christmas in mongolia

in case you are wondering how i spent my christmas day here, i'll give you a little overview. it was nothing like the way i usually spend christmas, but i was joyful and remembering the Reason even so. i woke up and called my family. they had sent a christmas package that i received last week. i hadn't open the individual presents, so i waited until i could be on the phone with them when i opened them. it was fun to be able to thank them immediately and wish them a merry christmas. my sisters gave me "a charlie brown christmas" on dvd, so i watched that later in the day when my friend, muugii, came over.

every thursday muugii comes to my house so we can read the Book together in mongolian. since yesterday was christmas, we read luke 2 and matthew 2. it's really fun for me to be able to read these two chapters in mongolian, because the story is so familiar to me that i understand almost everything i'm reading. :)

muugii had an exam at 1, so she left earlier than usual. i called jimmy on skype and we wished each other merry christmas and then watched "the polar express". we will see each other in about two weeks, so we'll exchange gifts then. :) when the movie was finished it was time to teach. i headed to school and had fun teaching my students a little bit about christmas. we sang "the twelve days of christmas" and i was able to tell them that the reason we exchange gifts at christmas is to remember the gift the Father gave to us. it's exciting that at this point in the year they understand me well enough that i think most of them really "got it". :)

i had to teach another class at 7:20, but i had enough time to go out for a bit. i bought myself a little christmas present and then decided to find something yummy to eat for dinner. there's a restaurant called "banana mala" that has always intrigued me because it claims to serve "malaysian, singapore, thai, and chinese food". i decided to check it out and was thrilled to have some delicious "tom yam" thai chicken soup. if i can't have turkey and all the trimmings with my family on christmas day, then thai food is definitely what i'd choose to have instead. :) here's a picture of me and a picture of my lovely dinner.