Stuck in Leh

So unless the snow melts and the sun shines I may be here for a little while...options are flying out or going back the way I came in; which was gorgeous but somehow defeating the purpose...since the idea is kora around Tsog Pema it would be like undoing my steps...One of my tibetan friends suggested flying out and then starting where I left off next year which sounds like a potential plan.
I do want to come back in March if it fits into my self-proposed schedule. One of the monks I met and stayed with in Martho village is going to be the Oracle for that monastery then. Apparently the chosen ones do 2 yrs service as oracle and this will be his 2nd and last and probably last year as a monk as well. He's been a monk since he was 8 and last year one of the elderly monks died and nobody found him for 6 days...I think it pushed the haystack over for him.
Had a good walk from Hemis to Stakna (6hrs) on a rocky plain and spent the night with one family kind enough to offer me a spot on the floor of their unfinished house. Houses here are works in progress even when there are 2 floors already...this one had 3 rooms so far. Next day I hiked up to Martho gonpa and met my friend Dorjee who suggested I stay as they were about to start a 3 day Tara puja. The monks appreciated that I was a practitioner and not just a tourist and it was interesting to have an inside view of life in a Ladakhi monastery...The monks here are not allowed to leave the gonpa for 45 days at this time. When I left they had about 15 days left to go. There are no guest houses in Martho so there are allot fewer tourists stopping by though I hear during the March festival quite a few come to see the "Oracle show".
So then after stopped at Stakna gonpa and Thiksey gonpa and spent 2 nights at Thiksey. This place was supposed to have been predicted by Lama Tsongkapa as a place where his dharma would continue. One story of the choice for the location was that one teacher and student went up the mountain with some auspicious items and a raven grabbed one of them, later they found it on the hill where Thiksey is now located. At Thiksey I met Stenzin Sherab who became a monk at 20 and is teaching the first class in the monastery school...he invited me to tea and rest in his house where I spent the night and later he told me his fathers house name is Shelly...so it seemed that I belonged to his house.
So if it seems funny that I'm staying with the monks I'll just say that here in Ladakh they all have spare rooms and live in little houses with kitchens and living rooms and a bedroom and really great views since almost all the monasteries are built on hills. Often there is no guest house near the gonpa or in Thiksey case it's on a major tourist route so every room was filled.
So now I'm back in Leh and realizing that Nubra Valley may have to wait for another time as there's snow in them there hills. Today the road to Manali is closed so the first chance I'm getting on a bus south which means also watching the weather underground to see when storms are predicted... apparently the snow storms have been coming early in Ladakh as opposed to some places where they are late or not at all.
I'm missing village life already as Leh is a proper city. It's clear many tourists who weren't effected by the Jet Air strike have left already because the taxi stand is now full of jeeps at all times of day and every Kashmiri vendor is desperately trying to get me to come in and take a look, well that was ever the case and one of the annoying parts of Leh. The festival is still going though I wasn't impressed with the first days organization and in general I'm not a festival goer...but tomorrow is Cham dances at the gonpa so perhaps I'll try to get over my preference for a couple of hours.
So that's the news...and as my friend Wesker says..."if you don't like it go out and make some of your own".