Update: Day 22

We spent our first full day at Pelkhil Higher Secondary School today, and it was one of the most exciting schools we have been able to visit. We joined the morning assembly where the principal let us introduce ourselves to the student body and staff of the school. Following the assembly we joined two grade twelve classes in one group of two and another group of three. Here we were able to interact with the students who, like all Bhutanese we have met, were incredibly friendly and curious about us and the U.S. The students were closer to our age and had much more exposure to American culture than students in rural schools like Tashidingkha therefore making it easier to break the ice and find similarities between ourselves. They were fans of many mainstream music artists such as Lil' Wayne, Avicii, and One Direction. During the students classes we realized they were not as attentive as students in other schools have been. The obvious reason for this was that the teachers simply did not motivate the students enough, did not try to get the students engaged in the lesson. Instead they would simply recite a few factoids about their topic and then proceed to give students a series of questions. There were some teachers that would actually attempt to educate the students but for the most part it was the way I just described: mediocre. What we did like, however, were the after school sports. It just so happened that they were preparing for some form of sports meet this Saturday and were having trials for different events. Today's consisted of the long jump, shot-put throw, and tug of war. After learning that I do jumping events for Weston High Schools Track and Field team the students were able to get me to try the long jump with them. As soon as we got to the fields it was easy to see how athletically talented these kids really were, which would also explain the multiple trophies they have in the principles office. Talking to them, we learned that two kids in the school actually played professional soccer in Bhutan: one was a starter for a National Team as well as Yeedzin F.C. and the other was a back-up goalie for Yeedzin. It was odd to think about considering we paid to see them play just two days earlier. After participating in a few athletics we sat down to enjoy our last hour with the students of Pelkhil, talking about ourselves and the hope to see each other one day again. Pelkhil will surely be a school we remember long after the end of the trip despite the fact it was only one day.