Hard work and fun at Terelj

Over the last couple of days we worked hard but also had alot of fun. 

We woke up early, it was beautiful but pretty chilly.

For breakfasts we generally had oats with fresh, cooked milk from the local yaks. The family that was catering for us would generally give us small little doughnut sticks and also flatbreads which we would dip in Nutella, jam or put cheese on top. They also served us a Mongolian tea called milk tea and is also made from yak’s milk. The meals given by the family are always very wholesome and delicious.
We packed our working gear every morning for the construction at the school and waited for the ox carts to arrive.

When the ox carts arrived at our camp site, four of us hopped on the back of each cart. The carts take us to the school through the outskirts of the village and the river.
One morning we started moving and all the other carts passed us, our ox was going really really really slow. The driver was constantly trying to get the ox to walk faster but it was still going extremely slow. So the driver decided to call her friends to try and pull the ox to make it walk a bit faster but still the ox resisted. As we approached the river we needed to cross, we didn’t think we could cross it because of how slow the ox was going. In the end there were three people all on horses pulling our cart AND the ox across the river. It was definitely a hilarious experience but we did get to the school half an hour late.

Another time we were able to go on a cart that was being pulled by a horse and the driver decided to have a race between us and the cart next to us. So we were travelling at quite a fast (but safe) speed and travelling over rocks, it was a very bumpy ride. One of my friends in the cart slipped off the side and into the dirt. I felt really bad but it was really funny. No animals or people were hurt in this story! 

After finally making it to the school we put on our working clothes and got busy creating concrete which was needed to extend the school’s floor and create a few seats for the kids. The locals brought in a big bathtub that we used to mix water, gravel and concrete powder. We used the concrete to fill the areas we dug up in previous days. It was a lot of work but it was fun to learn new skills that I wouldn’t normally learn at home.
We started creating small platforms for benches and layed a few bricks. Another skill that I learnt was how to lay bricks and apply cement to them. Most of the days were very sunny and very nice weather to work in. A couple of days it was pretty cloudy and rained a few times but this didn’t stop us from progressing with our construction.

For lunches, the catering woman came to the school by cart and delivered some food. Normally we would have fried rice, a special type of potato noodles or pockets filled with meat and vegetables.
One day a sheep was slaughtered and cooked for us. It was all very traditional and we were honoured to be a part of it. 

Once we had finished eating, we continued with construction until some of the kids from the surrounding community came to learn a bit of English.

Surprisingly, the kids picked up what we were teaching them very fast which was amazing. We showed them different flashcards with names of different objects, animals and colours. It was fun being able to actually be the teacher and now I understand how a teacher feels when a kid is disruptive. It is actually quite a challenge being able to control and effectively teach a class of young kids. However it is very rewarding and fun.

In Perth, before we left for the expedition Jim Kidd donated soccer balls (and a pump) for the kids at the school. They were SO happy and grateful. 

At the moment in Mongolia all of the children are on holidays for 3 months, so it was impressive to see that many kids show up just to learn English from us. Before we left the school for the last time, the principal came to say thank you and well done on our effort with the construction as well as teaching the kids English. She said that we are doing great for helping communities that are far away from home and that we have a bright future ahead of us. I thanked her for letting us stay and for the amazing hospitality. She gave me a long hug. She is a very nice person, she was very thankful the whole time.

At the end of every day we walked down to the river from the school to wash our clothes and go for a bit of a swim. Many times as we walked into the river, we all ran out with shock because of how cold the water was. Our Mongolian guide told us that the water is melting from the snow on top of the mountains. We all plunged into the river and it was really nice and refreshing. We all came out of the river freezing but it was definitely worth it.
When we finish up cleaning, we then returned back to our gers on the ox carts.

When we got back to our gers we walked up the hills across from where we are staying. These hills are very steep and there are a whole range of them opposite from where we sleep. As we were walking up the hill, we were joined by one of the family’s dogs and he followed us up all the way to the top. At the top of the hills we were able to see an incredible view of the large steppe. Just beyond where we were staying, we could see the village which was a lot smaller than what I had previously thought.

We were all exhausted at the end of each day.

On our last day, we cleaned our gers and said goodbye to the locals. It was an awesome stay and the people were very welcoming and appreciative of all the work we had done.