That just happened...

This afternoon I told Oyunga and Tsagaankhuu (the neighbor kids) that I'm leaving. They've been knocking on my door all night saying goodbye repeatedly. Then, just now, Oyunga knocked, waved for me to come closer, kissed me on the cheek & gave me a big hug. And now I'm sitting here crying. :')

Tsagaankhuu

Oyunga

Another goodbye and another competition

Had a really hard goodbye on Wednesday: my TOEFL class.  These ladies are motivated, dedicated, and so brave.  While the vast majority of the people who showed up on day one (literally 6 times as many as I ended with) gave up and quit, these women stuck with it and gave it their all.  I am so proud of them for not giving up, even when the material was difficult or the topic above their ability level.  They were fearless in their skill building, always asking questions and even asked me to extend the class hours/hold extra classes (which I gladly did!).  It is truly indescribable, my time with these women, as their level of commitment is a rare thing indeed.  I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with them.  After our last class on Wednesday, I surprised them by having them over to my apartment for wine and (homemade) dessert.  They in turn surprised me with a snuff bottle (truly an amazing gift) then treated me to dinner and karaoke.  I definitely teared up more than once in the course of the evening!

 Nemekhee, Zoloo, me, Zaya, Saraa and Bolormaa

Hugs all around!

Then today I judged a 5th grade English competition.  In case you've forgotten, competitions are a BIG deal here and happen ALL. THE. TIME.  This was for the regular (not skipped/advanced) 5th grade classes, so there were only 3 participating.  Each of the three classes had 10 students on their team.  Because the new 5th grade curriculum doesn't include reading & writing (don't get me started on that!), nearly every challenge was singing or listening.  The one writing task they did perform was hilarious because the question was asked in English but because they can't write in English, they wrote the answer in Mongolian.  But the kids were super cute and everyone got a certificate, so all's well that ends well (right?).

 "Whiteboard" for the question/write answers task = paper covered in packing tape.  Baby wipes erase it.  Seriously! I've made so many of those...

It was the "Happy Alphabet" competition!  :)

Tonight I'm off to my last Friday night weekly dinner with all the PCVs and VSO.  I chose to go to the same place I went for my very first dinner out with the gang because somehow it just seemed fitting.  One week to go...

Counting down...

Thank you again to everyone who has sent sympathies and condolences my way.  The loss of my Bams is still very raw (in fact it's the reason I'm still awake and writing this post); she's never far from my thoughts and I miss her every day, most especially at night.  What I wouldn't give to "boop" her cold, wet nose just one more time...But my days have been filled with both the usual work & additional preparations to leave C-town, and my wonderful sitemates have been amazing, keeping my evenings filled too.  I welcome the distractions.

So here's what I've been up to:

 I had a dinner with Bujin of LEOS to say goodbye (and introduce her to Andi, a 1st year volunteer), which lead to an invitation to lunch that weekend.  So here I'm saying goodbye over said lunch with some of the women heading up the new secondhand store (to which I donated many items).  The store will help fund her women's empowerment programs.

She gave me a nice Mongolian picture and Mongol boot.  Really gonna miss her tireless passion.

 I also made a visit to the new APDC facility.  Here Munkhzul is explaining some of the classroom activities.

 Some of the new equipment.  They have all manner of therapy and diagnostic tools now.

Thought this was goodbye, but it resulted in making plans to get together the following weekend at my house.

 At my apartment this weekend.  They are presenting me with wine and a cross stitch hand-made by a mentor parent (someone who has a disabled child and volunteers to support other parents with a disabled child).

Love these ladies so much!

 School's been busy too.  The aimag English Olympiad had even more drama than usual this year.  :(  And General Exam prep is in full swing. Here, I'm reading words for a Spelling Bee at my school.

 9th, 10th and 11th graders participated.

The 1st and 2nd place winners along with my CP Jagga who coordinated the whole thing.

 On Friday in my final (aahh!) 5th grade English Club we made paper chains.

 They're going to have an Olympiad-style competition next week and I move the following Friday so this was our last lesson.  I wanted to do something new and fun for it.

Each link had a letter of the alphabet and corresponding vocab word which they then had to sting together in alphabetical order.  Learning English is soooooo much more fun when it involves crafts!  It was super cute hearing them sing the alphabet in parts over and over, making sure their chain was correct. <3  Sure gonna miss these kiddos!

Have a couple more goodbyes to say in the next 12 (omg!) days, and a few more things to wrap up before embarking on the next phase of my service.  Really excited for our COS conference, see my cohort all together one last time, and to get to Darkhan & start PST.  But for now, it's one day at a time. 

A Sad Update

I am heartbroken. When I came home from work yesterday I found Bambuul had passed away.  I will always remember what a happy dog she was, and I hope she knew just how much I loved her.  Last night was very difficult, trying to go to sleep without her snuggled beside me.  And this morning I felt so "off" without Bammers; there's an uneasy stillness in the apartment that has kept me in tears. Thank you family and friends for your sympathies. I am overwhelmed by the flood of messages, comments, text, calls and emails I've received in the last 24 hours.  I have taken great comfort in your words, and your support will get me though this. Thank you. And if you're a fur baby parent, snuggle them close an extra time today/tonight!

Rest in peace my sweet little monkey.