A few days ago, we visited the Parmarth Ashram, located on
the Ganges River. We experienced a forty-five minute ceremony where the local
Guru (who is a bit of a celebrity), lead us in prayer and taught the crowd
about how we should treat the river. I
myself felt slightly miffed because the ceremony was (obviously) not in
English, but I still felt as if the Hindi language captured the moment
perfectly. I felt like I learned a lot about Hindu culture and discovered that
I may have made a few poor judgments about this culture before the trip. After
this experience, we went to bed early in preparation for the long trip to
Ranikhet. During this eleven and a half hour trip, I had a lot of time to
reflect on things I had done right and wrong during the first few days of the
trip. I felt like I could have paid more attention during some lectures that we
had and during some of the tours we went through. I didn't realize that I had
learned very little about the local culture until I had fully immersed myself
into it, instead of spectating like a tourist. I recently got assigned to host
parents, but I still (only sort of) miss my parents who are traveling in
Europe. I hope all of the dads out there had a great Father’s Day!
Catch you later!
-Remy
Hi from Spain Remy! Knowing you are seeing things through the eyes of someone other that a common tourist is insight in itself. I am so glad you are having this wondeful experience, learning more about the Hindu culture and yourself. Looks like you found a sibling in Shay. Enjoy it all. Dad and I miss you. He missed you both especially on Father's Day! Mom
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