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Sunrise Over the Himalayas​
Classes started this week. This is everyone's first fall semester on this mountaintop. I loved my first week of classes. The students were engaged in Current Legal Issues, eager to do an advocacy project (or so it seems). 
My second year students were good sports in Oral Advocacy and Logic (we all have to take that class).
The sky is a dreamscape of possibilities. ​

We are half an hour from the nearest town, over an hour from Thimphu, the Capitol, where most of the staff and students had lived and worked at the first campus. I find little Pangbisa like a working retreat, but inconvenient at times. For those with family and friends in Thimphu, it can be isolating and an expensive commute. Remoteness creates challenges in connecting with the community and doing advocacy as well unfortunately. ​

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The laundry room will get more crowded now that students are back. 
The Law School began the semester with a first aid training for all students. A good idea in this remote setting. 

My daily walks still begin and end my daylight with stunning views and friendly smiles. 

It's a full moon on Friday, the 15th day of the 7th month of the Bhutanese calendar. It's an auspicious day to go to the Ugyen Guru Lhakhang Temple, and some Bhutanese colleagues and friends let me tag along. The temple is about 4 miles up the mountain from here. You have to walk the last bit. The beautiful panoramic view of the Himalayas feels like heaven, something these Buddhists do not believe in. There's no need really.

My friends explained to me how the local deity and his wife protect the temple. Rinpoche, a reincarnation of the Buddha, is in between the protector. The protector has a face that at once looks angry to ward off evil, but happy to the good hearted. He is fed hot coals every night, drinks from a sacred pond, and after midnight knocks on the doors of the evil to call them out. 

The first day snow appeared on some of the higher peaks rising above the Paro valley on my morning walk today. The snowy peak on the right is Jomolhari or Chomolhari, over 24,000 feet. The other side of it is Tibet. The snowy ridge to the left of Jomolhari is Nepal. 

When I left dinner the full moon was rising up over the Himalaya on a cool, clear night. Auspicious end to the day. 

Bhutan is a very traditional culture. Astrology may be consulted to determine when to hoist a prayer flag or start important work. The stars showed that today was a good day to appoint people to a new post. There's an app for that if you're interested. You can download "Druk Zakar" in the Apple or Google play store. 
So today we had an Installation ceremony at the top of the I building, where there is a beautiful altar room. I can't post photos of the room or ceremony because the campus has not yet been dedicated by the present King and his father, the fourth King (for whom the law school is named). The campus dedication will probably happen on its own Auspicious Day next year. I hope I can attend. 

I can show you photos of my colleagues after the ceremony. They have all been very nice and welcoming. Bhutan may be one of the happiest places on earth in part because it is one of the friendliest. 

Then came my favorite part. The treats. This cake was the first real dessert I have had in Bhutan, and it was delicious. Momos, pokara, fried potatoes, masala chai. Food nirvana.

Bhutan is a small, remote country trying to reap the benefits of modernization while preserving its traditional culture. That may explain why yes, you can fly there, but no, it is not easy. Try to book a flight to Paro, Bhutan through a common travel website. "Sorry, we couldn't find any flights." No, if you want to journey to Bhutan, you are going to have to work at it a little harder than that.
And Bhutan is remote. A 36 hour travel itinerary, starting with the flight from Delhi to Bhutan and working backwards, was the best I could do. Most of those hours are spent in the plane. 

IN JUSTICE, SERVICE & WISDOMI came to Bhutan to be a small part of turning this lofty goal into a reality for Bhutan's legal  system through a new kind of education at Jigme Singye Wangchuck (JSW) School of Law. The symbolism of an elaborate campus built on a hill is not lost on my. But the real work is yet to come.