Even so, I'm blown away by the fact that Monday is June and that we have less than three weeks before exams start. How am I possibly almost halfway through the school year?
I expected that by now I would be totally comfortable and at peace here. And in most ways I am. More often than not I feel like I have this whole teaching thing down, I eat chilies like a pro, I have friends and "family" here, I'm happy, healthy, and shouldn't ask for anything else.
I thought it would be a sign of strength to be able to say that I've reached a place where I no longer crave western comforts. I wanted to come here, live a minimalist life style, and be able to go home and live a simple life more in-tune with God and the earth. But I've found that there are some things inside me that have not (and maybe will not) change.
There are days when I wake up and I still miss things like: endless flowing clean water, truly clean sheets, healthy smoothies, students who understand what I say, and dark chocolate. And while dealing with Aragog's offspring in my room (giant spiders), I curse this place and wonder why I ever came to a place where the mentality of the culture makes me feel like I'm going to hell for trying to kill a spider. -really the spiders are the bane of my happiness here, although I am trying to make my peace with them.
Now I know that it won't be long before I have these comforts again, and that makes the lack thereof easy to deal with. I also still have a long time here to adjust (or as I see it, forget about the good days when I had a washing machine). I don't know where I will be mentally by the end of this, but I'm trying to recognize that it probably won't be where I had wanted, and that's ok.
SO, since my life is full of reading, writing, listening, and speaking as I spend more and more of my time at school, I thought I might share a story from the class 4 textbook. This is one of my favorite texts that we have read so far. The Bhutanese curriculum focuses on academic learning, but it also has a Buddhist facet that shines through in the form of standards that reflect things such as Gross National Happiness and Life Skills.
A LOT of the curriculum is over my students's head. This story, however, they were able to grasp and they actually understood the question: "what lesson did you learn from this story?".
Why the Sky Is Far Away
- Marci Stillerman
In the beginning, the sky was close to the earth, and the people didn’t have to work for their food. All they had to do was cut away a piece of sky to eat. It tasted delicious, like meat or corn or honey or anything else they felt like eating. Since they didn’t have to hunt for their food, all they did was weave and carve and tell stories all day.
When the great King Oba wanted to give a party, his servants would cut out pieces of the sky and shape them into wonderful forms – animals, diamonds, leaves, or flowers.
But as time went on, the people forgot to appreciate the sky. They took their food for granted, and they became wasteful. They cut far more sky than they needed and threw what they didn’t use onto the garbage heap.
The sky became angry because of the waste and the people’s ingratitude for his gift.
One day, the sky grew very dark. The people were frightened.
“Oba,” a voice boomed above the king’s palace. “Wasteful one, king of wasteful, ungrateful people. If you continue to waste food, you will have no more of the sky to cut.”
Oba was terrified. He sent messengers all over his kingdom. “Take only what you need,” they warned. “They sky is angry because of your greed. Stop wasting the sky, or there will be trouble.”
For a while, the people were very careful. They cut only what they needed from the sky. They ate all they took. Nothing was thrown on the garbage heap. Nothing was wasted.
Once every year there was a great festival in Oba’s kingdom in celebration of this greatness. All the people looked forward to wearing their best clothes, dancing all day and night and feasting on wonderful foods.
Oba’s servants prepared magnificent food. They pulled pieces of sky down and shaped them into flowers and animals and every imaginable form. They colored them and cooked them and placed them on huge platters so that the food looked tempting and inviting.
The people came in gorgeous robes. Music played, and everyone danced. Soon the people became hungry and started to eat. The food was so delicious that they ate and ate until everything was gone.
But the people were greedy and wanted to eat more, even though they were no longer hungry. They pulled down great quantities of sky and gobbled them up. What they couldn’t stuff into themselves, they threw on the garbage heap. Greedy and wasteful, they forgot all about the sky’s warning.
Suddenly, while the festival was still going on, the sky grew ominously dark. Thunder rumbled and roared, and fearsome knives of lightening sliced through the sky.
“People of the earth,” the sky boomed, “you are wasteful and greedy. I warned you. I will no longer give you food. You will have to work to eat.”
The sky sailed up high above the earth, far out of the reach of the tallest person. Ever since then, no one has been able to reach up and grab a piece of it, and the people must work hard on farms and in factories for their food.
