Sunday, March 29, 2009
hiking 6
Today was a perfect day for hiking. The weather was sunny and clear and the red poppies were smiling with their black and red faces in the sun. Only one other man chose to take advantage of this great weather and beautiful scenery. But N- and I went up a road and found a good Mtn. to climb. It was in the same area as previous hikes it was just further back and a higher Mtn. We met a shepard on top of the Mtn. and we took a picture of him. He couldn't speak Tajiki that well because his first language was Uzbek. It was strange meeting a man in such a remote location. N- and I made it up this high and difficult mtn. in about an hour and were back home by lunch time. Maybe more people will come next week. The mtns. are in bloom.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
New Blog
I see I'm up to 4 followers. I only had 1 for a real long time I remember.
Anyway if you want more pictures or info. go to http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/
There they have a lot more photos etc. They want me to start photoblogging for them for Tajikistan so I'll start doing that sometime when I get it all figured out.
Anyway if you want more pictures or info. go to http://tajikistan.neweurasia.net/
There they have a lot more photos etc. They want me to start photoblogging for them for Tajikistan so I'll start doing that sometime when I get it all figured out.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Trip
Students always invite me to their villages. A lot of students at my univ. come from the countryside and they want to take me back to where they grew-up. So for the Navruz holiday I took time out forgot about my work and went up up up to the very top of Northern Tajikistan very close to the Uzbekistan boarder to the region known as Asht.
I left on Friday afternoon and we rolled out with a friend of mine and his friend was driving. We picked up another boy along the way who was also returning to his village. It was a 2 and a half hour drive over pretty bad roads. The landscape was desertlike similar to Nevada. But after the desert and the salt flats there are all these villages along the main road. My friend's village was one of the last ones. The first night I met his family and they were great. His father is in Russia but he lives with his mother, brother, little sister, gradmother, aunt and uncle and a lot of barn yard animals. We watched The Last Samauri with Tom Cruise the first night. The movie had English subtitles so I was able to follow along because it was dubbed over into Russian. It was noticably colder at night in this village I guess because it was a desert.
I'll have to show you pictures but for this holiday people make this dish called sumalak in huge calderons outside over a fire. They have to stir this boiling bubbling mixture of wheat, flour, walnuts, water etc. all day and all night with a stick and they put stones in the bottom. Anyway I got to stir this mixture a few times.
The next day it was just a parade to different houses to eat and party. I went to 5 different houses not including the one I was staying at and I also joined in a street party. The night before (Friday) I went to an old English teacher's house who was a beekeeper and he said that I was only the second foreinger he had ever spoken to. He remembered 3-4 years ago a woman from France came and according to him spoke a little English but I was the first native speaker he had ever spoken to. He surprisingly drank a little so I humored him and had some vodka with him and he told me how he gradutated the pedigocial institute in 1966. Then he broke out his homemade alcohol and diluted it down but I only had to touch it to my lips to know that it was not good to drink. Then after he wanted me to drink it he told me it was 96% alcohol just like gasoline so I'm glad I didn't drink it. Anyway I made him a very happy old man because I sat down and talked with him and even after all these years his could carry on a decent conversation.
Ok back to Saturday- sorry there is just so much to say. So in the morning we went to my friend's grandmother's house. My friend's whole family pretty much lived in this village. Everyone knows everyone else. They grow up together and live together generation after generation. They pump their water or collect it in jugs. They grow their own food, they have no indoor plumbing, they have outhouses. They live very simple, traditional, lives. The only signs of modernity are the cars, TV, DVDs, and mobile phones. The rest is pretty much as it would have been 100 years ago in the U.S. or in this place. They do have electricity in the mornings and evenings. But people still cook with outdoor fire ovens and stoves and the social laws are very strict and conservative. Women have their place and men their place. The local hangout spot is two billard tables in the center of town where you can find men playing billards morning, noon and night sometimes for money.
So anyway his grandmother treated us to more food after we had already had a totally organic breakfast. I loved their dried mulberries and milk and butter it was all very fresh. After grannies place we walked around the town. Women were hanging out in groups with other women and men with other men. Everyone was very eager to meet me and shake my hand we were always invited inside and I took a lot of pictures. But next we went to my friend's house and met up with 3 other young men and ate a big beautiful lunch with the main course being pilau or kinda like a rice pilaf. We sat at the low table and ate fruit and nuts and drank tea lots of tea and they do a lot with sour milk.
Then all 5 of us boys my friend, his 3 friends and me went to another boys house where the same process was repeated. We couldn't leave until we had eaten even though I wasn't hungry. Then as we were driving along we came across a street party and when they saw me in the car they stopped us and soon I found myself dancing in the street to loud Tajiki music with old men. Then we were offered more pilau and had to eat and more tea and bread. More sumalak but I was really full. Then off to another village to visit his English teacher aunt who had never seen an American before. She said she talked to a British woman 5 years ago but never an American. Luckily we begged off from having to eat any more food. She wanted to kill a turkey for us but I said no way. Anyway it was great to speak to her in English. This village was even more up in the Mtns. Then we went and played basketball. We played on dirt with a leaky ball but it was fun a little 2 on 2 action. The other boys were not very good they didn't really know how to shoot the ball. You know the ball over the head technique and all that.
Then back to my friend's village to go to the river that divides Tajikistan from Uzbekistan. But as we were walking to the side of the river we were stopped by Tajiki boarder patrol so we made a quick retreat. Then to eat surprsingly great ice cream and drink cola with local boys. Then to another local boy's house for more food, tea, bread, candy etc. His mother prepared fried beef and potatoes as the main course. Then finally at about 8 pm back to my friends' house for more food and another movie with Morgan Freeman, Robert Redford and J. Lopez. It was in English only so it was enjoyable. Then to be stuffed to the max. The next day I returned with the same driver as on Fri. back to Khujand but it was nice to get away to a slower life and see rural Tajikistan on their big holiday.
A lot of Uzbek people live in these villages and the only TV channel is the Uzbek one. So everyone knows Uzbek too.
I left on Friday afternoon and we rolled out with a friend of mine and his friend was driving. We picked up another boy along the way who was also returning to his village. It was a 2 and a half hour drive over pretty bad roads. The landscape was desertlike similar to Nevada. But after the desert and the salt flats there are all these villages along the main road. My friend's village was one of the last ones. The first night I met his family and they were great. His father is in Russia but he lives with his mother, brother, little sister, gradmother, aunt and uncle and a lot of barn yard animals. We watched The Last Samauri with Tom Cruise the first night. The movie had English subtitles so I was able to follow along because it was dubbed over into Russian. It was noticably colder at night in this village I guess because it was a desert.
I'll have to show you pictures but for this holiday people make this dish called sumalak in huge calderons outside over a fire. They have to stir this boiling bubbling mixture of wheat, flour, walnuts, water etc. all day and all night with a stick and they put stones in the bottom. Anyway I got to stir this mixture a few times.
The next day it was just a parade to different houses to eat and party. I went to 5 different houses not including the one I was staying at and I also joined in a street party. The night before (Friday) I went to an old English teacher's house who was a beekeeper and he said that I was only the second foreinger he had ever spoken to. He remembered 3-4 years ago a woman from France came and according to him spoke a little English but I was the first native speaker he had ever spoken to. He surprisingly drank a little so I humored him and had some vodka with him and he told me how he gradutated the pedigocial institute in 1966. Then he broke out his homemade alcohol and diluted it down but I only had to touch it to my lips to know that it was not good to drink. Then after he wanted me to drink it he told me it was 96% alcohol just like gasoline so I'm glad I didn't drink it. Anyway I made him a very happy old man because I sat down and talked with him and even after all these years his could carry on a decent conversation.
Ok back to Saturday- sorry there is just so much to say. So in the morning we went to my friend's grandmother's house. My friend's whole family pretty much lived in this village. Everyone knows everyone else. They grow up together and live together generation after generation. They pump their water or collect it in jugs. They grow their own food, they have no indoor plumbing, they have outhouses. They live very simple, traditional, lives. The only signs of modernity are the cars, TV, DVDs, and mobile phones. The rest is pretty much as it would have been 100 years ago in the U.S. or in this place. They do have electricity in the mornings and evenings. But people still cook with outdoor fire ovens and stoves and the social laws are very strict and conservative. Women have their place and men their place. The local hangout spot is two billard tables in the center of town where you can find men playing billards morning, noon and night sometimes for money.
So anyway his grandmother treated us to more food after we had already had a totally organic breakfast. I loved their dried mulberries and milk and butter it was all very fresh. After grannies place we walked around the town. Women were hanging out in groups with other women and men with other men. Everyone was very eager to meet me and shake my hand we were always invited inside and I took a lot of pictures. But next we went to my friend's house and met up with 3 other young men and ate a big beautiful lunch with the main course being pilau or kinda like a rice pilaf. We sat at the low table and ate fruit and nuts and drank tea lots of tea and they do a lot with sour milk.
Then all 5 of us boys my friend, his 3 friends and me went to another boys house where the same process was repeated. We couldn't leave until we had eaten even though I wasn't hungry. Then as we were driving along we came across a street party and when they saw me in the car they stopped us and soon I found myself dancing in the street to loud Tajiki music with old men. Then we were offered more pilau and had to eat and more tea and bread. More sumalak but I was really full. Then off to another village to visit his English teacher aunt who had never seen an American before. She said she talked to a British woman 5 years ago but never an American. Luckily we begged off from having to eat any more food. She wanted to kill a turkey for us but I said no way. Anyway it was great to speak to her in English. This village was even more up in the Mtns. Then we went and played basketball. We played on dirt with a leaky ball but it was fun a little 2 on 2 action. The other boys were not very good they didn't really know how to shoot the ball. You know the ball over the head technique and all that.
Then back to my friend's village to go to the river that divides Tajikistan from Uzbekistan. But as we were walking to the side of the river we were stopped by Tajiki boarder patrol so we made a quick retreat. Then to eat surprsingly great ice cream and drink cola with local boys. Then to another local boy's house for more food, tea, bread, candy etc. His mother prepared fried beef and potatoes as the main course. Then finally at about 8 pm back to my friends' house for more food and another movie with Morgan Freeman, Robert Redford and J. Lopez. It was in English only so it was enjoyable. Then to be stuffed to the max. The next day I returned with the same driver as on Fri. back to Khujand but it was nice to get away to a slower life and see rural Tajikistan on their big holiday.
A lot of Uzbek people live in these villages and the only TV channel is the Uzbek one. So everyone knows Uzbek too.
Navruz
Navruz was March 21st here and to tell you more about it I will use the words of my student an 11th grade girl- Shakhnoza.
The Navruz Holiday
The word Navruz is the Persian Tajik origin which may be translated word by word into English "The New Day." That is the first day of a new year, which comes on the 21st of March every year. Navruz is a popular, ancient and a national holiday in the history of Central Asia and near East Countries. It was celebrated as historians write before Islam. It was and remains of the major traditional secular holidays as our people. While celebrating Navruz people usually tidy their houses up make decorations with different flowers and green grass. They also go to visit their parents relatives, neighbors and close friends. People visit the graves of the dead. On that day families dress in their new clothes. Usually on the New Years Day the farmers, school children, workers and many families cook sumalak from night till morning. They sing songs, dance and have a good time. During cooking sumalak everybody dreams. It means that during cooking sumalak their dreams will be true. On that day many artists have concerts. All Tajik girls wear Atlas dress.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
hiking 5
Today it was the perfect temperature for 6 young men and I to go up our highest mountain to date. Only 4 boys summited with me though. Two boys got too tired and said it was too steep or something and stopped three quarters of the way up. We saw domestic goats up on the mtn. we also captured the biggest grasshopper I've ever seen. The little flowers are blooming now and some green plants have come up. The vegetation has come to life. The four boys that made the summit with me were very tired but happy and had a sense of accomplishment. They always say that they will never forget these experiences. It's good for them and for me. They are getting to be much better hikers. I had already done this mtn. with another boy in January but when I was on the top before it was snowing. So it was much better weather today. It was windy on top but not too cold. Last time it was snowing with a strong wind we just went to the top and went down fast. Today it was much better. Have a good week and I will too!
Friday, March 13, 2009
The Times and Places
Just today the weather really warmed up so now everyone is happy because it is like spring. The trees are blossoming and almost everyone in the city has electricity 24/7. This information comes from my students spread out all over the city.
I put one picture online of two boys flying a kite. Kite flying is very popular here for young boys. It's a great place too because it is often windy. I hear kites buzzing above my apt. bld. all night because they just tie them up and let them fly.
I successfully mailed a bag to the U.S. from here on Tues. it took an hour and a half to do and I had 4 students helping me but I did it. Interestingly I couldn't mail a hand drawn poster size map of Khujand that was done by two of my students. I've never seen a map of Khujand and it is going to stay that way for awhile because apparently maps are too sensitive to leave the country.
Two Americans came to talk at the American Corner yesterday. The first man was a Muslim American and he talked about Muslims in the U.S. and his experiences as a Muslim. It was a very well attended lecture. Standing room only. The second man talked about President Obama and touched on U.S. foreign policy. He got some really tough questions like, why did we "destroy" Iraq. But he handled it well. Then afterwards both men answered questions from crowds of eager inquisitive young men for more than an hour. A lot of interest. Before they talked I happened to have a discussion club and I guess I'm having good discussion clubs now because my discussion clubs are standing room only all the time too. About 30 young people or more. The American Corner is not too big. Anyway the guy from the embassy mentioned this to me and I just told him that I'm popular and doing as much as I can. One lesson after another.
The man that spoke about Muslims in America is based in Bishkek and his job is just that- to foster better relationships between Muslims and Americans. At the end he acknowledged how vital the American Corner was because he could see the overwhelming interest and the type of questions- but I face that everyday.
I always find it challenging to talk to both men and women here at the same time. Lets say for example that I'm walking down the street talking to a girl/woman. The men will shadow me and when I've stopped talking to the girl/woman or said good-bye to her they will step in and talk to me. This also works in reverse too. So basically I have to have one conversation with the women and then go over and have another conversation with the men. I personally don't like this I wish we could all just discuss things together in public. At discussion club men and women do both talk to me usually the women a little more than the men. Their English is generally better.
At the univ. I'm teaching wicked hard syntax. The indirect object, direct object, cognate object, prepositional object, complex object and then all the variants off of these and all the exceptions. I'm doing this with a book published in 1966 with examples from British Lit. and Soviet disarmament propaganda etc. Anyway I'm doing the best I can. I'll include some of the sentences they give me from the book sometime-they are ridiculous.
I put one picture online of two boys flying a kite. Kite flying is very popular here for young boys. It's a great place too because it is often windy. I hear kites buzzing above my apt. bld. all night because they just tie them up and let them fly.
I successfully mailed a bag to the U.S. from here on Tues. it took an hour and a half to do and I had 4 students helping me but I did it. Interestingly I couldn't mail a hand drawn poster size map of Khujand that was done by two of my students. I've never seen a map of Khujand and it is going to stay that way for awhile because apparently maps are too sensitive to leave the country.
Two Americans came to talk at the American Corner yesterday. The first man was a Muslim American and he talked about Muslims in the U.S. and his experiences as a Muslim. It was a very well attended lecture. Standing room only. The second man talked about President Obama and touched on U.S. foreign policy. He got some really tough questions like, why did we "destroy" Iraq. But he handled it well. Then afterwards both men answered questions from crowds of eager inquisitive young men for more than an hour. A lot of interest. Before they talked I happened to have a discussion club and I guess I'm having good discussion clubs now because my discussion clubs are standing room only all the time too. About 30 young people or more. The American Corner is not too big. Anyway the guy from the embassy mentioned this to me and I just told him that I'm popular and doing as much as I can. One lesson after another.
The man that spoke about Muslims in America is based in Bishkek and his job is just that- to foster better relationships between Muslims and Americans. At the end he acknowledged how vital the American Corner was because he could see the overwhelming interest and the type of questions- but I face that everyday.
I always find it challenging to talk to both men and women here at the same time. Lets say for example that I'm walking down the street talking to a girl/woman. The men will shadow me and when I've stopped talking to the girl/woman or said good-bye to her they will step in and talk to me. This also works in reverse too. So basically I have to have one conversation with the women and then go over and have another conversation with the men. I personally don't like this I wish we could all just discuss things together in public. At discussion club men and women do both talk to me usually the women a little more than the men. Their English is generally better.
At the univ. I'm teaching wicked hard syntax. The indirect object, direct object, cognate object, prepositional object, complex object and then all the variants off of these and all the exceptions. I'm doing this with a book published in 1966 with examples from British Lit. and Soviet disarmament propaganda etc. Anyway I'm doing the best I can. I'll include some of the sentences they give me from the book sometime-they are ridiculous.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Follow-up
If you want to read that Senator Lugar article you will need to cut and paste it into your address bar. it's not a real link I guess.
Anyway someone asked me what are the Iranians and Russians doing to influence people here. The Russian media is a powerful and ubiquitous force here. My view is that the Russian media is biased against the U.S. and the West and reports stories accordingly. A prime example was the Georgia/Russia war this past summer. They also play the same game as the U.S. does by giving money strategically to countries they see as in the "sphere of influence." Read up about what happened with Manas AFB in Kyrgyzstan. It's all just conjecture with a lot of truth thrown in.
Like Senator Lugar said the Iranians are opening more cultural centers. But I haven't seen any of these yet. But their language and culture are similar to Tajikistan. Three countries, Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan have their primary language as Farsi (Persian).
There are a lot more things going on that I don't know about and don't have time to learn about. I just read a little bit here and there. If I had more time I could write a more complete response full of examples that are well researched.
But the feeling here is- Khujand is becoming more "Islamic" so maybe Iran is winning out over Russia who is Christian and more secular. The U.S. is a distant third.
Anyway someone asked me what are the Iranians and Russians doing to influence people here. The Russian media is a powerful and ubiquitous force here. My view is that the Russian media is biased against the U.S. and the West and reports stories accordingly. A prime example was the Georgia/Russia war this past summer. They also play the same game as the U.S. does by giving money strategically to countries they see as in the "sphere of influence." Read up about what happened with Manas AFB in Kyrgyzstan. It's all just conjecture with a lot of truth thrown in.
Like Senator Lugar said the Iranians are opening more cultural centers. But I haven't seen any of these yet. But their language and culture are similar to Tajikistan. Three countries, Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan have their primary language as Farsi (Persian).
There are a lot more things going on that I don't know about and don't have time to learn about. I just read a little bit here and there. If I had more time I could write a more complete response full of examples that are well researched.
But the feeling here is- Khujand is becoming more "Islamic" so maybe Iran is winning out over Russia who is Christian and more secular. The U.S. is a distant third.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
hiking 4
We had 11 young people come out. There were 8 men and 3 women. All made it to the summit of a pretty tough new Mtn. When I first got to the foot of the Mtn. I saw a grey fox dash across the rocks about 50 m. away. We also see hawks circling patiently in the sky. There were also black slugs and when I asked one girl what the Tajiki or Russian word for slug was she didn't know. Apparently she didn't know what a slug was or had never seen one before. The Mtn. had rugged terrain which made it more dangerous and slow. But everyone made it up and back fine. It was great weather. I only needed a long sleeve t-shirt. No wind thank goodness. All the young people had a good time I'm sure. They can't wait to go again next week if I have time. One girl that came this week also came last week too. We named the Mtn. "Woman's Day Mtn." because it was Woman's Day. Every new mtn. we climb we give it a new name chosen by the students of course. We were back in the city by noon.
Friday, March 6, 2009
International Women's Day
International Women's Day is March 8th. It's a big deal here we even get Monday off from the university. So today Friday the sixth we had a little 2 hour woman's day celebration at the American Corner. About 20 girls/women came and listened to a woman guest speaker from a local NGO focusing on Tajiki women and leadership. Then we did a "conversation cafe" for an hour. We wrote 5 topics on 5 different sheets of poster paper they were: a. Tajiki women in leadership b. domestic violence c. Tajiki women in politics d. women in education e. arranged marriage.
Then we put each of these posters on a seperate table and asked the women to walk around the rm. for 10 min. and write their comments about the the posters about the topic written on the poster. The topics were written in Tajiki and Eng. to avoid confusion.
Then after they had 10 min. to write down their comments we told them to sit at a table around a poster and a given topic and discuss the topic. They could choose any topic they wanted and discuss it for as long or as short a time as they wanted and in any language. Surprisingly most young women chose to have all their conversations in English and most wrote their comments in English. These young women are great young people- very active and good in school.
The goal was just to give women a chance to talk and listen to each other and think about these important issues. I didn't participate but I did listen and observe I was the only man allowed in the American Corner for these two hours. I wanted to jump in a few times and say something though. There were a lot of good ideas and it was interesting. I took pictures and I'll put them up later.
The usual women's day program here consists of reciting poetry, dramatic scenes, dancing, singing, and games. Ok but not earth shattering. I love the substance that our program had because there is a lot of talk about and I don't want to shy away from it.
Then we put each of these posters on a seperate table and asked the women to walk around the rm. for 10 min. and write their comments about the the posters about the topic written on the poster. The topics were written in Tajiki and Eng. to avoid confusion.
Then after they had 10 min. to write down their comments we told them to sit at a table around a poster and a given topic and discuss the topic. They could choose any topic they wanted and discuss it for as long or as short a time as they wanted and in any language. Surprisingly most young women chose to have all their conversations in English and most wrote their comments in English. These young women are great young people- very active and good in school.
The goal was just to give women a chance to talk and listen to each other and think about these important issues. I didn't participate but I did listen and observe I was the only man allowed in the American Corner for these two hours. I wanted to jump in a few times and say something though. There were a lot of good ideas and it was interesting. I took pictures and I'll put them up later.
The usual women's day program here consists of reciting poetry, dramatic scenes, dancing, singing, and games. Ok but not earth shattering. I love the substance that our program had because there is a lot of talk about and I don't want to shy away from it.
Khujand
I said in my post "article" that Tajikistan was stratigically important and this is true. But not only that where I am is even more important because I'm in the second largest city but it is a lot more conservative up here than in Dushanbe. It is getting to be more conservative all the time. If there is ever going to be an Islamic revolution to overthrow the government it will probably start here in Khujand. That's a ways off but you never know what will happen in 5-6 years. It's important I give people a positive opinion of americans.
Article
http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/02/26/to_win_hearts_and_minds_get_back_in_the_game
Above I've included a link that I hope works. It is to an article by Senator Lugar. I agree with him. We are losing the game to win hearts and minds. But that's why my work here is so important because what he suggests doing is exactly what I am doing. I'm out in the community every day giving lessons, running activities. I can't go a block here without someone stopping me and wanting to talk to me. It's a problem I'm too popular almost. The American Corner here is accesible to people here and it is getting better with new computers, a real budget and fair compensation for services done. I'm having a huge impact but I'm just one man we need more people and resources to do more I can't do it all. I'm already working myself to exhaustion almost every day. I'm in competition with Iran and Russia here and I don't think I'm winning enough of the time.
You may not realize it but because of its location, and cultural heritage Tajikistan is a very important country for the U.S. Its kinda a cross between Iran/Islamic and Russian/Old Soviet. Both these countries and ideas have really shaped this country. People here have a lot of misconceptions about Americans they just believe what they see on MTV and in the movies. They are surprised when I say I don't do drugs, smoke, or have casual sex. That's why I'm here to teach people more about what Americans are really like. This is just what Sen. Lugar from Indiana suggested.
Above I've included a link that I hope works. It is to an article by Senator Lugar. I agree with him. We are losing the game to win hearts and minds. But that's why my work here is so important because what he suggests doing is exactly what I am doing. I'm out in the community every day giving lessons, running activities. I can't go a block here without someone stopping me and wanting to talk to me. It's a problem I'm too popular almost. The American Corner here is accesible to people here and it is getting better with new computers, a real budget and fair compensation for services done. I'm having a huge impact but I'm just one man we need more people and resources to do more I can't do it all. I'm already working myself to exhaustion almost every day. I'm in competition with Iran and Russia here and I don't think I'm winning enough of the time.
You may not realize it but because of its location, and cultural heritage Tajikistan is a very important country for the U.S. Its kinda a cross between Iran/Islamic and Russian/Old Soviet. Both these countries and ideas have really shaped this country. People here have a lot of misconceptions about Americans they just believe what they see on MTV and in the movies. They are surprised when I say I don't do drugs, smoke, or have casual sex. That's why I'm here to teach people more about what Americans are really like. This is just what Sen. Lugar from Indiana suggested.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
hiking 3
5 boys, 2 girls and me made the summit today of the highest closest Mtn. to Khujand. The same Mtn. we did two weeks ago for the first week of hiking club. It was a cold windy day here. We even got hailed on while climbing. But two teenage girls summited and were very tired but very pleased I think. The girls took a little longer but they did and it was a big step for them. They are revolutionary young women going to new heights and not giving up. They'll never forget this experience - this is what they told me. The boys are getting to be a lot better hikers.
Pics will come eventually
Pics will come eventually
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