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Dear Friends and Relatives, Welcome from India. I hope you are all in good health and spirits. In my last long email in July, I told about the last half of my travels on my way to Leh, Ladakh here in northern India. If you have not gotten parts 1 and 2 of my travelogue in June, please let me know. Since July, I have settled in, both at home and at school. This email, though, will cover the basics of what I have been up to since the fourth of July. Email is incredibly slow here, so I will only send these updates when I get to Delhi. BUT, I have and will ALWAYS answer individual emails sent to me here, so please write! (note: e-mail trailhead@oktrails.com for his e-mail address, I don't him getting spam so I won't post it here) I have now been in Leh, Ladakh in Kashmir for 2 1/2 months. Despite news reports regarding Kashmir, which I heard prior to coming here, I have found it to be completely safe here. It is more than a full day by bus to anyplace where there is any tension between India and Pakistan. And, other than a military presence, you would not know that there are any tensions. And, this has been the case for over 30 years. Leh is the capital of Ladakh, the eastern Buddhist province of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is the northernmost state of India. Leh is about 70 percent Buddhist, and 30 percent Muslim, with smaller groups of Hindus, Christians and Sikhs. And recently, the Muslims here actually expressed their support of the Buddhists' desire for Union Territory status from India. I arrived here on July 4th, and spent 1 day acclimatizing to the 11,500 foot elevation after being at or near sea level for a month. My first week here, I met my future students on their last day before the 2-week summer break, and performed clarinet in a music program. Then, my school told me to go trekking! They wanted me to bring back the names of poor children in remote villages who may be candidates for a scholarship at the Moravian Mission School. So, I did a 9-day trek to the Nubra Valley area. While there, I saw the 2-humped bacterian camels that were trapped there in the 1940's when Pakistan and India became independent, hostile countries, and China became communist. The central Asian trade routes and high passes closed, and those camels were trapped in Nubra Valley. To get there and back, I had to cross the Ladakh Range. This meant 2 passes that were 17,250 feet high, and 4 campsites higher than 15,400 feet. My other major trek was a climb up Stok Kangri. This peak is 20,188 feet tall, and with 2 nights at base camp at 16,000 feet, I had no altitude problems. Except for a glacier crossing at the base, the climb itself was no more difficult than peaks in the San Juans that I have climbed in Colorado. Other treks were shorter. I did a 1-day trek descending from Khardung La north of town, walking from the pass at 18,380 feet down to Leh at 11,500 feet in just over 4 hours. I walked over the ridge east of here to Sabu, the next village east. And, I did a full moon hike in September walking west over the ridge to Phyang, the next village in that direction. That was an all-night trek that topped out at 15,500 feet, just at snowline. I love teaching at the school here. I teach guitar, which I have never done before. I teach keyboard, being tolerant of the 2 1/2 octave electronic keyboards with under-sized keys available here. I also teach recorder flutes. And, I started a select choir of 45 children, which meets during lunch 3 periods a week. Getting kids to sing out without shouting will be a chore! They either sing/shout the words, or are so quiet you can't hear them. Finally, I teach 9 classes of music appreciation twice a week. Student ages range from 9-17. Students here are different than from America. I enter a classroom and students stand and say "Good morning, sir." They remain standing until told to sit. Even evenings and weekends when out of school, they will express a similar greeting. I am also thanked at the end of classes. But, I still have to keep on top of things, as they will try things. Most teachers yell at them to sit, quiet down, or whatever, and their voices reflect this. And, corporal punishment is in place. This week, I saw a lady with a half dozen students in a room giving them whacks with a thick stick for forgetting their homework. Another time, students caught smoking were embarrassed by having their faces blackened with charcoal and put in a prominent place. The "hands in the air" technique is also popular here. Classrooms are half the size as my school in Colorado, and there are as many as 40 in a class at all age levels. They sit two per bench with a narrow desktop to write on. Promotion is based on the 3 examination weeks (April, August, October) given each year. Students who are bright are double-promoted, and those who don't study for exams are retained. As a result, there is as much as a 4-year age difference in the same room! The calendar here starts in November, after the 3rd exam. There is a 2 1/2 month winter break when the unheated rooms are too cold to hold school. And, there is a 2-week summer break. But, there are MANY holidays here from national to Buddhist to Hindi to Muslim. That is why we have a 5 1/2 day week. The 2nd Saturday of each month we have off, though, and we only have a half day on the last day of the month. It took me awhile to figure all this out. As many of you know, I am not a morning person. The school day starts at 10:00! That is the good news. The bad news is that for the benefit of the entire city, the mosque here loudly broadcasts its' 5 daily prayers. The first of these is at 4AM. Not to be outdone, the Buddhist temple answers with it's prayer mantra cassette. I bought that exact tape in Delhi before arriving and know for a fact that that tape is 24 minutes and 22 seconds long!!! I do teach 1 or 2 hours before school each day, though. At 10:00 is assembly, where the students in their uniforms stand in even rows and columns and sing the national anthem and recite the Lord's Prayer. Classes range from 30-40 minutes each, and there are 4 before lunch, and 4 after lunch. School ends at 3:45. The most difficult part about teaching here is that I can not alphabetize my rosters. Students here go by 2 given names (not family name), which are not gender specific, and are interchangeable. On top of this, there are only about 2 dozen common ones. Over 80 percent of the Ladakhi and Tibetan names can be covered by this list: Padma, Angmo, Dolma, Rinchen, Dorjay, Sonam, Spalzes, Stanzin, Tsewang, Namgyal, Tsering and Deachen! It is not uncommon for 2 or 3 students in the same room to have the same 2 names in the same order. The most extreme case is that I have 10 Deachen Angmo's. I also love living here! This town is in a deep mountain valley (the airline landing is something not to be missed) with snowcapped mountains going up as high as 20,000 feet. There are 2 access roads, but both are now closed until May or June, depending on winter snowfall and spring snowmelt. The southern route goes over 4 high passes to Manali and then Delhi. The western route goes to Srinigar, and then on to Jammu and Delhi. The mountains are snowcapped and beautiful. The city of Leh has an ancient palace in the style of (and 30 years older than) the potala palace in Lhasa, Tibet. There is also an old fort, and large stupas, chortens and mani walls (all Buddhist structures). Neighboring villages have gompas (monasteries) that are reminiscent of the Christian ones 1,000 years ago. They are lit only by butter lamps and candles, and smell of incense. Pretty paintings are on the walls. Some have huge, copper Buddha statues. The town has narrow streets with cars, HUGE trucks, people, cows, donkeys and wild dogs all sharing the space. The dogs sleep all day and bark all night. But, I prefer the walkways. The reason is that I have finally convinced all the shop owners here that I am a local and not a tourist this time. But now when I walk down the Main Bazaar, I am obligated to about 5 cups of tea at my "friends'" shops. So, when pressed for time, I take the stone walkways between tall mud-brick walls and can get almost anyplace without passing many shops. And, I have finally succeeded in finding walls where it is posted saying "no urinating." Regarding shop owners, due to our Western press, tourism was way down this year. So, business was very poor for everyone connected with tourism. This is too bad, as others who came found it to be safe, as I have. I came anyway because I heard no reports coming from the governments of India or Pakistan saying tht tourists were at their own risk in these countries. I live in a house built for my by the school this spring. It is brick with masonry work concealing them. Inside are throw rugs on the concrete floors, as well as a bed (plywood with a 1-inch hard mattress), nightstand, 2 chairs and a cabinet. That's it. All else I brought with me (hiking stuff, school stuff, some clothes) or bought here (school clothes, dishes). My favorite quote was by a Polish couple who found me here after we had corresponded on the internet. They walked in, looked around, and asked if I was an ascetic! They thought that I, like Ghandi, had given up all material things and most clothes!!! But, I have what I need. Another teacher and I hired a lady (lazy) who cooks meals for us 3 times a day (1st time since college for 3 hot meals), and does our wash. She will also carry our water in winter when plumbing is turned off. We get water in the morning now for 2 hours, and power from about 5:00 until midnight in the evening. Any hours beyond these, and we consider ourselves lucky. About the only mishap was in August when we had a rare downpour. The roof saturated, and I had waterfalls INSIDE the house AFTER midnight when the power was off. I am now on my way to Nepal for my 1st visa run. I'll have to leave India twice while here. While there, I plan to trek around Annapurna on that classic Circuit trail, hiring a porter and staying in tea houses. I will stay here for Christmas and then travel in January (JOIN ME) to beaches and places like Goa, Kerela, Madras and Bangalore. In early February, I will do the classic Zanskar River ice trek (JOIN ME) from the village of Chilling to either Lingshed or Padum sleeping in caves, which are warmer than a tent. The last part of February into March will be my 2nd visa run to Nepal, where I will trek (JOIN ME) to Everest Base Camp if conditions permit. I will then return here a week or so into March and remain until my teaching term ends in early July. After that, I will hire horses to carry gear and do a 20-day trek (JOIN ME) nearer the Tibetan border in a spectacular part of Ladakh that people rave about. I've already got my favorite ponymen lined up for this one. I'll be back in the states in August next year in time for my class reunion. That's all for now. Next letter will be shorter, as time between letters is MUCH shorter. And, I will answer all emails and regular letters/cards sent here. I have been doing great at this so far. Please have a safe and good October and November. And, please keep in touch. I may be 12 time zones from Colorado, but hit the internet weekly and answer all mail. Keith Koepsel |
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