Birthday and More...

Celebrated another birthday in Mongolia, #29.  Or, as some have so astutely pointed out, 30-1.  Thanks for that.  ;)  On the 19th, everyone came to my place and we had Thanksgiving in January.  See, a turkey (two actually!) magically made it's way to C-town, and since the holidays had already passed, the next occasion to celebrate was my birthday.  We pot-lucked it again, with all the trimmings: mashed potatoes & gravy, dressing, green bean casserole, peas & carrots, fruit salad, pasta salad, and bread pudding.  After hanging out and binging on all the deliciousness, we went out dancing.  Fun times.

 Two big thumbs up!

 I carved that baby up like a pro!

 Om nom nom nom!

 Oh hey, thanks Grand Club!

 Out with the girls.

On my actual birthday (that was the 22nd, for those of you who were unaware), I had lunch with my CPs, skyped my PC bff, had a beer, and just bummed around.  I had thought about going out, but I am broke.  :(

These last three weeks we've been practicing volleyball every day for 2-3 hours in preparation for the Teachers' Day tournament.  We also had the intra-school competition (went 4-3, took second) and the foreign language teachers' competition (went 4-0, took FIRST!!), all leading up to the big tourney in the next day or two.  And if you're wondering (my mother especially!), my knee is taped not because I messed it up again, but because during the intra-school competition I dove for a ball, my knee pad slipped down and I got wicked court burn.  I taped it up so that my knee pad wouldn't irritate the raw skin, as well as to keep some "magic medicine" on it until the hard scab forms.  Now there's a lovely image...Ha!

 Zoloo, me and Andi.

 Shooting the ball over.

 At one point, I served 10 aces or shanks in a row before missing.  What do you think they were all talking about later?

 The ShKh players.  I wasn't on their team because we numbered off instead of playing by school.

 The winners!  Woot woot!  (We of course partied after which is why some are already dressed.)

So that's what's been happening here.  Not sure if the big inter-school tourney will be Sun & Mon or Mon & Tue or just when, but that will be fun again.  And my friend Vihn is on his way to C-town as I'm typing this. (Also, as I'm typing this, that turkey carcass from last weekend is simmering away, soon to become homemade stock, and making my apartment smell ridiculous.  Yum!)  He'll be helping with a seminar we're facilitating on Weds & Thurs.  Then Friday is (actual) Teacher's Day, so party party!  10th and 11th grades still have classes next week (although I don't teach those grades), then it's two weeks of break, the last week being for Tsagaan Sar.  Dang, how is it nearly Tsagaan Sar already!?  Where did the time go!?

Packages

Hello everyone. 

I've been told that the USPS (no doubt due to their financial crisis) is going to be raising the prices on their large flat rate boxes from $60.95 to $79.95 come Jan 27.  Not sure about the other box sizes, but certainly they will go up as well.  If you were thinking of sending me something, please do so in the next 10 days, not only because I'm nearly finished, but because that's a crazy jump in price and I can't ask any of you to pay that much just for shipping.  Craziness!  ;)

Much love to you all!!

Winter's a...

...well, you know what she is.  We're into the second of the 9 Nines (What's that you say?  Check this out.) and everything I've heard/read/seen indicates it's gonna be a brutal winter.  There's a special word for exceptionally bad winters: зуд (translated as "zud" but pronounced "zude").  It literally means "winter devastation" and comes in two forms, white or black.  White zud is exceptionally snowy, black is exceptionally cold.  The results?  Either too much snow for herds to graze and the animals starve or it's so cold the animals freeze to death.  Either way, it spells economic ruin for herders, a hell of a lot of extra work for ger dwellers, and downright dangerous conditions for all.  Back already this fall some Mongolians were throwing around the word "zud" and it looks like they may have been right.  How they knew, I'll never know.  Probably because with traditional lifeways comes a deeper connection with nature, especially the ability to read the seasons (was the previous season especially rainy? dry? hot? cold?)  and make predictions.  No matter how they knew, I wish they had been wrong.  As you all know, there's no love lost between me and the cold weather.  Just one more way PC is forcing me to change, grow, adjust...

UB Post article

National Emergency Management Agency article

As mentioned in the first article, school break has been extended for all students in anticipation of the deadly cold.  10th & 11th grades will get two weeks, 7th-9th grades will get three weeks, and Kindergarten-5th grades will get five weeks.  In addition to the evacuations and extended school breaks, the government passed a special, one-time payment of 340,000MNT ($250-260) to each elderly, disabled, or child to (in theory) cover the extra heating costs.  You should have seen the lines at the banks!

Don't worry about me, I've got my Columbia jacket, long johns, fleece socks and lots of hot cocoa to get me through!  Plus, that little pup of mine just happens to be the best space heater imaginable.  D'aaww!

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The party I was waiting for...

...Number zurgaa!  The big hoop-de-doo, my school's Shine Jil (New Year) party on Sunday night:

 Foreign Language Department

 Me with my school's director and Jagga.

 Jagga snagged my camera and snapped this gem.

 Jagga won "Most Creative" teacher!  Congrats!

 Bimba and Ulzii in their matching shirts.  Hello bromance!

 Let's dance!

 Hey, look!  I found twins!

 Lottery...Which I didn't win.  :(

 Eat the cucumber game.  Naughty!

 No idea what we were laughing about.

 Waiting to start a game...

 Bahahahahahaha!

Having a dance-off to determine the winner of the apple-eating contest.

All in all, it was a super fun evening, more fun than last year's for sure.  We had the room all to ourselves (last year we had to share with another company) so we got to play games and do the awards/lottery just for ourselves.  And as this was my last Shine Jil with them, they let me pick the last dance song of the evening (a toughie between remixed JLo and remixed Gangnam Style, but I chose a remixed Moves Like Jagger). I got a little misty-eyed as I flitted from table to table, knowing this was our last Shine Jil together, but I have a feeling I'll be bringing a little of them with me to wherever I'm celebrating next year.

I rang in the actual new year with my sitemates at Merrie's apartment.  We held the third Chopped Challenge (I came in third, dang it!), played a few games, then popped champagne at midnight and chatted into the wee hours.  It was very low-key, exactly the kind of NYE we all needed after two solid weeks of parties with our schools and various organizations we work with.  Next up, a few weeks of "rest" before the next party season kicks in: Tsagaan Sar!  Stay tuned.  ;)

Oh hey, more parties!

I should have known I'd be attending more than four holiday parties...At the last minute (meaning two or three days in advance) I was invited to the Dornod Institute Christmas party and my school's 11th grade New Year's concert.  So, here are some photos from parties number quattro and fimm:

The MC

Singing

Introducing a game

 A dance

 Sukhee and his daughter

 My 11th grader's theme was Maskarad (Masquerade).

 The MCs

 Lip-synching to an English song

 Mongol duet

 Hip-hop dance

 Hi-ya!

 Breaking boards

 That's an apple on a knife and he kicked it without slicing off his foot.  I was very impressed!

 Another Mongol duet

 Grandfather Winter

 The snow girls...

 ...They did a dance

 2012 & 2013

 Stilts!?  Again, I was super impressed.

 My CP Jagga wanted a picture before I left (had to leave early to get to my community ed class).

And these last few photos, while not a party, are from the 7th and 8th grade singing competitions I "judged" on Monday.  7th sang Jingle Bells, 8th sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  I forgot my camera (wah wah) for the 9th graders, but they sang Holly Jolly Christmas.