Winter Ultimate Frisbee

I have not played serious ultimate frisbee in at least four months until today. It felt so good to play again. I'm motivated to try to get games going while at school this spring semester. I also played basketball last night and this morning but I won't be playing this evening because I don't have non-marking shoes. I don't really want to buy basketball shoes though. Maybe I'll just hang out. See you there.

John

Christmas Door Hanger Expedition

I have not done Christmas or Easter door hangers in about two years; I have been out of town each of the times in the recent past. This evening I went on this final Tuesday evening before Christmas. I had a great time. The night was cold but thankfully dry and calm. Running between houses, I warmed up quite a bit and when I stood still I had plumes of steam rising from me. My team was great (good job team!) and we covered more than two hundred houses in under an hour and a half.

I doubt that many of you still follow this blog very faithfully and that does not surprise me since I haven't updated it faithfully in about four months. I'm going to try to keep a little update running this next semester at school in the case that that is the only way you hear from me. I hope you enjoy it.

John

Bound for Carolina

As planned, I got up at 5:15, loaded the car, ate a hasty breakfast and we were out the door.  I figured we should make on stop at Starbucks on our way out of town to fuel up on caffeine.  Then it just became a matter of following our extremely well laid out map from Google.  Even as we left Ocala the sky was barely lightening at the horizon and a dense, eerie fog clung to the open fields and pastures.  I may have mentioned earlier about the oddities of the forests down here.  On our drive from Orlando to Ocala were a unique mixture of leaf-bearing tree, evergreen trees, and palm trees.  Throughout the day, as we drove northward, it was interesting to watch the forests change gradually from the seemingly out of place palm interspersed forests, accented by clusters of Spanish moss hanging from every branch, to the Pine forests of South Carolina.  As we drove along the state highways of northern Florida the enigmatic fog continued to hang a few feet off the ground in any open field, pasture, or meadow until the sun finally broke the constraint of the horizon.  We made good time throughout the day, travelling the five hundred forty miles in only seven and a half hours.  Georgia was interesting in some ways and boring in others.  The boring part was that we were just driving along straight, flat highways with the only change in elevation being the rises and dips of getting over surface streets at exits.  But there were a few interesting views from some bridges.  In Oregon most of our rivers usually have steep sides or are in some kind of valley or canyon but in Georgia the land is all flat.  The rivers that intersected the highway were bordered by large sections of flat grassy land that seemed to merge perfectly into the rivers.  Through most of southern Georgia the highway looked was lined with seemingly endless forests broken only by the swaths of grassy river banks and the rivers themselves.  Eventually the road narrowed to only two lanes which required a little more effort from whoever was driving.  We stopped for gas and switched drivers and as I stood next to the car I was impressed at how surreal the surrounding area was.  The sun was warm but was definitely less humid than Florida.  There weren’t many other people out on the road where we had stopped for gas.  Emanating from the nearby trees was all many of insect noise, I can’t even begin to try to explain to you what kind of insects they might even have been.  It was really a whole new world, very different from what I was used to.  The only stops we made all day were three caffeine system overflow let off stops, one time to refill the fuel, one lunch break, and one stop for the following reason.  It was my turn to drive and we were going along through South Carolina on a two lane divided interstate when up ahead a car had gone off the road into the median and was kicking up a cloud of dust.  As the person realized that they were no longer driving on the road, and desired to be back on the road, the turned their wheels hard to get back on the road.  However they turned their wheels way too much and came flying back across both lanes of traffic and then went sailing off the other side of the road, down the moderate embankment, and into the underbrush on the edge of the grass.  I immediately stopped and jumped out as others that saw the accident did too.  The car was on it’s side at the bottom of the embankment and it had turned around too.  The bottom was facing toward us so we couldn’t easily get to the top.  A State trooper showed up right away.  I explained to him what had happened, and after finding out that the people inside were okay the officer said that we could go.  While I was in the ditch, however, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was stepping and put my foot right into the stagnant, muddy water at the bottom.  All I had to show for the whole ordeal was a dirty wet shoe and foot for the rest of the drive to school.  We did finally make it to school at 3:30, received a packet of information, got our room assignment, and unloaded everything.  After meeting my roommates I took a shower and then we went to dinner.  After dinner I unpacked my bags, made my bed, and then went to check out the activities at the Alumni Commons.  Dorm meeting at 10:45.  Lights out was at 12 so after getting ready I read until then and went to sleep.

John

On the Road Again

I've been having a great time relaxing here in the elderly folks town of Ocala, Florida, playing pool, throwing the football, running and wrestling, but tomorrow morning Kevin and I are waving goodbye to Florida bright and early. We've got a 9 hour car drive ahead of us as we travel from north central Florida to south North Carolina, hitting South Carolina and Georgia in between. I'm really excited to leave tomorrow but I'm less excited about waking up at 5:15. Kevin and are going to take turns driving and navigating and between I don't suspect that we should get too many speeding tickets. Actually, Mrs. Marshman as made us promise that we will follow traffic laws and posted speed suggestions. As I said before, Kevin's new car is quite spacious and should have no problem accommodating all our junk as we make NC our new semi-permanent residence. I'll try to keep things of note written down as we travel and give you the low down of our journey through the South at a later date.

John

Deep South

It's been a while since I've blogged but I suppose that most of you who read my blog weren't far from anything interesting that has happened to me this summer. Since I'm on the road again I decided that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to start writing again. A lot of you may know that I'm on my way Lattimore, North Carolina to go Ambassador Baptist College. On the way I'm making a detour with the Marshmans to Mrs. Marshman's mom's house. Kevin's grandmother is giving him her Ford Five Hundred for a (late) graduation present. It certainly is a nice car. The thing is very clean and doesn't have a lot of miles on it. The trunk is huge so there will be plenty of space for all or our luggage in there. And the back seat is very spacious as well, lots of room for extra gelato spoons back there. We leave on Friday to drive up through Georgia and South Carolina to get to Lattimore by Friday evening. Tomorrow we're going to be taking an air boat ride which I'm really looking forward to. We'll probably see alligators and snakes and all kinds of animals in the wild. I'm really excited about it. That's basically what's going on here. This is my first time in the deep south and I'm sure I haven't seen anything yet. It is so humid here, when I exited the airport I thought I was going to drown on dry land. It was like walking in an above ground swimming pool. I almost choked. Anyway, that's what's going on, more later.

John

Enter the 21st Century

I finally entered the 21st century today when I got my first cell phone. It's only the first day and I already had an interesting encounter. Adam recorded himself on my phone saying, "Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring" and set that as my ring tone. While I was in the ice cream aisle at Albertsons it went off and from my pocket "ring ring, ring ring, ring ring" calls out. I answered and talked to Sara who was waiting with the bikes to tell me that James wanted mint chocolate chips. The only other person on the aisle looked at me and nonchalantly said "Nice." We all thought that was funny.

John

Getting Home and Settling In

  This is my first post since getting back and I really have put it off.  Because comprehensive details on my trip in Korea and flight back to Seattle would take quite some time and energy to write I think I shall summarize it instead.  I arrived in Korea at approximately oh five hundred hours with little more than an hour of sleep under my eyelids over the previous 24 hour period.  I hit the ground running and didn't get any more sleep until the evening of the same day that I arrived.  After dropping all our stuff off at the Oetman's and then left to meet up with our tour guides for the day Matthew and Sang Won.  It was Sang Won's birthday that day so we went to an amusement part called Lotte World.  It's was funky, freaky, and really fun.  I went on a couple rides and some roller coasters multiple times.  We waited in line for one ride that they said Kevin couldn't go on because he was too tall.  I ate octopus or squid, I'm not sure which.  And it was an hour long train ride to and from the park.  The craziest part about that was that we didn't even leave Seoul after riding the train for miles and miles and minutes and minutes.  On Saturday we went out to lunch with a group of Koreans from the church.  We had plans to do things but the inclement weather changed them for us.  On Sunday we had a great time at Brother Oetman's church and the message that he preached was really great about patience from James chapter 5.  After church we had a big lunch together with the whole church, according to Korean custom.  I gobbled down the seaweed, broth, rice, beef, and shrimp with their shells and legs still on like it was my favorite food.  All the Koreans around were impressed.  I even liked the kim chi.  One girl went to the corner store nearby and got Kevin some chips and Pepsi.  On Sunday afternoon we played basketball with a young Korean guy named Joshua.  I accidentally elbowed him in the face, broke his glasses, and scratched his cheek.  He insisted he was okay.  Then we thought we'd ask the people playing soccer if we could join them, but when we saw that it looked like and organized game we resigned ourselves to just watching.  On Monday I went to Starbucks for the first time in ten months.  After I got my drink I bought some souvenir cups and they gave me free drinks with each cup.  I got a second drink for myself and a second for Kevin, my first refunded, and two free drink coupons that had to be used in Korea.  With the coupons we went again later after shopping.  Besides Starbucks we did a lot of shopping with Matthew and went to the Namsan Tower which overlooks Seoul from a hilltop.    It was an amazing view and we didn't even have to climb the bagillion stairs to get there.  After agonizing over what to get for each of my family members I was done and very tired.  On >Tuesday we left for Seattle.  Customs and baggage claim, blah blah blah, customs again in Seattle, blah blah blah.

Boy did it feel good to be back in the States.  We flew from Incheon at 6:30 Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Seattle 12:30 Tuesday midday.  I travelled back in time!  Since I only slept a few hours on the flight, and very poorly I might add, it's almost needless that I say I was really tired when I got back to America.  But did we go home?  No, of course not, we went to Pike's Place Starbucks and a restaurant.  Then we walked through the market and bought Mom flowers.  All in all getting back home was a great experience I won't soon forget.

Since I've been home things have been a little slower, although I'm not just sitting around on my duff.  I spent the first couple of days getting everything put away, which wasn't easy since all my storage space had been commandeered.  After that I fixed my bike, which had gone into disrepair, and I worked on my car, which had gone into disrepair.  Since then I've tried a couple things that I'd hoped would get it going but nothing has worked.  Just this evening I had it towed to someone who should be able to help me fix it.  Then, last weekend, we went camping for three days.  Everyone was just so busy with things that I ended up with all the hard work right before we left.  Camping was awesome.  I was able to chill and relax almost whenever I wanted.  I also found that I can still play Ultimate Frisbee.  We played only once which was kind of a bummer, but it was hot and our field was only so-so.  We had a super great game and everyone was included; this was no elitist frisbee game.  I also played disc golf and found that I still stunk at that just as bad or worse than when I left.  We drove in for church on Sunday and Adam and I sung a special music and James played his viola for and offertory.  They liked our song so much they asked us to sing it again for the evening service.  We drove back for evening church and I also gave a testimony of my time in Mongolia.  Monday we came home, then I started work on our house.  It needs to be painted and re-roofed, but before that can happen the places of peeling paint need to be scraped.  It need it most on the south side where it gets direct sun exposure all the time.  The only problem with that is that while I work on it I'm getting a lot of direct sun exposure too.  I was using sunscreen but I forgot to put it on my legs so now my calves are burned really badly.  Ouch.  Next week I'm going to paint trim with Mr. Martin then I think we're going to start primering our house towards the end of the week.

John

Packing Slacking

This is my final week in UB, I have few things planned before heading out.  I still need to shop around for a few things, do laundry, and play a few last games.  Other than that not much is going on.  I'm going to have to pack all my junk soon, I'm not looking forward to it.  I have accrued a few extra things while I've been over here, books; clothes that my family sent; clothes that I've bought; and I'm not sure if I'm going to need to leave anything behind.  It might take a while to get everything in order and ready to go.

John 

The Winged Return

All the time that we were in Khatgal we knew that we were eventually going to have to return to UB.  It was upon this matter that great thought was spent as to which way would be the best.  There is an airport in Muren, and often airplanes fly from there to UB.  Before we had ever gone we had mostly dismissed that option for it’s cost was much greater than all the alternatives and we had more time than money.  It is possible to travel the distance in vans though that option also left much to be desired.  The drivers of said vans whole income is based on how many people they take and how many trips they can make.  Because of this these vans are often crowded too full for comfort and they travel too fast over rugged terrain.  Another option, thought slim, was to find someone, and owner of his own vehicle, that was planning on making the drive from Khatgal or Muren to UB.  The hope was that one such as this would be making the trip and want to pick up a few passengers to make a little extra cash along the way.  When we got to Khatgal it was determined that such a hope was a fool’s hope.  At that point we were resigned to take a van and endure the trial, hoping that the journey would pass quickly (and with not too much odor).  It was on such a plan that we acted, leaving Khatgal last Thursday in the company of those who would travel to Muren on their separate errands; some to flights that would lead them to UB, others the market to pick up supplies.  It was less than an hour into our trip that our fortunes changes drastically, though at the time I didn’t know whether it was for good or ill.  My courageous companion became sick of the road and shortly lost his breakfast inside the van.  Upon becoming carsick that quickly he became resigned that he would fly despite the cost; he didn’t want to endure the long trek back over land.  Though his mind was made up, I was still planning on taking the low road.  Again I had more time than money.  But it wasn’t long before my fortunes changed as well.  I did not become carsick, no, of that I am very glad.  When we had reached Muren the Siekberts encouraged me to find out whether or not there were available flights on the plane, and to pursue that endeavor though I wasn’t equipped financially to see it through.  They were determined to aid me and stated that the work we had done had earned us this flight.  I was still reluctant to go for I was even slower to spend someone else’s money than my own.  Finally they won the argument and our plane tickets were purchased for our flight back to UB.  We said our goodbyes, bidding them farewell until our next meeting, and dropped them off at the market while we ourselves were borne to the airport.  We checked in and were subjected to the strangest security check that I have experienced.  It had all the appearance of a full security check, but when it came down to it it was more of a hassle than a precaution for the flight.  We were charged overage costs for our bags, including our carry-ons.  We waited for around a half and hour in the lobby and then went through security ourselves on the way to the “sterile holding area” as it was referred to.  Again we waited there for a short while.  It wasn’t long before we were boarding though.  We exited the building, walking across the tarmac towards a solitary twin engine propeller plane waiting for us.  It was the simplest boarding that I’d ever had and once the twelve passengers were on board, and the door closed, we spread ourselves out through empty seats of the plane.  Once the pre-flight instructions were given in both English and Mongolian we began taxiing down the runway for take off.  It was the smallest aircraft I have been on and the pre-flight procedures were the quickest I’d experienced.  It was long before the propellers outside my window were spinning so quickly that the individual blades could not be distinguished.  As we drove on toward the end of the runway and the plains beyond we slowly began to rise in the air as if borne on the wind itself.  The day was exceedingly cloudy, and that mixed with smoke such that we were soon lost in indistinguishable mass.  As we climbed higher, and every reference point seemed to fade, it appeared as if we were suspended inside a vast see of white.  It remained that way for the entirety of the flight as far as I saw.  When I had finished my book I began to listen to music and laid my head back on the rest.  Without even realizing it I quickly sank into sleep.  It was only upon waking that I realized what had happen, for one cannot wake up unless they have been asleep.  The manner of my arousal is as follows.  I was suddenly jolted from my unconscious reverie by a frightening sound.  When I opened my eyes and caught a glimpse out of the window I realized that the sound was only the shrill utterance of the landing gear’s tires hitting the tarmac at the airport in UB.  The flight indeed had been exceedingly and pleasantly brief, and had only carried us for 1:45.  In the end it was a much greater experience than driving would have been and much more abbreviated.  I was very glad that we had taken that road instead of the other available paths.  Instead of arriving in UB tired, dirty, and road weary I found myself greatly relieved and able to have a good night’s rest.  On another note my heart is lightened for I fly back to America next Thursday with a few days detour in South Korea.

 

John

New Pictures

Here is a link to my photo site where I uploaded a bunch of pictures from our trip to Khatgal.

John

The Winding Road

I’ve had a very interesting and pleasant three weeks since I left Ulaanbaatar.  The story in full could take a long time in the telling, but for now I will exclude elements for brevity.  Not three weeks  ago I left the city with the purpose of experiencing the countryside of Mongolian and assisting a missionary to get settled in their new home.  In my previous post I mentioned briefly some of the interesting circumstances about our trip out there.  We set forth on the 20th of April from Ulaanbaatar to Khatgal, Mongolia.  We spent the entire morning packing the truck that Mr. Siekbert had hired to take out all the over sized baggage.  We had everything packed and ready to go, stacked up high on the little Korean truck and covered over with a large canvas sheet.  At 12:30 we were on our way out of town, after (quite) a few stops we hit the open road after 1:30.  The traveling went well for the first 10 hours, the paved roads were okay and we made good time.  After leaving the city everything around became open plains.  The land around us transformed as we drove on.  Open plains became rockier steppes, and then again melded into rolling hills painted at last by the twilight rays of the setting sun. Twilight came and dusk fell around us taking with them the color from the world and hills as everything was slowly buried in shade.  Presently we made it to the town of Erdenet, and passing through we stopped once to refill some things and empty others.  Not many miles after Erdenet the paved roads stopped and from then on we drove on anything from a clearly defined gravel road to paths as unknown as dirt path through the dark.  Less than a half an hour driving on the rugged dirt track we were following the truck carrying all the baggage stopped.  They had been driving like maniacs and had driven over a rock, damaging something on the under carriage of their truck.  We  could see oil spilled all underneath the truck and we had to drive back to the town at the end of the paved road for some kind of parts.  An hour later we had gone and gotten whatever it was we had needed and were back at the truck.  It was a solid three hours before they were ready to get on the road again.  Even after their unfortunate events they continued to drive like there was a pack of hellhounds hard on their tails.  We drove through the night stopping only occasionally to check tires and lug nuts.  In the wee hours of the morning our guides decided to stop for an hour of sleep and we parked right where we were on a vast grassy field.  I slept uncomfortably for an hour and a half or so.  Shortly we were on our way again as the dim grey light of dawn began to creep slowly back across the sky.  As the cold light increased our spirits seemed to lift, rising as it were with the sun.

Sometime around midmorning we came upon a small town where we stopped again briefly.  I believe that it might have been a relative of the driver of the truck. We found out later that there we had reached the end of the navigational skill of our guides.  They knew how to make it that far, but no farther, even though they had guaranteed us that they knew they way and had been many times before.  From that point on we spent the rest of the day driving through the arid  highlands and valleys of central Mongolia.  Never before have I been so lost and unable to find my way out.  Our trip, which should have taken no longer than 22 hours, lasted for a very tiring 30 hours.  We drove all through midday into late afternoon, there was no way to tell if we were in fact nearing our destination.  We were lost, there was no denying it, though our guides tried to hide it.  It’s kind of hard to hide something like that, especially when we would stop at every vehicle and herder we passed (the few that we did pass) and ask for directions. Dust filled our vehicle, covering every surface.  The back door of our van wouldn’t stay shut.  The sunroof and side doors weren’t sealed well.  Even if they had been, I think that the dust would have found some way to get in.  At last we reached Muren, never before had I been so relieved to see civilization, even such as it was.  In Muren we rendezvoused with a Mongolian that would come on with us direct us the rest of the way to Khatgal.  At a restaurant in Muren I went into the bathroom to use the sink.  As I washed my head and face in the cool cleansing water brown rivulets coursed down taking with them the desert dust that had been deposited there.  The final three hours of our trip were long and seemed painstakingly slow.  We had all quieted down and turned into ourselves and our own thoughts.  Finally we did reached Khatgal and we received quite the welcome.  There was a warm house with spaghetti and apple pie.  We were all tired and dirty still and eventually we were taken to our semi-permanent residence and were able to clean ourselves up and turn in for the night.  It is a trip I will remember for a long time though I wish not to repeat it.  The rest of our stay in Khatgal was somewhat less filled with unforeseen twists. 

John

Adventure: A Definition

We made our long and winding way to Khatgal last week and that was an adventure in and of itself. An adventure isn't necessarily going from one place to another but how one gets from one place to the other. The way we got here certainly elevated that trip to 'adventure' status. The guide we had didn't even know the way to where we were going. When we got here we were covered in dust and all tired from the trip. True to my nature I didn't get carsick at all even though 22 hours of our trip were spent off road. The trip should have taken 22 hours total but it ended up taking 30 hours. After getting settled in a bit we got started right on making the house. It's been a lot of fun and the weather has been so nice that I started to turn pink a little. On Saturday we went down to the river and I ran on an ice burg. As the ice burg floated away from the shore I had to bail out or be carried away. When I jumped off the water was up to my waist. The water was cold but the sun was warm enough so that when I got out it was very comfortable. I did however cut my toe a little bit on the ice and it needed medical attention. A little super glue fixed it right up though. It's been an adventure so far and there are still two weeks to go.

John

Memoir

Today was our last day in UB before heading out for our adventure in the countryside.  As I traversed the familiar road back toward our apartment I could smell the scents I had frequently been subject to.  I wish I hadn’t though, for while they were common they were not pleasant or welcome.  As I trod the rocky path toward my home my footsteps were slow and labored, but that was because I was carrying a box of clothes to the Siekbert’s to be loaded on the truck when we leave tomorrow.  I took long slow breaths of the town air; that was to stave off the asphyxiation not for the enjoyment of it.  At least I could see through the air that I was breathing.  Honestly I’m really looking forward to our time in the Countryside and I’m so happy that we’re this close.  I praise God for the ways he has worked in this situation and been teaching us to trust in Him.

John

Football and Injuries

Yesterday was a great day.  In the afternoon we received news the Mr. Siekbert had finally been given a license and that as soon as the luggage came in we would be on our way.  As far as I know the luggage is on the way from China this very evening and should arrive at the airport tomorrow.  We’re finally going to be leaving on Monday.

Last night was such a great night that Kevin and I decided to go out and throw the football.  As we were standing behind the Dean’s building we attracted a crowd.  There were a couple of different families watching from their windows as we played.  We called up to a couple of guys around our age.  In a few minutes they came out and we showed them how to throw the football properly.  Their first attempts were awkward and comical but they picked it up pretty quickly and were doing great.  Then we decided to teach them “five hundred.”  I explained to them in Mongolian that one person throws the ball while all the others want to catch it.  The thrower calls out a number and the person that catches it get that many points.  When someone reaches five hundred they become the thrower.  We had so much fun cracking jokes and making fun of each other as we played.  Everyone got a chance to be the thrower and we played until it was too dark to see the football.  Then we played a little longer.  After dark was when the injuries started happening.  Actually it was just one injury, Kevin’s pinky finger.  He jammed it so badly; he thinks that’s the worst he’s ever jammed it.  This morning it was bruised and purple.

John

In Earth as it is in Heaven

On Tuesday Kevin and I were working at the Siekbert's helping them with a project.  While we were there we had received news that we wouldn't be able to head out for Khatgal until next Monday.  All of us took the news with reluctance.  Later that afternoon we received a call from Sambo that we would in fact be able to leave on Friday as was the plan.  We were all super happy to hear that.

Today I got another piece of news that struck a blow to us.  A couple factors, the Siekbert's daughters luggage not arriving with her included, will again delay our departure from UB.  I keep getting so ready to go and then the date keeps getting moved back, but the Siekberts have been trying to leave for at least two months.  I'm resting in the Lord for this.

John

My Friend the Translator

Every Tuesday night we have the Bible Institute.  This Tuesday was different than normal.  Toogsoo translated Mr. Patterson’s lesson on Pnuematology (the study of the Holy Spirit).  I thought he did a great job and I was really happy for him.  He didn’t get a high enough score to study in America on and English test he took a couple of weeks ago but I’m glad to see that he is trying to find out what God wants him to do for Him where he is.

Greater and Lesser Lights

Today is Easter and we had a great Resurrection Day.  With nearly 60 people all together in attendance this morning and a good turnout for the English service in the evening.  After the evening service we had a fellowship and played ping-pong.  As is my custom I didn't do so well.  After a good time of talking together, enjoying the pizza bagels and ice-cream cake, and a little ping-pong it was really nice to head home in the wonderfully pleasant evening.  It is getting darker much later now, and the weather has been absolutely amazing.  It was warmer and sunnier in the coldest capitol city in the world this Easter than it was when I was in Dallas on Easter two years ago.  This week should be our final week in language school as we are planning to leave for Khatgal with the Siekberts this Friday.  Sometimes here in the city I look up at the night sky and see the stars in the clear evening.  Whenever I do I think about what it's going to be like when we get to Khatgal and there will be no city lights.  I can't wait.

An American Tradition

We have been incredibly blessed this past week with amazingly wonderful weather.  I can’t even really believe that only two weeks ago I was wearing my down North Face coat.  Kevin and I have been walking around in just jeans and t-shirts.  Besides having great weather Kevin brought a ball pump with him from America.  When we first came over we brought Kevin’s football with us but to save space we had it deflated.  When we got here we found out that no one had a ball needle.   When Kevin came back we could finally pump up the football and with the weather so perfect it would almost be a sin not to throw the football.  These past two afternoons Kevin and I have been outside throwing the football.  Today Kevin even showed a Mongolian kid standing and watching us how to throw the ball and gave him a few tries before we went inside.  I think it’s awesome that we have a chance to show people a true piece of American tradition.

John

Excuse Me?

I had an interesting experience while at the airport that I would like to relate to you.  Mr. Dean and I went to the airport late Sunday night to pick Kevin up on his flight in from America.  When we got there we were talking in the lobby waiting to see Kevin on the closed-circuit tv screen that showed the baggage claim area.  As we waited we were talking and just enjoying ourselves.  There were people all around but the area was by no means crowded.  As we stood in the middle of a relatively open space I was surprised to have someone bump into me.  Surely it couldn't be that hard to simply walk around me; I don't really have a gravitational field.  When it happened the second time I was a little more agitated.  We continued to stand and watch and finally we saw Kevin waiting to get his luggage off the carousel.  Then, it happened again.  I was standing minding my own business surrounded by empty floor space.  As I stood there a woman walked passed me and bumped into my arm.  In a rather sarcastic tone I said to no one in particular (in English), "Excuse me.  There's a whole lot of airport here."  About two seconds after I said it the lady turned around and replied in English that she was sorry.  You must always be careful of what you say.  When I replied to her in Mongolian this time she seemed perplexed.  She said to me, "First you spoke in English then you spoke to me in Mongolian."  Some small talk about how I learned Mongolian ensued.  Not much later Kevin was through customs and we were on our way again.

On the way home we were driving and talking and we passed by a couple of police officers.  One of them had the bright idea to pull us over.  Everything checked out with Mr. Dean's license and registration so we were soon on our way.  I found it amusing that it was the second time I'd been pulled over on the way to or from the airport in a weeks time.

John

Eight Ball in the Corner Pocket

Yesterday we had planned on playing basketball and volleyball with another church group here in town.  It was being set up and organized by the other group and we were just going along with them.  We met at their church across town and waited for everyone to show up.  When everyone got there we all climbed into three suvs and made the short trip over to the school gym that we were planning on using.  I was just along for the ride and certainly wasn’t involved with the planning so when we got there I just stood around with Togsoo and Bolormaa.  I spoke in Mongolian while they two spoke in English.  We covered an interesting range of topics, everything from current news in Mongolia, to English idioms, to jokes.  We were waiting to be able to get into the gym and start playing.  After waiting around for a while I began to get the feeling that we might not get in after all.  About twenty minutes after we got there we were leaving again.  I didn’t know where we were going but I think the general plan was to go somewhere where we could play ping-pong.  After we climbed back into the cars Mr. Patterson said that we were going to a pool hall.  At first I didn’t think he was serious.  A few minutes later we parked, entered a building, descended a flight of stairs, and found ourselves in a pool hall.  I thought it was funny that there were six numbers on the walls but only five tables.  In an adjoining room there were two ping-pong tables.  I thought we were just going to play ping-pong but they also bought some time on the pool tables.  I ended up playing the first game with another guy from the other church.  I haven’t played pool in a while and I was sure to get smoked by this other guy.  Things turned out differently than that.  We played regular eight-ball just like I know how.  We each had some really nice shots and a few mistakes and it came down to where we both had sunk all of our balls and were both shooting the eight-ball.  Finally I had a really great shot lined up but I couldn’t line myself up with it just right.  I flipped the cue around behind my back to get the right angle on the ball without my body getting in the way.  I made the shot.  There is nothing more satisfying than the sound of a pool ball being sunk into one of the pockets.  I ended the game with a pretty sweet shot.

John

Strafing Runs

Every car in Mongolia is a taxi.  This can lead to some interesting occurrences. One such occurrence is what I like to call ‘being strafed.’  I walk everywhere so whenever said potential taxi drivers see me they want to give me a ride where I need to go; this usually happens at night when I’m heading back to my apartment.  When they see me walking along the sidewalk they will drive by but when they come abreast of me they will slow down and pull close to the curb.  If I made a move toward the car they would stop and let me in. I never do so they always end up driving away in search of another quarry.  Whenever they drive up to me, slow down, then drive away it’s like I’m being strafed.

John

It’s Your Move

Well I’m back in school this week not leaving town like I had thought.  Even if I was going to be heading out at the end of this week I probably would have done school at least half the week.  There are still chances that I will be able to travel with the Siekberts when they go.  Pray that God would work out His will in this matter.

My class got a new teacher since our previous one moved out of town.  We also have two new students in our class as well.

Last Saturday night I was accompanying Mr. Siekbert and Mrs. Elliot to the airport to pick up Mr. Elliot.  On they way we got stopped by a police officer who was just making random stops to check licenses and registration on vehicles.  Long story short, he checked the license and registration and they didn’t match.  I talked to him as best I could.  He let us go to the airport and pick up Mr. Elliot.  He said he would give us the license and registration on the way back.  More cops showed up.  Sambo had to come out and help us.  We were delayed a total of about and hour and a half.  I didn’t get back to my apartment that night until after 1 am.

 

John

Out of the Blue

A strange thing happened today as I exited school; it was snowing out of a clear blue sky.  This morning when I left the apartment I checked the temperature and it was reading in the twenties.  I figured I could get away with a few lighter jackets layered (actually both Cloudveil).  But the weather reading I was using didn't tell me how cold the wind was going to be.  It turned out to be a crisp, emphasis on crisp, clear morning and then when I left school tiny white snowflakes were trying to make their way down to the ground but were rather unsuccessful because of the wind.  By the time I got back to the Dean's and ate lunch the sky had become completely overcast and the snow was now making an earnest assault of the dirt below.  With all the wind it seemed something like a blizzard.  At around 3 I walked back over to my place and by that time the snow had stopped but the sky was still rather lowering.  At my place I wanted to do nothing but take a nap, so I did.  Two hours later when I headed back toward the Dean's for dinner the skies were all blue again without a shadow of a cloud present.

Another thing happened today like a bolt from the blue.  Mr. Dean went to talk with the school about my trip to Khatgal and things didn't go as I might have hoped.  I was hoping they were going to say something like "Oh, sure you can go." But now they're giving us trouble.  Things can still work out.  I'll be sure to write again about any more details.  I guess I was just counting my chickens before they hatched.

John

Things Are One Way...

But they are about to change.  This week will be my final week of language school and tomorrow is the final day of the week.  After returning from Khatgal I won't go back to school except maybe to say goodbye to everyone there.  Next week Kevin returns from America and then we will be on our way to Khatgal.  Mr. and Mrs. Siekbert are planning to fly out there and I'm going to ride in a truck with their appliances and other supplies that weren't sent with the container a few days ago.  I've heard it's a 21 hour drive and the roads are only partly good about halfway out there.  I usually don't get carsick but that sounds like enough to make anyone a little queasy.  I'll be out in Khatgal for four weeks helping the Siekberts and Cofers in anyway I can.  When I come back it will only be a few weeks until I return to America.  Another thing I'd like to do is stay in Korea over a weekend on the way home and visit Brother Oetman and his ministry.  Then I'll fly back home in time for Memorial Day.

John

Gandan and Beyond

Yesterday I went to Gandan, as mentioned in the previous post, with my classmate Alfredo.  I met him at 9:30 at the Narantuul Hotel and then we walked up the hill to the monastic compound.  When we walked through the gate a man in a small booth tried to stop us and make us buy tickets.  We explained to him in Mongolian that we weren't tourists and that we were Mongolian language students studying at one of the colleges.  He let us by without a problem.  We walked around for a bit eventually winding up in a small walled area with a few buildings in it.  One was apparently the library and in the other there was a strange benediction going on.  People were crowded into a room with monks chanting prayers all at the same time.  They always offer prayers in Tibetan, that coupled along with the fact that they all pray at the same time gave it a musical yet eerie sound.  The whole area was very creepy to me.  Shortly we left the room and went on our way.  We were looking for a monk, or laam, who wasn't busy and could answer some questions.  Next we went to the biggest building in the complex.  Upon entering they wanted us to pay, but as before we explained we weren't tourists and that we were Mongolian language students.  They let us in without paying.  Inside was the biggest golden statue I have ever seen.  While I'm not sure exactly how tall it is, I've heard it said that it is over twenty meters tall.  It's name is Janraesig.  Surrounding the center of the room where it was situated is a wall of cylinders on spinners that are supposedly filled with prayers.  Whenever worshipers come into the temple they go around the room and spin the cylinders to offer their prayers.  On the  walls opposite the cylinders are shelves filled with gods.  They are all the same god and Alfredo told me there were ten thousand of them.  Finding no one to talk to in that room we continued on our way.  Checking two other buildings and finding only children and busy people we decided to try to monastery school.  When we entered there we explained for the third that we were students and not tourists and asked if there was a free laam we could talk with.  The man at the door led us through a few halls until we came to a semi-modern looking office with a couple people.  One of them was a laam who was not busy.  We finally had our quarry.  One of the questions on my list from our teacher was whether or not the laams have schedules.  When we got there though I couldn't remember what the word meant.  Dutifully I asked the question and wrote down his answer.  In English it went something like this, "Do you have a schedule? -- I have one."  Of course that didn't really help me much, but after asking I moved on to the next question.  When we had finished our interview with the laam we decided to be on our way.  There wasn't much that we hadn't seen that we still could and I didn't want to stay much longer than I had to.  Tomorrow I will check my home work with my teacher and then the day after that I will present my work to the head of the Mongolian Language Department at our school.

John

Possible Last Days

This past week has been an interesting one for language study.  We have been working our way through, a week at a time, our Mongolian language books but last week and this one we took a break from that to have a couple of practice weeks.  The plan was to take about three field trips and then prepare essays to present before the leadership of the school at the end of the two weeks.  Last week I mentioned we went to the library, we also planned on going to the Parliament building but we were turned away because it was soldiers' day.  Today Alfredo and I are going to Gandan monastery, the seat of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia.  We're supposed to ask a bunch of questions and then report back to our teachers tomorrow.  We may have a third trip later this week.

Since Kevin and I planning to go to Khatgal for about a month this week may be my last of formal language study.  By the time we get back from Khatgal there will only be a few more weeks left until we return to America for good.  I think it's about eight weeks away.  I can't believe how close it seems.

John

The King of Pong

Every Wednesday we have a prayer meeting with Mongolians and Americans praying together for all manner of things.  This week before the meeting a couple of the Mongolians arrived early and set up the ping-pong table and had some friendly competition.  I joined in when there was a chance even though it's not my best event.  Since coming here I have improved though.  Usually with these guys we play to a winning score of 12.  At first I played with Bilgee and started out okay but ended up losing to Bilgee's superior Asian style.  Later I played Togsoo and got smoked.  Mr. Patterson is widely recognized within our group as being the one to beat when it comes to ping-pong.  Before prayer Mr. Patterson played against Togsoo and Togsoo won.  Afterwards Mr. Patterson played him again but this time he won handily.  Before I headed out I played one more game, it happened to be against the King of Pong.  I didn't do so badly and ended up only losing 9 to 12.

John

The Fuel of Insanity

Now the walls of my confinement will close in.  The friend and partner of my insanity for the last few months has just minutes ago walked out of our door for good....sort of.  I'm not sure if it's going to seem like a long time or no time at all.  In the mean time I'll be able to blare my bagpipe music as loud as I want.  

Of Business and Bells

As I sit here and contemplate this past week I realize that I was on the go a considerable amount, so much so that I fear that I may have overlooked or ignored certain aspects of regular communication.  On Monday we were picked up from school and taken to meet for prayer over the Bible translation project as we do every week.  And as usual we went out to eat afterwards and then were taken back to the Dean's house.  Shortly after arriving there I made my way back to our apartment to see if I could get some work (if you want to call it that) done and maybe try and find some time to sleep; I had only gotten 6 or 7 hours of sleep the night before.  I also received a box from home that day.  After opening it and oohing and aahing over the goodies I had gotten I opened a pack of gum and started enjoying a piece.  It wasn't long before I decided to hit the sack but first I needed to get a bit of invigorating reading done out of Darwin's Black Box.  Soon I was tired enough to fall asleep and I did so, with gum in my mouth.  An hour and a half or so later Kevin woke me up cause we were about to go to the Dean's for dinner.  After having been sleeping for an hour and a half I remembered having gum in my mouth and began to chew it again.  It was still good.  So if your chewing gum looses its flavor on the bedpost overnight try sleeping with it in your mouth.  Tuesday rolled around and I had again not gotten much sleep.  I guess nothing much happened on Tuesday since it's not coming to mind right now.  We did however stay up late playing a game called Serenissima which I won for the first time.  Wednesday came and brought with it not much more sleep.  Kevin and I were pleasantly surprised when we were leaving school because Mr. Patterson was there to pick us up.  Mrs. Dean as well as half of her children weren't feeling well so to help out Mr. Patterson took us for the whole rest of the day with him and his family.  I didn't make it back to our apartment until late that evening.  On Thursday we were abducted again.  Upon leaving school we were again picked up my Mr. Patterson.  First on our agenda that day was lunch at BBQ Chicken, which stand for Best Believable Quality.  After that we went over to the church rooms and sat in on a planning meeting for the upcoming Bible Institute.  Again on Thursday I didn't make it home until late.  I got a little more sleep on Thursday night which I was grateful for since I had a test the following day.  On Friday I was not abducted and I got out of school early since we finished our tests early.  I returned to my apartment and talked with my family and Kevin went on various and sundry adventures in my absence.  Yesterday evening we had a gathering at the church to play ping-pong and other games.  I played a little ping-pong but it's not really my game, I much preferred the Dutch Blitz that I played later.  I even was limiting myself and Charissa was very close when I did end up winning.  I got to bed at a much more reasonable hour and then this morning I woke up and went to the Dean's and made a great coffee cake for breakfast.  This afternoon I had the chance to attend a memorial service put on by a Mongolian church in honor of Marty White, a fellow missionary who passed away recently after having a stroke.  Even having never met Mr. White I feel as if the world is a little darker after his passing.  John Donne wrote, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."  I thought of that today as it means that it doesn't matter who the death bell rings for because human kind suffers together when a fellow man dies.

John

To Help or Not to Help?

I would rather be getting ready for bed right now but there are a couple things that have come up first.  Initially it was an incident which I will shortly relate to you and next is the need to blog about it while the details are still fresh.  It's Monday night so I had to do the dishes before I left the Dean's so Kevin went on ahead of me back to our apartment.  When I had finished washing I began to make my own way back home to our hole in the wall.  I was about halfway home when I noticed a car was stuck, apparently it's wheel had dropped down into a pot hole or drain of some kind and it couldn't get out.  Most of the time a good push and the car is free again and on it's way.  It happens semi-frequently around here with the condition of the roads as they are and I figured the least I could do was help them for a few minutes.  When I went over and started to lift and push I realized that the hole was bigger than I thought it was going to be.  In the middle it was actually a man-hole but the sides sloped outward giving it around a four foot diameter.  On one side the hole was closely bordered by the sidewalk which the front part of the frame was actually resting on since the wheel had dropped into the hole.  When I first saw it I thought the driver had just been trying to make the turn a little too tightly and didn't know the hole was there but I found out later that that wasn't the case.  When I first went up to help there was one man at the wheel and the driver was helping push.  Pretty soon another man came along.  His home was actually the hole that the car was stuck in and I think we were disturbing him with the tire squealing.  Because the right front wheel was spinning freely all the power was being diverted to it and the car wouldn't budge.  Pretty soon the man that was helping at the wheel had to go leaving me with the driver and the man whose home we were invading.  There was no way we could lift the car out of the hole without some sort of device.  I looked around hoping to find a board or a rock I could jam between the wheel and the sidewalk to give it a little traction but nothing worked.  I didn't just want to walk away and leave the guy but I was getting close to that point.  Finally I found a piece of broken granite tile that I thought would fit.  I went back to the car and turned the wheel all the way to the right to see if I could jam the piece in there.  As I was turning the car on and getting the wheel in the position I wanted I noticed a couple other guys showed up.  Maybe with the extra help we could finally get it done.  As I jammed the broken tile under the wheel the two other guys who had just showed up were standing by.  I stood back from the wheel and at that point things got interesting.  The two guys that had come along were young and clean looking.  They were speaking in Mongolian so I didn't understand most of what they were saying but I did understand when they turned to me and asked for my passport.  I said I had mine but asked why he wanted it.  He and his partner the pulled out their wallets with badges and identification cards.  They weren't there to help, they were Mongolian National Police.  If it was just one guy with a cheesy looking card I wouldn't have showed them passport but there were two of them and their IDs were not cheesy looking.  These guys were the real deal.  I explained to them that I wasn't drunk or even driving in the car with the man but was on my way home when I stopped to give help.  I wasn't needed there anymore and I knew it wouldn't be wise to leave without permission.  I showed the men my passport and answered their questions.  Yes, I'm an American.  Yes, I'm studying at Bridge College.  And so on.  During the whole thing they called a couple more officers over.  Apparently the stuck driver had gotten stuck because he was driving under the influence.  When everything checked out they gave me permission to leave.  I was tempted to take pictures but decided against it in the end.  I guess one has got to be careful who he helps.  So now after being stopped on the way home, needing to blog about it, and getting distracted talking to Kevin I'm finally ready to get ready for bed.

John

Church and Translation

We were blessed greatly today with 39 Mongolians at church.  Today is Women's Day and that provided a great opportunity for church members to invite family members and friends to come to church.  20 Mongolian women came to church and we had a separate lesson for the men and woman and then we had one lesson all together.

For the past couple of weeks I've been helping a Mongolian young man named Togsoo get ready for a test he was preparing to take in English.  His test was yesterday and he said it went alright but he won't know his actual score for 20 days.

On Thursday Kevin and I went with Mr. Patterson when he worked with Dashka on translation.  Mr. Patterson's home church in America is putting together a special program to talk about the translation project over here and they wanted some pictures and video for the presentation.  Kevin and I went and took pictures and video while they worked on translation.  I even got to be a help with the translation.  I was sitting quietly to the side listening to my zune while Dashka and Mr. Patterson worked.  Mr. Patterson asked me if I knew what 'permission' was in Mongolian and I did; it's zoovshoorol (зөвшөөрөл).  I like sitting in on the translation sessions but I think Kevin isn't so thrilled by it.

John

Travel Plans

Today was our first day back in school after Tsagaan Sar.  It wasn't so bad but it generally isn't with Tserma teaching.  Kevin and I have begun planning a trip we want to take to Hatgal with the Siekberts when they go.  We were hoping that we could be a help to them digging their root cellar and completing the cabin that they are going to live in while they are out there.  As of yet their container that they are having shipped from America has taken much longer than expected and they are waiting in UB until they can take it with them.  When Kevin and I go we are going to need to take time off of school.  Because we're supposed to be studying we figured the least we could do was ask if they wanted a teacher to go with us (I guess they've done stuff like that in the past).  We know there aren't enough teachers for them to spare on to go with us so we thought it couldn't hurt to ask.  When our teacher suggested they send a Mongolian tourist student with us we began to rethink the dangers of asking.  I said we'd think about it but I have every intention of telling them that we are going alone.

John

Buuz for Breakfast

What a week!  We took the whole week off from school and I was glad for it.  We made two visits Thursday, one to Ganpurev's house and the other to Bilgee's house.  My first Tsagaan Sar visit was certainly interesting.  Ganpurev's living room was transformed into a dining room with extra tables laid out with a full spread.  I large wooden platter sat in the middle of the table holding what was left of a roasted goat with the head beautifully garnishing the top.  Behind it sat the tower of bread.  Each house buys these breads shaped like large maple bar doughnuts and stacks them in an odd number of layers.  Each alternating layer represents happiness and sorrow.  If there is and even number of layers then the happiness and sorrow are equal; and odd number means there is more happiness than sorrow.  Atop the tower of bread was piled all manner of dairy products such as arohl and candy.  Along with these table settings were bowls of candy and bread as well as thermoses full of Sootay Tsay.  The spread was similar at Bilgee's house except that he had an extra cake type bread that he served.  I enjoyed myself and it was exciting to see all the traditions.  All in all I eat four or five buuz as well as some other meat and bread.  At Bilgee's I didn't eat any buuz, just cake and sootay tsay.  Kevin and I didn't go with the Dean's for the visits they made on Friday.  On Saturday morning we, along with the Deans, Pattersons, and MacIlvains, went to Buren's house for a visit.  We got to Buren's house at 9:20 and stayed for about and hour and a half.  While we were there I ate more arohl and Mongolian dairy products than I would have thought I could.  (Is that confusing?)  I ate more buuz than I had to and I actually asked for more sootay tsay.  After that visit Kevin and I had the whole rest of the day free; I spent it walking around UB with Kevin and a girl named Barrie who is on her way through to Hatgal to help the Cofers.  Throughout the afternoon we retraced our steps twice as we walked from place to place only to find most of our intended destinations closed because of the holiday.  Then we had dinner with the Siekberts and watched a movie.

John

National Holiday

Yesterday was the first day of the Tsagaan Sar celebration, one of Mongolia's biggest holidays.  People make visits to family and friends and eat a lot of buuz.  Usually people visit family on the first day and then spread out to the rest of their acquaintances.  Today I will make my first two Tsagaan Sar visits.  The first to Ganpurev and his family and then with Bilgee.  I've heard that those to people make pretty good buuz and I've had some of their before so it may not be so bad.

John

Double Love Triangle

For Tsagaan Sar our school gave all of the students tickets to a famous Mongolian opera.  For the longest time Kevin and I couldn't decide if we really wanted to go but finally today, the day of the opera, we decided for it.  We were glad we went.  Although we couldn't understand any of it the music was good and there was some really good singing too.  During the first intermission it had only been thirty minutes and we wondered if it was already over.  In the end they had a wedding ceremony in the opera with lots of traditional Mongolian celebration, including Mongolian wrestling.  That was interesting.  Afterwards a bunch of our classmates decided to go out to eat at Hazara and we considered going but decided against that in the end.

John

Return to the Hole in the Wall

The Pattersons finally returned yesterday from their world travels.  Not only did they bring good news from a far country they also brought McDonald's from Korea.  We took the day off of school yesterday for a couple of reasons but we were certainly glad for it.  Not only did we have a lot of work to do in moving and getting ready for the Pattersons but we also would have had a substitute teacher because our normal teacher is moving this week.  Yesterday as we were running around moving stuff and then helping the Pattersons when they actually got there we knew it would have been infinitely harder if we had gone to school.  Speaking of substitute teachers, today we got to school right on time but the teacher wasn't there.  We waited for twenty minutes or so and then our classmates went to find out what was going on.  They came back a few minutes later without a teacher; there was no teacher for us.  Kevin and I thought we would just go home but instead we joined another class taught by our other teacher.  That class was still in the first language book so we basically reviewed until break.  After break we returned to our classroom with another substitute teacher named Kenzo.  It was a little difficult because he is an English teacher at the school and not a Mongolian teacher but we got along okay.  When we were finally done and started heading home who was there to pick us up and drive us home other than Mr. Dean and Ganpurev.  We're stoked to have next week off for Tsagaan Sar even though we're not as excited for all the buuz.  When we returned to our apartment yesterday we found that our power had been turned off while we were gone, most likely to save a few cents on the power it took to run our fridge.  There was nothing we could do about it until today so we went home last night to a dark powerless apartment.  This morning I took a shower by flashlight.  Thankfully we got it all worked out today and I'm hoping that I'll be able to use the wonder of electricity this evening to get unpacked.

John

John

Cold

This past week has been bitterly cold and has nearly erased from my mind the signs and sensations that the fledgling spring had tried to bring forth only a week before.  This cold doesn't not travel along either but brings with it biting wind that makes it's sting felt even more severely than winter's.  Despite all that I think, and begin to feel, spring's renewed attempt to enliven this frozen land with it's warmth and energy.  Even this evening feels like it is warmer and no doubt we will begin to shed layers soon.  With the entrance of spring however brings another change not as looked forward to.  With the Pattersons returning this Thursday Kevin and I will be moving back into our hibernation hole this week.  After the freedom and the space we have so enjoyed it will likely be quite an adjustment re-entering our one roomed cell.

John

Normal Life?

I seem to have slacked off a little bit in my writing and that may be because I don't think that much is happening of interest around here.  I got to thinking that other day about what happens in a normal week over here and I came to the conclusion that what I consider to be a normal week just might very well be great news or exciting happenings to my friends and family back in the States.  I will try to objectively analyze my adventures for content that may be of interest to you all.

This Friday (the 13th) just happened to be my birthday.  I've had my birthday package sitting on my desk for a long time and was finally able to open it.  It was the packages that came one week.  I was glad that it was sitting on my desk waiting for me and not still arriving in the mail.  It's a good thing there wasn't anything that could spoil while it sat unrefrigerated in my room.  On Friday I had a couple of appointments on Skype that I was looking forward to and I didn't want to keep anyone up too late on the West Coast so I wanted to get home from school as soon as I could.  Instead of waiting for the bus I decided that taking a taxi would be much faster.  Since that driver of that taxi didn't recognize our address I had to give him turn by turn directions in Mongolian.  It was totally alright since giving taxi directions was one things we learned in the first few weeks were here.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

John

Fire Brigade

Tuesday night was a night with a surprise.  We had just gotten back to the Dean's apartment after eating out at one of our favorite restaurants.  Mr. Dean and Mrs. Dean had an appointment with another missionary family that evening so we were left alone with the children.  The kids were taking baths that night as well and while they were doing that Kevin and I watched the A-Team.  Right after Elsie finished her bath I looked up from the movie and was talking with Charissa when I saw something in the air.  My first thought was that it was steam from the bathroom.  Regardless I got up just to check things out.  It was then that I realized there was a glow coming from the corner of the kitchen behind the cabinets.  Right then I was thought to myself "It's so dumb to have candles lit over there.  Who lit the candles."  When I got there however I found out that it wasn't candles, it was a fire.  Quickly I told Kevin and he got up from the couch.  Then I grabbed the distilled water from on top of the fridge and doused the flame.  Under the burning stickers, for that was what had caught on fire, was a heating coil used for heating water.  Elsie had plugged it in and left it when she went to take her bath.  Kevin and I spent a few more minutes cleaning up the mess and throwing away burned material.  It was pretty wild, I'm just glad Kevin and I were there to take care of it.

John

All But Unheard Of

We experienced an anomaly today on our way home from school.  We waited a few minutes at the bus stop and then finally crammed ourselves onto an already crowded bus.  I earnestly despise crowded bus.  People aren't just dumb, they're complete idiots, and being crammed like animals into enclosed spaces with them doesn't improve their image.  We were on our way along the south road when I suddenly felt the bus turning.  We had never turned there before and it was the wrong direction as well.  It was also interesting because I know there are no roads heading south away from the south road.  It wasn't long before I realized why it was we were stopping.  A bus full to over flowing with passengers was stopping for gas.  I was almost dumbfounded.  Buses never stop for gas while they are circulating.  Apparently that wasn't true today.

John

Business as Usual

This past week was very busy for me, even when I had free time to blog I used it for other more frivilous pursuits.  Every Monday we help with King's Kids and it has been my responsiblity for the past four weeks to present the missionary story.  Being the procrastinator that I am I usually put off preparation for the story until the last possible minute.  One week I had to print my notes for the story but found that the printer was out of ink.  Since I had waited until the last possible moment to get ready I was in somewhat of a tight spot.  Always the quick thinker I tried to print my notes in blue ink.  It worked and I wasn't in trouble.  Now that I think about it, it might have been better if it hadn't worked out; maybe it would help me to prepare better after that.  It didn't, and I continue to put off preparation until the last possible moment.  Even now I have not looked at the story I'm supposed to present on Monday.  Along with my story prep I'd been studying for our Mongolian test this past Thursday as well as working on a paper about the Biblical basis of Missions.  I had put that off as well and was up late Monday night working on finishing it.  Besides how late I had to stay up I liked the way it turned out.  This week we finished our first Mongolian language book so some of our days were just speaking practice.  One day as we were practicing for the speaking portion of our tests Kevin and I got really bored.  Each person was preparing and practicing for about five minutes at a time so all the other students had nothing to do duing those periods of time.  I think that our teacher was as board as we were since she started playing with her whiteboard markers as well as the cord to the cd player.  She started by wrapping it around her head and then she let it slip down into her eyes.  Next she tied it around her throat.  She also began to break the clips to her pens and clip a binder clip to her fingers and face.  The funniest thing about it all was that Kevin got most of it on video.  We were laughing so hard.  This week I also had agreed to help teach English to some people.  I don't think I'm going to do that again.  I'm not good at teaching at all.  I can learn but I cannot teach.

Feel the Love

So far I have been told twice at school that people hate me.  The first was an incident where Kevin was talking to our Italian classmate named Alfredo.  They were talking to eachother about how hard it can be to learn Mongolian.  At the time I was out of the class and Kevin said John just gets stuff, he hears it once and then he remembers it.  At that point Alfredo said "I hate him.  I want to kill him."  I truly felt threatened for my life.  The other time was just yesterday while Kevin was talking to another guy that goes to the school.  Again they were consoling eachother on the difficulties of language learning.  Kevin mentioned again that I remember everything (which isn't true, necessarily).  I was in the classroom reading my Bible and they were standing at the door.  Eric leaned into the room to tell me "I hate people like you."  Oh thanks, I just feel so loved.  Good vibes.

John

Cold Temperatures, Warm Welcomes

The mercury doesn't even exist here right now.  Kevin and I walked to school in -33 degrees yesterday morning.  If you're thinking "ow" you are right.  We've had a couple of cold days this week but today looks very bright and sunny with temperature of just -1.  It must have been windy yesterday and last night because the air is very clear for UB and I can see the moutains around town.  On Thursday evening Kevin and I were invited to another missionary's house for dinner and dessert.  I definitely ate too much, I couldn't even finish me dessert.  The Siekberts, to whose house we went, have just gotten two puppies that are now five weeks old.  One of them is a big puffy Caucasian Mountain dog and the other is a tiny Cocker Spaniel.  They make and odd pair.

John

Recent Surprises

Since before Christmas I had made it a habit to be checking the post office for boxes that were coming in.  For a long time I was confounded, checking again and again without any success.  Last week we went to the post office and were surprised to find five boxes there as I mentioned previously.  But there was an aberrant package that I hadn't noticed previously.  As I was preparing to talk to my family and open my Christmas presents 'with' them I went to get my two packages.  As I carried them from my room I was wondering why there were two, I didn't remember two packages being sent.  I checked the post mark and was more than surprised to find that the one was postmarked January 7th.  It was only the 16th and I had gotten the packages two days before.  It turns out that it was my birthday package.  It took only one week to arrive while it took the other 6 to go the same distance.  To say the least we were shocked.

John

Christmas!

We went to the post office today and were incredibly surprised.  We made bank!  There were 5 packages there waiting for us.  This evening we had a little Christmas party, opening presents and deciphering cards from all the people at church.  I had an exciting time taking pictures and trying to get the kids to look at me and smile.  Thank you all for the cards.

John

Musings

I made my solitary way home from the Dean's tonight.  We had played a game and then I remembered that I still had dishes to wash.  I told Kevin he could go.  Upon finishing with the dishes I bundled up and made my way back to our apartment.  It had been cold and breezy all day and with the advent of night the wind began to pick up a little.  The near full moon shining out of a cloudless night sky lit the dark pathways whenever it wasn't obscured by the seeming haplessly placed building.  As I walked along through the silent night pieces of rubbish and litter scudded their noiseless ways across my path lifelessly ushered on by the increasing wind.  Occasionally my thumb would bump the tail-cap of my flashlight and it would suddenly illuminate the patch of ground in front of me revealing bare dirt, rocks, or more trash.  Although the way home was quiet and cold I was detached from my surroundings by the influence of my noise-canceling headphones that were plugged into my borrowed iPod.

John

Watch Out For the Troublemakers

This week has seemed to have gone fast.  Kevin and I have had a good time in class telling the teacher that dinosaurs are in fact six thousand to ten thousand years old and not forty to fifty million years old.  We also think it is pretty funny to ask Beatrix about religion and Catholicism.  After our little argument about dinosaurs with the teacher Beatrix was wondering how old they really were.  She looked it up on the internet and found that they weren't forty to fifty million years old, they were one hundred thirty million years old.  We tried to tell Beatrix that that was wrong and we asked her if she believed the Bible.  She said she did but that the Bible talks in pictures sometimes.  When practicing speaking Mongolian in class we like to ask Beatrix theological questions for her to answer in Mongolian.  For example, today I asked her "Borkhan khem Bey?"  Which is to ask "Who is God?"  The teacher thinks that to Catholics Mary is a God.  Beatrix said that she wasn't but how did our teacher get that idea?

On another note, I spilled water on my computer last night while I was using it.  At first it seemed okay but then it started to spaz a little.  First it turned off twice then I couldn't open stuff or type.  I couldn't open the start menu to shut it down so I had to pull the battery out to get it so shut down.  One time I turned it on and I got a totally foreign screen that I didn't know a thing about.  Fearing the worst I shut it down again and waited.  Finally last night, I got it turned on but when I typed and 'L' it kept typing them whenever I paused for a short while.  And then it wouldn't type 'a's, 'd's, or 's's.  Again, a little worried and praying I decided to leave it for the night and try again.  Today it seems fine and there is no problem with it.  Praise the Lord.  This only one thing I've noticed.  Whenever I hit "right shift" it types one of these '>.' 

John

Starting Again

Today was our first day of school in this the new year, and what a way to start.  I was a little tired having gotten used to waking up much later than I had to today to get to school on time.  It wasn't too bad though, and I laughed so much during class that I woke myself up a little.  There are some things that I don't miss about school and some things that are so funny that when I see them again they make me laugh and realize all the fun that we've had a school so far.  One of those funny things is our classmate Chan Yung.  There were a couple of things that were particularly funny today.  We were doing just a bit of review of the lesson that we had just finished before going into Christmas break and when it came to Chan Yung's turn he said "Be (Translation: I)....(long pause).....I don't know!"  In a way that only Chan Yung can say it.  Then later we were translating Mongolian sentences into English and Chan Yung started freaking out for no apparent reason.  We inquired to what it was he was losing it over and his answer was "Why are we speaking in English?!"  I laughed.  The teacher said he could speak Korean if he wanted.  He ended up saying half of it in English anyway.  The third and final element of hilarity happened when I was reading a conversation in Mongolian.  When it came to the ticket booth workers turn to speak I changed my voice to a very high-pitched female voice. Chan Yung was reading along in his book but when I started speaking like that he threw his book down on his desk, looked over at our table, and made a sudden, emotional, and somewhat incredulous utterance that only he can make.  It is hard to understand entirely what I mean unless one knows Chan Yung.  Another thing about class that made me laugh happened later.  It went like this:  Kevin and I had been laughing about something (probably Chan Yung) and the teacher was telling us to be quiet and behave.  (She is good spirited about it, we aren't really in trouble).  But this time the teacher told us that we were in a college and not a preschool.  Not too much later her phone rang and she answered it right in class.  Well Kevin and his eternal wit started going off on her about how this was a classroom and not a cellphone waiting area.  This all made me laugh, but what really put it over that top was when he said a little louder "Zaagaray!"  Which is to command "Teach!"  The timing was so perfect and I laughed so hard I snorted.  (I know it's not very dignified but I couldn't help it.  That is how funny it was).  That's how it goes for us.  School is starting again and I'm looking forward to our break in the end of February for Tsagaan Sar.

John

Bacon Ridge Climb

What a way to start the new year.  On December 31st Kevin and I met  an acquaintance of ours from here in Mongolia at our New Year's fellowship at the church.  He expressed to us his interest in starting the new year with and adventure and we were on board right away even though we had only just heard of it.  His idea was to climb one of the mountains surrounding UB first thing January 1st.  Our preparation was very brief and not comprehensive at all.  We agreed to meet him the next day at his apartment at noon and we were going to go from there.  At the time we didn't even know which mountain we were going to climb but we got that figured out when we got into the taxi.  We flagged him down right outside the gate to Micheal's apartment building.  We weren't sure if we were going to be able to get a taxi to take us were we wanted to go, but when asked him if he would take us to a "bug mountain" he said "sure, get in."  We were exited and finally on our way.  Upon making it to the foot of the mountain we had arbitrarily chosen we told him we would get out there.  That is when the fun began.  Our first ascent went well.  The sun was shining brightly and our initial effort caused to heat up quickly and begin to shed layers.  Along our trek we came across many false peaks, a point at which you can no longer go higher without going down first.  At each of them were these sacred rock piles, decorated with blue silk, small vessels, and other strange objects.  The going wasn't easy in the slippery layer of snow so we ended up stopping often.  Of course for the sake of adventure, and bragging rights, we scaled the north face of the mountain.  When we had been climbing for a while, and had reached one of those false peaks with a particularly large rock outcropping, we decided it was time to stop and find a place where we could build our fire and cook our bacon.  Micheal had the genius idea that morning that he would bring bacon with him and we'd make a fire and cook it.  We found a sheltered area, collected sticks, and got our fire started.  We also looked around to find a thin rock to use as our cooking surface.  Finally we had everything we needed and the fire was right for bacon.  With the rock heated up and the bacon strips cut in half, Micheal began to tend to and flip the bacon as I added pieces to the rock.  We all took turns as the bacon came off a piece at a time.  It was so worth the wait.  Something about the rock, the fire, or just eating bacon on a mountain made it the best I had ever eaten.  The bacon consumed, the fire put out, and all our extremities becoming numb from the inaction, we decided it was time to get moving again.  At first I couldn't feel my toes as we began again our ascent, but as I got moving again, and as I got back in the sunlight, I warmed up and everything was fine.  It didn't seem like long before we had reached our final ridge line and were making our way to the highest point on the ridge, which would be the highest we climbed that day.  The ridge line was completely unprotected and the wind was torrential and harsh.  That was the coldest it had been all day.  None of us had a thermometer, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had been thirty degrees below zero or lower.  We were all bundled up in everything had brought to keep the cold out.  At the top there was a sacred rock pile that we had to climb on to be the highest around.  We all took our turns being the highest and then began to choose our descent path.  But first we needed to preform a few ceremonies.  We set Kevin's camera on the rock pile and set the timer to take a group picture and then Kevin christened the mountain with a coke bottle.  We named it Bacon Ridge.  We didn't know that what it was called so we felt the liberty to name it ourselves.  With that taken care of, we began our final descent of the excursion.  The way down was fraught with peril as the ground was incredibly uneven and blanketed in snow.  All the little rocks, sticks, and potholes were hidden beneath a deceptively beautiful layer of pure snow.  We promptly tromped on it.  (No ice particles were seriously harmed in the making of this blog entry).  Fortunately we all made it down without any serious injury or bodily harm.  Upon reaching the road the road that runs through the valley we began to walk back toward the city, doubting that a taxi would come long to pick us up.  We didn't have to walk long however before someone did come by and offer us a ride.  All in all we had a very successful mountain climb and an absolutely awesome new year's day.  After all we can tell everyone that we climbing a mountain in the coldest capital city in the world, in the coldest month of that capital city's winter.  How's that for awesome.

John