Update: Day 29

We watched one last time as Bhutan's massive Himalayan Mountains sunk beneath us as we rose above the kingdom that we had just spent one month experiencing, working in, and learning from. Although we could not entirely suppress the sadness we felt in leaving all the friends that we had made behind, we left with a sense of fulfillment under the basis that we had taken part in, and helped lay the foundation for, the first exchange program between Bhutan and the US. Through the many classes across Bhutan that we were fortunate enough to interact with and teach, we feel that we have left a lasting impact and have succeeded in our goal of exchanging our ideas and beliefs with the Bhutanese students through our work in their schools. Beyond this, Bhutan presented us with entirely foreign and unique belief system and has impacted the way we view the world as well as our communities local, national, and international. In the coming months, we will be working to bring the first group of students from Bhutan to the US through the exchange program, which we hope will prove to be a systematic means of exposing students from completely different cultural backgrounds to the ideas of another country.

Update: Day 28

We spent our final day resting for our flight back to the US. Most of us slept in and ate a late breakfast at our hotel. For lunch, we went to an Internet cafe and did a little work on the blog. Some of us bought gifts for our friends and family, in Paro. We returned to the hotel to pack our bags for an early flight out of Bhutan. After packing, we played volleyball with the hotel employees. Tonight, we begin preparing ourselves for adjustment to US timezones. We've come full circle, returning to the place we began our journey. It's hard for us to believe that we landed here a month ago. We're all eager to go home and see our family and friends but we will miss the sprawling mountains of the land of the thunder dragon. We hope to revisit our Bhutanese friends one day.

Update: Day 27

Today, we climbed the Tiger's Nest. The Tiger's Nest is a temple that is treacherously built into the side of a mountain. We had to wake up at five to beat the sun. The whole hike was about two hours. On our way up the mountain we got great views of Paro below us. The trail was very steep and fresh mud covered the trail because of heavy rain the previous night. When you finally reach the top, you get an amazing view of the temple and the trail below. To reach the temple, you must climb down a staircase that is no more than two feet wide. On your sides are 300 foot drops down to the forest below. Our guide told us that we had to move quickly because rocks would fall from the cliffs above us. Next to the Tiger's Nest was an impressive waterfall that sprayed you with mist as you passed underneath it. Upon reaching the temple we were denied entry into the temple. Since we knew it would be hot during the hike, we all wore shorts. Unfortunately, to enter the temple, you need pants. We ended having to put on two pairs of pants and entering the temple in pairs. Photography was prohibited in the temple so we were required to leave all electronics behind. Inside the temple, there were 9 shrines to pray in. The craftsmanship of the shrines was absolutely amazing. Many monks and Bhutanese nationals prayed at the shrines. Most of us were quite unfamiliar with the prayers and had no idea what to do. Students from Tenzin HSS had joined us on the hike that day and explained the prayers to us. Some had brought food as a gift to their god. We visited the shrines and then began our descent. The descent was obviously much quicker than the ascent. We ended getting down in about an hour. By the end of the hike we were all very tired and spent the rest of the day resting at our hotel.

Update: Day 26

We drove up Tenzin Higher Secondary School’s bumpy dirt road for our final day (a half day) at the school. With only three periods, we immediately jumped into classroom with the students in an attempt to get as much interaction with them as possible in the remaining time we had. Throughout the course of the day, we received requests from students to come talk in their classroom and, as a result, attempted to go into as many additional classes as possible in the limited time we had. Although we did not plan specific material to discuss, today proved to be one our most effective day in Tenzin as the students asked hours and hours worth of questions about issues or ideas that they were especially interested in. Such questions ranged from politics to music to girls and through this, we were able to gain insight into the students’ character and culture and understand a bit more about where their often-romanticized conceptions of the US are derived from. The first part of our day was a blur as we moved from class to class, constantly looking at new set of faces and listening to new voices until the lunch bell, which marked the end of the school day, ended academic work for the day. After a quick meal with some friends from grades 11 and 12, we walked to the school auditorium building where a speech competition was being held. Throughout our stay, the Tenzin principle had been very keen on placing us into various school programs (like the Tenzin Idol and Basketball game) so it came as no surprise to us when he asked for two volunteers from our group to join the competition. Ultimately, Kei and Julian chose to participate, soon finding themselves on stage looking in front of the entire school’s student and staff body. In this speech competition, students would randomly pick a number out of thirteen (number of participants) corresponding to their turn. Immediately after their number is called upon, they will be given a topic to speak on followed by one minute of preparation and three minutes of talking. After being randomly assigned their numbers, Kei was chosen to go first and Julian eighth. As their turns approached, their stomachs churned as they sat in anticipation, hoping that the topic they were given was significant enough to be discussed for three minutes. Ultimately, Kei was given the question of ‘How does education shape our character’ while Julian was asked ‘What do you think is the best school in your country’.  By the end of the completion, and numerous rounds of applause (and occasionally laughs) later, Julian won the speech competition (coming in first place), while Kei came in second. It was an invigorating experience for both the crowd and the participants as well as an incredibly opportunity to insert ourselves into the school in a way that we had not anywhere else. After the speech competition ended, we were given six copies of the school’s list of rules as a gift and were met by flattering roars of applause as we stepped foot outside the school, bidding farewell to our friends, wishing them the best, and thanking them for the unmatched hospitality that we received on our visit.

Update: Day 25

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.

Update: Day 24

At the uncomfortably early hour of 5:00am, we rolled out of bed and scrambled to finish packing our belongings for the road home. With barely any breakfast, we left for Tenzin Higher Secondary School in Paro at around 6:00am. We will be spending the remainder of our trip in Paro, going to classes in Tenzin on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and hiking up to Bhutan's famous Tiger's Nest on Sunday. So as we drove by the gate to Thimphu one more time, we looked back into the city, thinking of all the incredible experiences and people that we were leaving behind. Needless to say, it was a quiet car ride to Paro. Some of us slept while others simply stared out the window as we swerved around mountain after mountain during this early morning drive. We arrived at Tenzin in time for morning prayer and were greeted by the principle, vice Principle, and many former students of Tashidingkha (many students from Tashidingkha come to Tenzin after they graduate) that Julian had met in the previous year. The facilities were well kept and nicely designed, with traditional Bhutanese orange and red colors. As the students lined up single file for prayer, we were greeted by possibly the warmest reception we have received from any school on this trip. We shook hands with smiling teachers and students alike and discussed the future plans for the Gross National Happiness Exchange Program. Even the morning assembly was given a twist upon our arrival. Instead of a simple prayer to the god of wisdom, the students sang a special school song to greet us, which went on for over ten minutes. The remainder of the morning assembly went as it had in all other schools. The students prayed for a few minutes, the principle gave a quick speech announcing our arrival, and Julian gave a brief talk to the students, introducing our team and discussing the exchange program. Immediately the assembly, we were taken on a tour of the school campus. We were impressed to see that the school was home to numerous cafes (where we sat down to have tea) and a swimming pool and weight room (something no other school had). Although the school certainly felt rural, it seemed like a much more updated and expensive version of Tashidingkha with many more resources (including internet) at its disposal. We sat down for a lunch with the the Tenzin staff and celebrated Indian Independence Day with the large number of Indian teachers at the school. After a few cheers and a couple cups of mango juice, we left the staff lounge to finally go sit in on classes. Each of us were asked to go to a separate class and give a half hour lecture about American culture and how are experience in Bhutan has been thus far. We asked questions to each class about Bhutanese culture, Gross National Happiness, and their time in Tenzin. We found students in Tenzin to be much more responsive than the ones in Tashidingkha as they were far more responsive and eager to interact and participate in classroom discussions. When our lecture time had ended, we were given the opportunity to freely sit in on various classes of our choice, which ranged from English to physics to Buddhist culture. Typically, we would sit in on classes that we were more familiar with and act as a teacher's assistant to help students understand some of the material that they found challenging. For example, in an 11th grade English class (taught by a woman from Mumbai) Julian would often be asked to stand up and explain/re-read a part of a short story to help the students understand it in greater detail. After the school day had ended, we were invited to a school music competition titled the "Tenzin Idol". In the school's gym size auditorium, students would stand on stage and dance/sing to a certain song. The music choices ranged from traditional Bhutanese songs to modern Western hits... or even a combination of the two. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the performances and after all the participants had completed their act, Nathan and Kuba were called upon from the audience to sing a somewhat comical interpretation of "Piano Man" by Billy Joel. Without music (or much vocal training), Kuba and Nathan still managed to gain the roaring applause from their audience and when the winners of the competition were finally announced, we too enjoyed joining the students in their applause. At none of the other schools that we visited did we feel as immersed and part of a community as we did in Tenzin.

Update: Day 23

Today was our last full day in Thimphu and we spent it preparing for a formal speech, which we will be giving the REC in a dinner later this week. Beyond this, we were able to walk around Thimphu and go shopping in stores to buy gifts for our return home. Tomorrow we will be visiting our last school: Tenzin Higher Secondary School in the rural Paro. Wake up will be early, at 5:00am, so that we can make it to the morning prayer assembly at 8:15am. Once again, with a new school comes a completely new perspective and we will update you on exactly what new insight the students of Paro have in addition to descriptions and pictures of our stay.

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.

Update: Day 21

As the school week began again, so too did our rigorous schedule as we visited Pelkhill Higher Secondary School, which marked our first opportunity to interact with students of the same grade level as us (grade 11/12). Still, our day did not begin with prayer the way it had with every other school we visited. Instead, we had the opportunity to attend International Youth Day alongside many government officials (including the education minister himself) and students of various ages. This program, which is funded by Unicef, calls for the youth around the world to voice their opinion about a variety of issues that directly concern them. Today, this revolved around a discussion of the very relevant issue of youth migration. The various students and officials who discussed this issue did so in context with the rising tendency of the Bhutanese youth to migrate form rural Bhutan to the more modernized urban capital city of Thimphu. This trend has amplified the still unresolved issues of unemployment and crime in Bhutan as this increase in population has resulted in a large body of disgruntled, unemployed, and uneducated teens and early adults. Beyond this, issues of drugs, alcoholism, and gang violence have surfaced as a direct result of this movement. Solutions to these problems were discussed in an open discussion with Bhutanese officials (including the mayor of Thimphu) and the many Bhutanese students who sat alertly in the audience. The most common argument was that resources needed to be more equally distributed throughout Bhutan so that the rural Bhutanese youth could actually receive a quality education and have adequate resources and therefore not feel the need to migrate to Thimphu to have these standards. Beyond this, Thimphu, in ironic contrast to the rest of Bhutan, does not have any boarding schools. As a result, students who wish to study in Thimphu are actually forced to live there. We were all extremely interested in this discussion and were left with many questions about what the proper solution to this issue was. While we had no doubt that a better distribution of resources would be helpful in limiting youth migration, some of us felt that there would always be an incurable inclination among teens and young adults to travel to the more lively urban centers of a country. This debate could not have come at a better time as, shortly after the end of this event, we traveled to Pelkhill School, a place with a history of relatively poor education standards and teen violence and substance abuse. Even as we entered the school, we were greeted by a student with eyes that glowed red under obvious intoxication and as we walked through the halls of the school, it became quite clear that we were witnessing yet another Bhutanese perspective. In the classroom itself, it seemed that the general academic disinterest the students exhibited was met with a proportional level of frustration, laziness, and mediocrity by the teachers. We soon learned about the gangs that could be found throughout Thimphu, which came as a surprise to us considering the almost unbalancing level of kindness and generosity that we were met with. Even the students who openly admitted to involving themselves in such activities were very a pleasure to talk with and were, somewhat paradoxically, some of the nicest students we had met up to this point. The question for us then became: how do these students become involved in crime and where is Bhutanese culture in all of it? This is a question that we will be exploring tomorrow, during our first full day at Pelkhill.

Update: Day 20

After a late morning wake-up we were invited, by students we had befriended, to the finals of the Kings Cup, a soccer tournament that had went on for three weeks with various teams from Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and Bhutan competing for the prestigious cup. The finals were played today at 4:00 p.m. with the Bhutanese team Yeedzin F.C. playing against the Nepalese MMC. We arrived to the national stadium almost two hours early as to reserve front row seating for a better view. The seats were less than comfortable as they were simply long concrete slabs but that wasn't an issue until it started raining. Disregarding the weather however, people, mostly supporters of the Bhutanese team, began to show up in hordes decorated in red to show support for their team. Some of the more dedicated fans were covered in red face paint bringing with them drums and other percussion instruments as well as, to our amusement, conch shells in place of South Africa's vuvuzela. Right from kick-off both teams displayed an admirable amount of desire for the trophy. It was exciting to see that kind of effort within the young athletes and the excitement only rose when Yeedzin was able to put the ball in the net with a stellar header in the fourth minute. The energy from the crowd was fantastic. It did, however, dumb down a little when Nepal managed to score late in the first half. During halftime people stood up just to stretch there legs but no one wanted to leave the stadium in fear of the second half beginning without them. Returning to the game the intensity from the players was incredible, even after 45 minutes of continuous running. The game was still level but Yeedzin made the first move yet again, scoring after a little over 20 minutes into the second half. Unfortunately the joy was not long lived as the Nepalese managed a breakaway shortly after that led to a Yeedzin player scoring in his own net. With less then 20 minutes left in the game, Nepal was able to score two more goals on Bhutanese Yeedzin ending the game 4-2 in favor of Nepal. There was some obvious disappointment among the Bhutanese fans but they were proud of their men for making it to the finals in the first place. In the end, everyone had something to celebrate about regardless of which team you backed up. It was an incredible experience with many memorable moments, such as a dog running into the Nepalese goal causing Bhutanese to jump to their feet with cries of "Goal!!!", an experience we will never forget, for it is not often that the opportunity to view a Kings Cup final is presented to kids living in the U.S.