First Day of Class

The view from my kitchen window on a beautiful first day of school. 

It's back to school for me!

Today was the first day of classes at RTC. The two classes that I am teaching – "Youth and Society" and "Media and NGOs" – met in the morning and they are classes for the Year 3 students (aka, the seniors). This is nice because my first students at RTC are ones that have been around here for 2 years and know the college culture. The first year students are very immature, academically, and there is a lot more hand-holding to get them to be college students.

However, there are many differences between the RTC students and the American college student. One of the professors here told me that their academic level sits between a good American high school student and a decent American community college student. While I am not approaching the students here with low standards, I do think already that this is an accurate description and helpful in recognizing their initial level in order to challenge them to excel. For my first two classes, only about 50% of the students showed up (36 students in a class, total). I'm still not sure where the others were. There were some moments of immaturity – the guy who asked to go to the bathroom and never came back, the chatter, the unwillingness to ask questions or answer prompts – but these are things that I can work with as a teacher. There are interesting cultural elements at work as well, such as every student calling me "Sir" and when they do speak up and present something, they will only talk directly to me and not to the rest of the class. Bhutanese also tend to speak very softly in class in order to respect the teacher, although this is hard for me personally as I can only hear about 50% as well as most other people. We'll work on that.

In my last entry, I described the higher education system in Bhutan but not really how things worked at RTC. In stark contrast to American colleges and universities, students at RTC (and other Bhutanese higher education institutions) attend class from 9am – 4pm in much the same way as an American high school. The classes are one hour long each and, also unlike American higher education, classes at RTC meet everyday. In other words, I teach two courses so that means I teach twice a day, everyday. However, differently from either the American high school or college systems, the students do not switch classrooms. The third-year sociology/political science students have class in room C11 ... for every period of every day. (It is the teachers that move around.) Plus, all students of the same year in the same track – here, sociology & political science – take the exact same courses together at the exact same time. For example, the 36 students I have in my "Youth and Society" course are the exact same ones in my "Media and NGOs" course because they are all third-year students. This is nice for me, because I only need to learn 36 names. I will also be advising some of the third-years on their senior projects, but that hasn't started yet.

It's actually kind of nice to live on campus because I am able to go home whenever I want. After my last class at 1pm, I walked home and made lunch and did some laundry and even took an afternoon nap (which, as Emily can attest, I rarely do). I find that the Professor lifestyle suits me, as I can spread out my work and have flexible hours (outside of my obligations to the college, department, and in the classroom, of course). I'll probably do some more prep work tonight after dinner.

...

I went into Thimphu a few days ago, and then again yesterday. There is a faculty shuttle that makes several trips back and forth between RTC and Chang Lam Square in the heart of Thimphu, and its a free service. There is also a city bus which makes regular trips as well and that is Nu25 (~$0.50) so it's not too bad. On both trips I have taken a taxi back for Nu200.

Yesterday I took the bus into town and happened to meet a Canadian who is working for the Bhutan Canada Foundation as a teacher in Punakha, which is the next dzongkhag (or "district") over from Thimphu. I was considering the BCF as a possible entry into Bhutan, but I'm glad I found RTC first. Noorin, the Canadian, is a teacher for the Punakha district schools, most of which are pretty rural and remote. She is having a much different experience than I am in Thimphu, and definitely more like the experiences of Jamie Zeppa in Beyond the Sky and the Earth (if you've read that book). Anyway, she was a special educator in Canada so, of course, we hit it off immediately. She gave me some good contacts in Thimphu to get ahold of in relation to my research including the director of AbilityBhutan and the in-country director of the BCF teachers. Bhutan is definitely a country where once you meet one person you automatically have an invitation to at least two or three other people. Punakha is about a two-hour ride from Thimphu, but I would like to make it out there at least once or twice to observe the situation in rural schools. Noorin told me that she does have students with disabilities in her classroom – mostly learning disabled – but there is definitely no support structures in place for these students. I would definitely like to know more about how that works.

Here's a few pictures from my time in Thimphu yesterday.

Thimphu might be one of the only country capitals in the world without a traffic light. Rather famously, the main intersection in town is controlled by traffic police whom gesture the cars through and look like part air-traffic controller, part mime. 

Clock Tower Plaza on Norzin Lam ("Lam" means street). This is one of the main focal points downtown and they are still performing regular benefit concerts for the Dzong that burned down in Wangdue Phodrang. 

This is where I spent most of Sunday afternoon: Ambient Cafe. It would be a decent coffee shop in the States, but in Bhutan it's definitely amazing. I had my first cup of coffee in weeks, and it was excellent. This is also the meeting place for all the expats living in Thimphu. I'm thinking that this will become my regular Sunday afternoon haunt. 

Just north of downtown there is about a quarter-mile of stalls like these that sell Bhutanese handicrafts from sellers in the rural districts. It's called the Craft Market Bazaar and you can find lots of handwoven items, carved wooden masks, handmade paper, trinkets and curiosities, prayer wheels, and – of course – lots of phalluses. I'll definitely have to explain that in another entry! For now, let me just say that the Bhutanese have no problem painting phalluses on the sides of houses or carrying phalluses around with them as a protective amulet. It's not as common in Thimphu, but in the rural districts I hear every house has a phallus painted on its side. Like I said, I will definitely write a whole entry on this phenomenon later.