Amsterdam, capital of The Netherlands

Amsterdam is by far one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is very rich in heritage and I just love to stroll by those magnificent canals. I was fortunate enough to travel to Amsterdam and to reside there for three weeks on a official training with my colleagues. Prior to boarding my flight to Amsterdam from New Delhi, I was very excited but the long seven and a half hours of flight made me cranky for the lack of adequate sleep. Nevertheless, I arrived at Amsterdam in the early hours of the day and it is the coldest part of the day. The bus which was due to pick us up couldn't find us and we couldn't locate the bus so in this little game of hide-and-sick with bus driver, most of us were freezing, mind you eight of us out of twelve people came from one of the most hottest and humid areas in Bhutan. Therefore, standing outside the airport with the temperature of minus five degree with chilly wind piercing our bones wasn't so welcoming for us. When we could feel our bones almost giving up to keep us standing still, we could finally see the bus which was parked just steps away which I am still unable to comprehend how we missed to catch the sight of nearby bus. After getting in the bus, we were driven to our hotel. for the first night, I slept for straight twelve hours. Htel Serviced Apartments provided us the experience the freedom of our own apartments which means we had to cook our own meals. Now, the problem is I don't know how to cook. Thankfully, my roommate was pretty good in cooking and thanks to her, I could save some euros from eating outside. At times, I used to visit my male friend's room for dinner. I didn't know how to cook for sure but I knew how to get a free meal from others though. Once a week, room service people used to come and clean our rooms which was a luxury which we couldn't afford back home as we have to clean by ourselves. We are the maid, cook, carpenter, mason, gardener, sweeper, all in one, working our arse off to survive but in hotel we were treated like a boss. Three weeks stay at luxurious Htel was worth cherishing for life. I made the best use of steam bath, sauna, and swimming pool in the hotel. I ain't a swimmer and I don't know how to swim yet I visited swimming pool more than most of my colleagues just to be inside the pool to float like a frog. Amsterdam is a cold city and to be in a hot steam bath and later to be in bathtub was relaxing up to the extent that I forgot where I was. Now, after coming back to my country, I missed those facilities but again I have to reason out that those facilities are kind of useless in a hot place like Samtse. Oh well, it was good while it lasted!



I was to share a room with my female colleague for it was just two of us, women in a big group of ten men. Now, I haven't shared a room with anyone in my life. I had been a loner and independent woman. I find difficult to adjust with people. Anyways, my stay at Amsterdam was fun because of my roommate and sharing a room wasn't a hassle. My roommate was a fitness freak and we used to go to gym every single day for two weeks but couldn't go for the last week as the schedule was very hectic with some last minute shopping to be done. I always learn more from people and I learned how to be a caring person from my roommate from the way she handled every small issues which was happening continents away from her. She was physically there at Amsterdam but she was mentally and emotionally at Bhutan with her two lil' kids. I used to wonder how was she able to manage everything so effortlessly without complaining and with her full heart and soul. No wonder, mother's heart is something which we could never reason out. My roommate was a great mother, faithful and doting wife, and considerate daughter. I owe this trip for letting me know her and all the things I have learned from her was positive. I hope you [you know who you are] remain the same and continue rocking the world like you do always.



It was a different experience for me to be in a same group for three weeks to undergo the same training. As a student, we used to be in same class for a year and more at times but this time it was different because we were grown ups and professionals. The groups consisted of diverse individuals. There were few of them who was positive and helpful in so many ways but at the same times we also has couple of them who irritated each and every one of us with their annoyingly opinionated attitude. When I came across those judgmental and arrogant oldies, I internally scream to myslef, 'no matter what happens, Sonam, you are not going to be like him/her.' Maybe they might be blind to their shortcomings but as an external factor and silent audience, I can see lots of pitfalls which can be avoided instead of presenting oneself in a negative limelight. I got to reconnect one of my pg mates as well. This guy hasn't changed a bit. He was funny, helpful, and positive and even after nine years he is still the same. We had countless and obnoxiously loud laughter over funny incidents that happened years ago. Life tends to get busy with work and other things but when we meet with old friends, life tends to hold still for a moment and takes us back to the past which is a good thing and much needed at particular point of time in life.



Learning new things has always been a fascinating thing for me and I get a kick when I learn new things, be it about a place, country, content knowledge, or the people. All these came in a small package in the form of my trip to Amsterdam. The training was so intensive that we had to literally do assignment every single night but those assignments were developed in such a way that I didn't feel like I was doing assignment. In that way, learning was fun. Some of the topics with regard to content was familiar but didn't feel bored to learn the old thing again rather it was presented in a different way like a old wine bottled in a new designed bottle. I feel blessed to be in teaching profession as I get to be in touch with latest information and research. I have never, after joining my work, felt the need to watch my own teaching and reflect on it but during the training session, each one of us had to record our class in a video and other colleagues were to watch it to provide feedback at the end. I got lots of constructive feedback from my colleagues. I got a chance to reflect on my own teaching. Hopefully, I will be reflecting more on my teaching to benefit my students and myself as a tutor. Professionally, this training was a stepping stone for me to study my own professional growth.



Exploring Amsterdam city via canal cruise on the second day after our arrival was so good that everyone of us were busy recording it in phone and camera to send it folks back home so that they could see wonderful things of Amsterdam. The cruise was of an hour and every cent spent was worth. One thing I have noticed is that people of The Netherlands is that they are very healthy and fit. if you walk around the city, you will see more than half of the population walking around with a big bag of french fries with thick mayonnaise. They eat french fries, they call it as fries, like we eat rice, Fries are solid food for me unlike for us, it is a snack. Consuming big bag of fries is supposed to make them fat and unhealthy but they are not, you want to know the secret? They don't lead a lazy life rather people can be seen walking everywhere. For them a walking distance of thirty minutes is very near and when Netherlanders say it is near, most probably you might have to walk more than thirty minutes. Cycling and walking are the means of transportation for me but for the long distance they take metro. There are few cars which can be seen on the road. Here is the fun fact: there are 881,000 bicycles in Amsterdam and that's four times the number of cars. Like the natives, even we had been walking around for three weeks and that's why we have not gained weight even though we had been eating junk food. I would like to continue walking instead of driving so that I would be fit.



I am so much grateful for this trip as it gave me a chance to visit Paris in France. For those of you who wants to know the details, I have blogged about my trip to Paris in my earlier blog so feel free read to know my thoughts about Paris and my experience of being in France and handsome french men. I had always wanted to explore the world and travel the world to see things differently in life and it all came true with this trip. My perspective towards life has changed ever since I got back from Amsterdam. Thank you, Amsterdam for being beautifully wonderful and giving me the best time of my life. Much love! 

A Day in Paris

Today is the first day of third decade of my life and what could be the best way to celebrate this grand day than to blog about the day I walked aimlessly around Paris,  one of most romantic cities in the world. My journey to Paris started with a long journey of seven hours of bus ride around midnight and ended in the early chilly morning at the heart of Paris. Since it was my first trip to Paris, I was kind of lost in finding metro to Eiffel Tower so after having English breakfast in cafe, I asked around for the direction and was more confused due to language barrier. Nevertheless, one man saw my confusion on my face, I suppose because he gave me the proper directions to get to metro station and I rushed towards it, he yelled at me, 'don't lost' which I understood as 'don't get lost'. After hopping on the train, I was so amazed and mesmerized by the varied and beautiful architectures. I can still feel the excitement and chill when I think of that exact moment I saw Eiffel Tower. I had been dreaming my whole life to catch a glimpse of the tower and when the fantasy turns into reality, I had difficult time to realize that it is happening. I had to pinch myself several times and blink my eyes uncountable times. The first time I laid my eyes on the magnificent Eiffel Tower I was on the cloud nine. Standing in the long queue with chilly wind giving me Marilyn Monroe moment with every piece of my clothing flying in every direction. But when I was on the top of Eiffel Tower, the wait in cold weather was worth. The whole city of Paris could be seen like tiny town of ants in a very cute way. While I was enjoying the view of Paris from the top, I overheard someone crying and turned around to see a girl sobbing and her boyfriend consoling her. I still wonder whether her cry was of joy of being on the top or out of fright and phobia of height. I was also touched enough to shed few drops of tears but I was busy with appreciating the beauty of the Eiffel Tower and the city of Paris.



After being on the top of Eiffel Tower I went to an open restaurant to have lunch and was being serve by one of most sexiest and handsome French waiter. I flirted a bit with him till I had to drag my arse out of the restaurant. Rest of the afternoon, I walked aimlessly around the city and by the river Seine. The breeze was chilly but it relaxed my nerves but at the same time it made me feel the urge to pee. I wanted to take a break to attend nature's call and landed up drinking wine in one of the open restaurants. As I sipped the red wine I watched beautiful people walking around with their cute dogs. In that moment I could really live in the moment and was grateful of all the things that was happening to me. I wasn't done with the city yet so I roamed around the city and visited few shops but couldn't purchase anything as the main aim of coming to Paris was to explore the city. I was walking and window shopping till my feet ached. I again visited an open bar and ordered a beer and flirted with the handsome waiter for a while. I am still unable to comprehend why the waiters are so fucking good looking.



I was meaning to witness the flickering Eiffel Tower and had to wait for that one minute of beauty while the cold winter tortured each and every bone of my body. When the tower finally flickered, it took my breath away and it was one of the most beautiful things that I have seen in my life. As the flickering light went off, the tower regained its original beauty and with this I walked back to metro station to reach me to bus station which will take me back to Amsterdam.



The trip to Paris was worth the money, time, energy, and pain. The most fascinating thing about Paris is the Eiffel Tower and French men, I tell you French men are the most good looking which left me swooning over them. I had been dying to visit Paris and with my visit, one list from my bucket list is finally ticked. Paris, you are magnificent!



And here are some of the beautiful pictures from my collection.
                                           

Delhi, Capital City of India

I lived in India for five long years but I never got a chance to visit the capital city of India for various reasons. Nevertheless, on the second month of the year on my way to Amsterdam I had an opportunity to halt at Delhi for three days to process my visa. In this blog I will be writing lessons that I learned from my trip and stay during at Delhi. Before I get into the details of the trip, I should let you [my wonderful and faithful readers] know that I have never traveled in group. I was more of a solo traveler. I love traveling alone as it let me explore places on my own pace. This trip to Delhi involved twelve individuals, including me, so it was a very big group. Now the thing about group traveling is that everything needs to be planned beforehand elaborately with everyone present which at times prolong the planning with one or two persons coming late. Gathering is a big problem and coming to a common understanding is problematic as well. After a lengthy process of planning, when it's time to implement it into action, there is always an executive who turns up majestically late with no hint of guilt and shame for letting rest of the group members wait. Traveling in group can test your patience and teach you to accept individual differences.



But the good thing is whatever happens, there are bunch of people to back up and we can bank onto them for aid as and when necessary. For instance, while we were inside the Netherlands Embassy one of our friends had some problem in reading his fingerprints for bio-metric test and rest of us were supportive and understanding of his problem. I clearly remember how one of us went to help him by taking few tissue rolls to dry his hands to show his fingerprints. Incidents like this makes me feel thankful to be a part of group. The chances of getting lost is also very minimal. And not to forget, the charm to explore the city in group is uniquely refreshing.



In short, Delhi trip made me patient, felt strong bond/sense of belongingness, sink-or-swim attitude, and gratitude.



The area where we put up for the duration of three days was in Manju-ka-tilla, Tibetan Colony. The place looks very similar to that of Bhutan. People looks the same and cuisine is of palatable. I had been feasting on Korean cuisine and I very much miss Sushi and Kumchi here at The Netherlands. I am kind of fed up of having sandwiches within few days over here. And coffee is making me feel pukish [let me take a blame for over-consuming to get over my jetlagged bodily function]. Even now, I am jetlagged FYI.



I always wanted to visit Agra to see Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world, since we were extremely busy with visa processing. Hopefully, I shall get a chance to visit Taj Mahal if I ever come to Delhi in future.



The thing that bothers me the most is ever since I left Bhutan, I didn't read even a page. I have two thick books in my handbag but never got a time to read. It kind of breaks my heart but I think I read more than enough. I am still trying to manage my time well to slot in the break for reading. I feel incomplete without reading. I can't wait for the training to get over and get back to Bhutan so that I can read in peace.



Until then, hoping to make the best use of my stay here at The Netherlands and to learn the most from the training. BTW, Amsterdam is very cold and we have to walk everywhere. I have hardly seen most of the parts of my body for it has been under the thick and warm clothes. Much love from Amsterdam!

First Month of the Year

I always believe the first month of the year kind of set the flow and mood for the remaining eleven months therefore I make sure to carefully say and do things which brings peace and positive vibe to me and people around me. As the second month starts I couldn't help reflecting on how the first month of the year went by. And what could be the best way to reflect than to write on the happenings of the first month.



The year started with a bang in professional field and I have never been so busy and preoccupied with academic work, which of course denied me of holidays but intellectually provided me a chance to explore and to learn something very new. I have spent endless waking hours with researching and reading literature related to the work I was assigned with. There were times when I was tempted to give up but stubborn part of me wasn't  willing to give in to the temptation, which had me reading countless literature making me more confused with each reading. Nevertheless, I was very much satisfied with the end result with me learning and widening my horizon in terms of intellectual areas beyond my comfort zone and forte. Looking back on the quantity and quality of academic work I have done in the first month, I am cent per cent sure that professionally this year I am yet to learn and grow as a person. I live by the philosophy: 'Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.' Learning never stops and every single day I learn with great enthusiasm. I might stand as a proud and happy person professionally but I am not so happy for my inability to devote time to my parents and family members. While others went to spend time with their respective families, I was struggling to make sense out of complicated literature readings. I used to have days and nights all to myself and once it strike me that I haven't spoken to anyone and uttered a word apart from self-directed speech. It was scary to reach to that realization that I had been living like a sole person who have cut all contacts with people in the world. The moment I realized that I called my mommy dearest and spoke with her. Now when I reflect on those days, I never forget to thank Almighty for keeping me safe and sound. Yet, I shudder with fear for living isolated and lone life. I ain't extrovert but more like an introvert type. I would prefer alone time than to socialize with people. I party with my books than with people. Most of the nights I would be reading with either a bottle of beer or wine (selecting the liquor based on my mood). Living alone made me a strong person with an acceptance of being happy in my own company.



Readers tend to lead a lonely life as if you happen to be a reader then you have to  choose the company of books over humans. My target for this year is to read 70 books and I have finished 15 books in the first month. I had been reading as if my life depends on it. The main reason for putting so much efforts in reading was that I will be in sync and won't dare to break the flow of reading. Half of my monthly salary goes to purchasing books and if I am left without unread books on my bookshelf then I panic therefore I land up buying books as an emergency stock. The only thing I would leave behind after my death would be those most cherished and treasured books. The books on my bookshelf aren't just books those are my babies. And my babies are the only thing which will break my heart to depart with. Every morning I stand in front of my bookshelf for few minutes to admire the collections of the books.  I spend my free time in cleaning and decorating of bookshelf. Apart from reading I had been encouraging others to make a habit of reading by letting them lend them book, of course with a warning to take good care of my baby. I always try to convince people to read at which I fail so miserably. Nevertheless, I shall not cease to encourage people to read.



It has been almost 7 years since I started my life as a working woman and for the first time in 7 years I am right back to square one. I am living in an empty space of my house with no furniture. I am yet to buy furniture for my house. Though it is a thing of pride to give away old furniture to my siblings, it feels so incomplete to walk into a empty house. I will start all over again with baby-steps. I won't mind not to own any furniture but the scary thing is at times my empty house looks like haunted house. The experience of spending a month in an empty house taught me how to find happiness in nothingness. Not owning things can be blissful and instill non-attachment feelings towards everything in this physical world. Now, the task and focus of the year is to ensure to purchase necessary and required furniture for the house, if only I could spare some amount after spending on books.




For forthcoming eleven months I wish to be busy with my work, to read countless books, and be happy with what I have. The first month has been one of the kind. And I had been truly blessed with such a wonderful life.

Twenty Seventeen

With the year coming to an end and specifically at the very last day I felt like I owe a write-up which will act as a reminder for the years to come. In this write-up I will be highlighting some of the significant events of the year which brought life-changing alterations in the way I view people, things, and lead my life. In a most crude reflexive way I would associate the year, twenty seventeen, with the successful completion of my study and reading challenge. Both the accomplishments of the year, i.e., pursuing masters in Psychology and reading impressive number of books has been my childhood dreams and it took me more than two decades to achieve those goals. I have never been so proud of myself. I am sorry if I sound so arrogant and smug which I am right now as I type these very words in my laptop with loud music in my bedroom {you see, I need loud music when I write, so thousand unuttered apologies to my neighbors at this ungodly hours}
Twenty seventeen bought me back to my motherland, Land of Thunder Dragon, after two long years of staying alone amidst people from different countries and continents. My journey of everyday struggle to survive in the world where I was alone and nobody couldn’t earn the title of friends during my two years duration was persistently reflected in few of my blogs and social media accounts. At this point when I Look back, I survived by banking solely on my countable life-support systems; parents, siblings, relatives, and one and only ladylove of my life (Rekha Monger). Had they fail to entertain my midnight calls and scaring the shit out of them by emotionally breaking down over the calls, I would have lost it half-way through. They had been the constant variables in my ever-changing life dynamics. They are closest to my heart and will be till I grow into amnesiac sour old bitch. On the other side of the coin, I have lost so-called friends to arrogance, pride, long-distance and silly misunderstandings which would have been rectified with little bit of acceptance and forgiveness. [Nevertheless, if anyone of you are going through this article by chance or choice, I hope you are doing well and thank you for walking out of my life when I needed your support the most as it made me stronger. I hope I never get to see you ever again!] Two years of break from work was bound to make my professional life bit difficult but the love I have for teaching profession had me working harder to keep up my pace. My workplace has undergone major changes, of course in a positive way, drastically beyond imagination and at one point it compelled me to question; ‘is it the same institute that I worked for two years ago?’ I couldn’t stop appreciating the beauty of the physical world of my workplace and I am internally screaming, “baby! This is just a beginning! Now, work will be fun!” On personal ground, I had been dreading to return to Samtse. This place has turn me into a zombie and numerous incidents has happened which still gives me endless nightmares. If my work doesn’t tie me down this place, I would get the hell out of here. Unfortunately, Double-faced, fake, hypocrite, and nosy people, whose existence I never acknowledge not even once for a second, are still part of my life but fortunately I could witness some of them being taken care by Karma for their dirty bad deeds, no wonder twenty seventeen has been my year {still wearing smug smile on my face}. Living in Samtse still demands hell lots of efforts, okay now picture me living with an enemy in a tiny empty compartment without window and door, and this is exactly how I feel. But I wasn’t born to quit so I wake up every morning with positive thoughts and prayers not to give-up yet as it gives me utmost happiness to see people’s puzzled and shocked expressions on their faces which reads, ‘how can you go on happily even after going through the possibly worst things that I ever said and did to you?’ I won’t clarify their looks of confusion and dignify unseen future attempts to bring me down with an answer. My silence and indifference toward their very existence is the most they will get from me.

At the second last month of the year, November, work took me to the Eastern part of Bhutan. I had to make optimum use of that trip so I turned it into solo trip covering half of the country within a week by public transportation. Within a span of a week, I grew years ahead of my chronological age which brought me closer to my inner self. I became more independent, patient, forgiving, accepting of people’s varied changing attitude as conditions gets better with time, and getting several wow moments as I explored the remote areas which was sadly unexplored by many Bhutanese and tourists as well. Just because it isn’t explored, appreciated, and glamorized doesn’t mean that it isn’t beautiful. Bhutan is very beautiful country but if we want to see the real, raw, and rustic, unrefined beauty at its best, visit eastern part of Bhutan. Take my word, one would never regret the trip and it is worth the pain of long arduous bumpy ride of two days. The trip to Tashigang was an apt example of striking perfect balance between the work and pleasure aspects in life. All my professional life, I had been trying to strike a balance of work and pleasure which I failed miserably many time but twenty seventeen taught me to how to work hard, better yet how to make work fun.

I initiated the reading challenge of the year with the book titled, ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ by Michael Faudet and successfully completed the challenge with ‘Rich dad poor dad’ by Robert T. Kiyosaki. For the record, as per the reading challenge I read 60 books but off-the-record I read 62 books. As of now, I am yet to start reading ‘Mrs Funnybones’ by Twinkle Khanna but I am saving it for tomorrow as I want to have good beginning with the brand new book. And like everything else in my life, there is a reason for choosing this particular book as the first book for twenty eighteen, that is, as the title of the book I want the year to be filled with unlimited humors. The author firmly believes that nothing in life is sacred except laughter; likewise I want to live my life with her philosophy. While I was on the reading challenge, I never felt the pressure to finish the book for the sake of reading even for once as I was a bookworm ever since I was a kid. I can still remember how I used to skip doing household chores for the love of reading and I am extremely grateful to my mother [my life-long mentor] for encouraging me to read than to help her in kitchen [That’s the very reason why I can’t cook a proper meal as an adult.] My late brother used to get worried about my academic performance as I used to read even on my exam preparation leave. While other students would busy themselves with textbooks, guide books, and exchanging notes I would be busy with MB, Hardy boys, Nancy Drew, Sidney Sheldon, and Daniel Steel novels from school library as I have to return the borrowed books as I leave the school after examination. Surprisingly, I used to do fairly well in terms of academic aspects during my school days. For those curious people who had been bugging me with irritating question in a sarcastic tone, ‘did you really read all these books [as they browsed through my collections]?’ here is my answer for once and all, ‘I have never read any book to show it off to people. I read because I am passionate about books. And I don’t feel the need to literally convince you that I have read all the books I own.’ With this, hopefully people will stop getting on my nerves by being great pain in behind. In nutshell I have learned that no matter what we do, we live in a society where people will find a way to drag us down in a most pathetic ways. I wish if people could understand that they are barking at the wrong tree as nobody can divert me from fulfilling my childhood dream to have a huge personal library in my house. My boss [God bless his soul] has been gracious with me as he provided me one of the finest bookshelves to stack my books in my office. Twenty seventeen will be remembered as the year I got to have small personal library in my life.

Twenty seventeen also made me cross my path with people who could be worse than monsters. You know who you all are. So, if you are reading this I got a short message meant specially for each one of you who made my life worst than hell at the first and second week of September, twenty seventeen; ‘if you could face yourself in the mirror every morning and go to sleep with the peace of mind then just have patience, the worst is yet to come in your respective lives. God sees the truth but waits!’ With this message I shall end my write-up with the hope for fruitful, healthy, and happy twenty eighteen. Happy New Year!