Andrew Liu

Okay…so the Fiji group is here now…so much to say…so little time

ESPECIALLY WITH OUR BLOGS LEAVING SOON >=(

But I wish you all the best! This year has been a blast and I know we’re all still gonna stay tight rite? All you new people, beware of the probation period..you have to TREAT EVERYDAY LIKE A PROBATION PERIOD becuase you should always be the best you can be to truly make the most out of this experience in Global.

Having still been paralyzed speechless about everything…I’ll leave it at that. Everyone that’s reading this, be tought and look forward to your success! Let this be a memory to be remembered for the rest of your lives =]

Thank you all for being such a big family

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today”

Seize everything you have in a day and make the most of it, no matter where you are.

dont let “you never know how much something means until you lose it” happen to you!

Still it persists
Suffocating paralysis
Confusion, PTST, you name it
Get it out, let it go

Pave the circuit
Hit the clutch
Shut up and drive

It’s time
It’s time.

Go

Through it all, through the time
You don’t get over it.
Truth hurts.

</3

Hey guys…wow we’ve actually went through a whole year together! It really doesn’t seem like it does it? We’ve learned quite a bit throughout the entire year…Matheny was right, the trip was gonna change EVERYTHING and it definitely did. Don’t you feel as if there’s nothing good to complain about now? But hey guys keep in mind that we live in our world and we will have complaints about things and we shouldn’t feel bad about it…remember that discussion we had in class? Don’t feel guilty! Hmm…the more I think about the trip, the harder it is for me to verbally reflect on all the lessons…there’s just been so many of them! A lot of things have come into perspective and I hope that everything we’ve learned will stick with us for the rest of our lives so we can pass it down to the next generation.

On a side note…is anyone still really sick? I’m like coughing my lungs out…scared it might be pneumonia O.O anyone else still like this?

Rawr…the new class is probably gonna be interviewed soon…>=(

This trip will just never cease to amaze me. Every single day there’s something that goes wrong but we all get through it as a team. And despite us thinking our project won’t look anymore like an empty building without a floor, a ceiling and a landscape, we proved them wrong by successfully building everything mentioned. As I type this right now, the door into the school is being installed! The rocks for the landscape is looking great and everyone is pitching in to build benches to be used inside. Some students are inside helping out with the floor too. Adversity is something that is struck on people as a test to see whether you can pull through and our group has been facing that since day one. The fact that we can all get through it just shows how great we are together. There’s nothing that can describe the depth of the connections we’ve built with each other. Haha I just worked with Katrina building some benches and we’re damn proud of the two we built; they weren’t wobbling at all haha. Funny thing is that we both have a reignited passion for woodworking! She’s gonna be building shelves when she get’s home and I’m planning to build a little something when I have time too! Yesterday I worked with the dentists and holy moly they are just awesome. Bill, Peter, Moe and Christina are the funniest dentists I’ve ever met. Talking to them allowed me to realize just how wonderful the dentistry program at UBC is and it allows me to gauge the amount of competition for medical school and dental school for the future. It amazes me how often they participate in these volunteer activities overseas. Bill told me he and four of his fellow dental students will be heading to Cambodia the following week after the Mongolian trip. The world really has some awesome people in it and I’m proud to say I’m becoming one too. The most amazing thing about helping the dentists out is definitely seeing the smile on the patients’ faces afterward. It’s a feeling like no other. I am totally looking forward to participating in more of these kinds of trips, doing volunteer work overseas because the experience is just unbelievable. It’s hard to believe that this is our last working day here in Mongolia…we’ll be heading by train to Erdenet town tonight around 11pm…it’s all so amazing but it’s not going to be easy at all, leaving the friends we’ve made here in Zuunkharaa. But I made myself a promise to not be sad, but rather be strong to get over the sadness and realize that we’ve built a school for them and that it will make a huge change for the people living here. Hopefully it will make as much a change as we want it to. Sometimes it’s really hard to realize that we’ve only been gone a week. I feel like I’ve been so productive this past week considering how much work we’ve done. Funniest part is that I’m actually sleeping a whole lot more compared to IB nights haha! Last night I even slept at 10pm, woke up around 5 30am but slept again until 7am. Sadly I still have major eyebags…oh well. Anyway, I hope the closing ceremonies later today will be great and that the village people really make full use of this school. Mom, I hope you read what I wrote you. I’ll check back whenever I can, but most likely back in Korea. Just let me know Hope you had a safe flight back home! Bb, you better have done great on your ss test! =D jkjk I know you did lah, now it’s break time for you! Hope you go out lots with your family and friends and really just have a break from stress and everything. I’ll check emails whenever I can;) my, wy, ny, ly<3 Take care lah!

Part II – March 20th, 10 – after the closing ceremonies

Hey guys…previous grads I’m sure you know exactly how we all feel right now, just absolutely amazed with how much we’ve changed throughout the past week. No words can actually express how we feel right now but it’s always there. The experiences we’ve went through have made us all so much closer together. Everyone is family;  brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, you name it. As I’m typing this other people are all hugging each other, crying and smiling about everything. We’ve really made a difference in the world, there’s no doubt about it. The smiles on the local people’s faces tells us so much more. We all take so many things for granted, and we complain about the most trivial things back at home. Here we see things to truly be sad and miserable about. Education isn’t for everyone here, and it isn’t for so many people. There are so many unfair things in life that we overlook in our luxurious lives. Having lived in a freezing Gert at -35 degrees celcius, a small filthy dormitory room with literally 29 other students and 4 teachers plus Geoff and working with a bunch of local workers…it really puts your perspective in the right place. Make the most out of what you have in front of you because you never know when you might lose it or when you might have to make a change. All of the sacrifices you made, mom, are now coming into such a huge open area for me now…I can’t even explain how different things are to me now and I want to thank you for all of that. I hope maybe I can actually make changes to the way I treat everything at home. I’m absolutely overwhelmed with everything right now, I really don’t know where to start or end. As I type, all the students locally have just came in to visit us, and we’re all just hugging things out and the connection is just amazing. I cried earlier but I’m going to keep it in, I won’t let anything happen again. There’s too much to say, there’s too much going through all of our heads right now. All I can say is that I love you all more and more. Bb, I really hope you go through this experience too because it just means so much and it’s an experience like no other. I love you so much and nothing will ever change that, remember that alright? <3 Will blog after a joyful trainride in the same car with Matheny, McCallum and Bento-in-the-box haha!

Hey everyone~ the worksite is going great! The walls are going up and it’s really starting to look like a building! Everyone is taking turns at different jobs with no arguments at all, and I know I’m being repetitive but everyone’s just working so well together. The local students here never cease to amaze us with their cultural nights, ranging from traditional Mongolian dances to modern western-style dances! Just earlier today the students cooked a delicious lunch for us and it shows how much this project means to them. Seeing everyone working together happily makes this entire trip so wonderful and unforgettable. Later tonight will be our cultural night, where we’ll play hockey with the local people! I wonder how that will go… Several students are already writing scripts and things are just going great right now. The sun finally went tucked away behind some clouds today compared to the clear blue skies of the previous few days. Haha yesterday we also went to a Vodka distillery! Apparently, it is a whole lot better than most of the vodka we have at home,and 500mL of it costs around $2.50 USD haha. We also checked out our website there since it is one of the few places that actually had internet. It was weird though, because the building looked so much better compared to the other buildings around. Something else I learned today was that one of the main construction workers here working with us actually built most of the buildings around this village. No wonder he knew so many local people. The white-capped mountains are so gorgeous especially near sunset, which reminds of the Gert campsite. The scenery there is just indescribable! Hmm, something else I noticed round here is that people really are not thinking ìgreenî. The cars they drive are old, beatup cars that produce black smoke everywhere along with the smokestacks. Hmm, the tour is coming up also, which will be around Erdenet town and then we’ll be heading back to Korea! It seems like time is passing really slowly here, which is both really good but miserable at the same time. There isn’t much time left to blog so I guess I’ll keep it short. We’ll be staying at the Gerts campsite again tomorrow night, which should be adventurous and hopefully a lot warmer than before. Thanks to Tony for helping out so much with the site. I can only hope you all can understand how meaningful and wonderful this trip is. Bb, I can’t even express how much imy right now…Know that I read your emails up to day 5 and it keeps me so happy to read them before I go to bed. Just hang in there and we’ll see each other at the airport again Remember those promises and work hard on the tests coming up!Mishumishu;) Take it easy and don’t forget about us! Ilysm bb!!!<3

Hey everyone, we finally are able to blog! We finally got to the work-site and despite many issues that came up with the materials, we were all able to overcome it and work as one to start off strong. This trip is absolutely amazing with all the adversity struck upon us starting right from day 1 with the canceled flight from Korea. Just want you all to know that all of us Mongols are doing GREAT and have not had any major conflicts with each other at all. My time here is limited, so I’ll keep it at that. Mom don’t worry about anything, everything is great and we’re all taking care of each other. Bb, hope you’re feeling better about everything and please remember that promise between us alright? Take care, ily!<3

Day two of working on the school; although it doesn’t seem like a lot of progress, we’ve actually done a lot of work already. The foundation is almost ready to be landscaped and we’re starting on the outhouse as well. Everyone always wants to help each other out, getting one another to go on water breaks on a regular basis so that teachers don’t have to worry. I feel like we’ve all just suddenly became even closer together and accepting one another like a family. We had a discussion yesterday about this too, and it’s tough to think about what will happen after we return to RHS. After all, we don’t all hang in the same groups. Will we all still be this close together after graduation? Looking out at the worksite now, I can tell that everyone is working so hard to get this project done and it’s like all the work we put in to raise the money for this project is coming to fruition. I absolutely adore Mongolia; the scenery is just so wonderful. Everywhere you look, you see white capped mountains and fields. Despite how much we all enjoy being here, the end of the working will be coming soon and we will have to part with the other workers soon. Haha, Anji (this is probably not how you spell it…) aka “Mango” is such an awesome person, he’s a local community leader and he’s been with us ever since we arrived here at Zuunkharaa. He provides such humor and everyone gets along with him despite the language barrier. It leads me back to the days where we were discussing how we would communicate with the people here and now it’s as if we don’t have to worry about anything. As I said before, our group has faced so much adversity ever since day one, and we always manage to find a solution. I can’t express enough just how awesome this group is and how wonderful this entire program is. Every second is a learning second as all you grads know. I would love to type out an entire EE to express how I feel but time is limited. I hope all of you reading our blogs can get a picture of just how great this trip is, despite the freezing cold. It’s too much of a shame that we could not stay in the Gerts because of heating problems. Matheny said we still might be able to stay there on our last working day before we go on tour. I really hope we get a chance to go there again and hopefully the Gerts will have proper heating by that time haha. Bb, you have no idea how much I would love to see you right now but time is passing and I will be back soon! Don’t worry about what will happen later, because the promises will be kept okay? Always remember the pinky promise with a stamp. Just a week and two more days lah, expect a more considerate and loving boy at the airport;). Ilysm, take care<3

Hey guys, first I wanna say I’m sorry for not having blogged here for you guys. I have been personally emailing Matheny for my bloggin for several personal reasons…I’ll leave it at that. Anyway! About day 1…and what an excting one it was. Bear with me considering I only slept about 6 hours within the past 72 hours (not kidding you!

Okay so we’re at the airport, we check in, we miss Hammer but then hammer comes . We still chill out for a bit and then things begin to get emotional… The time of passing through security check inches closer and closer and we must bid farewell to our loved ones…painfully sad . But life moves on! We hug Hammer goodbye and proceed through the airport to relax at the gate for a while. Obviously we’re tired but we can’t help but feel the excitement rushing through us! Immediately I felt a lot more connected with my fellow Mongols and it occured so naturally that I barely noticed.  I’m sure all you grads out there reading this know exactly what I mean and I’m starting to understand it to a whole new level now. It’s amazing how much a single class can do for you, and all the experiences that come along with it. When the time came, we boarded the plane and went to our respective seats. Sadly, many of us got separated (I ended up sitting in the middle of two strangers with no one near me for at least 2-rows back and front, haha. But hey, independence ‘aint so bad. The 11 hour flight wasn’t that bad either. I realize Korean Air has high standards, with awesome service and awesome Economy seats (i mean it guys, its actually not too bad LOL). Okay anyway, so 11 hours slowly crawl by (with two personal responses in a diary, two meals and a lonesome Global student in a Economy seat…lame). At the end of the flight (here’s the huge kicker!), we realize that our flight into Mongolia got cancelled cuz of stupid weather conditions (heavy snow and wind storms). But hey, we can’t blame anyone, things happen and we gotta roll with it right? We sat around Icheon airport for a while until we knew what to do…it was then, that our saviour (Matheny) had figured out a way to get us into hotels for the night. The next flight out of Korea and into Mongolia is the next night at 7pm. We arrived here at around 5 20pm March 13th (which is just 12 20am for you guys, saturday morning). Now it is 10:15pm and (still without more sleep…) I’m still not quite tired haha. I really need to rest…Anyway as I was saying. So we check into the hotel after a 20minute-ish bus ride from the airport and we get settled down etc.etc. Hectic Day 1? I think so…but then again not really haha. It’s all part of the adventure, as M says Okay, so there’s still at least 20 hours to go until we can get to the capital city Ulanbaator (I probably didn’t spell it right) and another few hours of bus ride to the village we’re building the schoool at. Every single person in the group is now beginning to mingle with other students in the class and it shows how people can finally get out of their comfort zone to interact with others. Robbie, if you’re reading this, please note that Matheny saw a “Korean-version” of you on the flight! Haha, okay no that wasn’t the point…the point is that I really wanna thank you for your speech the other day, it meant a LOT to all of us and I think it really moved us all just that much closer together. Even though it is just day one, I am beginning to see the deeper story behind Global and I’m gonna cherish each and every second of it!

On a more personal note (aka you grads don’t have to read this part haha), everything is fine here mom, we’re well housed and we’re fed We’ve yet to figure out how things will proceed from now, but the itinerary shouldn’t change much at all. Don’y worry about me and just worry about yourself! Did you rebook the appointment? Have a safe flight back home<3. Take care!

And now for you<3 haha you know who you are =] imy lots laaa haha and I’ve pretty much said everything I needed to say through other means;) Just wanna wish you a good day and another good night’s sleep that’s to come ahead for you. Always look at the present and the NEAR future lah. Nothing has changed so you don’t have to think so much about it. Seize the day with what you’ve got and anticipate the return of something great =] Don’t let your fears get to you! Cause it wont happen

Alright that’s it for today, off to bed now! (earliest I’ve ever slept actually…10:30pm LOL life of an IB student…(sigh). Oh if you grads have a chance, go check out something called “my life is IB”, its kind of like “MLIA” but it pertains to IB , some are actually hilarious

Good night everyone!

3,2,1, MONGOLS!<3