Vocabulary List Introduction: “In Mr. Mortenson’s Orbit” sortie: n – the flying of an airplane on a combat mission. ibex: n – any of several wild goats of the genus Capra, inhabiting mountainous regions of Eurasia and North Africa, having long, recurved horns. paiya chu: n – a type of butter tea, “forms of the basis of the Balti diet” (21), green tea, salt, baking soda, goat’s milk and yak’s butter jirgas: n – a tribal assembly of elders which takes decisions by consensus madrassa: n – a school or college, especially a school attached to a mosque where young men study theology Chapter 1: “Failure” shalwar kamiz: n – a traditional dress worn by both women and men, a tunic shirt with loose- fitting trousers scree: n – loose rock debris covering a slope promontory: n – a bluff, or part of a plateau, overlooking a lowland aerie: n – a lofty nest of any large bird; a house or fortress Chapter 2: “The Wrong Side of the River” cornice: n – a mass of snow, ice, etc., projecting over a mountain ridge colossi: n – anything colossal, gigantic, or very powerful cairns: n – a heap of stones set up as a landmark or monument Allah Akbhar : n – “God is Great”, often used as a form of greeting cha: n – tea rupees: n – a form of currency, 40 rupees approximately equals $1 kurba: n – skull-shaped unleavened bread, baked each morning by the Balti zamba: n – a bridge, often made of yak hair rope lashed together and hung between two rocks angrezi: n – Balti word for Greg, a “strange white man” topi: n – lambswool pillbox cap nurmadhar: n – the chief of a village, Haji Ali was the chief of As-Salaam Alaaikum: n – a greeting, means, “peace be with you” balti: n – the large, central room of a home naswar : n – strong, green chewing tobacco cheezaley : n – Balti word that means, roughly, “What the hell?” Inshallah: n – means “God-willing” Chapter 3: “Progress and Perfection” lassi and chapatti: n – Balti breakfast food urdwa: n – a wool cap biango: n – roasted hen chogo rabak: n – large ram prelapsarian: adj – characteristic of or pertaining to any innocent or carefree period Chapter 4: “Self-Storage” serendipity: n – emerging from seemingly good luck and/or fortunate circumstance avocation: n – a person’s “calling” or work Chapter 5: “580 Letters, One Check” maw: n – the mouth or throat of an animal vertiginous: adj – whirling, spinning, dizzy quixotic: adj – impulsive, extravagantly chivalrous or romantic tempestuous: adj – characterized by storms

Chapter 6: “Rawalpnidi’s Rooftops at Dusk” charpoy: n – a light bed frame chokidar: n – the owner of a hotel hazzan: n – a call to prayer muezzin: n – the crier who, from a minaret or other high part of a mosque, at stated hours five times daily, intones aloud the call summoning Muslims to prayer wudu: n – ritualistic cleaning before prayer infidel: n – a person who does not accept a particular faith zakat: n – word for charity azarband: n – the waist string on a pair of pants (shalwar) Chapter 7: “Hard Way Home” cricket: n – a game, popular especially in England salaamed: n – a respectful ceremonial greeting dua: n – a prayer for a safe journey sisyphian: adj – an activity that is unending and/or repetitive riverine: adj – of or pertaining to a river irremediable: adj – not remitting to repair or rest Chapter 8: “Beaten by the Braldu” solicitous: adj – considerate; caring topis: n - A helmet worn for protection against sun and heat biryani: n - a spicy Indian dish of rice with meat or vegetables wizened: adj – wrinkled; shriveled balti: n - a type of one-pot cooking involving very spicy dishes flailing: adj – thrashing; floundering Chapter 9: “The People Have Spoken” rancorous: adj – revengeful; unforgiving traverse: v – to cross or pass through Chapter 10: “Building Bridges” mullah: n - a title of respect for a person who is learned in, teaches, or expounds the sacred law vagaries: n – whims; unpredictable behaviors naswar: smokeless tobacco that one inhales buttressed: adj – reinforced; supported animist: n – one who believes that spirits exist in everything pilgrimage: n – a religious or spiritual journey odysseys: n – long, difficult journeys Bedouin: n - a nomad or wanderer of the desert Chapter 11: “Six Days” accruing: adj – accumulating; growing venture capitalist: n – one who invests money in a newly started project stupor: n – unconsciousness; daze; trance paunch: n – stomach or abdomen of a human or animal bloke: n – slang for “man” indefatigable: adj – untiring; unrelenting Chapter 12: “Haji Ali’s Lesson” derelict: adj – neglected; abandoned austere: adj – severe; strict; plain sheath: n – cover; casing sanctify: v – to bless or make holy mandate: n – permission; authorization cadences: n – rhythms, beats pilfered: adj – stolen; filched kafir: n – a slang term for “rejector of religion,” or infidel Chapter 13- “A Smile Should be More than a Memory” Taliban: n – Muslim fundamentalist group in shunted: v – pushed, shoved, moved guerilla: n – member of a band of irregular soldiers that uses guerrilla warfare, harassing the enemy by surprise raids, sabotaging communication and supply lines, purdah: n – the seclusion of women from the sight of men or strangers, practiced by some Muslims and Hindus hookah: n – a tobacco pipe of Near Eastern origin with a long, flexible tube by which the smoke is drawn through a jar of water and thus cooled phalanx: n – body of troops in close array winnowed: adj – narrowed down fundamentalist: n – strict adherence to any set of basic ideas or principles fawning: adj – submissive fledgling: n – baby bird Chapter 14- “Equilibrium” contrarian: n – someone who is disagreeable sheepishly: adv – done with embarrassment septic shock: n – A condition of physiologic shock caused by an overwhelming infection Chapter 15: “Mortenson in Motion”

fatwa: n – an Islamic religious decree issued by a religious leader fakhir: n – a Muslim or Hindu religious ascetic or monk commonly considered a wonder-worker convivial: adj – welcoming, warm mired: adj – delayed, caught up sectarian: adj – narrowly confined to a certain sect volubly: adv – fluently dervish: n – A member of any of various Muslim ascetic orders, some of which perform whirling dances and vigorous chanting as acts of ecstatic devotion zakat: n – a tax, comprising percentages of personal income of every kind, levied as almsgiving for the relief of the poor: the third of the Pillars of Islam Chapter 16: “Red Velvet Box” licentiousness: n – extravagance, wastefulness pantheon: n – a public building containing tombs or memorials of the illustrious dead of a nation transcend: v – exceed, rise above Chapter 17- “Cherry Trees in the Sand” wrest: v – extract behest: n – request, command incursion: n – storming, attack, raid parity: n – equality apparition: n – a ghost or spirit tasbih: n – is a form of prayer that involves the repetitive utterances of short sentences glorifying God. torrent: n – an overflow, inundation arabesques: n – complex, ornate design of intertwined floral, foliate, and geometric figures opaque: adj – dense, thick, not clear ochre: n – a moderate orange-brown color Chapter 18: “Shrouded Figure” phantasmagorical: adj – other-wordly; characterized by mystery or magic self-aggrandizing: adj – conceited; stuck-up kowtowing: adj – flattering Chapter 19: “A Village Called New York” loath: adj – unwilling; reluctant monotheist: n – a person who believes in only one God proselytize: v – to attempt to convert someone to a given religion jihad: n - a holy war undertaken as a sacred duty by Muslims. enclave: n – commune; cooperative ostensibly: adv – apparently; seemingly cordon: v – to barricade obstinacy: n – stubbornness; determination posh: adj – classy; stylish Chapter 20: “Tea with the Taliban” discombobulated: adj – confused; frustrated conviction: n – belief; passion Chapter 21: “Rumsfeld’s Shoes” AARP: n – American Association of Retired Persons bureaucracy: n – system of government; administration pandering: adj – catering to the lowest tastes burkha: n – a long loose body-covering garment with veiled holes for the eyes, worn by some Muslim women Chapter 22: “’The Enemy is Ignorance’” ruminate: v – ponder; think over encroaching: adj - intrusive defiantly: adv – disobediently; rebelliously Chapter 23: “” askew: adj – crooked; off center mete: v – to allot; to distribute devout: adj – religious; devoted Three Cups of Tea List of People Mentioned in the Book

(Western names are listed last name first alphabetically and Pakistani names are listed first name first alphabetically.)

Abdul Jabbar: Pakistani professor at the City College of San Francisco who joined the board of directors of the Institute.

Abdul Shah: the watchman at the hotel where Mortenson is staying in Rawalpindi, who aided Mortenson in bargaining for supplies for building the school in Korphe.

Akhmalu: the cook who accompanied Mortenson’s expedition, who later tried to pressure Mortenson into building a school in his village of Khane before building one in Korphe.

Ahmed Rashid: leading authority on the link between madrasa education and the rise of extremist Islam.

Ahmed Shah Massoud: known as the Lion of the Panjshir, charismatic leader of the Northern Alliance, former mujahadeen, whose military skill had kept the Taliban from taking northernmost Afghanistan, who was murdered by Al Qaeda assassins on September 9, 2001.

Amartya Sen: Nobel Prize winner whose key idea it was that you can change a culture by giving its girls the tools to grow up educated so that they can help themselves.

Apo Razak: a veteran at feeding large groups in inhospitable mountain terrain, he became head cook for the Porter Training and Environmental Institute’s training expedition.

Atal Bihari Bajpayee: India’s prime minister.

Aziza Hussain: Zuudkhan woman, village’s first health care worker sent to Gulmit Medical Clinic by CAI.

Badam Gul: the man met in Peshawar who volunteered to guide Mortenson to Ladha, his home village, when Mortenson was scouting locations for more schools.

Balti: the mountain people who populate the least hospitable high-altitude valleys in northern .

Bashir Baz, Brigadier General: confidante of President Mousharraf who provide helicopter transportation to Mortenson. Bergman, Julia: Jennifer Wilson’s sister, who had visited the school in Korphe and seen her brother-in-law, ’s name on a plaque before meeting Mortenson and becoming a member of the board of directors of the . As a librarian, she found culturally appropriate books for the Institute’s schools. After 9/11, she accompanied Mortenson from Peshawar to Kabul to bring supplies to schools, including Uzra Faizad’s Durkhani School

Bhangoo, Brigadier General: one of Pakistan’s most experienced high-altitude helicopter pilots.

Bishop, Barry: Tara Bishop’s father, a National Geographic photographer who was part of the first American expedition to summit Mt. Everest. He died in a car accident a year before Mortenson met and married his daughter.

Bishop, Brent: Tara Bishop’s brother who, with Mortenson, organized Pakistan’s first porter training program.

Bishop, Lila: Tara Bishop’s mother, and Mortenson’s mother-in-law.

Bishop, Tara: ’s wife.

Brokaw, Tom: the television news anchor who was the only one to respond to Mortenson’s first batch of letters seeking donations for the school in Korphe.

Central Asia Institute (CAI): the organization funded by Dr. Jean Hoerni to continue Mortenson’s work building schools in the mountainous region of Pakistan.

Changazi, Mohammad Ali: a corrupt trekking agent and tour operator who organized the K2 expedition Mortenson was on, and who stole some of the supplies Mortenson had stored in his shed in .

Darsney, Scott: a climber on the K2 expedition that Mortenson was on, who was hiking out with Mortenson when Mortenson got lost.

Durighello, Joy: teacher at the City College of San Francisco, who with fellow teacher Bob Irwin organized a teacher-training workshop to be held in Skardu each summer, and who compiled a permanent resource library for all of the Central Asia Institute’s teachers.

Faisal Baig: a Wakhi tribesman and chaperone to George McCown who later volunteered to become Mortenson’s bodyguard.

Fatima Batool: a girl whose village in the Gultori Valley in Pakistan, Brolmo, was bombed in the escalation of the ongoing war between Pakistan and India. Her sister Aamina was killed in the bombing.

Fedarko, Kevin: former editor for Outside magazine who quit his office job to report in the field, Pakistan.

Fida: a master Skardu tailor who transported bales of fabric, boxes of thread, and sewing machines to Korphe for the Korphe Women’s Vocational Center.

Fine, Etienne: one of the three leaders of the K2 expedition from which Mortenson was returning when he became lost. He had to be rescued after ascending too quickly and suffering pulmonary edema.

Flinn, John: travel editor for San Franciscan Examiner who promoted a Mortenson lecture in the Bay area.

Gannon, Kathy: AP bureau chief in Islamabad.

Ghulam Parvi: an accountant in Skardu, known and respected as a devout Shiite scholar.

Gillette, Ned: an American climber and former Olympic skier who was killed while trekking in the Haramosh Valley, between Hemasil and Hunza. The Ned Gillette School in Hemasil was named after him.

Haji Ali: the nurmadhar, village chief, of Korphe, the village to which Mortenson promised a school, the first school that he built.

Haji Ibramin: the nurmadhar, village chief, of Chunda who got his village’s men to work with Mortenson to pipe clean mountain water to the village to drastically reduce infant mortality in the village.

Haji Mirza; the man in Kot Langarkhel who became Mortenson’s host, but from whose house Mortenson was kidnapped.

Haji Mousin: the nurmadhar, village chief, of Pakhora, an especially impoverished community in the Lower Braldu Valley, the site of the CAI’s second school.

Hawa: Hussein’s wife who, with Sakina, asked Mortenson to fund the Korphe Women’s Vocational Center.

Hillary, Sir Edmund: New Zealand beekeeper, who, with Tenzing Norgay of Nepal, was the first person to scale Mt. Everest. Neither man ever revealed who was first to set foot on the summit.

Hoerni, Dr. Jean: Swiss-born physicist who patented the “planar process” of packing information onto a circuit, which paved the way for the silicon chip. Dr. Hoerni was the philanthropist who funded Korphe’s bridge and school and, upon his death, bequeathed the endowment to fund the Central Asia Institute. Husband of Jennifer Wilson. Hussain: Mortenson’s driver, once he had bought a Toyota Land Cruiser. Hussain stowed a box of dynamite under the passenger seat of the car so they could blast away rock slides that blocked the road.

Hussein: Korphe’s most educated man, who became the first teacher in Korphe’s school.

Ibrahim: one of the Korphe school’s construction crew, whose wife Mortenson saved from septic shock after she gave birth.

Imran Khan: Pakistani cricket hero whose portrait adorned the trucks of fans despite Islam’s prohibition of representative art.

Irwin, Bob: teacher at the City College of San Francisco, who with fellow teacher Joy Durighello organized a teacher-training workshop to be held in Skardu each summer, and who compiled a permanent resource library for all of the Central Asia Institute’s teachers.

Jahan: Twaha’s daughter, Haji Ali’s granddaughter, who had been one of the Krophe School’s best students was one of the CAI’s first scholarship students.

Janjungpa: head high altitude porter for a lavish Dutch-led expedition to K2 during Mortenson’s time on the mountain, who later tried to pressure Mortenson into building a climbing school in Khane.

Khan: a man who drove Mortenson from Peshawar to Kot Langarkhel, his ancestral village where Mortenson was kidnapped.

Khan: the assumed name of the man who managed Mortenson’s release from his confinement near Kot Langarkhel.

Kishwar, Syed: the owner of Lazar Images in San Francisco who taught Mortenson how to use a computer to produce hundreds of letters seeking donations to fund the school in Korphe.

Krakauer, Jon: author of Into Thin Air introduced Mortenson at a fundraiser for the CAI.

Lowe, Alex: neighbor and friend of Mortenson, perhaps the world’s most respected Alpinist, who introduced Mortenson at fundraiser.

Makhmal: a mason who helped to build the Korphe school

Mazur, Dan: one of the three leaders of the K2 expedition from which Mortenson was returning when he became lost.

McCown, George: member of the board of the American Himalayan Foundation, along with Lou Reichardt and Sir Edmund Hillary. Karen McCown’s husband.

McCown, Karen: founder of a charter school in the Bay Area who became a member of the Central Asia Institute’s board of directors. George McCown’s wife.

Mohammed Aslam Khan: the nurmadhar, village chief, of Hushe who convinced Mortenson to build a school in his village.

Mortenson, Amira Eliana: Greg Mortenson and Tara Bishop’s daughter.

Mortenson, Greg: author and main character of Three Cups of Tea.

Mortenson, Christa Eliana: sister of Greg Mortenson, who was twelve years younger and who contracted acute meningitis in Africa, never fully recovered and died of a massive seizure on her twenty-third birthday.

Mortenson, Irvin “Dempsey”: Greg Mortenson’s father, who became a teacher in the country of Tanganyika (now ) in Africa.

Mortenson, Jerene: Greg Mortenson’s mother.

Moshi, John: Dempsey Mortenson’s Tanzanian partner in founding and running the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center.

Mother Teresa: Albanian born nun whose missionary work gained world renown.

Mouzafer Ali: a Shiite, the Balti porter who was carrying Mortenson’s tent and supplies when Mortenson got lost, and who rescued Mortenson.

Mullah Omar: Taliban supreme ruler.

Murphy, Dervla: Irish nurse who crisscrossed the Karakoram in deep winter on horseback with her five-year-old daughter and wrote about it in her book, Where the Indus is Young.

Pervez Musharraf: Pakistan’s president.

Nawaz Sharif: Pakistan’s prime minister.

Niaz Ali: the only eye doctor in , he was sent by Mortenson to the renowned Tilanga Eye Hospital in Nepal where he learned how to perform cataract surgery.

Norberg-Hodge, Helena: author of Ancient Futures, who spent seventeen years in Ladakh, a region like Baltistan, but cut off from Pakistan by arbitrary borders drawn by colonial powers across the Himalaya. Pratt, Jonathan: one of the three leaders of the K2 expedition from which Mortenson was returning when he became lost.

Reichardt, Dr. Louis: one of the first Americans to reach the summit of K2, as a friend of Mortenson’s, he advised him to return to Hoerni for funds to build the bridge necessary for getting building supplies to Korphe for the school.

Relin, David Oliver: co-author of Three Cups of Tea with Greg Mortenson

Rhokia: Twaha’s wife who died giving birth to their only child.

Rhokia: Ibrahim’s wife, whom Mortenson saved from septic shock after she gave birth.

Richard, Terry: outdoor writer for the Oreagonian who first brought Mortenson’s story to attention.

Rigby, John: director of the Institute of Rural Reconstruction in the Philippines who taught Mortenson how to set up tiny businesses for the rural poor that could quickly turn a profit on a small investment.

Sakina: Haji Ali’s wife, without whom he said he was “nothing at all.” Along with Hawa, she asked Mortenson to fund the Korphe Women’s Vocational Center.

Shakeela: the cleverest of Mohammed Aslam Khan’s nine children, whom he was anxious to educate in their village of Hushe.

Sher Takhi: Korphe’s religious leader.

Sheikh Mohammed: a religious scholar who petitioned for a school to be built in his village of Hemasil and wrote to the Supreme Council of Ayatollahs in Qom, asking Iran’s leading clerics, the ultimate authority of the world’s Shia, to rule on whether the fatwa on Mortenson was justified.

Slaughter, Christine: assistant hired to help Mortenson to organize his basement.

Suleman Minhas: Rawalpindi taxi driver who became Greg Mortenson’s “fixer,” a person who can cut through red tape, in Islamabad.

Syed Abbas Risvi, the religious leader of northern Pakistan’s Shia Muslims.

Tabin, Dr. Geoff: an American cataract surgeon whom Mortenson arranged to offer free surgery to elderly patients in Skardu and .

Tackle, Jack: famed climber who donated twenty-thousand dollars to help CAI estanblish the Jafarabad girls’ elementary school.

Tahira: Hussein’s daughter, one of Korphe’s School’s first female graduates who received a scholarship to continue her education after she graduated from the Korphe School.

Tenzing Norgay: Nepali sherpa who, with New Zealand’s Sir Edmund Hillary, was the first man to scale Mt. Everest. Neither man ever revealed who was first to set foot on the summit.

Twaha: Haji Ali’s son

Uzra Faizad: principal of The Durkhani High School and an advocate for female education helped to reopen the shattered school to forty-five hundred students, including girls.

Vaughan, Tom: a pulmonologist at the UCSF Medical Center where Greg Mortenson worked, and a climber.

Villard, Marina: a resident in anesthesiology at the UCSF Medical Center, she was Greg Mortenson’s romantic interest early on during his efforts to build a bridge and school in Korphe.

Wazir: a tribe that is loyal to neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan, they are Pashtuns.

Wilson, Jennifer: Jean Hoerni’s widow, who became a member of the Central Asia Institute’s board of directors.

Zaman: a local contractor in Pakhora who led the effort to build a stone school there. He and other volunteers built the school in twelve weeks.

Zahir Shah: King of Afghanistan from 1933 to 1973, who founded Afghanistan’s first modern university and recruited foreign academics to develop the country, but was exiled from Afghanistan for thirty years.

An Alphabetized List of Places That Mattered in Three Cups of Tea

 Baltistan – the mountainous area that includes such places as Korphe; this is the home of the people known as the Balti  Bamberg, Germany – the location in West Germany near East Germany (the Communist Germany) where Mortenson served in the Army  Bozeman, Montana – the place where Mortenson and his family now live  Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri – the location of Mortenson’s training camp when he joined the United States Army  Gilgit – a center for supplies  Islamabad – a planned city in Pakistan with an American embassy  Kabul – the capital of Afghanistan  K2 – the mountain that Mortenson wanted to climb following the death of his sister Christa  Karakoram Highway – the route along which Mortenson traveled with the materials for the first school  Karakoram Mountain Range – a fairly impoverished (poor) area where Greg Mortenson received a warm welcome from the villagers in Korphe  Korphe – the village where Mortenson wound up after being lost for some time and where Mortenson started to see abysmal (truly poor) living conditions  Moorhead, Minnesota – the location of Concordia College, the first college Mortenson attended  New York – the “village” that was “bombed”  Peshawar – the city that Mortenson called the “capital of Pakistan’s wild west”  St. Paul – the small city in Minnesota where Mortensen graduated from high school  Seattle – the home of Dr. Jean Hoerni  Skardu – the valley where the first school was built  Tanzania – the country in eastern Africa where Mortenson spent some of his childhood  University of California at San Francisco Medical Center emergency room – the place where Mortenson was working when he wrote all of the letters  Vermillion, South Dakota – the location of the University of South Dakota, the college from which Mortenson graduated  Waziristan – the area Mortenson called the “most untamed of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Provinces”; the home of the people known as the Wazir

Three Cups of Tea ~Greg Mortenson Themes and Motifs: The search for identity Follow your bliss (Mortenson lives non materialistic lifestyle) The desire to leave a legacy (Mortenson wants to leave necklace on K2) What happens when cultures collide? Both Pre 2001 and Post 2001 The impact of technology -what will building the bridge do to the community? How can it help? How can it hurt?

Limitations of technology How failure and coincidence can lead to success/ meaningful coincidences i.e., not reaching K2 and missing the mountain path on the return or meeting Hillary at AMC, meeting Tara at AMC. Definition of family/ What is home?/ What is community? One cup of tea= stranger, two cups of tea= friend, three cups of tea= family “for who we will do anything.”

American idea of home vs. Korphe’s idea of home How do you earn trust? Mortenson respects local culture (prays, drinks tea, eats local food, learns language) Mortenson unselfishly works for school.

How do cultures show hospitality/ gratitude? Village saves Mortenson and he in turn repays them Korphe sacrifices 12 rams so the school can continue to be built

Making and keeping promises to Korphe to Afghanistans to himself and benefactors

Illusion vs. reality Idea of blissful simplicity vs. sparse and stark existence i.e., beautiful ginger hair is actually a result of malnutrition.

Concept of relationships importance of family the American pragmatic way vs. Korphe’s patient way disparity between the haves and have nots business relationships relationships across cultures land and environment

The need for perseverance/ devotion/ single minded obsessions Mortenson lives out of car Mortenson writes 500 letters celebs. like and Oprah and one of those letters is passed on to American Himalayan Foundation which results in Hoerni’s donation for the bridge.

The need to find the believers in an idea Hoerni $20,000 donation Tara’s support Parade magazine publishes article and puts him on the map

Symbolic significance of the bridge obstacle in the way of Mortenson’s greater vision of a school joins two cultures together

How do you use your own skills to make a difference? Mortenson is able to use his medical skills to help others in the village after they have help him. Clarity of vision- how to turn an abstract vision into a concrete reality Have a propriety of vision (understanding what people seek- needs, wants, interests) Understanding culture (work within the culture/ complement the culture don’t combat the culture) Develop relationships between key groups (key persons/ personalities) Time Eastern vs. Western

Mortenson as Mythic Hero The departure is a phase that a mythic hero goes through which causes them to answer the call to adventure, refuse the call, search for supernatural aide, cross the firs threshold, and then enter the “belly of the whale.”

The initiation is the second phase of a mythic hero. In this phase, the hero goes through trials, meets with a ‘goddess’ of sorts, fights the temptations leading him/her away from the true path, searches for atonement, apotheosis, and finds the ultimate boon. a. road of trails

III. The Return a. refusal of the return b. magic flight c. rescue from without d. crossing the return threshold e. master of the two worlds f. freedom to live

IV. Common Mythic Elements a. the mundane and the special b. mentor c. oracle d. failed hero f. wearing the enemies skin g. shape shifter Three Cups of Tea Study Questions Pick five questions that you will answer fully.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. There is a telling passage about Mortenson’s change of direction at the start of the book: “One evening, he went to bed by a yak dung fire a mountaineer who’d lost his way, and one morning, by the time he’d shared a pot of butter tea with his hosts and laced up his boots, he’d become a humanitarian who’d found a meaningful path to follow for the rest of his life.” What made Mortenson particularly ripe for such a transformation? Has anything similar happened in your own life?

2. Relin gives a “warts and all” portrait of Mortenson, showing him as a hero but also as a flawed human being with some exasperating traits. Talk about the methods Relin chose to write about Mortenson’s character—his choice of details, his perspective, the way he constructs scenes. Is Mortenson someone you’d like to get to know, work with, have as a neighbor or friend?

3. At the heart of the book is a powerful but simple political message: we each as individuals have the power to change the world, one cup of tea at a time. Yet the book powerfully dramatizes the obstacles in the way of this philosophy: bloody wars waged by huge armies, prejudice, religious extremism, cultural barriers. What do you think of the “one cup of tea at a time” philosophy? Do you think Mortenson’s vision can work for lasting and meaningful change?

4. Have you ever known anyone like Mortenson? Have you ever had the experience of making a difference yourself through acts of generosity, aid, or leadership?

5. The Balti people are fierce yet extremely hospitable, kind yet rigid, determined to better themselves yet stuck in the past. Discuss your reactions to them and other groups that Mortenson tries to help.

6. After Haji Ali’s family saves Greg’s life, he reflects that he could never “imagine discharging the debt he felt to his hosts in Korphe.” Discuss this sense of indebtedness as key to Mortenson’s character. Why was Mortenson compelled to return to the region again and again? In your opinion, does he repay his debt by the end of the book?

7. References to paradise run throughout the book—Mortenson’s childhood home in Tanzania, the mountain scenery, even Berkeley, California, are all referred to as “paradise.” Discuss the concept of paradise, lost and regained, and how it influences Mortenson’s mission.

8. Mortenson’s transition from climbing bum to humanitarian hero seems very abrupt. However, looking back, it’s clear that his sense of mission is rooted in his childhood, the values of his parents, and his relationship with his sister Christa. Discuss the various facets of Mortenson’s character—the freewheeling mountain climber, the ER nurse, the devoted son and brother, and the leader of a humanitarian cause. Do you view him as continuing the work his father began?

9. “I expected something like this from an ignorant village mullah, but to get those kinds of letters from my fellow Americans made me wonder whether I should just give up,” Mortenson remarked after he started getting hate mail in the wake of September 11. What were your reactions to the letters Mortenson received?

10. Mortenson hits many bumps in the road—he’s broke, his girlfriend dumps him, he is forced to build a bridge before he can build the school, he puts on weight and drives his family crazy. Discuss his repeated brushes with failure and how they influenced your opinion of Mortenson and his efforts.

11. The authors write that “the Balti held the key to a kind of uncomplicated happiness that was disappearing in the developing world.” This peaceful simplicity of life seems to be part of what attracts Mortenson to the villagers. Discuss the pros and cons of bringing “civilization” to the mountain community.

12. A lot of the book is about fitting into a foreign culture. Discuss your own experiences with foreign cultures—things you have learned, mistakes you have made, misunderstandings you have endured.

13. Did the book change your views toward Islam or Muslims? Consider the cleric Syed Abbas and also the cleric who called a fatwa on Mortenson. Syed Abbas implores Americans to “look into our hearts and see that the great majority of us are not terrorists, but good and simple people.” Discuss this statement. Has the book inspired you to learn more about the region?