Recent Visit

Back in October, we enjoyed a visit from a team of seven people from America.  A few are interested in teaching with our organization and a few were just wanting to see what's happening.  While they were here, we took them out to the countryside the first day.  While there, we went to the Chinggis Khaan monument which is HUGE.  It has displays inside the building, a video of the monument being designed and built, and stairs up into the statue (sort of like the stairs up into the Statue of Liberty). 

There was also the opportunity to ride a camel or hold a Kazak eagle.  Micah and I held the eagle.

At this location (out in the middle of "nowhere"), there is also a ger (known in America as a "yurt") full of souvenirs.  It was a cold day, and a fire was going in the ger, and a baby was nearby keeping warm.  I enjoyed getting to use my limited Mongolian language with the shop/ger owners to ask prices and talk with them about their baby.

Here's our Mongolian friend, Odsaiken, who was our guide this day (he is also our personal driver to and from the airport, and has helped us find both apartments we've lived in here in UB). 

We went on to Terelj, a national park, where "Turtle Rock" exists.  There are many large rock formations that are fun to see.

Also, we took our new American friends to a Mongolian BBQ, a version of our American "Mongolian Grill" restaurants.  It was one of the men's birthday, so we had a beautiful cake delivered to the table along with "fireworks" and singing!

The next day included a trip to several souvenir shops which also led to me meeting an English speaking young man.  He was excited to speak to English speakers and he told us he had been to New Jersey for three months this past summer.  I asked him if he wanted to practice his English more and he was very eager.  Now, he and Kevin are meeting once or twice a week. For those of you who get our newsletter, he's the friend who brought his artist friend to our house.  The artist created the drawing we included in our December newsletter.



I met both of these young men at the souvenir shop.  The one on the left has great English and wants to continue practicing.  The one on the right has limited English, but comes along with his friend every time they come to our house.  The one on the right is our friendly artist.  They visit our home about 3 times a month ever since we met in mid-October.  A few nights ago, they joined us when we were teaching pizza to Amraa and her friends.  As I cleaned up dishes, Ujka told me how he wants to never drink, because his father never drinks.  This illustrates the influence we have on our children!  Ujka does not have this conviction because of any Christian background, either; he is a Buddhist presently.  However, a high percentage of Mongolian men are heavy drinkers.  It is the culture....almost a proof of their manliness.  Photo taken 11-7-2010 (note how our time stamp was rearranged for this photo).