This morning was great – this afternoon was greater. Dad’s coming to Mongolia!!!!!
I left work after lunch today to go to talk to the Mongolian students. There were 30 of them – all my age and older which was slightly intimidating but only a little bit. They all spoke perfect english. I just talked about me and where I’m from – and showed videos and photos of Australia. They asked some questions and I talked to them – quite openly – about Aborigines, how to get a job, what university is like, where to live in a city, how to go on holidays for cheap….. Mongolians don’t seem to mind talking when others are talking. To me it’s extremely rude. Nevermind. I took a different approach and just stopped talking until they all listened, and if they started to chat I’d change the topic as it obviously wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
The course conveners were surprisingly happy to see me. I don’t know why. I mean, I’m a nice person and all but I’m not THAT exciting. I have a feeling that it was nice for a young professional (me) to talk adlib (is that a word?!) about things that are relevant to the students.
Within seconds of me arriving I was offered marriage – I declined and continued to show photos and videos. I started with a photo of me and the girls and then progressed from there. In hindsight I would have done it slightly different and now I feel….. dirty, I guess – for talking about myself for so long. I was hardly talking about myself (maybe the first 10mins) and I was hardly talking about my experience – it was just my basic Australian knowledge they were after.
1.5hours later we wrapped up and I think they were grateful. I feel like I hardly scratched the surface of what they need to know. Hopefully, if they liked what I had to say, I can go back and we can do smaller group work that is more specific. But, oh man – what an amazing opportunity. They were all so cool – I hope I get to see them again!
I ducked home to get changed and caught mum and dad on Skype (such an amazing invention, by the way!). I told dad I had to leave because I was going to book my flights to Khovsgol and he said ‘you better book me a ticket too’ and I almost cried. It’s going to be GREAT! I knew it’d be a last minute thing and if I left the decision to its own devices, the right answer would prevail. This time it was totally in my favour! And now, after an hour of figuring out flights, times, prices and people, our flights are booked ($260 return)!
I also managed to score myself a winter coat and boots (important to get asap as once you’ve got it, you don’t need to worry about it and it is definitely necessary!). I think I’m almost all set!
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