THE PROMPTS FOR THE
MONTH
1.
SOMETHING BLUE: This is the location of the
staff picnic held today. The Mochu (or River Mo) is certainly something blue blessing
Punakha district and the mountains in the background seem to have taken on a
blue hue too
2. I SAW THIS: Just after breakfast this morning, I saw
this little long tailed minivet when it came to perch just outside our window
on a neighbour’s tree
3. WEATHER: With crisp cool mornings and
evenings that are becoming colder and colder, the sunny blue skies of the
middle of the day are delightful but late afternoon the dramatic skyscapes
herald the sudden changes that mark the transition from autumn to winter and it
is apparent that the full brunt of the winter weather is just around the corner
4. CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Ian is what
immediately came to mind. I can’t think of another thing I couldn’t live
without and I often tell him “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” and his
response its usually “Ditto Maxine!”
5. 8 O’CLOCK: The deadline for being inside the school
gates and a couple of my day scholar boys only just made it this morning. I do
love that with exams about 10 days away they are still smiling and looking
carefree and relaxed.
6. MADE ME SMILE TODAY: The irony of boldly
and confidently painting on the academic block a slogan that is grammatically
incorrect when any number of teachers might have been able to set them
straight. This is a class nine group working at 8am before the assembly to
complete their class project by the deadline in 2 days. The brief was to
beautify the school campus ….. maybe they missed the mark, but it is a nice
sentiment
7. ON THE FLOOR: This is the kitchen that
feeds over 400 students 3 meals a day at my school and a lot of the preparation
and cleaning takes place on the floor due to lack of space. Note the wood fired
cookers in the background!
8. A PLACE: This is a place, very near our school. My class and I adopted it along with 2 others
in our clean up Samtengang campaign. It was also the place where our annual school picnic was held today. Our newly
installed bins got a thorough workout and we were assigned the task of keeping
the area clean as our class task for the day.
Easy as, given the practice we have had all year!
9. HECK YES! : Am I going to miss these views next year,
when we no longer live in Samtengang - Heck Yes!
10. I DO THIS EVERY DAY: Well 6 days a week anyway! I
wear national dress and stand with a piece of chalk in hand, in front of a
green board, in a classroom heavily decorated with images of Bhutanese royalty,
trying to impart some of the basics of English grammar to my students.
11. A SET: of passport photos for each student in my
home class to use on all the official documents they require for school purposes
just arrived today and I currently have the whole set for my class
12. NORMAL: In my school and many others
across Bhutan this is normal procedure for testing students and to stop the
cheating or copying. I have even resorted to it myself.
13. LETTERS: We used all but 2 of the
letters in our game this afternoon. I have always loved this game and I
couldn’t resist buying it when I saw it in a local store recently
14. FOR ME: Unfortunately exam papers to
mark are what are currently waiting for me. At this time of year it is best to
get them done as soon as possible as in total the English Department will have
24 class sets of papers to grade in just 11 days and only 4 of us participating
in the communal marking process which follows every exam.
15. HOT + COLD: Our hot water system, known
locally as a geyser, decided to stop functioning without warning just as the
cold winter weather took hold. These days we have an immersion heater in one
bucket and after an hour and a half wait we combine one hot and one cold bucket
in a tub to bathe. Luckily we bought the immersion heater not knowing if we
would have a geyser or not at the beginning of the year. Even this is pampering
when boarding students and most locals just bathe in cold water all year round.
16. AFTER: Five months after the terrible accident that
has impacted on Ian’s mobility since June, we are hoping that this orthotic
will help correct the ‘valgus deformity’ which has plagued him ever since the
plaster was removed. It was created from a mold taken 3 weeks ago at the
Gidakom Hospital by the only 2 medical technicians with the skills to make
orthotics and prostheses in all of Bhutan.
17. COOKING: Whilst these may only be the
raw ingredients, on our final medical mission in Thimphu we have loaded up with
enough supplies to hopefully see us through the next few weeks and allow us to
get cooking again once we are home tomorrow.
18. I LOVE THIS: I have always loved a good
market and I love this outdoor, Sunday market in Bajo as much as any I have
ever seen. With its fresh supplies of locally grown produce and carnival
atmosphere it is a place where the community gathers and socializes.
19. WHOLE: After a whole day invigilating
and checking exam papers and knowing there is more than a whole week of it to
come, there is nothing quite like vegetarian comfort food for dinner!
20. BRIGHT: This class IX boy is as bright
as they get and articulate, polite, charming and engaged with it. He is a joy
to teach and his score for the final exams brought a smile to my face.
21. SHOES: school shoes in the styles that
are compulsory for students here in Bhutan and my foot in a boot just for good
measure.
22. A FAVOURITE THING: The favourite snack
of many of the students and mine too- samosas. These are made at the school
canteen and sell for Nu 5 or just under10 Aussie cents each and at exam time
you have to be quick to get a share.
23. I MADE THIS: set of teaching and learning resources
for my students this year.
24. I NEED TO DO THIS! : In fact I have
needed to this since March when we bought about 80 books, 12 posters and flash
cards with the money Paul and Robyn Brown donated to supply much needed
resources for the Samtengang Primary School library. Finally on the last day of
final exams for the year I actually remembered to do it
25. TIME: Sometimes it seems that time has
stood still in these parts. When I saw this team of packhorses loaded to
transport goods locally, I thought it was perfect for this prompt. I saw this
team on my way to work and saw them again at exactly the same point relieved of
their loads, on my way home.
26. WALL: This ancient wall containing
sacred objects is near Bidung in Trashigang District but they are a common
sight all across Bhutan and like chortens they need to be circumambulated in
clockwise direction an odd number of times, if you are of the faith
27. I’M THANKFUL FOR THIS ….. : beautiful family who
have been our landlords, friends and neighbours. They embody the true Buddhist
spirit of compassion and have always offered assistance unasked and been kind
and generous. We shall miss them and the sense of community they offered us in
Samtengang
28 BLACK: In “Tshechu” this character personifies evil
and it is he who leads you to hell after those sitting behind have made their
judgment on the merits of your existence after death.
29. SO, THIS
HAPPENED: The national exams for classes VI, X and XII started today and since
Ian is in a primary school and the class VI papers are marked in house (unlike
classes X & XII) so, this happened immediately the students had finished
writing their papers- communal marking in the sunshine overseen by the
principal
30. I BOUGHT THIS: This scarf, hand woven and sold by
the women’s co-operative Sabah, is the last thing I bought myself and that was
back in early October, lucky winter break is coming up and there will be plenty
of shopping opportunities then
No comments:
Post a Comment