An old friend and colleague made me realize yesterday that I haven’t posted since Lunar New Year, and y’all, I haven’t meant to leave you hanging! *hides face in hands* We’ve gone through a lot of changes since then, so I’m going to try to do a quick recap of the last six months.

March was our last month of regular Mongolian language lessons. (We will resume next Monday.) We were busy in April and May trying to catch up Z and T in homeschooling. I don’t know whose bright idea it was to study a notoriously difficult language and homeschool at the same time, but I would go back in time and have a stern talking to with that person because WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?!

Anyway, we limped over the finish line of homeschooling in early June, and I don’t anticipate returning to that. No shade against homeschooling in general, but I am not fit for it, which is ironic since I’m a teacher by trade. All that to say, our eldest two are now enrolled at an international school here in UB. It’s been an adjustment, mostly the commute for Eric and me, but we think this will be much better for our kiddos moving forward. It also means that with just one child underfoot at home, we might actually get around to getting some things done around here, ex: hanging up framed pictures around the apartment.

During the summer months, we took on some English teaching responsibilities for some friends who were out of the country for awhile. We also traveled to Indonesia for a conference with other folks in our region plus a bit of family vacation. Let’s just say none of us are well suited to living in the tropics. XD

In August, my folks visited for two weeks, and we did a lot! My mom’s been here four times now, but this was only my dad’s second time so we crammed in as much touring as we could. Visiting the new Chinggis Khaan museum, the Chinggis Khaan Statue Complex, Zaisan, Sukhbaatar Square, Gandan, Turtle Rock, etc., plus prepping for our kids to go back to school kept us busy busy!

Something else that’s been a bit weird about this summer is that I’ve had chronic knee pain–a new and exciting development in my middling age. At the beginning of May, I slipped and fell in a way that wrenched my right knee. At the beginning of July, I fell down a short set of stairs, somehow on both my shins and knees. Regardless, I was chalking up the continual pain as a result of healing slower (I’m not in my 20s anymore), and I was content to leave it at that. Then one day, nothing seemed to be touching it, and I was getting frustrated with it all and decided to see a doctor. One MRI later, and fortunately, it’s not a meniscus tear as first assumed, only a bad sprain. (Like, a really bad sprain, because GOOD GRIEF.) Some days are better than others, and sometimes I shuffle around like an old woman. I’m trying to do better about listening to my body.

As we reach September, we head into a new season. Eric has more responsibilities with work, and I am focusing on getting the apartment back to normal-ish and working out a new routine and flow. Something else that happened this summer was that we went through the process of getting our Mongolian driving licenses. It was a bit of an ordeal that warrants its own future post, hehe.