First Day of School

September first is a national holiday in Mongolia: It commemorates the first day of school for children across the nation. Everyone gets dressed up, comes to school with their parents, and meets their teachers in order to usher in the new academic year. If it falls on the weekend, everyone still meets. This year, it […]

Bell Day

The school year has come to a close at my school, and with it, the graduation ceremony, or Bell Day, as it is known. The graduating classes gather in the auditorium to listen to speeches, receives awards, listen to musical performances, and receive their graduation papers. The graduation papers, the equivalent of our diploma, looks […]

Children’s Day

The first of June is traditionally Children’s Day in Mongolia. The holiday is known formally as Mother and Children’s Day, but since there is already a big day dedicated to women, most– if not all– of the focus is on the kids. They get to run around, play, and spend time with their families eating […]

Gymnastics

With Mongolia’s relatively small population, you wonder sometimes if certain aspects of performance, culture, and art matriculate into modern Mongolian consciousness. While you may not get much of it in the villages, due to lack of people who know how to coach or train athletes and performers, you tend to get a fairly healthy sampling […]

Managing Expectations

Teacher’s Day is a particularly popular holiday for teachers. It usually includes a multitude of events culminating in a large party where teachers gather together to celebrate their hard work. One of the events leading up to the big celebration is a day when 11th grade students take over teaching responsibilities for teachers. In my […]