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...