It's goodbye to Pigeon Post and
hello to Wind in the Willows.
Sadly I'll be leaving Gasa with its over-abundance of teachers and
I'll be south to Punakha to a school which could use a few more. The
school is in Jibjokha (people who make Flying Jibjokha jokes will
probably get hit) which is about 14 kilometres from Punakha dzong.
My new place is in an absolute bustling metropolis compared with
Bjishong with about half a dozen shops, which apparently all sell the
same things but it's still nice to have a choice of where to go, and
I can see buildings from my window which have nothing to do with the
school! It's Wind in the Willows because
the Phochu river flows almost right outside my door. It flows a
little bit fast to mess about in a boat on but it's still very
pretty. I could also say it's Coot Club as
the white-bellied heron which is sadly endangered lives in the area.
Nobody shall be mooring in the wrong place or collecting eggs as long
as I'm there.
Since
all my things are still up in Gasa and it's Friday today (the 26th
of April in case I can't post for a while) I may not be able to start
on Monday but hopefully I'll find a vehicle that can break the sound
barrier. I'll also have to make sure the teachers look after Argus
as I doubt he'd like the move. And the students too, of course.
There won't be any takin about but because it gets much hotter here
there are many more reptiles. T'eo is not to get jealous! I will
try and get photos so he can see his new subjects. I promise I'll be
very careful if I take photos of friends of Eve and Padraig. Mom
won't see them unless she wants to.
Time
has passed and it's now the 6th
of May. I'm having difficulty posting because of the lack of
internet. I'm sure I'll figure something out. Would saving my
entries on a usb and then posting it to Australia for my parents to
post be too extreme? Possibly. I've started at Jibjokha, which is a
beautiful little school just up the hill from where I live
(Samdinkha). Because it's so soon before the holidays the principal
and teachers have decided not to change the timetable until next
semester and I'll co-teach with the current teachers until then.
Lucky for me, the students are about where years 7 and 8 at Bjishong
are so I don't drastically need to change my plans.
No
dogs have adopted me but my neighbours have an adorable cat who
behaved just as a cat should. You know, demanding food and assuming
everything is theirs. I asked what his name was but, just like the
cat in Coraline, he
doesn't seem to need one. He seems to have accepted me as one of his
slaves which is nice. The other day I treated myself to some chips
and decided to enjoy them on the bench outside my place. The second
I opened the bag he was at my side probably wondering why it was
taking me so long to feed him some. He didn't quite get half but I'm
afraid he did get a fair few. I'm not sure if I can cope with him
not having a name though. At the moment I'm just calling him 'Jili'
as that's Dzongkha for 'Cat.' It doesn't seem to quite work though.
My house is coming
together quite nicely. It has almost no furniture but I have finally
got curtains for my bedroom. I promise to have some for the guest
room by the time Dad comes to visit. And I have a resident gecko!
He or she is a darling little thing and comes out most nights.
Really I have no idea if it's the same one I keep seeing or if there
are a few but I've just seen one at a time.
I'm loving the
school as well, though I still miss my old students. My first day
was the 2nd of May which was Teachers' Day and I can
heartily recommend starting at a new school on that day. There were
no classes and it was a day for students to spoil their teachers.
First we got treated to a talent show with lots of singing and
dancing from many students. It was very impressive and when one
student sang I thought he was miming until he stumbled over the
words. The students had also decorated the hall with posters which
had quotes about how lovely teachers are. My favourite one was one
that with less than perfect spelling where the writer had run out of
room. It read
LONG LIVE OUR TEACH
AR
I chose to read it
as the piratical statement, 'Long live our teach! Arrrrr!' Though
that may not be what the writer intended.
After the talent
show, year 7 treated the teachers to morning tea but I suspect they
were also trying to fatten us up given the number of biscuits they
insisted we eat. We were also given lunch but, despite my best
efforts, I just couldn't finish it due to my wimpiness when it comes
to chillies. Possibly the most impressive thing about the day was
that it was fully organised by the students themselves without any
help from teachers. Take note Australian students!
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