Trip to Zaisan

Only four showed up.

Giant Gold Buddha

Vicious Looking Tiger Thing

Try as he might, he can't pry apart stone

I asked Zaya to fight the Tiger.  She gets an "E" for effort.

You don't scare me!

Here's some abstract sculpture that I can get into.

WWII Monument at Zaisan

The Ill Mosaic

Zaisan

Yesterday my students took me out to Zaisan hill on the outskirts of ULN.  Its this rad spot where many families go to hang out and feel great about being Mongolian.  At the bottom of the hill is this giant gold Buddha and some other Buddhist stuff like a great drum, a great bell and some ill sculptures.  It was pretty rad.

  On top of the hill is this massive monument to the Mongolian effort in  WWII.  There's this tank that was part of a battalion that traced a path from Moscow to Berlin in a two year period from '43-45.  There's also this giant rotunda with this mosaic frieze that depicts the history of Mongolia from their revolution and independence from China all the way through WWII and into modern Socialism.  The monument was built in the eighties so theirs no mention of Mongolian democracy.  Maybe that can be the subject of the next great public art piece.  Once again this monument was all rendered in that Soviet Contructivist/propaganda style that I'm so fond of.  Lovin' the art here, sho 'nuf.

  Later the students took me to the river where they showed me how awful I am at skipping stones.  Some people never learn.  All in all  a nice relaxing weekend.  Next week should be easy as two of my classes I'm  giving tests.  Hopefully I can get out to the countryside next weekend.  Stay in touch and please comment.  I feel  like this blog is becoming a one sided conversation.