Dear everyone,
Greetings from Mongolia! Our ten days here is coming to a close – we’ve been quite busy with many different programs while here. We’ve stayed in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, population one million with mountain views outside our window. It is a city that still has many marks of its communist past, and also many ger communities on the outskirts of the city. Gers are the tent-like houses of the nomadic Mongolians (see a photo on our travel journal www.traveljournals.net/thewilsons We stayed in one our first night!)
Mongolia is a place that still holds much raw beauty with its rugged mountains and desert landscape. Spring weather is quite fickle – one day it was almost 70 here and the next morning we woke up to snow! The people are a mix of Asian & Russian cultures, but distinctly Mongolian and proud of their heritage. The economy is slowly rising – a big problem here is lack of jobs & alcoholism. Some of us were able to visit an alcohol rehab program run by our missionary contact here.
We had the opportunity to teach several University English classes – an experience that at first was scary since we were THE teachers but once we got into it was really fun. The students had many questions for us and the experience reminded both Doug & I that we’d like to work with the University age in some way in the future.
One day we were able to help a family build a fence around their property – several years ago the government passed a law saying everyone can own 700 sq. meters of land if they fence it in. So this fence was very important to this family to show ownership of their property.
We have gotten to do a few traditional Mongolian things - Doug was able to ride a horse in the mountains one day. One night we were able to see a performance with traditional instruments, costumes & dance, & the famous throat singing! The traditional food is quite hearty – lots of meat & potatoes. We did go out one night and eat at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant like they have in the States – unfortunately it is just an American chain and not truly Mongolian. It was good nonetheless!
We leave on Sunday to take the train back to Beijing. We have a slight addition to our travels – since the train only goes once a week we realized we had extra time in between Mongolia & Nepal, our next country. We fly through India to get to Nepal, so in one hectic day last week we got our plane tickets changed & applied for visas so we can stop over in India for 3 days en route to Nepal. We are excited to get a glimpse of India, but please think of us as it will be quite hot and several of us have been a bit under the weather lately!
We again send our love & thanks for your support & interest in our travels. We’ve enjoyed hearing the news from you all – keep writing and we’ll try to do the same!
Love,
Allison & Doug
|
