The rains have begun

The monsoon season seems to have arrived, and none too soon.  Many areas of Thimphu, including the hospital, were without water for almost two weeks, having only the water that was stored in cisterns or (if they were lucky) came in for about an hour a day.  Fortunately, my apartment has had plenty of water, but at the psychiatric ward where I’m working, we've had to "flush" by dumping pitchers of water from a bucket into the toilet – a squat toilet!  So glad to have water flowing again, but I'll never grow to love the squatter. 

Main road through town quickly turned into a river

The rains have begun with a vengeance: the first real rain lasted for over three days and nights, often accompanied by loud thunder. After enjoying the past two days of sunshine, the heavens opened up again this evening, flooding the main road through town within minutes.  The road water will recede quickly as the rain stops, but the children’s soccer field will remain a muddy mess for quite some time.

This week I visited a local drug and alcohol rehab center in Serbethang, an area high above Thimphu.  It is a stark contrast to the shelter and administrative facilities for domestic violence.  Abused women engender much sympathy (and therefore abundant operating funds), while drug addicts do not.  The living conditions at the rehab center are rather poor, and the diet is basically rice and vegetables – not exactly adequate for promoting healing and recovery.  Despite the environment, the staff works hard to offer quality treatment and the patients there seemed appreciative.  I will be spending a day there soon doing groups for both their men’s and women’s

That's Thimphu city down below

programs. And while the accommodations may be a bit rough, they've got a million dollar view!

A Festival and a Dzong

Spent Saturday at Mountain Echoes, “The Bhutan Festival of Literature, Art, and Culture.”  The festival ran for three days, and I was there for its last day.  I heard talks about long-ago village traditions, Animism in the Himalayas, Food as Aphrodisiac, tales from Waheeda Rehman, a Bollywood film star, and saw a couple of short films by Bhutanese directors.  The programs were quite interesting, and we were joined by one of the Queen-mothers (there are four of them, all married to the previous king) for the afternoon!

Sunday included a visit to Trashi Chhoe Dzong,

North entry to the Dzong

a Buddhist monastery and fortress on the northern edge of Thimphu the western bank of the Wang Chu River.  The high-security complex houses a large monastery and a beautiful temple on one side.  The fortress has served as the seat of Bhutan's civil government since 1952 and buildings on the other side house the throne room and offices of the king, the secretariat and the ministries of home affairs and finance. Other government departments are housed in buildings nearby.

Monks' quarters

Prayer wheels

Offices of the King

Joy with a proud Royal Guard

Artwork in the monastery

Artwork of "The Four Friends"

Dressing Bhutanese

I've promised a photo of me in traditional dress, and finally here it is.  Some of you have told me you think having to dress in a prescribed manner is way too restrictive, but I’m not seeing that as so.  Bhutan is a tiny kingdom surrounded by countries with very different cultures. They have made it a priority to maintain their own culture and traditions, and their age-old style of dress is a part of that.  Traditional dress is required only for business, formal, and religious occasions; leisure time allows any style of dress (which for the younger population is mostly jeans and T-shirts).  And the fabrics, colors, and patterns are so beautiful and varied, there is much room for personal expression. 

Me in one of my four (so far!) kiras

Traditional dress for women includes a kira, tego, and wanju.  In the past, the kira was a complete jumper-style dress, but these days, the half-kira, a skirt, has become the style.  The traditional kira is simply a long rectangle of fabric that gets folded in a tricky (for the Western novice) way to become a full-length skirt.  Even the Bhutanese woman are switching to the "hook system" to make it simpler.  For about $2.50 USD, a tailor sews on Velcro and a series of hooks and eyes (for variance in size), and puts in a few darts for shaping, and then the kira can simply be put on without the folding or a special belt to hold it in place. 

The tego is a jacket that is worn over the wanju, a blouse.  Oftimes, especially in the warmer months, tegos may be worn without the wanju (like in my photo).  It is generally fastened with a beautiful brooch.

Bhutanese men wear a gho.  To see that, as well as other kiras, you might look at some of the many photos on the internet.

And while we’re talking about dress, Bhutanese dress their houses quite elaborately as well.  Even the simplest homes have wooden trim and beautiful artwork adorning the windows and pillars.

House wall in Thimphu -- yes, that is a giant phallus!

  There is a traditional design inspired by “the divine madman” Drukpa Kunley ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drukpa_Kunley )  that always prompts surprise and a smile from foreign visitors.  The "thunderbolt of divine wisdom" is purported to drive away evil spirits as well as be a symbol of strength and fertility.

Close-up of the Thunderbolt of Divine Wisdom

A day of sights just outside Thimphu

Just finished my first full week of work in the psych clinic.  Counseling is definitely in its infancy here, and the work is truly a challenge.  The patients’ English is more minimal than I’d expected, making communication difficult.  Much of my work is done through an interpreter, patiently performed by Ugyen, a counseling intern who can fluidly switch from English to Dzongkha to Nepali to Sharchop.  Patients don’t understand the counseling process and seem to sit down and expect me to somehow “fix” them without their having to say or do anything.  Anxiety and panic attacks (complete with fainting) are quite prevalent here, perhaps due to the rapidly changing social and work environment.

Temple at Dochula Pass

Today was pure sightseeing, with Ugyen as my capable guide.  We drove to Dochula Pass, the most well known pass in Bhutan.  It is located about 18 miles out of Thimphu at an altitude just over 10,000 feet. This spot provides a breathtaking 360° view of the area.  The 108 chortens were built by Queen Mother to honor the Bhutanese soldiers who were killed when fighting the Indian rebels in 2003.  Ugyen hung prayer flags while I took in the scenery sitting in a nearby meditation hut.  On the way down, we got stuck at a road closure for construction to widen the narrow twisty road.  We could have been 

Ugyen hanging prayer flags

stuck there for a long time but were saved by the arrival of some government VIPs for whom they quickly cleared the road and we merrily followed them through. 

108 memorial chortens

Our next stop was the Takin Preserve.  The takin is the national animal of Bhutan.  It is said to be a cross between a cow and a goat, but it appears much more like a moose to me!  Apparently their large round nose houses a very large sinus cavity that allows the cold winter air to warm up before being fully inhaled.  You might want to read the colorful legend regarding the creation of this unusual beast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motithang_Takin_Preerve).  The preserve is also home to some beautiful creatures called Muntjacs or Barking Deer.  They were silent today.

A very handsome beast!

Feeding the takin

Little girl feeding a little Muntjac

We left the preserve to go to Buddha Point where one of the world’s largest Buddha statues sit high atop a mountain overlooking Thimphu.  Unfortunately, there was construction work going on and we couldn’t get very close.  Instead we opted for a walk through Kuenselphodrang Nature Park, 943 acres of forest area surrounding the Buddha Dordenma statue.  

Rear view was all I could get because of construction

Prayer flags at the nature park

View of Thimphu on the way home

Altogether a wonderful day!

Weekend markets and other adventures

It’s been a busy weekend.  Not much time for writing, so this will be a relatively short summary but with lots of photos.

Friday began with Lenny, her husband, Lhaba, and their 5-month-old baby taking me to the weekend produce market.

Local organic produce is upstairs, imported (mostly from India) is on the main floor.

Afterwards we went back to their apartment and had a delicious lunch.

Later that afternoon, I walked to the main town

and wandered through many of the shops while waiting for 7pm when I’d heard many foreign volunteers met weekly at The Zone, a restaurant serving everything from pizza to yak burgers. 
Unfortunately it turned out all but one (who was on skype call via their free wifi) were away for the weekend, so I took a taxi home.  Maybe next week…

Saturday, sent a driver and a new Renew intern,

Yeshi, to pick me up.  We spent quite a bit of time at the craft section of the weekend market.  What a treat to have Yeshi there to tell me the stories behind all the fascinating, colorful, and beautiful objects we saw.  I bought another kira and a some tops (tegos and underblouse that I forget the name of ) for a fraction of the price at the shops in town.

Followed that up with a drive about 20 minutes out of Thimphu, way up high on a windy narrow mountain road, to tour Renew.  Renew is a shelter for abused women and children that was created as a project of the Queen-mother. 

She not only created this impressive project, but continues to be an active participant in the work going on there.  The women and children are provided shelter, counseling, schooling, and vocational training. Because of safety issues, I took only distant photos of the place itself, but I was incredibly impressed with the beauty and scope of the entire place.

When I returned home, I tried on my new kira and accompanying tegos.  I find them so beautiful, I’m having a hard time resisting getting dozens of them!  I’ve not done well mastering the art of properly wrapping the kiras and so I went upstairs to my landlords’ family apartment to inquire if I’d put it together properly.  They helped me take one to a nearby tailor to have it fitted with a “hook system.”  Even the local women are switching to having their kiras fitted this way. Now I can simply wrap, Velcro and hook. Much easier!  The kira was fitted, sewn and complete within three hours for a cost of $2.50!

The walk to the tailor included a tour of the best nearby places to shop and eat, and was followed on our return by a most delicious dinner, complete with a Bhutanese cooking lesson.  They and everyone else here are so warm and open and have all gone out of their way to be helpful. 

Auspicious days

Thursday is Anxiety Clinic day at the psych ward.  It was a group experience like I've never had.  Five people, two inpatients and three outpatients, attended. Group was conducted in three languages, English, Dzongka, and Nepali.  As if that wasn't confusing enough, partway into it a lama entered the group room to offer us blessings.  He poured a bit of holy water over my hands that I was instructed to let drip over my head and rub into my face.  Then he gave me a yellow string to be tied around my neck for protection, and a small dark ball of I-don’t-know-what that I was supposed to eat.  I hope the yellow string is powerful enough to protect me from whatever was in the little ball.

After group, we had our daily tea-time. Myself, Ugyen (the other counselor) and several of the nurses sit together and have chai tea and some sort of snack. A most civilized tradition, I believe.  The blessing must have gotten right to work because I was told that tomorrow is an Auspicious Day (anniversary of the death of the high holy lama who unified Bhutan as a nation), and so I don’t have to come to work.  A three-day weekend on my first week of work!

After spending individual time with one of the inpatients, Ugyen walked me into the main part of town and we had a few plates of momos before he headed home,

Fried cheese and momos

and I shopped the local grocery store called 8 Eleven.  Momos are little steamed dumplings, similar to potstickers, filled with beef, pork, chicken, or vegies, and boy are they good!

The 8 Eleven apparently doesn't use bags, so my groceries were packed in an old carton. Much too heavy for me to carry for the one-mile walk home, I inquired about finding a taxi. One of the store employees hoisted the box on his shoulder and walked me down to another street where taxis are plentiful.  About a dollar later, I was home with enough goodies to eat my first home-cooked meal in Thimphu.

First days at work

My first order of business was to get my visa extended from the 30-day max done at the airport to the full time I will be here and apply for my official work permit. This was all done with the help of a woman at the hospital where I will be working.  The hospital

Main building of National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH)

itself is large, consisting of a number of buildings. My eyes were probably popping as I made my way around the hospital that first day trying to find her office.  Throngs of people everywhere, lined up, sitting down, walking about. Unable to find her office on my own, I began asking directions. First I was sent upstairs, then downstairs, then back up again, finally to find it and learn been delayed and would be back soon.  

Bhutanese time runs on a very different clock. After that phase of the paperwork was accomplished, I met with the hospital psychiatrist. We were repeatedly interrupted by patients who'd come in to his office, talk with him for a few minutes, perhaps receive a prescription, and move on. Next, I walked a short ways to a few smaller buildings where the psychiatric unit is located. It is two stories -- drug and alcohol detox upstairs and general psych downstairs -- and is staffed by several nurses, a detox counselor, and a young counselor who is apprenticing there after completing his bachelors program.  Let's just say it doesn't look or operate anything like a similar place in the U.S.  It was late and work here ends at 3pm so I headed home where I was met by a driver and two women from Renew who took me into the main town to get some fresh produce and buy my first kira, the traditional outfit worn by Bhutanese women. The bottom half of the outfit is comprised of an intricately wrapped skirt made from a variety of woven fabrics, and held tight with a woven belt.  On top is a jacket with a blouse, both having very deep cuffs of contrasting patterns, held closed with a decorative brooch.  The fabrics, patterns, and colors are exquisite, with prices ranging from about $15 to hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. 

I was met at home by a woman who runs a travel agency.  I’d brought her some things she needed from the states, and she came to pick them up with some homemade egg-filled pastries. We made a plan to go out the next day for her to show me some of the best places to shop. I bought another kira with her at a much better price. The traditional wrapping is quite tricky and so I will bring both kiras to a tailor tomorrow to be fitted with a “hook system” and will post photos of them when they’re done.

Today I saw my first two patients.  There are no appointments. Patients are most often referred by the psychiatrist, and just come over to the clinic when they choose. There is no clock, no 50-minute hour; we just talk until it feels complete. And blessedly little paperwork. Counseling is a new concept in Bhutan, and I get the impression that some people come for help expecting some sort of magic instant fix from the exotic foreign “doctor.”  I only wish I had one.  Anxiety is surprisingly prevalent here, and tomorrow morning I will attend the Anxiety Clinic, a group entirely devoted to treating this problem.

Moving into my home away from home

It’s been a long journey, and now here I am, sipping tea in the living room of my apartment in Thimphu.  Gazing out my window see a series of Himalayan hillsides, climbing up even higher than the 8000-foot altitude of this picturesque small city.

Beginning my travels in Portland, I flew to Vancouver, BC, then Hong Kong and Bangkok.  Because I arrived Bangkok late at night and my final flight to Bhutan would leave before 7 am, I spent two nights at a hotel near the Bangkok airport. 

Bangkok hotel lobby

After nearly 20 hours of airplane time, it felt wonderful to have time to relax and begin adjusting to what was then a 15-hour time shift before that final flight. 

The descent into Paro, Bhutan was as magnificent as all the descriptions I’d read.  The plane flew into the tiny airport between mountains that were so steep and close it looked as if the wing tips of the plane would touch them.  I was met at the airport by a driver who loaded my bags into the bed of a rattly old pickup and we were soon on our for the hour drive over the narrow, windy one-lane-wide two-way road to Thimphu. Cheer signs marked the way wishing good luck and happiness; my favorite said “The highway is a pleasure if you drive with leisure.”

I was very glad to have had helpers haul my heavy luggage up to the third-floor apartment that

will be my home for the next three months. The apartment is large – a large living room and dining area at the center, a kitchen, two bedrooms, a third bedroom set up as an office, and two bathrooms. I count myself fortunate that only one bathroom has the traditional squat toilet; the other boasts a western-style toilet. The landlord showed me around and got things up and running, and soon his wife came down with a lunch she’d prepared for me.  One of many examples of the warm Bhutanese hospitality I’m encountering.

At first glance the apartment seemed more basic than I’d imagined.  It is furnished sparsely with minimal storage places for unpacking and putting things away. Hot water is supplied in the kitchen and in one bathroom by a contraption called a geyser that you turn on to heat up the water in a tank mounted high on the wall.  Cooking (if I do any) will be on a two-burner hotplate.  The bed turned out to be wonderfully comfortable thanks to a 4-inch foam pad added by a previous resident, and after a good night’s sleep, the apartment has already begun to feel more homey and comfortable.

Living room in my home away from home

My bedroom

The study/office room

The kitchen

Tshering, a woman who works for both NBCC (the organization that sent me here) and RENEW (a local NGO for helping women and children and eradicating domestic violence) came by my first evening with some groceries, and returned again today to show me about town. We began by recharging my internet service and data card at the Bhutan Telecom office. After a short driving tour, we went to lunch at her sister’s Folk Heritage Museum Restaurant. (You may want to read about this wonderful spot on the web.)  I had my first cup of traditional butter tea while we waited to sit down. As it turned out, the restaurant was filled for a special luncheon by a group of 20 I’d flown in with yesterday. This turned out to be quite lucky for us because they’d order a grand meal with an exceptional assortment of dishes, and we were able to partake of it all. Everything was unusually prepared and quite delicious, although I don’t think I’ll ever be up to eating much of the bowlfuls of hot chilis that are traditional fare.  The fried cheese and momos were especially good, and after the meal we were treated to chhaang, a traditional beer made of fermented wheat berries.  I’m not a beer drinker, but this brew was very good.

After lunch we toured a bit more of town and stopped for me to get some basic supplies before heading back home.  Tomorrow morning I will go to the hospital where I’ll be working to get my work permit and official papers complete.  It’s been a great first day.

Tshering (on right) and her sister, the owner of Folk Heritage Restaurant

Folk Heritage Restaurant dining room