Yesterday was the last day of classes, so we had 'parties' for all of our students to attend. I put parties in quotes because the parties consisted of people sitting around drinking juice, eating chips and chatting in the classroom.
The power went out during the last party of the day, leaving us in complete darkness. The Mongolians were used to such outages, and didn't even comment on it. I, on the other hand, was totally psyched. I ran up to my room and grabbed some candles so that we could continue the party by candle light. It was really fun.
The students from the last class invited us out to a pub.
Before my my grandparents and their friends start throwing things at me, I would like to clarify that every restaurant in Mongolia is a pub. The traffic was very thick on our way there, and as the driver tried to change lanes she managed to scrape another car. I wouldn't call it a fender bender, but there was some slight damage and it took quite a while to sort things out.
The 'pub' that we went to was the Old English Inn - Restaurant and Pub. It was a nice place, with live music and leather seats that almost looked real. We got juice and milkshakes, while the students ordered beer. We also had fries (with Russian ketchup, which was downright nasty) and pizza (which had pickles and pineapple, also nasty).
Each of the students with us drank between 1 and 1.5 liters of beer, not enough to make them tipsy drunk, but enough to make them bubbly drunk. The conversation turned toward religion, which surprised me. I didn't expect to be asked such questions as "why doesn't God heal all blind Christians" by a slightly drunk student who never cared otherwise. They said they would come to church Sabbath after next, I hope they don't change their minds after the buzz wears off.
At one point during the conversation the woman next to me burst out laughing, spewing a fine spray of beer all over Brandon's jacket. I would like to point out that this is the same jacket he had worn when we went to the place across the street with the table tennis and pool; the place that reeked of cigarette smoke. His jacket now smells like smoke and beer: truly an upstanding person's jacket.
As we prepared to leave I contemplated my odds of making it home unscathed, since the driver who had gotten into a small accident on the way over was now a liter and a half of beer worse for the wear. I was just about to ask Chimba (one of the non-drinkers in the group) if he could drive, when it was announced that we would be walking back.
Oh well.
It was just above zero at the time, and the walk was about 15 minutes. We had come prepared though, so it was enjoyable.
When we got back we found out that the power was still off, but now the heat was off too. The building cooled over the course of the night, but some time in the early morning they turned the heat back on. This morning it was -5 F, and it's only October.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Please consider donating to the advertising fund of the school. We need to reach a wider audience with the gospel. Right now most of the students are Korean expats and friends of school staff.
The power went out during the last party of the day, leaving us in complete darkness. The Mongolians were used to such outages, and didn't even comment on it. I, on the other hand, was totally psyched. I ran up to my room and grabbed some candles so that we could continue the party by candle light. It was really fun.
The students from the last class invited us out to a pub.
Before my my grandparents and their friends start throwing things at me, I would like to clarify that every restaurant in Mongolia is a pub. The traffic was very thick on our way there, and as the driver tried to change lanes she managed to scrape another car. I wouldn't call it a fender bender, but there was some slight damage and it took quite a while to sort things out.
The 'pub' that we went to was the Old English Inn - Restaurant and Pub. It was a nice place, with live music and leather seats that almost looked real. We got juice and milkshakes, while the students ordered beer. We also had fries (with Russian ketchup, which was downright nasty) and pizza (which had pickles and pineapple, also nasty).
Each of the students with us drank between 1 and 1.5 liters of beer, not enough to make them tipsy drunk, but enough to make them bubbly drunk. The conversation turned toward religion, which surprised me. I didn't expect to be asked such questions as "why doesn't God heal all blind Christians" by a slightly drunk student who never cared otherwise. They said they would come to church Sabbath after next, I hope they don't change their minds after the buzz wears off.
At one point during the conversation the woman next to me burst out laughing, spewing a fine spray of beer all over Brandon's jacket. I would like to point out that this is the same jacket he had worn when we went to the place across the street with the table tennis and pool; the place that reeked of cigarette smoke. His jacket now smells like smoke and beer: truly an upstanding person's jacket.
As we prepared to leave I contemplated my odds of making it home unscathed, since the driver who had gotten into a small accident on the way over was now a liter and a half of beer worse for the wear. I was just about to ask Chimba (one of the non-drinkers in the group) if he could drive, when it was announced that we would be walking back.
Oh well.
It was just above zero at the time, and the walk was about 15 minutes. We had come prepared though, so it was enjoyable.
When we got back we found out that the power was still off, but now the heat was off too. The building cooled over the course of the night, but some time in the early morning they turned the heat back on. This morning it was -5 F, and it's only October.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Please consider donating to the advertising fund of the school. We need to reach a wider audience with the gospel. Right now most of the students are Korean expats and friends of school staff.
1 comment:
Interesting story and I got a kick out of your photograph of the yurt right next to that urban area.
Post a Comment