Oldest in Germany

My sisters and I have started school here in Germany! 

These are our dorm rooms in our dorm Palmgarten

Maggie Joins Seniors' Flag Parade

Representing Mongolia among her senior class peers at BFA, Maggie carries the flag.

They carried them into the school assembly for the opening of the school year.

I think I heard there were kids from around 50 countries.

Josiah's New Favorite Song

He attends the American School of Ulaanbaatar.  But most of the students are Mongolian.  So instead of the pledge of Allegiance like in American schools, they sing the Mongolian National Anthem.  It is a really great song I think.  I think it's getting in his head too.  Here's a video with the words and translation if you're interested.  It's a little old but really vintage message:

Mongolian National Anthem Song with Kids and Words

First Practice in New Gym

Monday afternoon I got invited to help coach the youth team for the Hasax Huleguud pro basketball club, in partnership with Athletes in Action. 

It was my first touch with coaching in Mongolia this term. And it was the first ever practice in the new gymnasium of Mongolia International University.

Back to School

Josiah and Clara started school today! They are going to The American School of Ulaanbaatar.

Josiah's allergies were visible on his face.

 The rest of us going to Germany for school this fall will leave for Frankfurt of Saturday. We are all thankful for the last few days to be with our siblings before we head to school!

Here we are outside an apartment nearby their school.  We are thinking about moving here.

Mom and the sisters made cupcakes for Clara and Josiah after the first day of school.

Darhan Visit

 This is the road that runs North and South through Mongolia connecting Russian and China.  It's also the road to Darhan, which is under construction, making our trip take twice the normal 3+ hours.

The kids were so glad to see our home, especially their rooms.

Dinner at the new Japanese Restaurant with the Wood family.

Here they all used to wait outside our apartments to go to the one room school house together.  Soon many of them will be going to Germany for schooling together.

After church we got reacquainted with friends and familiar faces.

Our friends the Shells hosted us for dinner on their farm. We sang to Miriam for her 17th birthday.

Outside was a beautiful rainbow.  That's a flash of lightning in the middle.

On the way home we visited a roadside zoo.  

This is a miniature horse.

For an extra dollar (or less) Josiah got to ride one!

Great trip.  And this puts the bad road in perspective.  We made it the 150 miles home to Ulaanbaatar in about 7 hours.  But that's faster than we would have on horseback!

Photo Story Of Modern Day Mongolia

This is one of the best photo tours of Mongolia I've ever seen.  https://apps.npr.org/mongolia/

Let It Rain!

Maggie and I took a walk down to the State Department Store on a cloudy day.  It looked like rain so someone said bring an umbrella.  (You can see our green roofed apartment just above it's snap)

When we came out it wasn't raining that hard, but the streets were like rivers.

When we got home it was like a waterfall into our temporary home too.  Clara is helping swab the deck and wring out the leaking rainwater.

Johanna and the rest help out emptying the buckets and wiping the floors.

It's like a full time job while it rains, but we get a moment to document it now and then.

Rain Inside?

We had a big surprise after coming home from church yesterday, that our supposedly fixed apartment had started leaking in rainwater from the storm. It was all hands on deck to make sure nothing important got wet, and to clean up the water pouring into the apartment three different places.

Mongolia's Smokey Capital City Makes World News

Getting back to Mongolia July 31st at night, we were delighted the air was warm, above 60 degrees.  And the roads back to the city are SO much smoother than they were in 2005 when we first came.

But the air was much more dirty and smokey!  The smoke is from forest fires in Siberia.  But it seemed like a stinky foreshadow of the coal smoke crisis that has choked Ulaanbaatar for decades.

Just before getting on the plan I saw this story on NPR explaining how they plane to change air quality in this city which we will now be calling home.  I am hopeful, but also skeptical enforcement will prevail.  But I love their energy, and I have seen laws change this country almost overnight before.  So let's hope that happens again!  Just thought I'd share the news on this health crisis.

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/30/727688757/mongolias-capital-banned-coal-to-fix-its-pollution-problem-will-it-work

Back to Mongolia for 4th Term

All smiles after boarding our flight in Seattle.

Groggy morning, but glad to be here...

 even though the weather air is quite smokey outside,

God is good, and we started settling in today.

Lydia's 16th Birthday

 Since before she was two, she always wanted gum, and still does.

Cousin Chloe turned 13 the day after, and shared the cake and candles.

Maggie's friend Alisa came up to Camano Island from Ellensburg to visit.

Phil Wilson and family came on this scenic bike ride with us.

Renee and I say farewell to Elger Bay.

Friends from Ellensburg Visit Camano Island

The Hudsons brought their 8 kids and our oldest 3 home from Mazama Bible Camp.

Here they all are overlooking Lake Diablo in North Cascades National Park on the way.

And here they are at the camp on Elger Bay for hot dogs and fresh caught clams for dinner!

Playing on the beach wood above.  The route David and I took on bikes around the Island below.

Sunny day at the state park beach below...

Kate and Lydia

Reminising and saying goodbye after a great visit.