My New Home

I thought I would take a minute to write about my posting, at Bjishong Middle Secondary School. I am placed up in the Gasa District by a small village called Damji- two hours south of the Dzong and two hours north of the Punakha District. My school is primarily a boarding school, and has about 400 students total, from PP (aka kindergarten) to class 10- all of whom board!. It is one of only 4 schools in the district, and as far as I know is the only school that goes past grade 6 so at class 7 lots of students come down from towns higher in the district like Laya and Lunana.

I am staying in a large room attached to the matron’s quarters. It was formerly used as a sick room for students and is quite spacious, with a small toilet room and shower room as well (with an actual shower! Cold water, but still, its there) I have turned one corner into my bedroom and another into my kitchen, but by far my favorite place in the whole room is the bukari, which is my wood-burning stove. I have a nice fire every night (thanks to my wonderful Bhutanese friends and neighbors who have taught me how to make a fire) and spend much time sitting next to it doing everything in close proximity to the stove- eating, reading, and lesson planning. I also boil water and sometimes cook on it, which is great because this way I am saving on gas for my kerosene stove, and again it gives me another reason to sit by it. It smells all cozy and wonderful with the burning wood, and makes lovely crackling noises when the wood is burning. All in all, the bukari is my favorite thing about my living quarters- and as you can see, I am mildly obsessed with it :)

My living space. Note the bukari with kettle on it :)

That being said, I really don’t spend too much time at home. This whole week we have been preparing for school- doling out responsibilities, picking classes to teach and the like…then the students arrived and now we are all preparing for His Majesty’s Birthday on the 21^st of February. It is a very big event everywhere in Bhutan, and this year instead of going up to the Dzong, the rest of the district is going to come here! So, it seems to have an added layer of excitement and responsibility. I myself am quite looking forward to it.

Students preparing for the birthday celebrations of His Majesty the King

When not preparing for school and big celebrations, I have been lucky enough to be making some wonderful friends. Everyone here is so very kind and I have had such a nice settling-in process with the help of the fellow teachers and staff here. My first night a neighbor and fellow teacher, after making myself and the 4 people who came with to drop me off a delicious lunch, asked me to sleep over at her apartment because the matron hadn’t arrived yet and she didn’t want me to be lonely on the other side of campus all by myself- and on my first full day she took me to see the shops and to another friend’s place for tea. This is just one example of how welcoming the people have been. It all has just continued to keep my spirits up and allowed me to become even more excited about this upcoming school year- now there are less unknowns about where I am going, and what my life will be like here, which has just freed up space in my mind for more possibilities and excitements ahead.

My view :)

Shopping for National Dress

One of the highlights of orientation was shopping for national dress. In Bhutan, they wear their national dress for most things, and we are encouraged to wear them as teachers. The man's dress is called a gho and reminds me of a knee-length togo. The woman's dress is called a kira, and is an ankle length skirt, blouse and jacket. We are slowly getting used to how to wear them...although they are very comfortable they take a lot of effort to fasten and tie correctly, and to make look presentable. I plan to wear mine every day while teaching, so hopefully I will get the hang of it soon!

Last week we went to the kira and gho store to look at fabric and make our choices. It was recommended that we buy two everyday ones, plus one for a formal occasion if we wanted. The men could get ghos the same day, but the women had to be measured and the cloth cut to make our kira skirts. It was so much fun to look through all of the beautiful fabric, but I have to admit, it quickly became a very overwhelming process, as none of us really knew which fabric would be good for what, or even what colors went well together.

The fabric at the kira store. The ones in the front are the most traditional ones and are the warmest.

Simon and Martin examining a gho

One of the very nice shopkeepers helping Ashley choose a jacket and blouse. There are the most beautiful colors!

Learning and Living in Bhutan

A disclaimer, none of these pictures are mine....they were taken by other teachers in our group and posted on all of their blogs (I am having issues with uploading but will soon). Thanks all!

We have been at orientation for almost 2 weeks now, and I can really say I feel like I am settling in. I am loving my time in Thimphu...it is a great city, and I think a great introduction to Bhutan. The orientation has been great...it was sad to say goodbye to 12 of the crew today as they headed east to where they will be teaching. Noorin, Dave and I will remain in Thimphu until next week when they will take us to our placements. I am looking forward to Gasa where I will be teaching...the more I hear about it, the more excited I become!

I promise I will write a more detailed blog soon, but for now, here are some pictures of our time in/around Thimphu.

There are lots of stray dogs here, and everyone is very nice to them- they all look very well fed, not like strays in the US

The view from Delaine's window at the hotel

One of the most exciting parts of orientation so far was dressing in the kira, the national dress for women in Bhutan. I will write more about the shopping process, but here is the finished product...they are very comfortable and beautiful!