Packing and heading out

I'm posting this one last entry before catching the plane in a few hours. The weather in Dharamsala shows (check the link on the right if you haven't yet) that the temps so far have been in the low to mid 70's and evening temps in the 50's. On June 2nd (when I get there), the sun comes out, the temps go up 10-15 degrees and the weather is supposed to be clear and HOT...in the upper 90's. So much for cool weather that has been going on up until now.

Plastic bags are a great help in keeping it all organized and I'm trying to fit it all into as little space as possible. Bryce emailed a couple of days ago saying that the Air Deccan flight will charge me for the bags so I have to get some rupees right away.

I succumbed to an ad in one of the travel magazines for a blow up seat supplement. It says "travel like first class while in coach". I tried it yesterday while Bob was rolling his eyes. It seems like one of those gimmicks that will either be great or a total bust. I'll let you know. You inflate it with about 10 breaths and put it behind your back. It looks like it might take up more of the seat than me and I suppose blowing it up might create a bit of an event on the plane but at least it deflates and rolls flat to go back into my backpack if I don't like it. Once I try it out, I'll let you know if it was worth it or not.

I'm waiting curiously to see how the flight passengers will act. A doctor told me that many people are now taking sleeping meds for the flight. And, if any of them gets the Ambien sleep walking urge, I wonder if we'll have a plane that looks like the movie Night of the Living Dead. George Romero would love it! Check out the photo slide show from this 1968 classic.

Next posting will be from India presuming I can get to an internet cafe. Talk to ya soon from across the pond!

Malarone

I got started on my malaria meds today (malarone). The prescription indicator sheet noted "if you vomit this up, take another dose immediately. Can cause dizziness, vomiting, and nausea." So, I did as told and chugged it down but not with milk as suggested since I don't know if I'll be drinking milk in India at the college. I was a bit queasy all day but the projectile vomit was luckily not in the cards for me this time.

We did one last outing to the Atlanta Symphony tonight to hear Patti Austin and the ASO; she was great, sang a lot of Ella's old work and Duke Ellington's stuff. Time to pack is looming!

The Karmapa Lama's visit

The Karmapa Lama is currently visiting the United States and was in Denver yesterday. He is the third highest Lama and is a charasimatic young leader. You can catch his blog about the U.S. trip that runs from May 15 to June 2nd and learn more about Ogyen Trinley Dorge born to Tibetan nomads.

Last minute supplies and arrangements

Time is drawing short and I'm getting my last minute supplies for my trip next week. The big question is being able to fit it all into the suitcases and back pack. I've got towels, clothes, toiletries, some extra stash of peanut butter (just in case), all the extra meds, a bunch of electronic gear (interview stuff, computer, camera, phone), books to read, and just have to cram it all in somehow.

I'll be staying at Singh Sons in Delhi so hope it is a good place. I'm supposed to arrive in Delhi at 10:30 on Sunday night June 1st and will be met by someone from Tibetan tours (holding a sign with my name on it). If I'm lucky, I'll get through customs by sometime after midnight but before 2 a.m. I'll get to the hotel and then the next day will take Air Deccan to Dharamsala in the afternoon arriving on site sometime around 4:00 p.m. local time Monday, June 2nd.

A few more posts before I head out.
t minus 5 days and counting,
ttfn

OK, done with the last shots, finally

I had to get my last boosters before the trip so went back to the Travel Well Clinic to get the next round of Hep A and Hep B.

I'm down for the count at the moment with a case of the flu from last week that turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis. Those three together sent me to the emergency clinic a couple of days ago. After 2 booty shots (one per side) for steriods and antibiotics, I started to feel a bit better but have to get well so I can get on to packing this coming week.

T minus 9 and counting!

Tibetan Prayer Wheel

What's a Tibetan prayer wheel and why are they used?

Tibetan prayer wheels (called Mani wheels by the Tibetans) are devices for spreading spiritual blessings and well being. Rolls of thin paper, imprinted with many, many copies of the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum, printed in an ancient Indian script or in Tibetan script, are wound around an axle in a protective container, and spun around and around. Typically, larger decorative versions of the syllables of the mantra are also carved on the outside cover of the wheel.
Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying this mantra, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion.

Learn lots more of great details beyond this excerpt from the web at prayer wheel

The Spinnakers send off-or how many kleenex's does it take...

We have a neighborhood dinner club that meets every other month. This year we have 24 members so we break into groups of 8 and each time we meet, we dine with different people. This month, the dinner was yesterday (May 17th) and Bob and I were hosts. All of the 3 dinner groups agreed to meet after dinner at one home and unknown to me was the plan to have a "bon voyage" party that had been secretly arranged.

Neighbors packed special things for me for my trip (and boy were some of them really special!). Actually I really enjoyed it and have enough kleenex to fill 20 teenage bras (just kidding!), plenty of toilet seat covers, some candy to offer to the cranky person sitting next to me on my long flights, some sunglasses, a sewing kit (never know when one will need that far off in the mountains), some flip flops (not borrowed from John Kerry I don't think...they seemed to be too small to be his),and one honkin' flashin' American flag pin (don't think I can get that one thru security but it was fun to wear). It was all packaged up in a cute box that Laura decorated as a survival kit. We did have a cool champagne toast and lots of fun. Thanks to all our great friends of the Spinnakers! You're the best!!

Buddhist way of teaching

According to Georges Dreyfus (see the book Two Hands Clapping I mentioned in an earlier posting), there are 3 types of scholarly practice in Tibetan Buddhism for those becoming Monks and Nuns. They primarily use memorization, commentary and dialectial debate.

He says typical day in a commentarial institution would go like this (page 133):

5:00 Rising time

5:00-7:00 Morning study

7:00-8:30 Breakfast and revision

8:30-11:00 Morning class

11:00-1:00 Lunch and break

1:00-3:00 Afternoon revision class

3:00-3:30 Afternoon tea

3:30-4:30 Evening class

4:30-5:00 Free time

5:00-6:00 Evening debate (See a video of debate)

6:00-7:30 Dinner

7:30-9:30 Evening study

9:30-10:30 Evening tea

11:00 Bedtime

First full team meeting in AZ this week

It was an uneventful flight to Tucson where I finally got to meet the rest of the team. I was picked up by Gail Burd, Distinguished University Professor of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Professor of Cell Biology & Anatomy, and Dean of the College of Science at the University of Arizona. We met Chris Impey, a Distinguished Professor in Physics at the university and Ed Prather, an astronomy professor and NASA teacher professional development specialist who was in India with the Monks last year but is not going this year. Bryce joined us, as did Richard Sterling former head of the National Writing Project , and currently on faculty at UC Berkeley. We had a nice dinner, good conversation, and the ideas were flowing.

In the morning, we caught up with Ken Tsunoda (of the Sager Family Foundation) and Mark St. John of Inverness Research for a day long planning session. Bobby Sager got on the conference call to kick things off and then we had a long day of work ahead of us.

As Mark calls it, we were identifying structures.

I view this as a cultural project, hence the name of the blog...where we are connecting the cultures of Tibetan Buddhism, monastic life, western perspectives, science, science education and leadership. And, structures are an integral aspect of culture. There is a lot to think about and plan as we embark on this multi-year initiative!

Still on eastern time, I woke up at 4:00 both days (at least it wasn't 3:00 a.m.) so had no trouble getting to the 6:30 a.m. departure back to Atlanta. I had a crazy flight attendant try to give me a shot of vodka in my juice and although it indeed was 5:00 p.m. somewhere, it wasn't mywhere so I told her no, maybe next time.

Until the next post, see ya.