It was a quiet and restful weekend in Darkhan. Half the group (including my roommate Jonathan) went on an overnight excursion that included staying in a ger and visiting Amarbayasgalant Monastery. Several people used the hotel sauna and got massages for aching, weary bodies. The bulk of my time was spent relaxing, reading and doing some class work.
The group returned from Amarbayasgalant around noon Sunday, and various groups had lunch at different locations. I had khuushuurs here at the hotel.
Around 3:00 all 12 of us went to visit a local orphanage. It is funded from Japan.
First, we visited the boys dorm. It is one story tall and was the first building built. There are two rooms with five bunk beds each, ten boys to a room. Each boy has one underbed drawer and one small locker space to store personal belongings. There are two bathrooms.
There is a study room in the dorm for doing homework.
They all enjoy sports and had their names up on this large soccer ball drawing on the wall.
The girls dorm is two stories tall. On the ground floor, there is a dining area and a kitchen where everyone has chores and everyone helps prepare the meals.
The girls have the same living area as the boys, five bunk beds, ten to a room, 20 total with two bathrooms.
There is a drawing on the wall of team work, with the different animals working together to get the fruit from the tree.
The girls also have a study room.
The girls dorm has a porch on the second floor and can look out on the rest of the orphanage.
The classroom building is what you might expect, with bulletin boards in the hall way and a fire escape plan on the wall.
But instead of traditional classrooms, this school focuses on dance, music and the arts.
A place for storing and using musical instruments.
The Japanese donors who support the orphanage have paid to bring the students to various competitions - here are some where they went to Okinawa (the walls were covered with these, I only took photos of three). Plus, they showed us the award they just got on July 1 for performing at Disney World in Tokyo.
They have a greenhouse and garden where they grow some of their food.
The art studio was very interesting.
There was a sewing room where they made costumes for their performances.
They then put on a performance for us (they did not wear their costumes).
I was continuing to have trouble loading videos, so I searched on line for the problem and found that they cannot be more than 100 mgs or they won't load. Here is a shortened video of a throat singer playing a two stringed Mongolian instrument. He is a university student who is working at the orphanage this summer.
Here is a video of two female students playing twelve stringed Mongolian instruments.
Here are students dancing. The music is loud, so be prepared to turn down the volume.
Then we gave them gifts that we had brought, some from our home countries, some purchased locally.
Sunday evening, four of us went to another Korean restaurant and had beef bulgogi cooked at our table, with the traditional dishes of kimchee, tofu, pickled vegetables, rice, etc. Very tasty and very reasonably priced. A great way to end a relaxing weekend.
The group returned from Amarbayasgalant around noon Sunday, and various groups had lunch at different locations. I had khuushuurs here at the hotel.
Around 3:00 all 12 of us went to visit a local orphanage. It is funded from Japan.
First, we visited the boys dorm. It is one story tall and was the first building built. There are two rooms with five bunk beds each, ten boys to a room. Each boy has one underbed drawer and one small locker space to store personal belongings. There are two bathrooms.
There is a study room in the dorm for doing homework.
They all enjoy sports and had their names up on this large soccer ball drawing on the wall.
The girls dorm is two stories tall. On the ground floor, there is a dining area and a kitchen where everyone has chores and everyone helps prepare the meals.
 |
| The chore chart |
 |
| Birthday chart with the 12 Zodiac signs |
There is a drawing on the wall of team work, with the different animals working together to get the fruit from the tree.
The girls also have a study room.
 |
| With Cinderella on the wall, it is easy to tell this is a girls bedroom |
The girls dorm has a porch on the second floor and can look out on the rest of the orphanage.
The classroom building is what you might expect, with bulletin boards in the hall way and a fire escape plan on the wall.
But instead of traditional classrooms, this school focuses on dance, music and the arts.
 |
| Dance studio |
 |
| Traditional classroom |
A place for storing and using musical instruments.
The Japanese donors who support the orphanage have paid to bring the students to various competitions - here are some where they went to Okinawa (the walls were covered with these, I only took photos of three). Plus, they showed us the award they just got on July 1 for performing at Disney World in Tokyo.
They have a greenhouse and garden where they grow some of their food.
The art studio was very interesting.
There was a sewing room where they made costumes for their performances.
They then put on a performance for us (they did not wear their costumes).
I was continuing to have trouble loading videos, so I searched on line for the problem and found that they cannot be more than 100 mgs or they won't load. Here is a shortened video of a throat singer playing a two stringed Mongolian instrument. He is a university student who is working at the orphanage this summer.
Here is a video of two female students playing twelve stringed Mongolian instruments.
Here are students dancing. The music is loud, so be prepared to turn down the volume.
Sunday evening, four of us went to another Korean restaurant and had beef bulgogi cooked at our table, with the traditional dishes of kimchee, tofu, pickled vegetables, rice, etc. Very tasty and very reasonably priced. A great way to end a relaxing weekend.
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