9/18 con't.
At about 5 this evening I showed,up at the girl's hostel, was served a cup of tea and went up to the study room: a large open room completely covered with small squares of carpet and about 20 girls I'm grades 2-5 playing and doing gymnastics. I sat and drank tea for a little while and then pulled out the iPad to show them a picture of Emily doing gymnastics. For the next hour, I had 20 little Ladakhi girls crowded around me watching the slide show of all my slides (mostly family and the pictures I have taken here) with music from the iPad over and over and asking who everyone was. As new kids showed up the veterans would take over the narration and answer questions for me. At 6 a gong was struck outside and the room was filled with maybe a hundred noisy girls grades 3-8 (apparently the older girls can study in their rooms or other places in the hostel). A few older students and the "Warden" came in and yelled at them and they all quieted down and began studying either by themselves or in small groups( as long as the monitors were present, when they would leave things became a bit less controlled). Two young girls adopted me and one of them (from Pangong Lake) started reading/ telling me the stories in her English book. I stayed until about 7 and walked home in the dusk (before the dog packs formed. Some of the girl's showed me their room which consisted of 4 sets of bunk beds and little else. They all seemed relatively happy and well cared for, but obviously enjoyed having a friendly adult to spend time with. I didn't spend anytime helping the HS kids with HW but it was an enjoyable time. I will probably go back Thursday at 6 and will let the older girls know about it in advance.
9/19- 2 weeks in Leh
A clear cold morning ( my liquid crystal postcard thermometer says 55-60 in my room) and I slept a little later (almost 7:30!). Instant coffee, chapatti and an omelette for breakfast. I have spent the morning looking at maps and reading the Essential Guide to Ladakh trying to plan the trips I hope to take while here. Saturday I am going to Pangong Lake- a long narrow salt lake on the Chinese border. I will stay somewhere near the lake and return Sunday. I am going with the same company (Snowfield) that I rode the pass with on Sunday and hopefully they will find other to share the jeep with.
Then I am planning a 3 day trip to the Nubra Valley over the other side of Khardung La pass near the Pakistan border and some unusual ecosystems, including a desert with Bactrian (2 hump) camels. I will plan this on the second weekend in Oct ( the 2nd weekend of the month there is no school on Saturday) 12-14. Finally, if the weather holds up and I can find others to share the trip I am thinking about taking 4-5 days before I leave at the end of Oct to try and climb Stok Kangri (a nontechnical 6123 m climb south of Leh). Hopefully this will all work out.
This week, instead of eating alone(free) in the girl's hostel I started buying lunch (rice, dal, vege) at the canteen for Rs 20 (40 cents) and eating outside with the other teachers. Very much more social and fun and feeling more and more like part of the place each day.
I understand a little more about the testing schedule for the next 2 weeks. Turns out because of the schedule my schedule will be quite easy and allow me to do some traveling without being missed much. For the SA (exams) the 9 and 10 students will have no classes for 2 weeks. They have 2days to study and then starting tomorrow will
Take one 2-3 hr subject test/day with no classes the rest of the day and a day off in between each test (to study). During this time it looks like I will only be teaching 2 different 11th grade classes in chem and bio but only Wednesday through Saturdays. And, on many Saturday's I won't have any class because it is a half day and sometimes it is the morning classes, sometimes the afternoon (and as far as I can figure out it isn't as simple as just rotating them). This will give me most weekends and actually Saturday through Monday to explore and travel, so I am think of now trying to climb Stok Kangri next weekend as it is a 4 day trek.
I am enjoying teaching the 11 grade chem classes and I think the students are enjoying a different approach to learning- and hopefully starting to UNDERSTAND the material. They seem to enjoy being able to interact and even to have me ask them questions. I have been trying to use a lot of common analogies to explain concepts something they do not experience much and I think it helps. Today after a class discussion on polar molecules 4 students stopped me in the courtyard to ask for a further explanation. It was fun interacting with them. And drawing diagrams in the dirt. I think it worked.
I discovered why the promised Wifi connection at school has not happened yet- they forgot to pay the Internet bill!
I was planning to run into the hills a little bit after school today, but instead I think I will go to town to talk to Sunny about the Stok Kangri climb and see if I can find a place to buy the futbols that Will and Ian want to donate to the school. I'm not sure I believe it but was told that you,can buy a futbol for Rs 20 (actually,450- still less than $8).
Evening: nice leisurely walk home from town. Instead of the road I decided to meander along the winding paths that go everywhere. A very pleasant walk in cool fall air with young boys bringing cows home and people out in their fields harvesting the barley. One nice thing about walking around Leh is that it is hard to get lost since once you are out of town the scenery is wide open and there are so many landmarks towering over you. Getting of the main market roads in town is a different story as you wind through tiny shop lined walkways about 15 ft wide and towering 2-3 stories overhead. Today I wandered through the barber section and the onto the butchers, among others.
I will be picked up at 8 AM Saturday to head to Pangong Tso. So far they have found 2 others to share the trip ( and cost), and hopefully will find a couple more by Saturday. It's looking like Katarina (young German volunteer in the KG) and I will try to do Stok Kangri next weekend (Sat-Tues) and try to find more people to,bring the costs down. It's kind of hard for me to not justify spending 2 months here and not taking the opportunity to summit a 6000 m peak, especially if it is relatively inexpensive, not difficult and I don't need to,carry my stuff!
Today I took some photos of some of the antique lab equipment in the physics lab, because it looks so similar to the shelves of ancient physics apparatus that were in the science storeroom at RHS until this spring when Chip cleaned it all out- not sure what happened to it- should have sent it here!
9/20
Not much to report. I think this is a good sign that life is becoming routine andmI am settling in. Classes run smoothly, lunch is more fun as teachers open up more and ask questions, tell stories and jokes. Tomorrow I may ask some of the younger guys if they will let me take them out for a beer after work some day.
One funny little story: after work as a bunch of us were leaving I was asked where I was going and told them to run. The response: "really?" yes, "really?", yes, "no, really". This exchange went on five times. Finally I said that when I get home I will compete in skiing and want to stay in shape. They seemed to accept that, but it is obvious the idea of exercise for fun is pretty foreign and was made even clearer when I got home and told Yangchan and Dorjay what I was doing. No real questions, just a look that clearly said "crazy damn Americans" and a shake of the head.
It was a wonderful evening run- the first since the 10k, I think and I am pretty sure I could have easily taken 10 min off my time now. Ran up ( yes actually can now run slowly up) to the Nubra Valley (Khardung La) Road, then back along the 10k route to the back of the Leh Monastery, up to the top of the Monastery then down the stairway trail and up the road to home and a warm shower (first in 3 days).
Tomorrow I have no morning classes so I plan to go town for real coffee and breakfast and try to post this and collect email- it's been a few days and still no Internet at school.
9/21
Last night and this morning Yangchan has been telling me a lot about Bhuddism the various holy-men (Rimpoche) in the region. Apparently, one of them is coming to school on Wednesday or Thursday, so I guess there will be no classes that day. She also told me about her favorite Rimpoche who lives at a monastery in Sabu and says they will take me to meet him soon. I've been doing a lot of reading in The Essential Guide to Ladakh about the history of the area (many wars and changes and melding of religions between Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus, depending on who was ruling). There is also stood section describing the various local,sects of Buddhists and their various deities. A bit complicated to follow, but I now have a slightly better idea of how things work. I now know that the Dalai Lama heads the Galug Pa order and that Yangchan and Dorjay "belong" to,the Nyingma Pa, but that they still revere and consider the DL their real spiritual leader.
I was going to do some laundry this morning so I have some clean clothes for the trip to Pangong Lake and next week. I was going to,do it by hand but of course Yangchan insisted on using the washing machine once the power came on. I said OK, but insisted she let me hang them up. I am waiting around to be sure that happens.
Another lesson in flexibility this morning: walked into town to have coffee and breakfast get money, get Internet, check on tomorrow's trip. When I arrived in town (around 10) the streets were deserted ( except for a lot of cops with automatic weapons) and all the shops and restaurants closed tight ( except Chemists). The ATM was working ( not always) so I got some cash and wandered around the empty streets until someone finally told me that everything is closed until 2 for a political protest against the recent doubling in cost of propane. Will go back after school at 4.
Another interesting school fact: many of the non-boarding students come in from nearby surrounding villages on buses. the school has some of it's own yellow school buses but not enough and many of the students arrive in huge green army and police transports (same for many of the other schools in town). Also, It seems all of the bus drivers are either police or soldiers. I assume because of the huge military presence (Pakistan and China borders are right close) there are lots of soldiers and equipment with not a lot to do and driving school buses is used for training and to keep the soldiers busy.
I think this blog is starting to ramble a bit, but hopefully the collection of random vignettes gives a reasonable idea of daily life here.
This morning somebody brought tea and biscuits for all the teachers. I asked why and was told that one of the girl students had fallen off of one of the high rock walls on the school ground, become partially paralyzed and went to hospital in Delhi- she has recovered and just returned. The tea is from the family thanking the staff for the assistance they had given. As I have walked around the schools I have been very aware of the high rock walls, steep rock stairs, high open windows with kids leaning out, unsupervised children in the yards and wondering how often there are accidents and thinking how sheltered we keep our children in the US! After writing this,as I walked to town I realized what I left out as far as something you would never see in the good ole USA: kids standing in the open doors of moving school buses!
Eshey showed me a report by an NGO this morning that is mapping all of the schools in Ladakh. Not really sure why, but there are 377 of them- mostly small elementary schools in remote areas with 10-20 kids and 2-3 teachers. He also told me that currently the auditorium is filled with books that came in from Delhi and are being sorted out to be sent to these rural schools so that have small libraries.
Won't be posting this or sending or receiving email until Sunday evening at the earliest- went to town after schools and the shops were open but Internet down. I leave from Pangong Lake early tomorrow morning and won't have phone or Internet until I get back Sunday evening.
At about 5 this evening I showed,up at the girl's hostel, was served a cup of tea and went up to the study room: a large open room completely covered with small squares of carpet and about 20 girls I'm grades 2-5 playing and doing gymnastics. I sat and drank tea for a little while and then pulled out the iPad to show them a picture of Emily doing gymnastics. For the next hour, I had 20 little Ladakhi girls crowded around me watching the slide show of all my slides (mostly family and the pictures I have taken here) with music from the iPad over and over and asking who everyone was. As new kids showed up the veterans would take over the narration and answer questions for me. At 6 a gong was struck outside and the room was filled with maybe a hundred noisy girls grades 3-8 (apparently the older girls can study in their rooms or other places in the hostel). A few older students and the "Warden" came in and yelled at them and they all quieted down and began studying either by themselves or in small groups( as long as the monitors were present, when they would leave things became a bit less controlled). Two young girls adopted me and one of them (from Pangong Lake) started reading/ telling me the stories in her English book. I stayed until about 7 and walked home in the dusk (before the dog packs formed. Some of the girl's showed me their room which consisted of 4 sets of bunk beds and little else. They all seemed relatively happy and well cared for, but obviously enjoyed having a friendly adult to spend time with. I didn't spend anytime helping the HS kids with HW but it was an enjoyable time. I will probably go back Thursday at 6 and will let the older girls know about it in advance.
A clear cold morning ( my liquid crystal postcard thermometer says 55-60 in my room) and I slept a little later (almost 7:30!). Instant coffee, chapatti and an omelette for breakfast. I have spent the morning looking at maps and reading the Essential Guide to Ladakh trying to plan the trips I hope to take while here. Saturday I am going to Pangong Lake- a long narrow salt lake on the Chinese border. I will stay somewhere near the lake and return Sunday. I am going with the same company (Snowfield) that I rode the pass with on Sunday and hopefully they will find other to share the jeep with.
Then I am planning a 3 day trip to the Nubra Valley over the other side of Khardung La pass near the Pakistan border and some unusual ecosystems, including a desert with Bactrian (2 hump) camels. I will plan this on the second weekend in Oct ( the 2nd weekend of the month there is no school on Saturday) 12-14. Finally, if the weather holds up and I can find others to share the trip I am thinking about taking 4-5 days before I leave at the end of Oct to try and climb Stok Kangri (a nontechnical 6123 m climb south of Leh). Hopefully this will all work out.
This week, instead of eating alone(free) in the girl's hostel I started buying lunch (rice, dal, vege) at the canteen for Rs 20 (40 cents) and eating outside with the other teachers. Very much more social and fun and feeling more and more like part of the place each day.
I understand a little more about the testing schedule for the next 2 weeks. Turns out because of the schedule my schedule will be quite easy and allow me to do some traveling without being missed much. For the SA (exams) the 9 and 10 students will have no classes for 2 weeks. They have 2days to study and then starting tomorrow will
Take one 2-3 hr subject test/day with no classes the rest of the day and a day off in between each test (to study). During this time it looks like I will only be teaching 2 different 11th grade classes in chem and bio but only Wednesday through Saturdays. And, on many Saturday's I won't have any class because it is a half day and sometimes it is the morning classes, sometimes the afternoon (and as far as I can figure out it isn't as simple as just rotating them). This will give me most weekends and actually Saturday through Monday to explore and travel, so I am think of now trying to climb Stok Kangri next weekend as it is a 4 day trek.
I am enjoying teaching the 11 grade chem classes and I think the students are enjoying a different approach to learning- and hopefully starting to UNDERSTAND the material. They seem to enjoy being able to interact and even to have me ask them questions. I have been trying to use a lot of common analogies to explain concepts something they do not experience much and I think it helps. Today after a class discussion on polar molecules 4 students stopped me in the courtyard to ask for a further explanation. It was fun interacting with them. And drawing diagrams in the dirt. I think it worked.
I discovered why the promised Wifi connection at school has not happened yet- they forgot to pay the Internet bill!
I was planning to run into the hills a little bit after school today, but instead I think I will go to town to talk to Sunny about the Stok Kangri climb and see if I can find a place to buy the futbols that Will and Ian want to donate to the school. I'm not sure I believe it but was told that you,can buy a futbol for Rs 20 (actually,450- still less than $8).
Evening: nice leisurely walk home from town. Instead of the road I decided to meander along the winding paths that go everywhere. A very pleasant walk in cool fall air with young boys bringing cows home and people out in their fields harvesting the barley. One nice thing about walking around Leh is that it is hard to get lost since once you are out of town the scenery is wide open and there are so many landmarks towering over you. Getting of the main market roads in town is a different story as you wind through tiny shop lined walkways about 15 ft wide and towering 2-3 stories overhead. Today I wandered through the barber section and the onto the butchers, among others.
I will be picked up at 8 AM Saturday to head to Pangong Tso. So far they have found 2 others to share the trip ( and cost), and hopefully will find a couple more by Saturday. It's looking like Katarina (young German volunteer in the KG) and I will try to do Stok Kangri next weekend (Sat-Tues) and try to find more people to,bring the costs down. It's kind of hard for me to not justify spending 2 months here and not taking the opportunity to summit a 6000 m peak, especially if it is relatively inexpensive, not difficult and I don't need to,carry my stuff!
Today I took some photos of some of the antique lab equipment in the physics lab, because it looks so similar to the shelves of ancient physics apparatus that were in the science storeroom at RHS until this spring when Chip cleaned it all out- not sure what happened to it- should have sent it here!
9/20
Not much to report. I think this is a good sign that life is becoming routine andmI am settling in. Classes run smoothly, lunch is more fun as teachers open up more and ask questions, tell stories and jokes. Tomorrow I may ask some of the younger guys if they will let me take them out for a beer after work some day.
One funny little story: after work as a bunch of us were leaving I was asked where I was going and told them to run. The response: "really?" yes, "really?", yes, "no, really". This exchange went on five times. Finally I said that when I get home I will compete in skiing and want to stay in shape. They seemed to accept that, but it is obvious the idea of exercise for fun is pretty foreign and was made even clearer when I got home and told Yangchan and Dorjay what I was doing. No real questions, just a look that clearly said "crazy damn Americans" and a shake of the head.
It was a wonderful evening run- the first since the 10k, I think and I am pretty sure I could have easily taken 10 min off my time now. Ran up ( yes actually can now run slowly up) to the Nubra Valley (Khardung La) Road, then back along the 10k route to the back of the Leh Monastery, up to the top of the Monastery then down the stairway trail and up the road to home and a warm shower (first in 3 days).
Tomorrow I have no morning classes so I plan to go town for real coffee and breakfast and try to post this and collect email- it's been a few days and still no Internet at school.
9/21
Last night and this morning Yangchan has been telling me a lot about Bhuddism the various holy-men (Rimpoche) in the region. Apparently, one of them is coming to school on Wednesday or Thursday, so I guess there will be no classes that day. She also told me about her favorite Rimpoche who lives at a monastery in Sabu and says they will take me to meet him soon. I've been doing a lot of reading in The Essential Guide to Ladakh about the history of the area (many wars and changes and melding of religions between Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus, depending on who was ruling). There is also stood section describing the various local,sects of Buddhists and their various deities. A bit complicated to follow, but I now have a slightly better idea of how things work. I now know that the Dalai Lama heads the Galug Pa order and that Yangchan and Dorjay "belong" to,the Nyingma Pa, but that they still revere and consider the DL their real spiritual leader.
I was going to do some laundry this morning so I have some clean clothes for the trip to Pangong Lake and next week. I was going to,do it by hand but of course Yangchan insisted on using the washing machine once the power came on. I said OK, but insisted she let me hang them up. I am waiting around to be sure that happens.
Another lesson in flexibility this morning: walked into town to have coffee and breakfast get money, get Internet, check on tomorrow's trip. When I arrived in town (around 10) the streets were deserted ( except for a lot of cops with automatic weapons) and all the shops and restaurants closed tight ( except Chemists). The ATM was working ( not always) so I got some cash and wandered around the empty streets until someone finally told me that everything is closed until 2 for a political protest against the recent doubling in cost of propane. Will go back after school at 4.
Another interesting school fact: many of the non-boarding students come in from nearby surrounding villages on buses. the school has some of it's own yellow school buses but not enough and many of the students arrive in huge green army and police transports (same for many of the other schools in town). Also, It seems all of the bus drivers are either police or soldiers. I assume because of the huge military presence (Pakistan and China borders are right close) there are lots of soldiers and equipment with not a lot to do and driving school buses is used for training and to keep the soldiers busy.
I think this blog is starting to ramble a bit, but hopefully the collection of random vignettes gives a reasonable idea of daily life here.
This morning somebody brought tea and biscuits for all the teachers. I asked why and was told that one of the girl students had fallen off of one of the high rock walls on the school ground, become partially paralyzed and went to hospital in Delhi- she has recovered and just returned. The tea is from the family thanking the staff for the assistance they had given. As I have walked around the schools I have been very aware of the high rock walls, steep rock stairs, high open windows with kids leaning out, unsupervised children in the yards and wondering how often there are accidents and thinking how sheltered we keep our children in the US! After writing this,as I walked to town I realized what I left out as far as something you would never see in the good ole USA: kids standing in the open doors of moving school buses!
Eshey showed me a report by an NGO this morning that is mapping all of the schools in Ladakh. Not really sure why, but there are 377 of them- mostly small elementary schools in remote areas with 10-20 kids and 2-3 teachers. He also told me that currently the auditorium is filled with books that came in from Delhi and are being sorted out to be sent to these rural schools so that have small libraries.
Won't be posting this or sending or receiving email until Sunday evening at the earliest- went to town after schools and the shops were open but Internet down. I leave from Pangong Lake early tomorrow morning and won't have phone or Internet until I get back Sunday evening.
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