ice skating and skating with words

saturday night some friends and i went ice skating in our neighborhood. there are ice skating rinks set up all over the city, and it's about 80 cents to rent skates and use the ice for an hour. i learned yesterday that it isn't really possible to stay on the ice for a full hour without having my face get nearly covered with a thin layer of ice. there are little shacks by the rinks where a person gets skates and should also come in to warm up every 20 minutes or so. i've learned my lesson and will definitely take advantage of the little wood stove next time i go skating. my goal is to go once a week for the rest of the winter.

this morning i had to tell a friend that i won't be attending her cell group. the day and location of her meeting don't really work for my schedule. not to mention that she speaks no english, and i don't speak enough mongolian to really be a fully functioning member of her group. at first she seemed ok with it but then she started lecturing me. this was rather difficult for me to take on several levels. i felt like a person who was trying to ice skate for the first time and couldn't seem to find her balance. thankfully i was able to talk with another friend about the situation and was assured that i am free to make my own decisions and she shouldn't have been pressuring me. even so, i don't know how much of my sense of being out of balance was solely based on language and how much of it is just different personalities and cultures.

here's to skating all winter! hopefully i will skate more in the literal sense than in my communications with friends. :)

christmas pictures

this year was my second ever christmas away from my family. even so i was blessed to spend christmas with my friend melanie's family, and they are becoming more and more like family for me here. her kids are 3 of the most adorable kids i've ever seen, and their sweet playful personalities make them so much fun to spend time with. here are a few pictures for you to enjoy:

it's officially winter here

how can i be so sure that it is winter?

because my eyelashes froze on the way to school this morning!!!!!! as you can see my hair froze, too.

thanksgiving

i have so many reasons to be thankful this year. perhaps one of the biggest reasons is that i could spend the past two weeks with my family in kentucky. it was SUCH a blessing to celebrate my sister's wedding, thanksgiving, and early christmas with them. here are a few specific things i am thankful for from my trip to the states:

* lacey and john's wedding was on saturday the 17th. my flight arrived late on wednesday night the 14th, and i had been nervous about feeling the effects of the long plane ride and jet lag. before i left mongolia i asked several people to ask the Father to give me extra room on the way over, so i could stretch out a bit and hopefully get some rest. not only did he give me extra room on the way to kentucky, but he gave me extra room on the way back to mongolia as well! the extra 5 inches of "economy plus" make a huge difference. :)

*lacey and john's wedding day was beautiful. their relationship is a beautiful testimony of how the Father can bring two people together when their hearts are set on him. my sister was glowing all day, and i have rarely seen a groom who adores his bride more than my new brother loves my sister. :) here they are after the ceremony:


*our family has 5 girls and a baby brother. john's family has 5 boys and a baby sister. this made the choice of bridesmaids and groomsmen a no brainer. it was a joy to be in a wedding with my sisters. and i think there will never be a more beautiful and well-matched bridal party - if i do say so myself. you can decide for yourself though:


*our family lives about an hour north of nashville, tn. every year the opryland hotel there does an amazing christmas light display. it is a holiday season tradition for us to go and look at the lights. we were able to do it this year on the friday after thanksgiving. even though the lights are almost the same every year, i still love to see them. just like thanksgiving without turkey isn't quite thanksgiving, the christmas season without seeing the lights at the opryland hotel isn't quite christmas for me. i was so blessed to go with my family this year. here we are minus lacey and john. (they were probably on the beach in hawaii at the time we took this picture, so i doubt they really missed seeing the lights. hehe):

wha? wednesday? wedding?

can it really be that i am flying to america on wednesday and my younger sister is getting married on saturday??????
here are some things i'm looking forward to in the next 2 1/2 weeks - in no particular order.
*hugging my family
*kissing my family
*seeing lacey in her wedding dress and getting to be there for the big day
(ok those three are definitely the top things in the list, the rest are in no particular order)
*starbucks at the airport in beijing
*shopping in stores where there is more than one size of each piece of clothing
*zaxby's, pf chang's, and panera
*grass
*driving
*country music radio stations
*seeing extended family at the wedding
*barnes & noble
*slightly warmer weather
*THANKSGIVING DINNER WITH MY FAM (ok so this one should be one of the top of the list!)

now for a few things that i'll miss from mongolia.
*sunday morning fellowship and singing
*my kitten
*learning new ways to communicate everyday
*my teammates, fellow students, and teacher

fall back

mongolia chose not to do daylight savings time this year, so we didn't "fall back". however i'm suddenly wishing that i could fall back to about age 7. i remember my 7th birthday very clearly. i had a party in our yard and lots of my friends came. i wore a new dress and felt like a princess. all that mattered was making a good wish and blowing out the candles on my cake.

fast forward to my life today. i just had one of the most painful conversations of my life with a friend here. earlier today i was challenged to be "the bucket" in the Father's well. basically i need to realize that he has all the resources i need for life and ministry, and i am only able to scoop them up and use them for the good of those around me. a few hours ago i was wishing someone else was nearby with their bucket to pour it over me. what resources did i need? courage, grace, mercy, love, gentleness, patience, humility, forgiveness, and more love - because it is the best resource of all.

i am challenged to look for the people around me who need a good wash with the Father's resources.

peek-a-boo

muji disappeared on me this morning and this is where i found him.

muji's water fountain

muji's favorite spot

can you see that this cat is the perfect pet for me? he loves alistair (my computer) almost as much as i do. hehe

g12 conference

this weekend was probably the best one i've had since i got to mongolia. i traveled to darhan with my teammate, andrea. darhan is my old hometown in mongolia, so it was a relief to be there and know exactly where to find things. darhan has about a tenth of the population of ub, so it is also very peaceful there. the lack of people also means a lack of pollution, so i could actually breathe this weekend. :)
all of those things aside though, it was the g12 (ch. small group) conference that made this the best weekend yet. i was able to sing with hundreds of mongolian brothers and sisters - there is nothing sweeter to me than joining them as we praise our father.

here's a video of us singing. do you recognize the song? it's been translated into mongolian but the first two words of the chorus are in english. can you hear us sing "rain down"? :)


next to singing, the highlight of the weekend was building relationships that help me feel more like i belong to a family here. a few weeks ago i was invited to a g12, and the girls were so sweet. a few of them were at the conference and invited to have dinner with them on friday night. here we are at "santain cafe". it's a favorite of students in darhan, and i used to eat here when i lived in darhan 5 years ago. :)

new places and people

yesterday was the kind of saturday that makes life in a city so much
fun. my teammate, andrea, and i went for a walk to a part of the
city neither of us had ever explored before. we were looking for a
russian market that apparently doesn't exist any more, but it was a
beautiful day and we enjoyed people watching along the way. we
stopped at a few places on the way that seemed interesting - one of
the nicest hotels in town, the mongolian ministry of defense, a
fabulous cooking store, etc. it felt good to be able to wander and
have nowhere i HAD to be.

then we decided to sit for a while in the big square in the middle of
town. not long after we parked ourselves, a 6th grade class
descended upon us to practice their english. we were surrounded by
smiling, laughing kids who asked us where we were from, if we had
husbands or kids, and most importantly if we knew kobe bryant (the
basketball player) or anyone in hollywood. hehehe they reminded my
why i fell in love with mongolia in the first place. the kids here
are so much fun, and i can't resist those sweet smiles.

next we stopped for "coffee" and a look through the mongolian lonely
planet guidebook to plan future weekend adventures. then it was off
to a restaurant called "millie's espresso" that is a popular place
for foreigners. andrea and i were going to meet a girl that i had
just met through facebook. i never cease to be amazed when social
networking websites like that actually result in a face to face
meeting - even though it's never happened before for me.

anyway, in typical mongolian fashion, millie's was closed by 7 on
saturday night. sheesh, didn't they know that us 3 foreigners wanted
to meet and eat there? haha so we decided to meet at another place
called "ub delicatessen" that is also popular with foreigners. now
for those of you who don't know much about traditional mongolian
food, i'll give you one word that sums it all up: MUTTON. there is a
reason why a few places are more popular with us foreigners than
others. no mutton on the menu. :)

we all enjoyed our non-mutton meals and the chance to connect with
someone new. andrea and i had a good time walking home and
experiencing the city with the faint glow of a few streetlights. it
felt good to spend the whole day outside of my apartment. i need to
have more days like that where i make myself a part of the city.
here's to more adventures!

my new living room

i got a couch and a bookshelf and did a bit more decorating, so here's what my place looks like now. i would have never chosen this couch in the states, but for what the other choices are here, i think i got a good one. :) i saw a similar one at the market with tiger print on the back - just to give you an idea. hehe

ps notice my pig placemats in the first picture. don't they make you smile? :)

big burger

fast food is making it's way to mongolia. doesn't that picture in the middle look strangely familiar?
not that this place called "big burger" is exactly like a similiar restaurant in the states. the newest additions to the menu were "noodle soup with egg or noodle soup with shrimp" :)

my view this morning

ah yes, october in mongolia. where the first snow happens before the first week has passed. a couple of days ago i was wearing a tank top. this morning i saw snow on the rooftops when i woke up.

who needs a hat?

in case i find that my head needs a little extra heat in the winter i know now what to do.

sunday in mongolia

i am so unworthy of the love bestowed on me by the creator of the universe. when i feel lonely and sad and even heartbroken, he knows just what i need to bring a smile to my face and remind me how much he loves me.

he gives me unexpected encounters with old friends and lots of hugs at ch. from new friends.

he led me to the funniest placemats i've ever seen and at a reasonable enough price that they are now sitting on my table and making me smile every time i walk past.

he gave me a sweet kitten who is currently sitting on my lap and purring happily as he watches me type.

he reminded me in ch. today that i am living the life i've dreamed of for the past 5 years. i actually started crying as that realization really sank in. he has brought me back to mongolia, and i actually LIVE here. i'm not just here for the summer or for a few months. i'm going to live here for at least the next 4 years!

and even when i haven't been making a lot of room for him in my life, he has been patiently waiting for me to look up and see him working out all the little details - like friends and placemats and kittens.

i say with david: i will boast only in the lord. let all who are discouraged take heart.

feeling heavy

this week was filled with heavy stories about life in mongolia. my classmates and i somehow began talking about the many scams that people try to pull on each other here. the desire to go to america is so strong for some that they will give all their savings for an american visa only to have the company that promised them the visa turn out to be a scam. they never get the visa, and their money is long gone. others have it even worse, especially if they are young and beautiful. you can guess what kind of scams get pulled on them, but just in case you can't, i'll tell you that one of the words i learned this week is the mongolian word for pr*stitute. my heart breaks knowing the desperation for a better life and how easy it is for evil people to prey on those with such strong hope.
my life has been so easy compared to what most of the people around me have lived. even so, i've had disappointments and my heart has been broken a few times. i often find "hope" to be one of the hardest words for me to maintain in my own vocabulary. how much more difficult it is for the mongolian people to hold on to hope! please join me in asking the Giver of Hope to fill this land with his glory and provide reasons for the people to have what only he can give.

a cause for celebration

ok a few causes for celebration.
#1 i just downloaded david crowder band's new album. yipeeeeeee! i love itunes. it is quite amazing to be here in mongolia and be able to get new music as soon as it is available. and of course, the music itself is amazing.

#2 i have a flight reserved to come to the states for my sister lacey's wedding! i have such an incredible family, and i can't wait to see them. and of course, i can't wait for lacey's wedding. she will be such a gorgeous bride.

#3 i just picked up my phone and called "mongol cowboys meat". they will soon be delivering some chicken breasts, ground beef, and various other things. not only is it fabulous that they are bringing it to me, but i didn't have to go to a market and stare down a cow's head sitting on the table next to me as i tried to purchase ground beef. and of course, it is always easier to eat meat when i haven't been so recently reminded that it used to be a living animal. hehe

a few random shots

forget red bull. in mongolia everything, and i mean everything, is better if it's named after mongolia's most famous citizen. check out the small print at the bottom of the can. sweet!



this is the "nomin" supermarket where i do most of my shopping. there are two aisles dedicated to vodka, one aisle dedicated to preserved polish relishes, and no baking powder to be found anywhere!



the front of my apartment building. i walk up the first set of stairs, and my apartment is on the second floor facing out on the other side.

the vet

i took muji to "vet net" today. vet net is an organization that
works to shine Light in mongolia by both training mongolian vets and
bringing in visiting american doctors from time to time. muji was
seen today by a visiting american doctor, and i'm so thankful that i
was able to talk to a doctor in english. my mongolian is slowly
improving, but i certainly haven't learned veterinary vocabulary yet.
hehe anyway, the doctor gave him some worm medicine and told me to
feed him red meat. i promptly bought some ground beef, and muji ate
it right up. yay!!!! i'm really hoping that soon i won't be able to
feel his backbone and ribs when i pick him up.

in other good news, i now have a working stove and oven! some of you
know that i've been having a hard time not being able to bake. well,
i think i'll get up early tomorrow and make myself a batch of
biscuits for breakfast. muji can eat his ground beef, but i'll take
biscuits any day!

yesterday was one of "those" days when i felt like everything about
mongolia was out to get me to make me frustrated. today was one of
"those" days when i couldn't stop counting my blessings and saw
little reminders of my Father's love for me everywhere i went. He is
always so good to me. Ps 34:10 says that those who seek him lack no
good thing. i am forever reminded of this truth. :)

school mates and a tour of gandan

last friday some of my teammates and i took a tour of the main buddhist monastery in ub. it was hard to be there and feel the darkness like a tangible weight on my shoulders. there is such a deep, deep need for the Light of the World to shine here and be known by the mongolian people.
here's a pic of my school mates in one of the classrooms. pretty sweet to study while relaxing on a couch, eh?

here are a few pictures of the monastery. i think they are pretty self explanatory. the huge golden buddha in the fouth picture is inside the tall white temple in the third picture.

another week gone by

i have now completed 2 weeks and 1 day of language school. at this point i feel like all i knew before is coming back to me in jumbled bits and all the new stuff i'm learning is getting mixed into the rather jumbled mess. kind of like the coleslaw i made a few minutes ago. i'm just hoping that as coleslaw gets better with some time for all the flavors to mix, my language skills will do the same. :)
temujin is having a hard time adjusting to life in my apartment. he's barely eating anything, so i'm taking him to the vet tomorrow. i hope he isn't really ill and he'll perk up soon. last night he had a rather unfortunate adventure in the bathroom. i went to sleep and then heard him whining a while later. somehow he had fallen into the toilet! i wasn't laughing at the time, since i had to retrieve him, wash him, and dry him sometime around midnight. nonetheless it is pretty funny now!
i'll include a few pictures of him here for your enjoyment. obviously i didn't get any of him last night since i was too busy getting him out of his improvised swimming pool. hehe

temujin

today i welcomed a sweet, furry roommate. his name is temujin, and i'll call him muji for short. temujin was genghis khan's name before he became "genghis". i figure that i couldn't pick a more mongolian name than that.
here he is:

hike to zaisan

on saturday my teammate andrea and i hiked to a memorial called zaisan. it is the best place to get a view of the whole city. there is also a new buddha at the base of the hill where the memorial is. it wasn't there two years ago when i visited mongolia. it was really odd to see it there and to observe the mongolians who were visiting it. there seemed to be very little sense of reverence or anything even remotely devotional in the way people behaved in its presence.

this is a view of the buddha from the left side at the top of zaisan. can you see it in the middle of the picture?
another view of the city from the right side at the top of zaisan
andrea and me

another week in mongolia

it's been about a week since i posted, and a good week it was. :) my teammates and i spent some time at a hotel just outside the city. it was SO good to wake up every morning and look out the window to see mountains. i went for a hike one day and got some gorgeous views. maybe these pictures will give you a slight idea of the beauty i saw.....and maybe they will tempt you to come visit me sometime in the next four years. :)

test

i just changed my settings to see if i can publish to my blog from
email. did it work?

mongolian birthday party

my birthday was on saturday. i celebrated with some of my new teammates. here we are:

mongolian culture show

several members of my team attended a mongolian culture show on friday night. here are a few pictures of the dancers and singers. mongolians are very proud of their traditional music, so it is great to see young people continuing to learn the old songs. and i love fashion, so it was fun for me to see all the costumes. maybe someday i get an outfit like the girls in the orchestra. :)

where am i?

is this really mongolia? these apartments totally remind me of florida with their tiled roofs and mini yards.


lest you disbelieve that the former apartments really are in mongolia, just look at these horses in the middle of the city. if you look to the far right background you can see the tile roofed apartments.

shopping

shopping is going well. i'm beginning to feel a lot more settled. still have a few more things to get, but overall it's going well. i am really liking my teammates and look forward to working with them.
here are a few pix of my apartment:

in mongolia

i arrived in ulaanbaatar (ub) earlier today. i went on an unpacking "rampage" and got as settled into my apartment as i can until i can go shopping and pick up some more things. i'll take pix as soon as i can and upload them here when i get a chance. the really good news is that i should be able to have high speed internet in my apartment, but the not so good news is that i don't know when that will actually happen. let's hope sooner rather than later. :)
love and miss you all!
~amanda

palm springs

i just spent a week in palm springs california for training. it was great to meet my teammates and fellow teachers going to various places in asia. it was awesome to spend time getting to know more about the organization i'm going with. they really have a clear vision for how the father wants to change the lives of university students in asia. i can't wait to meet my own students in mongolia. i'll be in language school for a year and a half though, so it'll be a while before i'm standing in front of a room full of students. here are a few pictures of my time in palm springs for you to enjoy!
1. the view from my hotel room
2. in palm springs
3. with my teammates
4. with my dear friend marynn who came to visit