Day 5 - Happy Birthday Me!!!
Today is a special day. I’m guessing you can guess. I have officially turned 16 Mongolian time. I can drive.
Just kidding
I turn 15. I am still the youngest on the trip. I woke up at 5am again. In the two days I have been here, I have noticed that the sun sets at about 9:30 and rises before 5am. Very interesting. I’m not sure mother would like that. Anyway, at 8ish Annabelle and I went down for breakfast. All the girls said happy birthday. It was very nice of them. Some people gave me some hugs. It was very nice of them, but it was probably like hugging a dolphin or something. At breakfast they had fruit! Watermelon and oranges. I was so happy. Also they sang me happy birthday and gave me a card and donuts.
Just kidding
I turn 15. I am still the youngest on the trip. I woke up at 5am again. In the two days I have been here, I have noticed that the sun sets at about 9:30 and rises before 5am. Very interesting. I’m not sure mother would like that. Anyway, at 8ish Annabelle and I went down for breakfast. All the girls said happy birthday. It was very nice of them. Some people gave me some hugs. It was very nice of them, but it was probably like hugging a dolphin or something. At breakfast they had fruit! Watermelon and oranges. I was so happy. Also they sang me happy birthday and gave me a card and donuts.
After breakfast we left for the program center. It would have been a relaxing walk but we had to walk really fast and still ended up being late. But Hakuna Matata. The first class was language. I can pronounce things pretty well, it’s just a lot to memorize. I did practice though and will have to keep the little language text pamphlet with me, but can say everything decently. While I was practicing, I was thinking I wonder what English sounds like to non English speakers.
Next class Mongolian acapella and instruments. So I am not an acapellaist in any language. But that doesn’t stop me from trying. I kinda did it and got a tingling feeling in my throat, which is good. Nick and Logan and Mariyama were very good. After the acapella I learned the Mongolian cello. It’s a lot smaller with only two strings but you hold it like a cello. I was decent at it but when I tried playing different notes and pushing the strings, I think a whale was dying. I played a scale but it was kinda like if Dori was doing whale noises mixed with Cooper screeching mixed with chalkboard scratching. But it was a scale! Success!
Next was lunch. It was really nice again. We sat together with Logan playing us some songs again. The spaghetti and meatballs were also really good.
After we finished lunch we got back to the hotel and quickly did some last minute packing to go to the school place. We got on the bus and then find out our flight was delayed by two hours due to wind. So with two hours to kill we go to this Buddhist temple thing. We just kinda wander around and look at the gold statues. In one of the temples was a bunch of stuffed dead animals. One bird was death staring me and another had two beaks but one looked like a horn. I was pretty tired after the dead animals so I found a shady bench and chilled with some other group people till we went to dinner. Dinner was okay. That’s all I can think to describe it right now.
Finally it was time to go to the airport. We get there and wait for an hour to check in turns out our flight is delayed another half hour. Not too bad but it meant that we wouldn’t get to the school dormitory till like 2am. No bueno. So instead we are taking the hour flight to Muran as planned but staying in a hotel gur thing for one night and driving to the school tomorrow morning. Unfortunately we still get to the hotel around midnight and have to wake up at about 7am to leave but you just gotta do it. The flight was short and in no time we were on a bus on the way to our hotel where I promptly collapsed for some much deserved rest.
Next class Mongolian acapella and instruments. So I am not an acapellaist in any language. But that doesn’t stop me from trying. I kinda did it and got a tingling feeling in my throat, which is good. Nick and Logan and Mariyama were very good. After the acapella I learned the Mongolian cello. It’s a lot smaller with only two strings but you hold it like a cello. I was decent at it but when I tried playing different notes and pushing the strings, I think a whale was dying. I played a scale but it was kinda like if Dori was doing whale noises mixed with Cooper screeching mixed with chalkboard scratching. But it was a scale! Success!
Next was lunch. It was really nice again. We sat together with Logan playing us some songs again. The spaghetti and meatballs were also really good.
After we finished lunch we got back to the hotel and quickly did some last minute packing to go to the school place. We got on the bus and then find out our flight was delayed by two hours due to wind. So with two hours to kill we go to this Buddhist temple thing. We just kinda wander around and look at the gold statues. In one of the temples was a bunch of stuffed dead animals. One bird was death staring me and another had two beaks but one looked like a horn. I was pretty tired after the dead animals so I found a shady bench and chilled with some other group people till we went to dinner. Dinner was okay. That’s all I can think to describe it right now.
Finally it was time to go to the airport. We get there and wait for an hour to check in turns out our flight is delayed another half hour. Not too bad but it meant that we wouldn’t get to the school dormitory till like 2am. No bueno. So instead we are taking the hour flight to Muran as planned but staying in a hotel gur thing for one night and driving to the school tomorrow morning. Unfortunately we still get to the hotel around midnight and have to wake up at about 7am to leave but you just gotta do it. The flight was short and in no time we were on a bus on the way to our hotel where I promptly collapsed for some much deserved rest.
On plane
Lunch
Performance
Happy Birthday! I had to laugh about your comment wondering what others hear when we speak English. I always wonder the same thing too, as I am listening to people speaking other languages.
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