Time for Friends, Coffee and Our Talent Show

Sometimes it is great to have a taste of the things where we came from in the U.S. of A :) Coffee Bean, a coffee shop so familiar to Kathy and I in the States, opened up a branch here in Ulaanbaatar. You should have seen the excitement on Kathy’s face!! Haha… well…. We went to check it out a few Sundays ago. Great place…. “just like home” :) We went with some of our church friends. Really nice time! 

Afterward Kathy and I walked the two miles home and stopped along the way at the Blue Sky Tower, a prominent landmark in the center of the city. We took some time to go up to the top floor and got some photos :) This week I met my friend Jonathan and had lunch in the top floor of another tall building facing the main square. Jonathan has an uncanny ability to discover some super places to eat, and cheap prices as well. So you can see my pics, and some of the view of the city from high up. I actually love going up to the top of the highest buildings anywhere in the world… in places like Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok, Rome, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Toronto, Chicago, New York, London, Vancouver, Mexico, Guatemala… so many places!! 

Our LEI department at MIU had its Talent Show last week. It’s always a great time to see some of the amazing talent the students have. Kathy and I and two other teachers were judges. Not an easy task!! 

And Kathy and I have really enjoyed spending time with Odko, who was a student at LEI last year. So nice to be with her and her friend Bogi :) 

Happy Kathy :)

Our church friends John, Bobby, Tulga, Esther and Hongbin

Carissa !!

Soldiers day in Ulaanbaatar :)

My friend and brother Jonathan

... a benefit concert for a lady with an illness ...

Our dear friend Odko with Kathy, me and Bogi at the Champion Table Tennis Club :)

Odko with Kathy :)

Odko with me :)

Many of the LEI students at the Talent Show

Some of our great teachers!

Back in Mongolia!!

Back in Mongolia! Our trip to the US and Canada was great. Seeing friends and family was the best :) 

Since coming to Mongolia almost two years ago, it has become more and more evident to me that it is so right for Kathy and me to be here. And my heart is here. So I am very happy to be back, despite the usual difficult things in Mongolia like the cold and so on. But isn't it great when your heart is in the place you are living in?! 

So here are some recent photos of Ulaanbaatar, a photo of the teachers and me at our teachers' lunch to kickoff the beginning of the spring semester, and photos of my visit to friends during Tsagaan Sar, the most important Mongolian national holiday of the year. 

My "daughter" Margadaa with her niece atTsagaan Sar

Natasha, Chaagii, Chimgee, me, Nina, Magi, Maagii and Nandia, some of our super teachers at LEI

Jinny, my dear friend at MIU

Nergui, Munguu, me, Kathy and Tom at Hazara, an Indian restaurant in UB