So this past weekend was the Bayan Olgii Golden Eagle Festival. Those of you who have looked through my facebook photo albums probably saw my pictures from last year's festival. The new main picture on my blog and the five pics above are from this year's festival. This year, PCV's from my group (M19s) were able to make the trip here to enjoy the festival and see a bit of Kazakh Mongolia. Many of the volunteers who made the trip out are good friends of mine so it was really nice to have them for the weekend. The festivities were soured a bit by a local who was working the 'tickets' for the event. Despite the fact that we explained we are all Peace Corps volunteers who make very little money and are living, working, teaching and helping all over Mongolia, he refused to give us a discount or bargain. We spent a good two hours and were involved in some not so exciting drama before we were finally able to get into the festival with the help of a good local friend. Needless to say, this experience made the start of the weekend very frustrating to myself and the volunteers who made the long trip to this side of the country.
When we finally got out to the area where the festival was being held, things took a while to get started. It seemed like there were many more tourists, travelers, journalists and photographers this year than last and we met some really interesting people (more about that later). There were more eagle hunters this year than last and I was able to take many good pictures. Also, I have been in Olgii for over a year now so I ran into many local friends and many of my students at the festival. That, in addition to having my Peace Corps friends around, made things fun and interesting. I spent a lot of time conversing in Kazakh and although I feel I really need to increase my vocabulary and improve my grammar, I feel a lot more comfortable communicating than I have in the past. There wasn't any crazy drama involving rogue eagles tearing out of the skies and attacking tourists in funny hats or small children, but the eagle festival was still fun and enjoyable.
The time away from the festival consisted of some mild partying, catching up with friends, and meals at the Turkish restaurant. One of the interesting people I met was a freelance photographer and journalist from Indonesia named Augustine. He has traveled and worked all over central Asia and lived in Afghanistan for two years doing some work with the UN. He's a really interesting guy to talk to. Augustine is writing a book on his experiences with the Kirghiz people of Afghanistan and may also write some on the Kazakhs and Tuvan people of Mongolia. He has some amazing stories and beautiful pictures, speaks something like ten languages, and has just made me realize even more how much I want to work in other parts of the world and continue learning about other people, languages and cultures. I'm posting a link to his website below. Check out his pics, they are absolutely amazing.
Anyways, I am continuing to update my Flickr album, trying to get caught up with my pics from the past month and will be putting up many pics from the eagle festival. I'm starting more classes this week so I will be getting busier and working with more students. Keep an eye out for my Flickr photo updates and
