class photos

I thought that since I've been here for several months, teaching, it might be about time I actually posted some pictures of what I do... My students are hilarious as always, they absolutely love having their picture taken. "Thank you Madam!"... So here's some shots of the doing some problem solving questions on sets. They are surprisingly adept at working with sets, they do a lot more work with sets in elementary and high school than we do in Canada, but they do very little problem solving. But it's suprising how a little candy and a sense of competition between groups can get the problem solving juices flowing! what was absolutely impossible to figure out on Tuesday, turned out to be quite doable on Wednesday!


Some good discussion.. Finally they're getting the idea that there's only one of me, and fifty of them! Praise be!



The right half of the class..


Hmmmmmm


the hilarious group in the back corner.. you know the one...



I love my job... I really do.

new style

I have to say, the picture options in my computer's "photo booth" are certainly a good time..
and here you see my latest hair do... i actually wore my hair to class in pigtails the other day, and the reaction was extreme. In my first class, I got applause, and the general commentary was "MADAM!!! you look fabulous... no ABSOLUTELY fabulous! Great style"

In the second class, the reaction was "Madam, how old are you? FIVE???"

As you might imagine, it was a great teaching day...

Truly gorgeous mountain light...

Victorious at the pass!

In the Nomad's Tent

We were walking along, going up to the highest pass of the trek (5600 m), and there were a group of nomad tents below us. Alex joked that in her itinerary, "we were supposed to get invited in for butter tea now..". And just then, a man emerges from his tent, sees us looking at it, and waves at us.. so we did end up having butter tea, chapati, and yogurt with his family! very lovely

Marzena turning the prayer wheel

Christophe and Alex

And the mother and son...

There were actually 7 children in the family, and all go off to school in different places (some in Leh, some nearer..). This son was home for the summer break. I have my doubts that there will be nomads in another generation - all the children go to school, and I can tell you, much as I like being outdoors, this type of nomadicism is TOUGH. They have to move their herds every day since the pasture is so minimal (or it will get overgrazed). And we were in the full "heat of summer" and snow was often only a few meters elevation above us on the hillside... i can't imagine the winters..

Some more shots from our trek..

here is our friendly horseman - on the day before the horses decied to go find greener pastures.. unfortunately his knee was hurting (thus, why he's riding, he'd walked every day up to this point), and he ended up searching for his horses for 3 days before finding them..

one of our beautiful campsites


loading up...


jigmet, our asistant guide. He was really bored leading the 4 day alpine club up Stok Kangri every summer (everyone comes to climb the same mountain, so he does it many times in one summer) so to amplify his options, he decided to learn the route for this trek..


Him (our cook) and Dorji our guide, in front of our saggy cook tent..

Road Signs

it's incredible, all the students went out to do some "social work" (cleaning vey likely, they have to do it most saturdays, usually one year at a time, but i guess this saturday they took everyone..) so the internet is actually quite quick! quick enough to let me into my blog..

so even thought it's been a month, thought i'd put some stuff up from my trip in Ladakh..

First of all, some road signs.. It truly cracked me up - I think they employ english grads to create the text of the road signs, most of them were truly brilliant, the laughter certainly would keep me awake, as you drive those somewhat perilous roads..

Some of my favourites:

All will wait, better be late

Don’t be a gama in the land of the lama (GAMA???)

Drive, don’t fly

This is a highway, not a runway. Drive slow

The curves are stealthy, keep away to stay healthy

Better late than never

Be Mr. Late, vs Late Mr.

Driving faster can cause disaster

Time is money, but life is precious

Let your insurance policy mature before you do

Life is short, don’t make it shorter

After whisky, driving is risky

Time is not rally or race, drive with grace

Mountains are a pleasure, only if you drive with leisure

If you love her, please divorce speed

Alert today, Alive tomorrow


i think we should have similar ones in the rockies really