Goodbye, Dear Students!

Yesterday was my last day teaching my wonderful students at Lha. NOOOO!! Seven weeks of teaching them was one of the happiest seven weeks of my life. I will remember the experience fondly for the rest of my life. I hope that any full-time, paying job I start will make me feel that I’m making a positive difference in the same way that this experience did. Why do any other kind of job?

At the end of class, my students encircled me and draped katags over my shoulders. Katags are white, silky scarves given as a sign of respect. You can see part of one in the upper left of the picture below. Also, they gave me a red, hardbound journal from one of the Dalai Lama’s teachings. And on the right is a beautiful wall hanging given to me by Lha as a thank-you for volunteering.

Thus concludes an AMAZING long-term volunteer experience!

Now, I have a week free in McLeod Ganj before I head to Delhi. I will spend part of the week getting souvenirs for my loved ones (now is the time to tell me if there is anything in particular you’d like!). Also, I signed up for a silversmithing class from Wednesday through Friday. I’m not sure what I will make yet. I might make a pendant out of a piece of labradorite. I was walking by a stone shop as it was starting to rain, and the shopowner asked me to help him carry in a rock display that he had outside. As a thank you, he gave me a piece of labradorite. It’s a black-gray stone that has “blue fireworks” on the inside. It’s beautiful, and I think it’s probably lucky!

Along with shopping and silversmithing, I will also do some painting. I have one more canvas to fill. And on this note, I finished the painting that I wrote about in my previous post. This was one of the most time-consuming paintings I’ve ever done (it took maybe seven hours in total — and I usually spend no more than four hours on a painting). Any idea what it is, now? Tenzin, Lha’s program coordinator, said that it looks like something underwater. I could see that too… the red things look a bit like coral.

But, I will go ahead and tell you — this is a painting of red pitcher plants! The tiny one in the middle is a baby pitcher. I haven’t decided what my next painting will be. But I will get cracking soon — time is short!