Thursday, August 4, 2011

Let's try this again!!!


Two Students




This is a picture from school. The campus looks down upon Thimphu Valley. Below is Thimphu town. Can you imagine that this is my commute each day. 30 minutes up and 30 minutes down. It is approximately a 2,000 foot difference and a great deal cooler at school! On clear days, the very high mountains are visible in the distance. But during the rainy season, they rarely show themselves.




Three random boys out playing after lunch. Of course, they wanted their picture taken. You would never know that they begged me to take their picture. It looks more like a mug shot to me!


Okay, for all of you that want to know about my teaching, here are some photos. These jokers are Class V. They are out of uniform today because they have HPE (gym class). There are 45 of them packed into this classroom. They keep all their belongs in their backpacks and change books as the classes change, every 50 minutes. The teachers rotate into the classes. Never again will I ever complain about classrooms in the US not being large enough. Please note how narrow the aisle is. I can barely walk in between the desks. That being said, I love these kids.






This is class VII. There are only 37 of them in this classroom. They are considerably more mature and wiser. I enjoy teaching this class.

Class III students during lunch time. They are standing on the area in between the three main buildings. This space is used for assembly each and every morning.




Lunchtime students. Note the hills in the background. Yes, I am in the Himalayas.


More students after lunch. The building behind these students houses the science lab on the ground floor and the library on the top floor, or at least that is what they call it.





Om Mani Padme Hum carved into a rock at Tango Monastery. Today was a holiday, Lord Buddha's First Sermon, so a friend and I went to Tango. This is the mantra that people chant while walking or sitting and praying. One translation of this is: in dependence on the practice of a path which is an invisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.



This is Tango. It is not only a monastery but also a Buddhist College. As with most monasteries, they are located away from towns in order to allow for focus on the teachings of Buddha. This monastery is home to a famous reincarnate, however, I have forgotten which one. I was able to see him today while some of the monks were chanting. He is about 17 years old and was recognized as a reincarnate when he was only 4. Hopefully, I will come back here before I leave, and I will be able to be blessed by him.



The true King of the Monastery.


I still can't believe that he doesn't fall from up there!



In this picture there are 2 small buildings. I did not travel down to them, but I believe them to be a meditation hut (the top one) and a small house.



Close up of the two small building. Note that they are built into the existing rock wall.



This picture is very unclear. It was taken from the road after I walked down from Tango. In the far bottom right corner, you can see a few people. The blue tarp is just something to give the reader some perspective on how steep the hill was. It was about an hour walk, basically zig zagging all the way up.




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On the rock coming down from Tango. I am guessing that it reads Welcome to Tango Monastery and Buddhist College, but since I cannot read this script, I am only guessing.

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