The North Star Project, 2013-2014 Report Number Sixteen — Picnic in the Mongolian Countryside, by Gina Sterk

The North Star Project, 2013-2014 Report Number Sixteen — Picnic in the Mongolian Countryside, by Gina Sterk

Picnic in the Mongolian Countryside

A few weekends ago I joined the staff of all language departments of my university for their annual countryside picnic.

I was told to be at the school at 9 am, although the first hour or so of the day was spent sitting on a bus waiting for everyone who got the memo, which I missed, that there is no reason to come on time.  More and more teachers (on “Mongolian time”) trickled onto the bus throughout the hour, all of which were in great moods and untroubled by their lateness as I would have been.

At some point it was mysteriously determined that we had waited long enough, and the bus finally rolled out of the parking lot.  As soon as it did so, the bus’s karaoke…