BTS

It's that magical maddening time of year: Back To School.  This means two cups of coffee every morning and bed before 10.  And still, I am exhausted.  I think part of it is the realization that I only have 9 or so months left here and I need to cram in as much as possible before I leave.  The other part is just the insanity of a new school year; Everyone's excited and motivated, a level of enthusiasm that will soon fade and my work load will drop by, oh, half.  But for now, I need a venti with an extra shot to go!

Right now my schedule is a madhouse of classes and side projects.  I still have to fit in my APDC and LEOS meetings, but currently I have 10 classes at school on all 5 school days, Access classes M&W, Skill Building (fka TOEFL) class on Wednesday afternoons, a new class for community members with low/no English on Friday afternoons, Film Club on the 1st & 3rd Sundays, and my favorite (shhhhh!): volleyball MT&F afternoons.  I'm not playing volleyball with my school this year, so instead I just wrapped up coaching the national (teen) girls team at the aimag's Sports Center.  The girls are in the Gobi competing this weekend (good luck!).  The sports center's director, Chimeddorj, and the volleyball coach, Tomood, asked me to play on the adult national team when they get back.  So, SO excited for that!  Keeping my fingers crossed I actually get to play when the competition rolls around (it's pretty obvious I'm NOT Mongolian), not just practice with them.  But either way, it will be super fun just to be on the court with them. 

 See Mom, I'm wearing knee pads!

 Showing the girls how to stay low when transitioning to dig a hit.  They totally understood.

 Of course, the harder we work, the harder we play!  Havin' a beer at my place before heading out to a dance club.

 The HUGE farmers' market in the square a couple weekends ago.  I went a little veggie & squash crazy.

 They even had a snazzy sign!

 This poor guy (gal?) turned out to be my upstairs neighbors' dinner (that's my laundry drying on my porch).  It was entertaining watching them struggle up the stairs with it.

 And I'm not so busy that I can't get Bams out for a walk, enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

 So pretty walking through the trees. 

The Land of Blue Sky and Autumn leaves.