Going to visit the rural schools

So my dear friend Phunstso asked me if I wanted to come along on some of my Fridays (when I luckily have no classes to teach) as she went about her rounds of supervising the 2nd year students who are spending their six months in the field practicing their new teaching skills. I of course was ecstatic to go and see the reality that my students are going to go out and face, once they complete their time at this college.

The very cute gas pump at the edge of Paro. Currently the road between Paro and Thimpu is under major construction due to the fact that next year is full of celebrations - the beginning of democracy, the crowning of the 5th king, and the 100th year celebration of the monarchy in Bhutan. Ironically, it´s actually the 101st year, but this year is an inauspicious year for Bhutan, so say the astrologers anyway, so no one is supposed to do anything major..
This is our traffic jam on the way to Thimpu. We actually rounded the corner and the whole road was covered by fallen rock, so we got to sit there for an hour while it was cleared away..

The first school we visited.
It was great seeing the rural reality, put it into blazing perspective for me. Yes I do have 50 students in my largest class, but so do many classes that my students are going to go out and teach. And the rooms are a whole lot smaller than the one I teach in...First class, left sideAnd the right side.

The next class I went into was even smaller..

It was a bit discouraging I must say, to see the standard of teaching. I can understand why so many of my students have difficulty speaking English after 12 years of schooling done in English! All that most teachers required of their students was to parrot as one large chorus, 'yes sir' or 'no sir' or 'no doubt'...
It was interesting getting to give feedback to the student teachers - put me back a few years, wondering and worrying as things went wrong how your supervisor would react. What really scared me though, was that most of the classes I witnessed, the student teacher had no idea that students should be asked to participate in more engaged ways! o la la...
Phuntso talking on her cell phone, on the way to a village. It amazes me how one never seems to get out of cell phone range! And this is a mountainous country!


Village temple


The wall of the temple... Every building in Bhutan has to be painted in traditional style, by law apparently!
And more wall decoration!

School girls..



Fields in a traditional village

Of Paro Tshechu.. and a long bike ride

Every year in Paro, there is a Tshechu, a big 5 day celebration to remember Guru Rimpoche´s (the Saint who brought Buddhism to Bhutan) successful conquering of the local demons.. I was fortunate to be in Paro for it - and let me say I was shocked by the sudden appearance of so many tourists! And so many vehicles! Truly I think that half the transportation of Bhutan made its appearance in Paro over the weekend.. The whole festival has a very religious nature, with the monks performing most of the dances, with a few being done by one village´s laymen and women (the village changes every year). So I went for 3 of the days, to sit in the sun and watch the colourful dances.

I was very lucky to have some great guides to take me to the Tshechu. The first day I went on my own, and ran into a couple of my students up at the Dzong, who gave me a great tour. The second day, I had the 12 year old boys of the neighbourhood volunteer to be my guides!

Tashi and his cousin, and me in my new kira
My four handsome young guides!


Day 1 - the festival occurs within the Dzong (the local building of administration, and house of the local body of monks). Lots of people actually choose to NOT go on this day, cause you end up being fairly crammed into the space around the central courtyard to watch the dances. This is the traditional black hat dance, (yes, those are monks dancing).The courtyard of the Dzong


My student guides took me up to the 2nd floor of the Dzong, and you could see the whole Paro valley. Originally the Dzongs were built as a fortress, as well as an administration center. This Dzong apparently also has a secret passageway for escape, down to the river. But although it was attacked 6 times by Tibetan forces, it never fell..

There was also a huge campaign on sexual health and Aids, hanging right outside the Dzong. An interesting contrast between century old Buddhist dances, and these modern issues.



Another strange paradox was the abundance of toy guns among the boys! Seemed a bit bizarre at such a peaceful , meditative festival..

Day 3 - reenactment of the judgement after Death.

This day there is a 2-3 hour play telling the tale of 2 men who die, and who are judged (one going to hell, the other to heaven). The best part is when the 'lord of death' exits - it´s a HUGE puppet, carried out by the monks (who try to not have it tip over!), and it circles the central square with lots of dancing and commotion all around.



Masked dancers - each one represents some animal (monkey, pig etc), and will apparently appear to you after you die. So old people watch this with great fascination, because if you do not recognize these ´guides´you will not be led into heaven, and wander around in suffering and torment The puppet..

I honestly thought these guys looked a bit like the 3 wise men!
Monks carrying the puppet

The last day, everyone wakes up very early in the morning to go and see an enormous wall hanging of Guru Rimpoche in his 8 manifestations. Simply seeing or touching the tondrel is supposed to bring blessings and take away your sin.

5 am. The tondrel is not supposed to see the sun (given that it´s several hundred years old, that probably makes sense)
The endless line of people who want to touch the tondrel.


The 8 manifestations of Guru Rimpoche.

Since I was up so early anyway, I figured it would be a good day to try to bike to Chelela, a local pass nearby. I set out around 7 am, and was excited to make it to the top by 11.. The last few kms were WAY harder than i expected (given that the grade hardly changed at all... suddenly i was just much more tired..). But then i got to the top and saw the sign... I was nearly at 4000 m. Hello Melly! Altitude might be the reason you´re going so slow!




There was a group of men from Haa (the Dzong on the other side of the pass) who´d driven up to do some repairs and construction. They lit a fire of juniper branches, apparently as a prayer. Of course, since there were prayer flags, I had to take a picture..

The ride down was fantastic! I can´t believe that not only is there cell phone reception at the top of this pass (and everywhere else in Bhutan as far as I can tell) but it´s a paved road! There was very little traffic, making for an excellent ride down, and i only scared one poor soul (who didn´t stop either as he was coming up, so at least partially his fault!) by pulling off the road to the right (they drive on the left in Bhutan).. mama mia!