Monday, May 30, 2011

Health & Nursery Rhymes

A lot has transpired since my last blog five weeks ago.  I wrote of my heartburn and acid reflux in the last blog.  I thought I had it under control with my bland diet and eating early but it wasn't enough to prevent the nightly sessions of me going to the "dark side" thinking I had a serious problem with my heart.  Long story short, Charly and I went to Thimphu for a week after the recommendation of a visiting American doctor for further tests.  Luckily it turned out that once I had the proper medicine (good old Prilosec), I was once again sleeping all night and even sneaking some onions once in a while.  I felt silly for going all the way to Thimphu (which is a two day trip for only 500 km), but we got to stock up on food items we can't get in the east.  Thank goodness for peanut butter and oatmeal.  Nancy invited us to a dinner with VHO doctors from Canada & the U.S. who were heading back home.  We were entertained by a traditional Bhutanese dance troop who were not only wonderful but the fastest quick change dancers I've ever seen. This allowed us to see many different styles of traditional dress and masks. So all in all it was a good mini vacation with a good outcome.  I have been feeling great for over a month now. 


A week after we got back from Thimphu, we got a call to meet Kendra (a young BCFer from Nova Scotia who teaches in Trashiyangtse), at our referral hospital in Mongar.  Another long story....many tests with no conclusive results.  All I know is when she was with us, she was definitely sick.  No one can have the high fevers she had and not be sick.  Another trip to Thimphu with good results  and she will be heading back to her 5th and 7th grade students very soon.  Bottom line, young or old, we westerners need to be very aware and careful about our health here in Bhutan.  


So on to more fun topics.  As most of you may know I am currently teaching 4th through 8th level students in a pull-out program for students struggling with their English.  They are wonderful and seem to enjoy the small group and individual attention I can give them.  Nonetheless, I miss working with the little ones.  So to get my "cuteness fix," I started a story/song session each morning with PP through 2nd level students.  They pick up tunes and new English words very quickly.  Already they have conquered "BINGO," "The Opposite Song," and "Ten in the Bed."  The pictures below are my morning sing fest and pictures from the "Nursery Rhyme" program presented to the parents by PP through 3rd level students.  It was great fun and even though this year everything was in Dzongkha, I enjoyed it throughly.