At the camp

I will be staying there 'till the middle of august, sometimes teacher sometimes apprentice masson or carpenter.

I won't be the only westerner the whole time. I will share my room with Lauren (North Carolina) for a couple of weeks and the last three with Ross (Vermont), Katarina and Jorgen (Sweden).

The first week is the toughest, I am trying to understand the rhythm of the orphanage. English lessons are supposed to be in the morning, and the afternoon filled up with activities. I am going to the river in the morning to wash and eventually do my laundry. 

That wild part was really nice as there was always a great feeling of quietness and freedom when enjoying the spring in the middle of nowhere.

The kids are taking me to the meals and staff members needing a hand. It seems then that no one really knows what to do with me. I am always asking around for work and eventually there is something to be done. But I really have to go and ask for something to do otherwise I could have just sit there and wait for the next day.

You know, I was thinking that beeing a volunteer, there would have  been someone, a supervisor or something, that would have told me : " Ok, so here is what we're doing with the 12 years old ... and about the 15 years old, you should focus on this and that. " 

But it never happened and after a day or two, I realize that if I wanted to make my time worth anything I had to make things happen. So I went to talk to the teachers in charge and they were more about : "You know this is summer camp so please go easy on the kids, we are already making them work in the morning so you'd rather do some activities in English with them in the afternoon."

For the record at this time I was always walking around with a bunch of kids who were pretty good in English and translating the basic stuff for me.

Right so basically I am asked to organize activities in English for about 200 kids of different age... on my own for the first two weeks...

I don't know how that sounds for you but i felt like it was going to be tough.

The kids are amazing. They are helping me in many ways and they are learning at an amazing speed.  I started being a teacher when I realized that there was no way I could organize a class with so many kids with so many different levels. After lunch all they wanted was to go and meet me, play with me, communicate with me. Most of them were orphans, and I realized that I was sometimes considered as a father for the very young ones and a brother for the oldest ones. So I decided that I would be speaking in English all the time, that I would turn into the most talkative person ever. And I think that really paid off as most of them were able to communicate with me much better.

At some point a woman from the summer camp next to ours, came to Ross and I to ask us if we could give some extra lessons to the students there. We had a talk with Ganaa (headmaster), who explained us that he wanted us to get paid as we were his volunteer not having us at the camp was kind of a loss for him and he would appreciate something in return. The woman agreed and paid for having us. Then we realized how valuable we were to the Mongol's eyes. Having an English teacher is a luxury.

There, the lessons where more westernized. Classrooms, blackboard, advanced and intermediate learners, grammar, vocab and conversation. 

Sometimes I would not spend the afternoon with the kids, I would be asked to help Baksh (The teacher) for fixing walls rooftops and even pulling up a post to connect another building with electricity. We would work for a couple of hours and then have a bottle of Vodka as a break and then maybe start working again. The national drink must be taken "bottoms up" all the time and once a bottle is open it must be emptied. The workers are cautious and are always doing their best to hide from the kids. But they can't be fooled as one of them told me once : "In Mongolia too much Vodka."

With more Volunteers at the camp I realize how much can be accomplished and Ganna must have realized that when we helped building a Ger while there was English lessons and activities done at the same time. Sometimes there would be a huge group of Chinese or Corean volunteers that would come for a day or two giving out some food (chocolates, flour, rice...) and organizing many activities.

But you know as I stayed with those kids  for 6 weeks I realized that at some point I was not just helping because I came from Europe and could  provide a lot here, but I was helping because I was a part of this community, those kids were kind of my kids you know... 

I had them shouting before each meal tand ikh bayarlalaa ! (thank you very much). Singing in a big circle a good night song, hugging me for good night, crying when they were sad, when I left... asking always for more games.

The last couple of weeks I was getting along very well with the Swedish couple and with Gamba (one of the workers). So well That he invited us to see his mom for a week in Tsetserleg