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Written by Tera Jiwan, MJ

Last week Grade 8 went on an adventurous class trip – trekking and camping in the Himalayas. Our valiant MPA bus and driver brought us to Macleod Ganj, a popular hill station among trekkers, close to Dharamshala. Mcleod Ganj, also known as Little Lhasa, is a beautiful town situated near upper Dharamsala and famous around the world for being home to the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. We spent our first night here and had some good food, bonding and shopping.

The following morning after breakfast our group was collected by two trek guides and we drove with cars to the beginning of the trek. Leaving behind the road, we began walking along a trail with our backpacks. The first hiking day required a lot of focus as we walked downhill on some wet and slippery ground. Our wonderful guides arranged a special activity for us in the afternoon. We crossed a river one by one zip-lining, using a harness and rope. It required core strength and some courage to cross. Everyone kept up until we reached our first campsite at dusk. Donkeys had carried our tents and sleeping bags. As night fell, we had delicious food before settling into our tents for the night – the first camping experience for some!

We woke the next morning to a cup of chai. After breakfast, we began walking uphill. As we walked more trees and mountains revealed themselves. We met many animals along the way – dogs, sheep, donkeys, cows, goats. We walked to quite a height, where we found the air was thinner, yet very fresh. In the afternoon, we arrived at our campground which allowed time to explore the rocks and river. Students played games and songs of various nationalities were sung around a campfire.

The 3rd day involved more uphill walking – all the way to ‘Kareri Lake’. The sun was shining and it was a great sense of achievement as we reached our highest point! Some students helped to pitch the tents while others went to explore the last of the winter’s snow. Lots of games were played and the stars came out as we again sat around the campfire that night.

On the next day of our hike we started our descent and met many sheep along the way. Everyone was becoming more tired now after several days of walking, and yet everyone kept up and kept walking.

We had a final night of camping before we walked back in the rain to Mcleodganj. Everyone was delighted to shower and rest again after those adventurous days together.

Photos

I know, I know I am late posting this. As you all might know from our welcome email, I am new here at MPA and the last weeks have been full of settling in, training and learning and also do the “normal” work such as taking pictures, filming and editing, posting to instagram and facebook and soon……

The last few days I was debating whether to do a blog post about old news or not, since that’s actually not the idea of a blog, but I decided to post it anyway just because it would be a shame not to. It was such a great trip to Naina Devi with the hike up the hill and the temple on top. We did the trip on our second day in Anandpur Sahib. Naina Devi Temple is a holy place for Hindus and dedicated to Shri Naina Devi, one of the forms of their Goddess Maa Shakti. It is is located on the top of a hill in Bilaspur, district of Himachal Pradesh. To reach the summit one can opt for a hike and steps or a cable car. We of course hiked!

In the temple area there is a huge Peepal tree that is said to be present there for centuries, as well a the burning fire that is supposed to be burning since end of 17th century when Guru Gobind Singh Ji visited the temple.

Bus Ride

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YywUSqS3Weg&feature=emb_title

Written by our student, Hana Goodkind, Grade 12

So much of the student’s spirit at MPA is instigated by our yearly house competitions.  A conversation topic quite prevalent amongst the students is which house will score the greatest points of the competition and have their names inscribed on the MPA trophy at the end of the school year. Along with that dialogue comes which house has the most elite sports players, the highest GPA achievers, the top organizing and team working abilities, which squad leader holds the more promising role as the winning houses leader and so it goes.

Our skit competition, which takes place during the first few weeks of the school year, kickstarts the festivities. Its an opportunity for each house to showcase their teamwork skills for future competitions. Each skit lasts the duration of about 5 to 6 minutes and demonstrates the houses overall team working capacities as well as organizational skills, creativity and humor.

The themes assigned for this year’s skits were allocated to each house as follows:

Blue house: Talk show
Silver house: Traveling show
Gold house: Cooking show
White house: Game show

Each house was given just a little over a week to manage the compilation of the script, the acting roles, costumes, props, music and stage setup.

Winner

PREPARATIONS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=ejpe30956S4&feature=emb_title

GOLD HOUSE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95F2u90hfZI&feature=emb_title

WHITE HOUSE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBJaNjP6m5Q&feature=emb_title&ab_channel=MiriPiriAcademy

BLUE HOUSE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVbJBb7mtz8&feature=emb_title

SILVER HOUSE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdHR198GKPg&feature=emb_title&ab_channel=MiriPiriAcademy

PHOTOS

No, no, this won’t be a manual! ?

At the end of the 3rd week of school we had our annual Turban Tying Competition! The week was entirely dedicated to non-stop practicing and full turbans were worn throughout the whole week. Older students and squad leaders gave the new students pointers and coached them on how to get good style points.

As we shared with all our students, the turban helps you to stay focused and represents your identity as a sovereign spiritual being. If you are going to tie a turban it is important to make it neat, clean and give a positive impression to the people you meet. We hold this competition at the start of the year to help our students get the hang of this important skill, which they will need every day of the school year.

During the competition they each had 4 minutes to tie a house turban and 10 minutes to tie a full turban. Students were not allowed to help others and our MJs kept watch to keep it fair. New students had an extra point added to their scores since most of them are very new to tying a turban. Judges looked for neatness, cleanliness, and of course, style.

Winner

GIRLS

BOYS