin has graduated so there is no picture

Scott Cronenweth’s student: Stanzin Zotpa

Tamara's student: Stanzin Namgail

Martha Mitchell & Tamara’s student: Padma Deachen

There are a number of students who still do not have sponsors. The students are from poor families and most parents are uneducated. If you are interested in helping a young person to gain the gift of an education please consider being a sponsor. You can do so by contacting:

The Siddhartha School Project

P.O. Box 524

Freeport, ME 04032-0524

tel. (207) 523-9388
http://siddharthaschool.org/t_wheel/subscribe.htm

Sponsoring a child is a wonderful opportunity especially if you have children – you can keep up by sending mail, pictures, and drawings and will receive the same from your child. Better yet you can come and visit your child and his/her family.

Siddhartha School 2008

The school looks fabulous with many new changes:

• School Band – and they sound fabulous
• Large new generator
• New science teacher
• Science Lab, Computer Class, Library all on class schedule
• New discipline and PT teacher
• New English teacher
• Wall and steps from playground to main building finished & playground leveled
• New library books & library tables
• Library walls decorated with painting of Rinpoche, Birds of Ladakh poster, Animals of Ladakh poster
• Establishmant of four houses - each house has representatives from each grade
• Urgen’s first full year as school principal

Four Houses

Flags Representing the Four Houses

School Band

Hackey Sacks That I Brought from U.S.

Scheduled Computer Class

Scheduled Library Class

Click Arrow to Listen to the School Band

Leh

Finally back at my Himalayan home after a long, long trip. It’s so funny because I have met people I know at every stop along the journey. What a wonderful feeling to hug and catch up on our winters. Many people here at the Oriental Guest House & at the Shanti Guesthouse next door are folks I have either traveled with or had long deep conversations over mint tea. It’s kind of like old home week. Today I met a woman from Germany who met my friend Meg in May and went on a few trips with her. It’s such a small world.

The following pictures were taken while waiting for the school bus:

It has taken me longer to acclimate this year because I came directly from sea level to 11,500’ – last year I had acclimated for three months at 8,500’. Every day I have been walking to generate strength but two nights I have slept round the clock – I think I arrived in India exhausted from a long winter, school year and getting packed to travel. I am fairly acclimated and rested now.
Friday I caught the school bus to Siddhartha School – it was like I never left. Everyone gave me a warm welcome (including kataks – white scarves presented as a welcome), commented on how fat I got over the winter, and seemed genuinely happy to see me. The library looks fabulous – they have hung a beautiful painting of Rinpoche above the librarian desk and added nice tables for the students to read or study at. They have established regular library classes and have a schedule posted in the library. New plants this year are thriving from the wonderful light that filters in through the floor to ceiling windows. Susheel & Angdu bought many new books when they were in Delhi a few months ago. They are all catalogued and neatly shelved. I couldn’t be happier that they have embraced the library and made it their own – I can really back off and just fundraise and help with selection.
Saturday the school was going on a picnic several hours away at a lake but I could not join them as I had an appointment with an Electrical Engineer, Mr. Jaap from the Netherlands. He has been working with the Ladakh Ecological Development Organization since 2006 helping to establish solar power in the villages. He was extremely helpful and gave me a rundown of all the equipment pieces I would need and the prices to deliver adequate power (amps) for a computer lab, LCD projector (which sucks a lot of watts), overhead lights, etc for the main school building & the science building. We were looking at last year’s prices without tax and shipping of about $14,500.00 usd. He included all the wiring and other incidentals. Tata BP is the best company in India for solar equipment and they have an office here in Leh. Then the ecological development people can do an installation and training. My next step is to bring the information to the Siddhartha Board here in Ladakh and see if they would like to visit a model school in Changspa with a set-up of equal size to what we would require. If the board agrees that this is the way to go then I will generate some fundraising initiatives and possibly raise enough to start the project next spring. One thing is for sure the school needs laptop rather than old towers that suck three times the electricity. So I will also try to fundraise for 15 laptops that can be used to replace the old computers.

The principal, Urgen, at Siddhartha asked if I would teach some library classes and also to work a little with computer classes. They have purchased a large generator computers can be used – not the best solution but at least they are moving ahead. So I will do a little library skills work – especially how to use the library as a way to research and gain information. Last year we worked on how to handle the books, parts of the books, how to turn pages, take books on and off the shelves, etc. So this year we’ll look at how to incorporate the library into their studies. I’m thinking maybe of pairing students up and giving them an easy research assignment e.g. select an animal, then read about the animal in at least two resources, discuss with each other what they have learned about the animal, then make a short fact list (name of animal, where they are found, etc.) and then write a two paragraph research report in their own words and possible make a poster to share with the rest of the class. Yikes – here’s my curriculum all set!

I’m supposed to trek to a village that is setting up a model school sometime at the end of this month. It’s a project of Cynthia Hunt’s from Health Inc. and partially funded by Omprakash Foundation. They would like me to assist with a little library and some literacy stuff and probably give some teacher workshops. I’m a little apprehensive about the trek as my leg (horseback riding accident) is still in bad shape. On one of my walks this week I had to climb up and down a rocky incline and ford a small stream. I ended up slipping my foot into the stream because I cannot hop adequately from rock to rock. Hopping & jumping are no longer in my body vocabulary. We’ll see as I do have several weeks to practice and strengthen my leg muscles. I do so want to go and be a part of the literacy team.

• Some of the changes I’ve noticed in Leh:
• Less Trash
• Very few freewheeling donkeys and dogs roaming the
• Less Tourists
• Fewer stores open (although this and tourists might change later in the seaso
• A moistness in the air and much hotter this summer
• Lack of snow on the mountains
• Rivers at flood level because of melting snow from the mountains
• Lots of building - hotels, guests houses, etc.