Friday, 28 August 2009
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From Selenge to Ulaanbaatar to Khentii
I just happened upon this site the other day and realized that I have an account so I thought that I would take advantage of it! Ha . . . ha . . . ha . . .
Needless, to say a lot has happened since our last post in January. I guess it became easier to update on Facebook, but I still like to read blogs so I'd really like to revive this one again. Here goes . . .
June 22, we left Selenge, our home of nearly two years, the market that I often visited and had to constantly remind people that I'm not Russian but be careful of what you say because I do understand Mongolian,
and part of the weekly group we met with.
We packed our apartment into boxes and loaded up! It literally didn't fit into this truck. They ended up putting the blue coat rack and the remaining chairs on the top. I was sorry I didn't get more of the loading and packing but I was busy and carrying a camera wasn't so important at the time.
We headed for Ulaanbaatar where we lived for almost 2 months. We transitioned from our previous organization to . . .
being in the city made this transition easier. The children were also able to participate in the summer baseball camp, which they thoroughly enjoyed!!
We also celebrated Victor's 11th birthday, he had lots of friends close by who were happy to celebrate with him.
Les did some traveling in and out of the city to observe various greenhouses. He learned a lot and now it's time to put it to practice. He'll be building 3 different models so he can determine which works the best.
We've had a lot more rain this summer than usual. There were several torrential downpours which resulted in flash floods in some areas. The city lacks in drainage and just isn't able to handle this much water at one time. This picture was actually taken 24 hours after the initial downpour. There were about 25 people who died as a result of the summer floods.
We also enjoyed the opportunity to worship with some of our city friends, this is a small but growing group.
We also spent a few days out of the city. After living in the countryside for a couple of years, the city is just not where we want to live long term. All the traffic, building, pollution, etc. is just overwhelming! We enjoyed the relaxing time at the JCS retreat. The green grass, fresh air, and the fellowship was refreshing!
We are now the delighted owners of this Land Cruiser. We bought it from another family who is returning to America. We took it for a drive at the retreat and Zachary went with us, after we got back he needed to check it out more. We found him here several times, I wonder what he'll think when he sees Les come home with it. Les is currently back in the city, doing the paperwork so that he can bring it home.
And then there was another moving day! We knew we needed a bigger truck than the last time! We had accumulated more "stuff" and bought a refrigerator while in UB.
And as of August 18, our new home . . . the front corner is our apartment. I could post more pictures but I didn't want this post to get to long. There are more posted on Facebook.
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
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A compound bow!!!
Victor and Vincent were delighted to receive a compound bow for Christmas! They had been asking for one when we were in the States this summer, we wanted to get them one but of course we weren't going to tell them. We did manage to buy one and pack it well so they never saw it until Christmas morning. It was so much fun surprising them with it! Even though they had requested it, I don't think they really expected to get it. They've had a lot of fun with it and are definitely improving with practice.
It was a beautiful sunny day when Les took them down to the river to set up a target to become more familiar with it.
We get very little snow here as you can see in some the above pictures. The area here where there is snow is actually a frozen river. I really don't mind the cold but sometimes I wish we had more snow to cover up the barrenness. Then again, I'm thankful that we don't have to deal with the messiness of the snow! It's so dry here, that most of it just evaporates. Dryness also makes the cold more bearable as well as dressing appropiately for it. When we lived in South Carolina I would just wear enough of a coat to dash to the van and then into the next building. But here when it's a 15 minute walk to the market and parts of it are outdoors you learn to dress for it, getting cold is no fun!
Monday, 19 January 2009
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Fresh air makes you tired
Our househelper, Angi, still had a few minutes left before it was time for her to leave so I asked her to take Zachary out. She loves caring for him and he likes her too. And when I noticed that it had warmed up to 15 F and I got to wondering when he had last been out, well, it was high time for fresh air! A few minutes after she went out with him, I put my coat on to go get some pictures of him enjoying the sunshine, when there was a knock on the door. She was back! Already! He had fallen asleep! We went back out and still took a few!
He was so out! He never knew what happened. Guess what, by the time he came in and was unbundled and in his bed he was awake! That was his nap for the day. He did try to go to sleep he tossed and turned in his bed for about an hour, never crying. I finally decided he's finished. I'm sure he'll go to bed earlier tonight.
Angi has two daughters,
but would love to have more. She's had two miscarriages this past year.
Oh yeah, and the last time Zachary had been outside was December 26! I feel like a bad mommy! But with bigger children there's always someone to stay with him. We head to Thailand next Sunday so I think he'll get a good dose of sunshine there!
Saturday, 27 December 2008
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The Body
Here's the skit I mentioned in the last post, it was about the Body. I have never seen anything like it before and still laugh just thinking about it. I will try to quote/translate them best I can remember.
Hello. My name is "Eye." If there is no eye, you cannot see.
Hello. My name is "Nose." If there is no nose, you cannot smell.
Hello. My name is "Mouth." If there is no mouth you cannot eat food.
Hello. My name is "Ear." If there is no ear you cannot hear.
Hello. My name is "Hand." If there is no hand you cannot do things.
Hello. My name is "Stomach." If there is no stomach you cannot digest your food.
Hello. My name is "Foot." If there is no foot you cannot go places.
At this point a very shy and embarrassed girl comes in.
Hello. My name is "Rear." If . . . If . . .
. . . and then she runs back out.
Now Stomach is groaning and holding his stomach.
The other body parts are trying to comfort him and they are starting to groan to.
The body parts all run out and bring back Rear.
Ah, what a relief to Stomach. Rear is back.
At this point they all break into a little song about how all the body parts are made by God.
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
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Children’s Christmas Celebration
We continue to experience Mongolia at a deeper level every day. Right now it is seeing how Christmas is celebrated. Last year we were new in town and did not get included in many of the events that went on around us, but this year we have more friends and connections and are participating in many activities. I will tell about the festivities and list some cultural observations that we are making.
Sunday was a Christmas celebration put on by the local churches. It started at 10:00. That is, they started showing up at around 10:00 and the key showed up at 5 after. The program got under way at 11:15. Observation: It did start at 10:00. That is when they got together and prepared, set things up, changed into party clothes (it was -12 F outside, you just don’t walk across town in a frilly dress when it is that temp), while the kids ran around and got all excited. Half the excitement of the event is preparing together.
There must have been 200 children there. It's exciting to know that these children now know a little more about the true Meaning of Christmas.
White dresses with tinsel were the "in" thing!
These young ladies played guitar, led the music and just helped where needed. The girl on the right was the MC and did a great job keeping the kids excited but also keeping them focused on Jesus.
Juliana with a friend in matching sweaters for their song.
There was lots of action during the preparation time!
The huge pile of gifts. Each child was given a gift bag that included chips, chocolate, crackers and juice.
Two of the leaders who were coordinating the event.
Another leader who loves to tote Zachary around. The leaders did a great job at making this come together.
Les hung out with Zachary while I was taking pictures.
The Mongolian way to have a holiday celebration is quite different, but it works well. Every group represented at a celebration come with some form of entertainment to share with everyone. We knew that Juliana was going to sing a song with some other girls from church, so we assumed that the children were performing for the parents. No, that is American. They perform for each other. Seven Sunday schools came so each had a skit and/or a song or two. The celebration at my school was the same. Each class prepared a song, a skit, and a game. The class with the best entertainment won a prize.
This group sang, A Long Time Ago in Bethlehem
Our friends' church did an awesome skit of the nativity. The Christmas story was read as Mary and Joseph came in, were told there was no room and then went to the stable. Here Mary sat down and pulled a baby out of her robe and laid Jesus in the manger. An angel brought the Good News to the shepherds, who went to worship Jesus. And then the wise men went to Herod seeking the Savior and then brought gifts to baby Jesus.
The sheep were so cute!!
SS leader from our group.
Juliana sang a song with some other girls from the Saturday School Class. The little girl in the white dress was not part of their song! She just loved to throw her ballons down the steps and then someone would give it to her and she'd do it all over again! Juliana loves doing things like this with other girls. It makes me so happy to see her happy. I know it's not always easy for our children to live here and not have any American children to play with. So when I see her enjoying this I consider it a gift from Him. They do have friends here but it can be difficult with a language barrier. The longer we live here I do see them becoming more Mongolian, I guess that's why they're called Third Culture Kids!
To avoid a long and overwhelming post we saved the most unusual, comical, interesting, but biblical skit for another day. Come back soon.
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