Yurts

Definition of Yurt:

1. Noun. A circular domed dwelling that is portable and self-supporting; originally used by nomadic Mongol and Turkic people of central Asia but now used as inexpensive alternative or temporary housing.

Why in the world am I blogging about Yurts?  99% of people have never even heard of a "yurt".  If you were a history nerd like yours truely, then you would know what a "yurt" is.  Given that I'm at my annual nerd fest (aka: the AP World History Reading) and surrounded by people with the same interests (and many who are much, MUCH smarter than moi) who I get to have collegial conversations with on breaks & meals - well, no wonder I'm blogging about Mongolian houses.  No... it is actually not part of either of the three essays we are grading this week, but instead "yurts" have been a tradition at the AP Reading since the first year (2002).  Yurts are what we "live & read" in during the day.  I think you might see some similiarities below:

This is a traditional looking Mongol Yurt in the grasslands of Mongolia.

Here is a glimpse into our work space.  Granted our Yurt "walls" are opened in this picture, but if you can imagine them closed, there would be a strong similarity to what the ancient Mongols lived in (minus the roof).

This large ball room is divided up into Yurts.  Each yurt has 2 tables with about 8 people at each table.  So, a total of about 16 people "live" in a yurt during the Reading.  We are called "yurtmates" (ha-ha... I know... cheezy but you got to love it).

There are 48 tables (so that is 24 yurts) in this ball room.  These tables are reading Question #1 (which is the Document Based Question).  That means about 1/2 of the people here are reading this essay = 430 people.  Insane.  But we like to think of it as completely controlled chaos.  A fine oiled machine.  Believe it or not, everything runs so smoothly here. 

So, as of this afternoon, we have read approximately 60% of the 160,000 essays.  How's that for some progress.  We just finished up day 3.5 and we are more than 1/2 way done.  I guess that doesn't mean a whole lot if you have never done this before.  Trust me when I say it is awesome.  Heck, we might even finish a little early and have some time off for ourselves Tuesday afternoon (we all leave really early Wed morning).  I will keep you posted.

Anyway... a little Mongolian history for ya.