Somewhere between Winter and Spring

This was part of the herd of camels I came across on my hike. Super random.

My friend Tsoodol is holding is grandbaby in the back row. All of his kids
and grandkids came to visit for the holiday Tsagan Sar. I stayed out thier
for 5 days in this ger with some of his family.

This is a portion of the river i walked on, on my hike.
You can see how deep the river is still frozen. Most parts,
the ice is still a few feet thick... Most...

This is the amazing sledding hill I built during Tsagan Sar out in the country
side with Tsoodol's family.

I took a large piece of tin from the roof of the barn and made this sled. And
yes, thats a book on my bag. I did alot of sledding and reading over the
5 days.

Yeah... most of the ice was frozen. I was fortunate enough to find a portion that
 wasn't completely frozen. And yes, that is an impression of my butt behind the
foot prints.

I walked about 4 kilometers on the frozen river in shorts. The weather was
amazing. And yes I am still a fashion trend setter over here in Mongolia.

This was from our Broomball Tournament in UB against the US Embassy.

They had a massive competition at the Military base. One of the games was
who could break a sheep thigh bone, with one hard blow or punch. This is my
schools gym teacher. He broke his first try. It was kinda cool.

I wanted a picture with the camels so badly, that I mounted my camera in a
nearby tree and used the timer. I then carefully got a decent distance away and
this is how it turned out. 

So Tsoodol's dog had 10 puppies. We built them a large dog house and
threw some old blankets in it. This also took up some of my time during
Tsagan Sar.

I enjoyed reading a book and watching them run around and play. By the 5th
day they really began to warm up to me.

So my students had a competition at the military base
and I went along to take photos. Glad I didnt miss my
students dress up like soldiers and play with old Soviet
guns and rocket launchers. Even though nothing was
loaded, it still really felt uncomfortable when they pointed
stuff at me.

So Im really considering splurging and buying a fox fur hat like this. This is
my friends hat and my "Mongol Steel Face"

I got a bit too close for comfort after my photo shoot and the camel gave me
its power stance and began grunting and making crazy faces at me. That was
 my cue to get out of there

See, they were smiling, but my face was one that was quite mortified

On the plus side, I found where the entire stock of PP7's went after the video game
GoldenEye

This was the brave puppy that would run in circles around me, but wouldn't
let me pet her

I snuck away from the group with a fellow teacher, and we got inside the tanks
 and took turns taking pictures. Real Mature I know

So these are all the Dormitory Workers at my school. It was Tsagan Sar, and
they insisted on a photo shoot of them at 9am.

This was the Mongolian teacher I worked with at the Seminar down in the
Gobi. She was really a great lady

This was most of the Teachers that attended the seminar, and all the Peace Corps
Volunteers that went down to help

This was my team for the Broomball tournament. I bought my team eyeblack
for intimidation purposes, but i could only find women's makeup that was a
deep purple.

This was at a students competition. They played this finger game. I just thought
it was funny because it looked like everyone is flipping everyone off. I think the
right side of the class actually was

Then of couse that had to sing songs.... for entirely too long.

After an evening of celebration after the seminar in the Gobi,
I decided we should make a human pyramid. Im still not sure
why i decided this would be fun. It was actually quite painful.

A really good photo that my friend took of me at the teachers seminar in Erdenet. Thanks Katie

A random herder with his animals that we came across on our hike

A nice sunset from Tsoodol's ger in the countryside

All the teachers that came to our seminar during their break

Can anybody spot the random out of place white guy in this photo?

A picture of Sukbaatar Square in downtown UB

From Sukbaatar Square. The Pink Opera House and some new skyscraper buildings

Sukbaatar Square. The Government House.

Sukbaatar Square. Close up of the Government House Statues

I just thought this was a cool picture of one of Tsoodol's horses that I took in the Countryside

Another picture I deemed as cool

I let Bolto take pictures of me as we walked up the mountains and herded the calves. They are the specks in the white snow.

Same as above

Bolto insisted on this picture and pose. I obliged

My Horse was getting panicky up on these rocks so I had to whisper sweet nothings to him

Snow Eating Contest Champion 2012

The realization that the snow I just ate looks to be yellow.

After a serious avalanche, I attempted to save my friend. (This is a dramatic reenactment. No Mongolians were hurt during this Photo Shoot)

Bolto believes that a horse with clear nostrils is a happy horse.

Tsoodol's ger and barn out in the Countryside. Miles away from people or any life forms in general.

One of our calves had a serious eye problem. I took this photo
to show a friend of mine that had to wear an eye patch as a little
girl. Its ok that I tease her, because she out grew her eye patch to
become a stunningly beautiful young woman.

When we caught up to this herder friend, my friend took this picture to make it look like we were hanging out. We didnt.

My friends Kari(left) and Gracie( right) on our hike up north where
they live. This peak overlooks the Selenge river, which is the longest
river in Mongolia. Its completely frozen right now, which allowed us
to cross it and make better time on our trek.

And one last photo of me on the peak overlooking the frozen river and surrounding mountains

My 2nd graders performance

Up atop my hill at sunset. Just after, my camera froze. Literally.

My performance. HAHA! And the mic stand was missing, so Bayarma held the mic

Atop my hill 

The valley before sunset

My teachers performing Mambo #5

My 3rd graders performance

My 3rd graders performing Mambo #5

My 5th graders performance

My ger and my vestibule where I keep my fire wood and meat

My 7th graders performing Mambo #5. Do you see the theme yet?

My friend took this when I wasnt looking. I look so hardcore.

All of my friends/football team for our thanksgiving football game

Both teams after our pigskin game. My team played shirtless after halftime. We still lost 35-0.