In our second day at Tenzin Higher Secondary School, we
arrived at approximately 8:30am in our van to the parking lot that sat on a
dirt plateau below the school and, to our surprise, there were no students
lined up for the morning assembly. Instead they paced around the campus,
leaning on rocks and the brick walls of each classroom conversing with one
another. Our assumption was that we had missed prayer all together, however as
the principle and his assistant approached us with hands extended, they
explained to us that we were in fact on time and that there was no morning
prayer today. This came as a somewhat pleasant shock to us as (although morning
prayer is interesting) it can become a bit redundant (for the students as well).
At this point, we had a quick cup of tea in the staff room before finally moving
off to the classrooms to begin our school day. As a group, we had far greater
success in the classroom today than on our first day as students began to ask
more questions and more actively try to interact with us. Soon, each of us had
found a group of friends and would walk around with them and talk to them
throughout the day. The direct result of this new level of interaction was a
new, more interactive, approach to our work in Tenzin. Julian held multiple
lectures and Q&A sessions throughout the course of the day while Kei and
Kuba organized a mock debate over the issue of arranged marriage. We felt more
comfortable in Tenzin than any of the other places we visited, which sparked
the question of whether that new sense of comfort was a result of experience that
we gained in the schools we visited or that the students were just more
friendly and outgoing. In any case, as the end of the day came, we slipped into
our sneakers and running shorts for yet another basketball game, this time with
Tenzin’s school team. Considering that none of us are basketball players and
that we have yet to win one game in Bhutan, our hope was simply to compete.
Unfortunately, as we saw the students warm up, we realized that such
aspirations we farfetched and almost indefinitely unlikely. As the ball was
thrown into the air to commence the game, we watched one Tenzin student swipe the
ball out of the air and dribble it effortlessly down the court for a layup. We turned
and looked at each other, shaking our heads, and by the end of the first
quarter, we were down 14-0. Eventually we were left to the mercy of the Tenzin
basketball team as we unanimously decided to reorganize teams. After an hour more of casual play, it
was time to leave the school and as we apologized to our friends for a poor
basketball performance, we hugged them goodbye and slipped into the van,
watching as our new community and family of friends waved to us in the
distance.
