Sun streams in through window's streaked with moisture. The cool air inside is immediately warmed, while outside columns of early morning light slant down through across the headwall of the high mountains behind our new residence at RTC (Royal Thimphu College).
The college is located in an ideal location--far enough from Thimphu to be outside of the noise, pollution, and crowds, but near enough to easily get to town for supplies and for the occasional coffee date. RTC is located at about 9000 feet above sea level, nestled into a gully above which towers a huge wall of high mountains.
The view down the valley looks out over the Buddha Dordenma sitting calmly before his backdrop of snow-capped Himalayan peaks. The air is crystal clear and the October light translucent through the pine clad hills. I am delighted that we decided to move here and to try living and working in a different part of Bhutan.
The apartment we inhabit now came furnished, with wood floors and wood panelling on the walls--a critical element in maintaining interior heat, especially now that the autumn chill is rapidly deepening. I've heard it's quite bitterly cold here, but can't honestly imagine that it will be as bone-chilling as Taktse, primarily because the higher altitude and the western geographic location in Bhutan all lend themselves to a cold that isn't nearly so wet as that which takes over the central Bhutan region. I have a quiet little office that looks out on pine trees swaying in the wind and from which I can hear the consistent rushing of a small stream that passes unseen beneath the trees beyond my window.
Chris's walk to "campus" is a mere five minutes, but student housing (RTC has nearly 1000 students), is above the campus and far enough away from us that we never hear more than a few shouts as students walk down the long driveway and out the gates to head down to Thimphu for a night on the town.
I find that I am located about an hour from Paro College of Education, where I have been working with two of the Lopens on recording and interviewing elders in the local villages for their stories and impressions of Drukpa Kunley, the 15th century Buddhist saint, upon whom I am basing my dissertation.
I am also about an hour from Tango Monastery, where the reincarnation of Drukpa Kunley's grandson presides as abbot and where I have a good friend, a young tulku from central Bhutan. This means that my ethnographic research is far easier to engage in from here than it ever was from Taktse, where there was really no possibility for much of that at all. I work regularly with another teacher, Lopen Chorten, to finish up a Tibetan-to-English translation of the 15th century autobiography of this saint, a translation which we hope to get published in Bhutan, as well as back in the USA. Without Lopen Chorten, whose linguistic and religious knowledge is extensive, this project could not happen. So, while most days are filled with work--I am still finding time for a hike. In fact, I must go now and wake Chris so that we can prepare for a day-long hike up above the monastery of Phajoding--a hike I've only come down, but Chris has never done. And so, true to my work, this short entry is what there is for today! But more tomorrow with stories from Phajoding!
The college is located in an ideal location--far enough from Thimphu to be outside of the noise, pollution, and crowds, but near enough to easily get to town for supplies and for the occasional coffee date. RTC is located at about 9000 feet above sea level, nestled into a gully above which towers a huge wall of high mountains.
The view down the valley looks out over the Buddha Dordenma sitting calmly before his backdrop of snow-capped Himalayan peaks. The air is crystal clear and the October light translucent through the pine clad hills. I am delighted that we decided to move here and to try living and working in a different part of Bhutan.
The apartment we inhabit now came furnished, with wood floors and wood panelling on the walls--a critical element in maintaining interior heat, especially now that the autumn chill is rapidly deepening. I've heard it's quite bitterly cold here, but can't honestly imagine that it will be as bone-chilling as Taktse, primarily because the higher altitude and the western geographic location in Bhutan all lend themselves to a cold that isn't nearly so wet as that which takes over the central Bhutan region. I have a quiet little office that looks out on pine trees swaying in the wind and from which I can hear the consistent rushing of a small stream that passes unseen beneath the trees beyond my window.
Chris's walk to "campus" is a mere five minutes, but student housing (RTC has nearly 1000 students), is above the campus and far enough away from us that we never hear more than a few shouts as students walk down the long driveway and out the gates to head down to Thimphu for a night on the town.
I find that I am located about an hour from Paro College of Education, where I have been working with two of the Lopens on recording and interviewing elders in the local villages for their stories and impressions of Drukpa Kunley, the 15th century Buddhist saint, upon whom I am basing my dissertation.
I am also about an hour from Tango Monastery, where the reincarnation of Drukpa Kunley's grandson presides as abbot and where I have a good friend, a young tulku from central Bhutan. This means that my ethnographic research is far easier to engage in from here than it ever was from Taktse, where there was really no possibility for much of that at all. I work regularly with another teacher, Lopen Chorten, to finish up a Tibetan-to-English translation of the 15th century autobiography of this saint, a translation which we hope to get published in Bhutan, as well as back in the USA. Without Lopen Chorten, whose linguistic and religious knowledge is extensive, this project could not happen. So, while most days are filled with work--I am still finding time for a hike. In fact, I must go now and wake Chris so that we can prepare for a day-long hike up above the monastery of Phajoding--a hike I've only come down, but Chris has never done. And so, true to my work, this short entry is what there is for today! But more tomorrow with stories from Phajoding!
You guys seem much happier where you are now. Well-played.
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