Happy Valley

(Tibetan place in Happy Valley in Mussoorie)

Today we went to Happy Valley which truly was happy. After a major down pour yesterday and then fog all day, all we had to do was drive at 15mph for about 45 minutes and then we arrived in a dip in the mountains where the sun always shines. Or so we believe.

My new Mt. Herman neighbor Sarah, piano teacher Karen, and I hitched a ride with fellow chariot (aka Jeep) driver / physics teacher extraordinaire John. These aren't the only titles we hold, we learned, as we discussed our lives over some chai tea and omelets.

First we went to the place for Tibetan refugees to live. Mussoorie has a population of about 30,000, with 5,000 of those being Tibetan people. I am horrible with names and don't remember the place's name. These pictures are from the place of worship there.

(room with large prayer wheel)

(row of mini prayer wheels, you are supposed to run your hands along them all at once)

(floppy eared dog)

Lots of people live there. The high school aged children were studying hard while the younger kids played all around. Some of them discovered a mother dog and her pups in a little enclave in the grass.

(Karen and the kids)

(showing us)

(Karen took this pic!)

(weird... actually quite educational)

These people below were kind enough to let me take a picture of them. They live there, probably.

(they let me take a picture)

(Karen, John, Sarah)

Then, we headed to CST (I think), it stands for Central School of Tibet (maybe). John was checking out this students' physics book. It was hard core, with major equations and memorization. A lot of these students were Tibetan refugees, while some specifically wanted to go there. I spoke with a Nepalese student who knew it was a good school and asked his parents permission to attend.

(f=ma is way too easy)

(at the school)

Afterwards, we headed for tea and omelets and wandered around. Then, we drove into the bazaar and hung out, and headed back to school for cafeteria dinner and some mandatory monthly Sunday chapel. Now, it is 10:07pm and raining.

I couldn't fit all the pictures here, so you can CLICK HERE to see all of them (August 2007 photos set).