Funny feeling waking up and not thinking about teaching ;-) Now I am back at the ministry which is also fine. It took a little while looking at notes and writings to recall what I was doing before the course for the master trainers. I started making my Power Point Presentation about the counselor education and went home around 2 pm Thursday afternoon, because I wanted to correct the tests from the master trainer course.

Late in the afternoon I was almost finished and checked my e-mails and saw that Norbu Dema had called for a debriefing meeting on Friday afternoon with both Steffen and me. Steffen was to tell about his experiences and results from the training at the institute for mechanics and I was supposed to give a presentation on the first module for the master trainers. I decided to make the presentation on Thursday evening instead of waiting till Friday. I don't like to be in a hurry to finish something like that so I'd rather take the time in the evening.

Both Steffen and I gave our presentations on Friday and I think they were well received.

I suggested a very nice book on differentiation to Karma Dorji at the ministry but he told me that it is difficult for Bhutanese people to buy books and other things from abroad. At first I thought he meant because of the transportation and told him he could order it online at Amazon but then he explained that it is difficult because they don't have credit cards. I know that there are only a few shops and places in Thimphu accepting credit cards but I didn't know that the Bhutanese people can't normally get a credit card. This is so because the government doesn't WANT them to buy from abroad - because this means sending money out of the country. I never thought about it this way - but of course it is a kind of import when we buy from other countries via the Internet.
Actually the government has recently stopped all import of vehicles and also materials for construction because their import rate has become too big compared to their export rate. They have also asked the farmers to produce more food in Bhutan so that the population doesn't have to import food from other countries. I guess economy is very sensitive in such a small country.

Friday night Carsten, Steffen and I went to Taj Tashi to have dinner together. Steffen is leaving early Monday morning so we wanted a nice meal together before he is off. Time is running fast - in a week (Friday) Carsten will also return to Denmark to prepare for the visit of the Honorable Minister and the next day I'll be on my way myself. I am starting to look very much forward to seeing my family and friends again :-)