What a strange week it has been.

I headed off to school on Monday feeling like death and almost regretted the decision to go after an unpleasant altercation with the Vice Principal. I fully understand that I can change very little but I still feel the need to speak out when I see situations that distort the sense of justice and fairness that I possess. My worldly and wise XC boys told me straight not to speak to him because this is Bhutan and nothing will change. Well that was a red rag to a bull and I quipped that there is no point in democracy if we don’t exercise our rights and there is no reason to have them if we say nothing. Nothing has or will change!

I managed to cut myself some free space and time and salvage the situation enough to complete the day’s classes and then escape having given notice that I would not be back the following day as I really needed to visit the Basic Heath Unit (BHU). My track record with medical institutions is not great and I have been doing my utmost to ensure I never graced their premises with my presence but go I did the next morning.

Escaping one lesson early from school enabled me to pack up the precious paper cranes my class has made over the past month. We did our best to accomplish the task in a month and several students have really taken this project to heart. They pitched in and had them all ready to be posted complete with a sign by Monday afternoon and so off to the post office I went as soon as I was out of school.

Cranes ready to post

Tuesday at the BHU was a comedy of errors with me having no idea of how the system works or what to do but somehow I managed to get registered and place my ‘chit’ on the doctor’s desk before he appeared for consultations. I sat on a low wooden bench with mostly young mothers and babies, the odd few monks, most of them also young and the elderly.  The toddlers were absolutely fascinated by me, and my reading a novel only further convinced them that I was some strange subspecies. They approached staring and darted away giggling as soon as I lifted my eyes from the page, only to repeat the process over and over until my name was called and I disappeared into the inner sanctum.

It turned out the 4 different medications I was prescribed and given completely free of charge finally did make some inroads into my illness, but I spent 2 full days at home recovering before I felt ready to return to school. This respite enabled me to start on the Class XI short stories and I punctuated my days with 5 stories checked before lunch, 5 more before a short nap and in this way whittled away at the mountain of marking.

Day scholars right after football out to watch the archery

I was running on less that 100% for the remainder of the week, but at least I was there and that alleviated the guilt of missing classes with my class X home class. I stayed after school and taught make up and remedial classes both Thursday and Friday and they were both appreciative and relieved to have me back. When rain caused the morning assembly to be cancelled, they and I fronted up in the classroom 20 minutes early to use the extra time for English. They even thanked me for it. We are all on the same team and I worry endlessly that my lack of understanding of the system will in some way handicap them in the national testing known as the Board Exams.

Top scoring archer

Inter- House Archery tournaments have also been going on after school for most of the week and the final was hotly contested on Friday. Rangjung won the national title last year so there is a lot at stake here and this year’s team will have to be selected soon.

Typical local house

Just when I was beginning to feel that I would never feel totally well again, we heard that Madam Martha from Dungste Middle Secondary School had been in hospital in Trashigang for 3 days!! Well that snapped me out of it. I have a partner and I am improving; She is alone and desperately ill without a diagnosis.

Downtown T/gang speaking to my sister because today is her birthday.

We immediately decided that we needed to go see her on Sunday. There are things that can only be done in Trashigang and we imagined that we would also be able to get a few errands run today but that was a mistake. The only barber was closed, the photo shop was locked up tight, the electricity was out and the vegetable market had a scant supply but we did find a few items unavailable here in Rangjung.  Cauliflowers and passion fruit are welcome additions to our diet and both came home with us today.

Martha in the ambulance

The main purpose for our trip was to see Martha and that we did accomplish. Just 20 minutes before she clambered aboard the ambulance to Mongar Referral Hospital. She was not looking her best and definitely needs an accurate diagnosis and immediate treatment. She was however being cared for and assisted by 2 wonderful women from her staff and one of them went with her today. Ian has taken it upon himself to pass the number of this woman on to BCF office and contact those BCFers within striking range of Mongar to tell them of Martha’s arrival. Thanks to Sheal for responding immediately and visiting today too. Moral support will certainly not go astray at this point. Part of me wanted to get in that ambulance and go too today just to help, but I figured I would be of no assistance and Ugyen with her language skills and native knowledge of the system and local awareness of what needs to be done is a much more useful ally than me.

the ripe rice

We returned from T/gang with our thoughts and conversation constantly returning to Martha. The huge changes that have occurred to the course of the river and the massive quantities of debris left in the wake of the recent flooding however did not go unnoticed. The river-scape has changed dramatically. There is also one field of rice absolutely perfectly ripe and standing boldly yellow amid a sea of green. We resolved to take a walk back along the road to investigate these scenes once we got home. I for one was clearly delighted that I felt well enough to want to walk 10km and it was a much more pleasant prospect than the remaining 50 odd short stories. Having spent 4 hours yesterday afternoon on that task I figured I was allowed a whole school free day!

Zen Art

The walk was great and the Zen Buddhist Art creations in the river, landslide evidence and crop investigations were merely the excuse we needed to get out and about again. As always we bumped into several of Ian’s students near their homes and just dying to have their photos taken. Some of these same kids ran this route in the annual school marathon in the rain on Saturday. The one who lives farthest from the school was the first place getter for junior boys for the second year in a row! That 6km each way daily is certainly adding to his fitness levels.

landslide

To end on a less happy note: It seems Ian is now getting my dreaded lurgie and the dementors are in town!!!

a family affair - making a local snack that resembles cornflakes

Sick as a mongrel dog

Last Sunday at the end of the sports meet when I left with a sore throat I was convinced that I had just been too zealous cheering on the teams, but by the next morning it was evident that I had a ‘bug’. I guess when you are in close proximity to so many kids for so long it is inevitable that you will catch something from them and I guess that was what happened.

When Monday was declared a holiday, I optimistically thought that I would recover completely that day and cut myself some slack in terms of just ignoring the 40 portfolios on my desk and requiring urgent attention. I am normally vey robust and healthy so that means I am a terrible patient. I haven’t had much practice at it. After this week an award needs to go to Ian for keeping me hydrated and fed without ever losing his temper at my constant grumblings.

I have heard my mother’s voice in my head “Feed a cold and starve a fever,” and then I wonder was that “Starve a cold and feed a fever.” I guess I didn’t learn that lesson Viv.

Tuesday dawned and off to school I went knowing that I had remedial classes to make up due to lost time at the sports meet, a poster competition to reorganize judging for and the impending doom of trying to complete the syllabus before the term evaporated, looming large in my mind.

I struggled through lessons by having classes copy notes from the board as all thought of actually teaching or even speaking was impossible with my sandpaper throat and croaking voice. Rarely do such lessons occur on my watch and the students responded by doing the right thing and making use of the remaining lesson time to complete their short story assignments.

Every afternoon after school urgent activities take precedence and Tuesday the whole cohort of class X and XII students needed ID photos for their board exam registration, so I joined the team of teachers trying to accomplish this without impacting on the selection process for the annual concert. Then watched the hopefuls audition for selection until it was no longer possible to continue because the power had gone out.

By Wednesday my make up remedial class again had to be abandoned due to the urgency of the incomplete concert selection. I was actually relieved since I was feeling worse and feared that this was no ordinary ‘flu’. Recently a school in our locality had to close due to a H1N1 outbreak and being the pathetically miserable patient that I am I was convinced that this is what I had!

I moved the Class XI short story poster judging from after school to Thursday lunchtime when I heard at assembly that all senior students were required to listen to a lecture after school.

I am impressed with the way you can simply ask these students to give up half their lunch break to do an academic task and they willingly comply. More than that they approach it with integrity and never complain about the loss of free time or the sudden rescheduling.

I had spoken to the elected judges about being fair and honest and given them criteria and they were expert at the job. During the judging I simply looked the posters over, ignored the criteria and selected which ones I thought should win in each of the 6 categories, since I had brain space for little else. Sure enough when I added up the scores from our 6 judges from each of the 3 classes, they got the same results that I would have. Fair and honest – No favouritism towards their own classes with perhaps just one exception…… Dorji Phuntsho!

By now the end of the week was in sight and I had not had one full night’s sleep and was feeling worse day by day though my voice had improved enough to speak just not for prolonged periods. Good thing I focus on student centred activities! This ‘bug’ had me feeling like my head was full of cotton wool. My eyes were burning, my nose running and my ears blocked and I had a hideous hacking cough to accompany the whole symphony of symptoms.

Friday I was hopeful that the public performance of the concert starting at 6 pm would at least let me off the hook with respect to my remedial class after last period. But no, when asked, all those who were supposed to attend including those actually performing in the concert, were keen to go ahead with it so “What to do?” Carry on regardless.

Just 45 minutes before curtain up (should have been -BST delayed it by a mere 30 minutes) several class XII boys arrived to borrow my Brokpa hat to complete their costumes. They were still 4 hats short when they left our house but miraculously when act 2 started they were all wearing the right headdress. How do they do that?

The concert itself was fun but in my condition just concentrating on which groups had requested videos of themselves and trying to get some decent shots especially of those who rarely perform, drained what little energy I had. Throughout the show students sidled up to me and  whispered “Video Class XII Science, Madam!” or my favourite “ No zooming madam!” They certainly know what they want and are sure if they ask I will do my best to comply.

It was a little disappointing to see that the hall was nowhere near full but the audience who were present certainly appreciated the show. Luckily I caught my name in the all Dzongkha commentary by the MC and remembered that I had been told by the students concerned, that they would dedicate one act to me. The day scholars certainly stole the show that night.

Saturday with only 4 classes seemed a breeze, even if I was still feeling no better. After my final extra class for English a few of the dedicated XC students put the final touches on our 1,000 paper cranes so they can be mailed on Monday.

That pile of portfolios has now been reduced by only 5. With all the additional activities this week there simply hasn’t been the time or the inclination and all 98 short stories have now joined them on my desk. It is near impossible to find any desk space but my head is not up for the task so I am trying not to sweat it.

Saturday night’s concert was not a repeat but contained several new acts especially selected to delight the student only audience. The best and most appreciated from the previous night were also there and much to my surprise, we two really were the only non-students in the audience. Since students from my class were yet again performing and some for the first time in high school, Ian and I returned to the hall and took the seats of honour in the front row. Yet again I had requests for videos and the students were genuinely thrilled to have us present, so much so that one act was again dedicated to us.

Girls to the left, boys to the right and this time the hall was bulging with eager spectators. There was a good deal of cat calling, cheering and audience participation. The atmosphere was vastly different from the previous evening that is for sure. Nothing like a hometown crowd to really see if you cut the mustard when you strut your stuff!

So here it is Sunday morning and nothing will make me want to start in on that pile of portfolios and short stories. I guess they are not going anywhere. But the optimism that had me thinking last night that I was really on the mend has faded and it is all I can do to keep breathing. Tomorrow, when this has been a week long malaise, I may just have to swallow my pride, break my track record and make my presence known at the BHU: (Basic Health Unit) -somewhere up until now I have not had cause to venture near!

Dzongkhag Level Sport, good family fun and a holiday to come!

Once again Rangjung has played host to a sports meet, this time at the district level. The only lower secondary school to make the grade and want to compete against the older students from middle and high schools was Sakteng and they arrived early and played Rangjung girls on Friday before school for volleyball and during lesson time for soccer.

They put up a good fight against the volleyball team that won the nationals last year, but the Rangjung girls were victorious. However winning the football meant they got to stay for the rest of the weekend and participate in the real competition.

Since a lot of games had to be played to get all three of the cluster competition winners to play off in only 2 days, basketball was yet again scheduled for 5.30am. I missed both the cluster games as I am not an early morning person but I made a huge effort to get there this time, as the boys had felt hard done by being the only team without photos on the previous occasion. Despite arriving 30 minutes late with BST I managed to arrive in time for the start.

It poured rain and the court was deadly but the spirits remained high and the spectators undeterred. Rangjung boys were narrowly defeated and the highly competitive atmosphere for the meet was set.

As always with these events there are a lot of logistical arrangements. To my mind the most pressing of them is feeding our own boarders, competing teams and dignitaries.

It takes a huge amount of time and squads of volunteer student helpers pitch in to help those in charge and the counselors. To say nothing of the responsibilities female teaching and non-teaching staff undertake.

As usual our mess did itself proud and there were many comments from visiting students and the accompanying teachers, coaches and officials about how good the food was.

Law club took it upon themselves to provide ‘puris’ and ‘momos’ to the hungry in the between meal times and they had a steady flow of customers and a good balance of club members behind the scenes.

                             

Traders also did a brisk business at the school gates and I estimate that there were record numbers of “bunking boys” from most of the schools participating, assisting the local proprietors in the bazar to increase their profit margins.

As always at these events I love the way those who are not genuinely interested in sport either as participants or spectators still find themselves plenty to do and willingly take on the many behind the scenes jobs that have to be done.

Parents who live nearby also took the opportunity to bring along “buckets” of food to leave for their own children as well as their friends. The nature club area was a family picnic zone buzzing with conversation and laughter on Sunday afternoon. 

I encountered dozens of students sporting huge smiles delighted at the food mum had brought and the chance to see their own parents and family members.

The sporting events were hard fought and well patronized but the holiday atmosphere and general good cheer exuding from the campus was what I enjoyed the most.

Of course there were dignitaries and certificates and trophies to be handed out before the event wound up and I personally was thrilled to see those Sakteng girls with a trophy for the girls football. Now they too will get to go to the regionals.

My table tennis boys doubles and singles girl were the only ones to join the girls volleyball team in the line up of prize getters for Rangjung. All credit for the volleyball needs to go to Bidung LSS who trained them last year when they won at the national level and the TT players arrived in my team talented and committed…..though the ‘momo motivation method’ may have played a small part in their second victory this year!

I totally lucked out with my study duty falling on the weekend as the teams had already arrived by Friday evening and with students sleeping in all our classrooms it was not possible to have study on Saturday morning. The late finish on Sunday ensured that most schools stayed the night and that meant both evening and night study were also cancelled then. Three out of three escaped by me.

Nonetheless I did two 10-hour days photographing and spectating as did all other staff and those more closely associated with food preparation or officiating put in even more time. I got soaked to the skin in the morning despite having an umbrella and sunburnt both afternoons despite wearing and carrying sunblock but I still think it was a great weekend and a terrific sporting event, and there is always time for "One photo Madam!"

What a joy it was this morning when immediately after breakfast and already dressed in my traditional clothes ready for the school week to begin, a class XI boy arrived at the door to tell me there were no classes today, as we had all worked so hard on the weekend. Another arrived with the same message just minutes later and I guess the missed call at 10.30pm last night when I was pumping out zzzzzs was intending to convey the same glad tidings.

Now I have returned from school where all those interested were glad to see photos of their participation and I can nurse my “cough and cold" for the rest of the day.