This isn’t all!  See the gallery for more great pictures of the day!

The fact that our kids never lack in talent, intelligence and sense of humor was reinforced by watching the famous children’s play CINDERELLA this afternoon, complete  with full costumes and a regale of royal outfits that seemed to be weighing down our little kids.  I was amazed by the level of confidence and poise with which our children performed on the stage. The choice of the girl and boy (Pema Drolma of Class Six and Langa Tsering of Class Five) for the lead roles was perfect, as they played their roles so naturally, joyfully and with perfect elegance and grace. Their delivery of dialogue was also so dignified, clear and so sweet to hear.

It is so good that so many boys and girls could take part in the play as based on our own childhood memory.  Children always like to play acts and perform, and feel immensely happy to play even a small part in any play.

We all are extremely grateful to Ms. Suzanne, for working so hard, day and night, to put together this play!

So here again, thank you Suzanne, for your inexhaustible energy and creativity, love and understanding, and for opening the floodgate of joy and cheer for our children over the past weeks during which the whole atmosphere in the school transformed into a celebration of music and singing and dancing as much as a celebration of childhood divinity and unspoiled joy and spontaneous happiness.

As you leave for Switzerland tomorrow, we wish you a pleasant journey and we look forward to your next year’s longer visit!

Written by Sumchoo Drolma, Rinchen Lhamu, Tsering Wangmu (A), and Kalsang Yudron (class VI students).

At around 10:30 in the morning, we started our program.  We were supposed to start the program at 10am sharp, but we were waiting for the Honorable Guests..
Around 10:30 they all arrived at Jhamtse Gatsal & we immediately started our program.  Many parents and guardians of our children were waiting eagerly to see the celebration.  They all were very happy seeing their kids in such a wonderful place.
The program was anchored by our Accountant Mr. Teke & also the bubbly beauty, SANDY!  Sandy was sooo excited to do this open air anchoring!  She did it with TEKE so nicely..
Apart from SANDY, ROSS, SUZZANE, SARAH, and HANNAH were also with us, enjoying the celebration.
Our little school children performed very nicely. Everyone enjoyed their performance.
Our Director Sir gave the opening speech in the Monpa language, which was so nice & inspiring.  The attending villagers were so happy to hear from Mr. Lobsang!
Later, Lobsang sir presented some volunteers with some nice gifts, for their unforgettable effort to our community!
Last but not least, our school staff performed a Hindi dance song, which was really nice.
After we finish the program, all staff & honorable guests had a very delicious lunch with a number of mouth-watering items!
After we completed our lunch, we had a nice conversation with the guests.  They are also interested in coming to our next year’s celebration.

All staffs from Jhamtse Gatsal are looking forward to next year’s celebration, (i.e. 5th Annual Day Celebration) which is going to be even more rocking!!

There’s more where these came from…please have a look at the gallery of our fantastic day!

Surrounding her house is a small field of corn which she tends to in the morning and evening, before and after she goes to work building roads during the day.

Inside, her two-room house is small but well cared for. The walls are built of smooth planks of wood, weathered by years of the annual monsoon rain and winter winds. It’s dimly lit, and the walls slightly blackened with soot from her indoor wood-burning stove.

The kitchen—also her bedroom, living room, and dining room—is modestly furnished, but her few possessions are ornate, carefully crafted to last for years. She showed us her two sets of remarkably smooth hand-carved wooden bowls, in which she has eaten three meals a day since they were gifted to her as a teenager. She stores her water in a traditional brass basin, adorned with a katak—a white scarf signifying respect, usually used to greet honored guests and often hung among prayer flags in places of spiritual significance. Lobsang explained this ancient method of keeping water, honoring its indispensability.

For dinner, she prepared for us a traditional meal of sen—a playdough-like block of millet dough—which is pinched into mini-spoons and used as a vehicle for churba—a soup made of local aged cheese and chilies. (Lobsang has used this technique for years to repel the ladies). This combination is served with hot chang, a local brew of fermented barley and millet, mixed with melted butter.

Before bed, Lobsang modeled for us a pair of traditional Monpa pants he is having specially made. While many girls—particularly older women—still wear traditional Monpa dress (a long, pink striped dress, tied at the waist, with an embroidered overcoat), traditional men’s dress has fallen out of fashion as Western clothes have entered the remote region in the last generation. His mother has ordered pieces of the outfit from friends of hers in various villages who still specialize in the craft, but fewer and fewer people are learning to make the clothing, and Lobsang predicts that in ten years it may be impossible to find.

Hey!  There’s a new gallery with more photos of Lobsang’s mom, and her beautiful place!

Recently one Lady teacher from Switzerland, named Suzzane has joined us as a dance & drama teacher. She is more excited than us! The main thing she has  noticed here nothing but love & compassion. Apart from Suzzane, we have two more friends from Boston,US. They are Sandy & Ross, they had reached before Suzzane here. They too are preparing well for the celebration.

That’s not the end. We are going to have to more special guests from US before the celebration,Sarah & Hannah. So needless to say we are going to have a colorful day!

On the annual community day, we would have some special guests who would be representing Guest of Honor & Chief Guest.

Our community has planned to do some cultural programmes on that particular day like:

(1)-  Opening Speech.

(2)- Drama.

(3)- Traditional dances from different states.

& so on.

That’s all for now. Because every staff is quite busy with their rehearsals to make it best of the bests.

See even more pictures of our summer visitors in the gallery!

Lobsang gave opening remarks (in Monpa and English), highlighting His Holiness’ dedication to compassion and nonviolence, and encouraging us all to pay attention to and practice these attributes in our daily lives. Thus, every day becomes a celebration of His Holiness, and an extension of his work.

The kids then performed the dances they’re practicing for Jhamtse Gatsal’s fourth anniversary celebration (at the end of July), interspersed with songs sung by the staff.