While most of us were preparing for the holidays or maybe just celebrating being out of school for the semester, 15 students and faculty members from the storytelling graduate program embarked on an adventure to a place where most foreigners never go.
On Dec. 13, the storytellers began their story in the New York City JFK airport. No less than 48 hours later they would arrive to their destination, the Kingdom of Bhutan.
But of course, not before stopping to change planes in Brussels, Paris or Milan, and then stopping again in the airport in New Delhi, India. All huddled together, led by Dr. Joseph Sobol of the storytelling department, the group waited for their connecting plane to Paro, Bhutan.
“We all wound up in New Delhi at midnight in what seemed to be a seedy location,” said Sobol, who searched for the right word to describe New Delhi. “Everyone else was sleeping around us, but we were all wide-eyed waiting for the plane.”
When they finally boarded the last plane of the day to fly to the only airport in Bhutan, they looked out of the windows at a landscape that most have never seen before.
Each of the major cities are surrounded by mountains. As they flew past Mount Everest, there was not a cloud in the sky. This time of year is the dry season in the Himalayas.
The picturesque scene of a cloudless blue sky lined with mountains remained the backdrop of their story throughout the entire trip.
“It was scarcely populated in this area,” said graduate assistant David Claunch.
Dotted throughout the mountains and valleys were typical Bhutanese three-story farmhouses. The bottom floor holds farming tools. The top story is where household activities take place. The roof is for drying grains, hay, herbs and chilies.
Every day, one plane goes into Paro and one plane goes out. Not many outsiders have a chance to view the beauty of Bhutan, which is the only remaining Tantric Mahayana Buddhist kingdom in the world.
It lies between India and Tibet on the Himalayan plateau. The King, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, recently began a program designed to open the kingdom to the outside world while still trying to preserve the ancient Buddhist way of life.
“When we arrived each of us were met with gifts because that’s the way things go in the Kingdom of Bhutan,” said Sobol. “That hospitality set the tone of the trip.”
After they reached the hotel, they had an hour before they were whisked away to dinner that included such delicacies as yak butter tea with rice that is only served to very special guests.
“It was absolutely delicious,” said Claunch.
This was just the first day of their stay in the Kingdom of Bhutan.
“When we got back to the hotel at midnight we were serenaded by street musicians,” said Sobol, referring to the stray dogs that howled intermittently throughout the night.
In Bhutan there are many stray dogs because they cannot be killed according to the Buddhist law of compassion.
The next morning began the lectures that they attended for the three-credit-hour class. The first thing they learned was meditation. “To understand Bhutan, we had to learn meditation,” said Sobol. “They taught us to imagine a being of supreme compassion.”
The group also heard from many speakers and important writers from Bhutan as part of learning about the Bhutanese way of life.
Princess Sonam Choden Wangchuck spoke to the group as a royal patroness of the arts. Kunzang Choden who has written many short stories and collections spoke to the group about local folk tales. Other speakers like Dasho Karma Ura, Dorji Penjore and Tandin Dorji shared their expertise of Bhutanese history.
The storytelling group left the Himalayas and returned home to the Appalachians on Christmas Eve. No doubt the students will have more material in their storytelling repertoire than they could have asked for.

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