UHC Mongolia

So I'm teaching English at Santis. I have a level 2 class (of 7 levels) of adults, and by adult I mean 15 years old and up. Most of the students are high school/college age, and I have two students who have families of their own. All of them are great - I even have a class clown (one of my older students even!!!). So far everything is going well with them, their English is good enough that they can ask me questions usually if they need to, and that's a huge help. However, a few things get lost in translation ... like names.

Most of my students (save for the Brazillian woman) have very beautiful Tibetan names. And since Mongolians only go by one name, not a first name and a surname like westerners, their names are quite long. To make this easier on everyone, myself included, they usually go by a shorter name. So when I asked them to write their names on their homework, they usually put the short name/nickname on it. Since I've managed to learn which name goes with which person (whether or not I can say the long OR the short name correctly), this hasn't been a problem.

However ... I noticed that one student had written "HellHero" on the front of his book, and then wrote "Hell" at the top of this homework as his short name. Obviously, this seemed odd to me. So I asked him if he knew what "Hell" meant. To my surprise, he told me yes. Apparently "Hell Hero" is the name of a videogame that he plays, and since it isn't uncommon for male names in Mongolia to end with "baatar", which means "hero" or "warrior", it seemed natural to him that "Hell" would be a good nickname.

So I asked the class if everyone knew what "Hell" actually meant in an English-speaking context. "What the hell?" was the response I got. So first I had to explain that "What the hell?" was an extremely informal phrase, so much so that they shouldn't say it at all just so that no one could turn around to possibly an English speaking parent or superior and say "But my teacher at Santis taught it to me."

After the slang definition of "hell" I tried to teach them the literal meaning ... which is hard when you're in a room full of Buddhists who don't have enough English to discuss something as abstract as religion. I don't think they fully understood me, but what else was I to do :P

Many say it's the the world's last true frontier. The unmitigated vastness of the Mongolian steppe is simply breathtaking- one rolling hill after another of kelly green pastures that closely resemble scenery from Lord of the Rings, crisp refreshing air, blue skies, scattered herds of sheep, cattle and horses that look splatter-painted from afar. Staying at a ger camp in Terelj National Park this weekend was lots of fun...I had never ridden a horse before, but there isn't a better place for a first-timer to give it a go than in Mongolia. In the countryside, children first learn to ride horses when they're four years old, shortly after they've acquired the skills to walk. Our group set out for a post-dinner rendezvous escorted by two young Mongolian boys and a girl. Clearly, they knew horses like I know my own two feet. The language barrier was a little tricky at times (all I could get out of the one boy dragging me along was that he was 17), but we had a great time and they led us all over the landscape to a huge rock that resembled a turtle. If our horse slowed down at all, one of the kids would gallup up behind it and yell "choo!!!" (meaning 'go', I presume) and give it a swift tap in the rear. My horse then proceeded to take off a number of times, but I learned quicly to sit up in my saddle and simply go with the flow. Some horses were stubborn, some a little too eager, and some just downright smelly, but riding horses in Mongolia made my entire trip worthwhile.

At night we climbed up to the top of the hill and gazed at the stars for a while.. I saw the most amazing shooting star I'd ever seen- an explosion of light streaking across the sky, I couldn't believe how big it was. The trouble is, in Mongolia, shooting stars are considered bad luck. Now that, my friend, is a true shame.

~Evan

But if we were, dinner would look like this, the night market on Wanfujing, a block away from our hotel. We arrived in UB on Sunday and the students started their coursework yesterday with a three hour long Mongolian language class. They'll continue the fun with three hours of langauge for the next three weeks, then begin their internships.

When I took Russian Fairy Tales my sophomore year, I took it under theimpression that no matter how fun or interesting it would be, it wouldnever be of any use in my life, in any way at all (except for thebrownie recipe the professor shared with us). However, during ourstay in Moscow, I was proved wrong. During our trip to the Kremlin,we toured a few of the cathedrals - the insides walls of which werecovered with Russian icons, something we had learned about in RussianFairy Tales. As if the Kremlin itself wasn't cool enough, I was ableto appreciate the artwork on a slightly higher level.Several days later we were taken to the tail end of a Russian Orthodox service/mass. These are quite different from Western Christian andCatholic services in a few ways. First, mass is three and a halfhours long (hence we only went to the last hour) and second, there areno pews - everyone stands. I'm normally not enthralled by churchservices, and it didn't help that the service was all in Russian(surprise!) and we were unable to even follow along. So between thegorgeous yet sporadic choir music to hold my interest, I spent therest of the time trying to pick out things that Dr. Di had taught usabout Russian iconography, which was way more fun than staring at thefloorboards :P


~Jamie

Two weeks into the trip and still there is no word about beautiful (but cold) Moscow on our blog. With great anticipation we arrived in Moscow promptly meeting with a group of kids form Wittenberg, an obscure college in Ohio. That night we had an Б─°authenticБ─² Russian meal with Russian students studying English. The Russian students proved to be very helpful throughout the entire week. They were endlessly patient and cheerful while dealing with students who essentially spoke no Russian; although I should mention ZoloБ─≥s mad Russian skills which we often forced him to use when none of the Russian students were around.

The highlight of the trip to Moscow was the tour of the Kremlin and seeing the often photographed St. Basils with my very own eyes. At first I will admit I was not fond of Russia, but by the end of the trip I was sad to leave. Despite the expense of the city, the numerous tours and variety of lectures in addition to the nightlife made Moscow a memorable experience. As Evan said best, Б─°You stay classy MoscowБ─². Final purple hair count: 11.


laura erion

We arrived in Moscow yesterday morning, and had a lovely introduction to Russian traffic, arriving at the hotel late in the afternoon. We are working with a group of Wittenburg students this week, and had an excellent dinner with them and a group of international relation students from Moscow State University.

We are meeting at noon for our walking tour and introduction to the city. We'll have dinner with the same group and hopefully get a proper nights sleep :)
~Allison

any requests? i have some vonnegut, palahniuk, the fountainhead, the satanic verses, and other random stuff.

as for spices, i don't know who likes what or who already has some to bring, so what do you guys want to do?

jamie