Around three o’clock this afternoon, we got back to Kangding and had finished more than 80% of our Tibet course. Up until the moment that we left our guide’s family’s home, I hadn’t really realized that it’s almost time to start heading home. But when we came back to the hotel where we stayed in Kangding before, I finally realized how much we learned as a group and how deep my connection with the Tibetan community was. Nine days ago, we arrived at this small hotel as a group of people who barely knew each other. Nine days later, we came back with a deep and indestructible relationship and future plans of next year’s summer reunion.
Through the challenges and hardships we encountered together as a team, such as the project, different cultural background and perspectives, we came together as the dream team and helped each other with the greatest possible amount of respect and mutual understanding. This course helped us understand the bigger world outside our small individual communities and granted us a brighter and more tolerant vision when it comes to things that we were not used to. Needless to say, it is a blessing to be able to travel with this group of people and have Nicole and Ngan as our instructors! As the days passed, I found the difficulty of saying goodbye to everyone has grown harder and harder. The friends I made during this experience, not only the instructors and people in this group, but also the local Tibetan community. By talking to them and living with them, I started to appreciate and understand their culture as much as my own as a Han Chinese. The grateful nature of the people here is something that we all should learn from and appreciate. Before I got on the plane and flew to Chengdu, I had never imagined that I would not want to go home. However, now, the longer I stay in the Tibetan community, the longer I want to keep staying here. Like I mentioned earlier, it is a blessing to meet all these awesome people and to be in this place.