Monday, January 3, 2011

The Memories of 2010- off work records


The year 2010 has been a great year for us –family reunion, travel, and joy, of course busy work too. The year kicked off with family reunion.
Early 2010 was a difficult time both to me and my family - Lhamo and two kids,Tenzi, 9 and Kinley Om (Bumcho), 2, who were then in Bhutan. But, guess what? Tenzi joined me in February, and Lhamo and Bumcho joined latter in March. I was so excited to see them after a year. Tenzi has grown up and Bumcho too; she really looks cute in that dress. I never thought kids change a lot physically in just a year.
Spring found us exploring the theme parks in Gold Coast. It was a new experience for both Tenzi and Bumcho for they never been before. We have visited the theme parks six times – twice to Sea World, Movie World, and Wet n Wild parks in Gold Coast. Tenzi insists on visiting every weekend and Bumcho? She utters ‘Gold Cosss’. Lucky that we bought ‘VIP’ pass, unlimited entry to three parks until 30th June 2011 – leaving us 26 x2 weekends. Are we visiting 26 times again? You will not be surprised.
Brisbane is 9000 km away from Bhutan, but no exception to the Bhutanese studying here. We, the Bhutanese Student Association of QUT (BSAQ), have not forgotten our culture – dress nor food. On 19th July hundreds of QUT staff – academics, admin and professional, joined the Bhutanese students to celebrate ‘A Cultural Evening and Farewell Function’ for graduating Bhutanese scholars through traditional performances and sampling food prepared by the Bhutanese students in Brisbane. The guest of honour was the DVC, International student service. It was a perfect social event for the QUT staff to know Bhutanese culture and for the graduating students to show their gratitude to QUT.
Bumcho celebrated her third birthday and 1st in Australia on 17th October 2010. We invited Bhutanese friends in Brisbane and 50 friends and their family turned to the dinner. It was a good opportunity not only for Bumcho, but also catch up with colleagues – of course a good excuse to get drunk. House mates and friends in the neighbouring house did a great job as iron chef to feed 50 guests with 10 different curries and food. Bumcho was excited and happy as she was filled with gifts.


OzCHI 2010 conference, held at QUT 22-26 November, was a good opportunity not only to present my two short papers, but also to broaden friend circle. The lunches were great. ADCS 2010 conference in Melbourne in early December allowed me to refresh my memories of Tram and the city, which I visited five years ago. In particular, the horse cart in the city was spectacular.


Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year/Losar 2011!!
Kinley and Lhamo

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