It's the start of a five day holiday! And I'm not sure if I should be annoyed or happy that my cold waited til now to go from mild sniffles and headaches to full on Jane Bennet. The plus side is that I'm not missing out on any school but the minus is that I'm missing out on my holiday! The Gasa tsechu is on and I've never seen a tsechu. Fortunately, the celebrations go on for a few days so hopefully I'll be able to make there eventually.

I'm afraid I was cruel enough to give my students homework over the holiday but it was just reading so that's not so bad right? Lots of Enid Blyton and Goosebumps books got checked out from the library. I should give points to the students who checked out the slightly-easier-English versions of Macbeth and Pride and Prejudice. I'll just have to wait and see what the book reports turn out like. The report I'm most looking forward to is the young man's who chose the simplified Little Women.

We've been having a bit of a whirl of gaiety here recently. In about a week we had 2 staff farewell parties, the welcome night which included talent show-like performances from the students and a baby shower. My chilli tolerance is still much too low so unfortunately I wasn't able to eat that much at the celebrations but I was given a lot of Bhutanese wine, which is sweet like dessert wine and a beverage which I think contained rice, egg and alcohol. Maybe some other stuff too.

The two staff members who left us are Dawa and Zam. Dawa was one of the very first teachers I met up here and is responsible for me not starving to death because he's the one who hooked up my gas cooker. He's also the one who drove me to Thimphu and back on the snowy adventure drive. Zam is responsible for me being properly dressed on many days. Poor Kencho, the caregiver now has the job of making sure my kira doesn't fall off. I am getting slowly better at tying it though. Maybe after five years I'll be able to do it without any help at all. I can do three and five lead turk's heads but tying a kira properly will take more practice.

Sadly there wasn't time for a picture of Zam doing a Tim-Tam Slam.  Next time.

I managed to get some photos of the Welcome Nite show but the majority of photos taken with my camera that night were taken by this master photographer.

She kinda grabbed my camera and then went nuts with it

She seems to be playing with angles here

Perhaps using empty space and movement for effect?

I really have no idea what she was thinking with this shot

I'm afraid I took this one

Well, I've been a bit lazy when it comes to finishing this blog and it is now the last day of the holiday. Most of the students, or possibly all, have returned so the peace and quiet has disappeared. Tomorrow I get to find out just how many of them did any reading over the break. I'm 32 pages away from the end of Robinson Crusoe and promise to finish it before tomorrow. I'm trying to set a good example for the kids and once I've finished RC, that will make third new book that I've read since arriving as I'm not counting re-reads. The other two are The Graveyard Book and The Jungle Book. Many of the creatures in The Jungle Book can be found in Gasa or other areas of Bhutan. Sadly Kaa, who I found out was horribly slandered in the Disney version, is nowhere near here but Baloo, Shere Khan, Bagheera, Tabaqui and Akela are all theoretically near by. I promise not to get eaten by any of them. I have no idea what my next book will be but I've promised the students that I'll always be reading a new book so I'd better find something in the library. I refuse to read any of the Mary-Kate and Ashley collection though.

On Thursday, after spending two day wrapped up in every blanket I have to try and get rid of my cold, I managed to make it to the Gasa Tsechu. I woke up at about 5 because Kencho was away which meant I had to put my kira on by myself. And since I was going to the dzong I had to wear the two-piece blouse that goes with the kira instead of the cheater's one piece. I actually find the two-piece blouse harder than the kira to put on so it was a bit a stressful morning. It was also pouring with rain and I was a bit nervous that Sonam Drukpa, the other teacher who wanted to go, would say that the weather would make it too difficult to go. Fortunately, this was not the case and we headed up to Gasa thanks to Pema Tendar who gave us a lift before he headed to Punakha. It took a little while to get there and sadly the weather showed no signs of improving. 

The view when we arrived

The view later in the day

 

 After getting there we had breakfast with some monks and once again I felt terrible because I wasn't able to finish the enormous bowl of rice of was given but luckily it wasn't too spicy.

The performances of the day included many dances done by masked dancers which I didn't really understand but they were still quite entertaining, non-masked dances done by both professional and local, amateur dancers and songs performed by women from Laya with their impressive hats. I was very glad that Sonam and I were able to sit in the undercover area as the rain never really stopped except when it started to hail. It was freezing. I was waiting for the snow to come but happily it never arrived. I felt really sorry for the masked dancers as they were dancing barefoot on cobblestones. I hope their feet weren't too frostbitten by the end of the day.

You can't really tell but they have skull masks on

You also can't see but this guy has dragons embroidered on his robe.

Not the friendliest deer I've seen but certainly the most impressive

My proudest moment was when I managed to eat the lunch, which was really good, without coughing once even though ema datsi was one of the dishes! I also managed to eat every bite without feeling too full. And I had another cup of butter tea which I actually enjoyed. I recommend Gasa butter tea above Thimphu butter tea. Sorry Thimphu but it was just a bit too salty for my liking!

The most exciting bit of the day was actually the drive home. I think we left at about 8 bells of the first dog (I love my daddy) after a quick afternoon tea of cheese momos. I suggest people try and find momos in whichever country you happen you live in. They're kind of wontony, dumplingy things and really delicious. Anyway, Sonam Drukpa managed to get us a lift in a pick-up truck. Half the population of Gasa also got a lift in the same truck, almost. There were 5 people, 2 adults, 3 children, in the front seat including the driver, 3 in the back seat and maybe 5 or 6 in the tray. I was quite prepared to ride in the tray but the driver insisted that I sit in the back seat. That makes 4 now in the back seat for those of you who are counting. I felt really bad that Sonam was in the tray but was relieved that he accepted my offer of my chuckleberry wet-weather coat. The driver was more confident than other drivers and I felt for the people in the tray. Especially when we went over a bump or a rougher patch as the driver didn't slow down as much as I would have liked and it was bumpy enough sitting a soft seat cushion so I'm guessing it was less than comfortable for the tray-ers.

The person sitting next to me for the journey was an elderly lady who spoke no English. This did not stop her from trying to talk to me. I think she was asking questions and I tried to answer by saying things like 'Arwen, Australia, Lopen' and 'Bjishong' but I have absolutely no idea if anything that I said was helpful. At least I tried! I also smiled and looked apologetic a lot. At one point I even sang quietly as it was not the most comfortable ride and singing took my mind off it. I don't know why but the sea shanty South Australia was the first song to come to mind.

When we got back to the school, I was even more relieved that Sonam took my coat as the back of it was completely covered in mud. Yes, I also felt even more guilty that I got a cab seat. I think we were both quite happy to see that the power was on so heaters would be working. I was also very happy that I own three hot water bottles. I only used two but it was nice to know there was another one if I needed it. I thought of the whole day a bit like Nancy thought of the trip to the Pole. Yes, a pleasant, sunny day watching the tsechu and a calm drive there and back would have been nice but this way we got the enjoyment of the tsechu but the whole day was a much more memorable and exciting experience.

I also thought of T'eo a lot as many of the masked dancers had dragons on their costumes. Have I mentioned that I miss him?

Hug to All!

Additional on the 26/03/13 – Finished Robinson Crusoe on Sunday and will write a book report for my students soon. Have now started on Sherlock Holmes. Also had a very successful dinner last night of vegetarian shepherd's pie, or lentil-herd's pie, I guess. It must be much easier to be a lentil-herd than a shepherd. The lentils probably don't get crag-fast as often.

Anyway, just make really tomato-y daal with onions, chillies, cumin, ground coriander seeds and turmeric (I have no idea how much spice I put in) and then make mashed potatoes. I didn't have any butter so I put cheese in instead and I wish I had stated doing that ages ago. I think I'm going to gain a lot of weight thanks to that discovery. I couldn't bake it properly so I just put it into pie formation on the plate. Of course, I should have thought to make this twelve days ago but better late than never!