Well this is officially my last night here in dasrjeeling! we've had an amazing time here but we are headed back to kolkatta! darjeeling is an extremely interesting place and we have definately done some things that i have never experirenced before... it is one of the only places in the world wehre Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam all exist and exist peacefully... but that has led to some interesting experiences here ranging from going to Buddhist monasteries, Hindu Temples, and all sorts of other tihngs.... while these experiences were surreal at times they were also a little strange and sad, for example, Buddhist families are required to give up one of their male sons to be a monk for life, he has no choice and from a young age around 5 or so he lives at the monastery completely seperated from his family, who will rarely see ever again... things like this are the norm here, which is very very different than the culture and lifestyle in America, atleast the culture that I know... darjeeling is extremely beautiful though, yesterday morning we got up early (like 330 in the morning) to go to Tiger Hill, one of the highest points in the area to watch the sun rise and reflect of Mt. Kanchunjunga (the 3rd highest mountain in the world) and also hope to see Everest in the distance... it was a clear day but wehre everest was supposed to be was a little hazy, so ithink i saw everest or atleast i like to say so, its definately the closest i've ever been! and the sun rise was beautiful, but it was STINKIN cold, no joke, it was unbelievable... today we went on a 12 or so mile hike with some local guys and had lunch on top of a mountain, and hung out up there, and played smoe soccer on a plateau ( i took it easy, don't worry, which kills me by the way) but it was still really fun! so it is pretty amazing to get wall posts and emails about how i'm in darjeeling and people half way around the world are drinking darjeeling tea, or have heard of the stuff.... needless to say since coming here i have never really drank tea, but i have about 3 or 4 cups a day, it seems that the poeple up here live on the stuff, and it is actually really really good, especially when they make it they know what they're doing for sure! well to change subjects completely i can't believe that bethel won again! that blows my mind! i'm so excited (and sad) but really excited... well kolkatta will be a whole heck of a lot tougher than here and it is going to bring allll sorts of new challenges! its a completely different world down tehre, but i'm excited to go back, the warm weather will be a pleasant change! well hope all is well back in snowy and cold MN... i'm sure there is a lot more to say, and i always think about how i'm gonna write about this or that in my next blog, but when i comes time, i always end up forgetting, so i'm sorry that this is not more interesting! i don't know how often i'll be able to get to a computer in kolkatta, here in darjeeling there is an internet cafe every other corner, but in the 2 days i spent in kolkatta i didn't see one... so who knows when the next time i'll write will be... until next time...

korey