Year Two--Beginnings

I have decided to resurrect this blog in order to fulfill a few different goals. The first is to continue to record the adventure of living in this beautiful country, getting to know its people, and working through the various levels of attempting to do perform successful research and the writing of my dissertation. (Hmm, perhaps that is more than one.) A second goal is to provide a glimpse into our ongoing life halfway across the world for friends and family, who I miss dearly and wish to remain more in touch with. A final goal is quite personal, to continue to put my experiences into language--to attempt that which is often considered impossible--to use language in order to evoke an experience in the reader so that I might perhaps come close to bringing others into this different world in a tangible and experiential way. This possibility for the use of language is intimately tied to my conceptions of my dissertation--that one could use the writing about oneself and one's experiences to transform oneself, as well as to stimulate the same such transformations in others. However, one caveat is necessary. Last year, I managed to convince myself that I had to write very long posts or it wasn't worth writing at all. This was partially due to the fact that I rarely had access to internet and so could only post blogs at random times when, due to some fluke, internet was functioning in the remote part of central Bhutan where I was living. Now, living in western Bhutan outside of Thimphu, I am gratefully furnished with fairly steady and strong internet and can publish a blog at pretty much any time I want to. Hence, I will allow myself to write only short posts if that is all that I have time for. More posts, but shorter, will likely be the theme of this second year in Bhutan. As might be obvious to my previous readers, I have had to change the title of my blog. Instead of it reading, Dragon Dreams: A Year in Bhutan, it now reads: Dragon Dreams: Two Years in Bhutan. While I had hoped to be here for two years, I didn't know at the time of creating this blog that such would occur. I am very grateful to Harvard University's Sheldon Fellowship for awarding me a grant that gives me the resources to engage in the research that I had hoped to begin last year. Instead, last year consisted of creating and setting up the relationships necessary for me to do the kind of work I am able to do this year. And as for next year, well, we'll see! This blog may well require another new title. More very soon!