27 April marked the first day since October that I didn’t have to wear my two layer winter coat outside.

However, now that it’s spring, Mongolian weather is experiencing some mood swings as the weather shifts from warm to cold on a day-by-day basis.

One day it’s warm. The next day, there is a dust storm.

One day it’s warm and sunny. The next day, there’s a 30-minute snow storm.

One day the sky is blue. The next day, the sky turns moody and gray and grumbles as another wind storm arrives.

Or all four seasons happen in a single day.

I went on a hike into the countryside with students. A day that started out brilliantly but was eventually thwarted by the weather.

Here we are marching out of our aimag.

It was warm enough for short sleeves.

Schools are still taking Olympiad exams. Students compete to place 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in their school subjects. I think the concept is utterly ridiculous as students and even teachers are put under a lot of pressure by administration to compete for the best score.

So, going out on a hike was a perfect diversion to leave school behind.

When we set off, it was warm enough for me to take my jacket off and frolic about in short sleeves.

But 30-minutes after we finally found our spot, the sun vanished, it began to rain, and the wind forced us to find shelter against the rocky outcrop of a hill.

I couldn’t help but laugh as I sat there against the rocks trying to rub life back into my cold fingers. I should have realized that this was going to happen. But as I sat there with Mongolian students ranging from 7th to 11th grade, this had just become another comical moment that I stored away into my memory to reminisce about later in the future.