An afternoon at the beach

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, May 29, 2010

It was a colleague's daughter's birthday party today held at the Hotel Mongolia resort. The buildings are lovely and the site is built along the Tuul river about 10 miles (16 km) outside of UB.

I've never really thought of a river as having a "beach", but it really was a lovely beach party. No doubt my lack of imagination on that score is due to growing up on lake and ocean beaches.

A was ready to jump in and go swimming in her party dress, but somehow I persuaded her to be content with going in up to her knees.

Penny arcade

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Thursday, May 27, 2010

The topic in today's math class was "expected value", which is the number you should expect to win or lose from a game of chance--or other probability-related situations. So, I set the room up as a "penny arcade"--or game hall--for the class. Students were required to make a simple game of chance and decide on the cost and payout levels for their games.

For atmosphere, I played carousel music from Youtube and made some popcorn. Fortunes and an M & M jar guess were also available. Sample fortune: "You have a strange fascination with the number π..."

Tomorrow we will dissect the probabilities behind the games and assess why we lost (or made) money.

Below: A game ("Riot!") designed by one of my students

Hop, step, jump

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Tuesday, May 25, 2010

A shout-out to the wonderful people who work at A's pre-school. This evening was the year-end performance for the school before summer holidays begin. There were ballerinas, tae kwan do experts, song-and-dance numbers and, finally, the Mongolian National Anthem.

I work with teenagers for a living--and love it--but organizing 2-, 3- and 4-year olds for an hour-long performance sounds like REALLY hard work.

Bayarlalaa, bargsh--thank you, teachers!

To see more, click below:

• The Mongolian National Anthem
• The Fruit Salad Song

Original cowboys

Zuunmod, Tov Aimag, Mongolia

Sunday, May 23, 2010

On the way home from our frigid picnic, we happened across a bit of real Mongolian horse wrangling. Quite fascinating stuff, but I sure wouldn't want to get kicked by those horses.

Click image to get a better view of the action. Also note the gers/yurts interspersed among the wooden & brick houses.

It's colder than it looks

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Sunday, May 23, 2010

We headed out this morning to the ruins of Mandshir Monastery which is about a one hour drive from UB. According to the Lonely Planet, this monastery was home to 350 monks in its heyday, but was completed destroyed in 1937 by Stalin's henchmen.

Yesterday the temperature got up to 80°F (27°C), but this morning it was 43°F (6°C). Yesterday we had a huge wind and dust storm. Today it was blue skies and big puffy white clouds--but freezing cold.

We persisted with our picnic on the lovely grounds of the former monastery, but we didn't get much of a look at the place. It was too darn cold!

"Welcome arch" to the town of Zuunmod, which is the capital of Tov aimag (province). Zuunmod lies 6km from Mandshir.

The world, proportionally

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Teaching a unit on measurement to my 9th graders. I asked them to draw the world three times: once by area, once by population, and once by wealth. The shapes of the continents were not required to be correct, but the area of each continent had to be proportional to the percent each continent accounts for in terms of population, wealth, etc. Hoping it was an instructive activity in more than one way.

At right: the world by population & the world by wealth--click image to view larger image

A picnic at last

Terelj National Park, Mongolia
Sunday, May 16, 2010

An hour-plus drive took us to Terelj National Park where we settled under the still barren trees for our first picnic of the year. It was lovely to be outside in short sleeves after all those months of being inside. Semi-wild dogs kept an eye on us and our picnic, but didn't bother us.

Saw these cows on the way home. The first big rain of the year greeted us as we returned to UB. They say green grass will follow within a week of the rain.

Thomas AND a piñata

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Saturday, May 15, 2010

Thomas came to life again today here in Ulaanbaatar--this time in cake form. It was E's birthday party, and his parents went over the top with BOTH a Thomas cake and a homemade piñata. (E's Mom is from Central America).

Thanks for a lovely party!





A takes a swing at the titanium pinata. It took some help from the adults before the goodies were finally set free...

Great balls of fire

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Frank continues to train (bravely, I think) for UB's first marathon/half marathon which takes place in just under a month. This week alone there were three events of note: on a long run out west of the city he rounded the mountain and into a huge dust storm. Flying grit sent him back in direction of the protection of the mountain. The next day, he got caught up a nylon loop of some kind that is used to package building materials. Down to the ground before he knew what was happening, but fortunately NOT in a place with shattered vodka bottles that often litter the ground. Today, however, it was great balls of fire. As he ran along toward the river just south of our apartment he looked up to see the high voltage electrical lines shorting out. He said the huge ball of fire he saw hurt his eyes to look at. It's certainly an adventure!

Salsa verde

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Recent visitors to UB brought me one of my favorite foods from home: Herdez green chili sauce--and some tortillas. For dinner tonight, I thought I was going to die of food happiness.

It's funny the things one really misses.

Thanks, S!

Waste not, want not

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Sunday, May 9, 2010

Sunday again and it's off to Mercury Market to buy fresh meat and vegetables. Meat prices have shot up (by Mongolian standards) in recent weeks due to a variety of factors including the spectacular number of animal deaths caused by the zud.

Casting an eye around the market I happened upon these, just next to a large box of pigs' feet. Waste not, want not.

Continuously discrete

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Starting Probability & Stats with 11th grade today. Brought in some cereal examples to try to explain the difference between continuous and discrete data. Remember: one kind can be counted and the other measured. Spoon Size Shredded Wheat is the best kind of cereal to demonstrate the clunk, clunk, clunk of discrete data hitting the bowl. But, as mentioned previously, when it comes to food, you take what you can get around here. Eat up!

Thomas & his (imaginary) friends

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Kind of a slow afternoon here at the apartment found Frank adding some new characters to the Thomas menagerie--in this case, one of his imaginary friends. Sorry, non-math nerds, this one might be a bit obscure...

Millie's to the rescue

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Sunday, May 2, 2010

We had big plans to spend today in the countryside with friends, but our plans went awry after a sleepless night for us all. (A is apparently sick). It was looking like we'd be stuck at home for the entire day, but finally inspiration struck: we would, at last, try getting to Millie's for lunch.

Delightful burritos served in a very cheerful setting saved the day.

Not sure how it has taken us nine months to get there.

Another mystery solved

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Living abroad sometimes means you just don't quite know what's going on around you. I have noticed on several occasions that the alcohol aisle in our local grocery store was cordoned off--but since I'm not really buying the stuff, I haven't paid too much attention. Only yesterday evening (May 1st) did I hear someone mention that all alcohol sales are banned on the 1st of every month in Mongolia--in all bars, restaurants and grocery stores. Aha!

Apparently it's part of a government effort to reduce alcohol consumption in Mongolia. Based on the number of vodka bottles one finds along the side of every road, it might be worth trying something.

Old Testament weather

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Saturday, May 1, 2010

There is something about Mongolian weather that brings to mind the plagues of the Old Testament. After a winter of "-20 and smoke" (according to weather reports on Weather Underground), I tried not to listen to people who said, with a sad shake of the head, "Wait until spring..." How bad could it be? After all, estimates are that approximately 7 million domestic animals (cows, goats, sheep, horses, and yaks) died this winter and spring in Mongolia during one of the worst zuds in memory.

This morning I headed out to teach an extra Saturday lesson at school and walked straight into a dust storm. Within a few steps, I could feel the grit between my teeth and before long, my hair was like straw. "Fiercesome" is one way to describe the wind and blowing dust.

What about that "in like a lion and out like a lamb" thing?

ps: I forgot to mention that about every 5-6 weeks when we turn on the tap, the water runs blood red...