Daily Archive

by Cinda

Since we have dedicated the last few entries to Toby’s recent experiences, we thought it was time to give Annika some more attention!  She is doing great in Mongolia.  She has several good friends and has a lot of time to play with them since most of us live in close proximity.  Averiana is now living just a few doors over from us, so she and Annika play together along with Isaiah nearly every day after school.  Now that it’s getting colder we’ll have to find some fun things to do inside.  Last weekend when we were school supply shopping for Toby we found paints and modeling clay for them to use at home.  Those of you who know Annika understand that she HAD to have these craft items, and it has turned out to be perfect timing for new “stuff” since the weather has gotten quite chilly lately.  Annika put her skills and craft supplies to good use, creating a cute little skunk which is pictured somewhere on this page.  She has other designs in mind, including a volcano for Toby (his latest interest). 

On Wednesday afternoon Annika’s friend Sophie was able to come over after school for some play time.  Sophie’s family has been in Mongolia for many years, but they are new to Darhan and she and her brother and sister attend the Alliance MK school where Annika, Averi, Isaiah, etc. all attend.  Annika was thrilled to meet Sophie and her sister Leah, who both have their American Girl dolls with them here in Mongolia.  Wednesday afternoon was full of giggles and hair brushing, doll dressing, fingernail painting and more.  Then they spotted a lonely little puppy sleeping outside our window in the cold rainy weather, so they ran out to care for it.  Since Annika has been asking frequently (okay, constantly) to Please, please, please have a pet, I had gone out to see it earlier in the day — however, it seemed to be the typical Mongolian breed, which would grow to be much too large for our small home.  None of us like to see a puppy suffer, however, so we did try to feed it and warm it; Averi took it home for awhile to warm

it up and the girls enjoyed playing with it over there.  Now it’s Saturday night and Averi, Isaiah, and Malachi are here watching Tom and Jerry cartoons with Annika and Toby.  It’s getting dark earlier each day, and that coupled with the frigid wind makes playing outside after dinner no longer a good option.  

Annika says she really likes it here in Mongolia.  She’s growing like a weed, doing well in her school work, and having a lot of fun with her new friends.  Every week her class studies a different region of the world, which includes a geography test.  Annika impresses us with her ability to remember the names of each country.  This past week was a difficult test over the countries of Equatorial Africa — it’s hard enough to just read the names of those countries, let alone remember them all for a test, but she did it!