THE PROMPTS FOR THE
MONTH
1.YELLOW: a yellow
prayer flag flying at the perimeter of the National Stadium in Thimphu. I think
I am going to try to find a way to match a prayer flag shot to one prompt every
month for this whole year in Bhutan
2. SOMETHING
BORROWED: we have been in the capital for the Losar long weekend, primarily to
buy library books for Samtengang Primary School but we could not resist buying
a few treats for ourselves at the same time. Luckily we are able to borrow some
space in the refrigerator at the hotel where we stay to keep our tofu, cheese
and yoghurt fresh until we depart tomorrow.
3. MY NAME IS:
Dzongkha is the national language of Bhutan and it is alphabetic, so I asked my
home class to write my name using the Dzongkha script expecting them all to
write the same thing, however quite a few variations came up and I have to
confess that I didn’t even know which way up they went without seeking
assistance.
4. ON MY MIND: The
cold that we weren’t expecting and are desperately hoping will give way to
warmth and spring soon, has often been on my mind in this first month in
Samtengang. Just when we convinced ourselves it was actually getting warmer we
woke up to thick fog and rain and when that veil lifted it revealed –
SNOW!
5. SOMETHING
BEGINNING WITH I: The love of my life – Ian in a shot taken last year in
Trongsa not so very far from where we are now living but in slightly better
weather conditions.
6. CHAIR: This is
where you will find me every evening after school: in my chair in the living room
of our home in Samtengang
7. FLY: although I do not know the exact name for one of these, there is almost always one that flies at the top of the highest post in a stand of vertical prayer flags. (perhaps it is a type of finial)
8. IN THE CORNER:
today for our Peer Learning Support Club I had Samtengang Middle Secondary
School students in the corner and in every other available space in our living
room labeling and sorting books, posters and flashcards so that we can start
using them with the grade IV class they will be paired with for reading on
Saturdays
9. 10AM: Taking a
walk with friends visiting for the weekend. We spotted lots of trees in blossom
a sure sign that spring is on its way.
10. FAR AWAY: The
moon always seems so very far away, even when captured in a telephoto lens.
This shot is from archives and taken in Tanzania, which is also very far away
from us here in Bhutan.
11. SOMETHING GOOD:
for those class IV students in Ian’s class who know only letters, cannot read
and always spell words out, these phonics cards and a few magnets to play
learning games with them on the board might be more than something good. They
could just be the start to literacy and a whole new set of opportunities in
life. Thanks again to Paul and Robyn Brown
12. PARTIAL: this is
one of the many partially compete rammed earth homes in our immediate vicinity
in Lekokha. The family who own it and are still building it currently reside in
the bottom right hand room
13. FRESH: living in a very tiny village where I have never seen a fresh vegetable for sale has its challenges, especially as a vegetarian but today perhaps inspired by this prompt for the first time a colleague gave me fresh coriander, which just happens to be a herb I really love.
13. FRESH: living in a very tiny village where I have never seen a fresh vegetable for sale has its challenges, especially as a vegetarian but today perhaps inspired by this prompt for the first time a colleague gave me fresh coriander, which just happens to be a herb I really love.
14. CARE: my home
class VIIIC demonstrating their ability to take care of the plants in the
garden bed they have been allocated within the school campus
15. EVENING: I was watching my students’ dance performances for most of this evening
16. BEAUTIFULLY
ORDINARY: a very beautifully ordinary sight in Bhutan is a spinning wall of
prayer wheels. These are in Bajo and extremely popular at all times of the day
with the elderly citizens of the town who keep them constantly spinning
17. TODAY’S WEATHER:
It really seems that spring is on the way at last. We felt the warmth of the
spring weather on the ride back home this afternoon. This small enclave of
greenery always catches my attention as we bump our way up the 9 kilometres of
rough dirt road to get back to Samtengang and today I asked the driver to stop
to get a shot of the terraces greening up with the season.
18. FIVE YEARS AGO: We might have been dressed for work at 7.30am but we wouldn’t have been dressed like this and we weren’t living here. 5 years ago we were living in our own home in Adelaide
18. FIVE YEARS AGO: We might have been dressed for work at 7.30am but we wouldn’t have been dressed like this and we weren’t living here. 5 years ago we were living in our own home in Adelaide
19. CROPPED: those
without the regulation haircut required at Samtengang Primary School today had
the Beauty Club ready willing and able to help them get cropped! Photo thanks
to Ian
20. LETTER: not only our first letter since arriving in Samtengang but it came inside a box of ever so welcome books and with a thoughtful birthday gift of organic herbal tea and real ground coffee. Such a joy to receive and just 2 days before my birthday despite being mailed Feb 12th!!
21. FULL: apparently
our school is full of demons. The Gangtey ceremony to expel all demons was
performed tonight as a precursor to the Rimdro or purification ritual, which
will take place tomorrow. Masked fire dancing performed by monks while students
all shouted and threw stones were the major methods deployed but with the power
out and masked monks and boys running through every room in the school in the
pitch black wielding flaming torches, I began to wonder if living with the
demons wouldn’t be a less dangerous option than expelling them.
22.MORNING: the scene in the Multi-Purpose Hall this morning as all the Class X students joined the monks chanting prayers for the school Rimdro or Purification Ritual
22.MORNING: the scene in the Multi-Purpose Hall this morning as all the Class X students joined the monks chanting prayers for the school Rimdro or Purification Ritual
23. I’M LOVING….:
having an oven and being able to bake this time in Bhutan- this spicy carrot,
coconut and raisin cake was today’s experiment and just the thing for a cold
and wintery afternoon.
24. ONE OF A KIND: when your shoppers are nowhere near tall enough to see through the sales window you need a one of a kind solution to the problem. This is the shop directly below our house in Samtengang. It is adjacent to the primary school whose students are certainly a large proportion of its customers
24. ONE OF A KIND: when your shoppers are nowhere near tall enough to see through the sales window you need a one of a kind solution to the problem. This is the shop directly below our house in Samtengang. It is adjacent to the primary school whose students are certainly a large proportion of its customers
25. SOFT: the soft
green glow of the potato crop planted long ago, finally emerging as the spring
weather blesses the fields directly in front of our house in Samtengang
26. I AM HERE:
standing on the road between the primary school and the middle school in
Samtengang as I do every morning, making sure I stop and admire the view before
trudging uphill to school and a busy day.
27. SOMETHING I MADE: tonight’s dinner of fried noodles with vegetables
28. NOSTALGIA: now
that we have set up our new home and are busy establishing ourselves in this
new Bhutanese community, it is with nostalgia that I recall how we once lived
in this lovely little heritage cottage in Adelaide filled with many of our
treasures from overseas sojourns – perhaps we will again one day
29. STICKY: eating
with one’s hand is the norm here in Bhutan but it does often result in sticky
fingers- which by the way I can’t even think without immediately thinking of
the Rolling Stone
30. FAST: we bought
these hoola hoops in Thimphu because they had been so popular with the primary
students in Rangjung and only gave them to the school this week. Although most
kids had never seen one before they sure learn fast and even came up with some
original games of their own. This is Phub Thinley surprising the girls who had
the same game in mind but with their little girlfriend who was being relieved as
the holder.
31. FAUX: as a
driver it is compulsory to wear national dress in Bhutan but this driver has
faux gho- it is simply a wrap around “skirt” which resembles a gho when it is
worn with the arms tied at the waist. This shot is from our road trip across
Bhutan last September
PS It has taken 12 days to post this and only a few of them ever got posted on the day! Our Internet in Samtengang is woeful and even the Community Centre couldn't sustain a connection. As I write this we are in Bajo for the night availing not only of Internet but also electricity to charge our many devices and water for a shower. The next one might be a long while coming. Power has been out in Samtengang for over 30 hours now and there was another day when it was out for 17 hours earlier in the week. We are told that yesterday's forest fire destroyed the transformer so it could be a week before we are back in business. Looks like we are in for interesting times.
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Bhutan? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Bhutan in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
I will definitely send you a letter. Only today have I been able to connect to the Internet again so I will copy your address and do it. Please be aware that letters can take a considerable time from this part of the world and let me know when you get it please, Emilio. Thanks you for taking the time to write all this on my blog
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