It has been four weeks since we started teaching...

There were many new people coming to Kargyak last week. At first Tomas and Katerina, two Czech filmmakers, eventually came on Tuesday to make a document not only about Kargyak and our project but also about the journey here so anybody coming here will know what to expect on the way as well as in the village. They were besides running around the village shooting also interviewing some local people as well as some of those who are working on the project. We are all looking forward to the outcome now :0). Another people who arrived to the village were a group of Czech people from Rumburk traveling to Leh during their 1 month holiday. They decided to stay in Kargyak for few days and help us on the project; boys are helping making bricks and girls are cooking for us. While speaking about cooking it leads me to a sad point during the week when Kamila left. We will miss her dearly as well as her cooking. Pyru is trying to replace her in the kitchen from now on but she will certainly have a hard job.

Another person who joined our team is Pema Lamo, new Hindi teacher, who will substitute for Tenzin Yiga for following 2 weeks and than replace Tennam for Hindi classes. Tenzin Yiga had to go to Manali to sort out some family problems and also to let his family know that he is planning to stay in Kargyak for next winter which is very good news for us. While speaking about the school there will be first parents meeting next Saturday and repeated late arrivals will be discussed among other things. The teachers has, to their great joy, noticed that those children who are attending school regularly are making a good progress and slowly loosing their shyness to speak and are also getting used to solving problems rather than just repeating questions as they were doing at the beginning. 1st class has mastered additions till 100 and Upper Kindergarten is working on it. Stenzin Chodar is working with the Nursery children on learning letters and numbers.

When it comes to the construction, it has risen 180 cm above the ground and a beautiful carved wooden door frame for the main entrance has arrived. We are also waiting for stone crushes for big stones as well as for some stones to arrive any day now to finish the stone part of the walls. A large barrel for heating water for shower has been also installed and some of the workers are now working on the shower cabin. Production of bricks is on steady 80-100 a day so we hope to have them all ready by the end of July.

Last but not least important event last Saturday was a village meeting which took place in local community hall and on which the importance of education was stressed and families were given letters from sponsors. All families also found out names of their sponsors and found some of them really amusing; probably in a similar way we find the local names.

The last day of the week was mainly dedicated to rest so some of us has gone for a short walk or were sorting other matters. Lets hope that the upcoming week is as pleasant as this one.

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