very late first impressions...

so, we dont have computer access up at the school by the lake so i wrote down some things to type up into a blog, i forgot one, i think this is the one i forgot... also, i cant access my own blog only add to it so i cant actually check if this is already up... so... if its doubles my appologies! and man smokers sitting next to me blowin cigarrette smoke in my face suck!

The air is thinner uyp here.
The first 20 steps of a midmorning jog leave your lungs burning as though you've just run a 5km time trial, and tahts just the beginning of the pain. Hiking up the small (the only rise to a hight of 4500m - about a 1200m verticle gain) mountains behind the school has my legs thinking they're rowing a 2km course at race pace.
Now, dancing to ska music (if you can call it dancing... at times its more like flailing) is odd at the best of times. An arm here, a knee there, elbows flying everywhere. Why people do it, im not sure really, it looks awkward and usually ends up with someone getting injured, hit by a flying body member, theirs or someone elses.
It's somethere out here that the kids had never seen, untill the other night. I cant really say they got the full picture of it either, as what is usually a high energy activity was reduced to 30 second burts, followed by a quick collapse onto the floow to catch our breaths. Besides, none of us can actually ska dance, we just jump around like fools.

I am currently living with my group at a school on the Qing Hai lake, QingHai provence, China, helping to run a 3 week english camp. we are on the high plateu of tibet surrounded by grassland, yaks and many other creatures. We're living at the newly built (by newly built i mean we're still bashing holes in the walls for chimeny pipes (the builders screwed up)) guest house we are surrounded by out students (crazy huh? i have students!) we live upstairs, they downstairs.

The classes we run are an odd mix of formality and Fun. I am asked "excuse me teacher can you help?" and all stand as the head teacher walks into the classroom each morning, "goodmorning teacher" they all chant. But its not all strict formallities as teh classes range from written to spoken english, sheet work to word games.
In fact class doesnt really ever end up here. They leave teh classroom but we're still around so its off to the soccer field of basketball court (each a rock filled dirt patch). We cant speak tibettan (its a crazy messed up language that though beautifully written, takesmany years to learn, even then the spoken language differes from person to person, family to family adn place to place). So the speak english. On top of this, every second night we invite them all to our place for a chance to hang out, have fun, and get a little help with their homework.

I guess that;s where my little rant about dancing comes in. We taught them some more western dances. They taught us some of their traditional ones. Truth be told "they" consisted of 2 to 3 guys that wern't too shy, the rest sat around and laughed as they watched us all make fools of ourselves.

As teh weeks have worn on we are slowly breaking through their shy exteriors and getting to know the fun, joy filled young people they are. They no longer hide behind the nearest doorway as we walk by in teh coridor. Rather they will venture up to our plac, ask questions and call after us with our names. We're beginning to discover their characters, each eager to learn about our world and languages. By the time you read this i will be heading off to their houses for two nights, to experience their world, sleeping on their beds with them and their families, eating their meals and probably herding their yaks (actually thats already happened, i've been super slow to type this up and am still just copying what i wrote, except this little insert ofcourse)

Ultimately, I dont think i can really be sure how lasting an impression we will leave with them, but for this timethey are smiling with us, happy. Is it ok to know all you have done is brighten up 4 weeks of their lived. I guess that depends on the bigger picture, over which i have no control.

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so this has gone up so late that im leaving the school in 2 days! its been great, i've experience soo many thing that i wish i had a better memory as over time im sure i will forget most of it! its an amazing place, tibet, and an amazing people, so welcoming so happy, so content with life.
one of the guys, michael i think, let out a sigh one afternoon, i mention 'life is hard is it?', his reply, "no, its not" - a young man with nothing to us in the west who has to work hard all day with his animals to survive, so content with his life, maybe we have a bit to learn form these guys.