a few updates

Hi all,

Hope you enjoy the Naadam photos, it was a great cultural weekend for me! Our town had been preparing for weeks and I was surprised how quickly our new stadium was finished, and how bright the town turned with fresh paint... mot of which faded in a day. At our city square several concerts and Mongolian pop stars performed, people set off Chinese lanterns and there were firework displays both Friday and Saturday night.

At the Stadium, which is about 5km outside of the city, visitors set up their gers, a few kid carnival rides, food stands selling husher (mutton filled fried bread) other meat kabobs, and aiirag (fermented mares milk). Horses, people and drunk men were everywhere. Wrestling, which is the biggest sport took place both days inside the stadium, horses races took place both days as well and the finish line was in the field next to the stadium. Archery also took place outside the stadium.

My host mom had taken me to get fitted for my Mongolian Deel (the blue dress i'm wearing) the week before, which is the traditional dress for celebrations, and what I  like many others wore for the opening day (friday).

Things are going well for me, it's crunch time now as I prepare for my final language assessment and finish up with my practicum. Time has flown by and it's hard to believe i'll be swearing in in a few short weeks.

This past week was hectic as I had to prepare and teach my first English class for community members. It went really well but we only had 7 students. PC encourages us to teach English throughout our service.

Hope all is well with you all,
Miss you!
Gracie