Pyramid Gold

by Mark

Let me begin by saying that English Olympics occur all over Mongolia, not just in Arkhangai. The Olympics themselves are a country-wide test that covers everything from Listening, to Grammar, to Essay writing (it's like a shorter version of the SAT in a foreign language). The volunteers of the aimag proctor the event and score the tests, but really have little part in the days creation.

That being said, the volunteers in Arkhangai have added an additional day to the contest to spice things up - an event we call Pyramid. Both of these took place about 3 weeks ago. All of the Arkhangai volunteers were able to come help out: Ashlee (from Battsengel soum), Katie (from Hashaat soum), and of course Sarah, Zaneta, Kara and myself from here in Tsetserleg.

Pyramid

No one really has a grasp on the origin of this name. Each school in Arkhangai can send a team of 4 students (1 of each - 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th graders) to compete. This year we had five separate teams. They get to pick team names such as The Humans, Black & White, oh and my favorite was Funny Bunny.

In order to prepare for this event, the students were all given 3 separate sets of English text about a month before the competition. They were to study the 2 page write-ups (one was on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., another was on the Pyramids in Egypt, and the third was a historical fiction on the holocaust). They were also told that some of the questions they would be asked would come from information outside of the text - thus forcing them to study the topics in great depth.

The first part of the Pyramid competition is basically a form of Jeopardy. There are 8 topics each with a 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 point scoring choice. Half of the topics were specific to a member of each grade, and the other half of the questions were asked to the entire team. They were given 30 seconds to write their answers down on a piece of paper, and then our wonderful judges (Ashlee and Sarah) went around giving thumbs-up or thumbs-down for each team. When it came time for a specific student from each grade to answer a question, they were asked to come to the front and write their answers down separate from the team.

The second part of the competition is called "A-Ha!". The students line up in a row, each wearing 3 stars on their shirts. They come forward and get asked a question - if they are correct they go to the back of the line, if they are incorrect they get a star taken from them and then go to the back of the line. When they are out of stars, they sit down. The last remaining person wins.

The third and final portion of the Pyramid contest involves the game of Taboo. Each school's team picks a team leader and that person is given a list of 20 English words that they must try to describe (only using English) without using the actual word on the list. They have 1 minute to get through as many as they can. Teams were getting anywhere from 5 to 15 of them right. It was a lot of fun to watch them concentrating so hard. We even ended up with a tie-break round at the end.

The competition was intense at times and you could definitely see that some of the students were frustrated with themselves for not getting an answer right. Though all of the students did a great job, it was fairly obvious to see that School #1 here in Tsetserleg (where Sarah teaches!) was running away with the competition.

Though these guys won the 2010 Pyramid competition, 3 of the 5 teams received medals and certificates. Everyone did great!

Yeah for the 2010 Pyramid Competition!

Kids Wanna Play

by Mark

Yesterday I got invited to see the Grand Opening of a new Young Kids Game Center. Basically it's an open room decorated with all sorts of stuff that toddlers would love. It's geared toward the 1-5 year olds of Arkhangai, and sports everything from one of those bouncy house things to multiple slides and multiple types of vehicles to drive around in. This has been the dream of a young couple here in Arkhangai for nearly two years now. They've been developing the business plan along with Mercy Corps' business development company IEC, and recently received a loan to open this business.

Parents can bring their kids to the game center and let them play for 1000₮ per hour (or roughly $0.70/hr.). There are 2-3 staff members at the center at all times to watch the children, so the parents can feel free to drop them off and pick them up later. Basically it's like a glorified day care center!

Day 1 had the television crew there to catch the ribbon cutting ceremony (a must in any event here in Mongolia!), as well as local government representatives and folks from Mercy Corps. There were about a half dozen kids that showed to play on the brand new equipment. I stuck around for about an hour snapping a few photos...enjoy.

(The entry - Pooh bear wall paper and the thrill of seeing balloons and soft, multi-colored, square flooring!)

(What kid wouldn't wanna play here?!)

(Bouncy house!...and notice the small flat screen mounted to the wall. There was television and American hip-hop playing for the kids to enjoy! haha...love it.)

(There were 4 or 5 of these vehicles for kids to play with.)

(There were even lockers/cabinets for the kids...and please take note of the black bag hanging just left of the hoop - that's a punching bag with gloves!!!)

Now this is a Sports Competition!

by Mark

A few weeks back Kara got invited to join in what we thought was a volleyball tournament, but turned out to be a multi-workplace sports competition. There were 4 organizations competing on this day. Little did we know that there would be 5 separate "games" involved in this tournament of all tournaments. I got to tag along and watch most of it. The day started out with a quick dart throwing contest. We had no idea that the tournament had started...so she just walked up and threw the dart with very little concern for what her score might be. Thus, no pictures and no idea how the team actually did overall. It didn't take much longer for us to realize the day was more than just the volleyball tournament that came next. Kara's workplace managed to win their first game, but lost the following three. Next came a badminton tournament (Kara wasn't involved) that required each business' director to pick a partner and compete. They won all of their games!

(Ask Kara to explain the print of some white man yelling on their team shirts!)

(They may have been a bit out of position...4 back and Kara holding down the front center!)

Next came the most entertaining aspect of the day. The relay race. I will let the video speak for itself...be sure to check out the second leg of the race! Yes, that is Kara wielding a hockey stick while moving around on old rollerblades that were about 2-3 sizes too small. Fantastic material.

Their time of 2:44 was good for third place in this portion of the tournament. Immediately following this came the Tug-of-War contest, where let's just say Kara's work was a bit undersized.

It was an entertaining day to say the least. Mongolians love competitions, and this was one of the most intricate, multi-faceted imaginable. And the winning organization's director received a new dart board as the prize - you know, to promote hard work in the workplace!

First batch of helmets on their way!

by Kara

As I mentioned in a prior post, one of the projects I'm working on is to collect helmets for child jockeys to wear during horse races. Good news! The first batch of helmets are en route to Mongolia! Thanks to some very dedicated folks in the U.S. at least 23 kids in Arkhangai will be safer when competing in horse races this summer. Not only will they be safer, but they will look cool. Along with the helmets, a bunch of awesome helmet covers are being sent. Also, various types of knee pads are being shipped too! 

The organizer of this shipment, Kate, is somebody who I was very fortunate to come into contact with. She has taken a huge leadership role in working with me to organize this project. Thanks Kate!

Only 77 more to go until we reach our goal of 100! You can help us reach our goal!

For updated info about this project check out my other blog: http://mongolianhelmetproject.blogspot.com! (A website is currently being developed.)

Check out these pics of what's being sent - more pics to come of the packages arrival!

Sending Nyamtaivan to the States

by Mark

Our fellow PCV's here in Mongolia, Nathan and Leslie Chamberlain, have partnered with an organization to help raise money to send a young Mongolian girl to the States for advanced education. I won't take the time to explain everything, so please take a moment to read their blog post. If you feel like helping them raise the funds for this venture, the instructions for how to do so are found toward the end of the blog post.

Enjoy.