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

chingiss khan

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

this is the closest i've ever been allowed to this statue, so i was not going to pass up this photo opportunity.

other teachers

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

here are some of the other teachers. suvdaa in white, aagimaa in black, kirsty in green.

sisters

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

after the ceremony with sisters nasaa and nyamka

in the square

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

in sukhbaatar square with some of the students who graduated

the bus

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

it says: graduate school 4th graduation. we all rode in 2 buses like this to the restaurant for dinner.

on the bus

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

the students gave all the teachers these roses

graduation dinner

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

with undraa. i loved her dress. :)

graduation dinner

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

with uyanga, what a cutie!

graduation dinner

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

with sisters tuya and onoo at the graduation dinner

mango juice house

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

this is real fresh fruit brought in weekly from thailand and the philippines. i bought mangosteens to share with my teammates who had never tasted them before. what a fun treat in mongolia!

cafe amsterdam

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

this place has really great sandwiches. the bread is perfectly chewy in the middle and has an amazing crunchy crust. mmmmm, mmmmmm.

ice cream sandwiches

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

this is the first time i've seen ice cream sandwiches in mongolia. yummmyyyy!

spring picture

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

my friend muugii and me on one of the first warm days of spring.

mongolia shabu

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

we had our team meeting at a new hot pot restaurant near the elic office. it was fun to do something new for a change. and the best part is 3 people ate for a total of $9!

coffee empire

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

this is a new coffee shop in ub that is the closest to an american style coffee shop i've seen yet. their caramel macchiato is delish!

decisions, decisions

wow, sorry it's been a month since i last posted. i'm sure you are curious about what i'll be doing next school year, since i was undecided when i wrote last month. without further ado, here's the plan:

i'll be returning to the states and moving to chicago.

of course i am sad to leave mongolia after just 2 years, but i'm also excited about what lies ahead. my boyfriend lives in chicago, and i'm planning on finding an apartment near him. we are looking forward to seeing each other on a day to day basis in person instead of on skype. :)

i've sent my resume to a few places that need ESL teachers, so i'm hoping to hear from some of them soon. i think i'll check the online job postings every week until i return and hopefully i'll have some interviews lined up in chicago when i get back. it would be ideal if i could work enough hours for one company to survive financially, but i'm willing to teach a few hours for a few different companies if that's what it takes.

i have a little over a month here in mongolia, and i'm busy finishing up my teaching responsibilities, packing up my apartment, and trying to spend as much time with friends as possible. there are days when i feel panicked about everything to do and other days when i realize i just need to live in the moment and enjoy the time i have here. any of you who have moved to another country, surely know how i'm feeling! :)

well, one of those teaching duties is calling my name, so i'd better get to it. i have several writing assignments to grade, and they take a lot of time, which explains why i've been putting them off. hehe

feeling frozen

no, not physically since it's starting to warm up here. rather i feel frozen mentally in a state of unknowing. on march 31st i'll have to decide what to do about next school year. right now i have two basic options. option 1 is to come back to mongolia for another year. option 2 is to return to the states and move to chicago to be near my boyfriend. i am realizing that if the decision were just up to me, i would have picked 2 long ago. but i feel like i need to wait a few more days to see if there is any major movement in my elic financial account that would be Father's way of telling me to stay in mongolia. as things stand right now, i have too much of a deficit to return. even so, i've been given the 31st as a deadline, so i feel like i need to wait until then to say for sure what i'll be doing this august. Father knows what i'll be doing, and i have to seek him. Will you join me in asking for his best?

elic website update

Hello!
I have some exciting news about the ELIC website. It's recently been revamped and has two new features that might be interesting to you.
First, they've made a way that you can give a completely secure gift online. If you feel led to give to my account, here's the link:
http://www.elic.org/Content.aspx?content_id=131029&site_id=10332

Second, they've added lots of pictures from current ELIC teachers. Here's the link to the pictures of Mongolia where you'll see one of me with some other teachers on New Year's Eve. :)
http://www.elic.org/Photo.aspx?site_id=10332&photo_id=146954

I hope you are having a good week. Thanks to all of you who are lifting me up as I seek the Father's best for next school year.
Love,
Amanda

life with an infant

....or something like it.
every once in a while my cat, muji, decides that he wants to spend his night in much the same way a human infant spends the night - not sleeping. unfortunately last night was one of those nights and this morning hasn't proved any better. i went to bed just after 12 and was still awake an hour later because he was playing with something on my bed, chewing on my plants, and knocking things off the tops of my bookshelves. i finally grabbed him and pulled him in bed with me under the covers. he made his way down to my feet and sat there purring for a few minutes before making his way back out into wild freedom. it's times like that when i wish i had a bedroom instead of a one room apartment, since there is no where i can put him where he won't disturb me on nights like that. the part that is the most annoying though is that he woke up before 7 this morning in much the same mood and he's still chasing things all over the house with only intermittent breaks to come and play next to me on the bed. it's lucky for him that he's so cute or else he might have had a cold night on the balcony! :)

urgent update

i sent this email out earlier today and thought i'd also post it here for those of you who aren't on my email list.

Hello Friends,
How are you? Is spring starting to reawaken the life inside you the way it is reawakening me here in Mongolia? Today I went out without my heavy winter boots and coat and loved how much easier it was to walk without that extra weight. :)

Unfortunately, I've been carrying around some other weight on my shoulders for a while and it doesn't seem to be lightening with spring's approach. My ELIC financial account has had a large deficit for a few months now, but i just kept trying to tell myself not to worry about it. I've always had faith that if the Father wants me here in Mongolia, He'll provide everything I need in order to do the work He's called me to. It's such a privilege to serve Him here by investing in students' lives, being part of the local fellowship, and shining his light wherever I go. It would be a joy to be able to serve here again next fall, but now it's looking like that might not be a possibility.

My ELIC account has had a growing deficit throughout this school year, and I haven't focused on that very much in my communication with you. I was trusting that the Father knew about the deficit and would provide for it in his timing. It seems that the time has come now for me to specifically tell you about it. In fact, if my account balance hasn't risen significantly by March 31st, ELIC leaders and I will have to seriously look at me not being able to return to teach in August.

Please join me in lifting up my financial account and the decisions I'll have to be making in the next few weeks. Here are some specifics to lift up:
1. My account has a current deficit of close to $9,2000. This deficit needs to be much closer to $0 before March 31st if I'm able to consider coming back to Mongolia in August.

2. Next fall I'll have the opportunity to be part of a new teaching program that I'm really excited about. This program will give me the chance to invest in a whole new batch of students - secondary school English teachers. Isn't it exciting to consider that the truth and love I share with my students would then be passed on to their own students?

3. I'm seeking the Father's will and asking that He will make it very clear to me and everyone else - including you. I know He's going to provide my needs, if He wants me in Mongolia. If He's leading you to help provide some of these needs and you want to send a gift to my account, my number is Y62 and the address is:
(if you want the address, send me a message, and i'll get it to you. i don't think i should post it here on the web.)

Thanks so much for all the ways you've supported and encouraged me here. I have felt your love and care daily.
Trusting Him,
Amanda

saved by the...

lack of electricity

yesterday i had to teach two evening classes but i really wasn't feeling well. i had the beginnings of a head cold that was making me feel kind of dizzy and hitting me with random nose runniness. all i wanted was to come home early instead of teaching. just a few minutes into the first class, the electricity went out at school. we worked until it was too dark to see, and then i went home. it's it amazing how the Father takes care of me even in such an unexpected way. :)

tiny muji

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Originally uploaded by mongolmanda

i found this old video of muji when he was just a little kitten. he was so cute i just can't resist sharing it with you. :)

tsagaan sar

today was the first day of the mongolian lunar new year. here it's called "tsagaan sar" which means "white moon". it's a three day holiday when people visit family and honor their elders. i had the privilege of going to my friend's grandma's today. we ate mongolian potato salad, mongolian meat dumplings, and some roasted sheep meat. tsagaan sar is usually a time when people are forced to eat dumpling after dumpling after dumpling. thankfully today there were many people visiting at the same time, so i was able to get away with only one dumpling. it was tasty, but i'm still thankful it was only one. :)

here's the roasted sheep rump sitting on the table.



this is called "ul boov" and it's a stack of bread like things called "boov". it has sugar cubes, nuts, mongolian butter stuff, and cheese curds on it. families put this on their table for the 3 days of tsagaan sar, and the number of layers shows how respected the family is. (at least that's how my mongolian teacher explained it to me, but it's very possible that i'm missing part of the explanation) it's always an odd number of layers. i thought that no one eats any of the sugar or nuts until after the 3 days of the holiday, but today some of the kids were allowed to eat things. i have a feeling the exception was just because they are so cute. :)

conference time

i asked you to be thinking of me and my fellow teachers during our conference. thanks so much for lifting us up. it was a great time of singing together, hearing 2 guests teach us from the Word, and spending time with other teachers. i didn't hear of anyone getting food poisoning, so thanks for thinking about us in that way.


this is my fabulous teammate aleta with me at the hotel where we have our conference.


the hotel is the tall white hotel directly behind the smaller white hotel with the green roof. the conference hotel is about 2 steps away from the chiang mai night bazaar and 2 blocks from the most delicious banana roti in town. :)


the hotel has an open air terrace on the fourth floor where we had dinner every evening. i loved watching the sunset over the mountains as i finished my dessert.


on my last day in thailand i went to starbucks and discovered this - a coffee jelly frappucino. it's a very, very good thing that i didn't know about it earlier in my time there or else i would have probably wanted one every day!

first few days in chiang mai

we took a rather luxurious bus from bangkok to chiang mai. chiang mai is about 9 hours north of bangkok, so we had plenty of time to enjoy the scenery from our perch on the top level of the bus.


there's a peaceful little cafe called the bird's next near the guesthouse where we stayed. they had fresh yogurt, homemade muesli, and fresh fruit for breakfast. yummy! i just had to take a picture because it's so beautiful.


in many parts of asia "squatty potties" are the norm, so i guess some people have been confused with western style toilets. haha

scenes of bangkok

the grand palace in bangkok. my sisters said this looks like it could be in disneyworld. i think they have a good point. :)



i have some amazing news about my ankle. i only have a partially torn ligament, and it doesn't need surgery. :) instead i just did a week of physical therapy at an incredible hospital in bangkok. these are the pants i had to wear every day during the therapy sessions.


i love all the bright colors of bangkok traffic.

bangkok, january 09

i apologize for such a long delay since my last post. i kind of left you hanging and you may be wondering if i made it back from thailand. :) well i'm happy to say that i made it back and had a fabulous time. i took a couple hundred pictures, but i'll just share a few of them with you here.

here is my boyfriend, jim, and me in seoul, korea. he lives in chicago, so we don't get to see each other during the semester. but...he was able to take a few weeks off work to meet me in thailand, and we were really happy to see each other. we both had a long layover in seoul, so we went into the city for the day.


this is my favorite teashop in seoul. i have always gone there when i've been in seoul, and it was a real treat to go there with jimmy. :)

going to thailand

tomorrow evening i will get on a plane headed to thailand. first i'll stop for the night in seoul, korea. i decided to use my frequent flier miles to book at room at a nice hotel near the airport. last year korean air put me up in this same hotel for free and it was one of the best nights of sleep i had all year. even though my bed here is great, i'm looking forward to that lovely soft bed there.

but that's not what i'm looking forward to the most. i'm looking forward to friday at 6am when jimmy's plane arrives in seoul!!!! i'll be waiting for him at the airport and we'll spend the day in korea together before getting on separate planes (sheesh, how annoying. haha) to reach our next destination - bangkok, thailand.

i'm looking forward to the next month but there is also some nervousness for me. on monday, january 12, i'll be seeing an orthopedic surgeon about my ankle. i have a pretty strong feeling that i'll have to have surgery to repair the damage from an old fracture and constant walking in mongolia. please be thinking about me and asking that the doctors i see will have wisdom in knowing the best course of action.

ok, one other thing to be thinking of with me is our conference from jan 28-feb 5. there will be a lot of opportunities for us teachers to hear from the Father, and i'm asking that we will all be ready to hear from him. also there is always a lot of food poisoning and other illnesses that seem to affect a good percentage of the teachers. please ask that we will all be healthy and have safe travels. thanks!

well, i'm headed to bed now and in some ways it feels like i'm a kid on christmas eve. :) i'll write again after i return from my adventures.