10/31/08 Halloween week

Saturday, I went with Davaa to Gandan Monastery. I was once here at the monastery when Lama Zopa gave a teaching there. It's a huge compound of many buildings, dormitories and temples. Gandan is one of Mongolia's most important monasteries. Built in 1838, it too was ravaged during the communist purges and was just a 'show' monastery for tourists until 1990. Now it has over 600 monks in residence. We were there to do some work but Davaa wanted me to see something first.

The Migjid Janraisig statue is huge, standing at 26m (86') made of copper with gilt gold covering and a building has been built completely around it. The original statue was built in 1911 but was carted off by Russia in 1937 (allegedly melted down to make bullets). The new statue was dedicated in 1996 and contains 27 tons of medicinal herbs, 334 sutras, two million bundles of mantras, plus an entire ger with furniture. Inside the base and the walls are covered with prayer wheels so I took some time to turn each wheel as I walked clockwise around the statue. Awesome. I was told pictures were not allowed but I found this on Flikr.com one below:


Davaa and I were there with a group of mostly women who regularly do clean-up work at the monastery every weekend. Today we were pulling weeds that had overgrown one of the back corners of the property. Even though it was a bit chilly, with the work and the sun, it was quite comfortable. At this time of the year, the vegetation was dried and easy to cut down. After a couple of hours, Davaa and I left the rest of the work to the folks (who came after we started).

Definitely had something going on at Shendrup Ling last weekend. First the power went off for the third floor, but then the boiler stopped working. It took almost 24 hours before they could get it turned back on. In the meantime, power went out for the whole neighborhood for quite a long time. But late Saturday night, all was back to normal.

Then early Monday morning about 4AM I was awakened by Otgonbayar, the guard, because a water pipe had burst in the cafe downstairs flooding both the first floor and the floor beneath (where our English classrooms are). I haven't seen a mop since I arrived in Mongolia, so we used good old fashioned rags to sop up the water. Ah, my kingdom for a shopvac. By the time I had emptied four buckets worth, Munguu arrived with her husband and a carpet vacuum - you know the kind that can vacuum up water when shampooing carpets. Yippie! Getting the water off the floor was so much easier then. About 6AM we had most of the place cleaned up. The plumber came and fixed the pipes but the water damage to the basement ceiling is going to take some work to fix, and a large section of the wood flooring in the cafe was already severely warped by the time the cafe opened that morning.

Classes have been much better this week. I think I'm getting the hang of 'how much' to teach to teach instead of 'what I thought I needed to teach' which are two very different things. One of the funner classes was WORDanary. Sort of like pictionary but instead of a picture, they have to describe a word using their English language vocabulary. They wanted to keep having another round to break the tie but we ran out of time. A good sign when they are not in a hurry to leave class.

I had my first visitors here in Ulaanbaatar, Erin & Sam Barkley. They are on a 20-month bike trip through Asia and found out about me through Daniel, a good friend and cyclist from Switzerland. It was great to show them the center and sit down to lunch in the cafe telling our respective stories. I hope I didn't talk their ears off. [smile] They've been on the road now for three months and from here, they will take the train to Beijing where they will get back on the bikes. So check out their travels on Erin & Sam's Bike Blog.

Erin and Sam

Well, my brother Tom who I worked construction for would be proud of me as I helped lay down a new parquet floor in the Stupa Cafe Wednesday night. After my classes were over, I decided Otgoo and Oogii could use a hand. It was harder than it looked fitting all the pieces together just right and then pounding them in place without chipping them. I finally went to bed at midnight but later heard they finally finished about 2am. But it does look very nice. Too bad I had a full day of teaching the next morning and no lesson plans made.

And just to end the week on a high note (no pun intended), below is a video of my young English students at the Dolma Ling Community Center. Usually I have 10-to-12 nine-year-olds, but his day I only had five which is a much more manageable number of kids. [smile]

The kids singing 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat'

PS For Friday's class I taught my students all about Halloween. They enjoyed the candy I brought for them, but I had to practically force them to take more than one piece of candy.

10/28/08 Tibetan manuscripts

A couple of weeks ago, we had a new roommate at Shendrup Ling, Bob Chilton. Bob is here doing technical work at the National Library for the Asian Classics Input Project (ACIP). And while he was here, Bob offered us a tour of the project.

ACIP - Mongolia Project
Cataloging of the great Tibetan text collections in Mongolia has been ongoing since 1999. The cataloging work has been undertaken by a staff of Mongolians working together with ACIP Cataloging Supervisor Ngawang Gyatso (who was trained in India). We estimate that the holdings contain approximately 650,000 titles. The Mongolian collections are especially important, since we have discovered many texts there that we have not found anywhere else in the world. We estimate that it will take many years simply to put all the loose woodblock pages of the works back into order and catalog them properly. The efforts by local Mongolian scholars to restore the Library are admirable, although they have a serious lack of material and financial support needed to complete their task.

Just a few of the Tibetan manuscripts

Some of the thousands stored at the library

Each separate work is cataloged

Mongolian staff hard at work

Literally stacked to the ceiling

Fragile manuscripts get photographed

Others are scanned

To me the collection was just amazing. So much knowledge and they don't even know what they have yet. Right now, most of the work is just cataloging the manuscripts so they know what they have. Then, as more funding becomes available, they will work more on preserving the texts by copying them digitally which will also make it easier for others to have access of the manuscripts anywhere in the world.

Bob told us that the collection at the Mongolian National Library is not only a national treasure for Mongolia but a treasure of world heritage. Totally unique. But no one really knows what is there. So the cataloging cooperation between ACIP and the Library is finally giving the world access to this unique treasure of classical literature.

I'd like to mention that the ACIP is constantly short of funds, surviving on a shoestring. It's really amazing how far $1000 goes in Mongolia compared to in Europe or the U.S. The entire Mongolia operation, with 12 staff, runs on barely more than $4000 per month. They have almost no overhead because all the U.S.-based staff donate their time. But raising even $4000 per month, each and every month, is a real challenge. The ACIP truly appreciates anyone who wants to help -- with a regular monthly donation or a one-time donation or by spreading the word to others. So if anyone has an interest in helping all these people continue their work in preserving these priceless Tibetan manuscripts, follow the link below to the ACIP website to get more information.

Asian Classics Input Project (ACIP)
"The Asian Classics Input Project (ACIP) is dedicated to locating, cataloging, digitally preserving, and disseminating rapidly disappearing Tibetan and Sanskrit manuscripts that hold the philosophical, cultural, and religious heritage of endangered cultures dating back more than 2000 years. ACIP works to preserve these texts containing the great ideas of the Eastern half of humanity and to make these books and ideas accessible to the world at large. Our mission is carried out in several steps. First, we search the globe for the surviving collections of books, and record their location and contents in catalog form. Next we copy or digitally image the books and send these copies to be input onto computer media at several data entry centers that we have established. Finally, we make these books and the important ideas they contain freely available to everyone - scholars, translators, libraries, universities and individuals - on CD media and via the Internet."

10/24/08 Second Snow

Wednesday we our second snow. Because it's colder, I think this time it will stick. It actually was a pleasant surprise waking up to see the rooftops and the mountains covered in snow. And even though my thermometer says it's 17 degrees outside, it's a toasty 73 degrees in my room. Plus, just to put some of my reader's minds at ease, I do have hot water now, so no more cold showers. Thank goodness!

And just to keep you updated on the weather here, I have AccuWeather weather widget in the column on the right, just below the archive list. It will give you the current weather conditions and the temperature. Here's an expanded view below:

Forecast | Maps | Radar

It's been a different month food-wise. After Naraa's 10-day meditation retreat, she decided to take a full month off, so she won't be back in the kitchen till the middle of November. I'm happy for her but that also meant I've had to fend for myself in the kitchen, not an encouraging development (at least if you've tasted my cooking). I finally cooked some tofu that was actually quite good (my attempts over the years have been pretty disgusting). Iveel, the Stupa Cafe cook downstairs has taken pity on me and has decided that until Naraa comes back, she'll cook my lunch. Anything would have been better than what I was cooking edible though it was, but Iveel's meals have been wonderful!

As for my classes, this has been a very tough week on the teacher. Usually I think I'm a pretty intelligent guy, but I don't understand what my textbooks are trying to teach in my Intermediate classes. Several of the recent lessons have mixed together three or four concepts barely tying them together. But when I looked at the test coming up, none of those concepts are on the exam. Plus, the material my Pre-Intermediate class is learning looks very similar to the material for the Intermediates but seems much more difficult and overly complicated.

So I'm working a lot of extra hours just to make sense of it all but that also means late nights and not getting much good sleep. I'm sequestered in my room/office most of time, rarely getting outside except for a few minutes every morning when I take care of the stupa. And I haven't really had any time for my Mongolian lessons either. [sad smile]

I've had several discussions with Tsetsgee, my fellow teacher, and she enthusiastically agrees the curriculum needs a serious overhaul but finding the time to even begin to tackle that project will be difficult. I know I should do the best I can with what I have, but I don't think I could do that to the next volunteer teacher who comes after me. So, if we can pull it off, Tsetsgee and I will hopefully have something workable before the next term starts in January.

I did have one class that went surprisingly well, but right in the middle, we lost power, which these days happens at least once a week. But imagine my surprise when the students said they didn't want to leave and began using the light from their cell phones to read the lesson.

I've been trying to figure out ways to get my students to talk more, to really get some good practice using the language more in class. So, last weekend I rearranged the classroom to get rid of the lecture seating and now every student faces a partner. I told them I want to do less talking. I'm trying to give them more opportunities to practice with the language and I want them to use me more as a grammar referee. Sometimes it works too well and I have a hard time keeping the noise down when I want someone to speak to the class, but at least all the chatter in English, or mostly anyway.

I would like you all to keep Tsetsgee's family in your thoughts and prayers. Her mother's health hasn't been good and this week she was put in the hospital's ICU. Tsetsgee and rest of her siblings have been taking care of their mother, taking it day by day. Tsetsgee has been a wonderful coworker and I wish there was something more I could do for her, so I ask you to remember them in your thoughts and prayers.

10/17/08 Teaching English

Well, I just finished my sixth week of teaching, so I guess it's a good time to let ya' all know how it's going. First let me say I think teaching is the hardest thing I've every done, but I think I like it. [smile]

Maybe a little background is needed. Lama Zopa Rinpoche brought the FPMT to Mongolia at the request of several of his Mongolian students to help "re-light the lamp" of Mongolian Buddhist culture which was almost completely destroyed by the Communist regime (1921-1990: 67 years), and to provide assistance for the poor and under-privileged.

As part of it's social outreach, FPMT Mongolia started an English language program in 2002. The classes do not directly involve Buddhist teachings and are open to Mongolians of any age, social status and profession. In Mongolia with its rapidly growing economy and international relations, the knowledge of English is essential. Without English it can often be difficult to find a good job. On the other hand, unemployment and extremely low salaries prevent most people from affording costly language courses.

Here's a little write-up I found:
"Beginner Level students consist primarily of the pupils from the lower-economic strata to the unemployed. In many instances, basic English ability can mean the difference between a job and unemployment, between cleaning toilets or a simple clerk position."

"Pre-Intermediate students consist primarily of secondary and high school pupils and a few adults. Many public schools do not have the money to support good English language program despite the Mongolian Government declaring English as the official second language. Private schools do however have good ESL programs, and this leaves the average Mongolian family struggling to keep up with the educational demands that their children will encounter entering into higher learning institutions and later, the work force. Therefore, the educational and financial gap between the rich and the poor is almost guaranteed by the inequity in educational standards. This is the old but typical scenario for developing nations..."

Unemployment is about 30% here. And in too many cases, one individual supports not only their family, but an extended family as well. So, speaking even a little bit of English well can lead to a much needed economic boost for the whole family.

At Shendrup Ling (FPMT Buddhist Meditation Center) I teach about 90 students. I have two groups of Pre-Intermediate students, one group of Intermediate 1st semester students, and two groups of Intermediate 2nd semester students. Each group meets for 90 minutes twice a week.

And now, I also teach two days a week at Dolma Ling, our community center in one of the poor ger districts in the Eastern part of the city. I teach three groups of children, two classes about 8-9 years-old and one class of 11-12 year-olds. I also teach English twice a week to most of the staff and a few of the Buddhist nuns from the Dolma Ling Nunnery. Needless to say, I'm pretty busy.

My younger kids working on their penmanship

Teaching the staff at Dolma Ling

My older kids hamming it up for the camera

My students at Shendrup Ling are a very diverse group of individuals. My youngest is about 8 (he comes with his mother) to a few my age (but I would ask specifically). [laugh] I have primary and secondary students, quite a few university students, professionals and working moms, plus a few doctors. Curiously, my female students outnumber their male counterparts almost 5 to 1.

Since it was started, the English program has followed a set curriculum of lesson plans. As with previous teachers, I have added my own 'flavor' to the current lesson plans and will some day pass those on to the next teacher. I spend most of my day researching for new ideas or methods and editing the lesson plans for that day. Surprising how much work goes into planning for three hours worth of class. With the children at Dolma Ling, since they already are taking a little bit of English at their schools, at first I'll just be helping supplement their current schoolwork.

Right off the bat, I'll admit I am no English scholar. Far from it. And I'll also admit that there are some finer points of grammar that are extremely difficult for me to understand, let alone teach. But I've had a good foundation built through my ESL Certification course. Plus, with access to the internet, I can call upon thousands of ESL teachers to help me understand and thus teach to my students. Some classes go great, but others not so great. Many times, I can't even figure out why they miss the mark. Nothing really to do but get some rest, wake-up in the morning and try again.

But I love being busy. And I love how teaching lets me be creative. The Mongolians are so nice and appreciative. Some struggle so hard with their English, but they keep coming back day after day. I think I am very lucky to be in a program where the students are there because they want to be, not because it's required.

What really helps though is the great support I get from all the staff here. I would be lost without Tsetsgee, my fellow English teacher (she teaches the Beginners and also some Pre-Intermediate students), who also happens to be my Mongolian language teacher (bless her with patience!). And her husband is one of my English students at Dolma Ling where he works. I really feel I'm part of a family here.

My cousin Cynthia said in a recent email "I had wondered how long after your arrival you would find some major project to take on to make things better." I hate to admit, but she's right, I do have a lot of good ideas, with more coming to me everyday. And once I have a bit of time, I'll get to those too. [smile]

10/10/08 First Snow in UB

The view out my window of my first snow in UB

Well, you know winter is fast approaching when you see the first snowfall. It's been a little chilly lately, a for sure sign the seasons are changing, but it's hard to ignore the 'white stuff'. It snowed all day but most of it didn't stick here in the city. But the surrounding mountains are many shades of white now. Cool.

You can see snow in the mountains
A few days a week, I teach kids English in this ger

My new favorite restaurant is Luna Blanca, a vegetarian restaurant just down the street. It is a nice place, the people friendly and the prices more in my budget. Besides, the first time I as there, a family was sitting at the next table. They had a little girl just barely walking and talking. When she saw me, she started saying 'grandfather'. Even when the family got up to leave, they didn't even get out the door before the little girl asked to be taken back in so she could say goodbye to 'grandfather.' A good omen, I think.


And now for something completely different. For years I've been an avid reader of a zine (a small circulation, non-commercial publication) called the Moonlight Chronicles which is a hand-drawn journal of Dan Price. I have taken one of his zines on almost all my trips as something to read but also to inspire. Usually he publishes about three issues a year. Well, in an order to do less damage to the environment, with the help of Simple Shoes he is now publishing them online totally free (but you can still order a paper copy if you want a hard copy in your hands). And with this new format, Dan has even added color to his drawings making the journals even more awesome. So, check his blog and read his journals at MoonlightChroniclesBlog.blogspot.com

10/3/08 Exploring a bit of the city

Here's a great four-part article on Mongolia called The Mongolian Obsession: Falling in Love with Mongolia. And thanks to Leslie & Nathan in Mongolia for that link.

Found an art gallery in a ger on the way to the market the other day. Amazing art from Mongolian artists. Here's the link to see hundreds of paintings and even some sculpture: Mongolian Art Gallery.

Some of the art I saw at the gallery

Naraa, Shendrup Ling's cook and my personal mother hen, is going to be gone ten whole days on a Vipasana meditation retreat. So, in order that I won't starve (like that would ever happen), she took me to the market. I'm glad she showed me because I would have never found it on my own. Even from the outside, I wouldn't have realized the building housed a huge assortment of edible goodies sold in individual stalls. There was the general grocery room with everything from canned goods to corn flakes. Naraa had two vendors she seemed to do all her business with. Then, through another door you enter the vegetable room with more green than I've seen in the whole of Ulaanbaatar. Broccoli, green peppers, cucumbers, and every other color of the rainbow. Someone told me a lot of the vegetables come from Russia. Naraa must know another place with better prices because she didn't even glance at any of the vegetables. Then it was down another hallway to pick up some Mongolian cheese. I had no idea what all the cheese was since it was in all shapes and sizes, but the woman at the stall gave me a thick candy bar size of white cheese for me to taste. I didn't know what to expect but it was wonderful from the very first bite. Sweet! Oh, I could definitely get myself into trouble eating this, it was that good.

Naraa is a woman of many talents. One day she thought she heard me sniffling (I had just had a fried egg for breakfast with some hot sauce on it, so I think that's why I was sniffling due to the chili spice) and thought I was coming down with something. So, she began to show me her rememdy for sinus congestions which included an epson salt flush of the sinuses (after you stop gaging on the epson salts you swallowed by accident). Then you do a series of yogo deep breathing exercises that flush the sinuses even more with explosive out breaths. After which you relax on the floor for 15 minutes or you can sleep a bit. Then after your next meal you do it all over again. At least that's what I thought she told me, since I don't speak Mongolian and she doesn't speak English. But we seem to communicate just well besides that fact.

I did start my Mongolian lessons finally. Tsetsgee, the other English teacher here at Shendrup Ling, as offered to teach me three days a week. Let me tell you, Mongolian is a nightmare! It's bad enough learning a new alphabet which unfortunately looks a lot like the English alphabet - the 35 letter Cyrillic alphabet has 12 letters from the English alphabet. The pronunciations are mind boggling - it goes from the less mind boggling: H sounds like 'n', to the mind blowing: there are 12 vowels many of which sound almost the same but are different. And don't even get me started on the huge differences between printed Mongolian and Mongolian hand writing (for example a printed 't' is written like script 'm'). Oh well, what ya' going to do. So, every night after class, I sit with the guards and we trade Mongolian practice for English practice. If you'd like to learn a bit of Mongolian, try the Funky Mongolian website or the short language course at Mongols.net

One Saturday, Roy took me on an excursion into a part of the city I hadn't been before (probably because it is across the pedestrian death trap called Peace Ave). We passed the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, which should definitely be on my 'to see' list. The place was built in 1904 and has five temples on the grounds. Our destination though was Millie's Cafe just across the street. It was the kind of cafe you would see anywhere in any city in America, or Europe for that matter. Almost everyone seated there for lunch was a Westerner. And even though you could get a cheeseburger or a philly steak sandwich, I must already be aclimated to Mongolian wages because it seemed a bit pricy to me (8000t=$6.96 for a burger & fries). But I guess if I ever get homesick, this would be a pretty good place to feel at home, listening to English being spoken over good ol'American type sandwich.

Also had quesadillas at Los Bandidos in UB

Hold the ketchup, just found a website that has reviews of all the Best Cheeseburgers in Ulaanbaatar. At least it gives me more places to explore while here in Mongolia.

The Ulaanbaatar Skyline

Decided to get away from the computer and lesson plans long enough Sunday to take a long walk. I decided to go all the way to Zaisan Memorial Park which is on a hill south of the city. I was told that it had great views of the city. Lucky for me it was almost a straight shot from where I live so not much chance of getting lost. Headed out over the Peace Bridge, then across the Tuul River till I came to Buddha Park. There is a 16-m (53') Sakyamuni Buddha. And right next door, up about a billion stairs is the Zaisan Memorial. It was built by the Russians to honor the unknown soldiers who died. They were right, there are great panoramic views of the city from the top. Huge.

Buddha Park

And for something completely different (but still about Mongolia), check out Peace Corps volunteer Cassandra's latest post called "Don't Read This."