It was really great having Nick here. It illuminated
some of the ways I’ve changed, but it also helped me to see Bhutan through new
eyes again. Of course he was seeing everything for the first time and that reminded me how special this place is. But it also left me feeling quite
homesick when he left. His presence here was a reminder of the community of
people who love me from back home and it reminded me how much I miss those
people.
The most special part for me was having him come to my classes. My students were SO excited. He gave them mini tubes of toothpaste and they told him they would "eat it like chocolate." To which Nick became very concerned because apparently that can actually be really dangerous. My kids were amazed at how "long" Nick is and asked why he has long hair because "long hair doesn't suit boys." Needless to say, almost everything about Nick was completely new for them and they loved it. They are still showing off their notebooks where they got his signature.
Luckily, this week after Nick left was the literary festival at school. As
the primary coordinator, I wasn’t left very much time to mope around and feel
homesick. Basically the literary festival is a week long program where normal
classes are shortened and everyday is ended with a literary program ranging
from reading sight words for younger students to debates and dramatizations for
older students.
My class four students were signed up for story telling.
They all wrote their own stories and we practiced the art of story telling for
about two weeks before the festival. Our main goal was for them to put feeling
in their voice. A couple students picked that up fairly quickly. But for many,
it was a first attempt and they didn’t quite understand where to put the
inflection. For example most went something like this, “Pema and Dorji WENT to punakhaaaaa forthefootballmatch and they
won. THEY felt happy and told their parentssssss.” But it didn’t matter, I was
very proud of them all the same.
On a different note, this week I decided to
write down strange thoughts as I had them throughout the week. Going
back and reading them all together makes everything sounds bad and sad and
dirty. But it’s not! In the moment things don't seem so dirty:
- I wonder how long I can let this mold grow
before it becomes a problem?
- Is living in a room with a moldy ceiling
dangerous for my health?
- I miss my friends.
- I wonder how much of what I say goes completely
over my students’ heads?
- I thought the rains ended in September?
- I’ll leave this cobweb because it makes a good
fly catcher.
- How many more days can I go without a shower?
- I should wake up early for a run.
- Why do I keep setting my alarm to wake up early
when I know I will wake up to rain?
- How long was that leech on my foot?
- I feel really guilty about throwing this leech
over my balcony. Hopefully it survives and lives out its life down in the
garden.
- I am so tired.
- So much inflection in so many wrong places.
- I wonder what is in my water that gives me a
rash?
- This ema datsi is going to give me diarrhea.
- This samosa is going to give me diarrhea.
- Could this rice possibly give me diarrhea?
- These mushrooms are definitely going to give me
diarrhea.
- I wonder how unhealthy my body is right now from
so much diarrhea.
- Why is this the third time in one week that I’ve
come home to a flooded room?
- I am the hairiest person in Bhutan.
- I wish Nick was still here.
- Too much water on the floor, not enough water in
the taps.
I sound like a dirty person. But I’m not. Not really anyway. Most of this doesn’t get
me down at all anymore. During Nick’s visit it became clear that either dental
school has turned him into a bit of a germaphobe or I’m actually just really
unhygienic. I’d guess it’s a little bit
of both. Regardless, I take it as it
comes and most of it doesn’t bug me. I had a leech come out of my tap a couple
weeks ago and I actually started laughing. A few months ago I probably wouldn’t
have turned my tap back on for at least a week out of fear. But things are
different now, in a good way.
Another thought I just had: I probably shouldn’t say
diarrhea five (now six) different times in this post. But here we are.
(pics of Nick's visit below \/ \/ )
