newsletter travel 2006/07 india dharamsala

SCHINKEL COMPANY in DHARAMSALA

We reached the last station of our journey, Mcleod Ganj near Dharamsala, the exile home of the H. H. 14th Dalai Lama, after a beautiful full moon night on February 5th 2007. We're staying here for two months and then, on April 5th we will be on our way back home to Berlin!

In our online photo album you can find seven chapters of photos. You can watch them in a slideshow or by skipping through on your own. (see link list beside) open in a new window: Newsletter 7 - all photos
The photos are about our stay in Mcleod Ganj and the first weeks back at home in Berlin.

Gyamtso from Mcleod Ganj sent us his video about Johannes' Tibetan school. open in a new window: Tibetan Children's Village School Upper TCV, Dharamsala

In this blog you can read texts which Johannes has written in school. Among diary entries in which Johannes tells about his experiences in upper TCV school, you can read a short story called "The Job".

For the time being, this was our last newsletter about the journey 2006/07. Next comes Johannes' second pupils exchange with the Chinese partner school in October. The group from Beijing will visit us in Berlin in June.

Enjoy reading and watching,

yours,
Christiane and Johannes

Abonnieren Posts (Atom)

The job --- a short story

This morning the lessor of my flat arrived from New York. It's really a filthy neighbourhood, waste all over the place, air pollution, giant skyscrapers, evil! Once my uncle said, there are only unfriendly people but I'm not sure anymore. But still, that's nothing in comparison to Neukölln, Berlin. That's where I come from. Anyway, the lessor wanted to have the rent for the flat, so I said with a characteristic Berlin dialect: I can't pay the rent, why don't you ask the neighbours? Well, then you'll have to move out, he said. What now? Should I ask a homeless if I could stay at his place? Maybe a move into a callbox? Or living at a bus stop? All of that was too exclusive. But I could live in a wheelie bin. Perhaps I should request Hartz IV. They told me to provide evidence that I have no moolah. That was way too complex for me, I'm done with that one!

I was thinking about getting a job, maybe I'll be a train conductor or a firefighter. Architect, undercover agent, actor, manager... Or something just like Batman. Eventually, I got a waste disposal job. That was exactly what I was thinking of! On the first day already, I was fired. They said I didn't have the necessary abilities to be a binman. They said I wasn't able to collect garbage!

Later I got a job at a factory. After the second day I became more practised. I thought: This assembly line is really slow. I mean it! It was just really lame and so I went to the control desk and pumped up the speed a little bit. I doubled it. Leastwise. When I came back, I saw several boxes with glasses of jam, broken on the floor. This strawberry jam was brown. The next morning I read the newspaper: The colouring, the emulsifier and the sugar couldn't be filled because the assembly line was running too fast. I got fired! Again!

My first visit of the Tibetan school

This morning -winter holidays were finally over- we went on our way to the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV) school.

We went by auto rickshaw, first to Mcleod Ganj and then right off to the "Upper TCV". The driver said, he would wait for us and asked us, how long it would take. We suggested half on hour. But the secratary just had a break, so we had enough time to take a look at the residental school. It is huge! The school is just giant, though it consists of several smaller buildings but still huge in comparison to the Hindi school in Bodhgaya. The assembly hall is half the size of my entire school in Germany. Behind it there is a football ground in original size. And there's also an esplanade in the size of two basketball grounds. And there is a Buddhist temple. The school is located in the mountains, so there is a school bus because taking this distance by foot would take two hours. Steeply uphill! After lunch break, we went to the head's office who gave us her OK. She brought me and my mother to the secretary and he brought us to my new class. The first lesson was Tibetan, then maths. The following lessons were EVS, English, music and once again Tibetan. Today I'm going home by bus like I'll be doing all the rest of the time.

First day of school

This morning, the alarm rang at five o'clock. I had 45 minutes to get ready. I went to the rickshaw lot, but there wasn't any rickshaw. I waited for five minutes and then asked somebody who organized a rickshaw. At the bus stop, I waited for the school bus. Finally arrived, I entered a hall where they currently said their morning prayers. After that, there was some free activity and after a short break everybody concentrated on a square. We had to stand up there by classes. Some were late and so a teacher called out their names all over the square so that everybody knew, who was late. In the first big break, I was just gambling around for a while and then went to the cafeteria and bought a portion of chowmein, a Tibetan fried noodle dish. I hardly noticed that the break was almost over. Now quickly! Me and my new friend, we put the rest of the food in a bag and quickly ran to class. The teacher still was on the corridor so we succeeded to make it on time. Some others were just eating their lunch in class and the teacher slapped them. School will be over at 4PM, it's a full-time school.

Second day of school - The way to school

When I left the guesthouse this morning, it still was pitch-dark. Moon and stars shining, it was cold. An owl exclaimed her call, a bird was flying in circles in the starlit sky. That gave me the creeps, I felt cold. I went to the rickshaw lot. There was a man, looking furious, with a scar in his face, two metres tall. What did he want? Finally I discovered that he was the rickshaw driver. We drove along the wet street, it was raining. All of a sudden the vehicle stopped. What was going on? Two men approached the vehicle, one of them invited me into his home but I declined. I asked the driver to go on but he just said "One minute, please!" and disappeared. Now I was alone. I waited, but nothing happened. Slowly I got impatient. I got out of the rickshaw and went on my way by foot. It got brighter, I had to hurry. The rickshaw overtook me, all of the three men were inside. Five minutes later I arrived at the bus stop, I almost missed the bus.

Second version: When I left the guesthouse this morning, it still was pitch-dark. Moon and stars shining, it was cold. I went by rickshaw to Mcleod Ganj. From there, I always take the school bus. Some were talking, others preferred to keep silent. I kept silent. Now it was already bright.

In the early mornings the pupils meet in the small hall for chanting and recitation of morning prayers. Then all of us finish homework in the classroom and before official start of school all pupils gather on the school yard, a teacher makes a speech and then there's a 10 minutes break.

Third day of school - The sunrise

Today I saw a wonderful sunrise as I left the house. There was white gleaming light over the mountains, just like the light around Jesus Christ's head. Red and orange coloured clouds, snow in the mountains that was more white than ever. Yellow blooms were coloured red like saffron by the dawn. All this blaze of colour from every sides, it was really beautiful!!! In the background you could hear the calming rush of a waterfall. Now it slowly turned brighter and the orange glowing ball altered to its usual colour. An animal that looked like a marten crossed my way on his forage with a distrustful gaze at me. A branch broke into pieces under my foot while a troop of birds spread all over the gorgeous sky. Actually it turned warmer but still, building workers were warming up at a fire, cowering, because it still was too cold. Some of them have gotten up earlier, lugging sand to the dale with their horses. The sky was normal now, the spectacle of colours had ended. The building workers have a hard job, they probably get two rupies per hour. Sixteen hours a day. That's 960 rupies per month, if you work seven days a week. That's 15 euros.

My school, my class

In my class there are 31 children, without me. I have two friends already; one of them is named Lhondhup, the other one Tenzin Kunga. Every pupil has got food in his desk. Actually it's prohibited to eat in class but who cares! Potato crisps, crackers, cookies and all that other stuff are eaten secretly with manoeuvres of deflection. There is a school library and a cafeteria, a stationary shop and a shop selling potato crisps, crackers and lots of other stuff and there is a small hall with the music room behind it. Just now during the lesson a new pupil entered the class, now it's 32 pupils without me.

It's saturday - the disco

Today it's March 10th, the revolutionary day. The Tibetan demonstrators were unlucky, it was raining. In the evening there will be a dance party in a bar called x-cite. Me and my mom, we're looking forward to it! We went to an internet café to check emails. After that we had dinner and then it was time to go to the disco. It was really cool! On the ceiling, there was a lamp, blinking bright light, two mirror balls and three or four green lasers. The floor was blinking, too! Everywhere blinks and flashes, the right tune was coming up. At a certain time, the gate was closed, security against drunk. Because on last New Year's Eve there was a fight. Our Tibetan friend Thinley, who had worked as a guard there, returned home with lots of blood spots on his jacket the next morning. As a guard he had to take a hand in a conflict between two groups of drunk.

Spring feast

Today there's spring feast. It is something like a little festival of my school. A lot of gaudy activity on the whole school yard. Many many things were sold: second hand clothes, shoes, ice cream, food and beverages, spicy sweets and lots of other things. Of course, you could play a bunch of different games like can throwing, bicycle slalom, throwing water ballons at a target (whereas most of the water balloons landed in the crowd and that wasn't by mistake!), basketball, rope skipping, tombola, fishing for cola bottles with a pivot (the prize was two litres of cola) and cricket for five or ten rupies, which are eleven or twelve cents (cricket is the Indian national sport, it's a little bit like baseball). I lined up next to the water ballon targets, catched the water and threw it back to the throwers, they were totally wet afterwards. But somehow I slipped directly into the mud! When mom saw me, she only saw my dirty hands and asked what had happened. I told her that I just slipped. Mom though it's ok, that can happen. But as I turned around to walk away, she saw my back...!