Monday, August 29, 2011

And on to Year 2...

Back to school...
Back to school...



In a short half hour, I will be saying goodbye to my nice hot shower. I think I will miss that most of all...



This summer has been a lot of fun, hard work, and quite a bit of chaos. Since I've last updated you all, I've done two notable things:



TEDx Conference



For those of you who don't know, TED is basically a forum for idea sharing. (check this out). My good friend, Travis, organized the first ever TED in Mongolia. It was phenomenal. The theme was concerning Mongolia's need to push forward while maintaining their rich history. I met a lot of cool folk and heard some real cool stuff... but more on this later when the talks are uploaded so y'all can listen too.


MST


Or, Mid-Service Training (Peace Corps looooves their acronyms). I had a lot of fun being with friends and getting motivated for the next year.



Ummm, yea that's it. I apologize for the lame blog, but I've been busy, ok! I promise a better blog next time (coughinoctobercough).


Hugs and Kisses!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Dream Eco Camp

Camp #3.

Dream Eco Camp was set in a sleepy soum called Batsumber in Tov aimag. It was a gorgeous place... rivers, mountains, forests. Unfortunately it also came stocked full of children.

Just kidding, but really... I was wickedly camped-out by this point.

So here are some pics and a story or two about Dream Eco Camp:

The theme this year was "The Chipmunks." So the kids were split into 3 teams:


Alvin

Simon

And... Teathor...

We also got sweet shirts!

The camp was also stocked with inspirational signs:




I was on Team Alvin:

Team Leader: Who are we?
Alvins: Super Alvins!
Team Leader: What's our motto?
Alvins: The Super Alvin Team is strong!
We have fun all day long!
With our friends, we will grin!
And with teamwork, we will win!

I say Super! You say Alvin! Super! Alvin!





Ok- weird story: So I have found many of your Mongolian Dopplegangers. Britt, I found you. And you Stephen. And Pat Gaetz, too. Oh, and you too Karen. Here is the first picture I've taken of these dopplegangers... Call me crazy Mrs. Palazzo... but I see Connor and Brady circa 2006.

The photographer came and insisted we make a human pyramid. The Mongolians were a little over confident.

Fail.

Ahhh, much better.

Some Americans enjoying the heck outta that porch.

My first YAK sighting!

The kids at this camp were incredibly talented.


Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Bor-Ondor Sports Camp

Camp #2.

After taking a few days to re-coup in my soum, I headed to Bor-Ondor to start my second camp of the summer: a week-long sports camp organized by my friend Leon.

Camp ran from 9-12 and we taught a new sport everyday. In the afternoons we would hang out, play cards, and enjoy the beautiful summer air.

Day 1: Capture the Flag

First, we divided into teams and chose team names. My color was blue, so my kids chose to be "Super Blue." Brian was red and dubbed the "Red Stars." Apparently, we have very few pictures of Capture the Flag day. No matter... neither team managed to capture the flag. They were more pre-occupied with guarding jail and the flag to every make a move.

My team got real close though....

Yea... I'm in jail.

Day 2: Ultimate!

Obviously my favorite day. The kids LOVED it. And they were real good, too. I was so super impressed. Here's a vid of the most intense game of the day:


Brian and I split our teams into two smaller teams so we could play 5 on 5. Super Blue took 1st and 4th. Red Stars 2nd and 3rd. At the end of the day, we were still all tied up.

Oyoka. She was my favorite. She was super competitive and really great at all the sports. Look at her go!


Reach!

Day 3: Dodgeball

Oh man, another really fun one. The kids had trouble in the beginning, but once they got it... it got intense. Unfortunately, Super Blue couldnt' pull it together for a win. We got 3rd and 4th.



The last game we played was Camp Leaders versus students. While I felt a wee bit bad throwing balls at little kids, it was super fun and of course we won.

Day 4: Kickball

If you are considering teaching kickball to children who don't speak your language and also don't know what baseball is... I wouldn't suggest teaching them kickball. Easily our most frustrating day, but, hey... there are a million rules to kickball. If we could play kickball with them once a week for a month, I bet they'd start to understand it a lot better.

Despite the confusion and frustration, and as a true testament to the wonderfulness of these kids, they said they had a great time and liked the game.

Though Super Blue took an early lead, we couldn't pull it together in the end. Red Stars took the W.

My line-up (10 points to me if I can still remember all their names...): Nendaa, Amraa, Batzka, Monoo, Oyoka, Deka, (Damn it... I can't remember pink stripes!) and Darai



Day 5: Relays

This day was meant as a game-changer. Red Stars were waaaay ahead, but a few relay wins later, Super Blue was only a point behind. Ultimately, it came down to the last game... and thanks to one kid who was spacing out during the game... Red Stars were declared the winners of the week.

We had loads of fun, though!

This relay was ridiculous. We gave 2 eggs to each team. The first guy on my team dropped and cracked both of them. So... we lost. But the Red Stars were kind enough to give us their second egg so that each kid could have a go.

No relay day is complete without dizzy bat!

Leap Frog

3 legged race

Super Blue! We had trouble wearing blue all week, so I changed our color to white the last day. My team then suggested our new name was "Super White," but I thought we should stick with "Super Blue" :)

Super Blue + Red Stars = SUPERSTARS!

Bonus Day 6: Water Games

It was hella hot all week. These kids endured that sun without complaining (too much) all week, so we thought we'd give them a special day to hang out with us in a non-competitive atmosphere.

Water Games.

Aaaaaand of course, it was cloudy and colder than all the other days. But we played anyway.

Water Balloon Toss

Drip Drip Drop (it's duck duck goose only with water)

The drenched participants

Нохой**


** pronounced nohoy, means dog.

This post is about Lloyd.

Look how adorable Lloyd is getting! He's so big and huggable and pretty... oh how i love him. And so did all the campers! Many of them thought I was lying when I told them he was Mongolian. They thought he came from America because he was nice.







Monday, July 25, 2011

More Pictures of Camp That I Want to Show You

Second half teachers: Kaede, John, Pico, and Me!

The coolest kid in Dariganga. By the end of the week, I had him saying, "Sox Rule! Cubs Suck!"

This is the second coolest kid in Dariganga (only because after uploading all my pictures, I realized I had a handful of ridiculous pictures of him):


Playing Mingle:

First session Peace Corps Volunteers: Nate, Kate, Beth, Julie, (Mongolian camp doctor), Me, Maggie, and Alex


Gangstaaa

My Dariganga students that went to camp

This kid is cool.


Aaaaand so is this kid:


It's called Tektonic and it's all the rage amongst pre-adolescent boys in Mongolia. Please note his interesting dance move at the end.


They wanted to learn an English song!