School Daze

I was going to upload some pictures, but after trying for 35 minutes to get one done, I gave up!
Today was the first day of school - actually it was clean up and move furniture day. After assembly this morning at 9:00, the PP-6th graders were asked to pick up paper and the 7th and 8th graders were put to work moving the new furniture the school received. After lunch, we had a staff meeting where our periods teaching were gone over before the distribution of hours (read as Master Schedule) was devised. I have my final classes have ended up being 5th and 7th grade English Language Arts. There are two sections of each, so out of 37 periods, I will teach 28. We have seven periods M,T,Th, and F, six periods on W, and three on Saturday. Each period is 50 minutes. Some days we might have 'double' class periods - like Harry Potter with double Potions!

Time here is very fluid, the teachers were telling me it they call it BST: Bhutan Stretch Time, because 9:00 ends up being 9:30 or 10. I understand school is different and they are very strict with the children to be on time!
Central Bhutan has been without electricity from 8-4:30 for days now, it is due to work on the hydroelectric project and should continue until the 16th. It has wrecked havoc on banking and government work but they just take it in stride. I'm glad I have gas to cook with. I should get in wonderful shape walking everyday, everywhere. The uphill part kills me! If I take the shortcut (straight uphill, through pastures) to school it takes me about 15-20 minutes, the long way
takes about 30 minutes. Either way will be a real challenge in bad weather.
The principal is trying to locate a place closer to school. This house is so big and it has bare wires in the rooms that have electricity with one bare bulb for light. I can not plug in my frig, one because of the electricity being off all day and also because I don't want to overload the socket. I choose heat instead with a heater one of the girls is letting me borrow.

I know this all sounds pretty negative but it is the same way everywhere in the homes for the most part. We are so spoiled in the States!

Kuzuzangpo, from Zhemgang!

Hello, everyone! I have been on the road to Zhemgang and getting settled into my house. I arrived on Sunday after a loooong drive to Trongsa. On the way we stopped to have a tour and tea at Dochola with the architect who designed the buildings and grounds. It is placed at a high pass and had some snow and ice on the ground, but the day we visited it was beautiful. Our vehicle took a side trip to Wangdue to see the lodgings and drop off one of our teacher's things. When we reached Yangskul Resort in Trongsa, we were exhausted (it was 8:30) and I just fell into bed. The next morning I woke up and had a proper look at our surroundings. I have pictures that hope will load because words do not do it justice. From there it was a three hour drive to Zhemgang.
It is amazing the change in terrain a few hours can make. We have seen alpine, forests, and subtropical all within a short trip. One thing everywhere we have been has in common are the mountains.
Once we made it to Zhemgang, I met one of my Vice Principals and a young lady that works in the school office. They were especially kind helping us to find my house and Samdrup had me to stay over at her family's home the first night so they could get the house cleaned up before I moved in. My house has one large main room, four smaller rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. I am only going to use two of the rooms; one as a sitting room and the other as a bedroom. The only real drawback is that there is only one water source and it is in the bathroom. The bathroom floor stays wet because there is no washbasin or bathtub, so to get water I have to change into my flip flops to go in and back into my regular shoes as I go out! I still need to work on my strategy for using a squat toilet : / (enough said!) I was busy boiling water this morning for my Irish Breakfast tea (but no raisin bread), dishes, and a bath on my gas stove. They have been working on the electricity, so no electricity yesterday and today until 5:00 pm.
I got use from my silver emergency blanket last night as it was very cold and I do not have a heater. The blanket worked but I will have to get a heater.
Thanks for all the comments, if you have any questions please post them and I will try to answer.  

Kira - Bhutanese female dress

The day we had been waiting for - (not Groundhog Day!) our first day in our kiras. The kira consist of three pieces: the jacket, the shirt, and the skirt. Most of us purchased the half kira which is just a long skirt. As you can see from the pictures, there are many different designs of materials.

As our two weeks come to an end, we have been attending functions with some of the speakers we have heard as well as other dignitaries we have met. Today, we attended both a lunch and a dinner. Tomorrow, we will be doing the last of our shopping and trying to pack up. I am anxious to get to Zhemgang and get settled in before school starts.