30th birthday

i will post pictures and details soon, but i just have to say THANK YOU jimmy, jaemey, nikki, rachel, stephanie, and yen for making my birthday special and memorable. i feel so loved and blessed to have you in my life!

5am airport

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

these girls from church came to see me off at the airport. such sweeties!

lunch with friends

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

after breakfast with muugii i joined oyuka (L) and mandy (R) for lunch at a fun place called "edelweiss". i wish i had known about it earlier, because i would have definitely eaten there a few times. it was no nice of these girls to take time out to see me before i left.

muugii

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

muugii and i went out for breakfast and my favorite french cafe on my last morning in ub. oh how i miss muugii and those chocolate croissants!

in darhan

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

i got to spend a few days in darhan with my dear friend melanie just before i left mongolia. it was so good to live a few hours away from her instead of halfway around the world now.

last sunday english class

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

this was my second to last sunday in mongolia and the last sunday we had english class. i miss these girls so much!

farewell party

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

i had a farewell party before i left mongolia. it was so good to have all my friends together in one place. here i am with some of the sweet girls from church.

hi

i'm sooooooooo long overdue for a real post. i have LOTS to tell you about the last few weeks, but for now i'll just let you know that i'm safe in chicago, getting settled into my summer job, new apartment, and really loving all the opportunities for social interaction with old friends and my boyfriend. it's good to be back.

heading home

hmmm, "home" is such a hard concept for me to personally define. i've lived quite a few places in the the last 10 years so home is definitely not just one place for me. i'm realizing more and more that home is about being with the people i love. so this weekend will most definitely be HOME for me. i'll be in kentucky with my whole family, and my boyfriend, and my kitty. (ok, so muji isn't a person, but i love him even so, and he's a bit of mongolia that i brought back with me. hehe)
i'm looking forward to lots of hugs and snuggle time with my sisters and brother. and i can't wait to just look out the windows of my parents' house and see their gorgeous green yard. oh how i have missed the sight of grass the last 2 years!

photo booth fun

last night my dear muugii came over and we had a big laugh with some photo booth pictures. i really haven't laughed that hard in ages. oh how i love sharing a sense of humor with friends. :)

almost done

packing is almost done as of friday night at 11:30. :) obviously i still have some clothes out because i'll be wearing them in the next two weeks. however, i think i'll be able to bring almost everything back with me. so far my suitcases are 3 and 5 kilos under weight. add the summer clothes and a few other odds and ends, and i should be about right weight wise! this is nothing short of miraculous! :)

more packing

last night i attempted to fill both of my suitcases and weigh them. oh how i HATE the weight limits imposed by airlines! i can have two suitcases that weigh 50 pounds each for a total of 100 pounds. trying to shrink my life of the past 2 years into 100 pounds is proving to be more of a challenge than i had expected. since i originally planned to be in mongolia 4 years, i brought over a few things that would help me feel at home. now i'm having to face the possibility of leaving them behind and in some small way leaving behind that sense of home with them. how can i get so attached to such silly little things?

the more i think about moving to chicago and really settling there, the more it appeals to me. i long to have a place that i live in more than a few years so that i can "put down roots" there. i want to settle into a ch*rch and know that i will be there for a long time. i want to make friends and not feel the impending goodbye as soon as we meet. i didn't know how hard it would be for me to truly make friends here. i couldn't seem to shake the goodbye that would come in 4 years, and now it's coming after just two years. i have felt like that goodbye was a shadow on all my relationships here, and i hate it. now that i'm packing up my physical things and discovering that i'll have to say goodbye to some of them as well, it's almost becoming too much for me.

deep down i think one of the reasons i'm having a bit of a hard time right now is because of my financial situation. i'm coming back to the states because there aren't enough resources in my account. because i have had a low monthly allowance for the past 2 years, i'll be moving to chicago and trying to start over there with no savings. as i'm thinking of leaving things behind here, i'm realizing that i won't have the funds to replace them in the states. i feel like i'm being very wasteful to leave things behind when i don't have money to buy them again. constantly rebuilding a household seems like a very poor way to spend the funds Father has entrusted to me, and yet this is the task i'm facing. i brought over a few small kitchen appliances, and i'm questioning whether or not to bring them back with me. i've had a waffle iron for a few years and wonder if i should try to fit it in my suitcase or just leave it behind. what about the mini food processor i received as a gift just a couple of years ago? i would have left all of these things in storage at my parents' house if i had known i would be returning to the states right now.

and then there's the question of my clothes and shoes. i'm always very careful to only buy things on sale. in fact all of the clothes i have here now are items i bought on sale, at thrift stores, or had given to me. yet i feel terrible leaving clothes behind if they are still wearable. even if i only paid a few dollars for each item, i feel that it is worth more than that. once again i feel wasteful if i leave things behind that are still wearable. i can take comfort in knowing that there are friends here who will really appreciate the things i give them, but it's still hard for me.

i need to daily remind myself of psalm 34:10 - even strong young lions my grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lrd lack no good thing. he provided these good things for me before, and he can surprise me again if he chooses.
also i'll remember john 10:10 - I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. i want abundant life that isn't wrapped up in the "things" in my suitcase!

things i'll miss

i've been packing up my physical things here in mongolia for a couple of weeks now. i like to get an early start when i am moving so that i can just enjoy being with people instead of being in a frenzy of packing and sorting in the last few days before i leave. i'm not always so good at packing up emotionally before i go, but this time i'm trying to be more intentional in that way. so here's to emotional "packing" and a list of a few of the things i'll miss about mongolia. i promise more lists to come. (this is for my own benefit more than anyone else's, so that i can look back at this blog later and remember good times. hehe)

i will miss:
*the smell of mutton that seeps into every piece of money and wafts from my wallet when i open it
*the fact that i can buy a piece of gum, weigh myself with an old scale, or choose just the right banana from a vendor on nearly every street corner if i want to
*the feeling of success i have when i can communicate exactly what i need from a shop clerk
*the view of fresh snow on the mountains in may followed the next day by perfect sunny weather
*cheap taxis everywhere
*the game my friend muugii plays when she comes over (covers the peephole on my door, so i can't see out, but i know it's her!)
*knowing that my friend melanie and her sweet family are just a few hours away
*singing in mongolian on sunday afternoons

dancing

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

last sunday evening i went to a play with a few friends. while we were waiting for the play to start we found this ballroom with live music and dancing. one man asked me to dance, and how could i say no? :) clearly i have no idea what i am doing. hehe

graduation humanities university

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

teachers during the graduation ceremony. l-r dogii, eegimaa, naraa, tseegii