Tibet, or not Tibet? That is the question..

Hi again! Today I am in Dharamsala, which is sort of the Little Tibet of India. Tucked away in the craggy mountains of Northern India, Dharamsala looks and feels like a cute little ski town minus the skiing but with all the tourists. (¨But Norah, Miss SoCal, you´ve never been skiing..¨ you say.) You´re right. But this is how I imagine a little ski town would look. Do you even call them ski towns..?

Anyway, it is fun here because I am staying with a Tibetan family! I live with a mom and her little boy at the very tip top of a hill of houses (that really is the only way to describe the way these houses are built into the hill..) and you get there by climbing many many twisty narrow steps. At the top is a little patio with an iron balustrade and a couple apartments. Our apartment is one room with two beds covered in rich persian carpets, which are covered with wool blankets at night and made into beds. There is a dinky kitchen and a dinky bathroom for all the residents, and we spent lots of time outside drinking tea. It is basically like camping in a really nice tent with walls!

So, the little boy is adorable BUT is an absolute holy terror and is fed a constant stream of sugar that keeps him energized beyond normal human capacity. It was hard to play with him the first day (lots of screaming), but yesterday was much better because we found games that he likes to play. Such as, Throw The Ping Pong Ball Down The Entire Flight of Stairs and When You Finally Get To The Bottom Kick It Into the Street So Norah Can´t Find It. Another favorite of Jembe´s (that´s his name) is to cover his eyes, at which point I say ¨Where´s Jembe? Where´s Jembe?¨ and then he uncovers his eyes and I say ¨There he is!¨ and I tickle him and he screams in delight. This is a good game because it forces him to be completely silent 50% of the time. On the upside, my grasp of Tibetan has expanded to include the vocabulary of a two year old. So now I can say ¨Come here,¨ ¨Candy,¨ and ¨NOW!!!!!¨

The mom is friends with a Tibetan man named Sonum (Jembe calls him ¨Sally¨) who married a Spanish woman named Elsa. They are so sweet! Elsa speaks terrific English and we had a lot of fun hanging out yesterday. She had a boyfriend, a nice job, a nice dog, and a nice house in Barcelona when one day she decided she wasn´t happy. So, she left everything, went to Dharamsala, met Sonum, and they got married! She is beautiful and looks just like a Spanish princess. She doesn´t understand much Tibetan or Hindi so we bonded last night watching reruns of Tibetan New Year celebrations (the New Year was yesterday). At one point Sonum and his friend Lhamo clapped after a song and said ¨That was so beautiful!¨ and Elsa said what was it about? And Sonum sighed and said, ¨Yak´s milk.¨ Of course Elsa and I erupted in laughter. Sonum and his friend had no idea why we thought this was hilarious. Who gets teary over yak´s milk? Only Tibetans, I guess! Maybe Mongolians, too..

So yesterday was Tibetan New Year but there were no celebrations in honor of the martyrs who died in the March uprisings against China. They hate the Chinese government here...they seem to acknowledge that Chinese people don´t know any better, though...it is mostly just political. I took lots of pictures, but forgot to bring my camera to the wifi coffee shop so I will have to do that tomorrow. Looks like battery is dying so I better sign off...I will do pictures tomorrow, really!!!

Miss you all.