ATAI-MEGAN'S 8TH GRADE DISCOVERY WEEK

Megan’s 8^th grade class had Discovery Week in Altai.  Altai is in southern Russia and is a four hour flight from here.  Megan left on Saturday, September 11th at 6:00 pm and then returned Friday, September 17^th. It was a little hard for me to let her leave with people I hardly knew and go to a place I’d never been but I knew it would be a good experience for her and that it would give her the opportunity to get to know her classmates.  The fact that Megan didn’t have any concerns and was looking forward to the trip made it easier for me to let her go.

Mountain Top View

Megan's Cabin

The kids stayed in huts and some of the parents were concerned about the fact that the kids would have to go to the bathroom in a different place than where they would be sleeping.  Obviously many of these people have not done much camping.  We had to borrow all the ‘warm stuff’ for Megan because our air shipment had not yet arrived.  The Stokers were very generous and helped us to finish up Megan’s packing list.  We borrowed most of Rob’s clothes but Megan didn’t seem to mind.

Megan - Rock Climbing

Megan called from Altai on Monday.  I didn’t think I would hear from her all week so I was surprised and glad she called.  She was having a wonderful time!  They had spent the day river rafting and then on Tuesday they were going to go rock climbing.  She texted me on Tuesday to say that she thinks she has gotten over her fear of heights.  She was also having fun getting to know all the kids and making new friends.





Meg's Hiking Group

It was obvious that Megan had an awesome experience at her Discovery Week in Altai.  I asked her if she ever got homesick and she said the first night was really hard and that she cried herself to sleep but the rest of the time was just lots of fun.  They river rafted, rock climbed, hiked, went to museums and did a rope course with a zip line in the trees.  Her favorite activity was the rope course.  The scenery was beautiful and the mountains reminded her of home.  It was also fairly cold, especially at night because their cabins were not insulated and the walls were very thin.

Megan was also bombarded with questions about what Mormons believe.  Mostly concerning our standards.  The kids had a hard time understanding why she couldn’t date until 16 and why we didn't believe in having sex before marriage. When she told them that Mormons don’t drink alcohol they wondered what it was her parents drank.  They were also surprised by the fact that she wouldn’t wear bikinis.  Megan told them that it sends the wrong message to guys and they wanted to know if she thought they were bad because they did.  These were not easy questions for Megan but I think she responded quite well from what she told me.