Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty laid-back days; lots of lectures. MTK makes lunch for us and let me tell you: DELICIOUS! And abundant! Rice, momos, cottage cheese rolls, soups, just YUM. I still don't have much of an appetite, but I still enjoy eating because damn it's good stuff.
I do have to confess that I started shopping a bit. Minus the Taj Mahal trip, I've only spent about $60 so far, but I've now spent at least that much in two days. Whoa. I'm trying to find good things to give to people when I return. I could not have made this trip without the support of so many. But I realized that there really is nothing I can buy that will repay them. In a way I just have to accept their love, support and compassion as a gift and hopefully I can do something good for the world as a result. Having said that (ha!), I did decide what gifts I do get will be produced by the Tibetan community up here. There's some wonderful Indian goodies here, but at the end of the day I am here to learn about Tibetan medicine and culture, so that's what I should bring home with me. So I have accumulated a pretty good collection of teas, lotions and oils to bring home with me and give as gifts. I also found a birthday present for my Josh! ;-) I'll also confess, I did buy a couple things for myself; a wood "wedding ring" for 85 cents, since I left mine at home; a shirt for $2 and some pants for $6 so I'd have something nice to wear. As far as one item goes, I'm pretty proud of my mad bargaining skillz-- I found a lovely orange mala. The woman was asking 350 but I got her down to 100 rupees (about $2 American). Honestly, I was not trying to take advantage or anything, that was literally all I had on me at the time! WIN. But if I ever came back to the region, I would bring a boatload of cash because there's some beautiful Tibetan art to be had around here...more on that later...
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