Our Current Status

I figure it is about time for an update on how each of us are doing.

At a rest stop on the way to see the largest
Statue in Sikkim -- another post to come...

Photos taken by my friend Laila, who is visiting
for the week.

Corrina first.  Corrina is the one of us most likely to count the days until we go home in December.  While she would clearly prefer to be back in her old life in Beverly, she is more easily living in the day-to-day of life here in Chanbari House.  She likes some of her classes, including science, and is slowly making friends with the kids at school.  She still prefers to eat lunch with me everyday, but I can see she is more and more comfortable on her own in the school space.  At home she likes to stay in, watching movies on her computer and lazing around the house.  She just finished reading The Hobbit and is now reading a tome that is all three Lord of the Rings books in one gigantic volume.  She speaks proudly of the fact that other students in her class have started reading The Hobbit since she finished it. Her engagement with the rest of the Sikkimese world revolves around going out to dinner, and she asks less frequently for American food.

Now Grace.  Grace is mired in studying for the preliminary Cambridge English Exam which she will be taking in early November.  She is writing short essays almost every night, trying to make the essays longer, her handwriting neater and her spelling more accurate.  She continues to gain friends in the school and even went to town last Friday with a bunch of friends after school. The basketball has waned a bit, there are few girls' teams at other schools, which disappoints her.  But she is still a star on the court and loves the positive reactions she gets from the students at the school when she plays.  Of the three of us, she finds it most difficult to share living space with so many different people.  Before we came here I didn't really think about how much of our living would be communal, and with people who are coming and going, but it is a big part of our life in Chanbari House.

Finally me.  Somewhere between the time Charna arrived in September and the time that Laila arrived last week, I morphed from being another guest at Chanbari to being the mistress of the house. It is not a position I actively sought, but perhaps a natural one for me to grow into.  I realized it just today as I was coming home early (I am not feeling well), when I spent most of the ride home thinking about who was going to take care of rounding up everyone for the Spaceo ride home and make sure that everyone who needed a ride would get one.  The dogs are mine (even though I was under the impression that we were ALL going to help take care of the dogs), the weekly dinner menu is mine -- something I am happy to own -- and people look to me to solve the minor issues that arise in the daily life of being in Gangtok. I lost my phone on Monday and only now that it is gone do I see how many small phone calls I get or initiate around the details of family and home life.
        At work I have hit a bit of a wall.  While I am doing many interesting projects and having great conversations with Pintso and his mom, I am also ready to offer some new ways to think about doing things.  But the pace of getting things done is very slow, especially in comparison to the overdrive pace of Gann Academy that I had grown accustomed to.  I am engaging my patience, but also trying to find ways to assert myself without offending or putting people off.  There are amazing people working at Taktse and I see the potential the school has to go to a new level; I hope I can help move it there while working within the way things happen at Taktse.