Today, a friend & I took a group of middle school & high school students living in a government orphanage nearby (21 of us in total) to hiking the National park behind Zaisan. It took us 5 hours to hike up the mountain & back down again. Hiking at elevations between 1400-1700 metres above sea level was hard, but the students were very fast & hard to keep up with. I have to say it was awesome once we reached the top. However, the Mongolian students were encouraging me more than I was encouraging them.
Before we left for our hike I received a tour of the orphanage. It was nice to be introduced to some of the many children/youth living at the orphanage & see most of them. Some are learning English, but most are studying very hard in school so that they will be employable once they have finished high school & university. I am really looking forward to seeing them again on other outings.
Oh! The best thing is that yesterday & today has been the 1st time in over a month we have "hot" water. For the past 5.5 weeks all we have had is cool water. You know the kind of bath/shower you have to physic yourself up to get into because it's going to be cold. Man my sore legs & feet are going to love it.