Random Tangents

best prayer flag photo yet!

2007-11-27T06:54:00.000-08:00

On the bridge, near my house

Mathematics Day

2007-11-27T06:39:00.000-08:00

Well, two months of organizing finally culminated in the third annual maths day, hosted by Paro College of Education, on November 10th. Whew, what a day it was!

We started out with a debate on "mathematics is the most important subject"
here is our packed house:

The debaters:

I had been grooming both teams for weeks - they do have debates here, but it often consists of grandstanding, shaking the podium... And excessively stated arguments to prove the point. Both teams picked up debating really well, and despite some nervousness over cross-examining in front of several hundred people, they pulled it off with panache.. Sadly, our judges were still operating from an old-school stance, and the points they gave the individual speakers was definitely mysterious to me! oh well, all in good fun..

We then had a quiz contest between students from the schools (pen and paper, based on the Canadian math contests, modified to suit Bhutan of course), and a live one between four students from our college, and four students who joined us for the day from the other college of education.

After that, everyone toured an exhibition on math - based on 5 different principles of teaching and learning mathematics: communication, reasoning and proof, problem solving, representation, and connections. (See the NCTM website if you want more info!)

One of my students explaining his work..
Students from the schools looking at online math games.

and then there was a huge lunch.. I have to say I'm impressed that our students could cook for 400 people!

An excellent day all told.

feeling like a queen!

2007-11-27T06:36:00.000-08:00

yours truly and her boy-harem!

actually some of my most beloved, hilarious students

morning assembly

2007-11-27T06:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been here almost an entire school year, and finally I got around to take a picture of morning assembly.

This is the national anthem. there is also a sung prayer at the beginning, announcements, and 2 speeches from 3rd year. alternating between incomprehensible, edifying, and downright hilarious.

Religious days

2007-11-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

Well November 1st is the Descending Day of Lord Buddha. Thus, a national holiday in Bhutan. Two of my wonderful students took me out to a nearby temple, so that we could turn a few prayer wheels, pay respect. It turned out that the highest monk in the land, the Je Kempo, was celebrating at this particular monastery, so all foreigners, me included (depsite many protests by my colleagues and students that i'm practically Bhutanese!) were not allowed to go near the main part of the monastery. Oh well!

A Monk in front of one of the altars adorned with fruit.

Sonam Choden and me!

On Friday, we were all given the day off of school to go get a "long life" blessing from the Je Khempo. It was sort of like a silent folk-festival really. We all sat around on the grass, for HOURS, and waited for him to come and tap us on the head with an arrow (or batton, i'm not sure really, since we had to have our head down, I couldn't see it) wrapped in holy cloth. Here are all the monks up front.

Here you can see the Je Khempo (under the yellow umbrella) beginning to make his way through the crowd, followed by the procession of monks.

More of my students, sitting around.

Tshering Penjor and me!

The ironies are often what get me. Here we are at a religious celebration, which is unfolding very similar to the way its been happening probably for centuries (except now the monks arrive in SUVs..), and the planes are flying overhead! If you look close at the top you may be able to see it. The mix of technology with traditional is onmipresent in this part of Bhutan.

Garbage is unfortunately another of the repurcussions of the mix between technology and tradition..

druk path trek

2007-11-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

I have been a very lucky girl, staying in the guest house at the college. There has been a train of absolutely fabulous international guests that I have gotten to know. The most recent were two Australians, who I had a most hilarious time with. Robyn and Anne had organized a 5 day trek from Thimphu (the capital) to Paro, over all the mountains in between, and they invited me along..

Unfortunately, we were in clouds most of the way (at 4000 m, quite literally), but we did have a few cloud breaks that allowed some pictures of the spectacular mountain scenary

Morning, Day 5. The really sunny last day!

The three us of at the first mountain pass, day 2.
Yes, more prayer flags

Wangda, a good friend, and our guide, had organized the most plush trip I've ever been on. As you can see, we were well treated. Tea time every afternoon. There was no chance of losing any weight on this trip, that's for sure! (We even had a toilet tent)

Our pack horses, waiting to load up..
(2 of the 9)

Mountain wildlife. The bonus of going trekking this late in the year is that the yak herders are moving down to lower elevations, coming back from the Tibetan border etc. So we got to camp with the yaks! One scared me one night by nearly walking into my tent..
Mountain colours in the fall

rice fields

2007-11-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

Rice... the staple of our diet. Bhutanese eat it 3 times a day, usually. Me, I go for limiting it to once, maybe twice

The rice harvest has just completed itself in the Paro valley.. a gorgeous patchwork of small fields..Of course you know me, and prayer flags... whenever i can get them into the shot..

a small chorten (holy building, often they have large prayer wheels inside).. you are supposed to always walk around them clockwise
two ladies harvesting the last field of rice.. the Dzong in the background.

biswakarma... the God of machinery

2007-10-13T04:33:00.000-07:00

Little did I know there was a god of MACHINERY! Biswakarma.. Actually one of the pantheon of Hindu gods, but well loved in Bhutan. Most people festoon their cars with streamers in honour of him (and to ask for a blessing) - often to the point that I seriously wonder about the safety of driving these vehicles!

The construction workers who live directly below me were very excited to invite me into their altar..

road workers

2007-10-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

One of the few really hard things to watch in Bhutan is road work.. Always done by labourers from India. Back breaking. Often with terrible living conditions - shacks that are often only about one meter high, so I can't imagine what it's like during the monsoon..

My outsider view of it is that Bhutan takes advantage of Indian labourers, who would often be in even worse conditions in India it is true, and justifies their minimal wage and living conditions by saying just that "they'd be worse off in India"... why they can't be paid a bit more, or given a couple more tin sheets so their buildings could be at least human height, I'm not too sure...

And right now there are lots of them - they're trying to widen all the roads, especially the one from the airport to the capital, by next year (the coronation of the 5th king, democracy etc..)..

Some women road workers.. All that stone... it's broken by hand..

Mother and child

chilies

2007-10-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

We are in the middle of chili harvesting season, and a Bhutanese favourite is dishes cooked with dried red chilies (and one of my favourites as well... i'm happy to report that I too can now eat chilies like vegetables..)

Chilies hanging to dry, Paro town

Chilies drying on the roof

2007-10-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know... more prayer flags.. but how can you not take pictures of them??

a rose by any other name..

2007-10-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

I went on an impromptu walk with two of my students yesterday, and got around to asking them how they got their names. most people are named by a lama when they are born - which is why there are so many pemas, dorjis, tashis.. i think lamas often have a small list of favourite names..

but one of these boys has a name that is fairly unique - Pema Tender. Well Pema is dime a dozen, but Tender???

It turns out that he was born just before the census, so when his father went to register the family, they hadn't given him a name yet. So the father, together with the village headman, came up with the name, Pema Tender (I think Tender must mean something else in his language.. although who knows really.. it seems to suit him in the end, he's a sweet guy).. and hysterically when the father got home, he forgot what name they'd written down! So they called him something else ENTIRELY (Tshering Dorji or something like that..). So he happily went by that name until the next census, when he was 13, and he found out his "real name" and so he switched back! apparently there is still great confusion among his childhood friends as to who that Pema Tender guy is!!!

It makes me realize how funny my attachment to my name is. I have had heated conversations with some men about why women would change their name when they get married (still doesn't make sense to me) - and here women don't change their name actually - but my reaction seems a little extreme when you see how many people here change their names or the spelling of their names simply because the census official got it wrong! and no one seems to care too dramatically. apparently the paperwork involved in changing your name in the census, or on official documents, is simply not worth the hassle... better to change your name!

class photos

2007-09-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-09-01T00:43:00.001-07:00

Truly gorgeous mountain light...

2007-09-01T00:36:00.000-07:00

Victorious at the pass!

In the Nomad's Tent

2007-09-01T00:26:00.000-07:00

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..

2007-09-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-01T00:06:00.000-07:00

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

up the first pass

2007-08-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

ascending the first pass..

stephan (swiss) and marzena

Me, Christophe and Alex

campsite # 1

2007-08-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

ours is the lovely neon green tent in the background... despite it's colour, it actually was probably the best tent - spacious and didn't leak!

note our beloved donkeys to the left. they were the only animals loyal enough to not try to make a break for freedom...

you'd think she was the canadian...

2007-08-03T21:50:00.001-07:00

but no.. Alexandra is actually dutch! she did have the most stylish outfits of all of us, that's for sure

2007-08-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

Christophe, the absolutely hilarious French man, and me, at the beginning of our trek

colourful field

2007-08-03T21:45:00.001-07:00

apparently canola??

rumtse... the start of our trek

2007-08-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

Marzana and I signed up for a 9 day trek - it turned out that one person would be joining our trek one day late, so we ended up spending the first day in Rumtse. A bit bizarre to be camped next to the main road.. but other than a drive by procession of a famous Buddhist lama, it was pretty quiet. we hiked up the opposite hill, and got hailed on. Climate change is definitely affecting ladakh - apparently you used to be able to count on blue skies in July and August, and we had ridiculously variable weather - snow, hail, rain, sun.. often all in one day.

More pics from our crazy bike ride..

2007-08-03T03:40:00.001-07:00

More prayer flags, I don't think I'll ever get enough..

Painting a stupa, as we rode by

The view from the top of the monastery of the surrounding fields

Thikse gompa (monastery). Sadly overun with tourists since it is only 17 km from Leh (all downhill, should you choose to bike.. but give you bike to a restaurant to look after while you hike up the hill). This means that if you go to the early morning prayer session (puja) there may be more white people than monks, many of whom have horrible camera etiquette. Cameras are NOT allowed inside temples in Bhutan, so I did take the opportunity to grab a shot of this two story Buddha (this is the top story)

2007-08-03T03:35:00.000-07:00

I met a great polish girl on the crazy jeep ride from Manali to Leh... Marzana (pronounced "majana"). We rented bicycles for the day, and had a ridiculous adventure involving having my bike lock stolen at one point, and our tires flattened (crazy kids??) at another point..

Marz in front of the stupas at the Shey castle (old capital of Leh)

getting to ladakh!!

2007-08-03T03:27:00.000-07:00

so it was a rather last minute decision to go to ladakh.. luckily i ended up at my friend Amy's house in Delhi, and she had all the guide books, and her wonderful husband Ed helped me arrange a bus to Manali. Turns out it's the epicenter of hippy westerner and Indian tourism, so within half an hour of arriving and seeing the hordes of tourists, I decided I may as well make my way directly to Ladakh.. As I was going to investigate the possibility of a bus the next day, a young guy stopped me and asked if I was looking for a way to Leh... Turns out he organizes jeeps to go every morning, leaving at 2 a.m., so that you can make the whole trip in one day. We were supposed to arrive by 6 p.m., but (apparently not uncommonly) there was a landslide, so we had a 3 hour delay while we waited for it to be cleared.

we were actually squashed into the jeep, 10 of us in all! 2 in the front seat, 4 of us in the middle row, and four people in the back (facing sideways!). I was very glad to be in the middle row, although there was a very large indian guy besides me, so we didn't have very much room.

But the view made up for it! o la la, what an epic road! curves and curves and curves - one of the highest road passes in the world, well over 5000 m..

taj mahal trip

2007-08-03T02:40:00.000-07:00

The good thing about being in Paro is that every visitor to Bhutan ends up coming here on their way in and out of the country (if you fly). Back in May I met the Canadian High Commissioner to India, who is in charge of Bhutan as well, and Dilani, one of the Canadians who works in the Canadian Embassy in the political department. She invited me to stay with her on my way back from ladakh, and I had the most delightful time... She has an incredible apartment (we keep our dipolomatic staff well housed, I have to say... beautiful to see a real toilet again, let alone a hot shower!), and we went to the Taj Mahal for the day.

All I can say is that despite the crowds (apparently not nearly as many as in some seasons, when the line for the tickets stretches around the block - we just walked up to the window..), the Taj lives up to the rumours of its beauty. I particularly fell in love with the lines - of the script in the marble, of the different arches..

Dilani and I

The full Taj Mahal

Does this tower not look like it belongs in Harry Potter??

This is actually at Hunamayun's Tomb, in Delhi..

Taktsang Trip # 2

2007-05-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

Well.. the good thing is that it's not too hard to decipher html! For some reason, when I go to upload a picture, it doesn't show up as a picture, but rather as code, so it's a bit of guessing game where to type..

Anyways, last weekend I went up to Taktsang Monastery (Tiger's Nest) again, this time with Bolora and Bod, the two Mongolian students, and with Jigme Dorji and Pema, their Bhutanese student counterparts. Since the monsoon has arrived early this year, Pema came well equiped, with THREE umbrellas. The good thing about an umbrella is that it can shield you from the sun as well as the rain. Truly the most elegant hiking I've ever seen. Bhutanese people must wear their national dress into the monastery, so either you bring it along in your backpack, or you trek the couple hours uphill in your fancy wear.

Such a beautiful monastery. Cameras are not allowed, so you'll just have to imagine what you see when you actually get there.. This time we went into 5 different monasteries within Taktsang, each with their own flavour.

It actually did start raining on our trip down, so the umbrellas came in handy!

Some more prayer flags... yes, I know, I am addicted

Another monastery in the cliff. I believe this one is where Guru Rimpoche's consort meditated.

even monks do laundry! I am still curious as to whether ALL of their clothing has to be red (socks? underwear?)

The newly widened path. Apparently it used to be quite a hairy walk across the cliff, but now, while I wouldn't ride a horse down the path, I'm certainly not scared to walk it.

Hiking up the hill

2007-05-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

Win some you lose some.. for some reason my email is working delightfully today, but this blog is not.. however, having gone through the interval of loading these pictures, I may as well post them, even if they are in somewhat random order.

This is actually from a couple of weeks ago, on one of the many national holidays. this one was for the 3rd kings birthday i think, so Baldra and Bod, the two Mongolians who are here to learn English, Jigme and Pema (their student "siblings") and I hiked up to a monastery high HIGH on the hill. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so you'll just have to imagine the shock of being at a good 6-8 hour walk from Paro (uphill) and walking inside the temple to find the largest statues of Buddha that I have ever seen! They were a good two stories tall!

And the monks were super friendly, the head lama always stops at Pema's mother's house on the way down to Paro, so he is a good family friend. So I finally had the courage to ask the little boy monks (very cute) if I could take their picture...

Chelela Take 2

2007-05-17T20:26:00.001-07:00

So for some reason I can't edit this post properly.. So as a preamble to the following photos (in random order), I rode back up to Chelela again - it helps knowing that you're going to be riding up to 4000 m, somehow the expectation makes it so much less painful. This time the flowers were out - in particular these little blue ones that cover the hillsides, and that get more intensely blue the higher up you go. The rhododendrons were also making an appearance, sadly not too many of the deep red ones that I love, but lots of whites and pinks. And of course, lots of prayer flags... And the traditional yak, next to the "not so traditional" but suprisingly ubiquitous (surprising given the geography) powerpoles..

teacher´s day

2007-05-12T03:05:00.000-07:00

Although it´s only been celebrated for a few years, Teacher´s Day is HUGE!!! The students were involved in two competitions - one for the best banner (you can see a few here), and one for the best dance performance. The festivities were held in the central courtyard of the college, and we lecturers got to sit on chairs on the ground , while the students sat in the gallery all around us! It felt absolutely mediaval in some ways...

and in some ways not... The whole event kicked off with our fierce madam Director putting a pin into a balloon. Apparently she is one of those people who hate loud bangs, so she hesitated for a long while, hamming it up greatly. the crowd loved it.

One of my math classes, doing a traditional Tibetan dance. Apparently the boys always take off one sleeve of their gho in a traditional tibetan dance...

My newest math class - their teacher went to Singapore for 2 months, so I get them until the end of the year. A truly hilarious group of people. Here the top of the boys´ghos are wrapped around their waist.

The students decided to involve the lecturers - by having us play musical chairs. madam Director and I were the only 2 women to compete, and I was positive (kira not withstanding, it does impede quick movement a bit, being as it´s floor length) that I was going to win... However I did not count on Tadashi, the 75 year old japanese lecturer who´s here for 2 years. He is RUTHLESS! I ended up sitting in his lap (to the great amusement of everyone, as you can imagine) and he ended up winning the whole competition, by flipping the chair around to face him as he danced the final round.. Illegal move, but highly entertaining..
Members of my huge Math class (50 students)

One of our monks. i call him the Dalai Lama, cause he acted as him once, for a mock debate. Singing a love song I believe..

Some of my lovely girl students, in the crowd...
This is my good friend Tseyang, and her almost 6 year old son, Wangchuk... Actually, that´s Tsering Jigme Wangchuk, but since every member of their family has the first name Tsering, they go by their other names. (Names are given by lamas, and I guess all the lamas that were consulted loved the name Tsering.. )

Our Two Mongolian students (here to learn English for a month) singing a song in Mongolian for all of us..

And to top off a great day, we went dancing... again. The students had put on a 'jam session' (basically a sock hop) the night before, and we´d danced until midnight, and then this night several of the lecturers, plus the mongolians, went out dancing again... who knew my life would be so full of dancing in peaceful Bhutan!

Weekend Trip to Thimpu

2007-05-04T01:52:00.000-07:00

So I finally made it to Thimpu last weekend. Quite hilarious after all the stories I´ve heard here in Paro of 'how crowded and bustling' it is. There are basically two main streets, with cops directing traffic at the two main traffic circles. All I can say is they must get very tired shoulders...

One of the students at my college actually ended up driving me into Thimpu, very early on Saturday morning since the trick to making a quick trip is to go before they start closing the road for hour and a half periods to work on widening the road for all the coming festivities in 2008 (The start of Deomcracy, crowing the 5th king, 100th celebration of the kingdom of Bhutan..). So we got to Thimpu before most of the shops even opened. So I convinced him to take me up to a nearby pass, since it almost always clouds over in the afternoon. We wound our way up through ever changing forests, to a pass that I was in no way prepared for. We came around the corner to 108 chortens established by one of the queens a couple of years ago, and a mountain view that is insane.

The pics don´t do the view justice - there was a whole range of snowy mountains of every size and shape. And all around us, rhododendrons bursting into bloom - red, white, pink - bushes as well as trees!

My ´guide´ Sangay
Opposite the chortens, the hillside was absolutely laced with prayer flags.

The juxtaposition between the beautiful Buddhist architecture, and the power pole also makes me laugh.

Going to visit the rural schools

2007-04-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

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!

Dressing up... Bhutanese style

2007-03-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

With the help of two friends from Paro College of Education, I bought myself a kira (the National Outfit for women). The skirt is basically a long piece of material that you wrap around yourself in a very specific way (it only took me half an hour to master it!) and then tie tightly with a belt. I thought I was home free when I “mastered” putting on the skirt.. but oh no, the top is even more complicated! I believe that Bhutan may be personally responsible for keeping the manufacturing of broaches live and well, since there are no buttons on either the blouse or jacket – you just fasten it together with a safety pin and a broach..

Anyways, after a good practice session with my friend Phuntsho, I decided to try wearing it to school on Weds. Talk about the self-esteem boost of a lifetime! All the students I met emphatically told me, “You look Beautiful madam!” and several claimed that I am now fully Bhutanese!

So here are some picture of my large 1^st year class.
Working hard as you can see... oh what a good teacher Madam is! There were actually 2 students away, and it made the class seem surprisingly small (only 48 instead of 50!)
The boys - got to love the ones standing beside me showing some good attitude..

The girls - as you can see, i´m a little taller than the national average..

All of us

I also had the pleasure to go and get my hair cut (and styled!) on Weds evening. This fabulous do only cost 60 rupees (less than $2 Canadian).
Tashi - Phuntsho´s son, and I with our new hair do´s! My 'straight hair' only lasted a couple of hours.. curls win out in the end.

Visit to Taktsang monastery

2007-03-26T03:41:00.000-07:00

So on Saturday, the young administrative officer of our college organized a trip to the famous Taktsang monastery for Amy and Rachel, two British girls who were here for a week conducting a workshop for the English students on how to teach English as a foreign language, and myself.

Taktsang monastary - literally 'Tiger´s Nest'. The story goes that Guru Rimpoche, the man who brought buddhism to Bhutan from India, flew to Taktsang on the back of a Tiger. (So as you might imagine, inside the monastery you can see lots of pictures of him on a tiger). I can´t imagine why else anyone would look at this cliff and think, 'i know.. I´ll build a monastery THERE!'

The hike up was about 2 hours, through a widely spaced forest, with great views on every side. Yes, more prayer flags, I truly love them

Apparently several youth clubs nearby take charge of keeping the trail to Taktsang free from garbage. Several times on the path up, we passed hilarious garbage 'bins'

A picture of me, in case you´ve forgotten what I look like...

Taktsang monastery.. Truly beautiful. We were not allowed to take any cameras inside, but we were lucky enough to see several altars, and light a few trays of butter lamps. It is an airy perch, that´s for sure.
Amy, Rachel and I, at the top of the climb.

Another temple in the cliff. With another fabulous garbage can...

1000 Butter Lamps

2007-03-15T04:01:00.000-07:00

Funeral Prayers

I realize that it is the first time since my Mom’s funeral that I’ve been involved in saying prayers for someone else who´s died. On Monday we went to light 1000 butter lamps for the Father of a colleague. It was truly a beautiful affair…

The first temple we went to, we couldn’t find the caretaker! So we just walked around the outside, turning the prayer wheels (always clockwise) to reduce our impurities, and release good karma into the world..

So we went to a second temple, which is right next to the market, so I’ve been curious about it ever since I arrived. The monk let us in, and the two men proceeded with the task of melting boxes of shortening to oil, that we poured into the little lamps.
The women pressed cotton wicks into each of the lamps, and arranged them in rows on the central altar.

The monk pouring oil into the lamps.

Apparently you can´t breathe on the lamps, or your impurity will go into the flame.

By the time we finally finished filling and lighting the lamps, it was completely dark (almost 3 hours later).

We then went into the temple, and they did a few kneeling-bow prayers, and we were done. So far, Buddhism seems to be have very action-oriented forms of prayer. (singing, dancing, lighting candles..)

Navigating the Market..

2007-03-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

Vegetable market is every Sunday, and it is a multi-coloured affair. Vendors come from many neighbouring villages, and spread their goods out on plastic mats. I am not always the most patient person, so while a large line-up at one vendor may indicate that they have either the freshest produce or the best price, I move on to the ones who are more free.

First difficulty: understanding the price. It turns out this is not that difficult, because everyone knows the numbers in English, and it seems that everything is sold by the kg. Or 500 g, or 250 g. Those are the three large metal weights that everyone seems to have in addition to their hanging balances. Let me tell you, 250 g of garlic is substantial, 250 g of chilies is absurd! But then, they seem to cook chilies like a vegetable here…

Second difficulty: Packing my backpack. It turns out that few vendors have plastic bags – the general trend is simply to dump the produce into the buyers bag. Maybe next time I shouldn’t buy tomatoes first!

Third difficulty: wanting to take a picture, but not feeling like I know anyone well enough yet to be able to… So I just get one quick shot... maybe over the next months as i get to know people better.

At the end of the morning, I’ve spent all my money (i feel shocked, until i realize it´s only about $10 Canadian) and have more than enough food to last me until next Sunday. Some things are ridiculously cheap (cilantro and green onions each cost about 10 cents a bunch), and others are relatively comparable to Canadian prices (eggs, grapes..). My guess is that few laying chickens could make you some good money in Bhutan.

national clean up day...

2007-03-14T22:34:00.000-07:00

At the morning assembly last Saturday , the principal announced that classes were going to be cancelled, and that instead all students were going to participate in national clean up day..

Only in Peru have I before seen somone sweep dirt!

The girls I worked with were great - they even took me to their dorms afterwards (we were cleaning around outside) and I got to see their tiny rooms. Enrollment by women is way up this year, so they´ve had to put 3 students into rooms for 2 people. Let me tell you, those beds are narrow for two!

In the afternoon, it was WELCOME THE FIRST YEARS.. (a celebration put on by the third years)

The entertainment consisted of many dances by different groups of students, and an impromptu speech by yours truly! You’ve got to love being the only foreigner – you never know when you’re going to be called upon to make a fool of yourself. I joked that since several students had told me it was “soooooooo Sad Madam that you are not married” that if they had any older brothers or cousins to bring them on by…

Most of the dances are more modernized (Baliwood style) traditional Bhutanese group dances, but there were a couple who did their own thing…

The coolest thing was that before the big buffet dinner (lots of chilies!), instead of grace being said, a group of us were asked to dance the traditional thanksgiving song..

Arrival at last!

2007-03-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

To backtrack a bit..

After altogether too many planes and airports, I arrived in Paro, Bhutan on Saturday, March 3rd. The good news: Arjun was there to meet me. The bad news: my luggage was not. Not a big shock really, since I had barely made one of my connections with five minutes to spare. Luckily I have a well packed carry on, since planes arrive from Delhi only 3 times a week. (Drukair only has 4 planes, so that’s not much of a shock, really…)

My house is on the edge of the campus of Paro College of Education. It has walls a good 2 feet thick, and thus acts as a giant fridge, even in this incredibly sunny weather. Wish my long underwear were with me.

My favourite spot so far, is the bridge to the town, which is hung with prayer flags.

Nearby is the local Dzong – the administrative center for the region. It also houses a couple of temples and monasteries.. Thus I see monks in red clothing all over the town.