Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Graduation Time

The school year finished for me on June 2 when our LEI graduation was held. There was also the MIS graduation where Kathy had been teaching and the MIU graduation. It’s always a great time, time with friends and family, time to be happy that studying is done for a while, time to reflect on where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. It is a time for memories to be created. 

It seems any endeavor we make is full of challenges, disappointments, the gaining of experience and the sense of accomplishment. That can be said for my time at LEI during this past school year. For me, not only do I want to begin great things, but I want to finish them despite the obstacles, difficulties, and the hundreds of reasons why I should stop. 

I have always loved reading stories and watching movies, as many of you do. But I don’t only want to watch the challenges and accomplishments that other people have faced and done… I want to live those things myself. I don’t want to be a spectator in life, but one who is involved in it. By God’s grace let’s live life to the full under His guidance and command! 

But first, a few photos of a new ad placed on the side of one of the MIU buildings... with Americans Noel, Sara and me front and center. I didn't know about it until a friend said, "Hey, Richard, did you see the giant poster of you up at MIU?" !!



Most of the LEI students who graduated on June 2

The LEI teachers and me














We had some of the LEI students over at our home for a movie night

Unplanned clothing coordination... :)

Ricardo, who helped Kathy and I so much when we arrived in Mongolia.

The winners in the LEI summer class American football game I taught them :)

1st and goal at the 1 yard line....

Two students LEI gave scholarships to.

An interview by channel TM regarding the student scholarships



The MIS high school graduation where Kathy is much involved






The MIU graduation... I only took a few photos ...

Kathy and our friend Jinju at the graduation lunch

Tselmeg our friend :)

A few of the fine cooking staff :)

Monday, June 18, 2012

A Fashion Show, Some Friends, and an LEI Contest

The spring semester has finished at LEI. It was a great semester, full of new challenges, new friendships, new insights into myself, my job, my God, and Mongolia. 

I have not posted here in my blog for over a month. I was caught off guard to the fact that Google only allows 1GB of free space for photos. Since the month was so busy, I had to wait to adjust, revise some of my earlier blogs, and get enough space to upload these recent photos. Some time soon I will post more photos, including the LEI graduation. 

The first photos here are of a local fashion show held in Sunjin Hotel that MIU was involved in. I was asked by Inja, one of the teachers in the fashion design department, to do some paintings on silk with the theme being Mongolia life. I did them, and Inja made dresses incorporating the paintings into the dress design. It was the first time I ever painted on silk. I am reasonably happy with the the paintings look. The show was interesting, with lots of creativity bursting through. 


Me in front of a painting at the Sunjin Hotel


One of the dresses with  my painting on...

... and the other dress ....


Kim, seen here assisting the model with her dress, made 4 dresses for the show.


Inja and Kim

Here are photos of some friends Kathy and I have spent time with recently. There are many others we could have shown here, but space doesn't allow. Friends and involvement with people are what it is all about for Kathy and me here in Mongolia.

Soko and me :)


Some friends I found along my walk one day. Their graduation was that day :)


Sara our friend :)

Suugii our friend :)



Zolboo, Guiling, Anastasia, and Cici with Kathy and me at Cici's home.

Our friend Oogii, who calls me dad because of our friendship, graduated from her university recently. I was able to be there with her :)


Oogii with me :)




Some weeks ago we had a special activity with the LEI students... a race following clues that brought them to different places to do different things. It was great. Everyone was full of energy to compete. You can see some of the places they went. They were required to take photos of the whole team at each stop along the way.


The afternoon class winning team :)



One of the teams at the Ho Chi Minh High School

The morning class winning team :)


Each team had to stop in a store and get an photo with a hat on. Great :)

The monument to Jukov, a highly respected Russian general from WW2.