Studying

Three-quarters of my classmates already have some experience of Tibetan. I have none. Absolutely none. So in all my free time I'm studying. Just all the time. Memorising new words, learning how to read Tibetan, how to write Tibetan, how to pronounce the vowels.

Fortunately, I'm somewhat social, so I'll go and sit in a street-cafe and rope locals into helping me with pronunciation. Now, this is the thing - I can only receive help from Tibetans who speak Lhasa dialect. Tibetans from any other part of Tibet have their own unique accent and that will just throw me. Think about all the stupid accent's we've got in England.

I carry my notepad with me everywhere, so if I'm not shopping or trying to extend my visa, I'm studying. I went to the pub on Friday and spent the whole time writing the Tibetan alphabet in Uchen script. And drinking Cobra premium.