The Mibby Post

Date: April 5th 2005

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It has been beautiful lately, probably in the 60s, with lots of sun , blue skies in the day and incredible stars at night so bright and close.

You’ve been hearing dramatic tales of oracles, tracking snow leopards, and shoulders getting dislocated on crowded Delhi buses as our heroes attempt to bring us pounds of much needed dark chocolate.
Anna and I (louise) want to share a bit about the day to day at SECMOL and in Leh, that have become parts of our lives after two months here.
Our day did start a bit dramatically though, with Anna throwing up at five in the morning, etc on the day we were supposed to head to western Ladakh. So, we loaded everyone onto the bus, and probably the most moving part of the day for me so far was watching Lily and Marley head out in a bus full of teenagers, and Jon and Ashley of course, on the day before their ninth birthday. Matt and jamie and JC are in Likir about two hours away where they have been hiking since Tuesday. They will meet the bus there and continue on with the group.
As they drove off, I said a quick prayer to Mother Mary and to Tara to watch over my babies, and headed to the wash house to wash all the bedding etc in freezing cold water, feeling so proud of how game Lily and Marley have been on this trip!

Having Jamie and JC arrive last week, put in perspective how acclimated we are becoming, and how much SECMOL has become home. Waking up early and heading out to the Ladakhi toilet then the kitchen to get sweet milk tea and hot water, which all Ladakhis start their day with; Lily and Marley often help make breakfast with whichever VIS student is on; Anna likes to read; Matt’s usually been working in his head since before the sun came up and ready to go, and I’ve been going for walks along the river. The sky is beautiful as the sun comes up over the mountains in the east, first hitting the mountains here with golden light, then so blue and shimmery lately. Breakfast at 8 is usually some kind of bread — we have a wood fired bread oven, as well as steamed bread, fried (usually served with chickpeas and one of my favorites) ,, and mostlyu chapatis or tagi which is a round flat Ladakhi bread--and something spicey and more milk tea.

We have all been busy in our own ways, but it’s amazing what a difference it makes when you’re not heading out in the car all the time. We realized how luxurious and relaxed the pace is, tea time at 11 and 4, lunch at one, classes and prep, morning meeting, washing ourselves and clothes when the sun heats up the water, helping Becky in the gardens, or walking down by the river or up in the dunes. And now there’s ongoing volleyball matches and cricket, which I still don’t understand. They make it sound exciting on the radio though, especially the India- Pakistan match which India just won. On that front, the big move towards peacefull relations involve an India- Pakistan bus through Kashmir. It’s so interesting hearing news (very litytle) from this side of the world. I have to admit I’m pretty out of touch, but it gives perspective on how regional most of our news is, even American news when I think of what I’ve learned from here that we don’t here at home.

The kids have been spending more time learning about our computer, but also playing in the canals and dunes for hours, and of course reading and drawing. They’ve also been cleaning up garbage along the Indus in their search for good props for Calico critter houses. There are a lot of shoes and bottles finding their way into our rooms. Also a lot of rocks, which we all are still marveling over— purple, green, black, red... The only thing we’ve been lax on is math, but there’s still time... I have to say what they’ve been learning is unmeasurable!

So dinner’s at 7 in the dining hall (we eat the rest of our meals either in the room off the kitchen or on the roof of the kitchen). We sit on the floor for dinner with our plates on colorful cloths— I have to say I am enjoying the minimal furniture— like one desk in our classroom for this computer is the only thing in here— we eat as a community, singing a Ladakhi song afterwards and then someone speaks about their home or something interesting about themselves each night. A few days ago 11 MBA candidates from around India showed up to stay for a month to work at some of the NGOs in Leh. They are all friendly, full of energy, sweet with the kids—impressed with lily and Marley’s energy and they’ve all decided Anna’s an intellectual! They all came with lots of strange and interesting treats their moms cooked and packed for them and they are marveling at the clean air and cold. It will be fun having them around and an opportunity to really get to know some Indians from all around the country which we probably won’t be able to do as tourists on our ten day tour.

Outside of Secmol, we have gotten accustomed to trips to Leh on the bus, the army presence along the way, shopping in the main bazaar, wild dogs and dzhos wandering the streets, and their poop everywhere. Ladakhi faces are becoming familiar— etched faces of the older people in their traditional dress— they often get quite excited to see our girls coming down the street and greet us with, “jule, Jule!” and touch their faces, which of course drive the girls nuts, and I say they’re excited to see children since most tourists don’t bring them here especially in the winter, so say hello, and sometimes they do and sometimes they just kind of scowl.
The girls do stand out, but have been wearing their salwar kameezes and we all know the Delwar soundtrack by heart (THE ladakhi music tape— actually blaring upstairs right now)-- if we don’t know all the words, we know all the tunes anyway. We’ve found our favorite restaurants, and foods— the Tibetan restaurants are a big hit with the girls—momos, spring rolls and chow mein. I like the Kashmiri curries for something a little different.. We still crave more fresh fruit, but there are apples and dried apricots. The girls and the students all know their way around comfortably, especially where to get treats, and it’s impressive how much they’ve been walking.

The girls have been interested in how we will bring some of our experience back home with us, and how we can live more simply at home. They are all very thoughtful about this whole experience and at the same time very matter of fact. They keep me honest in the way they look at everything—not glossing over the pollution in Leh or some other things I might not notice. Becky has also been a fantastic teacher for our family. She knows this culture so well and has a tremendous perspective. And has been trying to teach us all Ladakhi

The other day, Lily, Marley, Anna and I went to Choglamsar outside of Leh to the Tibetan Children’s Village— a school established by the Dalai Lama for Tibetan refugee children, orphans and poorer Ladakhis. It goes from ages 3-16. Many of the students live in house with families on the campus. They have three other satalite schools, with a total of about 2000 children. The principle showed us around first, then we visited several classes. They have classes through fifth grade in Tibetan except for English. Then through tenth in English except for Tibetan classes. It is a way to give all these kids an education and also keep Tibetan cultural and spiritual traditions alive.

Highpoints were the first grade class where they were doing math, and both the male teacher and the students were all shouting! Another class where they were reading aloud in Tibetan— call and response, and best of all meeting up with a 6th grade class in the playground who interviewed us and had Anna sing an American song and sang us a Tibetan song. Then they asked the girls if they wanted to be best friends and invited us back next week to visit their class.

Today Anna and I are laying low. Our students, as I mentioned headed out for a few days (we may join them tomorrow on a public bus if Anna feels better), the South Indians and most of the SECMOl students went to Leh for their one weekend day off, so it is quiet around here. Actually, very pleasant for a few hours. Our students are hitting stride at the half way point, but it has not been without challenges... I’ve certainly been learning a lot on all fronts. Tonight is momos, which is the favorite dinner. We’re adding a Hindi song on as well as the usual Ladakhi traditional song after dinner, and then bed. Besides working on getting Anna healthy, our aim this weekend is to make Lily and Marley an apple crisp for their birthday (their request) and a cake, which one of the Indian students said she would help with. The challenges will be cooking them in the wood fired bread oven, and making delicious frosting with condensed milk and cocoa powder!

We love hearing from all of you, and I’m sure Matt will have lots of news of their latest adventures!

love, Louise and Anna




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