Fun Photos and a Few Reflections

In celebration of having high speed internet, I have decided to post some fun photos. Here is a batch that show just how humorous the use of English language can be.

Downtown Thimphu

I definitely want to get my hair done here!

Mmm Hmm

Yup

Feels Like the Wild West

Not exactly sure what these are...

It was particularly apt that this lady decided to take a rest here.

And now for a few more entertaining photos that did not make it into my initial postings. Given the lack of decent internet, I had to be circumspect in uploading (or trying to upload) photos. Now that we are having a little Christmas vacation back in the USA for a few weeks, I can include the fun ones. Here's Chris's opinion of having to wear a gho (which, by the way, he has only done officially once). He claims that they are too hot in the summer and too chilly in the winter (even though I offered to buy him some woolen tights to wear underneath).

But he looks so good!

Here is an example of a popular shopping item in Thimphu. Don't ask me why--I haven't got a clue. But Batman too gives Superman a run for his money. The little boys in Thimphu just love these.

Oh, I forgot to mention Spiderman!

Here's a new friend I made in the first few weeks. I forgot to ask her name, but I saw her everywhere--albeit in different stunning outfits.

I call her "Sunny."

Here are a couple of well-placed wall murals. Even if we tried, we could never replicate the perfect "timing" of these compilations.

No really, this isn't photo-shopped.

Swimming merrily along

And this little girl cast a knowing eye on our photographic interests.

"These foreigners--what's wrong with them?"

This lady in the market was sampling her own wares.

Mmmmm, delicious.

And this big guy certainly knew what he wanted to eat.

Don't get too close!

Being back in the USA is an odd experience, but one that has proven to be easily assimilated. After all, how hard can it be to get used to being warm inside, eating fresh food, taking a hot shower, and having high speed internet? While I appreciate such things, it is clearer than ever to me that for much of the world such experiences are indeed luxuries, and I am grateful for my good fortune at the same time as I have a very different perspective now on it. For those who don't know, we are back in the USA for the Bhutan winter break, which runs mid-December to mid-February, rather than in the summer. Since winter is so cold in Bhutan, the university has its long break now so that students can go home and try to get warm. In the summer, during the monsoon, the break between semesters is only two weeks long. I figured it was best to plan a trip home now, rather than over the summer. So, when we return to Bhutan in mid-February, we'll likely be there for a solid year. It seems my blog title might need to change--one year in Bhutan isn't nearly enough, and we have been extremely lucky in our connections, such that staying longer is not only possible, but pretty much definite. Especially for me in my attempt to do research for my dissertation, this spring will mark the actual beginning. I have managed, in spite of the odds, to forge the right kinds of relationships--those which will allow me to travel to the various locations associated with my Buddhist saint in order to conduct interviews with local villagers and elders. I will be assigned a Bhutanese counterpart upon my return to Bhutan in February--a scholar who will accompany me to wherever I need to go in order to both translate and facilitate my interviewing. I will also be teaching part-time at ILCS (a course in English literature--of all things) as part of my own offering back to Bhutan. This is one of the smart and lovely things about officially doing research in Bhutan. Any foreign researcher is asked both to give something back to the institutions with which he or she is working, as well as to help to train a Bhutanese scholar in that particular form of scholarship in exchange for which, the foreigner is given all possible help in conducting his or her research. It took me nearly six months to establish the right relationships for beginning this process in earnest. It is very clear to me now that Bhutan is very much a face-to-face culture. Trying to set things up from outside the country is very difficult, nearly impossible. But once one is inside and has a chance to be seen and to make personal connections, the doors open. I am excited to return and really get down to work, as the manifestations of my Buddhist saint seem to be multiplying day-by-day and I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up with his transformations through time and space! But in the meantime, the joy of being home, seeing family, and just reflecting on the intensity of the past six months is enough. I will be posting more as the days go by and I have a chance to catch up on many of the adventures I wasn't able to post about before.

From Dochu-lha