The beginning of a new adventure in McLeod

We officially made it back to mountains early Monday (17th) morning. We moved in with families that morning, each with a different family and a different set-up. Last time I was in a well off family- I even had my own room and bathroom upstairs. The family had four generations in the house- a grandmother, the parents, three kids, and two grandkids. This time, I am in a smaller house with only two generations, two brothers, one’s wife, and their five year old son. The family is so welcoming and are constantly saying, “Melissa, this is your house, anything you need, you ask brother or sister.” They are SO quick to laugh and it’s been so much fun. The five year old has so much energy and although he and I can’t communicate verbally he uses his hands, arms, and whole body to make movements and many times I think I understand what he is saying.

It’s been fascinating to me to be in a small house. The front room is used as the entertainment room (with the tv), the reading room, the dining room, the bedroom, the conversation room, and even a classroom. It is a universal room and I never realized just how much use can come from such a small area. It makes sense that so many Tibetans find this easy, as many were nomads who lived in large tents. My family has shown me pictures of their land and village in Amdo (north east region of Tibet). You can see forever! They said it’s nice to be able to look and look and only see nature, not houses and people all over.

Some of my favorite moments so far with my family have been working on their English. One of the brothers speaks English really well and the first day he was translating back and forth for the other two and me. He told me they were learning English. One of the mornings the wife was practicing quietly to herself and I said, “Practicing English? Sounds very good.” She motioned for me to come over and when I did she sat right next to me and we started reading her book together. Her pronunciation was fantastic! I realized that even though they had said their English was not good, it was actually quite good, they were just too shy to speak. We started practicing and now every morning the husband, wife and I practice every morning. It has been so much fun, as even when we can’t understand we just end up laughing.

It has been really fascinating for me to read along in their book, see what phrases and words have been deemed “most important” for Tibetans to learn in English. There are three phrases that one of the brothers has been practicing that I think reveal not only a lot about him, but about Tibetan culture in general. For those of you back home, if you had to learn important phrases in another language, what ones would you find most important, or most useful? What phrases do you use most often in English? Now, I am not saying that these particular phrases are the most important phrases in Tibetan, nor that every Tibetan would find these phrases to be the most important. But I think they do say something about the situation I am currently living in. The three phrases my brother has been practicing: “It’s up to you.” “I don’t mind.” “I’m just kidding.” Very interesting, at least to me with my experiences with Tibetans. Their hospitality, their emphasis on others, and their easiness to laugh are three of the traits that have stuck out the most to me and each is embedded in one of these phrases.

This week I also couldn’t help but think about the simplicity of life. I never have to set an alarm here. I go to bed earlier (around ten) and then as the sun comes up I just wake up on my own. People here live more naturally and by default I think it’s more natural to go to bed earlier and wake up with the sun. No need for alarm clocks. Also, with simpler, smaller houses, there just isn’t much clutter, if any at all. It seems like it is a symbol not only for their material, physical lives, but also for their personal, inside lives. They just don’t seem to let as many things clutter their lives. They do not get as bothered. The idea of a gym has always made me think about how silly this concept would have seemed to our ancestors. “You mean you have to go here to push iron and run in place? Why would you do that?” Hard, manual labor used to be the way things were done. Man sowed and man reaped in the fields. Nowadays, this is not the case, so we have to create seemingly “unnatural” things, such as gyms, in order to stay in shape. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that I do not like going to the gym, or that I am not attached to my material possessions, nor am I saying that I have the intention of giving them up. But it just makes sense that the more natural and simple you live, the easier and simpler life can be.

Well, that sums up a few of my thoughts for this week. Hopefully I’ll get some pictures for the next one.

Football match

Ok, so enough philosophizing for now. Let’s talk about something more of the folks back home will care about- sporting events! I attended my first football match in India on Saturday evening. It was a match between the “Tibetan National Team” (not sure exactly what that means though… exile national team?) and “an Indian Football Club.” It was a walk from the main area to the “field” (a big dirt arena looking space at the biggest school in the area, TCV), but hundreds, if not thousands had turned up for the match. Now most events that go on in McLeod are often full of westerners and tourists. I don’t know if the locals just aren’t as interested in the events going on as foreigners or if they don’t have time, etc, but again, many of the events are crawling with foreigners. But, for this event, there were hardly any westerners present- the stadium was loaded with locals, mostly Tibetans.

The match was a charity match (as indicated by the chalked circle in the center of the field, reading “Yushu Charity Match”) and all the entry donations made were doing to help the victims of the earthquake in the Tibetan area of China just a short time ago (see this http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8619135.stm for more information). With all the people attending, they must have made a lot of money, money that was all going to the victims of the earthquake. Very cool. And really says something about these people I am living amongst.

So I’m sure people would wonder, what is a football match like in India? How is it different? I hate to be disappointing, but any words that I will use to describe the match could probably be used to describe almost any other sporting event. The crowd cheered with gusto as players made great plays, booed at the errors and faulty plays, made noises to distract the other team, and laughed at the silly errors of both times (although I think laughter comes much easier and louder for Tibetans). Some things, including crowd reactions at sporting events, seem to be universal, and the same everywhere. Little kids mimicked the cool moves the players did, people yelled out at the players, gave side commentaries like “nice play!” people ate snacks, and did many of the exact same things I have done at sporting events. I think one of the only moments that I was aware that I was in India was when a cow made an entrance onto the field in the middle of the match. The crowd roared with laughter as the cow ran through the stadium. I never have seen something like that in the states.

Goal! And the crowd goes wild!

At the end, the players from both teams gathered in the center and appeared to shake hands (much like our “high five” “good game” huddles). Then all the players made a big circle and waved to the crowd, maybe as if to say thanks for coming and goodbye (I’m not sure).

A quirky moment happened right after. A man who I had noticed before (he had a big shaggy beard, not common among Tibetans, and a big pair of sunglasses) ran down to the field and started dancing. People watched and laughed loudly at him. As he continued, a crowd of young kids came down to watch him and gathered around him.

He even climbed the goal post and goofed around. It just made me stop and wonder, would we have the same reaction to a goofy man at the end of a match? Would have the same reaction, just watch and laugh? Or just think man, that guy had way too much to drink during the match?

(He's the man to the far right, in the green shirt with sunglasses)

And yes, even monks enjoying watching the football match!

“Excuse me, first time to India?”

This was a question my driver asked me on the drive from the airport to the guest house I was staying at. I don’t know why, but the question struck me in a peculiar way. I answered with the answer he was looking for, “No, second time. I came a few years ago.” But as for the answer to myself, I was not satisfied. In the physical sense yes, I have been to India before. But even in those first few hours in my return to India I already felt so differently about this country that I was in less than two years ago. How could I feel so differently?

In many ways, I feel like it is my first time seeing so many things in India. I feel different here this time. Maybe it is because it seems familiar in some ways. I feel confident enough to walk around and see new things, to talk to people I’ve never meet, to bargain for a ride or something in a shop. This was far from the truth until the very end of my trip last time. But I’m also noticing different things. I know how some things work in India… but I also am fully aware that I don’t know how most other things work in India. I studied more about India and Indian culture before coming this time. I am here to study not only the Tibetan population and culture here, but the Indian population and culture as well. I also know enough to know that to even say “Indian population” or “Indian culture” is such a loaded statement (for how do you use two words to describe one nation with over 20 national languages; with over 20 states each with very distinct cultures; with five religions that have had a heavy influence on the nation; and not only thousands of years of history, but thousands of years of history that has left vivid imprints that still exist in the land today?).

I truly feel like my eyes are more open this time, more open to the real “India,” the India that is not just a young American’s first experience abroad, but a real, breathing, moving country with so much history, depth, and experience.