By Tuesday, I had discovered that I could not both blog and really have quality time at the summit. So now that I’m posting this, the three day summit is over and the workshops have begun.
I have also volunteered to do a bunch of posting of AirJaldi resources – such as the videos from the sessions, presentations, and other resources. So it’s almost impossible for me to blog in real time now.
Later on I’ll post some links to, and discussion of, the keynotes and panel sessions – as new after-the-fact posts.
The AirJaldi Summit took place on the grounds of the Upper Tibetan Children’s Village, as I have previously described. So during the entire time we were meeting, there were big public events going on out on the sports ground behind the auditorium. Kids observed the events from all around the playing field, and particularly they clung to the precipitous hillsides on all sides. These kids are like mountain goats (like kids everywhere) playing at pushing each other off, and last-minute saves, and screaming and laughing the whole time.
There is not only a universal love demonstrated for these kids, but there’s also a pile o’ love shown for the dogs that inhabit the grounds. There are the little yappy dogs all over the place, asserting that they’re the boss and you’d better not come near their kids, and there are the big dogs. The bigger dogs visited the auditorium a number of times – sitting right down with us to listen to the panelists. During lunch, which was held up in the temple area or “zone of peace” above the auditorium, this one dog really amused me – apparently we were not peaceful enough, and he figured out how to cover his ear to avoid being annoyed by our presence. In fact it was easy enough to walk right up to him without his stirring a bit.
Many of the kids, particularly the younger ones, came right in to investigate and see what we were doing. And our laptop computers (and recorders) were a special focus of attention for many of them. (Just as the computer had been up at the Hindu temple on the hill.) I’ll have more to say about the recordings that were going on in a later post too.
Just to cover one bit of business, at the end of the day Wednesday, the director of TCV, Mr. Tsewang Yeshi, joined us and not only talked with us more about TCV but also presided over a ceremony in which traditional white scarves or katas are given as tokens of appreciation to those who made the AirJaldi event possible.
Leave a Reply