About Our Students - Students in the Classrooms • Students' Personal Stories • Archive of Earlier Stories
- Preamble • Dawa Dolma • Jai Chandra • Phur Tenzin Sherpa and Pasang Sherpa •
An Appeal from Lhundup Sherpa • Tashi Sherpa • Sonam Dolma Sherpa • Dawa Tashi - A life Changed •
Words from Home -Comers:Unforgettable Moments • A Himalayan Child's Life
-Pilgrimage to Pharping • Kids At Play with Friends • Kid Power Circus • Photos of Circus Day • Photos Winter Vacation
SMDers Make Their First Audio Recording, "Bring Back Peace" • SMDers Help Street Kids • SMD Graduates

Words from Home-Comers: Unforgettable Moments


Tashi Dolma B298 in Canada

I will never forget how much my host family, the Hayes family, and the Kololian family cared for me during my 10 months of study at The Bishop Strachan School, Canada. They are the ones who helped me make my stay in Canada a memorable one. I have an amazing time with my host family every time I go to their house. They are always there to help me whenever I have a problem in residence and in school. I am very grateful towards them for everything they've done to support me.

Tashi Dolma skipped Grade 8, and went into Grade 9 at BSS, managing to maintain an average in the mid-80s.

Unforgettable Moments in Canada



Yangchen just finished Grade 9 at West Island College in Calgary, Alberta

The first time in a plane was exciting, traveling half way across the world.

When I was so excited to see a whole new different world, the first day in Vancouver.

My first day of class, in a totally new environment and it was Art class!

When I met Shirley after two months at WIC

When I got my first report with honours.

My surprise birthday party by my friends.

My first and last dinner in a Nepali Restaurant called Everest.

The experience with WIC and with their great teachers.

Learned a whole lot of things! (Science) was interesting.

Field hockey shook me! Keep yourself busy!

A much-unexpected co-incidence with my friend Lizzie and chanting Buddhist prayers aloud in the school bus.

Seeing some shocking differences and some similarities.

A very joyful time with the Bennett family and the two little princes.

Funky jokes with Kim.

Great documentary films in Socials class.

Last day of school.

 

Nangsal Lhamo

My unforgettable moments

This year was my second year in Canada. My time there was great, it’s been both ups and downs, but it has been a meaningful year. If I look back, I can remember three moments that I will never forget. I still remember them like it was yesterday. *Saying good-bye to my friend, Shreya was extremely tough for me. We became really good friends in two months’ time all because she is so amazing. She had to go back to India and I miss her a lot and am really looking forward to seeing her in October.

*I got an award from my house at Appleby; it’s called the Upper School Leadership Award. I don't know if its a prestigious award or not but still, it meant so much to me, not because I got that fancy square-shaped block, but because the girls cheered so much when I was awarded it and because they recognized my initiatives and contribution.

*I went on a Round Square conference to India in October. Even though I was little ill, I made so many great friends and we still keep in touch. I learned so many things from this trip and I want to go back to India again.

 

Sonam Dolma Sherpa B165

Sonam Dolma finished her IB diploma at the Red Cross Nordic United World College. (2006-2008)

The most unforgettable moments…my two years in Norway passed so quickly. These two years were the best part of my life so far. It doesn't mean that I had two years in UWC full of fun and was happy all the time. It was in fact, a mixture of all kinds of feelings. There were times when I was sad, there were some times which were full of fun and there were other times when I was so stressed and so scared about the IB summative exam. In RCNUWC’s language, IB exam is also called "IB monster". Second year students get threatened by the IB monster.

Since I am done with those exams now, I feel like it was just a piece of cake. The worries I had for the exam were useless. No matter how sad and stressful it was sometimes in UWC, the outcome was always worthwhile and I cherished it. I learned about my subjects in UWC, but more than that, I learned to live with others. It's amazing to think now how much I learned from my friends. The experience I had is that small community known as RCNUWC, which is filled with wonderful people, will always be within in my heart wherever I go.

 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r12nNlnulrc 

 

Unforgettable Moments in the United States

It was my first year in the United States, a year full of learning and challenge. I got a chance to visit many places within the states and the memories are always in my mind. Memories are precious to me even though they can be bad sometimes. 

I want to share one of my favorite moments. I went on a school trip to Washington D.C. All us students from grade 10 toured the best museums. The Holocaust Museum was the best museum I’ve ever visited. I learned a lot of information about WW II and Hitler and genocide. I saw real pictures, clothes, shoes and the stories of the victims of the Holocaust. I felt sad to read some of the stories about children. It was horrible to know how they were starved and every kind of torment was given to them…normal human beings who were noncombatants. In the museum, we students did a quiz about the war. It was quite interesting and helpful for me in History class. That day was precious for me. I will never forget about the Holocaust museum and what I learned there. 

 

 

I am full of joy at SMD, playing with SMD members and teaching the young ones as well. 

It seems that my one month holiday has passed like a week, but with lots of experience.

The experience that I have had, and the things I’ve learned are through the Senior friends and through the work shops, meditation class, leadership class, story time, world today class and even through the group discussion that we usually have during our dinner time at the Seniors’ Flat.

I have nine more good days to spend at SMD and then I will have to go to Bandipur again on 20th of July to continue my studies.

Believe me that every step that SMD has taken for us, it has always taught us some thing important, and motivated us to take another step. Even the magic word "Thank you" does not suffice, to what we owe for your kind heart.

The best thing right now is that I still have nine more days....

Karma Choying is the older brother of Tsering Drolkar B267. They are from Dolpo. When Tsering Drokar came to SMD, Karma Choying was sponsored into another school where the language taught was Nepali. (Dolpo-pas speak a dialect of Tibetan.) By the time Karma Choying had reached Grade 7, he no longer had a language to communicate with his parents. 

After he finished Grade 10 (School Leaving Certificate) we managed to get Karma Choying a scholarship at Notre Dame School, in Bandipur, about 3 hours away from Kathmandu. We offered to take Karma Choying on his holidays, in the hopes that he would be able to learn Tibetan and the teachings of the Buddha while he stays with us.  




There are number of unforgettable things that I did in my three years stay in Portugal: going sightseeing with my host mum Sue Munnion the day after I arrived, going to an Indian restaurant for dinner with the Munnions, playing hockey every Saturday, going to the teaching by H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama, my team of Nepali guys, “NepZum Guys” winning the Fair-Play trophy, watching Man United winning both the finals ( The UEFA Cup and the Barclays Premiership), going to live football matches, graduation when Shirley came...all these are all unforgettable moments. 

However, I am going to talk about one of the live football matches I went to with my host brothers and sister.  It was a qualifying match between Portugal and Serbia for Euro 2008, which ended up in a draw. The result was a disappointment because I had expected Portugal to win the game, and moreover there were some unfair decisions made by the referee! 

Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience going to a live match. The stadium was huge and noisy. It was the most memorable moment for me because I got to see the whole Portuguese National Team in real life. Seeing Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, Quaresma and Simao playing was what made those moments so exciting.  I remember every single thing from that evening. The hot-dog we ate for dinner during the match was delicious and the guy shouting at the Serbian goalkeeper in inappropriate Portuguese words whenever he got the ball was hilarious.   



My most memorable moment in Canada was learning how to ski for the first time. I felt very happy and it was a lot of fun once I got the hang of it.

 



My Most Unforgettable Moments Last Year

The highlight of the year was West Island College’s Morocco visit in March-2008. 25 students + 3 teachers went. We were there to learn everything we could in 2 weeks. We traveled to different parts of the county and made some friends. We also visited the biggest Mosque in Morocco.

The best part of the trip was spending a night in the Sahara desert (listening to Nepali rock music on the top of hill). It felt like I was the first Nepal to do that :-) Also fun was working with kids in a school. We painted their school in 2 days and donated our own money for their school supplies.

Nyima is going into Grade 12 on scholarship at West Island College, Calgary, Canada