Sunday, August 03, 2008

Let the Games begin

The Olympics are 4 days away and I feel schizophrenic. My mind is in a million different places.

We're preparing for the beginning of protests here in Canada. I'm trying to coordinate getting people from 3 different cities to be in the same place at the same time in addition to my own training and preparation.


Yesterday, I got to see Jamyang Norbu speaking to the Tibetan community in Toronto. I couldn't understand much, but I could see that the entire community was inspired. Many of them hung out on the patio of a local restaurant for the rest of the day and late into the night. The atmosphere was very different from the formal talk at the Library, but Jamyang-la remained the center of attention, telling stories from Dharamsala, talking about music and singing songs.


When ever I have access to the internet, I check the latest news from India. There are hunger strikers on day 7 of a fast without food and water in Delhi. Tsundue was detained trying to cross the border into Tibet. While I know it means he didn't reach his homeland, I am somewhat relieved that it was Indian police who stopped him, not Chinese. The Tibetan Freedom Torch arrived in Dharamsala today. I received pictures to post on the website of friends and colleagues yelling "Bod Gyalo" and can't help but wish I was there with them, especially when I called them to hear them all celebrating a job well done at McLlo's. Now they are gearing up for protests in Delhi on the 7th, as are we, here in Canada.


Watching "Buddha's Warriors" on BBC tonight, I was reminded of the intensity of the Burmese and Tibetan uprisings in the past year. I can't believe that the Olympics are already here, with all the craziness that it means for us. August is bound to be a month of little sleep, but like my friends and colleagues all over the world, I AM READY.

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