I can’t believe it’s been 10 days since I’ve written. In Ryan Rommann’s words, “When we first got here, it was at least three times a day that I said to myself “What the ____?” Now that has diminished to only once a day.” I suppose what he tries to mean by this is that we have fallen into a close semblance of a routine here. On any given day, we might be receiving cross-cultural lessons, having a community development seminar, or “microteaching” in pairs to a class of 10-15 children. All of these occur at least once a week, and twice in microteaching’s case.
We also have four hours of Mongolian language class each day. My group’s language coordinator, Batsukh, is an extraordinarily patient teacher who seems earnestly enthusiastic about class each day. We all seem to greatly enjoy microteaching, as it is excellent practice for what we will be doing for these two years, and is actually pretty fun.
The cross cultural and community development activities range from a walk-around of Nalaikh to scope out potential development partners to a traditional ger visit to somber talks of local birthing, wedding, and… funeraling rituals. The Peace Corps Volunteer Leaders who lead these sessions are essentially older models after which we shall try to cast ourselves, though in some cases, such as Kiley’s fabulous dress, Dylan or Greg’s musicality, Kyle or Maureen’s kind demeanor, or Luke’s exquisite eyebrows, we are doomed to failure. They are dearly loved.
On a tragic note, Ryan Anderson, (notable from the spectacular picture #335) had to go home for a plethora of quite rational reasons. He will be missed, but managed to impart some general wisdom and an energetic teaching style that puts Pea-Wee Herman (sp?) to shame.
There have been two movie nights now, red wine and The Princess Bride for one, and Team America on the fourth of July for the other. Pulp Fiction will be coming shortly.
We hike when we can as there are some very nice vistas if you’re willing to go a few miles out of town, not to mention the allure of trees, frail and unadorned as they may be. Immediately upon leaving Nalaikh (about 500 feet from my front door,) the barren beauty of Mongolia will jump out at you like a giant naked anthropomorphic personification that can’t wait to give you a bear hug. Some find it desolate, yet I find it breathtaking.
Editor's note: don't forget to click the thumbnails to find out what these crazy pictures are all about!
1 adventure points:
I sincerely hope you've judged Luke's allegedly "exquisite" eyebrows by comparing them to Damien's, or, as they're known in the industry, The Irrefutable Gold Standard of Eyebrows.
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