Nirvana at Nimalung

Today it is a public holiday in Bhutan to celebrate Buddha's Parinirvana - the anniversary of his death and entrance into complete nirvana. As the principal said at school yesterday it is a holy day, not just a holiday,  and all students were encouraged to visit one of the many nearby monasteries.

Bob helped one of the Class 9 boys with ideas to improve his science exhibit for the recent competition and so Tshewang enthusiastically invited us all to join Class 9B for their day trip to Nimalung Monastery and the picnic that followed.

Bob with Sonam Dorji, Tshewang and Dema Yangchen - our hosts for the day

The students were up very early to visit Chumey Pong Monastery on the hill behind our house - we watched them climb the hill as we ate breakfast. They then walked the 7km to Nimalung and we timed it very nicely that our taxi arrived there just as they did. I would love to have done the walk with them - up the hill through the pine forests which smelled irresistably fresh, passing occassional farm homes, surrounded by pristine mountain beauty, but we accept our limitations travelling with two little boys!

In one word, the weather today was glorious! We haven't had such a hot, sunny day since we've lived here. It was one of those days that the blue of the sky and the green of the trees and the bright colours of the girls' kiras just sparkled and radiated happiness. In every direction I looked I was just awed by the natural beauty and also at how the monastery and everything else in my field of vision was stunning. I took many photos, but of course they can never capture the 360 degree panorama of beauty all around.

Entrance gate to Nimalung Monastery.

Entering the temple.

Remy in his gho, soon after an Ama came and fixed his gho which I never do up tight enough.

We all sat down with Lopen Thinley to meditate.

At the start of the day Remy was just warming up to all the students, but by the end he was playing with all of them.

 

I felt thoroughly blessed to be here today, to have the opportunity to be invited to share the day with these mature, friendly and welcoming students. Their home-class teacher is Lopen Thinley Norbu, a monk, and recently we have developed a friendship based around discussing Buddhism, making friendly jokes, doodling during meetings, and helping him with his English. Like many Buddhist monks, he has a jolly sense of humour a huge smile, and it was wonderful to be able to have a guide to explain the various statues in the temple and generally talk to about the significance of today.

The feeling remained with me throughout the day that whatever difficulties I have faced so far this year, are more than made up for by days like today where we experience the very best of Bhutanese culture - hospitality, generosity and friendship. I actually remember reading the blog of one of last year's BCF teachers, Vicky,  who accompanied her class on their picnic, and dreaming of having a similar experience, and here we are!

The day had a relaxed pace: we spent some time at the monastery, visiting the two temples there and making offerings. Bob and I were given butter lamps to light in one smaller temple. I remember from years ago in India that when one offers light to the Buddha, you can imagine offering all the light in the world - I picture thousands of butterlamps, just as I saw years ago in Bodhgaya (where the Buddha was enlightened) and also wish for the light of wisdom to be lit in the minds of all beings. The feeling of peace that comes with those thoughts is wonderful.

We were invited to have tea and snacks at the monastery, before walking with the students just a little way up the road to a large cleared hillside. It was scorching hot in the sun - and dressed as we were in full kiras and ghos, it was uncomfortably hot. The students leisurely set to work to cook food for the picnic. They had carried all the ingredients and drinks up the hill, and borrowed large pots from the monastery. The boys made a fire while the girls prepared the vegetables for cooking, and tea was made and biscuits and chips shared.

Crowding under an umbrella to peel potatoes (and read a text message!)

Chopping onions, tomatoes, potatoes and spinach for the kewa-datsi.

A huge pot of rice to feed the crowd.

More wild strawberries!

The girls wore their bright and colourful kiras - I love the golden taego!

 Lopen Thinley found quiet moments to meditate and chant while lunch was prepared.

 

It was scorching hot in the sun, but the water in the stream was icy cold, felt like my feet were freezing to iceblocks!

 

 

 

 

I love the way that Bhutanese picnics and social events flow - I love how tea and biscuits are offered first and enjoyed while the meal is prepared - and I said to Bob that I would love to have a Bhutanese style party for friends when we get home.

We went hunting for wild strawberries up on the hill, and joined in with some Bhutanese traditional dancing while the lunch was cooking. We also did the hokey pokey, heads shoulders knees and toes (in English and Dzongkha) and rounded off with the heel and toe polka! No one seemed to be a hurry at all, and the students needed no guidance in executing the preparation of a meal to feed more than 30. They worked together without any conflict, boys and girls interacting in a very natural and mature way. It was a pleasure to watch!

After two serves of lunch, we called a taxi to come and collect us as the boys were tired, but started walking to meet the taxi on the way. Remy and Xavier were carried or entertained most of the way, and Bob and I had a chance to enjoy the mountain air and scenery.

It had been a very special day, and I am really looking forward to return to Nimalung in only three weeks time for the three day Tsechu (festival) that will be held there and that we get a holiday from school for. Happy days!

 

Friday Afternoon Art

By the time we get to Friday afternoon, I think most of us are ready to wind down. According to my timetable we have Library and English time after lunch on Friday- so I think of an artistic endeavour to end the week on a creative note. 

So that no-one can accuse me of not giving my kids their full dose of English for the week (believe me when I say I really feel like I fill their little brains with English at every opportunity) I find a way to make a loose association between the art and the English text we are working on at the moment.

We are coming to the end of a two-week block working with a play version of Snow White, so I asked the kids to paint their favourite part of the story. The kids have loved it so much - and I am blown away that the majority of the students have been able to read and comprehend the text and participate in a couple of sessions where we acted out the play. Some are natural actors, and one of my sweetest students relished the role of the evil Queen! It was interesting that the book had a couple of Bhutanese twists to the story - before the Queen killed Snow White with the poisoned apple she sold her a kera (kira belt) and tied it so tight around her waist Snow White fell unconscious! Also the seven dwarfs were not miners as I remember, but worked in the fields, and they checked that Snow White knew how to cook 'rice and meat' before they let her move in.

After drawing pictures from Snow White, they moved on to whatever they wanted to paint, and bit by bit, children from all the lower classes joined us until we had about 100 kids spread out on the grass painting!

Some of the boys love drawing ships - this one is beautiful - out on the sea, with a Bhutanese flag of course!

What a lovely place to paint - out in the school grounds.

 

 

I really loved Xavier's picture, with mountains topped with flags (everything in Bhutan seems to have a flag on the top) and a house with smoke coming out the chimney - a very Bhutanese landscape.

 

Speaking of fairy tales, our first full-school reading period was a success this week - with boxes of books taken to every class (including the year 9s and 10s) from the primary school library for a half hour reading session after school Thursday. I was a bit concerned that the books I supplied to the Class 9s and 10s wouldn't hold their interest - they were mainly children's picture books. But when I asked students leaving school in the rain afterwards, they were very enthusiastic and said they found the books really interesting. I was told that many of these students did not get to experience the joy and wonder of picture story books when they were children as the library was not operational then, and so they are making up for it now.

For both the art and the reading ventures again we are so grateful to friends and family who have made all sorts of contributions. Thank you cards have been made and we'll send them as soon as possible.

 

Strawberry Fields

Our children have loved the Bhutanese children's story Membar Tsho - The Flaming Lake, by Kunzang Choden. It tells the story of Pema Lingpa, a revered saint from our region, Bumthang, who lived 500 years ago. He was a 'terton' or discoverer of hidden treasures, and his most famous discovery was at Membar Tsho where he leaped into the lake with a flaming torch in his hand, and emerged with the torch still lit, having recovered a Buddha statue and a skull.

For those visiting Membar Tsho it is said that those 'pure of heart and with unwavering faith' will see images of prayer flags, chortens, temples or Buddhas deep in the water of the lake. Of course, when we visit, Xavier and Remy exclaim loudly about all the Buddhist images they see in the water! But being children, they are pure of heart, so who knows?!

We visited Membar Tsho for the second time yesterday, taking along our friends from Thimphu, one of only a couple of other foreign families we know of that live in Bhutan. We met them a few months ago, and it was so nice to hear they were heading out our way for a holiday. Our boys were definitely in need for a play with some English-speaking kids and it was really lovely to listen to their conversations.

We recently hid a geocache here in Chumey, and when I was on the geocaching website (www.geocaching.com) I found out that there was a geocache (which is a modern-day hidden treasure!) hidden at Membar Tsho. It was fun to introduce our friends to this new passtime, especially as I know there are now a few more hidden around the country to find.

Carefully peering down into the lake.

 

Tiny 'tsa tsas' - little chortens - are made by piglrims and placed in all the caves and crevices in and around Membartsho.

Kids on the bridge - the black spots on the photo are flies - they were swarming around the whole area - unbelievable!

This is around where we found the geocache.

 

We had a lovely picnic high on the hill above the lake, under hundreds of prayer flags. After lunch the kids played with sticks and leaves and made a 'house' while the grown-ups chatted.

Our next stop was at a 'Recreation Reserve' that we had heard about but not been before. We had no expectations, and it was surprising that on a Sunday afternoon there were no other people in sight. We drove down towards the river and stopped in an open field - full of wild strawberries! The ground was covered in them, and you can imagine how wonderous this was for five little children!

 

We spent hours there, discovering new patches of the ripe and plump strawberries and explored in and around the trees. We ate and ate and ate the strawberries and then picked enough to fill a few containers full to bring home! The adults took turns going for a short hike down to the river - the way was very steep and over large rocks at the bottom - but the feeling of being down at the river was so lovely - it was my first 'wilderness' experience in Bhutan - wild beautiful nature, quiet and alone.

We returned to Chamkar and I raced about buying our two weeks worth of fruit, vegetables and groceries while Bob took everyone to check out the new cafe in town, Cafe Perks. I was very skeptical of the sign that said 'Real Coffee' , but when I finally caught up with them, it was like being in the Ambient Cafe in Thimphu, almost! It is very exciting that we have a little bit of city cafe culture right here on our doorstep and I am really looking forward to return and try out some things on the menu. Between us we tried the smoothies, coffee and tea and all were great!

The taxi driver showed me a new veg shop - the closest thing to a supermarket out in this neck of the woods!

We're hoping to see our friends as they return to Thimphu later in the week, and we all felt like it had been a wonderful day. Xavier cried and blew a kiss to the girls out the taxi window as we drove away and yelled 'Love Ya!'.

When we got home, our neighbour had picked us a huge bowl full of lettuce from her garden - I made the first salad that we've had in Bhutan for dinner - delicious!