A Busy Week

My teaching day begins at 1:00 P.M. and doesn't end until 7:30 P.M. My last class is at the Gyuto Monastery on Tipa Road, the road leading up to TIPA (pictures in last post). I work with five or six monks here on Beginning English. This is the doorway to the monastery where they live in McL. They are very delightful men who are well aware that they cannot speak very well. They work hard every evening. When I get to the monastery each day, one or another of them are already in the classroom, studying Buddhism or going over our previous night's lesson.

McL is not very clean. Unfortunately, there is limited garbage pick-up and not a trash can to be seen on the streets. A trash collector does come around each day to pick up the garbage which collects in piles like these with a shovel, but the many stray dogs, cows, work mules and horses that roam the streets do a pretty good job of helping out, too! This shot was taken on my daily walks throuugh town to a restaurant, cafe, the classroom where I teach or the monastery.
This sizable fellow (compare him/her to my boot toe!) was crossing the road on the way to the temple. I practically knocked an unsuspecting Indian gentleman over trying to save this arachnid from being stepped on (you know me and my LOVE of animals great and small!). A young Indian boy and I worked laboriously, using a stick to get the little/big guy to disappear in the drain gutter that runs along the side of the road so there'd be no more close calls!

I'm off to the Dalai Lama temple now to meet with one of my private tutor students. A very bright young man, he is a pretty advanced English speaker. The temple is quiet and is near the Tibetan museum where later this afternoon, a lecture about non-violence will be held. My class is meeting me there today to listen to the lecture. One of next week's topics of discussion will be about non-violence.

There are two schools of thought about the situation in Tibet. The Students for a Free Tibet want Tibet to have complete independence from China. The Dalai Lama subscribes to the "middle path," which is one in which Tibet and China live in harmony, each helping the other. The present situation for Tibet is one of extreme persecution by China.

Monks and nuns are being arrested or "go missing" if they demonstrate against the Chinese takeover. School children are not allowed to learn their own language in school; they must learn Chinese and wear Chinese uniforms. Tibetans are forced to work on Chinese gov't projects in their own country and many Chinese people are moving into Tibet. Culture and traditions are being lost in Tibet. Many of my students want to become teachers and go back to their homes (some have been away for more than fifteen years) to teach the children.

More later. Please keep in touch. I am not using my bridge 21 address at this time. You can email me at londonsusan737@gmail.com if you wish or post a comment here.