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.