Being Brave

I am a big chicken. We should all know this by now. But I must tell you that you should all be extremely proud of me because I was super brave the last couple of days.

On Saturday I was planning on being super lame to stay in and do my homework (right?) but then my class decided to go see a Buddhist monastery in New Manali. Well we actually went to a Buddhist temple first and then we went to the monastery. The temple had a two-story statue oh Buddha. Woah.

Courtesy of GoogleImages

Cool, right? The temple was also surrounded by prayer wheels. Now to be honest, I had never heard of a prayer wheel before. It is a ritual from tibet and the idea is that the wheel is always spinning (you have to push it) and then you are always praying. It was cool, we walked around the entire building and must have spun over one-hundred prayer wheels. 

Courtesy of GoogleImages

Then we went to the Buddhist monastery. In America I have seen a lot of people wearing shirts that say "Free Tibet," but I have never really researched why those shirts exist. I found out in a harsh way why people are trying to "Free Tibet." So as I understand it, China occupied and took over Tibet in an attempt to abolish Buddhism. As a result, a lot of Buddhists, including the Dalai Lama, moved to Himachal Pradesh, India, which is where I am right now. 

At the monastery there was a poster detailing a kidnapping by the Chinese government of a young Buddhist boy. The Dalai Lama named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama when he was three years old. Three days after this announcement, the Chinese government kidnapped him and his entire family in their attempts to squash the Buddhist religion. Recently, when the Chinese president came to visit India, a Buddhist teenager burned himself alive in protest of the Chinese government. I found this incredibly interesting and sad and thought I would share with you all. 

On to happier things - 

On Sunday I went white water rafting. I was so scared and nervous before we did it that I almost chickened out (like everything else in my life) but I actually followed through with this and am so glad that I did. It was so fun! But really, I think I will always take up the opportunity to go rafting from now on. Last year on fourth of July, I also did something terrifying to push myself out of my comfort zone - I went tubing.

ME Tubing at Deep Creek Lake, MD

Now, to be honest, tubing is WAY scarier than rafting. But we were also wearing life jackets and helmets while we were in the raft. It was a level three course, and I think there are five levels of rafting courses. 

My group rafting on the Beas River in Kullu, India

Today was a pretty boring day. I got my hair dyed with henna at a real salon, so hopefully the red will show up better now. I'll let you know after I properly wash it and see it in the sunlight. Tomorrow I am getting my feet and hands henna'd for my trip back to the United States. 

I hope all of my friends and family in Washington D.C. are safe from the storms and have power - I have been thinking of you all <3