Closing Thoughts

Well, dear, loyal readers, it's almost time to head back home to an entirely different adventure called college. I bought (technically, my dad bought) my return ticket home a week ago, and I couldn't be more excited to be coming back home. But within that excitement, within that feeling, there's another emotion. I don't want to label it sadness, but it's a sort of reluctance to leave Mongolia. What can I say about that?

First of all, what made this trip an adventure? Because I was doing something new? Yes. While I had travelled to Mongolia before, I had never worked. Plus, I hadn't been here for three years, so much had changed. At first, life in Mongolia was so different than life in America. The rhythms, the events, the people, all different. Not really "different", but more "forgotton."

Last week, I took a walk around town, visiting places where I grew up. I took pictures of the apartments that I used to live in. The green apartment is where I lived from ages 2 to 6. And the blue apartment is where I lived from ages 6 to 8, when I moved to America.




A little side note: I loved taking the bus to work. Public transportation is such a good reflection of the various stages of human life. You've got tiny, bundles up babies to teenagers going to school to aged old-ladies for whom I always gave my seat. And I enjoyed trying to guess what the lives of the other passengers were like. But that's an impossible task because no one on the bus could have guessed what was happening in my life. I took these pictures when I was taking the bus downtown.





So, as the summer progressed, I made some wonderful friends. I enjoyed what I was doing. I was more in tune with the rhythm of life here. And during all of this, I would occasionally remember that I had a blog and write something on it that I hoped would be interesting to read.

Now, I've spent almost four months here in Mongolia, and I like it here. And that would explain why I feel a certain sadness about leaving. People don't like leaving places they like. Home is where the heart is. My heart used to be 100% in Mongolia, but then I moved to America. And before this summer my heart had adjusted to California. But, as the summer is ending, I leave a little bit of my heart here in Mongolia (seriously, I had a nosebleed a while back, so a little bit of my heart is literally here). I will miss Mongolia when I return to the U.S.

Thanks for reading everybody. until next summer, I bid this blog adieu.