Day 2, hospital paperwork, visas, kids projects, or maybe not….. We woke up on the second day in Bhutan to snow, thick, white, beautiful snow. Despite being at 7,800 feet this city rarely gets snow, and this was the first time in two years and it turns out that the first snowfall of the year is a national holiday. What a beautiful tradition! It also happened to be my birthday.
I had been saying how it did not feel like my birthday because it was not cold, and there was no snow, so when the girls saw what was happening outside they jumped into our bed, full of excitement that I got my “birthday wish” and how fun it was. As we really have no paper and can take very little with us, we curled in bed, each of them sending me their beautiful electronic cards and gave me the gift of a new pair of earring. We headed to the local cafe for breakfast and coffee.
The walk into town was an adventure. Everyone was taking selfies and snowmen were appearing all across town. We got to heart of Thimphu where a sole traffic cop normally is stationed directing traffic, but this day it stood deserted. At first we were not sure what was going on, as 6 or 7 police were stopping taxis and collecting snow, then bam, a huge snowball hit me on the side of the leg. Next thing we knew we were being pelted by snowballs. Turns out when it snows in Bhutan, everyone is fair game to be pelted. As we did errands throughout the day we got better at spotting who had the snowballs, how to hide and the umbrella came in useful as a defense weapon. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear and the place was a sloppy, wet mess of fun.
Another snow tradition we learned about was people try to hide snowballs inside each others houses filled with a food. If you find the snowball before it melts, the person who left it has to make that item for you and if it melts before you find it, you have to make that item for the other person. So say you put some rice in a snowball, you then go and hide the snowball in someone else house, if they find the snowball before it melts, you have to make them rice.
That evening we had a lovely Indian dinner with two other volunteers who are in Bhutan, another ED doctor and an infectious disease doc. It was a perfect birthday, full of family, friends, warmth, laughter, adventure and SNOW.
The following day we had planned to have the girls make cookies with three other girls of an expat American family who has been living here for 5 years, but the sun came out, the peaks were perfectly dusted with snow and so we headed to the Buddha on the hill and walked back to the house. The Buddha outside Thimphu is an impressive site. Gold, striking, holding a lotus flower and impossibly large it looms above the valley like a guardian of the city. The inside temple is equally impressive filled with 108 smaller buddhas and gold everywhere you look (sorry no pictures allowed inside). As the morning fog burned off the Buddha came and went until it stood cloud free, snow crusting the blue hair and painting its shoulders.
On the way back the girls made friends and by the time we were back they were all excited to make cookies. Minutes stretched into hours which turned into a sleep over. The girls were beyond excited to have friends their age, bake in a real oven and paint on real paper. Thankfully their new friends live close so we can plan more adventures.
Slowly we are getting settled in to our new routine. I am getting the final paperwork finished at the hospital and have started to see and learn about the health system and pathology. We have been here 5 days and the girls have jobs, friends, and our place is feeling like home. The community here in Thimphu has welcomed us with open arms but it is the smiling Bhutanese, dressed from head to toe in the most beautiful tapestries, eager to help and quick to laugh that is making Bhutan feel truly magical.
