Here in Mongolia, we also have a large summer break starting in June. Our 12th grade classes just graduated from high school and now have to prepare for national tests, also in June. We do not have a summer school as most students go out to the country side to help their parents who herd animals. Some students do go to camps elsewhere. I have seen a couple of people using sign language here and it would be interesting to find out the differences between Mongolian and American sign Language.
This title really should be “From My Front Door” since my traditional Mongolian Ger doesn’t have windows (haha) but i can still tell you about the beautiful things I see standing outside my home. First thing that happens when i step out of my Ger is that my hat flies off because my village is very windy due to the mountain air. My school is directly in front of my home and there is a large hill behind it. There are trees off in the distance but not close enough to walk to. It is very common for me to see large bands of horses walking across the hillside, followed by a man on a horse or motorcycle who herds them back and forth so that they can eat the grass. Sheep, goats, and cows are even more common and many cows walk through town. Many of them eat the grass around my school. We also have many birds flying around. Large black birds and pigeons are very common but sometimes you will see a giant steppe Eagle soaring through the sky above you. When you look west there is a small lake and you can see large mountains far off into the distance.
So our views are very different (haha) but each of them are beautiful and interesting.
I do have some questions for you. Do you take a bus to school? How long does it take? Many of my students either live in town or live in dormitories throughout the school year. Also, do you change classrooms for every subject? My students here stay in one classroom and the teachers are the ones who move between classes. Do you think you would enjoy that kind of system?
