TOT & O-Days

Well we finished up TOT, Orientation Days and got the trainees safely to their host communities, woot! 

Here I am up in Selenge aimag's capital, Sukhbaatar on Thurs, May 30.  We were visiting the trainee's homes to make sure all of PC's requirements were met.

 Heading to Shaamar soum to pick up some other PST staff members who were checking homes there.

 Shaamar through the trees.

 

 Having a little fun our last night of TOT.

 

 The PST staff on Friday, May 31.

 After picking up 46 trainees at the airport on May 31 at about 11:30pm, I took them to ger camp for the weekend.  Here they are, waiting to put their winter bags on the luggage truck to be locked up at the PC office.

 On Saturday, June 1, I took them on a hike up the mountain.  This is looking back at the ger camp.

 At the top, saying "byaslag!" (means cheese, what else!?)

 With the group that made it to the top!

 Of course there was an ovoo at the top.

 A sudden wind kicked up and chill ripped over the mountain with rain in the distance so we headed back down quickly.  When we got to the bottom, the sun broke through the clouds and set the mountains in fire.

On Sunday, June 2 I took the trainees into UB for the day.  They got their first shots and got to play tourist, guided in small groups by current PCVs.  Luckily there were enough "tour guides" that I got to have the afternoon off (which I spent napping on a friend's couch).  Then on Monday, June 3, I took the trainees to immigration for processing then up to Darkhan, home base for PST 2013.

 The trainers and I took the trainees on a sunset hike up to two of the monuments in Darkhan.

 Looking back at the horse & rider monument.


All the first half trainers and me.

 Looking down from the buddha towards the children's park.

 Then on Tuesday, June 4, we officially kicked off Orientation Days with cultural performances, including how to receive a khadag, the traditional blue scarf.

 I totally cried when she started playing, not only because it was beautiful but because it hit me that two years ago, dang near to the day, I was in the trainees shoes, hearing my first morin khuur (horse head fiddle) performance, seeing my first traditional dance performance.  It was overwhelming to think about.

 The LCFs introducing themselves, wearing traditional clothing.

 Then there were the cultural differences skits, the funniest part of O-Days.

Sessions on safety, cultural diversity, PC policies, etc continued until Thursday.  Then on Friday, June 7, we sent the trainees off to their host communities to meet their host families and begin their language learning & cultural integration.  We (the trainers and myself) were sad to see them go after only a few days of interaction, but excited for them and the new experiences they'll be having.  We were all very nostalgic for our PST experience!

 And these are just pictures of the amazing thunderstorm that rolled in tonight (Saturday, June 8).  Thunderstorms are rare here; this is probably only the 3rd one I've heard.  It's little things like the sound of rain and thunder lulling me to sleep that I frequently miss about home, so I definitely appreciate it when it happens here! The clouds looked so cool rolling over and obscuring the mountains in the distance.

The same view, 30 minutes later.

Tomorrow (Sunday June 9) I will go with the medical team out to all the sites to drop off lost/forgotten items and just check in on the trainees, see how their first weekend has been.  Super excited to see the sites, play tourist for a bit!

DTM Summer: Commence!

After a week of working in the office in UB doing lots of scheduling and logistics-ing, on Friday we moved the office to our summer home in Darkhan. 

Workin' hard and lookin' official.  :)

PC has rented out the classrooms of the local branch of the Humanities University for out PST base.  I'm in the admin office with two others, then we have rooms for the trainers (by their sectors) and rooms for the trainees to have sessions in when they come in.  This past week and all next we're conducting TOT, Training of the Trainers.  The trainers are learning about the curriculum they'll be facilitating all summer, as well as learning more about PC policies and practicing their facilitations.  The M24 trainees arrive on Friday; I'll be at the airport to welcome them with my very official clipboard and roster.  Then they'll be whisked away to ger camp to begin their Mongol adventure and I'll be with them the whole time.  After we get them through a week of group training, they'll be sent to their summer sites and my work will shift back to behind-the-scenes, visiting the sites only to observe & feedback.  Loving it all so far though, especially getting to know the Mongolian tech trainers and the M23 trainers. 

Last of the goodbyes

On Wednesday (May 1) I had dinner with some of the teachers from my school.  We went out for Chinese and they presented me with a very nice silver jewelry set.

On Thursday (May 2) I went with my sitemates Andi and Koty to a traditional Mongolian ensemble performance (http://mongolian-ensemble.com/).  It was amazing!  There was traditional dance, singing (including long song and throat singing), and instrumental performances (including the morin khuur and an awesome version of Brahms on traditional instruments).  I definitely cried more than once.  After the performance, we went back to Andi's to say goodbye and for me to get one last snuggle in with Holly (Andi's puppy).

On Friday (May 3) I packed up the last of my things and got ready to go.  My flight was at 2:30 so I had arranged for my ride to pick me up at 1.  At 12:30 there were still students at my apartment saying goodbye and giving me gifts!  Going to miss them so much!  As the plane took off, I cried (my tears will be a running theme in this post), overwhelmed with the emotion of leaving my home for the last two years.  I hope to get back to visit this winter, but who knows.  Thanks for the memories C-town. 

Arriving in UB, my interim home, was also a mix of emotions.  Monday (May 6) to Wednesday (May 8)  was our COS conference.  It was the one last gathering for my cohort to reflect on our service and say our goodbyes.  I cried during sessions, I cried during a video slideshow of all our photos, I even cried at a birthday party because it will likely be a long time before I see some of those faces again.  But mixed in with that sadness was a lot of excitement.  We're all moving on to new adventures and we will always carry these two years with us, experiences sure to impact our lives in yet unknown ways.

 Four  of six members of my team for the cooking competition!

M22 PCVs and (four) M21 PCVLs

Then on Monday (May 13) I officially started my DTM duties in the PC office.  Doing everything from coordinating schedules to updating manuals to drafting sessions, I am the right-hand of the training manager and we'll be working our butts off to ensure the M24s have a successful PST.  On Monday I went in to the office at 9, the requisite starting time and soon realized that it wasn't early enough.  Each day since I've been in from about 7:30 or so until 5 or 6, trying to get everything I can done to the nearest-to-final point I can before we start TOT on Monday.  Tomorrow (Friday, May 17) we move the office and ourselves to our summer base, Darkhan.  Will certainly be strange to be back there, but exciting because this time I'm on the other side.  :)

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.