I'm Rachel Fiddelman, I'm 17 and I live in Westchester, New York. I'm a senior at Mamaroneck High School, and am going to Colgate University in the fall.

I'm soo excited for this summer! I can't wait to meet you guys and go on this crazy adventure! Feel free to get in touch.

I'm getting more and more excited with every day, reading the material I had sent to me from Dragons, reading up on Peru and S. America.I'm curious what books you guys are planning on bringing,and to anyone that hasn't read "The Motorcycle Diaries" by Ernesto Guevarra I would definitely suggest that book, its one of my favorites of all time, and takes place partly in Peru. I'm sure everyone is as siked as I am for the trip, and am looking forward to meeting everyone and starting the program--

Adios, Zander  

I'm Lorne Schweitzer and I'm sixteen years old from Montreal ,Quebec, Canada. I'm graduating from Royal West Academy this year (long stoyr but I'm in grade 11) and I'm in Israel right now. I'll post more later.

Two quick questions:

What is this groups policy regarding personal MP3 players?

Is anybody else flying out of SFO?

After our final ISP presentation this afternoon, we had the good fortune to have a last-minute audience with the Nechung Oracle, the state medium of Tibet. Those of you who have seen the Scorcese film Kundun will recall the oracle - a monk who, while being possessed by the deity Dorje Drakden in a ritual trance performance, gives predictions and advice to the Dalai Lama and members of the Kashag, the Tibetan Cabinet. 

Dorje Drakden, or Pehar, is a protector spirit originally from Mongolia, imported from the court of the Great Khans into Tibet in the 8th century. Pehar made a vow before Padmasambhava to protect the new religion of Tibet, and over the centuries became the protective spirit of Lhasa in general, and the Dalai Lamas in particular. Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama, Pehar ritually embodies a monk of the Geluk order, and serves the Tibetan Government as a state oracle. 

The Nechung Oracle (his common title, although he tells us he prefers the term medium rather than oracle) was 29 years old when Pehar first took hold of him, in March 1987. Since then he has embarked on seversl world tours, become a public figure, and even donated a replica of his ritual costumes and headdress to a Swiss museum. It was a great honor for him to take the time to meet with us, particularly since the Dalai Lama is currently holding a Guhyasamaja Empowerment open to the public. During our interview, we discussed with Kuten-la the unusual circumstances of his life. He was wonderfully candid, and we closed with a group blessing and photograph, soon to be posted on our Yak board.

Tomorrow, half of the group will travel to Amritsar in the Punjab for an afternoon visit to the Golden Temple, the primary holy site for the Sikh tradition. The rest of us will take the nightbus back to Delhi, and we will all reuinte on Saturday afternoon, in time for a group dinner. Hard to believe our goodbyes are so forthcoming ... 

Jackie 

I'm sure you'll all be relieved and happy to know that we have officially returned from the big moutains and although dirty, are all very safe and happy. Our adventures in the Himalayas were the highlight of the semester for many. Perfect weather graced us with pristine and jaw dropping views and we all walk away as smaller and humbled (by beauty) human beings.

The students are BUSY - especially as we spend these next few days cramming them with reflection excercises and transference matererials. So PLEASE be patient as we will be sending them home soon enough and are trying our (very) best to stay as present as possible for our last fleeting days together.

A few new pictures (of hundreds) are being uploaded as I type. The pictures are petty compared to that which we actually witnessed, but we hope they still provide a frame of which the stories (you're soon due to hear) can fill in with sighs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seekingsol/sets/72157604054304404/

Hold your breathe (and hearts) for just a few more days!

And thanks for trusting your dearest with us. We know all the reasons you love them.

in peace and with love,

Christina, Slade & Bantu

The India I-team

Walk Good,

Christian 

Wow, so we’re all going to Morocco!  My name is Paul Dreyer, and I will be one of your instructors this summer.  Although you will all learn much (maybe too much) about me soon enough, I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know a bit about who I am, what I do, how I’ve come to be leading with Dragons, and why I’m so excited about our expedition to Morocco

I was born in South Africa, but when I was four years old my parents moved me, my brother, and our very small collection of worldly belongings across the globe to Boston, MA.  I grew up in the relatively safe confines of the suburbs of Boston.  However, I think that by taking such a great and wonderful risk and exposing me to travel so early, my parents unintentionally instilled in me a sense of adventure and wonder that continues to grow and move me forward in incredible directions. 

Both professionally and personally, I look for adventure, meaning, challenge, and fun.  What does that really mean and look like in actual life?  Well, professionally, it means that I typically don’t go to work Monday through Friday, 9-5.  It means that I am not doing a good job climbing the corporate ladder.  It also means that I have had the opportunity to work with a whole bunch of different schools and organizations; I have taught and learned from thousands of students; I have traveled for work throughout the United States and a number of international locations; I have often found myself in incredibly unique situations that bring forth amazement, awe, and gratitude.  On the personal side of things, in order to further satisfy my adventuresome spirit, I tend to gravitate to all things outdoor and wilderness related.  In the winter, I love getting to the top of high, pristine mountains (there are lots of those here in Colorado where I live) and then skiing down them.  This time of year, when the snow melts and the sun again feels warm on your skin, I look for as many opportunities to climb on rock, raft through rapids, or ride my mountain bike.  Next week, I head out of town for 2 separate weeklong river trips on wild and scenic rivers in Colorado and Utah.

So, for almost 15 years now my life has been filled with varied teaching, educational, and wilderness pursuits.  I have traveled to all 50 states.  I have ridden by bike for months at a time through Central America.  I have lived on the Navajo and Hopi reservations with students while completing service projects.  I have gone to school myself to receive a Master’s Degree in school counseling.  I have been certified as a Wilderness EMT.  I have taught, and I continue to teach wilderness first aid courses.  I have designed educational curricula, organized expeditions to the middle of nowhere, and led courses down rivers, up mountains, and through deserts.  What I have never done is gone to Morocco.  And so, I thank each and every one you now and will continue to thank you for this opportunity to be a part of Dragons Moroccan program.  As one of your leaders on this expedition, I bring a wealth of experience leading groups of teenagers, I bring my skills as a world traveler, I bring my various medical and educational certifications, but I think most importantly, I bring a sense and understanding of newness and wonder and uncertainty.  In so many ways, on our journey, I will be a fellow student.  Just like you, I am excited to discover the Atlas Mountains for the first time.  Just like you, I am curious about what I will have for breakfast in my Moroccan homestay family’s house.  Just like you, I am worried about my ability to speak Arabic.  Just like you, I am waiting to immerse myself in Islamic and Arabic culture and see how those experiences can be incorporated into my own life.  There will be so many firsts, so much novelty, so much learning. 

Truly, seeking out this sort of newness, uncertainty, challenge, and adventure, that is why I work and play in the world of experiential education.  My hope for all of us as we head into the Islamic realm of northern Africa is to dive in with wide-open eyes, humble hearts, and sponge-like brains.  Right now we are all living separate lives, and within all of our lives we are filling certain roles, we are acting certain ways, we are choosing certain friends, we are responding to and acting on certain biases and past experiences.  Before we all meet up in New York on June 28th, we all have an incredible opportunity to wipe the slate clean.  To do so, I want to talk you through a short exercise.  OK, pretend you’re an Etch-A-Sketch (you know, those old school toys with the red border, gray screen and two small knobs at the bottom).  You are a human Etch-A-Sketch.  Now, imagine your Etch-A-Sketch surface is full of the strange, jagged lines that Etch-A-Sketchs are famous for producing.  Now, shake yourself all about.  No, really, shake yourself all about.  All of those lines have now gone away.  Your slate is clean.  Regardless of who you are at home or who you’re supposed to be at home, your slate is now clean, and you can arrive in New York and then in Morocco totally open, willing, and ready to receive any and all gifts that are sure to come our way.

Thanks for reading, everyone!  Again, I am SOOOO excited to meet all of you in person and to begin our incredible journey.  If at any time over the next month and a half you would like to talk over something or if you have a question about the trip or if you just want to tell me something really cool that you just did, please, PLEASE drop me an email or call.  You can reach me at 4pauldreyer@gmail.com or 303-819-2629.

The journey continues….thanks for coming along!

Paul

Oh, p.s., another thing that I bring to the crew is a full supply of bad jokes.  For example, have you all heard about the new corduroy pillows that are out there now?  No, really, you haven’t heard of them yet?  That’s weird, because they’re making headlines.

See, I told you – bad, eh?  Many more to come….

Id love to hear from everyone else. 

See you all soon 

To those who are new this year, I’d like to welcome you to the Dragons community and to the journey ahead!  And to those who have joined us for another year, we are so happy that you are back, and we hope that your experience this summer will be as inspiring as your first!

This is an exciting time of year for us, and we know that it is for you as well.  We hope that the Yak Yak forum encourages you to voice your excitement, anxieties, thoughts and questions.  It’s a great way to share a bit yourself, and if they haven’t done so already, your instructors will also do so shortly. From there, discussions will begin to build and your instructors will guide you with their best advice for preparing for the course – regarding packing, recommendations for readings, the itinerary, and topics to consider for your on-course Independent Study Projects (ISPs).  As your Program Director, I’m going to be working closely with you as well, although mostly to support the program and the instructors and be a contact for parents while the group is out in the field.

This year marks my 10th year with Dragons…albeit my first was at the age of 18 as a student on the Thailand summer program, in 1998.  Awakened by intensely new opportunities for learning in Asia, I returned to travel with Dragons along the Silk Road the following year.  It was then that I realized that one could spend a lifetime exploring the complexities and basking in the beauties of that region of the world.  One thing led to another, and I soon found myself at Middlebury College, in Vermont, studying Mandarin Chinese and the Arts.  The travel bug, of course, stayed with me, and lured me back to China and Southeast Asia on numerous occasions, which eventually inspired within me the desire to instruct for Dragons.  Having worked in the field for 2 years in China and Tibet, I then migrated to Boulder, CO, where I am now – beginning a third summer season of administrative work with Dragons.

As we begin to close enrollment on our summer programs, I think back to the early fall and the first few occasions that we began hearing from prospective 2008 students.  Although many of you have only recently joined us – accepted onto a program within the last 2-3 months – there are others who had committed their summer to Dragons as their school year was just beginning!  Similarly, Dragons’ in-office Program Directors began work on their summer courses many, many months ago – reviewing last summer’s feedback, recruiting instructors with amazing regional knowledge, establishing tight working relationships with our in-country contacts, drafting potential course itineraries, and building forums in which our instructors have been able to maintain communication regarding their course ideas…allowing them to open up a world of possibilities for YOU this summer!

On top of all the things that set us apart from similar organizations, it’s the tremendous amount of care and intention that goes into the development of our courses that really makes us unique.  The design and development of our course curriculums and itineraries is an organic process that is directly spearheaded by our administration and field staff.  Rather than out-sourcing this work to large-scale operators who will present to you a program on a platter – one that can be mindlessly facilitated by just about any guide – Dragons prefers to keep our hands in the dirt, allowing us to sculpt courses that represent our unique goals of profound cross-cultural learning and self-cultivation.  When it’s all said and done, and you finally gather in late June at your course’s point of departure, you should know that you are about to embark on an adventure that is intensely personalized and has been many months, and in many cases, years in the making! 

Of course, the launching of the Yak Yak forum also encourages YOU to become a participant in the process.  We want you to share with us and your fellow students your intentions for joining a program like ours, and as you dig through your Lonely Planet guidebooks and crack open a few of our suggested pre-course readings, we’d really like to hear what catches your attention.  You are welcome to throw out contributions to the itinerary – whether there’s a particular monastery that catches your attention, a non-governmental organization that you know you’d like to take a few days to learn from, or a trekking route that seems to pass through impossibly beautiful terrain.  Although our instructors have already defined most components of the course, we’d like to work to incorporate your ideas when and where possible.  So join in, shout out, have fun and express yourself!

As has already been mentioned, Yak Yak is also the most appropriate place to address your pre-course questions.  When Dragons’ Program Directors clear and post your Yaks with questions, they’ll typically determine if they would like the instructors to respond, in which case they will prompt the team to put together a note in reply.  If, however, your question is one that I feel comfortable answering, I’ll be sure to reply right away.  If, after a couple of days, you are unable to solicit a response, you may consider emailing your question directly to me: ryan@wheretherebedragons.com.

We hope that you will discover the magic of the Yak Yak forum, and learn to love it!  It’s a powerful tool for pre-course communication and community building, and once you head into the field, it will undoubtedly become the default homepage of your parents and friends at home – all of those who WISH they could be out there with you!

Again, welcome to Dragons.  I look forward to hearing from you all, and vicariously journeying alongside you this summer.

With Best Regards,

Ryan Koupal
Tibet Cultural Program Director
Where There Be Dragons LLC
ryan@wheretherebedragons.com
800-982-9203 x15

To those who are new this year, I’d like to welcome you to the Dragons community and to the journey ahead!  And to those who have joined us for another year, we are so happy that you are back, and we hope that your experience this summer will be as inspiring as your first!

This is an exciting time of year for us, and we know that it is for you as well.  We hope that the Yak Yak forum encourages you to voice your excitement, anxieties, thoughts and questions.  It’s a great way to share a bit yourself, and if they haven’t done so already, your instructors will also do so shortly. From there, discussions will begin to build and your instructors will guide you with their best advice for preparing for the course – regarding packing, recommendations for readings, the itinerary, and topics to consider for your on-course Independent Study Projects (ISPs).  As your Program Director, I’m going to be working closely with you as well, although mostly to support the program and the instructors and be a contact for parents while the group is out in the field.

This year marks my 10th year with Dragons…albeit my first was at the age of 18 as a student on the Thailand summer program, in 1998.  Awakened by intensely new opportunities for learning in Asia, I returned to travel with Dragons along the Silk Road the following year.  It was then that I realized that one could spend a lifetime exploring the complexities and basking in the beauties of that region of the world.  One thing led to another, and I soon found myself at Middlebury College, in Vermont, studying Mandarin Chinese and the Arts.  The travel bug, of course, stayed with me, and lured me back to China and Southeast Asia on numerous occasions, which eventually inspired within me the desire to instruct for Dragons.  Having worked in the field for 2 years in China and Tibet, I then migrated to Boulder, CO, where I am now – beginning a third summer season of administrative work with Dragons.

As we begin to close enrollment on our summer programs, I think back to the early fall and the first few occasions that we began hearing from prospective 2008 students.  Although many of you have only recently joined us – accepted onto a program within the last 2-3 months – there are others who had committed their summer to Dragons as their school year was just beginning!  Similarly, Dragons’ in-office Program Directors began work on their summer courses many, many months ago – reviewing last summer’s feedback, recruiting instructors with amazing regional knowledge, establishing tight working relationships with our in-country contacts, drafting potential course itineraries, and building forums in which our instructors have been able to maintain communication regarding their course ideas…allowing them to open up a world of possibilities for YOU this summer!

On top of all the things that set us apart from similar organizations, it’s the tremendous amount of care and intention that goes into the development of our courses that really makes us unique.  The design and development of our course curriculums and itineraries is an organic process that is directly spearheaded by our administration and field staff.  Rather than outsourcing this work to large-scale operators who will present to you a program on a platter – one that can be mindlessly facilitated by just about any guide – Dragons prefers to keep our hands in the dirt, allowing us to sculpt courses that represent our unique goals of profound cross-cultural learning and self-cultivation.  When it’s all said and done, and you finally gather in late June at your course’s point of departure, you should know that you are about to embark on an adventure that is intensely personalized and has been many months, and in many cases, years in the making! 

Of course, the launching of the Yak Yak forum also encourages YOU to become a participant in the process.  We want you to share with us and your fellow students your intentions for joining a program like ours, and as you dig through your Lonely Planet guidebooks and crack open a few of our suggested pre-course readings, we’d really like to hear what catches your attention.  You are welcome to throw out contributions to the itinerary – whether there’s a particular monastery that catches your attention, a non-governmental organization that you know you’d like to take a few days to learn from, or a trekking route that seems to pass through impossibly beautiful terrain.  Although our instructors have already defined most components of the course, we’d like to work to incorporate your ideas when and where possible.  So join in, shout out, have fun and express yourself!

As has already been mentioned, Yak Yak is also the most appropriate place to address your pre-course questions.  When Dragons’ Program Directors clear and post your Yaks with questions, they’ll typically determine if they would like the instructors to respond, in which case they will prompt the team to put together a note in reply.  If, however, your question is one that I feel comfortable answering, I’ll be sure to reply right away.  If, after a couple of days, you are unable to solicit a response, you may consider emailing your question directly to me: ryan@wheretherebedragons.com.

We hope that you will discover the magic of the Yak Yak forum, and learn to love it!  It’s a powerful tool for pre-course communication and community building, and once you head into the field, it will undoubtedly become the default homepage of your parents and friends at home – all of those who WISH they could be out there with you!

Again, welcome to Dragons.  I look forward to hearing from you all, and vicariously journeying alongside you this summer.

With Best Regards,

Ryan Koupal
Cambodia Program Director
Where There Be Dragons LLC
ryan@wheretherebedragons.com
800-982-9203 x15

To those who are new this year, I’d like to welcome you to the Dragons community and to the journey ahead!  And to those who have joined us for another year, we are so happy that you are back, and we hope that your experience this summer will be as inspiring as your first!

This is an exciting time of year for us, and we know that it is for you as well.  We hope that the Yak Yak forum encourages you to voice your excitement, anxieties, thoughts and questions.  It’s a great way to share a bit yourself, and if they haven’t done so already, your instructors will also do so shortly. From there, discussions will begin to build and your instructors will guide you with their best advice for preparing for the course – regarding packing, recommendations for readings, the itinerary, and topics to consider for your on-course Independent Study Projects (ISPs).  As your Program Director, I’m going to be working closely with you as well, although mostly to support the program and the instructors and be a contact for parents while the group is out in the field.

This year marks my 10th year with Dragons…albeit my first was at the age of 18 as a student on the Thailand summer program, in 1998.  Awakened by intensely new opportunities for learning in Asia, I returned to travel with Dragons along the Silk Road the following year.  It was then that I realized that one could spend a lifetime exploring the complexities and basking in the beauties of that region of the world.  One thing led to another, and I soon found myself at Middlebury College, in Vermont, studying Mandarin Chinese and the Arts.  The travel bug, of course, stayed with me, and lured me back to China and Southeast Asia on numerous occasions, which eventually inspired within me the desire to instruct for Dragons.  Having worked in the field for 2 years in China and Tibet, I then migrated to Boulder, CO, where I am now – beginning a third summer season of administrative work with Dragons.

As we begin to close enrollment on our summer programs, I think back to the early fall and the first few occasions that we began hearing from prospective 2008 students.  Although many of you have only recently joined us – accepted onto a program within the last 2-3 months – there are others who had committed their summer to Dragons as their school year was just beginning!  Similarly, Dragons’ in-office Program Directors began work on their summer courses many, many months ago – reviewing last summer’s feedback, recruiting instructors with amazing regional knowledge, establishing tight working relationships with our in-country contacts, drafting potential course itineraries, and building forums in which our instructors have been able to maintain communication regarding their course ideas…allowing them to open up a world of possibilities for YOU this summer!

On top of all the things that set us apart from similar organizations, it’s the tremendous amount of care and intention that goes into the development of our courses that really makes us unique.  The design and development of our course curriculums and itineraries is an organic process that is directly spearheaded by our administration and field staff.  Rather than out-sourcing this work to large-scale operators who will present to you a program on a platter – one that can be mindlessly facilitated by just about any guide – Dragons prefers to keep our hands in the dirt, allowing us to sculpt courses that represent our unique goals of profound cross-cultural learning and self-cultivation.  When it’s all said and done, and you finally gather in late June at your course’s point of departure, you should know that you are about to embark on an adventure that is intensely personalized and has been many months, and in many cases, years in the making! 

Of course, the launching of the Yak Yak forum also encourages YOU to become a participant in the process.  We want you to share with us and your fellow students your intentions for joining a program like ours, and as you dig through your Lonely Planet guidebooks and crack open a few of our suggested pre-course readings, we’d really like to hear what catches your attention.  You are welcome to throw out contributions to the itinerary – whether there’s a particular monastery that catches your attention, a non-governmental organization that you know you’d like to take a few days to learn from, or a trekking route that seems to pass through impossibly beautiful terrain.  Although our instructors have already defined most components of the course, we’d like to work to incorporate your ideas when and where possible.  So join in, shout out, have fun and express yourself!

As has already been mentioned, Yak Yak is also the most appropriate place to address your pre-course questions.  When Dragons’ Program Directors clear and post your Yaks with questions, they’ll typically determine if they would like the instructors to respond, in which case they will prompt the team to put together a note in reply.  If, however, your question is one that I feel comfortable answering, I’ll be sure to reply right away.  If, after a couple of days, you are unable to solicit a response, you may consider emailing your question directly to me: ryan@wheretherebedragons.com.

We hope that you will discover the magic of the Yak Yak forum, and learn to love it!  It’s a powerful tool for pre-course communication and community building, and once you head into the field, it will undoubtedly become the default homepage of your parents and friends at home – all of those who WISH they could be out there with you!

Again, welcome to Dragons.  I look forward to hearing from you all, and vicariously journeying alongside you this summer.

With Best Regards,

Ryan Koupal
Thailand Program Director
Where There Be Dragons LLC
ryan@wheretherebedragons.com
800-982-9203 x15

To those who are new this year, I’d like to welcome you to the Dragons community and to the journey ahead!  And to those who have joined us for another year, we are so happy that you are back, and we hope that your experience this summer will be as inspiring as your first!

This is an exciting time of year for us, and we know that it is for you as well.  We hope that the Yak Yak forum encourages you to voice your excitement, anxieties, thoughts and questions.  It’s a great way to share a bit yourself, and if they haven’t done so already, your instructors will also do so shortly. From there, discussions will begin to build and your instructors will guide you with their best advice for preparing for the course – regarding packing, recommendations for readings, the itinerary, and topics to consider for your on-course Independent Study Projects (ISPs).  As your Program Director, I’m going to be working closely with you as well, although mostly to support the program and the instructors and be a contact for parents while the group is out in the field.

This year marks my 10th year with Dragons…albeit my first was at the age of 18 as a student on the Thailand summer program, in 1998.  Awakened by intensely new opportunities for learning in Asia, I returned to travel with Dragons along the Silk Road the following year.  It was then that I realized that one could spend a lifetime exploring the complexities and basking in the beauties of that region of the world.  One thing led to another, and I soon found myself at Middlebury College, in Vermont, studying Mandarin Chinese and the Arts.  The travel bug, of course, stayed with me, and lured me back to China and Southeast Asia on numerous occasions, which eventually inspired within me the desire to instruct for Dragons.  Having worked in the field for 2 years in China and Tibet, I then migrated to Boulder, CO, where I am now – beginning a third summer season of administrative work with Dragons.

As we begin to close enrollment on our summer programs, I think back to the early fall and the first few occasions that we began hearing from prospective 2008 students.  Although many of you have only recently joined us – accepted onto a program within the last 2-3 months – there are others who had committed their summer to Dragons as their school year was just beginning!  Similarly, Dragons’ in-office Program Directors began work on their summer courses many, many months ago – reviewing last summer’s feedback, recruiting instructors with amazing regional knowledge, establishing tight working relationships with our in-country contacts, drafting potential course itineraries, and building forums in which our instructors have been able to maintain communication regarding their course ideas…allowing them to open up a world of possibilities for YOU this summer!

On top of all the things that set us apart from similar organizations, it’s the tremendous amount of care and intention that goes into the development of our courses that really makes us unique.  The design and development of our course curriculums and itineraries is an organic process that is directly spearheaded by our administration and field staff.  Rather than out-sourcing this work to large-scale operators who will present to you a program on a platter – one that can be mindlessly facilitated by just about any guide – Dragons prefers to keep our hands in the dirt, allowing us to sculpt courses that represent our unique goals of profound cross-cultural learning and self-cultivation.  When it’s all said and done, and you finally gather in late June at your course’s point of departure, you should know that you are about to embark on an adventure that is intensely personalized and has been many months, and in many cases, years in the making! 

Of course, the launching of the Yak Yak forum also encourages YOU to become a participant in the process.  We want you to share with us and your fellow students your intentions for joining a program like ours, and as you dig through your Lonely Planet guidebooks and crack open a few of our suggested pre-course readings, we’d really like to hear what catches your attention.  You are welcome to throw out contributions to the itinerary – whether there’s a particular monastery that catches your attention, a non-governmental organization that you know you’d like to take a few days to learn from, or a trekking route that seems to pass through impossibly beautiful terrain.  Although our instructors have already defined most components of the course, we’d like to work to incorporate your ideas when and where possible.  So join in, shout out, have fun and express yourself!

As has already been mentioned, Yak Yak is also the most appropriate place to address your pre-course questions.  When Dragons’ Program Directors clear and post your Yaks with questions, they’ll typically determine if they would like the instructors to respond, in which case they will prompt the team to put together a note in reply.  If, however, your question is one that I feel comfortable answering, I’ll be sure to reply right away.  If, after a couple of days, you are unable to solicit a response, you may consider emailing your question directly to me: ryan@wheretherebedragons.com.

We hope that you will discover the magic of the Yak Yak forum, and learn to love it!  It’s a powerful tool for pre-course communication and community building, and once you head into the field, it will undoubtedly become the default homepage of your parents and friends at home – all of those who WISH they could be out there with you!

Again, welcome to Dragons.  I look forward to hearing from you all, and vicariously journeying alongside you this summer.

With Best Regards,

Ryan Koupal
Vietnam Program Director
Where There Be Dragons LLC
ryan@wheretherebedragons.com
800-982-9203 x15

It’s great to see all the yak boards coming alive!  This is a very exciting time of year for all of us, and while we know that you are anxious to meet your traveling companions, we have a request for you: please don’t direct your fellow travelers to social-networking sites before the course.  Let us explain: our interest here at Dragons is in providing you with the best experience possible, and over the past 15 years, we have learned that that you will get the most out of your Dragons program if you’re able to make fresh introductions on the day that your course begins.  We welcome you to introduce yourself here, and we hope that you will use this site to voice your goals and ideas for this summer’s course and to begin forming a group identity.  But we’d like to avoid students forming any sort of “cliques” online before even departing on this program.   We certainly know that you can all find each other on Facebook and My Space quite easily, and while we cannot (and don’t want to) forbid such networking, we encourage you to abstain from doing so and invite you to show up to meet your group in June without pre-judgment and with a willingness to expose yourself to everything new, different, wild and other. No matter who you are or what your history is, we hope that you’ll arrive at your course-start with a willingness to let go of the person you are with the intention of becoming the person you want to be.  We wish you the best as you prepare for this summer’s adventure!

Chris Yager
Director/Manager, Where There Be Dragons LLC
303-413-0822, ext 11
www.wheretherebedragons.com
 
Abrie Brutsché
Director of Admissions, Where There Be Dragons LLC
303-413-0822, ext 23
www.wheretherebedragons.com

I'm just posting my first yak yak to let you know a little about me. Let me see...I was originally born in Houston, Texas but moved to Russia and then a little later London. I've been living in London for the past eight years and go to the American School in London or ASL for short. I love to write but my other hobbies include scuba diving, tennis, volleyball, and journalism (I'm an advanced writer for my school newspaper The Standard). I have two cats and a dog. The cats are named Salem and Sammy and are both black, brothers, and serious trouble makers. Salem belongs to me while Sammy belongs to my sister. Our dog is called Maggie and she is a yellow lab. She is also extremely spoiled. I'm a big fan of Sushi, along with the cats, and I'll eat just about anything from Thai green curry to snails (trust me it's unavoidable once you start living in Europe). I think that's about it for me and I hope to read everyone elses posts or responses.

Kate 

HH Karmapa escaped from the Tibetan Autnomous Region and entered the world stage at the age of 14, in early 2000, as his educational opportunities were severely restricted under Chinese authority. Arriving in Dharamsala shortly after giving his Chinese minders the slip, his escape quickly turned into an international incident.  Here is a link to an account of his escape, from the website of the Kagyu Office: http://www.kagyuoffice.org/karmapa.india.escape.html.

Whispers among the Tibetan community seem to suggest two things: 1) that, after his death, the current Dalai Lama will not reincarnate, ending the lineage of Dalai Lamas; and 2) that the Karmapa is currently being groomed to take over that responsibility in the near future. This is speculation, of course. However, the whispers are growing in the Tibetan world, both in and out of exile.

Arriving at Gyuto Monastery in Siddhibari, Dharamsala, we were ushered into the high security area reserved for visitors. We had been granted an hour audience, although there was a throng of people already gathered to see him. Entering his audience chamber, slightly starstruck, we huddled on the Tibetan carpet in front of him and began our introduction. Earlier this week, half of the group met to discuss and prepare questions for our audience, and once the introduction was finished, Charlie, Sonia, Ray, Andrew and AJ were able to ask His Holiness their questions.

One of the most extraordinary answers came in response to Andrew's question about parables. He is studying the role of parables in Buddhist education, and asked HHK to comment on the significance of parables, as well as share one meaningful to him. HHK said that although storytelling and parables are important educational tools, the most important parables are the ones that life teaches us from the moment we are born. For example, he related, when he was a nomadic child in Eastern Tibet, before being discovered as the Karmapa, his family had to hide him every time an animal was slaughtered, as he would have a terrible emotional reaction. What education did I have then? he asked us. It was simply an intuitive knowledge that killing was fundamentally wrong, and the sense of suffering of other beings was too intense to bear.

Each person in our group will have a different moment that stands out in their mind. For me, yesterday's audience was a crowning moment in our journey together. Bringing together all of the disparate elements that we have seen and studied: the history of the Kagyu lineage; Rumtek Monastery - the seat of the Karmapa in Sikkim, India; discussions of the current Karmapa controversy; documentary screenings of the search and discovery of Karmapa XVII. This is experiential education - these are the kinds of experiences I hope to facilitate as a Dragons instructor. The remarkable opportunities we receive, coupled with the looks on our students faces as their worlds are opened ever so slightly - this makes the bumps on the road of our journey more than worthwhile.

I’m Mbouillé Diallo, one of the three Senegal summer program instructors. I’m Senegalese and was born and grew up in the south before moving here to Thies (70 km from Dakar, the capital city).  I relocated to Thies at a young age to finish my high school studies before going to Dakar University where I received my B.A. in British and American Literature and Civilisation.  I speak 6 national African languages and three other foreign languages (French, English and a bit Spanish).  I’m a return instructor, this being the fourth time I’m going to work with Dragons on this amazing program.

First and foremost, I would like to mention how happy and excited I always feel at the beginning of each program. Unfortunately I alwasys find it sad and regretful to have to part with the rest of the group at the end of a wonderful and very rewarding six week experience. After four years with Dragons, I have the feeling that my personality, maturity and sense of humanity have widened so much so that I can’t help thanking God and the people who gave me the opportunity to meet such great people. In my mind, my meeting with Dragons has been a turning point in my life, thanks to the strong bonds that exist between me and all the different people I’ve met through the Dragons. And the community is getting larger and larger. I’m so excited to know that some of you who are reading this will soon be part of that community.  I have a feeling this next program is going to be one of the best, as my two other co-leaders and I have varying and complimentary skills that will help us make this trip a very exciting and rewarding one.

Coming back to myself, I live in Thies with my small family (my wife and two sons). I can’t wait to introduce them to you all and have you share your first days in Senegal (in Africa?) with my family. I also run two radio shows on Sundays and I even invited one of my co-instructors, Inbal, onto my show on several occasions. We’ve already started discussing ideas to make this summer’s program even more interesting; and of course we’re excited to share this vision with our other co-instructor, Carolyn, who is currently in the States.

I also enjoy playing soccer, travelling, discussing politics/development/social matters, and… hiking/trekking.  Actually, the first time I tried hiking was when we were running our first Dragons’ program in Senegal in 2005, and now I find it one of the best parts of the summer. During that monumental trek, I realized that this was an occasion for the whole group to better know each other and appreciate the country at its deepest side; walking through the beautiful landscapes, getting in touch with villagers, talking to the locals and sharing with them- all helped each of us (even me) to know the reality of the country and its people.
 
I recently travelled to Guinea (a country southeast of Senegal) to help with the development of the upcoming semester program.  While travelling through some of the villages on the border, I was strongly impressed and surprised with people’s reactions about the group coming through this area. The Guinean people are eager and excited to know that the new group is coming.

Feel free to ask me any questions about Senegal, the program itself or anything else that you want to hear or talk about.

I look forward to meeting you!

Mbouillé Diallo,
Tel: (+221) 573 83 68
Email: mboillediallo@hotmail.com

Cameron

   My name is Eric Wessan, though I have many nicknames including EWess and Wes, and I will be going on the China Comprehensive Survey trip this year.  I live in CT and play football and rugby for my highschool.  I took a couple years of french in middle school and have two years of chinese now in highschool.  I think that this trip should be a lot of fun and am getting pretty psyched about going.

EWess

I will post a more formal introduction later this week, for now let me just express my admiration to each one of you, for your powerful desire, willigness and courage to explore and be curious. I am sending you a warm welcome from Guatemala to all your homes in the United States wishing to meet you soon.

Hasta muy pronto!

I love travelling, and I'm quite an outdoorsy person, I have climbed a few mountains (which in Wales is probably like a big hill) and have been camping in some strange places. I've lived out of the back-pack I'm taking for about 3 days so I don't know how 1 month is going to work

I play a lot of sport too, also I like art/photography.

It will be great to meet everyone in June, I'll probably be seeing you in Beijing. :)

This summer, we have an opportunity like no other.  For some of you, your decision to travel to northern India was roundabout.  As events of the late winter and spring unfolded in Tibet, we watched with minor trepidation and some amazement.  In the eyes of the media, Tibet is once again on the map, a focal point in anticipation of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  But for many of us, it has always been on the map; maybe someone turned a light onto it from a different angle, but that's about it.  Now, perhaps by fate or more likely by a series of strategic decisions, we have fallen into place as a very real  team of students and instructors.  For some of us, the anticipated map of exploration has changed from a journey through the heartland of Tibet (within China's borders) to a journey through the vibrant outposts of Tibetan culture and its relatives in the vast Himalaya of northern India.  There is little that excites me more. 

For the sake of space, however, I will hold my thoughts on that and, instead, introduce myself.  I consider myself an attached explorer; that is, I move around a lot, but get attached to places easily.  As much as I would like to be rooted to one geographic space, I have always been somewhat nomadic.  This year, I live in Texas.  Next year, I will live in Colorado.  In the two years before moving to Texas, I lived in Thailand, and before that I lived in various locales of eastern Asia, with occasional stints in Colorado and Mexico.  One day, I will settle into a more relaxed living situation -- perhaps in my dream of running a non-profit educational ranch in New Mexico -- but for now, wanderlust will carry me to northern India with you, and then back to Colorado to begin graduate school in Psychology.

My interests vary greatly, and sometimes I wonder when I am going to stop being interested in new ideas, activities, and careers.  Currently, I teach English Literature in a low-income high school on the Texas-Mexico border (fondly known as Tejico) where I enjoy working with horses, surfing (yes, the Gulf of Mexico has ridable swells), running, cycling, and strumming my guitar.  When possible, I climb, participate in Triathlons and marathons, and take good, old-fashioned backpacking trips with my partner (who, a teacher herself, has her own plethora of interests and hobbies) and our puppy, Clover (the sweetest pup anyone could ask for).

In my teaching, Buddhism plays a strong role.  I try to emphasize individual approaches and interpretations of worldly and literary events while understanding how universal themes tend to unite us as humans.  This will be especially helpful as we explore the various communities of Tibetans in exile, listen to their stories, and begin accessing new ways of thinking.  On that note, I spent some time as a novice monk in a forest monastery on the Thai-Burma border; this transformative experience has greatly influenced my perspective on the world, and continues to affect my decisions and motives.  It has, for example, influenced me to move from direct teaching into psychology (hence the move to graduate school).  I could go on about...say...the novel I started and never finished, the hot weather of south Texas, my interest in pine trees, and my love for sourdough breadmaking, but you will, of course, have plenty of time to get to know me, and I you.

Our instructor team -- Lindsay Gilmor, Debi Goldman, and me -- is one of the strongest I have seen in my six years of instructing with Dragons.  Like each of you, we come from different geographic and educational places, and have different interests (for example, I am not sure if anyone else on this team surfs AND wears cowboy boots on a regular basis).  Our myriad interests and skills are complimentary and are what will help make this a powerful program. Together, we have organized a program that will allow you to explore the phenomenal natural landscapes of the Himalayan regions bordering Tibet, the culture of Tibetan communities in exile and their neighbors (including groups of people with strong cultural, religious, and linguistic connections to Tibet), and the impact of varying economic, environmental, and political forces on these communities.  The three of us, along with various contacts in northern India, will guide you in your explorations.  We will rarely teach you directly, but rather use our intimate surroundings to facilitate a mind-blowing, and perhaps life-changing, experience.

And you will each bring your own interests to the program, helping to guide our trajectory and inquiry.  In many cases, the questions you ask and enthusiasm you project will encourage us to make things happen for you.  As you can imagine, such a group experience is cyclical and grows from within itself.  The more we each contribute, the more we will each get out of this.  So I encourage you: start sharing your ideas now. 

Yak Yak is an awesome forum to get our initial ideas out onto the table.  When posting to Yak Yak before the program, please tell us what you are interested in, both in the context of this program and in general.  The more we get to know each other, the deeper we will be able to explore.

Warm regards to each of you, and I look forward to meeting you in Los Angeles in less than two months!

Max Woodfin

As I sit at my desk and attempt to study for the AP exams that await me over the next two weeks, I'm finding it hard to concentrate. Enticing images of Western China (or at least what I imagine it to be....) keep luring me away from my practice tests, so I've decided to produce physical proof of my excitement by writing this introduction.

I'm a 17 year old high school senior from the small cookie-cutter suburban town of Armonk, NY (located about 45 mins north of NYC, near Greenwich, CT). My full name is Jonathan, but feel free to call me Jon. I'll be headed off to college just a few weeks after we return from China, and I'm incredibly excited to be able to finally study exactly what I want to study (which, for me, are Middle Eastern/East Asian languages and history--you can probably see why I decided to take this trip becuase Western China sort of "blends" both worlds). I speak just enough Mandarin to get by (I took a trip to Beijing in the summer of 2006), but I'm hoping that this summer will give me the opportunity to learn a lot more (as well as a little bit of Uyghur). Outside of high school, I participate in community service (peer tutoring as well as international service initiatives), musical theatre, quiz bowl, and a few other odds and ends.

Before this becomes another college resume, I'd like to talk a little bit about what I'm looking forward to in this trip--and, incidentally, what is distracting me from the studying that I should be doing right now. When in China in the summer of 2006--I studied at the Beijing Foreign Studies University--I took a course in Chinese religions. As I looked at images of the religious sights of Western China (the mosques of Kashgar, etc.), I resolved to see those locales at some point in my life. I feel ridiculously lucky and infinitely excited to be able to return to China just two years later to visit those places.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to meeting everyone in a few weeks!

Zaijian (and back to calculus studying....),

Jon

Note: I submitted this post earlier, but it seems that it did not go through. If it did, then this is just a duplicate

I'm actually taking a Geography class right now; and we happen to be studying South East Asia.  It's awesome to be able to study something in school and then think about how I can apply the information during out trip.  Needless to say, I'm extremely excited, and I can't wait to meet all of you in person!

Oh, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend a book from the reading list. 

DO you know how to go on it? becasue I don't.

But I'm not going to pretend I have any idea what this summer is going to be like. I am so excited. New questions are always popping up in my head. And I can't wait to meet all of you...especially in such a small town, it can be hard to find people who share my interest in traveling, other cultures, and Africa.

Also, I play the harp, I like running, and I spend a lot of time working on local youth radio.

I can't wait.

A bientot,

Charlotte McDonald

Portland, Maine

Glad to see posts already!  May has certainly snuck up on me, and June seems to be quickly approaching.  Minh, Tien and I have been hard at work making this year's itinerary, service projects, and course themes unforgettable.  We all have deep love for this country and the areas where we'll travel, as well as the people we'll be meeting and working with.  It's an outstanding Instructor team, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it!  I will write more of an introduction of myself, and our journey, soon.  For now, I just wanted to share how excited I am for this summer's adventure.

I'll be keeping my eye on the Yak Yak, and posting more soon.  It's a great place to ask pre-trip questions, to share articles, links, poems, and get to know one another before the trip.  Also, one of the three instructors will be calling each student before the trip to talk about details and also goals and expectaitons for the course.  If you would like to check-in sooner, please don't hesitate to contact me.  There's nothing I love more than talking about Asia, Dragons, or packing (no joke)!

katydybwad@gmail.com

Aubrey, Lillian, and Alex- thanks for taking the lead on posts!

Everyone else: hoping to hear more from you soon!

Go A's!

-Katy

p.s. Here are some pictures from last year.  It's quite a contrast from the rugged trek to our last dinner in Ho Chi Minh City, dressed up in our Vietnamese clothing!

My name is Ben Wilsker and I am a sophomore at Boston University Academy in Boston, Massachusetts. I play Ultimate Frisbee and intend to bring a bunch of Frisbees with me. I, like Adam, also have a case of the travel bug. I have been lucky enough to have been born into a family which shares this particularly interesting trait. I have had a lot of really fantastic trips as well. I have been to Russia, China, Morocco, England, Turkey, Greece and a lot more; however, last year I found myself in my favorite country to date. I signed up for the WTBD Cambodia '07 program. This is my second summer going to Cambodia and it outstrips all my other favorites by a mile. The people, having been repressed and killed only a few decades ago, are some of the most dynamic and life-loving I have ever met. The religion, Theravada Buddhism, has shaped my life for the last year. Greng Jiett (a Buddhist moral code, though the spelling is phonetic) has changed the way I interact with those around me. I, in short, am in love with the culture, the language, the people, and everything else about Cambodia. I learned more about myself in 6 weeks than I have learned in 16 years and I can't wait to go back with all of you.

I hope to talk to all of you on the Yak Yak boards soon.

Sincerely,

Ben

P.S. Adam: Last year I didn't bring a sleeping bag (I don't think anyone in my group did). A lot of times we sleep in a guesthouse, which means a bed, sometimes we sleep in a hammock, and sometimes we sleep on the floor. No matter what, even on the floor, you won't need a sleeping bag. Sleeping sheets are wonderful, but it is far too hot for a sleeping bag.

My name is Noah. I am 17 and I live in London England. My parents are American but I have lived my entire life in London. I don't get many chances to hang out with kids from america, most of the Americans I know have similar backgrounds to me. This trip will be a great way for me to immerse myself in two very diffrent cultures. I am really looking foward to this trip and meetign you all. See you in a couple of months!

Noah 

Let's keep these yak yaks rollin'. My name is Alex Levitt and i am a sophomore, 16, in high school. I live in Miami, Fl and have lived here all of my life. I play volleyball and basketball for school and love playing sports but i love to travel most of all. It beats everything for me. The past summer I went on a trip with The Road Less Traveled to India and had an incredible time and experience while making long lasting relationships. And the summer before that I went to China with another program, but that was with my family. I can tell you from experience it is much more fun to be on your own. I can't wait! :)

Oh and I was wondering what everyone is thinking about doing for their ISPs. Im thinking that I will do something related to traditional medicine, clinics, and the hospitals there.

-Alex Levitt 

It's me, Walker. I haven't met any of you guys yet, but I know that we're going to Senegal this summer, so I'll wager that you're pretty cool. I don't have too much time for this yak yak (I really should be doing homework), so I'll keep it brief.

I live in the Bay Area, in California, and I like to spend time running or just outdoors, enjoying nature. I taught myself guitar two years ago, and love music. Incidentally, I used to listen to Baaba Maal, this Senegalese songwriter, when I was a little kid and liked everything my parents put in the CD player.

walkerholden@mac.com

Ahhh, this will be so amazing!

Walker~

Glad to finally be in touch!  As the countdown continues, are you feeling the butterflies in your stomachs?  They will soon be replaced by jiao zi of endless varieties and laghman.  Be prepared.  Be excited! 

Having immigrated with my parents to Arlington, VA from China as an eager 6- year old, it seems to make sense that a traveling theme is woven through the pattern of my life.  While applying for our US visas, I was told matter-of-factly by my family, “America is one big amusement park.”  You may be able to imagine what fancies this impressed upon a 6- year old’s mind, as visions of Mickey Mouse and Ferris wheels quickly spread over the entire land mass of my mental America.  But pressed up against the car window from Dulles airport, I saw ordinary scenes of neighborhood lawns, dog- walkers, children being held by the hand.  It was all so normal!  Nothing spectacular or “amusing” about it.  Surprise gave way to relief, as I became more reassured of my ability to survive in this new culture.  And then I vomited.

After that initial bout of motion sickness, I began the sometimes slow, sometimes mind- blowingly fast, and always ongoing process of acclimation.  Beneath the initial layer of cultural “normalcy”, I found (for me) cultural chaos.  Cold drinks with hot meals, kids with allowance money, impossible pronunciations of words beginning with “Th”!  So which was the real America—the rational mother holding her daughter’s hand across the street, or the incomprehensible mother serving her child, with her hands no less, a crazy concoction of rancid milk (aka “cheese”), tomato sauce, and dough?  The answer: both.  I have come to realize the process of acclimation is really the process of living, of becoming aware and understanding the change inherent in all things.  So too your initial reactions stepping off the plane in China, whether they be of delight, disbelief, shock, relief, or any combination thereof, will change.  And as we travel further west, all we know will begin to deconstruct.

After spending my time as a typical atypical teen in Virginia, I headed to our departure point, Los Angeles, to study theater at USC.  If you ever want a good lesson on negotiation and conflict management, try to convince a set of Chinese parents into letting their only child become a theater major!

Although I had traveled so far so young, it was largely by external decision and involved a subconscious process of cultural understanding.  This process became gradually more  illuminated through my semesters abroad in Scotland and Greece, with additional travel adventures in Europe.  These programs and backpacking trips gave me my first sweet taste of personal initiative in planning my cultural expeditions.

Despite these forays though, I didn’t really “get it”.  My focus was on seeing sights, eating good food, and getting what I wanted out of a place before rushing on to the next destination.  The 2 years I spent working as a Peace Corps Volunteer deeply changed this.  Shortly after graduating from college, I became a Volunteer in the northern region of Turkmenistan.  This area offered its own unique rewards and challenges.  Living with a Turkmen host family for the whole time, I became a part of daily life in a Central Asian village.  I never would have imagined my Peace Corps service would involve entertaining my 9- year old host brother with “Go Fish” as well as more formal work.  I also got to experience interactions between an intriguing mix of ethnic minorities, including Uzbek, Kazakh, Russian, Tartar, and even Korean groups.  It was especially interesting to witness both cultural integration and separation, as well as to see the living effects of social and political history. 

I worked as a health facilitator in a village hospital and taught health, theater, and English classes at schools.  No one at the hospital spoke English, so all of my efforts to conduct workshops, gather information, and negotiate had to be in the local language.  Thanks to this, I can now add Turkmen along with Mandarin to my list of foreign languages.  Teaching at the schools also let me work with some of the most amazing students on the planet.  A handful of incredibly motivated students, faced with terrible textbooks and far-from-ideal instruction, were able to gain a better command of English than many of their English teachers!  Of particular note is a group of recent high school graduates I worked with, who were eager to help me co- teach, translate, and train others to carry on the work after I left. 

I was also able to share with these young adults some of my personal interests in yoga, creative writing, and Eastern thought and meditation.  In turn, they let me glimpse their worlds of Central Asian music, dance, rituals, and Islamic culture.      

To the people I worked or lived with, I represented distinctly American values and ideas.  But to more passing acquaintances in Turkmenistan, Turkey, India, Thailand, I was inextricably Chinese.  I resisted this strongly at first, identifying with my “American” education, language, friends, and passport.  But none of these things are an “essence” of me, and I realized I needn’t cling to them.  No matter how much English I spoke or how many times I said I was American, my face spoke louder.  Gradually, I came to understand this common tendency to judge things by their covers, realizing I do the same thing sometimes, only with differing variables.

So, our lives will intersect in a few short weeks.  What is the purpose of our journey?  It is, of course, to pursue the purpose of human life—to gain right understanding and wisdom.  How we perceive and experience outside events is entirely up to us.  So let’s learn to focus our energies in the right direction, within the right context!  Our time together is a collaboration, and I hope you will come with both hands open, sleeves rolled up.

I am currently in China traveling and spending time with family, and you are welcome to e-mail me any questions you may have about the country, program, food, travel logistics, or whatever else you may be pondering about.  I will also be calling to chat with you over the phone in a few weeks to better introduce myself and answer any unknowns.

Have a bright, creative day!

Shan Shi

shanshister@gmail.com      

My own journey with Dragons began in 2004 and has taken me to Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, Beijing, Hainan Island, to the banks of the sacred Ganges in Varanasi and high into the Indian Himalaya. I have led two China Semester programs, two China Comprehensive programs and one Silk Road program and I have also trekked with the Himalayan Studies Semester in Sikkim. Along the way my students, co-instructors and I have ridden over a snowy 14,000 foot pass in a 2WD Suzuki driven by a vehicularly-challenged Buddhist monk who thought that the difficult journey would bring us all good karma, sung hymns with Tibetan villagers in a 150 year-old Catholic church, bargained for knives and carpets at the world's largest outdoor bazaar in Kashgar, experimented with acupuncture and herbal medicine and awakened in a Kirghiz yurt high in the Pamir mountains to the sounds of jingling yak bells and the soft mumblings of our nomad hosts as they said their morning prayers to Allah.

Although I have spent much of the past year living the (comparably) steady life of a Dragons administrator and I’m currently sitting in front of a computer in a comfortable room in the French Concession of Shanghai, I just have to look over at my dusty, well-loved backpack sitting in the corner and I start dreaming about heading off on another adventure with a group of enthusiastic Dragons students. Regrettably, it has been several months since I have shared a cup of yak butter tea in a nomad’s tent, ridden a camel, meditated in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, slept under the stars on the Karakorum Highway or tasted Uighur bread fresh from the kiln on a street corner in Kashgar. However, it HAS been immensely satisfying working hard throughout the year--in Boulder and over here in the Middle Kingdom--to make magic happen on all of Dragons programs in China.

This year’s Silk Road program is shaping up to be an incredible adventure. These past few months, I have been liasing with our local contacts in Xinjiang who have been hard at work setting up unique rural homestays, planning camel treks in the stunning Karakorum Range of the Himalayas and arranging guest lectures with some fascinating local artists, musicians and educators.

I have had the pleasure of speaking with many of the Silk Road program students and they seem like a GREAT group. It takes a certain type of person to sign up for a challenging program in China's northwestern deserts and when you get a whole group of curious, adventurous students like this together, incredible things will happen. This summer, you and your fellow students will puch each other to learn, grow and explore in ways that you never thought possible.

Zai Jian,

Katie Hagel

East Asia Program Director

katie@wheretherebedragons.com

My own journey with Dragons began in 2004 and has taken me to Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, Beijing, Hainan Island, to the banks of the sacred Ganges in Varanasi and high into the Indian Himalaya.   I have led two China Semester programs, two China Comprehensive programs and one Silk Road program and I have also trekked with the Himalayan Studies Semester in Sikkim.  Along the way my students, co-instructors and I have ridden over a snowy 14,000 foot pass in a 2WD Suzuki driven by a vehicularly-challenged Buddhist monk who thought that the difficult journey would bring us all good karma, sung hymns with Tibetan villagers in a 150 year-old Catholic church, bargained for knives and carpets at the world's largest outdoor bazaar in Kashgar, experimented with acupuncture and herbal medicine and awakened in a Kirghiz yurt high in the Pamir mountains to the sounds of jingling yak bells and the soft mumblings of our nomad hosts as they said their morning prayers to Allah.  

Although I have spent much of the past year living the (comparably) steady life of a Dragons administrator and I’m currently sitting in front of a computer in a comfortable room in the French Concession of Shanghai, China's most modern city, I just have to look over at my dusty, well-loved backpack sitting in the corner and I start dreaming about heading off on another adventure with a group of enthusiastic Dragons students.  Regrettably, it has been several months since I have shared a cup of yak butter tea in a nomad’s tent, climbed a sacred Buddhist or Daoist peak or watched water buffalo at play in a rice paddy. However, it HAS been immensely satisfying working hard throughout the year--in Boulder and over here in the Middle Kingdom--to make magic happen on all of Dragons programs in China. 

I am VERY excited about how the China A course is shaping up. We've set up home-stays with some wonderful families in Kunming and are in the process of preparing the Kunming Program House for the students' arrival.  Ray Ang, the Course Director for this program, has spent the past few months liasing with his contacts in China to set up unique rural home-stays, plan some challenging and interesting treks and arrange guest lectures and activities.  I'm impressed that he managed to find the time, seeing as he has been in the mountains of Nepal and India instructing the Himalayan Studies Semester program since the beginning of February!

I have also had the pleasure of speaking with many of the China A program students and they seem like a GREAT group. The students are from diverse backgrounds and they are each coming on the program with their own unique interests and goals for the summer.  Their independent study projects should be great!  I expect that the group dynamic will be vibrant and stimulating and that this group will enjoy working together and learning from each other.  Can't wait to meet them all in LA!

Most of all, I am THRILLED about the instructors who will be working with this group.  As you know, Dragons programs do not follow cookie-cutter itineraries.  We hire outstanding instructors who are excited about using their in-country contacts and expertise to enhance their students’ educational experience. Ray Ang, Wai Mun Tham and Chris Nutter are truly inspiring individuals who have a TON to offer the students.  They'll be posting letters of introduction on the Yak board shortly, along with their contact information.  They will make themselves available to you in the weeks leading up to the program start date and will call all of the students personally at some point in the near future. 

In the meantime, I will be more than happy to answer any questions that you might have about the program and how to pack and prepare for it.  The Yak board is the best place to post your questions.  I’ll try my best to respond in a timely manner.  Also, if you have any questions or concerns that you’d rather not post on the Yak board, please feel free to email me directly.  Have fun gearing up for the adventure and I look forward to meeting all of you in LA next month! 

Zai Jian,

Katie Hagel

East Asia Program Director

katie@wheretherebedragons.com            

My own journey with Dragons began in 2004 and has taken me to Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, Beijing, Hainan Island, to the banks of the sacred Ganges in Varanasi and high into the Indian Himalaya.   I have led two China Semester programs, two China Comprehensive programs and one Silk Road program and I have also trekked with the Himalayan Studies Semester in Sikkim.  Along the way my students, co-instructors and I have ridden over a snowy 14,000 foot pass in a 2WD Suzuki driven by a vehicularly-challenged Buddhist monk who thought that the difficult journey would bring us all good karma, sung hymns with Tibetan villagers in a 150 year-old Catholic church, bargained for knives and carpets at the world's largest outdoor bazaar in Kashgar, experimented with acupuncture and herbal medicine and awakened in a Kirghiz yurt high in the Pamir mountains to the sounds of jingling yak bells and the soft mumblings of our nomad hosts as they said their morning prayers to Allah.  

Although I have spent much of the past year living the (comparably) steady life of a Dragons administrator and I’m currently sitting in front of a computer in a comfortable room in the French Concession of Shanghai, China's most modern city, I just have to look over at my dusty, well-loved backpack sitting in the corner and I start dreaming about heading off on another adventure with a group of enthusiastic Dragons students.  Regrettably, it has been several months since I have shared a cup of yak butter tea in a nomad’s tent, climbed a sacred Buddhist or Daoist peak or watched water buffalo at play in a rice paddy. However, it HAS been immensely satisfying working hard throughout the year--in Boulder and over here in the Middle Kingdom--to make magic happen on all of Dragons programs in China. 

I am VERY excited about how the China B course is shaping up. We've set up home-stays with some wonderful families in Kunming and are in the process of preparing the Kunming Program House for the students' arrival.  Your instructors and I have been hard at work liasing with our contacts in China to arrange guest lectures, rural home-stays and service projects.  Here in Shanghai, I have been meeting with local business professionals who are looking forward to meeting you to share their experiences with doing business in the P.R.C.

I have also had the pleasure of speaking with many of the China B program students and they seem like a GREAT group. The students are from diverse backgrounds and but they share common goals for the program.  It is great to get a group of students with similar interests together on a program of this sort.  I expect that the group dynamic will be vibrant and stimulating and that this group will enjoy working together and learning from each other.  Can't wait to meet them all in LA!

Most of all, I am THRILLED about the instructors who will be working with this group.  As you know, Dragons programs do not follow cookie-cutter itineraries.  We hire outstanding instructors who are excited about using their in-country contacts and expertise to enhance their students’ educational experience. Justin Bedard, Andrew Brudevold-Newman and Annie Jiao are truly inspiring individuals who have a TON to offer the students.  They'll be posting letters of introduction on the Yak board shortly, along with their contact information.  They will make themselves available to you in the weeks leading up to the program start date and will call all of the students personally at some point in the near future. 

In the meantime, I will be more than happy to answer any questions that you might have about the program and how to pack and prepare for it.  The Yak board is the best place to post your questions.  I’ll try my best to respond in a timely manner.  Also, if you have any questions or concerns that you’d rather not post on the Yak board, please feel free to email me directly.  Have fun gearing up for the adventure.  I look forward to meeting all of you in LA traveling to Shanghai with you next month! 

Zai Jian,

Katie Hagel

East Asia Program Director

katie@wheretherebedragons.com            

My own journey with Dragons began in 2004 and has taken me to Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, Beijing, Hainan Island, to the banks of the sacred Ganges in Varanasi and high into the Indian Himalaya.   I have led two China Semester programs, two China Comprehensive programs and one Silk Road program and I have also trekked with the Himalayan Studies Semester in Sikkim.  Along the way my students, co-instructors and I have ridden over a snowy 14,000 foot pass in a 2WD Suzuki driven by a vehicularly-challenged Buddhist monk who thought that the difficult journey would bring us all good karma, sung hymns with Tibetan villagers in a 150 year-old Catholic church, bargained for knives and carpets at the world's largest outdoor bazaar in Kashgar, experimented with acupuncture and herbal medicine and awakened in a Kirghiz yurt high in the Pamir mountains to the sounds of jingling yak bells and the soft mumblings of our nomad hosts as they said their morning prayers to Allah.  

Although I have spent much of the past year living the (comparably) steady life of a Dragons administrator and I’m currently sitting in front of a computer in a comfortable room in the French Concession of Shanghai, China's most modern city, I just have to look over at my dusty, well-loved backpack sitting in the corner and I start dreaming about heading off on another adventure with a group of enthusiastic Dragons students.  Regrettably, it has been several months since I have shared a cup of yak butter tea in a nomad’s tent, climbed a sacred Buddhist or Daoist peak or watched water buffalo at play in a rice paddy. However, it HAS been immensely satisfying working hard throughout the year--in Boulder and over here in the Middle Kingdom--to make magic happen on all of Dragons programs in China. 

I am VERY excited about how the China Language Intensive course is shaping up. We've set up home-stays with some wonderful families in Kunming and Sophie Mu, the China Coordinator, just returned from setting up home-stays at Lashihai, were the families are happily awaiting the return of Dragons students to their village.  We've been gathering information about the students' language background and goals and we've been using this information to inform curriculum development for the intensive language classes.

I have also had the pleasure of speaking with many of the China Language Intensive program students and they seem like a GREAT group. They are from diverse backgrounds but they are coming to China with some common goals, mainly to learn A TON of Chinese and soak up as much of the local culture as they can this summer.   I am sure that a highly-motivated group like this will inspire each other to speak as much Chinese as possible and dive deeply in to the experience of language and cultural immersion.  I can't wait to meet them all in LA and I am looking forward to seeing them in action in Kunming and/or Lashihai this summer!

Most of all, I am THRILLED about the instructors who will be working with this group.  As you know, Dragons programs do not follow cookie-cutter itineraries.  We hire outstanding instructors who are excited about using their in-country contacts and expertise to enhance their students’ educational experience.  Sophie Mu, Mark Lumley and Emily Bostick are truly inspiring individuals who have a TON to offer the students.  We'll also have a second Mandarin instructor, to be introduced shortly, who will be joining us this summer.  The instructors will be posting letters of introduction on the Yak board, along with their contact information.  They will make themselves available to you in the weeks leading up to the program start date and will call all of the students personally at some point in the near future. 

In the meantime, I will be more than happy to answer any questions that you might have about the program and how to pack and prepare for it.  The Yak board is the best place to post your questions.  I’ll try my best to respond in a timely manner.  Also, if you have any questions or concerns that you’d rather not post on the Yak board, please feel free to email me directly.  Have fun gearing up for the adventure and I look forward to meeting all of you in LA next month! 

Zai Jian,

Katie Hagel

East Asia Program Director

katie@wheretherebedragons.com            

Im Peter Wade and I have no idea where my home is (though I Identify myself as a New Yorker).

See you all in June 

Email me if you want (lilymmiller@gmail.com)!

I am writing to you from the city of Thiès in Western Senegal, where I live in large, airy house on a sandy street, in the shade of a mango tree.  I share this haven with six other women—two Americans, two French, and two Senegalese—my de facto family.  On this hot, lazy afternoon, some of them are hanging laundry out to dry on the roof, while some are reading one of the hundreds of books in English, French, and Wolof that line our living room walls.  As for me, I am thinking about how utterly content I am to be right here, right now.    

I arrived in Senegal in September 2007, another turn on the rather winding road I’ve been traveling for the last few years.  When I graduated from college in 2002 with a degree in art history and French, I felt sure that I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life—be an art historian, a professor.  I’d been teaching music and leading singing groups since high school, and in college also tutored writing.  I loved the spark in someone’s eyes when they sang a note just right, or crafted a sentence just so, and the feeling that in turn sparked within me.  As a freshman I discovered a love for visual culture and the study of the personal histories, social movements, and philosophies behind it, which was only enhanced by a semester studying abroad in Paris.  I soon realized I wanted to inspire future students to love this field as I did through teaching.  Sure of my future, I decided to take a few years to get some work experience and enjoying being a “real” adult before going back to school. 

I got a job at an art gallery in my hometown of New York, and then returned to Paris for an internship at the Louvre.  I spent my days there wandering around the galleries, drinking in everything from Roman sculpture to Assyrian temples to Romantic painting, and strolling the city streets, people-watching and honing my French.  When I returned home to begin a doctoral program in art history, I had my path mapped out for me—six years of school, followed by the arduous process of looking for a university teaching position.  But after a few months, I realized my heart was somewhere else.  The courses I was most drawn to—Postcolonial Theory, Literature of North African Immigrants in France—made it clear to me how much more of the world I wanted to see, and how much of myself I had yet to discover. 

I decided to leave my program after fulfilling my M.A. requirements, and moved back home to regroup.  I knew that I wanted to engage with people outside of my own community and contribute to meaningful social change, so I was immediately drawn to international nonprofit work.  For two years, I worked for the New Israel Fund, a incredible organization that supports  grassroots NGOs working for human and civil rights, social and economic justice, and religious tolerance and pluralism in Israel.  Though I was raised in the States, I was born in Jerusalem and my father is Israeli, so I’ve always felt a deep connection to that country.  At the same time, as