6/27/09 Certificate Party

Well, our 4-week Summer Intensive English courses finished up with week. And as always, we celebrated with a certificate party. The students continue to amaze me with their creativity and organization skills. And this semesters parties were no exception.

First on Friday, my Pre-Intermediate-2 class had their gathering. This is the first time I've taught any of these students and they were remarkable. Tsetsgee did a great job in their earlier courses. Enough of my rambling, let's see the pictures!

Pre-Intermediate 2 Class

Some of my students' bright shiny faces

Can't have a party without fireworks

The class gave me a beautiful shirt and hat

It still is humbling when the class gives you a gift, which is part of their culture. But it really is I who should give them a gift for being such wonderful students. They make this job easy because of their enthusiasm and smiles. The P-2 class gave me a beautiful traditional summer shirt and a wonderful Mongolian hat so that I'd be dressed just right for Nadaam festival next month. Another student, Ganchuluun, gave me a cut-paper picture that she did. Amazing detail.

Amazingly delicate

Then as they left, my Intermediate-2 class came in. Most of these students I've taught for the whole year. They are a great group of people. This is actually their graduation but I hope they keep in touch. I told them, "Once I'm your teacher, I'm always your teacher."

Instead of tons of cake, Tsendee and her classmates made sandwiches. I've taught most of the I-2 class since I arrived in Mongolia, so they are welcome faces. But this is their last semester in our three year program, so I will miss them. But I do hope to see a few when I start a monthly discussion group in the Fall. Eegii had the honor of giving me a copper bowl filled with aarool, a type of traditional cheese, in his hands with a blue kata. It's believed that if you put hot water in the bowl at night, then drink the cooled water in the morning, the copper will keep you healthy.

Probably healthier than cake

Intermediate-2

A copper bowl filled with aarool

Tsetsgee had her certificate parties the next day on Saturday. Her first party was with her Kids Beginner class. Mongolians love to sing, and her students put on quite a show for me, going through their entire repertoire.

Ages were from 10 to 15


A medley of songs

Beginner-1 (children)

Her Adult Beginners class even put on a skit that included dialogues they had learned, and cleverly incorporated some of the songs they learned too. It turns out that half the class is made up of medical students and one doctor.

Tsetsgee with her students

Showing us what they have learned

For more pictures, go to my photos at Fotki.com

6/21/09 Summer Intensive

Alright, this is crazy. I checked out my website stats and found that for the last two months, almost 4000 people from 92 countries have been to this blog. Why? Not that I'm complaining, but it's crazy right?

Sorry there haven't been many new blog posts recently. The spring semester ended but the 'summer intensive' started almost immediately. And 'intensive' is the word for it, not only for the students, but this teacher as well. We had so many people sign up, I had registered more students than I had desks. Got some more chairs but on the first day, the noise of 26 people all talking at the same time was deafening. So, I divided the classes in two which is a big improvement. But, instead of teaching two 90-minute classes, I'm teaching four hour-long classes. Suddenly I'm exhausted at the end of each evening. It's called Summer Intensive because instead of meeting for class twice a week, the students come every day. We've squeezed a 10-week course into 4-weeks, hence the term 'intensive'.

But, like every semester I teach here, the students are great, so eager to learn. I love it. No matter how tired or cranky I am before class starts, I'm always energized with a smile on my face when I see my first students every evening. I think I have one of the best jobs in the world. No wonder why I decided to stay a second year and teach again in the fall.

Let's see if I can update you on everything else that is happening. Summer is here and it's actually kind of hot, with temps reaching the 80s (not bad when you consider the winter temps at -40F) although we had snow on the surrounding mountains last week. Being in the concrete jungle of Ulaanbaatar doesn't show it but there is actually quite a bit of green here and there. We have a small 'yard' in the back of the center where I head every day so I can see the trees, flowers and the occasional bird. And the days are long here, today's sunrise was before five and sunset about nine. Who needs an alarm clock with the sun streaming in your window every morning.

A little bit of green at the Dolma Ling Nunnery

We had a sad goodbye as Todovaa left for Germany where she will work as an nanny for the next couple of years. She was one of my students, worked in the cafe and even helped in the office from time to time. She was sweet, sunny, intellegent and never failed to brighten up a room. We will miss her dearly here but wish her much happiness wherever she goes.

Todovaa sitting with Gyatso at her going away lunch

Besides work, the center is a hive of activity which sometimes limits my time outside. Last week we had a huge luncheon for a visiting teacher, Lama Jhado Rinpoche, who was invited by another visiting Israeli monk waiting for his visa for India. This coming week, both our outgoing CEO Ueli and the new CEO MK will arrive. Ueli has been on retreat in Kathmandu and MK is coming from Malaysia for his first two week visit. So, everyone is busy getting ready not only for the summer but also the possible changes to our organization.

Lama Jhado Rinpoche

The staff joined the monks for lunch with Rinpoche

This is my table at the lunch - can you say 'maroon'

And speaking of monks, Glenda gave us all a pleasant surprise when she showed up in Mongolia after a month-long retreat in France as a nun. When at the Mani Retreat in Toulouse with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, she finally took ordination, something she had wanted for a long time. Her name now is Ani Gyalmo, but I always think of her as Glenda. So now I'm surrounded by maroon robes all the time. At the recent luncheon I was the only unordained person at one of the tables. I wonder if they're trying to tell me something.

Ani Gyalmo (Glenda)

At summer begins, the weather isn't like back home in Missouri. All spring, instead of rain, we had high winds which usually had a lot of dust in them. If I left my bedroom window open too long, the entire room would have a thin layer of dust covering it. But now it seems we're getting a little bit more rain. Unfortunately, a few cloudy days only produce a sprinkle or two. We had a cold spell last week and there was even a layer of snow on the surrounding mountains you can see from my window. But with the warmer summer weather, it's time to take advantage of the break in the cold. For two weeks, the hot water to the city is turned off (we get our hot water from the same pipes that heat the buildings in the winter with steam), so now we're taking sponge baths like the other 70% of the people living in Ulaanbaatar.

After classes end on Friday, I want to spend some of my summer holiday working in the garden at the Dolma Ling Nunnery. Nothing fancy, just a lot of weeding, watering and the occasional planting. They have an unused greenhouse of sorts that I want to get ready for planting for the fall so the nuns kitchen can have some fresh vegetables in the colder months. Plus, if all goes well, I will be riding a bicycle to get there. I am very, very excited about that. I might also teach a bit of English while I'm there.

With the summer, we're also getting a lot of visitors. George, a dentist friend of both Gyatso and Glenda, came for a visit. While here he did some volunteer work at the Dental School. He stayed here at the center and was wonderful to have around. I went with him and Gyatso on a tour of the Choijin Lama Temple Museum. I even ran into one of my English students there who was working in the museum gift shop. George's wife will also visit in July and August. And I have a few friends and family visiting Mongolia but not sure if I'll see them as I might be on holiday when they arrive. There's Matt and Melissa, cousins of mine who have been teaching English in Japan for the last three years. Elke from Austria and Barbara from Germany, both pilgrims I met in Spain on the St James Pilgrimage, are taking separate trips to Mongolia this summer.

Like I said, I might be traveling too. In mid-July, I will join Ven Gyatso, Glenda and a few friends of hers from Australia, on a 9-day driving tour of Mongolia. And still waiting to hear if I will join Tsetsgee and her family in August to visit her hometown. So, all in all, I'm looking forward to summer holidays!

For those who only want to see the cat, now called 'Mani'

"Notes to Myself"

by Hugh Prather

From the Publisher

Reading Notes To Myself is one of those rare experiences that comes only once in a great while. The editor who discovered the book said, "When I first read Prather's manuscript it was late at night and I was tired, but by the time I finished it, I felt rested and alive. Since then I've reread it many times and it says even more to me now." The book serves as a beginning for the reader's exploration of his or her own life and as a treasury of thoughtful and insightful reminders.

Memorable Quotes:

The way to live is to have no way. My only habit should be to have none. Because I did it this way before is sufficient reason not to do it this way today.

To live my life for results would be to sentence myself to continuous frustration and to hang over my head the threat of death may at any moment make my having lived a waste.

My only sure reward is in my actions and not from them. The quality of my reward is in the depth of my response, the centralness of the part of me I act from.

The most realistic attitude for me to have toward future consequences is "it will be interesting to see what happens."

The rainbow is more beautiful than the pot at the end of it, because the rainbow is now. And the pot never turns out to be quite what I expected.

Fear is static that prevents me from hearing my intuition.

My trouble is I analyze life instead of living it.

As I look back on my life, one of the most constant and powerful things I have experienced within myself is the desire to be more than I am at the moment-an unwillingness to let myself remain where I am-a desire to do more, learn more, express more-a desire to grow, improve, accomplish, expand. I used to interpret this inner push as meaning that there was some one thing out there I wanted to do or be or have. And I have spent too much of my life trying to find it. But now I know that this energy within me is seeking more than the mate or the profession or the religion, more even than pleasure or power or meaning. It is seeking out more of me; or better, it is, thank God, flushing out more of me.

Perfection is slow death. If everything were to turn out just like I would want it to, just like I would plan for it to, then I would never experience anything new; my life would be an endless repetition of stale successes. When I make a mistake I experience something unexpected.

When I have listened to my mistakes I have grown.

I am not responsible for my feelings, but for what I do with them.

I believe that solitude is a profound and needed act of self-love and self-appreciation.

I constrict my vision and disregard my opportunities when I strive. I cannot receive from the unknown when I grasp. Nothing exists for me until I see it. There is little I can do about my feelings, but awareness removes the edge of myopia from my wants.

A plan eliminates boredom by promising change. But, ironically, a plan is only my decision to imagine a different future, and if followed too rigidly it precludes spontaneous happenings.

Words are at times good for looking back, but they are confining when I need to act in the present.

The criticism that hurts the most is the one that echoes my own self-condemnation.

"You're wrong" means "I don't understand you"-I'm not seeing what you're seeing. But there is nothing wrong with you, you are simply not me and that's not wrong.

To err is human-I'm uncomfortable around gods.

I have the choice of being right or being human.

If I need your approval I can't see you.

In order to see I have to be willing to be seen.

If a man takes off his sunglasses I can hear him better.

Notes to Myself available at Powells & Amazon

6/8/09 Evening Concert

Had a special treat Sunday. The center received some free tickets to a concert by Sarangua a famous Mongolian singer who infuses Buddhist chants into her music. I didn't really know what to expect. I went with Tsetsgee and Ichka. They brought along their 10-year-old son, which was easy because children get into events like this for free (no seat, just to sit on mom and dad's lap). We had great seats, third row right next to the catwalk. The Ulaanbaatar Palace was filled to capacity of about 3000.

The concert opened with monks from Ganden Monastery chanting for almost thirty minutes as a kind of blessing for both the show and those listening. Then Sarangua came out. It was a wonderful show, full of variety, costumes, acrobats, other singers, the whole works. I told the Mongolians it was like a Las Vegas Show. The concert last until after 10pm, about 3 hours. A wonderful evening for sure.

With Tsetsgee & Ichka waiting for the show to begin

Sarangua

Complete with acrobatic troupe

Amazing costumes

More gymnastic moves

Singing her heart out

Traditional throat singer

Finishing with an opera duet

More pictures at WanderingTheWorld.Fotki.com