Our University

This year we are teaching in the English Education department at Mongolian International University (MIU). We really enjoy teaching at MIU.  We have great students and it is an atmosphere that is enjoyable to work in.  The following are some pictures that we took after the first snow.  These pictures were taken before they repainted the fronts of two of the buildings.    Joshua and Jennifer are standing in front of the D building.  This building has the library, cafeteria (in the basement), administrative offices and classrooms.  Many events are held in the Main Hall in this building as well.

The scaffolding is in place for repairs.

In the distance is a hotel that as faculty we can get a discount at if we stay there.

 

The brick building with the soccer goal in front of it is the T (Thanksgiving) building.  This building has classrooms designed for the fashion design department.  There is also a book cafe that is quite cozy.  The high school (MIS) also meets in this building.

 This is the M (Main) building.  This is the building where we have our office and all of our classes.  Jennifer is heading in to start the day.  In the basement to this building is a bakery where they train people how to bake breads and other goodies.  The baked goodies fill the halls with a pleasant aroma!  Our next post will be to catch you up on some of the events and outings we have had with some of our students.

Bus rides to work

Many of you have seen our Facebook posts about our bus rides, or have heard us talk about them.  We thought that you might like to see a bit of what we are talking about.  The first few pictures are before it started getting really cold.  As you can see Jennifer is in her light winter coat. 

 This is the bus stop that we anxiously await for one of the two buses that will take us to work.  It is usually quite busy!

 

  These two pictures are of a bus ride home one evening from work.  There is still room for another 50-100 people on this bus!

As it gets colder outside the windows frost on the inside. 

This is a bus ride home in the afternoon on a Saturday.  Usually Saturdays there are less people and traffic.  However this Saturday had several people out and about.

Making Tortillas

As many of you know we can get almost anything in Mongolia nowadays.  One of the things that are not imported are tortillas.  Last year Jennifer started making tortillas on her own.  They are relatively cheap and easy, just time consuming if you make many.  One of our teammates loves to cook just like Jennifer, so they got together for a tortilla making afternoon.  Here are some pictures of Pam and Jennifer making tortillas and their creativity with adding different herbs.

 Making the dough.

Pam helping to roll out some of the dough balls.

Yummy!  Tortillas cooking in the skillets!  Pam made one a heart shape!

The cooks in the kitchen.

Pam is still rolling out dough!

The finished product of 3 batches of tortillas.  The cooks made 141 tortillas total.  One batch was plain (regular) tortillas, the second batch was onion and herb (oregano and basil) tortillas, and the third batch was herb (basil, Emril's orginal essence, and garlic).  One of Joshua's favorite snacks is tortilla chips.  The herb tortillas make for different flavored chips!  Yum! Yum!!!

Time

            Have you ever noticed that though time is consistent it often doesn’t feel that way?  There are always 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 hours in a day.  We cannot decide that there will be more or less.  It is always the same!  However, there are days when 12 hours feel like 3 and others when 12 hours feel like 36.  But the seconds always tick by at the same speed. 

            We have been feeling the clock speed up over the past two weeks.  As is usual, it was not until the end of the semester that things got really crazy.  Actually, time has been moving very quickly since we returned from Thailand in February.  Our spring semester was quite short.  Because of end of year testing in the Mongolian schools, it is best for the teachers in our program to finish before they begin testing the first of May.  So we obliged and all three city teams were finished teaching by the first week of May. 

We were actually the last one to end, but that was partially because all of our students were in their first year and were not graduating. Therefore, we had our last class on May 7^th. Since the students had been reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe we decided to watch the new Disney version for our final listening seminar. There was popcorn and drinks, and we showed the movie via a projector. The students all seemed to enjoy it. We would have loved to discuss some of the deeper themes in both the movie and the book but, alas, the time escaped us. However, we hope that the book influenced their thinking as they read it and did homework on it. 

After the class, we all went to a nearby restaurant to eat lunch together.  We had food, fun, and photos!!!

 

 

  

There were many hurdles to jump this year, but we are so thankful for our group of students.  They all worked hard and stuck in with the program even during the busy and tough times.  As Jennifer and I move on to university teaching next year, we are sad to see our students go.  Since Craig and Sarah are moving to western Mongolia to start a business and we are transitioning to university teaching, all of our students will get new supervisors next year.  They were sad to hear this, but we hope that they will continue and graduate from the program in the spring.

           An event that need not go unmentioned is our fourth wedding anniversary.  Yep, we have been married for four years!  Since our anniversary is on the 4^th and our teammates’ is on the 5^th, for the past two years we have had a joint anniversary celebration dinner.  As both we and they got married four years ago, we have spent as many anniversaries together as we have apart.  Talk about team unity! 

Baring unforeseen problems, we plan on doing the same next year.  In similar form to last year we went to a restaurant called Millie’s.  It is geared toward westerners living in Mongolia and serves some delicious food.  The owner is a Cuban guy that has been living and working in UB for many years.  It is kind of ironic that the best hamburger I have ever eaten was made by a Cuban guy in Mongolia!

We ate hardy and then returned to Matt and Jess’ apartment for ice-cream.  We had a great anniversary and are so thankful for each other and the time that we have been blessed with!

           Things for next year continue to develop.  This past year there were three teacher training programs in the city.  Two of the programs had several students complete their second year of study and graduate.  Since our organization is diversifying, the remaining students from all three city programs will be combined into a single class that will meet in a central location to all of the students’ districts.  A few things will be changed for next year but overall it will remain similar to this year and previous.  However, at the same time, our curriculum coordinator will be piloting an in-school teacher training program, hopefully.  That is the idea anyway, but it is too soon to know if the proper support and response will be there for it.  Two or three others will be working in a high school to help retrain teachers and instruct the students.  Jennifer and I will be working for a university but are still not sure which one.  Only time will tell.

            Since our class finished on the 7^th life has been a dash to the finish line of this semester.  I mean we have literally been running!  Seven days is not a lot of time to have wrap-up meetings and get together with people before we leave.  Traveling has begun to sound restful.  Though time has been speeding by, we have been able to accomplish a lot and visit with a lot of folks before we and they head out.  It is sad to know that Craig and Sarah will not be living and working in UB next year.  We have really enjoyed having them as teammates and will miss them.  They at least will still be in Mongolia though.  Sadly, there are many others that will not be returning.  We have been able to see most and wish them well on the next adventures of their lives.  In addition to our teammates, we have met with a Mongolian friend in our building and a few Korean friends.  We have discovered that it is tough having to say goodbye about every four to five months.  During the summer, we spend three months in the States and then have to say goodbye to friends and family to travel to Mongolia.  We are in Mongolia for about five months and then have to say goodbye to our Mongolian friends to travel to Thailand.  We are in Thailand for a month with friends who live and work across Asia and then have to say goodbye to return to Mongolia.  We are in Mongolia for three to four months before we once again have to say goodbye and travel to the States to start the process all over again.  I don’t care who you are, that wares on the emotions.

            By the time you are reading this, we will have already traveled back to the States.  We are looking forward to being back, but there is another type of stress that comes with that transition.  Please think of us during the summer months.  Our desire is to be refreshed and productive.  It may be a vacation from our work in Asia, but there is to be no vacation from life.  We hope to be an encouragement to others and challenge them and you to seek His will in your life every day.

The beauty of time is that as it passes it always brings something new, and there will be new stuff coming your way the first of June! 

Time at Terelj

As the school year is winding down, things have been pretty busy for all here in UB. So on April 27th we all took a break and escaped to the countryside for a day of festivities, fellowship, and food!!! Around 9 am, we boarded a tourist bus in the center of the city and headed east to the national park called Terelj.  The road was bumpy, but the fellowship with our teammates and two friends from afar was great.  The trip out didn’t seem to take too long at all! 

Terelj is a beautiful area of mountains, rolling hills, woods, and meandering streams. The weather was exceptional which made it more enjoyable to be outside. Though the wind blew rather consistently, it was warm, at least as long as the sun wasn’t hiding behind clouds. It took about two hours to make our way from UB to the ger camp that was our final destination.

In case you don’t remember, a ger is the traditional Mongolia nomadic dwelling.  It is the same thing as a yurt, a circular structure covered by a wool shell with a stove for heating.  Though you wouldn’t think it, they are actually quite warm in the winter as long as the stove remains lit.

Reservations for two gers had been made, so we had plenty of space to gather or escape the wind if need be.  Shortly after we arrived, we witnessed the preparation of sheep for traditional Hor Hog.  The meat was quite fresh.  We knew that because it was tied to a pole looking around when we walked up.

Mongolians do not believe in spilling a sheep’s blood on the ground when they kill it.  It has something to do with dishonoring the sheep that is giving its life for food and bringing bad luck.  Because of this belief, a sheep is killed, at least for Hor Hog, by slitting a small hole in its underside, reaching in with a hand, and pinching a major artery.

It may seem strange, but it actually appeared to be a rather human way of killing the animal.

We all stood around and observed as a Mongolian man killed and then swiftly skinned, gutted, and butchered the sheep.  Nothing is wasted! 

The wool is used, the innards are set aside to be cooked, and the blood is collected to make blood sausage, a delicacy that we sadly didn’t have the pleasure of trying.  (However, Jennifer and I were not heartbroken about that!)  The meat and bones were placed into a metal container with hot rocks to cook.

During our time at the camp, we actually had two Hor Hogs.  What a load of food!  Our first was cooked with potatoes, carrots, and cabbage while our second was only the meat.  The meat turned out to be pretty delicious for mutton! 

Our second go around, we had the innards to try.  I had to try some of the intestine.  That is an experience that I don’t plan on repeating any time soon (hopefully never).



A picture is worth a thousand words!!

            The kids had fun searching for Easter eggs that the adults had hidden all around the ger.  It was fun for the non-egg seekers to watch the young Americans and Mongolians scatter for their quarry.

            The camp was surrounded by awe inspiring mountains.  It was fun to walk around and take in all of the beauty.  There were eagles catching the updrafts and sweeping across the sky just above our heads.  There were cows wondering around the grounds and even eating some leftover Easter eggs that the kids had forgotten to take inside a ger.  There was even a group of Korean students who had a blast getting their pictures taken with us!

During the afternoon, some played volleyball while others went for a hike or took a nap.  It was fun to be away from everything and not have to worry about responsibilities that were going undone.

Before our supper, our country leader led us in a time of reflection concerning Easter.  We sang a few songs in both English and Mongolian and then had a time of uplifting together. 

  

Sadly, that was the last all team get-together that several of the people will be at, so we gathered around them and committed them into His hands.  We are saddened to see our team dwindling, but it was a joy to have Matthew and Pam, the two new additions to the team, with us.



Jennifer and Pam

             After eating more mutton (and a little bit of intestine) we got a group picture, cleaned up, and headed back to the city.  It was after 9:30 when we got back into town and around 10 when we got home making us two tired and worn out travelers.  We are so thankful for our team and the time that we had together in Terelj!