Mud bricks! :)

It’s been over week and again I feel like so much has happened. The past week has been filled with all sorts of activity…starting with spending a day at the hospital because I had a “disease” (this is how Engin referred to my infection)…the hospital actually wasn’t so bad…that’s of course if you don’t count the lack of basics like toilet paper, running water and flushing toilets. The doctors and nurses were all very nice and helpful and by the end of the day I was as good as new :).

Besides that, most days have involved work except this past Saturday, which was the first official day off since we arrived in Dharamsala. Jackie and I spent the day enjoying McLeodganj while the boys went on a hike to Triund. It was nice to finally enjoy a day without having to worry about any time constraints. We shopped, walked around, enjoyed some nice Japanese food, drank lots of tea, met interesting people, including a Korean guy and a Tibetan monk who we had a nice conversation with at a café….this part was slightly difficult, but fun, because the Tibetan monk didn’t speak English…luckily Jackie had bought a Japanese/Tibetan/English book which we used to communicate with our new friend. Also, I made a bad move, well actually not so bad, and gave in to a boy begging on the street…I attempted to ignore him, which is what we are always recommended to do, but I couldn’t contain myself when he got on the floor and tried to clean and kiss my feet. He kept on saying he just wanted me to buy him milk…I knew doing so would cause many beggars to ask us for money, but I just couldn’t help it. So I bought him milk and sure enough, Jackie and I ended up with a crowd of beggars following us around…but I guess 10 minutes of discomfort was worth getting the little boy milk :).

Besides our lovely day off, we also enjoyed going to a yoga class in McLeodganj…finally…we’ve been attempting to go since we first arrived, but conditions have never allowed us. Anyways, it was a 2.5 hour yoga class which involved all sorts of crazy stretches…I have to say it was by far the hardest yoga class I have ever taken…and I’m still feeling it :).

As for work, a lot has happened, as well. Since my last blog, we’ve surveyed and completed the documentation of two structures, St. John’s and Kangra Fort. Even more exciting, the SEEDS director came to visit us and took us to meet an amazing old woman who lives in a little village near Dharamsala. She is an extremely knowledgeable and inspiring artist/architect who designs houses using mud and bamboo. Her designs are all environmentally friendly and she mostly uses local materials. She was very welcoming and helpful with recommendations for our project. Today, we visited two structures that she designed and met with one of the local masons. The BEST part was that we got to build our own mud bricks!!! It was so exciting…at least for me :). We now have planned to visit a house she recommended on Saturday and a village on Tuesday, which I’m actually very excited about :). I’m anxious to start surveying villages!

I have so much more to say, but honestly I’m slightly fed up with writing…we spend entire days documenting structures and the thought of writing even more doesn’t really appeal to me right now…I’ll write more next week…or I guess I can always just reference Engin’s blog :).