Friday, May 18, 2012

A Day in My Life

I address this topic in another blog post, but life here has become very regular and routine through my eyes, and I am afraid to say, when people ask how Bhutan is, I don’t have much of a response anymore besides “Oh, good. Busy. It’s fun”.
However, I am somewhat aware that although life here has become regular and routine to me, it is not to my friends and family at home. So, I thought I would give a detailed recounting of a regular day (15 May 2012).
The students are awoken at 5am, but I normally get up around 7. I start my water boiler, brush my teeth, and then put on my kira. I wear 1 kira a week, normally over a tee-shirt and shorts (was long pants or leggings until about a week ago)- and although we use the term kira for the whole outfit, its actually 3 pieces, a blouse called a wonju, a long skirt that’s the kira, and a jacket to cover the wonju and the top of the kira that is called a tego. When I am not wearing it, I keep it folded on a chair (you can see this week I have a black wonju, green tego, and black and blue kira. This one is wool, and is very, very warm, which is perfect for Gasa). By the time I’m dressed, my water is boiled, and I make a cup of coffee. Depending on whether I have leftover curry, I will either have rice or oatmeal for breakfast. I eat my breakfast and read a book, or look through the Bhutanese papers for articles for my students to study.
My room 
I walk to the academic block around 8am, and sign in, and then assembly is at 8:15. It begins with mindfulness, prayer, and then the national anthem. Next there will be some student speeches, today there were 2 on the topic of happiness, one was in English and one was in Dzongkha. Next the Teacher on Duty conducts the rest of assembly, reading announcements (today there was a reminder to the house captains to submit the names of the students who will be participating in the extemporaneous speech competition). Lastly there is a daily pledge (Tuesday’s pledge is about empathy and compassion) and then the students sing a traditional song.
I always have 1st period with my homeroom, which is class 7b. Because I am their class teacher (as opposed to just their subject teacher) I have to take their attendance, and do other homeroom like duties. Today they had news corner where I read them an article from the newspaper and they identify the 5Ws, plus define new vocabulary.
Interval is the 15 minute break in between 3rd and 4th period, and it is kind of like a mini recess for the students, who can leave their classroom and go talk and play with their friends. The teachers take tea, and momos, which are made by our wonderful cooks in the mess hall. It is, without a doubt, the highlight of most days. I mean, its naja and momos, and not a lot can top those two things J
After interval I taught Class 6, and we are studying a story called “Flood Waters” about a family who is evacuating their home due to the flooding of the Mississippi river. We made lists of what we would save from our homes if a flood came. Most times, I read them the story, and explain each paragraph in detail, since a lot of the vocabulary is very hard for them, and its not feasible to learn 50-60 new words for a 3 page story in the 2 weeks we have allotted to study it. We also spend time making story maps, and identifying the different features of a short story, since that is what they are tested on.
After 4th period is lunch, and I go home, and make rice and curry. Today I made potato and cheese curry with chilis and tomatoes as well. I will read a book, or watch some tv on my computer. Tuesdays are lucky days for me, and I don’t have class in the afternoon.
My lovely kitchen!
 Today I was a substitute for a teacher who was out of station, so I subbed in 7B. I took the free time I did have to grade assignments from my class 8, plan lessons for the next day, and to consolidate grade results for 7B from the quarterly exams. After 8th period ends, the students have afternoon prayer, and I went home, and took a bucket bath.
This evening I plan to do some laundry, finish reading The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, and call the lovely Reidi, who is another western teacher working in Bhutan. Sometimes a go down to visit my class at evening study and play go fish with them (it helps them pose English questions). Other times I go on walks with some of the other women teachers, or hang out with Zam and watch movies. I’m normally exhausted by the end of each day and end up going to bed no later then 10 or 10:30.
That’s my life in a nutshell.
My lovely shelf/windowsill with all of my books and calendar and lamp. its cozy :)



My scary water heater as I heat water for doing laundry

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