Spring has arrived in Bhutan and so have we!

It was a bumpy road but we finally arrived in Bhutan on March 9th. Steve’s illness with COVID forced a delay in departure which turned out to be fortuitous because our visas did not arrive until 1 a.m. the morning of our flight anyway. In fact, Margaret’s visa was denied one day before our departure because of an irregularity with her signature. We learned that Health Volunteers Overseas no longer had a memorandum of agreement with Jigme Dorji Wanchuck National Referral Hospital, complicating the visa process, as had major changes in the Ministry of Health and the Royal Civil Service, along with extensive changes in tourism regulation. Soon after arrival, we were off to immigration with a very capable hospital employee to extend our visa for the full three months and get our residency permits. We spent nearly an entire day there. The immigration records showed we had never left Bhutan in 2019 and the IT department took hours to correct this. In the midst of this, there was an extended power outage. I finally received my work permit but Margaret’s dependent permit was delayed a bit longer. Added to this, every time we turned around, there was another new fee to be payed, far more than our original stay in Bhutan. Finally, Steve had no sooner started teaching when he was incapacitated by influenza, down for a week. (Thank you, second year psychiatry resident, Samten Ngwang, for coming to the rescue with antivirals.)

Well, we’ve finally settled in. Margaret is quite pleased with her volunteer work at the Draktsho school for differently-abled youth, a short walk from our residence. Steve has completed his first week of work and teaching: students, interns and residents eagerly taking advantage of his availability and expertise. More to follow on our work. We’ve been taking long walks everyday, exploring our new neighborhood and revisiting familiar shops, restaurants, markets and parks, reminiscing and reacquainting ourselves with Thimphu. We see that much has changed here as we do.

Our new digs are quite luxurious by Bhutanese standards. HVO and the hospital no longer provide volunteer housing, so we were on our own. We lucked out. Here is Margaret on the balcony of our suite. We even have a washing machine this time around! No more nightly laundry in a bucket or hikes to the Tip Top laundry. Margaret has a ten minute walk to work and Steve’s walk takes only fifteen.