Final Seattle thoughts from KT (India/Tibet)

Thanking to everyone who made my trip to Seattle a very special trip.

When I came here I first met two teachers from Lakeside School that made my trip very special. Their names are Ms. Meera Patankar and Ms. Kristina Peterson. Wherever we went, we first felt uncomfortable because we didn’t know anyone, but these two teachers didn’t let us feel like that. We never thought of them as strangers and always felt as if we all knew them since we were a child.

These teachers took us to the Sakya Monastery and to the Zoo during our small visit - when you are on an educational trip you don’t get time to go to a Zoo because everything is scheduled. In the Sakya monastery I felt very nice because the fragrance in the Sakya Monastery felt as if we were at our home. In the Zoo, the animal I liked the most was the snowy owl, but at the same time we all felt lucky as we got to see the Sun Bear in this weather. So I would like to thank not only these two teachers but every staff and student at Lakeside for making this trip so special for all of us.

The teachers at Salmon Bay like Lisa and Sam and the other teachers were really nice to all of us. They all treated us as if we were a celebrity or a VIP and we all felt very special. They always took our opinion whether we wanted to go to P.E. or go to a class. When we went to the class in Salmon Bay it wasn’t too different from Lakeside as the students were very good and they asked some questions about Tibet and the area where we came from. There were some students didn’t knew who His holiness was before told them about him so I think that we all - the 6 students- played an important role of spreading our culture.

The students in America are very independent and express their feelings very easily, but for the students in India it is very hard for them to express their feelings. So I feel that I would like to take this independence within them into myself to my school and also would like other students at home to open up their feelings. I also feel that it is sometimes not good to be too independent during the school time, for example wandering with your girlfriend and boyfriend on the school campus, because we all are sent to school to study not to wander around.

I would like to thank both of my special host families who have played a very important role in this trip to Seattle, and I would lastly like to thank them all from the bottom of my heart. At first when I had a host sister I felt very happy and it was a lot easier, but when I knew that I had to stay with a host brother I was very afraid and didn’t wanted to stay because the place where I come from it is not usual to stay with a boy. But after staying with a host brother I have learnt that it doesn’t matter whether you are staying with a girl or a boy; what matters the most is your intention staying with that person. At last I would like to thank Francesco (my host brother), Georgia (my host sister), Sofia (my host sister), Julie (host mother), and Gianfranco (host father).

THE THING THAT I LIKED THE MOST IS THE VOLUNTEERING OF THE PEOPLE IN STATES BY SPARING THEIR TIME FOR OTHERS WELL BEING. THANK YOU!

K.T. LHAMO