After visiting the monastery, we walked down the hill to the village school. The village school is for grades one to five and the school has 46 students and 4 teachers. Our travel company, Overseas Adventure Travel, is owned by its parent company, Grand Circle. They have their own foundation called the Grand Circle Foundation and they adopt schools in the countries where they do business. One of the things that I really like about their foundation and their school program is that they get involved with the school and do whatever seems most in need for the school. They don’t limit themselves to buying school supplies or books or computers, they help the school get what each particular school needs. In the case of this school, Grand Circle Foundation built the school a new roof, two toilets, and a water purification system.

1. You can see the school in the first photo. It’s a short walk down the hill from the monastery.

2. This is one of their classrooms and the class in progress.

3. When we got to the older kids, our guide asked for someone to “teach” the kids an English lesson. I was shocked that Vicky didn’t volunteer, so I volunteered. You can see me giving my impromptu English lesson in the third photo.

4. Behind the main school building are the two new toilets built by Grand Circle. I gave them a try and they get a thumbs up: Western style on the left and Eastern style on the right.

5. The teachers had all the school kids come outside into the school yard and sing us a few songs. We sang them a song as well, with Vicky taking the lead for our tour group.