Sunday, July 5, 2009

Finally an update!











I am finally here! It's been great so far, and the area is amazing. I have attached a few images of by first few days here, but not all because it takes too long to upload. It has been fairly intense and I tried to document whatever encounters I can. ( the image to the left is a view from my hotel room, also the others are of different parts and activities of the area) So far, we spent the first two days acclimatizing, the altitude definitely takes a toll on the body, especially after going up a flight of stairs (I'm huffing and puffing...). We also took a tour of the school and built a tradition nomadic tent called a rebo. Yesterday, we went to a festival where his holiness the 12th, Gyalwang Drukpa was there. A couple other kids and myself was selected by chance to have lunch with him. It was pretty nerve racking where I peed my pants. No, but I did accidently lean against my mouthpiece of my reservoir and created a large puddle of water in my chair, soaking my whole bottom. How embarrassing, all while sitting three chairs down from his holiness' facing. Most recently we were given a cultural tour of Leh, and later trekked up to one of many palace's and monastery here in Ladakh, probably 100-200ft higher. We have a documenting meeting later today, and our first official day of work is tomorrow.