Today I saw a car accident

Ingrid and I discussed our arrangements for our trip to the countryside. I have to plan some of the details, get help with the route and get our translator to find us a driver.

When I was going to meet my language teacher, there was a car accident. I heard a crash and a shriek. A man hit an older woman. She had shattered the glass of his windshielf. She fell on the ground. Two people helped her up, and they put her in the back of the car and drove away.

It was very disturbing, and surreal.

I met my Mongolian language teacher and she came up to my apartment to teach me. I learned some letters and sounds. Mongolian is an extremely hard language. A backwards N sounds like E and X sounds like H and there is no X so K and C make X. There are two types of Ys and Os which both have different sounds.

There are calling cases (when you call someone it is different, possessive words and male and female words. I think it is the most difficult language I have ever tried to learn.

I'm tired and I feel like shit. Hopefully I won't dream about the car accident tonight.

Lessons learned....

When I was in Indonesia, I read a lot of reports. In international development, project reports are often called "Lessons learned". They detail some of the good and bad lessons learned. So here are some of my things in the past year.

1. Some people can't love properly. These are not the kind of people you want in your life.
2. I cannot live in small towns. I need a lot of stimulation.
3. I am braver than I think I am.
4. Good friends are invaluable.
5. Though human cultures are very different, humans around the world have some universal characteristics and we can all learn from each other.
6. It is better to be open than closed.
7. Writing and travelling make me really happy.
8. I have amazing parents.
9. I hate eating meat.
10. I don't need a lot to survive.
11. I am grateful for the things i have been given.