A Very Mongol Christmas

Well my first Christmas in Mongolia is done. I celebrated the holiday at my apartment with my site-mates, complete with too much food and a Secret Santa gift exchange. I also got to Skype with my parents purely by (the most delightful) chance, and again with the whole family on Christmas Day (Central time). Of course I wish I had been home, but I'm so glad to have such great site-mates to spend holidays (and everything else!) with.

I must have been a very good girl! Look what Santa brought me! Thanks Mom & Dad, Mr. & Mrs. Ray and Crystal & Andy!

Deb, Zoloo, and Merrie.

M22s PCVs represent! Koty, me, John.

John and Kaede. John's making eggnog from scratch!

Food and gifts table. Where there's food, Bagii (John & Kaede's cat) is nearby.

The "pot-luck to share" food in the kitchen.

Our roasted suckling pig. We named it AMTTAЙ (amt-tai), which means "delicious" or "tasty."

Yes, I ate some of little Amttai. The me of six months ago doesn't even know what's going on anymore, although I still don't particularly like the taste of meat. Still sort of "Meh" about it...

John, on the other hand, loved little Amttai. Maybe a little too much...Hahaha!

My awesome Secret Santa gift: My very first Engrish shirt! Love it!

Zoloo hangin' by the tree.

John and Kaede ate too much.

My site-mate Koty slept over on Christmas. We watched "White Christmas" before bed, then made a great brunch for Christmas morning: Bacon, egg fried in bacon grease, oven baked hash browns, and American coffee!

Let It Snow!

In the spirit of the holidays, I asked my CPs if I could take a break from the mandates of the book and teach a holiday-themed lesson. Especially given the confusion between what exactly Christmas is vis a vis Shin Jil (New Year) and Tsagaan Sar (Lunar New Year). They enthusiastically agreed, and I enthusiastically began planning. All I can say now is be careful what you wish for...

Teaching my CPs about major world religions' holidays as well as a few other "American" holidays and observances. And yes, I did color-code holidays as religious, secular, and formerly religious but now observed as secular, courtesy of the multi-color white board markers Mom sent. баярлалаа Mom!

My CPs.

Teaching 11th graders the difference between Christmas, Shin Jil and Tsagaan Sar, as well as "Let It Snow!"

Same (simplified) lesson for the 5th grade English Club.

They were angels sitting through my terrible singing. Good thing I was able to let iTunes do most of the work!

If I have to write out and sing this dang song one more time my ears just might start to bleed. бaяpтaй, "Let It Snow!" We had a good run, but our time together is over.

IST

After three months at site, PC holds a training for PCVs and their CPs to help strengthen the work relationship, discuss cultural differences, and have some fun while bonding. For us TEFLers, IST was last week at a hotel about 2 hours outside UB.

The training got off to a crummy start as our flight was first delayed (multiple times) then cancelled. All of the East- and West-Siders who are fly sites (meaning the travel to UB is either too dangerous in winter or just too far by land) missed the first day of training, not even arriving to the resort until 11pm Monday. Our flight also got delayed on the way back, but luckily we got out the same day. Some West-Siders weren't so lucky. But the rest of IST was pretty awesome. We learned so much in the sessions, everything from grant writing to strategies for capacity building to classroom games & activities. Our evenings were free for us to do whatever with. Inevitably this meant drinking and dancing in the rooms, a favorite pastime of both cultures. We even taught some of the CPs games like Beer Pong and Flippy Cup. One evening I went snow-tubing with a few other PCVs; it was really fun until a giant rock decided it wanted to meet and greet my behind. The resulting bruise made sitting though sessions quite uncomfortable. Zuger. On the last evening we played bi-cultural trivia and then had a dance party in the dining room. Trivia was such a big hit we're already planning on doing it again at MST. All in all, it was a really great time, and I'm looking forward to implementing the things we learned in our work.

The view from the hotel. The gers are rent-able; luckily we weren't in 'em!

Ambassador Addleton giving a speech. I sat with him during lunch; very interesting man.

Playing beer pong. My CP is on the far right.

Language lesson.

Trivia night. I'm just to the left of center.

Dance pause for picture!

The conditions on the evening of 12.17.11 (aka: why I was so very glad to leave UB).

And what about Bambuul you ask? She got to have fun with Bagii and Spicy, her 4-legged site-mates at J&K's apartment. Big thanks to J&K for taking great care of her in my absence. I can't believe how much I missed my Bams. I've definitely got a bad case of puppy love. And I can't believe how much she grew: she's now able to jump onto our bed without my help!

Hoarfrosty Snow

It's more than a frost, but less than measurable snow. It's Hoarfrosty snow! If it's gotta be this cold, at least it's pretty...

The trees behind School #1.


Thank you, pollution-spewing, climate change-contributing power plant for keeping me warm! The haze is from ger district fires and is now permanent.

Pretty!

Tree outside my school.


My poor sand volleyball court!

Mining

The mining industry in Mongolia is about to EXPLODE. Mining companies from all over the world are here, and with Oyu Tolgoi set to begin production in late 2012/early 2013, the country is borrowing heavily against the anticipated boom. What does this mean for the average Mongolian though? Where will the money go, and for what purpose? And what about the environment?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/04/magazine/ninja-gold-miners-mongolia.html?ref=global-home

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/07/gobi-mega-mine-mongolia

My Work Week

So I realized I haven't posted about what I'm actually here to do: work. My full title is TEFL and Community Development, so in addition to teaching, I do "side projects" in the community. Often it's hard to get things done because schedules are a nice thought, but they really aren't followed. Sometimes schools shut down to be sterilized with only 24 hours notice (true story: we have a Hep A outbreak here). Sometimes teachers have to clear snow so all afternoon classes are cancelled (true story: it's an excuse that's been used on me twice already). Sometimes the equivalent of the Department of Education pops by to count all your resources (true story: last week they counted every computer, book, even flashcards). Sometimes there's a "methodology" competition and all the teachers bust out their snazziest PowerPoints and compete against eachother (true story: my CP won, although she didn't advance far enough in the city or aimag to get to UB). Sometimes teachers just head to the hudoo (countryside) without warning (true story: it's pretty much a Friday standard). Sometimes the reason remains a mystery. But ideally, this is what I do in a week:

Monday: 10th Grade Extra Lesson, Access Program (an English class of highly-motivated, low-income students; I teach 1.5 of the 6 weekly hours of instruction).
Tuesday: Mongolian Language Lesson, 7th Grade English Club, 11th Grade Extra Lesson, Coach the Girls' Volleyball Team
Wednesday: Methodology, Faculty and Staff English Class
Thursday: 5th Grade English Club
Friday: TOEFL Prep Course, Speaking Club
Saturday: Free time? No, CHORES!
Sunday: Tutoring, Film Club

English Clubs and Extra Lessons are pretty much another English class. The only difference is I can go "off book" and do more activities/games than the actual English class allows. I also dabble in the HIV/AIDS/STI Task Force, and am working to restart a committee/task force within PC-M. It centers around a sensitive subject in Mongolia, so I won't mention more here. I'm told soon we'll resume the teachers' volleyball practice; apparently the teachers take a break to focus on the students and their upcoming competition. I hope we restart soon! Not only if we hope to compete in the once-mentioned January tourney, but because I really miss it.

I head to UB next week with one of my CPs for IST. Should be a good time (all the TEFL PCVs will be there, yeay!) and a great opportunity to capacity build with my CP. And I've already started to think about summer work opportunities: M23 Trainer? Camp in another aimag? Or if I'm feeling really ambitious, start a volleyball camp in Dornod? But I've still got some time to figure that all out...

Holiday Cheer

My mission today was to bring a little holiday cheer to my sparsely decorated apartment. I wanted to find "bee-bee 'ights" and a jijig mod (little tree). As I have my mother's taste, the medium-sized tree and multifunction LED lights I really wanted were out of my budget; just couldn't justify spending 61,500T (or about 1/4 my monthly allotment) on something I'll be leaving behind. So I am still without lights BUT I now have a xamgiin jijig mod (very little tree). Yeay! The ornaments I got in UB are still taped to the freezer, however. Oh well! It's beginning to look *a bit* like Christmas...

"I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really."

My awesome Mongol boot and camel ornaments from the fair-trade store. Made in Mongolia by Mongolian women, proceeds supporting Mongolian women.

Update: I found lights and ball ornaments!

Added the lights to the tree. The blink though, so they may not stay...Grr.

Ball ornaments hanging over the entrance.


Ball ornaments hanging over the double-doors leading into the living room.

Tinsel hanging in front of the porch door/windows.