so i'm having a rough time uploading pictures, but i'll do that soon. apparently there's wi-fi in the library on campus, but i don't know how i'm supposed to use it, because we're not allowed to bring personal belongings into the library...

yesterday i visited a school for poor kids from surrounding villages. it's run by a woman named raj, whose husband owns the restaurant where i always eat. raj took me around and introduced me to some of her kids - it was amazing. she has six tiny classrooms and over 200 kids, between the ages of about 4 and 12. they all come from poor or low-caste families, and they're learning hindi, english, math, and social studies. she runs the school completely on grants and donations, because the families that send their kids there can barely afford food, let alone education. i met one seven-year-old boy, who lives with his mom and two younger siblings. when he realized that they had no money for food, he decided that he would lie down in the middle of the road until a car ran him over. he told his mother that once he was killed, his family would finally have something to eat. and now, two years later, he can read english and hindi, and he loves school. it's just amazing. nearly every kid had a story like that. it's a level of poverty that i honestly just can't wrap my head around. it makes me feel incredibly fortunate (and incredibly guilty) to be an american.

in other news, i finally met my teachers. i start classes on monday. hindi, tibetan, and madhyamaka and cittamatra philosophy. it's so amazing to be at a school where everyone knows buddhist philosophy. when students in the hostel have asked me what i studied at smith and i tell them philosophy, they nod and smile. then they ask, "western philosophy?" and i tell them that i focused on madhyamaka, and they get excited. it's wonderful. yesterday at lunch i talked with my pal shanti about svatantrika and prasangika, a distinction between the madhyamaka school... no one who's reading my blog right now cares about the details, but it was just really exciting to be able to chat about this sort of stuff with people my age. it makes me wish that i was more fluent in tibetan - it's hard to talk philosophy in another language.