Life is Beautiful

In Dharamsala they advertise for almost everything by fliers posted all over. They are quite helpful in finding things to do, places to find classes, volunteer, etc. Saturday afternoon I saw an advertisement for Talk Tibet, where they watch movies and have discussions on Saturdays and Sundays, alternating between movies and discussions. I thought hey, this could be cool! I’d love to hear some of their thoughts in discussions.

Cinema 59 is a list of international movies that show different groups struggling through freedoms. This Talk Tibet group are showing these every other Saturday now to help Tibetans to see other groups who have struggled for freedom. This time they showed “Life is Beautiful.” First, I love this movie and was excited to watch it. But more than that, the idea of these Tibetans, gathering in a classroom with pads on the floor and watching Life is Beautiful projected onto a sheet… just all the intricacies of the situation… I mean many of them don’t know English all that well, yet here they are watching and sympathizing with these Jews from more than 60 years ago. They could sympathize with them maybe not by words and language, but by feeling and circumstances. Freedom needs no translation. It was quite the experience! And I just couldn’t help but think the title of the movie was so appropriate for this evening. Life is beautiful.

Specncer, Kerri and I had gone to an organization called LHA to volunteer on Friday. They said to come back at three on Monday to help with an English class. When we got there today the teacher of the 2:00 teacher began explaining her program. I thought, this is great, they are really trying to get us involved. As the conversation continued she said she was leaving for a hike. I asked when and she said tomorrow. As the conversation and instruction continued I realized she was leaving, and we were taking over the class. They weren’t having us help, but having us teach the class! I made sure they realized we had no teaching experience whatsoever… they said, oh you’ll be great! You are a native English speaker and as long as you can talk to them it will be so helpful. So, starting today we are teaching an English class to intermediate level students. Lol we’ll see what tales I can tell in the next few weeks on that…

After being introduced to that we went to the advanced English class. What they do for this is just have English speakers come in. Everyone grabs a cushion and forms little groups on the floor, one native English speaker with any where from about 3-5 students. We just talk together and practice their English. It was a ball! They are all so energetic and excited! I’ve never had so much fun trying to understand English with a thick accent. And their English is very good! Most of them have only been learning for a few months. Besides a few words where the accent is extremely thick, I understand them really well. It was an absolute ball! These Tibetans are so happy, energetic and excited to learn English.

The first few days in Dharamsala were a little tough, but now it seems like things are falling into place nicely. Most mornings are gorgeous, the sun shinning brightly. Then the clouds move in and it gets windy and rains for a bit most afternoons, at least so far. They say the rainy season is almost over though. Then we hope to go on a day hike. I cannot begin to describe the beauty here! It is absolutely gorgeous. I ran into a lady from Scotland and said she must feel at home her then, at least scenery wise. She laughed and said this area is called the “Scotland of India.”

Oh, and a funny thing that came across in a conversation the other day! With talking with an Indian man who runs a shop here he told me that India is famous for three things: PPCG- pollution, people, corruption, and garbage. I laughed full heartedly because we have seen each of these as problems in this country. It’s always funny to hear locals express thoughts you have had.