My 9th Graders

 The posts about our students have been few and far between but the last week was too filled to not share any of this.  Here I am with my co-teacher Tuul and our 9a Class.  Mr. Kennedy (a.k.a. Matthew) had 9b.  We had quite the year and the kids went from an unruly bunch of paired up kids from different schools to a very sweet, tight little group by the end of the year.  Wow, what a blessing to only have a class of 40, divided into two 20's.  My high school class had around 800 so this was a total treat for me.  By the way, to see this many Mongolians smiling in a picture is nothing short of amazing but I was so happy to have captured it!

The week or so before I left, both the 9th and 10th graders kept asking me what my plans were and wanted to take advantage of the time.  They decided to take me to the Children's Park in UB which I had only barely experienced in the past so this was a total hoot!

 I was so happy to see our kids so readily stop and help this dad whose bag had busted open out the bottom. 

 Here's Mr. Kennedy with a bunch of the guys.  We had about 12 people from the two classes join us which made for a really nice group size.

 This was a human powered monorail thingy with eyes.

 Waiting for a ride.

 This is Ariundalai.  I think she and Orgilmaa organized the event and they made sure we were taken care of the whole time.  It was so sweet...they even bought us ice cream!

 Here are some boys from Mr. Kennedy's class.  We each had most of the other's class for Business (me) and Computers (him), and of course English, so we each got to know all 40 fairly well.

 Here they are on the big wheel!

 Field trip organizers on the ends and Enkhsaruul in the middle.  Total sweeties!  Great view of the city, too!

 It feels a little like Epcot with the castle and water.  The orange and tan building just to the right of the clock tower in the distance is where we lived for the first 6 months of our recent stint.  7th floor, far right side.  We could see the Children's Park from the window!

 Matthew taking it in!

 Of course the swings are always enjoyable!

 Sain uu, Ariuka!!!

This is Tsevigmid, class jokester.  Apparently he learned English watching cartoons as a young man, but today his credentials earned him the role of bag-boy while we rode the electric bobsled car thingies.

 You can see Buddha shouting and Tsevka telling us to stomp our feet on the electric gas pedal.  

 We had a blast!

 Aaaahhhh!

Thanks girls for organizing a great day, and to our 9th grade classes...we love you and are so happy to have watched you grow this year!  It was truly a joy to have been your teachers!!!  And remember:  If your currency appreciates against another country's, is it and advantage or disadvantage for exporters?

SEND ME PICTURES OF THIS YEAR!!!
Much love, Mr. Gens

April Celebrations!

Well, the big 30 has come. The twenties were a great decade - went to photography school, met a cute painter, got married, had Ezra and have another sweet baby on the way! I'm looking forward to what is in store for the next 10 years. It's interesting to think that my mom was the same age as I am now when she was pregnant with me. I don't feel mature enough yet to be 30 and a mom. :) I asked one of my teammates here when she started to feel like a real adult. She said around 40. So, I guess I have a few more years. :)

For my birthday this year, Matt and I went out to eat at our new favorite Indian Restaurant in town. The owner is Indian and a very nice man. (I really wanted to ask him to say "Camping Cabin" for me, but I didn't!) :) Little family joke there. 

Anyhow...we also had a little party with some friends with pizza, ice cream and Wii. We had a table tennis tournament. I didn't win, but it was a lot of fun!

And uncle Matthew even held Ezra for the first time! They are good buddies, but Matthew's not a big kid person. Ezra likes to sit next to him and watch him play his iPad and try to find the one button that will do the most damage. :) Matthew also taught Ezra how to greet him with a fist bump. :) It's super cute.

I also had to have some fun in the kitchen for my birthday. I attempted making zweiback for the first time and they actually turned out! Except my first pan most of the balls fell off the top and they looked more like turtles. But they still tasted good!

I also tried to make some cinnamon rolls. (Which I have made successfully before, but this was a different recipe.) I didn't read the part about the amount being divided between 2 pans. So I had 2x's the amount in a single pan! They are a little crowded, but look decent here (this is before baking). But after I baked them the middles were all doughy and it didn't turn out very good. I ended up dumping them out onto a cookie sheet and tried baking them longer. They tasted ok, but it was a mess. :) Oh well. One of these days I'll get cinnamon rolls right.

We also took a trip down to the river since it's finally warming up here. It was the first time this year, and the first time Ezra had been down there since he started walking. So that was a lot of fun. We saw the most amazing ice formations we'd ever seen. It's called candle ice and it forms in the spring from the thawing and refreezing of the water. You could pick up a chunk and drop it and it would shatter like glass shards all over. Very cool.

The birthday celebrations continued as our entire team went to Terelj to celebrate Easter again, like we did last year (check out the post from last Easter). Orna, Jennifer and I all have birthdays in the same week, so we celebrated together during our Easter party as well.

And our new teammate Sandi brought her stash of Jelly Belly's to share! Mmmm. It was fun remembering all the different flavors. I picked all the pears out. :) 

Ruth made our birthday cake. She's becoming quite the professional! It was tasty, too!

We saw some camels on the way there that you could pay to ride. Fascinating creatures. But it was like a sandstorm blizzard outside so we stayed in the bus. I still haven't ridden a camel! But I've eaten a few. :)

We brought the sun oven along and I made up some sugar cookies ahead of time to try it out. It was a super windy so we tried to keep it from tipping over, but it still did a couple times.

It worked great! They were a little crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. Just took about a half hour per batch, but hey, it's free energy!

Last year for Easter, a little sheep gave his life for our meal. The sheep was butchered and then the meat, veggies and hot rocks were put inside a pressure cooker. That was called Hor Hok. This year we had Bauduk which is made with a goat. They kill the goat and then burn all the hair off and clean out the insides and put the meat back inside the goat along with some hot rocks and veggies. Then they sew the goat shut and let it cook, like a crock pot or pressure cooker. The goat was much tastier than the sheep. :) 

Here they are burning the hair off. It made the whole camp stink!

Here is a brief video of the finished goat! Very strange, but it was pretty good.

Hope you all had a very Happy Easter! He is risen indeed!

9th Graders and Skiing

 Ahhhh, the 9th grade, when responsibilities are low and life, when not is school, is just about fun!  I remember my own childhood and the frequent outings to the slopes.  There was little more I ever wanted to do than to go skiing.  To my Dad, Brian, Justin, Larry and the rest...here's one for ol' times!  In fact, I realized on this trip that I haven't been skiing since I met Jessica!  What an odd thing since we both love skiing so much, but we've each been once now in Mongolia, not together, but none the less, skiing has happened!

   Here I am with Dulguunnaran.  He's in both my Business Studies and English classes and an all around nice kid...quite handsome too!  :-)

 In yonder chair is Mr. Kennedy (Matthew) and Zolbayar who I see less often but is a part of the same cohort of boys, half of whom could not join us today.

Here's Duuluu taking his first jump ever...of course it was monkey-see-monkey-do!  Where'd that big monkey come from anyway?!  Well, we spotted the big monkey again, this time going down the hill with a video camera!  It's it two parts...

 

My run was too long to email from my iTouch so you get the first bit and the last bit.  :)

 If you look below, the run right above my head is the last little bit I went down.  It's a black diamond, but a fairly tame one at that.  40 degree slope but totally groomed...no problem, even with a video camera!  :)  WOW, I miss those Colorado slopes of old!

It was a great day with some new friends with lots of good time getting to know each other on the chair.  What a blast to "be young again" and have the body hold up fairly well.

Tsagaan Sar - 2012

"Hey Ezra, whatcha doin'?  Nice hat, buddy!  Who's your friend?"

  "That's my buddy Huslen.  Yeah, this is a traditional Mongolian hat, usually worn during the national holidays and wrestling competitions.  Today is the first day of Mongolia's biggest national holiday, Tsagaan Sar.  It means 'White Moon' or 'White Month', Dad."  

"Thanks, little wrestler!"

 Here we are at our dear friend, Urna's house.  You might recognize her from our other posts.  That's Huslen, Urna's son, on the bottom, along with her parents, aunt, and friend.  During Tsagaan Sar, you begin with your oldest relatives and meet and greet (and EAT) your way on down through your family and friends over the next three days.  We were very honored to be invited on this first day.

On the right is our dear friend Aleta.  She's been with our org in Mongolia for 15 years!  The gal on the left is our new friend Sandy and she's in the app process to join us!  In the foreground are the infamous sheep and tower of bread-like cakes and curd products, staples for any Tsagaan Sar celebration.

Here's me and little buddy with Urna's parents and aunt Oyunaa, who's best friends with Aleta.

 And now for the food line up!  Other than the sheep and tower-o-breadcake-and-dairy products, salads are seen at every gathering.  Pickles and ham are among the favorites.

 Along with potato salad, which is always good!

 And sheep's tail fat and guts!  Both delicacies.

And last, but by no means least, Buuz.  If you only ate one thing during Tsagaan Sar, this would be it.  If you've been following our blog for a couple years you may have seen us making buuz with our beloved Gerlee.  It is simply meat (usually mutton), onions, and maybe cabbage or carrots.  The seasoning is up to the cook but it's never usually more than S &/or P.  This mixture is made into little balls and placed inside a small flour tortilla-like circle, closed with various techniques.  Legend goes that a real man eats 20 and it takes 10 to attain real womanhood.  Two years ago I put down 17 at one stop but this year, having just come off a stomach flu-like bug, I stuck to 7 at the first visit and 11 two days later.  Unfortunately, during the holidays it's cultural to always have a full table and a full plate, no matter how much you've eaten and saying "no" in various ways becomes an uncomfortable necessity to avoid a much worse discomfort!

 And it is quite an odd thing if you don't see and get offered vodka...repeatedly.  This is not so good for us because we've agreed not to consume any alcohol for our organization and the men push it on you worse than the women push seconds at a local-Lutheran potluck!!!  That angry lookin' dude on the bottle is Gengis Kaan, or "Chinggis Khan" as it's actually pronounced.  Thankfully at this house they know we don't drink so I was only asked a few times, and that was I after I ceremonially touched it to my lips to receive his hospitality...an essential.  This can be extremely difficult and awkward and a whole family can be dishonored if you decline in an unsatisfactory way.

Here's a better shot of the cakes and curds...and more vodka!  "Болор" means crystal...hence the bottle shape.

 Even little Ez-man had the opportunity to take a sip but there was no pressure involved and it really was quite funny.  And no...I did not give him any.  :)  At first Ezra didn't warm up to this guy but after a while they were having the best time.  He would take Ezra's sock off and stick it in his pocket and gobble his little piggies.  He just went crazy over that!!!  Apparently Mongolian babies like that, too!  It was so great.

 Hey, I just realized Mommy's not in any of these!  She must have been behind the camera tonight.  Anyway, here we are receiving gifts from the host...a very common tradition.

"Mr. Buttons, I presume?"

 On the third day we were invited to our pastor's house celebrate.  It was really nice as it was just their family and our team for the majority of the time we were there.

 Here's the rowdy bunch waiting for our little brother to come pick us up at the bus stop.  Most of you would know Joshua and Jennifer in the middle.  Matthew on the left, and my two incognito sweetems on the right.

 Mr. Matthew Kennedy...teammate, coworker, sidekick, neighbor, frequent table guest and otherwise good friend and brother.  Love 'm.

 

Here's a good one of life in the ger districts.  Loads of little shops along the roads and sometimes literally right on the edge of the street.  "Эмийн Сан" is a pharmacy, "Гоо Сайхан" is cosmetics, and Baby Shop would say "Хүүхдийн Дэлгүүр."  The woman next to the store is drinking milk tea and selling bags of wood and chatting with the store clerk.  The man on the street is selling bags of raw coal for about $2/bag.  In the distance are the beautiful mountains and the sprawling ger districts of the north.  The big cooling tower is from a coal plant making hot water for central heating or electricity...not sure.

 This is our pastor Urnaa and her husband Sukhbaatar.  The church here is predominately women and while we rejoice that we have so many sisters, the prayer of nearly every believer here is that He would bring more men into the flock.

 Here's Ezra eating his first piece of Mongolian ham.  That's his "not quite sure what I think about this" face.  :)

 

As at every home, salads and meat.  Since I was the oldest guest, I got to carve everybody a piece of meat.  That's one thing I really enjoy doing but my uncle Jerry is much better at it than I am.  :)

 

 Not sure if this is normal for toddlers or not, but Ezra loves to share!  He also likes to find people's belly buttons, just forewarning all of you.  Needless to say, Pastor's daughter was a little surprised by this.  We'll try to get him interested in other things.

Here's the gang!

Thanks Joshua for taking the picture and thanks to everyone for a great holiday!

For you photo buffs: In case you were wondering how the front folks could be in focus and the next row not, we just got a new 50mm 1.8 lens.  For you non photo buffs, this means that if you're standing close to someone, you can focus on someone's nose and their eyes will be totally blurry.  It's actually a little difficult to get used to but it allows you to shoot in very low light without a flash.  They say it adds between 4 and 10 stops.  All I know is that I'm not used to having the foreground be out of focus (go back a couple picture to the salads).