The School Picnic

6^th – 7^th November

Picnic preparations

I don’t think that packing a few sandwiches, a cold drink and an apple and heading for the great outdoors will ever be the same again.

It was proposed to have the annual school picnic outside school grounds rather than on the school sports ground (a good idea, I thought) and a suitable spot that was relatively flat and could accommodate the whole school and sundry guests was identified.  Not an easy task in this terrain.

Tasks were delegated and I was assigned staff entertainment – which sent me into a minor panic until

Picnic Breakfast-what else would be served...

some facebook friends came to the rescue with some suggestions which stimulated further ideas.

Classes were cancelled this afternoon (Friday) for picnic preparations, after classes being cancelled during the morning for rehearsal for the upcoming celebrations of the birth anniversary of the fourth King, the 4^th Druk Gyelpo.

There being little to do for some of us, I took a long lunch break and did my Saturday chores before heading to school with the intent of commandeering some students to assist with my preparations.  Assistance was offered by some of the girls and I requested that they find 10 large fejoa, and bring 10 buckets so we could play ducking for apples, then went to find some older boys who might be handy with a bush knife.  3 volunteers were found and I took them aside, chasing away onlookers, to ask if they though they could knock up 3 or 4 pairs of stilts for stilt races.

They caught on quickly and after a conversation in whichever language they shared (there are at least 2 local languages, plus the national language) they seemed to think that this was OK but were concerned about being absent for roll call, so we went to ask permission.  Unfortunately permission was not granted as all the bigger boys were needed to carry the picnic food.

Small boys with big appetites

Our principal quizzed me about my plan and suggested stilt races might be better for the birthday celebrations as the picnic area was a little uneven.  I decided that walking to check out the picnic ground was a good idea and asked one of the students to wait for me at a meeting point to show me the way (through narrow trails, through people’s gardens, alongside people’s houses, through  barbed wire fences …...

The boys with whom I was walking were carrying sacks of vegetables – 30+ Kg – tied to their backs with string.  At one stage we passed Thukten, the biggest boy in my home class, who was flagging under 50Kg of rice.  I know from the graphing work we have done in class that Thukten does weigh 75Kg, more than most of the boys, but he is still a developing 15 year old.  Carrying such a high proportion of his body weight was huge, yet the somewhat smaller big boys were carrying similar proportions of their own body weight in radish, cabbage and chillies.  Doesn’t everyone need a sack of chillies for a picnic. (albeit for ~300 people)

And we were climbing up a hill.

The boys managed their makeshift spears much better than I did!

In due course we arrived, followed soon by others carrying more supplies, including 20 year old class 8 student Dorji with the 50Kg bag of rice.  Dorji is shorter than me and has a somewhat stocky look in his school uniform, but as he stripped off his shirt to cool down in his singlet after his hard work, Banjo Patterson’s descriptive words

“He was hard and tough and wiry”

came to mind.  I did ask him later what he weighs – 52Kg, I expressed surprise at how much he was capable of carrying and the other boys told me “He’s a strong man”.  Indeed he is.

I scouted out the area for tomorrow’s activities and decided against pre-preparing anything on site and went to watch other preparations.  Poles were being cut from the surrounding forest to support the tents and other shelters; boys and younger girls were wielding ridiculously sharp bush knives were busy decimating the surrounding vegetation in order to build “temporary houses” – cubby houses - (a practice I was told by students that would also take place if the picnic were on the school oval) and the class 7 and 8 girls were sitting decoratively on convenient rocks waiting for orders to go collect more firewood.  I was invited to join them for the latter task but declined, as it was cooling down and I was dressed only in a light shirt and trousers.

Much to the concern of many students, I set off alone to return by a different route:  the road which is under construction.  I figured it had to be easier than scrambling down 45 degree slopes and through barbed wire fences.  It also gave me a chance to enjoy the peace and quiet of the environment, to spot the troupe of langur in the trees, enjoy the hedges of poinsettia and return to Kheni in good time to attempt a few purchases before going to school to check out the solar lighting project – it being the first sunny day since installation the previous Tuesday.

So now I am sitting preparing amusements and thinking about tomorrow’s picnic breakfast – for which I need to walk a brisk half hour.

And on the day

I fortified myself with coffee before tackling the walk to the picnic site and a soon as I got to the junction of my shortcut track with the road, there were students to greet me, take my load of a bucket with empty beer bottles (in retrospect I need not have bothered.  There would have been sufficient emptied by the time I needed them..)

I walked with students, enjoying their company, (one of the boys on the previous afternoon observed that he thought I was enjoying being with them; I confirmed it was particularly nice to be with them when I am not trying to make them work hard at their maths) and was shown yet another route to the picnic grounds.

Around a dozen of the staff had camped at the ground overnight – to fend off anything on legs that might be interested in the supplies – and, I suspect, an excuse for a party.

I arrived at the appointed time but BST was once again being observed and about an hour later breakfast was served.  Tea had been available a little earlier, which was nice.  Breakfast was a bit extra special, fried rice served with hard boiled eggs and a coleslaw type salad, which many students shunned, along with butter tea – not my favourite beverage.

The girls had done their bit and brought buckets and guava for my planned entertainment, so I awaited instruction from senior staff as to when I should commence these activities.

A couple of my lovely students:  Thinley and Karsang

I took myself for quite a long walk to find a quiet, private spot in the forest, and returned to questions from students as to where I had been. …. As always.  I did ask them if they really needed to ask that question given that I had disappeared some distance alone and did at least get a few grins in reply.  They told me that to go alone in the forest was dangerous, as there are wild animals – they hunt them.  I inquired about the philosophical correctness of this activity and got the very Bhutanese answer that yes, sometimes it is a sin to kill and other times not.  Not what I thought!

I know about the wild animals;  there are wild pigs, I have seen evidence of them, and there are tigers, I have also been shown evidence of those and Nancy shared a story last weekend about one of Holly’s students being savaged by a leopard.   

I tested out one of boys’ shanghais and did get a stone to fly some distance

I checked out meal preparation:  lunch for around 300 was being chopped, sliced and generally organized.

Entertainment was provided by students:
they are happy to sing in public

I visited some of the “temporary houses” – some ridiculously well constructed for a one-day shelter – and was invited to join some of the boys later for a game.  I was signaled after morning tea that the game was ready:  spears made from saplings which were thrown at a makeshift target of crossed sticks.  I was dismally unsuccessful at even throwing the length of the pitch, but on my second attempt managed to throw straight – it make take a while for those muscles in my arm to recover.

Yet another photo session ensued – the first of many during the day.  I think I will collect money this time to print, I must have around a hundred. 

The first photo session was interrupted by students being summonsed to the main part of the picnic area for the start of the entertainment program –singing and dancing by students, and the beer and “local wine” was on offer as refreshments (along with coke and fanta)  though some of the adult males had already been quality testing the former beverages.

In due course I was asked to commence my entertainment program and started with bobbing for apples – with guava – which did not float; which made the whole affair most hilarious.

The water buckets and beer bottle game provided much hilarity

This was followed by a game which had been suggested to me by Nakita:  adults, aided by a class pp student were to attempt to fill a beer bottle which was placed about 5 metres from a bucket of water, using only their hands to carry the water.

Our vice principal decided we needed to relocate so that everyone could get a better view, including all the guests who were seated on the ground under a canvas awning.

In due course all was organized and even more hilarity ensued as the participants tried their best – and achieved their goal rather quickly (but perhaps not without a little cheating and extra help from the students assigned to hold the bottles steady on the rock-hard, uneven ground.)

More refreshments were on offer after this entertainment, but I was very wary of drinking much alcohol in the heat of the midday sun, as well as what behaviour I might be modeling for the students, many of whom see alcohol abuse in their homes or amongst their neighbours.

Lunch was considered particularly delicious, with several dishes, rather than just the usual rice, dhal and a single curry that the boarders are served.  The fact that there were 2 types of meat impressed many students I later spoke with.  I won’t dwell on the fact that the pork, as always, seems to be about 10% meat, 20% bone and the remainder fat and skin.  Pass.

After lunch there was more entertainment provided by the students – more songs and dances;  I think that might have been what I had been expected to produce, but what I did went down well, I think, even if it was unusual and unexpected.  Both adults and students have seen a couple of games that might provide them with further entertainment at other times.

As the sun disappeared behind the hill, the temperature dropped noticeably and I was grateful for a very warm fleece jacket.

One elderly gentlemen got up to take his leave, and I noticed his bag was full of empty beer bottles; upon inquiry I was told he takes them to sell to the collector.  Guessing, based on this, that his household might be one of the poorer ones, I suggested that he could perhaps be directed to where there were more, or even be given an empty sack to carry some, but another half dozen or more disappeared into the capacious pocked of his gho. 

I gave up on the idea of running the “hunt the thimble” type game that I’d asked some of the boys to set up, and sent them to retrieve the buried treasures – wrapped sweets – for their own consumption.

The view of Kheni Model Village from the picnic spot

The program was wrapped up around 4:15pm and students were set to pick up the rubbish they had so liberally distributed over the whole area.

I left about 4:30pm to walk home – yet another way – with some students and encountered some of the village gents coming to help finish off the leftover (beer and local wine).  One of our teachers had hospitably sent for more supplies to make sure there would be leftovers for them. 

As I left, the boarders were called to line up for early dinner – leftovers from lunch.

All in all, an interesting and rather enjoyable day.  But absolutely exhausting.