oNe PhOtO a DaY:

 wEeK oNe JuNe 2015

THE PROMPTS FOR THE WEEK

MONDAY 1^ST MANY: Tomorrow I’m going to spend the unexpected public holiday travelling on a bus with students and some colleagues to visit Punakha and several sights along the way. It’s near my old stomping ground, from last year and I have been there several times before, but I am still looking forward to it and the adventure. I love seeing students out of their normal classroom and school environment and I am sure it will be fun, so I packed many of these biscuits I made in a special tin to share on our adventure and hopefully bring a few smiles

TUESDAY 2^ND LOOKING UP: With a field trip to some of the most famous and significant historic buildings in the country today, this prompt inspired so many shots and there were too many choices because I spent a lot of my time looking up today. However my choice is the finials and gargoyles on the roof of Chimi Lhakang - I have a self-confessed love of these roof decorations and have featured them many times before so I need no excuse to be looking up. 

WEDNESDAY 3^RD SILLY: This was taken yesterday on our field trip. Our much loved, respected and admired principal has a very silly expression on her face but more than that she was actively encouraging absolute silliness in the form of a water fight and both she and the kids absolutely loved it.

THURSDAY 4^TH STARTS WITH B: Buddha, specifically the huge Buddha that overlooks Thimphu city and is located at Buddha Point a steep climb upwards from my school

FRIDAY 5^TH LOOKING DOWN: Although I have travelled through Dochula and stopped to enjoy the views many times I had never been to the Lhakang above these stunning chortens, until this week. I love the perspective of looking down on the stunning memorial from up there and have long admired similar photos I've seen. My heart missed a beat when I saw this tranquil and beautiful scene

SATURDAY 7^TH WHO I AM: I used to give international students an exercise to define themselves with 10 nouns and 10 adjectives and it is a revealing and fun way to look at “who I am”. I just reduced it to 5 nouns and found a prop for each for this prompt. I’m sure you can guess but I hope this conveys cook, reader, traveller, photographer and teacher

SUNDAY 8^TH FORGOTTEN: I think the new neighbours, who arrived yesterday with a truckload of stuff, have unpacked but they might have forgotten that we both share the landing!!

PS They did remove it all before the end of the next day so they hadn’t really forgotten

  

wEeK tWo JuNe 2015

THE PROMPTS FOR THE WEEK

MONDAY 8^th SADNESS: I have searched all day for a suitable subject for this prompt but here in GNH orientated Bhutan even with the senior school beginning exams today its been a day of giggles and laughter. I had to resort to an archive shot from our time in Tanzania when this little tot was always on campus with her mum and usually smiling but sadness permeated her very being on this particular day. I got the camera out as it had always made her smile and she delighted in seeing herself in the screen but this time there was no consoling her…. Still makes me sad to see the photo…

TUESDAY 9^TH DISGUST: I guess the thing that most arouses disgust in me is lack of responsibility. Here in Bhutan, a country that promotes itself as the last Shangri-La and prides itself on its pristine environment, my pet peeve is the pervasive litter problem. At the risk of being considered a boring, old fart I even question young people in the street about why “Clean green Bhutan” doesn’t apply to them: such is the level of my disgust. This shot shows the state of the walkway we use to and from school everyday and I am going to organize a cleanup campaign there myself.

WEDNESDAY 10^TH ANGER: I have had such a wonderful day that this prompt really caused me grief, but I just had fun with it instead. Unexpectedly, I got the afternoon off and had to go to Ian’s school to get the key to be able to get into our apartment. When I arrived his kids were over-the-top excited and asking him “Is this your girlfriend sir?” so Ian asked them to show happy faces and sad faces and then asked them to make angry faces. The winner is Tandin Bidha Dorji fondly referred to as TBD by Ian. So this is angry from the perspective of a PP student! Samten Dema (in the green polo) is unimpressed!

THURSDAY 11^TH FEAR: I have never been all that great with dogs - I’ve been bitten several times and I think they sense how afraid I am but since coming to Bhutan this fear has only grown. I know so many volunteers and kids who have been bitten by the howling, marauding packs of strays that are a plague everywhere and the fact that many also have rabies just escalates my fear even more.

FRIDAY 12^TH JOY: is waking up to find the monsoon has arrived and I still have my plastic shoes in stock and can continue to walk to school even though its raining. I can even walk through all the puddles without fear and feel just like the big kid I am at heart.

SATURDAY 13^TH ON MY MIND: There’s a lot on my mind at the moment: the thought of returning to Australia, Mid-Term Exams, my beautiful but sick sister and what makes a good photo!

SUNDAY 14^TH MAKES ME FEEL GOOD: Nothing makes me feel better than seeing prayer flags flapping in the breeze.   

wEeK tHrEe JuNe 2015

THE PROMPTS FOR THE WEEK

MONDAY 15^th SUN: Locked inside invigilating with the sun tempting me to come out and play. Even the fence highlights that trapped feeling that both teachers and students feel at exam time

TUESDAY 16^TH ANYTHING: The stunning painted motifs, which adorn every building in Bhutan are anything but simple

WEDNESDAY 17^TH LUNCHTIME: Even at lunchtime trying to focus on the delicious dal and vegetables with rice prepared by Ian and chocolate cake the spectre of exam papers to correct looms in the background in my desk

THURSDAY 18^TH LOCAL: the view from the local temple (Changangkha Lhakang) over the city of Thimphu in the afternoon on the walk home from school

FRIDAY 19^TH 9 O’CLOCK: At 9 o’clock this morning the final exams were underway for senior students and all those of us without invigilation duties were correcting for all we were worth at our desks, so the corridors, stairs and even the table tennis table were completely free.

SATURDAY 20^TH WHAT I’M DOING NOW: I have done 49.5 hours of exam paper correction in the last 13 days and what I am doing now is celebrating that I finished it I still have comments to write and calculations to do but this is the back of it broken and the relief is palpable. Look out Australia we are coming home!

(Thanks to Ian for capturing the moment!)

SUNDAY 21^ST WET: With the monsoon upon us the weather alternates from sunny and clear to dark skies and very wet. The newly commissioned and unveiled today throngdrel (giant scroll) that was at the Zangdo Pelri Lakhang was covered in a sheet of plastic so that it wouldn’t get wet and the black skies above the finial opened up just minutes after I took this shot.

wEeK fOuR jUnE 2015

  

THE PROMPTS FOR THE WEEK

MONDAY 22^nd MONEY: In the next week we are going be in 3 different countries and will need and use all of these currencies. We like to always have some money with us for the first few days after we arrive and it was a real blessing to see just how much we had stashed away waiting for our return to Australia next week. Excitement is growing now!

TUESDAY 23^RD VIEW: This was my view as I walked into town after school today. I do love the monsoon skies

WEDNESDAY 24^TH IN THE GARDEN: of Druk School and in many other gardens all over the city the monsoon rain has encouraged the lilies to bloom to spectacular effect

THURSDAY 25^TH DEPTH OF FIELD: Simple pleasures: Lemon soda in the best vegetarian restaurant in Bangkok!

FRIDAY 26^TH GIFT: some of the “essential” supplies I think I need came with a gift with purchase deal today and that was a nice treat!

SATURDAY 27^TH MINI:  This mini basket took my fancy yesterday not the least of the reasons being its colour, but I am now up to about 15 in the number of things that might be stored in it and still counting!!

SUNDAY 28^TH ORANGE: This one must have been made for me! My love of the colour orange is legendary. I actually thought that I didn’t have much orange with me this trip home….