Out here it is very difficult to pronounce "Aksel" so everybody calls Aksel "Alex" or "Alexander" :-) He doesn't mind.

All day long we had Internet problems - no Internet at all - because of a thunderstorm. Finally at a 4.45 pm it returned and we were so happy that we stayed at the institute till 5.30 pm ;-) I will never again complain about the Internet connections in Thimphu - here we are lucky if we can get just a few minutes a day!

Aksel and I had noticed some very small shops called "General shops" here in Chumey when going back and forth to the institute and on Friday we asked the driver who was taking us back to the resort if it would be possible to stop at one of them and do a little shopping. No problem at all. He told us that they have 4 general shops here - and these are the only places to shop! So we went into one of them and I think you might compare it with a shop in small villages in the old days in Denmark. Here you can buy many different things: juice, milk, canned food, clothes, lots of chips and candy, nails and other small things you need in your everyday life and at the same time this was a bar with a small table and 2 chairs and a selection of bottles and some glasses. A very small place - but this village is also small ;-)

When we got back to the resort some of the trainees from the electrical department at the institute had put up lamps along the path to the cottages, which would be really nice because it is very dark in the evenings. They were still working and Aksel went up to them to have a look at what they were doing. He came back - very pale and horrified - he had seen how they handled the electric wires - and he was convinced that they would not work for very long or worse - they might catch fire. But when we came back to the cottages after dinner they were working ok. The next day they didn't work at all and the day after that only half of them worked. I just hope they won't catch fire while we are here ;-)

Friday night lying in my bed I felt a weak trembling and it turned out that there had been an earthquake in India and that we got a small trembling because of that. Aksel was so happy because he never experienced an earthquake before.

On Saturday we learned about emotional intelligence and the master trainers were very interested in this topic. On Monday we will practice active listening and summarizing what the other person said - I'm sure we'll have fun doing that.

In the afternoon the master trainers wanted to go to a close by temple - it was the palace of the 2.nd King of Bhutan and has now been taken over by the monks. They invited both Aksel and me to go but Aksel was busy preparing for Monday when he starts teaching, so I went along by myself. It was a very beautiful place and I got special treatment because normally foreigners are not allowed to come inside but they let me in ;-) I took some pictures outside - unfortunately it is never allowed to take pictures inside the temples but I assure you that they had some beautiful paintings and statues.

In the evening at the resort the light disappeared a couple of times and Aksel exclaimed: "I am sure it's those lamps out there!" When there is no light outside or inside it gets VERY dark - black I would say - out here in the middle of nowhere ;-)