keepsakes

Gifts from my generous Mongolian friends and students:

#1 felt miniature ger (yurt) - it even has furniture inside
#2 portrait of Genghis Kaan - the most beloved of Mongolian heroes
#3 morin khuur - traditional Mongolian instrument

artwork by local artists:

Russian candy (a new favorite, and a staple on this trip) and a leather journal:

The journal is from Temka, one of the camp cooks -- and one of the many new friends I will miss.

Travel update:  I'm posting from the airport in Moscow, where I'll board shortly for my connecting flight to Los Angeles.

A few of my favorite things...in Ulaanbaatar

Namaste -- an Indian restaurant with the best curry I've tasted yet:

The Opera House:  We paid 10,000 tugriks (less than ten USD) to see Coppelia -- my first time to attend a ballet.

And most of all, the piano at top floor of the State Department Store:

Last night I was playing Clair de Lune, and a Mongolian guy recognized it and came over.  (He had been writing short stories in his journal...how cool is that?)  He started singing and one of my teammates starting playing along with him.  It was the best part of my day.

Sukhbaatar Square:  I bought some lovely artwork from some local artists here this afternoon.

All things bright and beautiful

Favorites from Mongolia:

horseback ride (that's me, second from the left)

yaks (that's our camp in the background)
(and, this is the same river we bathed in every couple days after the running water quit)

making paper snowflakes with my students, while listening to Josh Groban Christmas music -- one of the kids' favorite cultural activities, and mine

sunset

cliffhanger

gearing up:

on the rocks:

I was told that I "flashed" the climb, which in rock-climbing terminology apparently means I climbed it for the first time without falling...always a nice thing.

horsing around

Scenes from the Naadam horse race day.  (This race has been held annually for hundreds of years.)

(not a horse)

(also not a horse)

horses, with riders (all children, as young as five years old)

khuushuur stand; i.e., food, which eventually becomes more interesting than far-off horses

The same day, we went to a national park to see wild horses:

The Fly Slayers (Students Round #2)

This was the team name for my second batch of students.  They decided they needed a team name when our rival class paraded into our room one morning chanting a cheer they'd made up about "The Kingdom of the Fork" - complete with a giant fork they had crafted.  So we named ourselves the Fly Slayers in honor of the giant biting horse flies that populate the camp.  We returned the visit the next day, with fly swatters in hand instead of silverware.

Of course we spent most of our time studying, not playing:

This student gave himself the English name Gru, from Despicable Me:

Beth, a faithful helper and encourager in my classroom:

These are the lyrics for a Mongolian song about friendship, which my students helped me learn.  In return I taught them one of my favorite American songs, the Cowboy Lullaby ("Be Still, Little Doggies" - the cowboys used to sing to their cattle at night on the prairies).  They learned it fast and would hum it to themselves while they were writing in their journals.

Last day of class, decked out in American sunglasses:

Friends:

I'll miss them all.

Naadam - fair food, handstands on horses, wrestling outfits

This weekend we were back in the capital for Naadam, Monglia's second biggest holiday.  They've been celebrating it for hundreds of years.

At the opening ceremony I sat next to an older lady whom we named Grandma:

The president of Mongolia attended the ceremony too.  We're not sure which of the important people in the box he was, but we know we saw him.  We remarked on the security measures, or absence of them - no metal detectors, scanners, or such.  He just came along to the event with the rest of us.

During the ceremony we saw some stunt men on horses.  One of them stood upright on his horse's back -- while it was cantering across the green, no less.  Another did a handstand on his horse (also while it was running).

This is khuushuur, the staple food of Naadam.  You buy it from vendors all over the place.  It's like conventional fair food that you find anywhere at a big summertime event - dripping with grease, hot, and delicious.

We saw a bit of archery, one of the three Naadam sports (horse racing and wrestling are the other two).

Wrestling is another of the three Naadam sports (horse racing is the third).  I was sitting innocently in my bleacher when all of a sudden the soldiers down in front started stripping off their uniforms.  I was taken aback till I realized they were putting on some fancy wrestling uniforms.

Today we drive back to the countryside to begin Round 2 of camp.  We'll return to the city on July 27.

"my" kids

I had fourteen students in my class, most about thirteen years old.

Writing letters for my American friends back home:

One of my girls:

We had English class together every morning and then joined two other teachers and their classes in the afternoons for culture classes.  Culture classes were fun.  We did things like Christmas caroling, skits of American weddings, and Easter egg hunts.

civilization

I'm back from the countryside.  Here's where I've been the last couple weeks:

Closer:

Behind all those rocks is this:

...And more of this in every direction for miles and miles.  It's pristine and untouched.  Herds of cattle and horses and sheep and goats wander all over it.  It's rugged and remote and makes you feel appropriately small.

Oh, and the bus ride was great.  It really did take three hours to go about fifty miles.  That was mainly because there were no roads most of the time.  Dad, it makes driving out to the Missouri River feel comfy.  There was space between me and my seat quite a few times from all the lurching around.