First of all, let me apologise for my month’s absence from blog writing. I thought I could keep it up while in the Caribbean, but ended up focusing on my books. Therefore the blogs unfortunately fell by the way side. Anyway, here I am back again to continue sharing with you some of the fun and unusual life adventures I have experienced.
A couple of years after I went to help educate teachers in The Gambia, I was asked to go to Mongolia with one other person and do the same again with twenty-five teachers in their main university, in the capital, Ulaanbaatar.
We flew first to Moscow, then caught a second flight to Mongolia. On that second flight we became very aware of leaving our western society behind. For a start we were the only two not from the far east. Then there was the deep colour red, popular in Buddhist society, noticeable on the plane’s seats and the passenger’s dress.
The plane took us over a vast Mongolian mountain range and endless deserted lands. Finally, we touched down in Ulaanbaatar and were taken to their university. This massive and fascinating country had not long been released from Russian dominance, and out of the taxi window we witnessed people eagerly building better roads, shops, businesses, and their lives.
We were met by one of the administrators of the university, unfortunately she hardly spoke a word of English. Far more unfortunate was the one translator arranged to work with us had just left to marry an Australian! To add to this sudden immense complication, the books we were going to use to train them on this advanced and highly effective study technology were simply written so to be easily understood – but only in English!
Through the few stuttering English words spoken by the administrators and teachers we all managed to muddle on somehow. It wasn’t easy I can tell you. Anyhow, as a team determined to understand this golden technology on study, every one of us struggled our way through, and with lots of blood, sweat and tears they gradually managed to reach the necessary grade.
On the final day, after they had all completed, the grateful teachers treated us to a magical trip. It was an hour’s drive away in a large tent they call a Gur. Musicians played delightfully unusual traditional Mongolian tunes that we thoroughly enjoyed. Finally we left with their smiles and thanks vivid in our memory. While flying back to Moscow and so returning to our own familiar western society, I wondered at the variety of peoples and life in general that share this interesting planet.
For me that is the joy of writing, whatever genre it may be, there is no lack of inspiration for the subject settled upon. Although this is one planet, in one solar system, in one galaxy; the variety of life, people, circumstances, problems with highs and lows are uncountable. Each person is a whole universe, and so is each written character. Each life event so important and so too each plot twist. There will never be a dearth of stories to tell.