9/16 Khardong La, 18,380'/5,602 m
Today I soared (ok, rode in a car) to the highest I have ever been(outside an airplane) to the top of the highest drivable pass in the world. Great weather, Amazing scenery and giant mountains and the biggest glacier outside of the polar regions.  And a bit of a test to see how I would do at that altitude. I felt totally fine, a little lightheaded for a bit but that disappeared quickly. Granted we only stayed there for about 30 min before descending on the bikes, but still a good omen for the passes I will have to trek in Nepal

in November. Also, makes me think more about climbing StokKangri before I leave.
Back to the inauspicious start to a great day though. I went to the guide office at 9:30 as instructed, and not surprisingly, it was not open yet. Waited around for 20 min and a girl came running up to tell me that they were on the way.about 10:15 Sunny shows up- he was at a wedding last night and overslept. Turns out the actual bike company is the plAce up the road and now I'm supposed to go there and get fitted for a bike and helmet in 30 min and we will leave at 11 (instead of 10). Found a cup of coffee(real) and met a young Indian recent grad of Waterloo in mechanical engineering who nowmhasmcome back to India to learn to become a climbing guide. Show up at the bike place on time and get fitted ( some low,end hard-tail trek with caliper brakes and not great front shocks- oh well. I meet the 4 recently arrived Welsh college lads who will be my partners. The bikes re tied on top of the SUV, with one spare and off we go, 39 km to the top of the drivable world- a 2 hour drive on winding potholed switchbacks. The first 24 km is paved and a reasonable road. At 24k our permits are checked at an army post and the last 15 is a narrow  rutted dirt road with trucks, buses and motorcycles ( I quickly decided that my idea to rent and Endfield for a trip was probably not a good one). As we approached the summit the temp dropped and some of the dripping water on the road cuts was still frozen. At the summit there is a museum (mostly about wars with China and Pakistan over the years) a Gompa with Dalai Lama speeches being broadcast and tons of prayer flags. Also, a small restaurant (highest in the world, of course) where we had some tea and biscuits. Took lots of pictures and bundled up before heading down. The top was a bit of a rough go and I really wished I had my nice full suspension 29er, but actually not terrible. In fact for most of the 15 k down to asphalt we were passing back and forth with the cars. We quickly spread out and I,was mostly with two of the faster youngsters. Lots of stops for pictures of course and stripping down of clothes as we descended. Felt a little less awesome when we passed 2 local guys on their way UP- maybe next time. When we hit the pavement I somehow left the 4 in the dirt and made it down in about 1.5 hrs. Actually the road passed my house so,I stopped off, dropped of most of my gear ( so I wouldn't have to carry it back up the hill to home later) and still beat the young bucks down by quite a bit. Turned in the bikes and headed off for a pizza at Pizza da Hut. Got home and found that the power had been out all day (still is, and I am writing this in the dark now) today, but luckily there was still enough hot water left over from this morning for a shower. Fun Day! And back to school tomorrow to find out what the mystery schedule will be and what I will be teaching!

Had a very nice dinner with the family. They started to teach me some Ladakhi. I learned 3 words
Chu. Water
Jimpo. Delicious
Demo. Beautiful
And they would have kept on but I had to make them stop so I could remember them. More words tomorrow.
Tomorrow for my birthday we will have momo's and Yangchan will teach me to make them.

Tonight I was going over the bio and chem curriculum that the teachers gave me on Friday and was having a difficult time figuring out why they had covered so little material if the school year and exams are in November. Something finally dawned on me and I have begun to figure out what is going on here (verified at dinner by Yangchan). I also couldn't figure out why all of the science teachers were brand new. It turns out the science curriculum in 10 and 11 just started when the science building was opened 3 months ago,and that's when they hired the science teachers! It also explains the odd schedule where the 11th classes meet twice a day sometimes- trying to catch up. The reason the 10 class doesn't do this is that there final is not until school starts again in March (why?) and they will be studying in special classes over winter break. Yangchan also told me that many of the students in those classes just transferred from other schools when the science curriculum started. Suddenly things start to make sense- why couldn't someone have simply explained this 11 days ago?


9/17:  59 today (me)- glad I did the ride yesterday. Today there is snow way down on the peaks all day and the peaks are in thick clouds.

The other day I inadvertently selected a SIM application on my phone that somehow costs me .1 R every so often. Today I asked one of the teachers how to turn it off and they gave me a Customer Service # for Airtel which I have been calling all day and get the same recording " the lines are busy please call back later". I wonder, if I ever do get through to a call center will it be an American in the US?

This is morning after the 7th grade skit on BMI at the school assembly one of the Hindi or Bhodi teachers got up and gave a talk about behavior (in Bhodi) and at the end called up 3 male students (who I later learned are THE troublemakers in the school). They stood on the top of the wall in front of the assembly. I was worried they were going to be beaten or something, but then everyone was excused and left. I'm not certain if they were made to stay there or also left. Speaking of assemblies, I guess I will be part of a,skit on Thursday. I was asked by 2- 8th grade girls to be one of the judges in the skit on the Miss Universe pageant and to come up with 3 qUestions for the contestants and to give them to them tomorrow. I had some time and submitted them to their teacher today ( she liked them). They are:
1: what do you think is the biggest problem in the world today and how would you fix it?
2: if you could change anything about yourself what is it?
3: what is the most important thing you have done in your life?
Not sure what they will do with it.....
Everytime I think I am figuring out the school there is a new little wrinkle: c'est la vie!
I was correct about the new science classes and did work out what I will be teaching for 8 periods of the week in the 11th grade physics and bio classes. Unfortunately evolution and ecology are not in the 11th grade syllabus, so I will teach respiration and movement chapters. Not positive when they do get those topics (12th?)  but certainly hope it is sometime since there is no UNDERSTANDING biology if you don't understand evolution ! Guess it's no worse than the millions of Americans don't get it either because their teachers either  don't understand it or don't believe it.
Anyway, I wanted to get a copy of the chapter the students use so I know what's they are supposed to know for their exams. Of course there are no extra copies of the text and the school copy machine does not work ( luckily the one working printer was able to print the electronic files I brought for doing Gas Laws in chemistry!) so I borrowed a book and went to a photostat(copy) store in town in the market and copied the chapters. While I was there I stopped at an Internet cafe to get some extra information on hemoglobin structure and acclimation to altitude so I could make the unit a bit more relevant. Since it was lunchtime I grabbed a small pizza and strudel to go from one of the many "German Bakeries" in town.
This morning I had been assigned an "arrangement" to teach games 6th period ( explanation: there are no subs, when a teacher is gone special " arrangements" are made and another teacher covers- no extra pay). When I arrived at the class Munguel was still teaching a physics lesson on induced current to the 10th graders ( more on the teaching in a minute). I waited outside the class for about 20 min ( since, again there were no balls or plans and I figured they might as well be doing physics) and then went it and told him if he wanted to continue I'd hang out and listen. Interesting class to watch and I don't think he'd get any bonuses for student involvement or asking probing and interesting question..... Since in this class there were no mathematical derivations it was merely lecture and diagrams of circuits to copy. He would spend a long time drawing a detailed circuit ( which the students copied- or at least the ones who weren't sleeping in the back by me) and then would read notes to copy out of the text. He would dictate phrases of notes  and repeat the phrase 2-3 times, including saying "full stop" at the end of a sentence! and the students would copy. After class I asked him about continuing on and whether he did not have another class. Turns out he did and had made arrangements with the games teacher yesterday to take the class ( but nobody had told the vice principal). He had also instructed his 11th grade students to just continue with their work. This does not seem to be a problem and it often seems that teachers ignore the bells and continue into other teacher's time. It also turns out that the reason he is continuing on is that this class has exams starting on Thursday and they have not completed the syllabus. It also turns out that he will be teaching this class physics all day tomorrow (snore)! And I will have arrangements for his 4- 11th grade classes.
When the bell finally rang at 4, it was amazing to watch the migration of teachers and staff off the campus. Within 10 minutes they were all gone and the classrooms were all padlocked! Also, assembly starts at 10AM and there is no point in showing up before 9:45 because there are no staff at school or rooms open before this.

Have to try Airtel (later: actually never got through but figured out how to shut off the services from my phone finally) again now and then see if it is time to start cooking momos!

9/18- Happy New Years
It was a nice treat to speak with Emily, Josh and Shannon this morning and hear news about them. This whole time thing is kind of weird- it is still my birthday in the US but here we are on to the next day already.



My small birthday party was very nice. A few of Dorjay and Yangchan's friends/ relatives came by and we had a communal momo making. We all, including the men, sat around on the kitchen floor and put them together (earlier Yangchan showed me how to make the dough and Dorjay's brother had made the filling).i learned how to make 2 kinds: Tibetan which look like potstickers and Ladakhi which are round and easier to make. Mine were not very pretty, but functional. Then they were put into  a big steamer and then party began. Here cake comes first- we had a small store bought pound cake, a candle to blow out and one cousin and I shared  a Godfather (beer). I received a Khama and a big colorful birthday ribbon to wear. The momos and mutton broth soup were jimpo (delicious). One cousin works for the wildlife dept at Pangong Lake (where I hope to go this weekend) and it was interesting hearing him tell about snow leopards and other local wildlife- sure would be nice to see some.

It is cloudy again this morning, and today was the monthly visit by a monk to pray with Dorjay. I was hearing drumming, occasional bells and cymbals and more than one voice chanting while I drank my morning coffee and  was invited into the Puja room. Apparently once a month a monk comes to each house to pray with the people. Dorjay was sitting reading and chanting from a book and the monk was beating on a drum and repeating the same chant over and over and occasionally ringing bells, hitting cymbals, spinning the prayer wheel. I stayed for about 15 min.

This evening I plan to go to the girl's hostel (Yangchan suggested that would be better than the boy's since there are already 2 teachers living there to help) to see if I can be of any help with homework and studying. Yangchan told me to call if I am late and it is dark and they will come get me, because of the dogs at night.

As I said, whenever I think  I have this place figured out something changes. Went to what I thought were going to be the 11th physics classes this morning to find out they were really Chem. OK, I didn't really have any plans anyway, so we started talking about  inter and intra molecular forces ( it's interesting, but I find that I am a much better teacher when I don't have a plan and can just go wherever the questions and follow-ups take us and I think the students, or at least those that are dialed in, get more out of it). It was a good opportunity to lay down my ground rules about questions, answers and class discussion and to make them understand that where they are used to very concrete answers to their questions- they are more likely to be asked another question by me in response to their question. I explained, and they seemed to understand and appreciate, that I think they usually really do know the answer and just need some guidance to figure it out themselves.
Hadn't really thought that this experience would involve so much reflection on my own teaching, I'm kind of enjoying this aspect.
It just,occurred to me that I actually have no idea what the expectations are for the sections I will be teaching in terms of grading and tests- I certainly hope nobody expects to me do that, as I have no plans to do it.

All of the 10th grade teachers seem to be in a kerfluffle filling out paperwork and doing the final preparations for the big final exams that start on Thursday. I guess (I'm never really certain, of course) that starting Thursday all of their classes will stop and and they will take one 2-3 hr subject test per day. I think this will go on for about one week.

Same old story, after lunch I "taught"  an  8th grade class- actually Imkust let them ask lots of questions about the US. I was a bit surprised when someone asked a question about Noble and Greenough ( a private school in MA)- apparently there had been a volunteer here from there. Then I went to the 9 class I was to supposed to cover and nobody was there. Finally found out that they are also having Summative Assessments (SA) starting Thursday and have the next 2 days off. Nobody told me, and apparently they only decided on the schedule this morning!