Tashi Delek!

(Hello/May luck be with you in Tibetan)

Mcleod Ganj! Hills covered in forest, bright colorful houses, so many waving prayer flags. Jagged white mountains shining in the sunshine. Monks in red robes chatting on their cellphones. Tourists from all over the world, yak wool blankets and singing bowls, momos, falafel, Bhagsu cake!

We adore our homestay families! It was hard at first-A lot of us are in one room houses! Noah's house doesn't have a bathroom, he walks 10 min to the public one! But they've taken such good care of us and fed us awesome home-cooked Tibetan food! My Tibetan dad is a master Thanka painter. He's been practicing his craft for 30 years and now is a teacher. His gorgeous works take up to 4 monthes to finish. Golden Buddhas, angry gods, fire, swirling clouds, snow leopards. So magical! Becca's house has a five-year-old so she's in heaven! Lydia's mom made her special tea when she felt sick and tucked her into bed!

Many of us went to Meditations in the mornings and Monk Chats, where we talk to monks about their lives so that they can learn English. Lydia's been mastering Tabla, Luke made an awesome sweatshirt, Jess and Maddi and Becca and Noah and I took some Tibetan massage classes, so many of us made dream catchers and jewelry, Noah and Luke were Reiki attuned! Annnd we had a wonderful time hanging out with two pals that visited-Brandon our Meditation teacher from Phool Chatti Ashram, and Mike the director of Carpe Diem's India program.

We heard a rumor that the Dalai Lama was coming home and waited outside his house with a huge crowd for half an hour. Five cars zoomed by at top speed! There were a few monks in them and most of us couldn't tell which one he was....but Ben and I decided it was fabulous just to be in his presence!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH!!!! Yesterday Noah, Ben, Mike and I hiked up to Triund, a whole day of steep climbing that left our legs wobbly. So worth it! The snowy peaks rose up so huge and unbelievably beautiful before us. Noah made us Nutella banana cashew sunflower seed sandwiches, we ran around and played frisbee and hackeysack and then napped in the grass. On the way home we stopped by a restaurant where everyone was waiting for Noah's surprise party with delish carrot cake.

Off to Manali today! We're all sending you hugs!!

Phoebe