Summer in Bhutan

Summer in Samey... It's always pretty foggy!

Hi friends (both the feathered and not-so feathered ones)!

 

I'm sorry I haven't written in such a long time. It's been very difficult for me to fly anywhere lately, and I've been having a tough time getting on to the internet. Let me explain why! 
 

Summer arrived in Bhutan, the Kingdom Of The Thunder Dragon, in June. Normally I love summer! All my birdie friends are out and about, singing in the trees and having fun in the sun. I bet you like it too! No school to go to... Sunshine... Ice-creams... Beaches... Well, in Bhutan it's a little bit different!

 

For starters, children in Bhutan still come to school in July and August. There is a two-week break at the start of July but that is it. At least I got to spend more time in the classroom learning about Bhutan. In Class 3 we've even been reading a book called Some Birds of Bhutan! Not much about crows in there though... 

Secondly, and worst of all, summer in Bhutan is really the monsoon season. The 'monsoon' basically means the rainy season. Yep, it rains a lot in Bhutan during the summer. Even more than in England! The rain is extremely heavy at times too. Some of the children have to walk for a long time in the rain to get to school. Some days they turn up for their morning study soaking wet, with no dry clothes to change into. I feel very sorry for them on those days. I hate having wet feathers.

The rain causes more problems than just wet clothes though. Because the rains can be so heavy, or last for days at a time, they cause landslides as well. A landslide is when lots and lots of soil or rocks slide down the side of mountain or cliff. The rain makes the soil loose and heavy, causing it to slide down. This can be very dangerous and people can be killed by the falling rocks and mud. Luckily I haven't heard of any injuries in this part of Bhutan this year. However, Mr MacInnes has been stuck on the road a couple of times because it was blocked by big rocks! 

On the right are some photos of the children of Samey Primary School helping to repair our road after the rain washed away lots of soil. There were big holes so no cars could get up!

So that's why I haven't been flying about and able to write my blog posts lately. Also, there's quite a lot of mosquitoes out there in the rain... I'm not a big fan of those little biters!

Don't worry though. Bhutan is very different from October - March, and there is hardly any rain at all. Then the land and the grass get very dry and there is a lot of sunshine. If you ever want to come to Bhutan, September and October are the best months, then February - April time. Then you'll avoid the wet summer season, and the veeeeery cold winter season!

Have a look at the photos below comparing the dry and wet seasons.

Paro in the winter...

Paro in the summer!

See you next time,

Joe :)

 

Meet Class 1!

Hello! Welcome back to Joe's Journal.

It's holiday time for teacher's in Bhutan. They have two weeks off school in the summer before term starts again. I've been flying all over the place and meeting lots of interesting people (and birds!).

I live in the south west of Bhutan, in Dagana. But Mr. MacInnes and I are holidaying in Trashigang, which is in the east. See if you can find it on the map below.

Map of Bhutan - tarayanafoundation.org

I flew all the way, but Mr. MacInnes had to take a bus - for three days! The bus went round and round all the mountains, up to the top of some and down to the bottom again. I could see amazing waterfalls and rivers as I flew above it. Bhutan really is a beautiful country.

Some of the great views on the way to Trashigang.

While I have been here in Trashigang, I realised that I've been so busy squawking on about my adventures that I have hardly told you anything about the most important bit - the children of Samey Primary School! After all, they are the reason why Mr. MacInnes and I are in Bhutan in the first place! I love having a teacher as a pet, because I get to meet so many wonderful children! That is especially true here in Bhutan. I help Mr. MacInnes in all of his classes, but I always have the most fun in Class 1.

The children in Class 1 are usually about 6-7 years old. They are just starting to learn English and they find it very tricky. I am trying to help them with their phonics, just like you learn in school. They like practising all the sounds they know and blending them together to make words! We get to read lots of books, and if the children find the reading hard Mr. MacInnes talks to them about the pictures and asks questions about what they can see.

Let's meet the children, shall we?!

This is Pema. She is always smiling and she loves to sing and dance. She likes bananas and flowers.

Seday is a quiet girl but she always tries hard to speak English. Her favourite fruit is pineapple and she likes dancing too. She has a sister in the class called Dechen.

Tandin Wangmo is a very clever girl! She is quite new to Samey and came from a different school, but she made lots of new friends quickly. She likes my silly jokes!

Lhaba Dorji loves football! He is starting to get much better with his handwriting too.

This is Dechen. She is very quiet and quite shy, just like her sister Seday! She is very well behaved and likes animals.

Tshoki is a great reader and is getting better everyday at speaking English. He likes it when I fly around the classroom or do something silly! He is small but he can play football very well too!

This is Tandin Tshering. His favourite animal is an elephant and he likes drawing pictures. He always laughs when I'm being silly in the class!

Sonam Choki is a very smiley girl - as you can see in the picture! She has to walk a long way to school everyday but she is always trying her best, even when she is very tired. Well done, Sonam Choki.

Sonam Jamtsho likes games and sports. He is getting better at his reading and always likes to be the first one to have a go at something new.

Tshering Choki is a good friend of mine! She always tries to hug me! She is getting very good at reading and listening to instructions. Well done!

Passang Dorji is another boy who loves football, and another one who plays very well! He is very good at speaking English and his handwriting is lovely. His favourite animal is a fish.

This is Kinley. He is always happy to see me in class and he enjoys singing and games.

Sonam Lucky is another good friend of mine! She is very good at drawing and reading, and can speak English very nicely. She is getting better everyday!

Chogyal is a very kind and polite girl, always smart and well behaved. She loves apples and flowers. She is trying very hard with handwriting and reading.

 

So, now you have met my friends in Class 1 at Samey Primary School. They are all very interested in what school is like in the UK (and other countries!) and would love to hear from you. If you would like to ask them any questions then you can email them to Mr. MacInnes or comment below!
Maybe you'd like to know about their family life, what they play, what their homes are like, or maybe you would like to share some things about your school! Just remember to ask a grown-up to help you, and please don't post any photos to the blog. If you want to share photos with the children you can get a grown-up to ask Mr. MacInnes.

Until next time, Tashi Delek!

Out of the Darkness

Hello friends! It's been a long time since I last wrote to you.

A very long time!

There has been archery, of course!

 

I hope you haven't missed me too much! I'm very sorry for the delay, but it's been very hard for me to get my wings on a working computer. In fact, this is the first chance I've had! Let me tell you all about what's been happening.

 

About six weeks ago, Mr. MacInnes and I had just been to a birthday party and it was getting late. I was ready to snuggle down into my nest for the night so we were heading home across the school fields when it started to rain very, very heavily. It was also getting extremely windy, so much so that it nearly blew me back the way we had come! Fortunately we managed to get home quite quickly! I could hear the wind and the rain crashing against my nest for a long time before I fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning the sun was out and the weather was very calm again. However, when I tried to turn on my light it wouldn't come on! And all my worms in the fridge were starting to get warm too. We didn't know it at the time, but the electricity would be gone for two weeks!

 

What had happened was that the storm in the night had been much worse in some other parts of Dagana and had actually blown down some electricity cables! It had also caused a lot of damage to buildings. Some people's roofs had been blown off their houses and some schools had been badly damaged too. We were lucky in Samey because the wind hadn't caused many problems. However, we now had no electricity. This meant that I couldn't use the computer to update my journal, Mr. MacInnes couldn't charge his phone and at night time it was very dark indeed! Have you ever walked around your house at night without any lights on? It can be quite scary! Mr. MacInnes had been sensible and bought lots of candles so we could see a little bit, but I must admit I found it quite difficult to see where I was going! I bumped my beak a lot!

There was also a special ceremony at the school.

 

It was like that for two weeks. But we found lots of things to do to keep busy. Some of our friends invited us for dinner and we played lots of games. I even got time to read my favourite books by candlelight. Cooking and cleaning is difficult in the dark though, and we were very happy when the electricity came back.

But it is important to remember that there are many people in the world, and some here in Bhutan, that don't ever have electricity. We are very lucky in England to be able to turn on a light or plug in a TV whenever we want.

 

I was going to post this blog a bit earlier but then the community centre (the only place where I can use the internet) was closed for a further two weeks as well. But something very important happened recently and I thought I should tell you about it.

On Saturday 25^th of April there was an earthquake in this part of the world. If you read my second blog entry you will remember I told you that Bhutan is in the Himalayas, in Asia, and that there is a country nearby called Nepal. It was in this country that the earthquake happened.

Being a bird, I don't know much about earthquakes. But Mr. MacInnes says that they happen when parts of the surface of the earth rub move apart or together. This causes the land to crack or crunch up. 

Although the earthquake was in Nepal, we still felt it here in Bhutan. The chairs in the classroom started wobbling and the fan on the ceiling was shaking. Everyone ran outside into the field and as we looked across the valley you could see trees swaying, even though there was no wind. It was quite scary. What happened next was a bit like when you have a fire drill – we counted all the children and made sure everyone was there and was safe. We had to wait outside in the rain for quite a while, as then can be an aftershock when there is an earthquake. Luckily, nobody (or animal) here in Samey or across Bhutan was hurt and none of the buildings were damaged.

Sadly, many people in Nepal were hurt. In Kathmandu, the capital city, lots of buildings fell down and huge cracks appeared in the roads and in houses. Temples that were hundreds of years old have been destroyed with all the beautiful statues around them, and people's homes were also broken to bits. The worst thing is that enormous numbers of people have died, more than we could even count. It makes me so sad to think of their families and friends. Mr. MacInnes and I were in Kathmandu in January and it is horrible to think some of the things we saw might now be gone forever. We also made many friends there. We think of them every day.

Nepal is a poor country, and that makes it very difficult for the government to help people who have lost their homes and maybe lost their families too. There are many people who need shelter, water and help with trying to find friends. If you think your parents might like to help these people, ask them to visit this charity website.

Children working on cleaning up the community!

I will be back soon to tell you all about how we are getting on at Samey Primary School. Until next time, stay safe and remember to feed my feathered friends in your gardens!

Joe.

Happiness in Bhutan

Hi friends! It's me again, Joe Crow. I've had a wonderful month of March here in the Kingdom of Bhutan. We celebrated Mr. MacInnes' birthday, went to a special festival at the Dzong (if you want a reminder of what a 'Dzong' is, then visit my first blog) and had a great time getting to know the children at Samey Primary School. Just have a look at the photos!

We had a special reading afternoon at school!

The weather is changing fast – it's not freezing cold at night any longer, and the days are hot. Mr MacInnes is not keen on the little biting flies that keep attacking his legs, though! I wonder what April will bring? 

 

In this entry I'd like to tell you something about “Gross National Happiness”, something that is very important in Bhutan. It is called GNH for short.

 

The four pillars of GNH - painted on our school wall.

In most countries, we look at the economy – how much money the country is making and how much money people have to spend on things – to see how well the country is doing. We also look at whether people have good levels of education, access to hospitals, clean water, electricity, internet and nice things in the shops. This is known as “development”. If a country is doing well in all of those things, we call it a “developed country”. England is a developed country. If some of those things are missing, we sometimes call such a country a “developing country”.

However, in Bhutan, they try to look at more than just the economy and people's living standards when working out how well the country is doing. They also try to measure how happy people are! This is the vision of Gross National Happiness.

A traditional ceremony to celebrate the King's birthday.

 The basic message of GNH is that people's happiness in life is just as important as money, owning nice things and living in a comfortable place. Bhutan believes that in order for people to be happy then development must be sustainable, meaning that things will be as nice for people in the future if not even better than now. Also important is keeping traditions and protecting the environment and all the animals in it.

A golden langur.

There are a lot of laws in Bhutan to protect traditional ways of doing things, like wearing the national dress. This means that people won't feel their traditional beliefs will be lost as the world changes. There are also many laws to protect the many rare animals that live in Bhutan, like tigers and rhinos. Most of the country is still covered in forest, meaning that Bhutan is an incredibly special place for animals. There is one species of monkey, the golden langur, that doesn't live anywhere else in the world! Bhutan believes that by keeping these animals – and their natural homes – safe is also important for people's happiness. I love seeing my wild friends healthy and free, don't you?

The fourth King of Bhutan.

The idea of GNH being important in Bhutan's development came from the Fourth King, in 1972. It might be difficult to measure, but Bhutan hopes that other countries and experts will adopt the ideas in their countries too. I really like the ideas of GNH, and I like the way the children learn about the ideas in school too. If these children grow up caring about their world and looking after it, then it will be a better place for animals like me as well as all the people on Earth!

Joe :)

Samey Primary School

I'm sitting in front of the school playing field!

I have now been living in Bhutan for six weeks,

and I’m just about beginning to settle in. I do miss my comfortable nest back home, and all of my feathered family, but I feel very much at home here now. The local birds are friendly and welcoming, and they have done lots to help me get used to my new location.

Breakfast at Samey P.S.

Anyway, a lot has happened since I last blogged. I’d better tell you all about it!

The most important thing is that the children have started a new year at Samey Primary School. In Bhutan, the school year runs from February to December. The children have their long holiday in the winter, when it is very cold!

A normal school day in Samey starts at 7.30 in the morning . Yes, that is very early!!! Some of the children have to walk for an hour to get to school, so that means a VERY EARLY start for them! They do get to have breakfast at school though, and it is very tasty! The breakfast is usually fried rice and chickpeas. Birds aren’t normally allowed to have it, but they make a special exception for me! The food at Samey Primary School is provided by the World Food Programme (WFP). The WFP is a very special organisation that gives food, for free, in places where food might be hard to get or too expensive to buy. The children also get a free school lunch, just like children in England. The lunch is often rice and dhal, which is a lentil soup.

Sitting for breakfast.

 After breakfast is the whole-school assembly. This happens everyday at 8.45, and the children say a special prayer and sing the national anthem. I’m trying hard to learn the words, but the Dzongkha language is very hard to get my beak around! In Bhutan, the children stand up for the assembly. They are very well behaved, and stand very still when listening to the teachers. Lessons begin after assembly. Unlike most primary schools in England, the children at Samey have different teachers for each different lesson. So Mr. MacInnes might teach a class English, and after that a different teacher will teach Science to the same class. There are eight teachers at Samey, and seven lessons a day. So if you were at school here, you might have seven different teachers in the same day!
 

Assembly.

The school day usually ends at 4 o’clock, but sometimes there are sports events in the afternoon too. The children love playing football and volleyball the most! Recently we helped build new football goals for the children, using wood from the forest. It was heavy work, but the children love having proper goalposts now! You can see some of the work we did in the pictures.

Before they go home, the children do social work, where they clean the school and the grounds. Each group of children has a particular area to work in, and they swap throughout the year. Some might sweep the classrooms, while others will look after the vegetable garden and some clean the toilets. Yep, in Bhutan the children clean the toilets!

The side of a classroom. That's the map of Bhutan!

Primary school classes in Bhutan are quite different from in England. Children start school at age 5, and the first class is called Pre-Primary (PP), not Reception. Then, instead of Year 1, the next year is called Class 1. Then Class 2, and so on up to Class 6.
There can be a lot of children in classes in Bhutan. Most classes have about 40 children. But because Samey is only a very small school, there are few children in each class. In Class 5 there are only eleven children, for example.

Samey Primary doesn‘t have much money to spend. So that means there are no SMART Boards, computers or playground equipment like there are in most schools in England. There are lots of other resources you will know though, like multilink cubes, base-10, and wall displays. There is also a blackboard instead of a whiteboard. You have to use chalk to write on those instead of pen. The children bring their own writing books to school everyday. They can be heavy, but at least they can always show their Mum and Dads what they have been doing each day!



Mr. MacInnes says he finds the classes a lot quieter than the ones he’s had in England, which can make it difficult when he wants them to do group work! However, they are beginning to talk a bit more now that they feel less shy. And they love seeing me! I have really enjoyed helping Class 1 learn English. I have had to pretend to be a bit naughty so they could learn how to say “excuse me” and “I am sorry”! They are getting better everyday.




I hope you’ve learned a bit about school life in Samey. If you have any questions, please put them in the comments below or ask a grown up to help you. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Joe :-)