Last day of school

Saturday was the last day of our Summer Intensive English courses and the last day of my three years teaching here at Shedrup Ling Buddhist Center in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia. It was a full day: a 3-hour Pre-Intermediate class, followed by an hour-long English Club. And for our free Saturday afternoon movies, we showed Unmistaken Child, a Buddhist documentary, with both English and Mongolian subtitles. So, finally finished about 5pm and a group of my Pre-Intermediate students picked me up to celebrate.

Pre-Intermediate 2 class with their certificates

First we had to walk through downtown a ways because traffic made it impossible to get a taxi or catch a bus to Zaisen, the World War II Memorial. At Zaisen, we climbed all the way to the top, about 300 hundred steps worth. Zaisen is a popular visiting place for both tourists and Mongolians. It's next to the mountains and gives an incredible view of the city. So there are tons of venders selling food, and souvenirs. Besides some simple rides for children like a train, there were a few horses and an eagle. Some Mongolians use eagles to hunt.

He wasn't heavy, but I've seen bigger

Almost to the top

View of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Another group shot at the memorial

Then we all headed down to the Tuul River. We had a nice relaxing picnic and then spent time playing in the river, skipping stones and just plain being silly. A very nice time.

Had a picnic down by the River Tuul

Playing in the river

Before going home, we then stopped at the standing Buddha statue, circumambulating the statue, beating huge ceremonial drum and bell. We walked part of the way home because there were so many people out this Saturday night enjoying the wonderful evening.

A nice visit to the Buddha statue

For a lot more pictures,

click this link Last Day of School 

or any of the pictures to go to Fotki.com

where all my Mongolia pictures are.