Category Archives: Altai City
Some Mongolian Customs
The following list of Mongolian customs are compiled with the help of our friends: Nara, Ugi, Usukh, Tsagaantsooj, Uyangaa, and Priscilla. Thanks guys, and we miss you!!! Ovoos are mounds of stones and wood found on hilltops in the Mongolian … Continue reading
National Center Against Violence (NCAV)
We have been helping the National Center Against Violence (NCAV), a wonderful NGO, and the first women’s and children’s shelter in Mongolia. They are in dire need of public funding, since the Mongolian government and businesses, contribute very little to … Continue reading
A Country Naadam, Part IV: Let the Games Begin!
After the opening ceremonies, we bounced outside of Altai City, in a dust veiled procession of ‘machines’, with our student, Cassandra, and her family, to watch the horse races. A handful of bumpy miles later, we pulled up to a … Continue reading
A Country Naadam, Part III: Pre-Naadam Show
Naadam started on a patriotic note, as a small army blocked off Janchiv Square, while flowers were laid at the giant statue’s boots to honor his short heroic life. A silken tide of deels pressed against the sinewy curtain of … Continue reading
A Country Naadam, Part II: Happy Birthday Altai City!
Once my students learned of my interest in Mongolian wrestling, they walked me to the hanger-sized Altai City Sports Center, and introduced me to the local wrestlers. Even though they were preparing for Naadam, a handful of days away, they … Continue reading
A Country Naadam, Part I: Happenstance
It was pure happenstance that we experienced our first country Naadam, way out in left-field of the Mongolian Gobi. A day after enjoying UB’s Naadam, and just five days after arriving in Mongolia, we rushed out to Altai City, to … Continue reading
Altai Naadam Wrestling Scandal
Wrestler With Dust by M. Orgil & Thantcyn Nyan Wrestlers B.Joronzonbold (in red top), ranked Elephant, and D.Lhagvadorj (in blue top), ranked Falcon, made it to the 7th level of the wrestling competition, for the 70 year anniversary of Gov-Altai. … Continue reading
Our Typical Altai City School Day
7:45 Our phone alarm goes off a second time! We grumpily dress, brush our teeth, and wash our face with bottled water. There’s no running water at the Birj. We attempt to approach the squat toilet, IF we can’t … Continue reading
Teaching Altai City: Broken Promises
After unloading at Altai’s remote ‘Dragon Center’ we worried how we would find our employer when our call went directly to his voicemail. However, our slack-jawed annoyance was soon interrupted by a shining white sedan in a thundering hip-hop dust … Continue reading
Steppe Into The Gobi: The Odyssey, Part II
Night brought a thirty degree drop in temperature, which I was ill prepared for in my tank-top, and my warm fleece buried beneath a ton of luggage. Courtney fared not much better, with a light pashmina wrapped around her cotton … Continue reading