Amelie's Post 28/04/14

On Monday we went to Devika's house. Devika took us up the river, we jumped from rock to rock. Devika's mother called her so we went back to her house and we went for a walk to the temple with her.

We prayed to the Buddha, put some money on the plate and took a few photos. Then we started to head back to our house. When we got back to our place, we had lunch. After lunch, Thomas, Lois and I went downstairs and we found a broken skipping rope, which I fixed.

We found some sacks and started sliding down the hill. I had lots of fun. Soon we had to go back inside because it was getting dark.

Here are some photos of our day......

Pema Choki R.I.P.

It is every parent’s worst nightmare and indeed, every teacher’s. It is heartbreaking to write of the death of Pema Choki, a Year 7 girl at my school. 

 

Last Friday was a public holiday to allow the students to celebrate Buddha’s birthday. Bhutan is a very religious country and the students were anxious to visit holy sites in the region on this highly auspicious day. There were several class groups and some had booked flatbed trucks (known as DCMs) as transport. These trucks are designed for cargo not people and so students must sit or kneel on the hard metal floor of the truck. Many find this uncomfortable and so instead choose to sit precariously on the rim of the truck (as you can see in the picture).

A different excursion group in a DCM truck.

Of course, as on any school excursion, the students get excited and joke around. I do not yet know the exact circumstances of Pema Choki’s death but in short – she fell off the moving vehicle. She received major trauma to her skull and possibly broke her neck; she died shortly afterwards from loss of blood. She was only 12 years old.

Both her parents are teachers at the school and her father is a good friend of mine. I don’t teach high school students but on Wednesday’s I run the school’s UNESCO club. It is an entirely female club and I tended to find that the girls were incredibly shy and quiet. The one exception to this rule was Pema Choki. Although she was by far the youngest in the club, she would always be the one to take a leadership role and I relied on her to get things done and explain things to the other girls who perhaps found it easier to understand another girl speaking Dzongkha. Everyone I have spoken to speaks so highly of Pema Choki saying how active she was. Justine and I had only known her for a short time but she made such an impression upon us with her energy, enthusiasm and her can-do spirit. She was a real ray of sunshine and the world seems a lot darker without her.

Ironically, she was the one who organised the trip, cajoling a driver into taking her and her classmates to the holy sites. She also convinced one of the teachers to come along and act as a supervisor even though it wasn’t an official school day.

Our thoughts and prayers are with her parents Mr Japchu and Madam Pem Seldon and her older sister Tashi. You had such a short life Pema Choki but you touched the hearts of so many.

Almost unbelievably, this is the second death at the school this year. Only 5 weeks ago, a 14 year old high school girl died of an unspecified disease. Sadly, I did not know that girl and the exact cause of her death has never been communicated to the staff. In this deeply religious country, I was initially told by a fellow teacher that she had been bitten by a snake spirit.

Lois's Post 22/04/14

On the weekend there was a festival at school. There were monks and a Lama. Lots of my friends were there, the only one I didn't see was Pema Choki. We played lots of different games together like, Simon Says, but we changed it to do what their name was, eg. Sonam Says. 

We are playing a game.

We played other games but I don't know what they are called. We went in to pray in the hall, that is where the monks and the Lama were. We gave some money to them. Our friend Thinley gave us some money and our Mum and Dad gave her some money back. At the end we were throwing bird food at each other. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner at the school.

The girls in their kiras.

Amelie, Sonam Choki Dorji and I.

3 sets of sisters!

Dechen, Yeshi and I making daisy chains.

Amelie's Post 22/04/2014

On Sunday a few monks came to bless the school, they were praying all day long! I got to wear my kira for the whole day. I had lots of fun. At the start of the day they served chilli and rice for breakfast, then you could just do whatever you wanted.

This is Sonam Choki Dorji, Lois, Kuenzang and I.

My friends and I went over to the clover patch, we started making necklaces, bracelets, rings and chunkeys. You probably don't know what a chunkey is, well its lots of clover tied together with string. You kick it over and over again to try and beat your old record. After that everyone went to pray, soon after it was lunch. They served rice and a vegetable dish with chillis. Then we could just do anything, so my friends and I played Icy Poly. It's similar to tiggy/tag.

This is us making chunkeys out of clover.

We also made daisy chains.

After a while we played hide and go seek, I won two rounds. After five rounds we played a game. There were three people on each team, one team has one monster in it, the monster has to try and get other people. When the monster gets a person, that person becomes the monster too. After about half an hour I started playing with the chunkey I made. Soon after that everyone had to go into the big hall again. This time we had to throw seed at the Buddha statue on the table. They decorated the Buddha and the table!

All the girls in our kiras.

Mum & Dad with some students.

Mum with some of the girls in her reading club.

After that we got to play, I played fire on the mountain, run down the mountain. After two hours everybody had dinner at the school, then we went home after a BIG day.

My friends and I with a Grandma.

Thomas's Post 22/04/14

Our School Tsetchu

We had a special festival at our school. A festival is called a tsetchu in Dzonghka. It was to bless the school, which is called a Puja. It was a lot of fun. We wore our ghos and kiras to school and ate breakfast there. We had rice and chilli for breakfast. It was very spicy because they were whole chillies so you couldn't mix them in.
After breakfast we watched the high school kids play volleyball. I think they are very good at playing volleyball. 

These are some of the Class 4 boys practicing praying.

Some of the Class 4 boys and I.

The boys in black.

We had to go into the hall and do a thing where we have to put our hands on top of our head, then the middle of our head, and then where our heart is. When we do that we have to put our hands together because it is respectful. We then kneel down and let our head only just touch the ground. We have to do it 3 times.

The monks praying in the school hall.

Some of the students praying.

After that I made a chunkey. It is usually clovers tied together but I make it differently. I put grass in a noodle packet and tie it up. They are meant to be kicked as many times as you can, it is a lot of fun. Then we had lunch, it was rice, chilli and vegetables. That was also very spicy but we are becoming really good at eating spicy food!

The Cook.

Me walking!

Preparing lunch.

Girls lining up for lunch.

Girls eating lunch.

 

All the female teachers.

All the male teachers.

After lunch we played a game where we have to push our shoulders together and whoever got moved the most, lost. I usually lost but there was another game that I was very good at. You hop on one leg and try to push your opponent over, it was great fun. 

Wrestling games.

Hopping games.

We went into the hall where the monks were. They were praying all day, they had a massive book of prayers. Some monks were playing a trumpet, which was like an instrument that was as long as a digeridoo. Some also had a big drum that they played. When we got into the hall the teachers gave us some bird seed and we had to throw it. It was a lot of fun. Then we did the thing where you put your hands on the top of your head, then the middle, then at your heart, and only just touch the ground with your head. 

Some high school boys carrying the statue of Buddha.

Monks playing the trumpets.

This is me throwing bird seed.

 

Look at all the bird seed on the floor.

After that we went to the basketball court and played with my chunkey. Finally we had dinner, it was beef, rice and more chilli!

Some Class 4 girls spinning the prayer wheel.