Saturday, April 24, 2010
Spring Concert
For the past couple of weeks a lot of my classes have been half empty and music has been blaring from the locked auditorium. Yesterday I discovered why -- my school put together a little spring concert. I was invited to attend yesterday. I was also strongly encouraged to bring our camera so I could immortalize the students' talent on digital media. Here are some pictures as well as a video showing some of the highlights. Enjoy!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Update
Wow, has it really been two weeks since my last post? Well, here we are in the ides of April. I have roughly 5 weeks of school left and it's just about 7 weeks until we head back to California for our much-anticipated vacation. Time has been alternating between neck-breaking sprints and turtle-like crawls.
I recently returned from a 5-day trip to UB where I participated on the Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC) for the second time. Basically twice a year a group of volunteers are brought to the capital to meet with PC administration to hash out any issues volunteers are having in the field. I am one of three representatives from our M20 class. The meeting went well and some important issues were raised. More importantly, however (at least to me), is that I got to spend some self-indulgent time in the big city. I ate at my favorite restaurants (chicken club sandwiches and buffalo chicken pizza galore), caught up with friends, and maxed out our 250GB external hard drive with movies and television shows that circulate around the PC community. Without revealing too many specifics, I finally got to see what all the hype about Avatar is about, I choked my way through Twilight 2, and Ashlee and I are just starting the TV series Glee. I got back to Olgii this past Saturday, just in time to start the spring school term on Monday.
I have a feeling that this spring won't be one of the more productive periods in my service. The weather is cruelly yo-yoing between sunshine-filled days in the 50s, crazy dust storms, and fiercely cold snow flurries in the single digits. Gotta love spring-time in Mongolia.
It is evident that the end of the school year is just around the corner. Students are distracted, teachers are tired, and "running out the clock" seems to be the name of the game. I must admit that I'm feeling pretty distracted myself. Ashlee and I are getting really excited about our trip home in June. Also, when we return to Mongolia on June 29th, we will be bringing Ashlee's father with us for a visit. I guess we have portrayed Mongolia in such an interesting light that he wants to experience it for himself. He'll be staying just over a week and since he has already ruled out a trip to the Gobi (he hates deserts in the summertime), we plan to take him north to Lake Hovsgul, which is supposedly the most beautiful part of the country. I think we'll be staying at a western-style ger camp where we can hike, fish, ride horses, saddle up camels, and visit the elusive reindeer people. Sounds exciting, huh?
I recently returned from a 5-day trip to UB where I participated on the Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC) for the second time. Basically twice a year a group of volunteers are brought to the capital to meet with PC administration to hash out any issues volunteers are having in the field. I am one of three representatives from our M20 class. The meeting went well and some important issues were raised. More importantly, however (at least to me), is that I got to spend some self-indulgent time in the big city. I ate at my favorite restaurants (chicken club sandwiches and buffalo chicken pizza galore), caught up with friends, and maxed out our 250GB external hard drive with movies and television shows that circulate around the PC community. Without revealing too many specifics, I finally got to see what all the hype about Avatar is about, I choked my way through Twilight 2, and Ashlee and I are just starting the TV series Glee. I got back to Olgii this past Saturday, just in time to start the spring school term on Monday.
I have a feeling that this spring won't be one of the more productive periods in my service. The weather is cruelly yo-yoing between sunshine-filled days in the 50s, crazy dust storms, and fiercely cold snow flurries in the single digits. Gotta love spring-time in Mongolia.
It is evident that the end of the school year is just around the corner. Students are distracted, teachers are tired, and "running out the clock" seems to be the name of the game. I must admit that I'm feeling pretty distracted myself. Ashlee and I are getting really excited about our trip home in June. Also, when we return to Mongolia on June 29th, we will be bringing Ashlee's father with us for a visit. I guess we have portrayed Mongolia in such an interesting light that he wants to experience it for himself. He'll be staying just over a week and since he has already ruled out a trip to the Gobi (he hates deserts in the summertime), we plan to take him north to Lake Hovsgul, which is supposedly the most beautiful part of the country. I think we'll be staying at a western-style ger camp where we can hike, fish, ride horses, saddle up camels, and visit the elusive reindeer people. Sounds exciting, huh?
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