Living in such a basic setting as this makes you appreciate many little things. Just to get the simplest things accomplished can often depend on various factors. Some examples include there being enough hot water to make a cup of coffee to have while I read in my room, wrapped up in a blanket and with my gloves on feels like something has been accomplished. Finding that the rain has stopped and I have a free hour to hand-wash a few clothes, again, with just enough hot water to prevent my hands becoming more damaged while I have chilblains. I had to wash some in a bucket in the garden and although they wouldn't be as clean as scrubbing them with a brush, I was getting low on clean clothes so getting them hung on the line while it remains dry can bring a feeling of satisfaction.
There are other small chores or activities that make me feel in a similar way – getting up to the shop to buy some biscuits, finishing an enjoyable story by Turgenev before the next lesson that makes me a lot more aware of what I do. It's not that I feel like I need such things to fill my time – I have plenty to keep me occupied, like I said before but maybe it's the complete lack of urgency that you get when living in a busy city that leaves you with the time to reflect on the small details.
My hands haven't made any big improvements over the week. With no other source of heat except for your own body, it's difficult to overcome something like chilblains. It has meant that I chose to stay at the school again for the weekend, just so I know I can keep my gloves on and put my blanket over me when I need to. The cream and tablets I got don't seem to be having any effect so I'll just have to be extra careful. For example, I needed to wash some clothes so carefully mixed hot drinking water with the cold but sometimes it was still cold and it only takes the slightest thing to make it worse again. Full credit goes to the manager who offered to wash my duvet cover for me as I couldn't face washing anything else for a while. That meant a lot to me. The temperatures here are around 8ºC in the day and 0 at night which is due to continue, according to the forecast.
Another reason to not go away is from hearing about Maggie and Kendall's trips. They went to Palampur, about 2 hours away, and said it was like the other places – plenty of shops and stalls but not much else to see. I don't think there is anything very exciting relatively near here. They have gone to Amritsar this weekend, where I will go after I finish teaching as it is 6 or 7 hours away but a big city that has a lot more to see.
This also illustrates that, unlike in the west, there is very little to do socially; there is nothing more than the odd café or restaurant around here and nothing worth making an effort to go to. Having said that, I did go to Norbulingka again in the week, mainly to use the wi-fi there. It's half an hour's walk away and the café is fine, except that it's outside and not the best unless it is sunny at this time of the year. We have an internet stick here but this week, it has been so painfully slow that it's worth taking the walk just to get a decent speed again.
I thought the weather earlier in the week was the cause of the slow connection – it was windy and rainy, but then it cleared up but the connection remained the same; we're talking download speeds akin to those of the old dial-up days, often 10 times slower than that...
I didn't take many photos this week as I mainly wanted to stay inside. Over the next two weeks, we will give some extra help to those students who will be around here. Right now, there are only about 8 so we'll have to see from day to day.
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