Saturday, March 21, 2009

A Little bit of Old and a little bit of new

We thought you might find these photos interesting.

The first shows how those living in gers get their supply of water. There are pump houses located around that they walk to and cart back large containers of water such as the one shown. Many have done this their whole lives and really don't think they have it particularly difficult. We are really glad we have indoor plumbing!




Next. We teach an English class at the local archives here. Some of the work they do is to transcribe old Mongolian text.

These two pictures show some of the papers they work from. The room we teach in is often stacked with these old papers which they are currently working on.

We don't know what it says; our students don't speak quite enough English, yet, to be able to tell us. But they are getting there. Our class there is writing sentences, now, and we even read short (but very simple) stories.



And the final picture is a different shot of that same old monastery back grounded against the new sky scraper. We were back in the area and took pictures from a different angle this time. This one was such a good picture that we just had to include it.

4 comments:

The Fendleys said...

It is amazing to see the difference between the old Monastary and the new mondernized building. I have to say though, my favorite is still the old one. I think that it is gorgeous. Are you guys suppose to help translate the Mongolian writing, or is there other people that do that? I bet by the time you leave you will be able to read most of it.

Ryan Cowley said...

Glad to have you back in blog land! We've missed you. That is a neat picture of the contrast.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like your English class is right where my 6 year olds are in their reading and writing!!

Anonymous said...

I like your blog, very informative and lots of photographs. My son, Elder Daniel Willoughby, is serving his mission in Mongolia and so I have been interested in reading your posts. Thank you for taking the time to write.