The First Day of School and Something Interesting at the Chorten

Today was the first day of school for the students though I have been their twice before for staff meetings. Here are some bright young scholars making their way:

Trashiyangtse is wet with a thousand tiny rivers so although my walk to school is only five minutes I cross three bridges. This is the first, largest, and fanciest:

Instead of one big building as in Canada, Trashiyangtse Lower Secondary School is a campus with about twenty small buildings on it. There are two classrooms to a building:

There are also varied common areas including a small auditorium for debates, sports fields, and this playground:

When the buzzer sounded, all the students gathered for the morning assembly. They were inspired for the year ahead, introduced to the new teachers, and divided into their homeroom sections:

My homeroom is Class 6C. Here they are in our empty classroom before they ("they" as in the students themselves) filled it with tables and chairs:

Here is the classroom after they completed their task:

Here is the blackboard. Chalk will be a big adjustment for me. The old stools in the lefthand corner of the photo will be taken away before regular teaching begins after His Majesty's Birth Anniversary:

My favourite part of the day was working with two of my fellow teachers to create the school timetable. It was a mighty logic puzzle but we conquered it with enthusiasm and efficiency:

School did not continue into the afternoon because there was a special ceremony going on at Chorten Cora, the temple with the eyes that you will recognize from the header bar of this blog. Many pilgrims from other parts of Bhutan were there today to recieve a blessing. William and I caught a glimpse of the goings on:



I will close this entry with a clarifying factoid. The town where I live is Trashiyangtse, Trashiyangtse like Quebec City is Quebec, Quebec. To avoid confusion the town is usually instead referred to by the name of the temple. I live in Chorten Cora. And I love it here.