Already December!!

I remember talking with some of my PCV friends before school started about how when we get to December it's almost like we are done... well it's December! And time really has gone by soooo fast this year. Today on facebook a bunch of the M21s (21st group of volunteers in Mongolia -I am an M20) posted that they have been in Mongolia for 6 months now, this was just really interesting because that is about the amount of time I have left here now... which is exciting, and strange all at the same time. Knowing that, it gets part of me really excited about coming home, and then makes part of me think, holy crap, I have a lot to get done here still in not that much time! Anyways, this weekend I have been extra productive! Chopped a lot of wood, did two loads of laundry, continually cleaned my ger (only to have Leo come in and poop and pee all over the place, grr!) went running, bathed, etc. etc. I know what you are thinking, why are you telling us you bathed...? Well it takes longer when you have to heat up the water and first do your body, then dump that water, heat some more water and then do your hair, doing all of this over a tupperwear basin I guess you could call it. So yes, I always include "bathing and washing hair" on my weekend "to do" list, it just takes too long to not have it on there and be able to have the satisfaction of crossing it off!

School has been going well, not a whole lot of school news to report on though. Just trying to keep planning lessons that will entertain my 4th graders enough to hold their attention for the 40 minutes! Sometimes I am successful, sometimes I am not... Usually though class is a lot of fun, when I am finished teaching all three fourth grades in a row though I feel like I just ran like 8 miles or something, it is exhausting! My older students have been a lot of fun lately, not sure how much English they are really picking up, but usually class goes alright, so I'm grateful for that. The other day in one of my 11th grade classes one of my guy students came in really really mad. He was knocking over desks and his neck was all cut up. Well about two minutes into class his homeroom teacher comes and calls him out of my class because she had heard about the fight, so that's when I found out what had happened from the other students in class... the boy he was fighting with is actually my neighbor so I know him a little bit. So I just said, "Oh really? but he is such a nice boy?" to which my students thought I said he was good looking by saying he was nice, and I had to clarify, no, no, I mean nice, as in he is a kind person! and then here is the point of my story... one of my girl students, who I'm pretty close with because she is one of my olympic girls that I meet with at least once a week outside of class, says, "no I don't think he is very nice... I don't think he respects women." To which I was like, man, my work here is done!! The feminist in me was proud! I had just the week before talked with her and some other girls about qualities in men that we were hoping to find if/when we get married. We got into this conversation because these girls were oh so curious when I would get married and to what kind of guy???? It was a fun conversation. All joking aside though a good one to have, and my main point to these girls was, make sure he respects you and respects women. Sounds all preachy I know, but here domestic abuse is a scary and very real reality for a lot of women, and the amount of drinking that some men do does not help this cause any. Personally I think in America, Mongolia, and around the world for that matter we still have a long ways to go in terms of domestic violence.

Totally different topic now... I sang a Mongolian song at a concert this past Friday night, yanna. So a few weeks ago my director told me (I was never asked) that I would sing this song at a concert our school was doing. Now, I like singing like when I'm alone, or if I'm teaching students a new song, but in front of people.... not so much. And in a different language in front of all kinds of people that are actually really paying attention because it's a foreign person singing in their language.... yeah again, I was not too thrilled to hear I would be doing this! They did let another teacher sing it with me though, thank God, because I was so freaked out I would forget the words, luckily I did not. So I arrive at the club, with my hair semi- "did" as they told me, and my make-up thicker than normal as they told me to do, and I changed into my Mongol Deel as I was told to wear. But then they told me to take off my long-sleeve shirt that I was wearing under my deel, and to take off my black tights. To which I was like noooooooo, can't do that (my legs were not exactly clean shaven! too much info. I know, but it's the truth) well, when my director handed me a pair of skin-colored nylons what was I supposed to do, refuse? I was assured the lighting is poor and the people are far away, so no worries about the leg hair.... Then a teacher brings around a shot of vodka and says to drink it all, then I won't be nervous. And I did drink that whole big shot, and I think it did help because I wasn't really all that nervous! Trust me the song was probably not very good, I couldn't figure out my microphone at first, and then couldn't really hear myself throughout the song, so for all I know it sounded horrible, but I did it!! And my students seemed pumped about it, and they cheered so much, it was kind of wonderful. I will hear what they really thought tomorrow at school, yanna. I am glad though that I didn't stick with my first thought of, there is no way I'm doing this, I'm not a singer, how could they expect me to do this, with all these people watching, no, no, no..... because I think the fact that I did it, makes me more a part of everything here. And how happy my teachers were about me singing a Mongolian song, and how proud of me they were, made doing it worth it. No matter how good or bad it sounded... I did it, and that made the people of my community so happy. And this was one of those times I think, when their happiness was what really mattered.

Wood Chopping Season!

Sorry these pictures are crazy all over the place... can't quite figure out how to put them where I want them on this blog thing! They are pretty easy to figure out though, soccer kids, an 11th grade class with me, then one of my fourth grades, then Batnym fixing the glass on the top of my ger... little scotch tape will fix anything!

It is starting to feel like winter for real around here... I don't know how Batnym has been running around without a hat on because when I do that my ears are in paaaaain! Snow is sticking around now and the water is freezing. So I am pumping myself up for the next 4 months of freezing cold! Good news though this means I get to again start my beloved hobby... chopping wood. The other day Batnym asked me if people in America need to chop wood? My response was, nope, we just press a button. He thought that was very interesting! Granted a lot of people in Mongolia live in apartments, especially in the capital, but he never has so this information was pretty mind blowing.

This school year is still going well. Things just seem to be easier this year, so that's really nice. And because I understand more about what's expected of me and how things work this year I have been able to try more in my classes. Things that I probably wouldn't have known how or wouldn't have thought were possible last year. I also think I am better at setting boundaries for myself and working with my counterparts on whatever they ask of me, but in a way that I am comfortable with too. Some students have mentioned next year and then they are always surprised when I tell them, "I won't be here next year, but you will probably get a new American English teacher." My little fourth grade girls are always cute about that, getting all mad, like, we don't need another English teacher, nope, I'm not learning English from them! The other day a group of them were walking home with me and decided to give me a Mongolian name... only they coundn't agree on a name, so it's still unkown, the possibilities are endless!

The other week some 10th grade boys asked me if we could have a soccer competition and it ended up being awesome. I was a little nervous because I didn't know if it would work with all the other scheduled things, and then how to even begin organizing everything... but it all worked out so well. They let me know how many teams wanted to play, ended up being 11 teams, and then I made a bracket and wrote out the rules. Then my counterparts helped me out a ton; anything I couldn't explain to the students they did. And my one counterpart came out for the whole competition to help if there was ever confusion with anything, and he acted kind of like my translator. He being one of about 4 people in my school that can do this, so I was really grateful that he was willing to help me out. Then different 10th grade boys reffed all the younger kids games for me as I just stepped in if we needed, but mainly stayed on the sidelines (sidelines is a bit of a stretch for what we play on but you get the idea!) This time it was just a boys competition, and more than 100 boys in grade 8-11 played. I hope we can do a girls' competition soon... feel like that would be a really good thing for me to do here. But it was just so cool for me to do this here because it's something I miss doing, being involved in soccer. And to see some of these boys who can really play, like really play, was awesome. Especially because those few boys that are really good at soccer aren't necessarily good at wrestling and things like that that are really valued here. It was just a really cool thing, and I'm happy it didn't end up being a disaster!

Not too much else new to report... It's Sunday night here now; I have planning for school to do still but the day of cleaning, washing clothes, running, bathing (and bathing here is a chore in and of itself!) etc. has left me pretty tired so I may just call it a day and finish up my lessons tomorrow... I look forward to the day when those things are not an all day task!!

Home Sweet Soum

Me with my new puppy Leo, read on to hear about how this happened!Batnym working hard watching cartoons on my computer, p.s. Mom and Dad he asks if you can send some more :)
Batzorig on a friend's horse. He can ride but doesn't have his own horse right now.

It is good to be back to my soum and all settled in, and it is slightly surprising how quickly I got used to not bathing very often again... Today was the start of the third week of school. So far school is going great. Our school Training Manager assigned me to teach all the fourth grades and then some of the 10th and 11th classes. I am soooo happy with this schedule, as the fourth graders are adorable and they get so excited whenever I come in the room to teach them. And outside of class they are always asking when I will come again, which is odd because they have to know when I teach them, it's always the same! And then with the older kids I don't really have any behavior issues during class so I'm hoping I can get a lot accomplished with them. The problem there is they are just so not used to speaking English ever, which must seem weird as they have been studying it since 4th grade, but that's how it is. My one tenth grade today was funny because the two girls who competed in the English Olympics for their grade last year are in this class. They are really hard working and we spent a lot of time working on all kinds of English and a lot of speaking last year to get them ready, so during class today it was like they were my translators. No joke, they would translate everything when the other students didn't understand... kinda cool, but also slightly problematic for trying to get the rest of the class to work when they just rely on these girls (I mean I would too!) Anyways, teaching is going well so far, and these fourth graders remind me how much I loved teaching in America. Teaching them feels like real teaching again. Not that I don't like teaching here, I do, but teaching English is just not the same as teaching was or will be in America. I look forward to teaching all in English again to students who speak my language too. I feel like I relate pretty well to my students here, but not in the same way I could in America I think because things get lost in translation. So in America I am going to try to remember and never take for granted the fact that I can walk into my classroom on Monday and just small talk with my students about their weekend without them thinking it's a speaking practice exercise so I get only the responses they think I want to hear based on the learned grammar.... Anyways, I miss that about America, but I think this experience here is so great and honestly wouldn't have it any other way. I look forward to taking what I have learned here and applying it back in the states -if I can find a job once I return that is!?! Is it too soon to start worrying about that???

My counterparts and I just submitted a proposal for some grant money to buy teaching resources so hopefully that gets approved. It would be really nice to have some dictionaries to work with during class, instead of having to pause everytime we don't know a word as I look it up in my dictionary, then translate, annoying. Other than that school has just been busy with teachers writing their curriculums for the year to be submitted to the training manager, then methodologist of Tov Aimag I think. It's starting to get cold here but not too terrible yet. Some wood and coal has been delivered for me already, though still need someone to saw my wood into smaller pieces so I can chop it... hopefully I can get somebody out here to do that within the next few days.

Other news... I got a new puppy! The boys tell me Lucy died, but I kinda think she didn't. I think she probably got pregnant and they took her away.... not sure though. So I was pretty bummed about that when I got back and she was gone. Then about a week ago Tamir and Batzorig returned from picking vegetables in the countryside, and they brought with them this tiny boy puppy. Tamir was just like, "here, your new puppy" to which, I was just like ohhhh k? Thinking, that's not really how it works, old dog dissapears, so just find a new one in the countryside... but I guess it is how it works! But it took like all of two days for me to be loving this new little guy. And in the past week or so he has already grown a ton, is actually kinda fat now, gotta cut down his carb intake now I think. I finally decided on the name Leo for him. That was actually my dad's nickname; he didn't seem to mind when I said I wanted to use the name for my new puppy.... I had wanted to name him Theo, but the "th" sound is really hard for Mongolians, so when I noticed the boys couldn't say that name I had to think of something new! So Leo it is!

So between Leo and the boys there is rarely a dull moment. Batnym discovered my crystal light packets the other day, and he likes how I put bread in a frying pan to make toast -he says it's "goy ampte!" which means basically means really good. And Batzorig seems so much bigger and more mature this year; he is almost always working on chores outside when he's not at school. The other day he discovered my hair products... I told him try them all out; I mean he has ladies to impress now that he's 14! He is great though. This past weekend it was sunny and warm outside during the day so I just left my ger door open. And in strolls this drunk guy, not a problem, I just grabbed my dog and went and got Tamir to talk to the guy, tell him to go, etc. I locked my door and just kept doing my laundry as the guy keeps knocking on my door. Then I hear Batzorig come and start talking to him, telling him that I don't understand Mongolian so I'm not going to answer, and I'm probably afraid of him because we haven't met, and probably am calling the police right now so he should go... and he did. These boys are just wonderful is my point.

End of Summer

Above is a picture of the M21s at their swearing in ceremony! There are now about 140 of us (including M19s, 20s and 21s) serving as Peace Corps volunteers in Mongolia. This M21 group is very talented and many came in with great experience. I think they will do big things in the next two years!

I am considering it the end of summer now, as it is starting to get colder... I am moving from the city back to my Soum... and now I feel energized and ready to start a new school year! This summer has been full of fun things. Last week we had 3 days of a seminar called MST (mid service training) where my group of M20s were reunited again after about a year of being in Mongolia. I loved this seminar because it was more laid back than ones we have had in the past; we got time to reflect on this past year and then look at the next year in front of us. I think we are in such a cool place right now being half-way through our service because I know so much more about everything than I did at the beginning of the last school year. So I am really hoping to use everything I've learned thus far to make this year that much better, while being realistic about everything. I will head back to my Soum tonight, back to the reality of no running water... haha, I could not be more excited though about seeing all my students and everyone again though.

While we were at MST a few friends and I went to a store to buy a few things and the boy working in the store happened to be in 10th grade. We were telling him what we wanted in Mongolian and then he would respond in English. So then I started talking with him (mixed English and Mongolian) and he studies in the 1oth grade and works at this store in the summer, then goes to school in UB during the school year. He went on to tell us that he wanted to involved in an English speaking club or something because they never practice speaking in school. Whenever his teachers give tests they are only writing, so they never really get to practice speaking in English. Some of our Peace Corps friends in UB (and actually most volunteers around the country do clubs like this) do a 'Monglish' speaking night every week for people to come and speak in Mongolian and English so we gave him their number so he can maybe participate in that during this next school year. It was just a really cool thing leaving the store and being like, "see that's why we are here..." for kids and people like that. And I have many students like this boy in my Soum, who are so excited to have me there because they have never had an opportunity to speak with a native English speaker ever before. I am going to try to always remember this fact during this next year. I think it can be really easy to get down if one of my classes doesn't go well because of classroom management, or to get frustrated because things get cancelled or moved around or something like that (these things happen often) and then I forget about this bigger picture and the day to day impact of us just being unique in that we are native speakers.

Anyway, I have a lot that I want to accomplish this year and feel lucky that most everyone I work with in my Soum is motivated and wanting the same things. I think we can make this a really good school year, and I am excited to get started.

Summer in the City

It has been forever since I have updated anything on here because my summer has been all over the place in a very good way! I was able to come back to America for about a month visit during June which was amazing! I had such a good time spending time with friends and family and just doing things I enjoy in America that I haven't been able to do here. Eating hummus, salads, pizza, bagels, Mexican food.... ahhhhh, America, it was a beautiful month at home! So my first few days back in Mongolia felt a little strange. I was kind of surprised by that, as people always had said, "oh will you want to go back to Mongolia after being in America?" to which I was always like, "Of course, I love it there!" And being back now is fabulous, but those first couple of days were a little strange. So I am glad to be back in the swing of things here and feeling good about my next year of Peace Corps service. I start teaching the new group of volunteers this next week, which I'm really nervous about right now. I hope after the first few lessons I will know what they are like a bit more and what works when facilitating their lessons and what doesn't and planning for everything will get easier. These past few days have been a little stressful trying to get everything ready for lessons just because I have no idea what to expect when I go into the classroom with them. At this point I am used to teaching kids who speak minimal English -Not American adults who can understand all of the words coming out of my mouth! So my hope is that they are not too tough on me and our lessons go alright and are enjoyable.

Living in the city in an apartment has been really nice. I am living the high life with running water and all that these days. It has allowed me to go running more because I can shower after. Usually I even see a few Mongolian people out running in the morning when I am. I always see cute older men and women walking for their morning exercise. I don't think running here is a big thing at all so it is always kind of surprising and cool when I do pass those one or two people out for a run when I am. The other really nice thing about the city is all the food options. I can buy any fruit or vegetables (for the right price) but still it is an option here! Fruit and vegetable stands are set up outside too so I can just grab what I need on the corner right by my apartment. I am sitting in a coffee shop with wireless right now, another amazing perk of living in the city. As great as the city is, I think by the end of summer I will be ready to go back to my Soum life. It's awesome to get a taste of living here, but where I really will want to be for the next year is my Soum. The break in America and my time in the city this summer I think is going to give me great energy to get things done in my school next year. At the end last year I was pretty tired out and needed a break, but now I am getting really excited about everything this next school year has in store.

Excitement

Lots of exciting stuff happening around here! Tonight the new group of Trainees arrives! We are all really looking forward to it; a bunch of us PCVs that are in UB will go out to the airport to greet them. Then I fly to America on Monday!! Very excited. This morning I ran a 5k in the first ever International Marathon in UB I believe they called it. A bunch of other PCVs ran the 5k too, and one PCV ran the half marathon and another ran the full! I have not yet heard from him how it was... hopefully he finished running! The reason I wanted to update my blog though was because last night was probably one of the best I have had in my time here in Mongolia thus far. The group Ozomatli from Los Angeles came and played a concert in UB, and they were AMAZING. I went to the concert with a bunch of PCV friends and we had a blast, dancing and singing along the whole time. Generally Mongolians are a bit more reserved about dancing (from what I've seen at least) so we were kinda that group of white people dancing like crazy haha. As the concert progressed though Mongolians around us were dancing too, and a bunch dancing right there with us. What was especially awesome was that Ozomatli had a Mongolian guy throat sing mixed into one of their songs, which the crowd just loved. They also spoke a little in Mongolian, a tough thing to do, but so worth the effort considering they wanted to connect with their crowd. At the end of the show us PCVs started yelling "encore" over and over, this didn't catch on too much, so we told the Mongolians around us it means again, then we all yelled again in Mongolian over and over again. Now I'm sure Ozomatli was planning on doing an encore anyway, but they came back out after we all started yelling in Mongolian, and this was really cool. When they came back on stage they all had traditional Mongolian hats on, making the crowd just errupt. After the show we talked with the guys from Ozomatli backstage and took some pictures (I didn't have my camera so I don't have them to post now, but maybe later if I can get the pics from my friend). They were amazing people to talk with. We were all so curious about them and asking them all kinds of questions, but the cool thing was that they were equally as interested in us and what we are doing here in Mongolia. Ozomatli was actually invited by the U.S. State Department to serve as Cultural Ambassadors; this was part of a government sponsored tour. Ozomatli is all about addressing local, national, and international social issues. I think they are incredibly talented; they create amazing music and beyond that they have such a message behind what they do. I don't know how to talk about world peace without sounding incredibly cliche and naive... but attending a concert in Mongolia funded by the U.S. government, performed by a mixed group from L.A. that got Mongolians and foreign people alike on their feet and dancing and singing together... maybe that's a good start. If you don't know about this group I think you should check them out. Even if you don't agree with their political views I think we all gotta respect what they do.

Life in UB

Well it has been quite some time since I have written... my computer has been broken for a few months. I hope to get it fixed and install the best virus protection in the world and then bring the same lap top back here for my second year... that is the plan at least! Nothing too exciting happened during April and May though; I'm having a hard time even remember anything that I should re-cap on here. The end of the year was a little crazy with all the different tests students are given. School is actually still going on, but I am in UB. I came into UB about a week ago to start a seminar called TOT (Training of Trainers). So I am part of the 20th group of Peace Corps volunteers that has served in Mongolia. In country everyone just refers to us as the M20's. The next group of volunteers though, the M21's, will be arriving here on June 5. There will be 76 of them I believe, which is 7 more than we had coming in, and I guess then the next couple groups after them will be bigger and bigger... within a few years I believe they hope to have a group of 110 volunteers come in. Anyways, so us M20's and all the Peace Corps staff are very excited, and very busy! getting ready for the new group to come. The M21's will have a summer much like we did last summer. They will all have an orientation in Zuunmod for a few days, then go in groups to different small communities to live with a host family for the summer. Thoughout the summer they will be trained by myself and a bunch of other PCV's and Mongolian counterparts. Peace Corps breaks the summer in half, with different PCV trainers for the first and second halves of the summer. I will be training the M21's for the second half of the summer along with another PCV who is a friend of mine and two Mongolian counterparts. Our Mongolian counterparts are awesome; one is a middle age man who has a ton of experience in education and teaching in Mongolia. The other is a girl the same age as me; she studied at a Mongolain University to get her bachelors, then in England to get her masters, then after returning to Mongolia she worked in the President's office! This past week of working with them and the other PCV's has been awesome. I hope the summer goes really well and we can be helpful, effective trainers for the new group. I am training the sector of Cross Culture and Community Development. Every trainee will have sessions with us every week. Then they will have sessions for their specific sector and Mongolian language classes as well. Last summer I had Cross Culture, Mongolian language, then my sector was TEFL training. The other non TEFL sectors are Community Youth Development, Business, and Health. So right now the Peace Corps is crazy busy with all of us summer trainers trying to get everything for summer prepared before the new group comes in one week!!!! Needless to say we have been working pretty long days. Today is Saturday and we are heading out to meet with the host families, tomorrow we have a little retreat kind of day, Monday we do final checks at the host families homes, Tuesday is a national holiday: Women and Childrens Day!! so we have off and a big group of us PCV's are actually going to travel 45 minutes outside of UB to Zuunmod and have a barbeque. Then Wednesday through Friday will be crazy getting all lessons planned out because ideally we would like to have all lessons set for the summer so we are not rushing to plan them out the night before this summer.

My friends and I are going to run in a 5k in UB next Saturday, which should be a lot of fun. Then that night I think the plan is to head out to the airport and be there to greet the new group. They did this for us last year, and as exhausted and out of it from the flight we were, it was really cool to have the current volunteers there to support us coming into the country. Then I will actually leave for America on Monday! I am very excited to come home for a visit. Being in UB is a bit like America, with the variety of foods I can buy, real coffee at a select few places, running water and a shower in our apartment, foreign people kinda all over the place now as it is warmer.... buuuuut still not quite America haha, so I'm pretty excited to come back for a visit. It will just be nice to see my family and friends; that is definitely what I am most excited for. Other perks include being able to speak crazy fast English to everyone, walk anywhere and not be stared at or probably even noticed by anyone, and of course just eat and drink everything delicious that I have not had for the past year! Though one of my Mongolian counterparts at my school warned me he will be giving me a Mongolian language test when I get back because I can't forget my Mongolian!!!! So some people in America may get a little Mongolian language lesson from me so I make sure the language stays in my head for that month that I'm back!

First Round of English Olympics

Last weekend was the first round of the English Olympics. First a little background information... all subjects hold olympics every spring. Two students are selected from each grade to participate in each subjects olympics. So I have been working with my eight English Olympic kids for the past few months to get them prepared to compete. Last week we traveled to Bayanchandmeg Soum to compete against surrounding area Soums. Getting there was an adventure! 3 teachers (the Russian teacher along with Tamir and I), 12 students, the driver, his wife, and their little girl in one meeker (van), so 18 people total! I found this halarious, and was taking pictures of us all packed into the meeker, which my students thought was just strange that I was so amused by this. Let me tell you, Mongolians can pack like 30 people into these meekers, and I am not even exaggerating! So the fact that we had just shy of 20, in what should be a 12 person or so meeker was nothing special to them. On top of us we packed our bags and some food and we were off! I don't know if people are aware of the road situation in Mongolia, so let me give you a little info.... there really aren't many. It's basically constant off-roading on really rough terrain. About an hour into our drive we got stuck in some deep snow out in the countryside. No worries though, we all just got out of the meeker and pushed! About ten minutes later we were on our way! And a couple hours later we safely arrived at Bayanchandmeg. As far as traveling in Mongolia goes, I am extremely lucky with my site. Batsumber Soum is a few hours by train from UB. The train is slow, but a quick ride for me (compared to volunteers that travel for anywhere from 8-60 hours by car/bus to get into UB), inexpensive, and never has issues like getting stuck in the snow! And other volunteers don't let me forget how lucky I am for this!

It was somewhere around 10pm when we arrived, so I was thinking, alright, I'm going to get to bed... big day tomorrow, right... wrong. All teachers had a meeting to discuss logistics. At this meeting though I saw another Peace Corps Volunteer that teaches in Tov, she came along with the methodologist who works in the Aimag center that she lives in. So this was really nice to be able to see a friend, speak English really fast, and just have someone there that is a first-timer at all of this with me. So during the meeting the methodologist announces that "Allie will be doing a seminar for you all... with really good info., it's going to be great, etc. etc......" then she turns to me and says how many hours do you need Allie?? To which, I stammered a bit and said.... "Oh, um, not even an hour, it will be quick and informal!" And she said, "Teemo...." (this means "oh really...") So I was a little scared here... for one, I had nothing prepared, much less anything soooo interesting that these teachers had to hear. And second, this is probably not a lady that I want to make a bad impression on. So with that looming over my head I went back to my room, where my counterparts and students were in a frenzy of cramming and preparation for the next day. I think we got to bed around 2am. The next morning everyone in my room was up at like 6... and we weren't scheduled to start until 9, so I kept laying until 7 and then got up. I do not function well on 5 hours of sleep! Anyways, I got over my tiredness quick with all the excitement of the day.

To begin all students took a written test, after that was a speaking test. For the speaking test, myself and three others, two Mongolian teachers and then the other American volunteer listened and judged. My students were super nervous throughout the day, but I was so proud of how they did. Batsumber ended up taking second overall. I was extremely pleased with this and proud of my students. The best part was how well they did with speaking. The methodologist and the other teachers said Batsumber's speaking had improved a ton, and the other volunteer said Batsumber was the talk of the town that night after we had left. That was such a relief to hear... I mean, how bad would it be if after Batsumber got an American volunteer, their speaking had not improved any. So I was really happy to hear that they had improved since previous years. And my little seminar actually went great. I just talked a bit about how to make classroom time as effective as you can, giving a few different strategies and ideas. Me and the other Tov volunteer are going to do a longer seminar at the next olympics, and that one I know about and we are going to prepare together ahead of time! The sad thing was how sad some of my students were with how they did; or I think they really were sad that they were not in the top three of their grade to get a medal. A bunch of them cried after finding out how they did, which just about made me cry. As I have been working with these students so much these past months and I know how hard they have been working on their English. And all of them finished in the top half of their grade's students, which is awesome. I tried to tell this to them, but I also understand what it is like to be bummed about not doing as well as you would have liked to. I just wanted them to know how incredibly proud I was of how they did and that Batsumber placed 2nd overall. I think part of it is a pride thing too, in Soums everyone talks about everyone. So if a student gets a medal, that is a big deal and something to talk about. And if a student doesn't... well, people are going to talk about that too. So as much as I know they have improved, and the teachers at the olympics said they had improved... still not a medal to prove it. Anyway, back at school it was nice to have our school director congratulate me (she is also another lady that I never want to get on her bad side!) Tamir told me that they methodologist had called our director and told her I was a good one, so that was really nice to hear. And besides that those things are always nice to hear it was really good for hopefully giving me a little more credibility. Not that people at my school don't listen to or respect me because they do. But people like to see results, and this gave my training manager and director at least a little proof that having me here will help give some results with improving English.

The next round of olympics will happen in a few weeks and only two students go, one 9th grader and one 11th grader. I will probably have another blog entry about how that goes! Lately at school we have been busy preparing for this English drama competition. It was actually supposed to be this weekend but was postponed. So this past week of school was crazy busy; I literally felt guilty if I left school before like 7pm. But some days I had to... you can't chop wood in the dark! At least I don't trust myself to! For the next two weeks students have their spring break. I will be going into school most days, and part of each day I will work with those two English Olympic students. I am going to take a long weekend in UB though to re-stock on some things, eat some good food, drink some good coffee, see my American friends. Ahhh I love UB! So far I have not heard of any of my students going to Mexico or Hawaii for their spring break... hehe, man some things here are so different!

Pictures

Finally trying to get some pictures on here...

One of the posters students drew for Teachers Day... Notice the technology teacher in goal with an ax! I was happy they had me yelling "come on" to my teammates, pretty fitting actually... little do my students here know how much I liked to talk/yell when I played.

This is my puppy!! So that is frost on her face, this was right away in the morning and she was still thawing out... I'm trying to transition her into being a full-time outdoor dog. She is getting to big for my ger and all the Mongolians think I am crazy for ever even letting her come inside! Ok, now don't worry, she sleeps out in my little enclosed entry-way and she likes it! That way she can go out and bark at things at her leisure during the night. I also decided it's about time I give her a name besides just "gulug" the Mongolian word puppy. Well actually Tamir told me I should name her because it's just weird that I call her gulug now when she's huge! So her new name is Lucy I have decided... your thoughts??

My ger!

Tsagaansar back in Erdene Soum! My Mongolian host dad, my American Peace Corps friend, Maggie, and me. I think this was like 10am... starting the day off right.

The Little Beautiful Things

The other day I made it a point to write in my journal. I planned on being so good about consistently writing in it, but my entries tend to be about as often as those on my blog... But my entry consisted of two lists (if you are unaware, I like to make lists haha) One list was frustrating things, and the other was beautiful things about my life here in Mongolia. The frustrating list ranged from things like having to worry about getting more wood delivered when I've run out... to school things like my seventh grade boys punching each other during class, making me kick them out, only to probably be then punished by other teachers in a way I don't agree with. I definitely had quite a few things included on my list of frustrations, but getting hung up on any of those things really isn't going to help Mongolia. So onto my longer list: All the little beautiful things... everyday is sprinkled with wonderful moments that make me just stand back in awe for numerous reasons. Here is a random sampling of some of these moments I'm remembering off the top of my head now... #1 A bunch of my seventh grades boys called me over to them and rolled up their shirt sleeves a bit to show me "tatoos" identical to mine that they had drawn on their wrists. #2 My puppy (who is big and fat now, I don't think I can even call her a puppy) being sooooo excited and jumping all over me when I get home from school. The wagging tail is the cutest part. #3 Kids that I don't even teach English to because they are too young, always saying hi to me. These kids seek me out! They see me from so far away and start yelling "Allie, hiiiiii", and when I get closer they all repeat the chorus of hellos again. Adorable. #4 Batnyam sceaming to me from outside as I was in my ger. I run outside thinking something crazy or horrible or really important was happening, but he is right outside my ger just staring up at the sky. I look up too; there is one plane flying. This seems like no big deal right, but he tells me that he has seen a plane only once before, and has never sat in one. So I kept watching the plane with him, and ponder it flying above Mongolia. But I also thought about how many more times likely it is for a kid in the U.S. to fly on a plane, than a kid in Mongolia... and other opportunities like that. #5 My old seventh grade classes running up and hugging me after not seeing me for awhile. #6 Having coffee with Batnyam, Batzorig, and occassionally Narnaa (cute little peanut of a girl) in my ger on the weekends. Batnyam can't drink it when it's really hot, so he takes my little water scoup thing and pours the "coffee"~I put probably 7 parts sugar, to every 1 part instant coffee in his. But he pours the coffee from his cup into my water scouper, and back and forth like this until it has cooled to his liking. He reassures me though when he is big like Batzorig he will be able to drink it hot. #7 Meeting up with some friends in UB to meet with different NGO's. We are all in different parts of Mongolia, with totally different school situations and struggles, but we are all doing it. And it is so refreshing to hang out with such good people. I don't even know how to explain it, but it's great. We have these different goals and we are not sure how to reach them but we are going to try. The support system of other volunteers here is the best. There's about 60 of us from the M20 group still in Mongolia now, and I think something like 30-40 of us are English teachers. So there are that many people to possibly talk with about things, and then I have my group of really close friends. When I'm frustrated with something, these people understand. And when I just need school activity ideas these people have them. It is an awesome thing to have support from close friends that are here having a similar experience.

As for other news... the English Olympics are coming up very soon so we have been very busy getting ready. Two students per grade, grades 7-11, participate. I have been working with these students for several hours everyday, including Saturday and Sunday now! I am pretty excited to see how they do. Today I spent about 5 hours judging an English song and English drama cometition with some other teachers. Each class put together an English song and drama and performed for us. Tomorrow we will select who gets to go onto the next stage where we compete against other schools. It was really fun to watch, and cool to see my students dressed up and all nervous about performing. For the past few days I have been helping some of them prepare... I'm now again very familiar with a few of the Backstreet Boys songs I was such a fan of way back when! Anyways, I think spring here is a time of a lot of competitions and holidays. So my goal for spring is to not get hung up on the lesson planning I should be doing, or the grant that I want to have turned in by this month! or the million other things I should be getting caught up on... but sometimes just relax and enjoy it all.

Tsagaansar!

My apologies in advance for a terrible explanation of what the holiday Tsagaansar really is... but that is what I have been celebrating here in Mongolia for this past week! Tsagaansar is one of the big National Mongolian holidays. It began on February 14 and officially lasted for three days, though many people celebrate much longer than that. Tsagaansar celebrates the lunar calendar's new year and the name Tsagaansar means "White Month." During Tsagaansar Mongolian families make hundreds or sometimes even thousands of buuz. Buuz are a National Mongolian food that are comparable I would say to like a meat ball wrapped in a flour shell... wow that's a kind of horrible explanation but I think you get the point! So for Tsagaansar I traveled back to Erdene Soum, where I lived for 2 months this past summer, to visit my Mongolian host family. It was awesome to see them again, and my family was really happy to have me back for the holiday. Being in Erdene for Tsagaansar was awesome because Erdene is like the real Countryside, so I got the total experience celebrating there with my Mongolian family. We would wake up, put on our Mongolian Deels and start the day of buuz eating by like 10am, and didn't stop until at least 10 at night. During the days of Tsagaansar everyone goes around to each others houses and eats buuz, drinks fermented horse milk, milk tea, and vodka, then receives a gift from the hosting family. We would go to anywhere from 3-7 houses per day.... and you are supposed to eat a minumum of three buuz per house, as well as drinking all of those things.... so you can imagine how my body was feeling after a few days of this! It was a wonderful experience and I am very happy I went back to my host family to share it with them. By the third day though my other Peace Corps friends and I were ready to head back to UB! We say we are detoxing our bodies from all the meat and grease right now, and it feels oh so good!

This afternoon a few Peace Corps friends and I are going to meet with an NGO here in UB. We are all really interesting in different gender issues here in Mongolia and would like to work specifically on sexual harassment somehow. Us three Americans have met on our own, and we have an idea of what we would like to do in the future, but we are going to need a lot of help from Mongolians and hopefully some of these NGO's. I hope this meeting today can give us a better idea of the kind of things that have been done and are currently being worked on in Mongolia. I think we are going to find though that not much of anything has been done to date. I will update more on this topic as things hopefully get rolling, but as of now it's just all these ideas we have floating around.

Other news... Mongolia has an event called the English Olympics (actually not just English, every subject has an Olympics) every spring. Two students from each grade participate in the English Olympics as well as one teacher. I have been working with my Olympic students for months, so I am excited for the competition to see how they do (also a little nervous). As I understand it there are several preliminary type of rounds between Soums and then if the students make it they go onto the Olympics in the Aimag center (like a State Capital). I have definitely seen improvement in my students speaking because we have practiced so much, but I have no idea how they will do against other schools students. They have worked so hard and are such good kids though so I really hope they do well. Plus if they do well I feel like it will prove to them and everyone else in the school that you really can speak English if you work on it. A lot of times students are pretty good with grammar, and written English work, but when you ask them a question where they have to speak.... well that is much more difficult for them. Speaking is one of the skills I really want to focus on at my school and help both my teachers and students with their speaking skills. This is also one of the main reasons most schools want a volunteer like me in the first place; to have a native speaker around, for people to listen to and practice speaking with. It was nice to go back to Erdene Soum and hear people say (in Mongolian of course) that I have studied Mongolian well and my Mongolian is good. Now trust me, it's still not good, but it's a lot better than it was in the summer. Why....? Because I've practiced and studied. So besides the fact that knowing the language better will help me with everything I do here.... I also want to learn Mongolian to prove to my students that you can learn a language. I started off knowing nothing, and most of the time when I speak I sound silly and make so many mistakes. But that is ok, you just have to try and work at it, and it will gradually get better.

A Frustrating 40 Minutes

Well, nobody likes Mondays right, though my day as a whole was pretty good. Every morning I go and have tea with one of the first grade classes, which has turned in to one of my favorite parts of the day. First of all, who doesn't love cookies and tea in the morning? Second, these kids are adorable! They are six years old and they wear the cutest uniforms in the whole world (one of these days I will take a picture and then finally post some pics on my blog). But the kids all say hi to me when I walk in, and the saying hi lasts for like the first five minutes I'm in there. Then they all want to show me what they are working on, so I walk around and check everything out, throwing out a lot of "san bain's!" (good job!) Then when I leave the chorus of "goodbye," "biarte," "bye bye," "see you tomorrow," "margash olsetla biarte" etc. I say everything in English and Mongolian... maybe when these first graders get to fourth grade and have their first English class they will be way ahead of the curve! haha

Next was my 7b class, who most all the time have pretty excellent behavior. I have a ton of fun teaching this class. They cheer when I come in to teach, and we joke throughout most of class. If I do something they don't like, for example writing a bunch of new words on the board and saying "ok, write these down." Some of the boys will right away say, "teacher mo!" (bad teacher!) ~No worries they are only kidding, so to this I pretend to start crying and they immediately take it back and yell, "teacher san!!!" (good teacher) The point though is that I do feel like this class might be learning some English because I can actually get and keep their attention, and most of them write everything I ask them to and participate well. Their good behavior also allows me to plan more fun lessons. Last week when we were learning words related to crime, don't judge the material, I didn't write the books! But in groups I had them acting out the different new vocabulary words: burglary, pickpocketing, shoplifting, etc. and it was a lot of fun. Soooo I leave this class and go to my 7g.... Right at the start I have like ten kids asking to go outside and go to the bathroom... so I tell some of the girls to go, as the boys go and don't come back for 30 minutes. I write the date on the board, as I do every class at the beginning, and as usual the same 10 or so students are writing it along with me. I feel bad for this group because through the chaos of the class they are trying so hard to concentrate and hear (and throw me f'ing bone I think) but it is nearly impossible. So I write the date and do my lap around the room, 3/4 of the kids aren't writing the date because they are coloring other stuff (today I just took the stuff away), they don't have their notebook (I tell them get other paper, I don't care what paper they use), they don't have a pen (what do you use for all your other classes??), or they just continue doing what they are doing like they have no idea why I'm standing there. So then I always get this feeling of, ok, these few kids aren't going to write even if I get their notebook out for them and wait until they start writing (just to get me to go away) so I think... get back up to the front of the room and teach for those kids that genuinly want to learn. So I do. But as much as I say in Mongolian for them to be quiet please, and listen please, and look please... all of those students that are not doing any of those things are being too loud for the ones that are to even hear me, so I lap it again. A group of boys had clustered in the back of the room, and had started to fight -they were playing though, not really fighting, more like wrestling how they do. One of the twins was getting the little garbage can to take out, and water bottles to go fill (seems nice right, but so not something he is supposed to be doing during English class). Other boys I walk by and tell to get out their notebook just continue to draw in their English book and have none of the notes taken. Another desk with two students is just sitting there with nothing out, which they never do, this is no surprise. Then a handful of others are drawing; English notebook nowhere in sight.

So a lot of days there comes a point where I guess I just kind of give up, and I kinda just wait for things to calm enough that enough students can hear me so I can continue. Today I guess though I was less patient or just more annoyed. I left the room to go find a counterpart so she would yell at them. I'm not about to scream and yell in English, as I think I would have a classroom full of kids laughing at their crazy teacher that nobody can understand. The frustrating thing though is when Tamir and I came back the kids are all back in their seats, sitting quietly, as they were afraid of who I was going to bring back with me. Then kids who have done no work throughout the whole class are all pointing fingers at each other for "who was being bad." Then my counterpart leaves me alone again and the chaos resumes. It makes for a very long 40 minutes.

I guess you could say I don't know what to do with this class. It is very frustrating for me as a teacher because I know I can do better, but I don't know what to do. And I feel like if I spoke their language, or if they spoke mine, I could get some kind of a better understanding so that we could accomplish things during class. Though I guess thinking that way isn't going to get me anywhere, as no time soon are either of us going to speak the others language well enough to make that happen.... It is also so frustrating to me too because I don't like when teachers blame students for things that I think the teacher could have avoided all together if the teacher would have done a better job. Like with behavior management things; it bothers me when teachers blame students for not paying attention or something like that, and I'm seeing their lesson and thinking, you're not giving them anything to pay attention to! So I am trying to keep myself in check by always thinking if I were a student would this be interesting? But so far with this class it doesn't seem to matter. So many days I've come in with different manipulative things I've made or fun word games planned, only to leave discouraged because obviously such activities wouldn't go well with this class, why did I waste that time planning them?

Well that's enough about 7g for one day I think. This past weekend was good, did a lot of ger work. Chopped a lot of wood so I don't have to do that during the work week. Then I actually went by foot for the first time to get water from the well. When I have gone before it was in Tamir's Husband's truck, which is easy enough. He was not around though, actually in UB getting surgery (he is ok, no worries) so we had to go without the vehicle. Batzorig, Bagi, and I took our water jugs in metal carts and pushed/pulled them the mile or so to the well (in the freezing cold mind you). Then the way back was a little slower going now being full of water! The whole thing was kind of a funny adventure for me being the first time, and knowing I probably won't have to get water that way many more times ever. But what a serious pain in the butt for people that have no vehicle, or even if you do, just the fact that you have to travel far away to get water that will only last you a little bit before you have to do it all again. The irony of it to as I was on my way to and from getting the water, was knowing when I got home I needed to use it to wash my clothes by hand (another hour or two of manual labor).... All the ger work though is a piece of cake compared to teaching 7g.

The Holidays in Mongolia

Happy 2010 from Mongolia! Not trying to brag too much, but I was actually hanging out in year 2010 like 12 hours before all of you! haha Mongolians celebrate the New Year big time, though not many actually celebrate Christmas, though most knew a little about it. It seemed like all my students and others in Batsumer thought that we called what they call New Years, Christmas; I explained that Christmas is on December 25 and New Years is another, seperate holiday on December 31. My students were adorable on Christmas; they made such a point to celebrate the day for me. Mongolians don't celebrate Christmas (or at least in my Soum none did) so I just went into work as usual on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I had my seventh grade classes on Christmas day and they came and got me, tied a scarf around my eyes and brought me into the classroom. Then they threw confetti they made on me and sang the Christmas songs that we had done the previous classes. They had bought fruits and cookies and candies for me so they instructed me to sit and eat, as they all stared smiling at me.... It was quite odd, considering they are never quiet and just paying attention to me like that when I am trying to teach them. But this time all attention was awkwardly on me eating. They had also decorated the chalkboard with all kinds of Christmas pictures they drew, and paper flowers they had made. The funny thing was that they glued this stuff to the chalkboard... so went to leave all the kids scraped away at the chalkboard to try and get all the pictures off to give to me... In my head I was thinking, which one of you thought glue was the best way to go?! It was really, really sweet of them though, and it made my day. Then a group of teachers threw a little Christmas party for me at night. The director toasted, saying this was the first Christmas celebrated at the school in Batsumer, and that we will celbrate again next year. The teachers had all kinds of foods and drinks and we sang songs and danced. It was fun and again, so nice that they all did that so that I could celebrate my holiday.

New Years Eve day was craziness at school. It is kind of like when we would have Christmas parties and things at school in America, but times 10. Each classroom had music blasting and all kinds of food, champagne, cakes, candies, etc. It was a blast, but also kind of funny that each classroom had turned into like a disco club in the middle of the day. And the students kept wanting me to dance, which I'm like wow this is insanely awkward! ~I did it anyway. But you know, usually I like to dance when I'm out with my friends at a dance club or somewhere that it is dark and everyone is dancing... not when 40 9th graders are staring at my every dance move (no doubt thinking, ohhhhh so this is how Americans dance...)! The kids are all awesome though; they are such good hosts, every classroom I went in they insisted I sit and eat cake and dance and just hang out, which as a teacher, it is always nice to feel like students want to be around you. The night before Batsumbers teachers and other workers from the Police Station, Government Building, Kindergarten, and Hospital all celebrated New Years at the culture center. Same type of deal, lots of food, drinks, dancing, singing, etc. A lot of women wore prom-type dresses to the event, and men in suites. I don't have such attire with me here in Mongolia (and I was so close to bringing that old prom dress, crown and those heals too...) so I, as usual, stood out a bit in my sweater and black pants. Though last time I was in UB I did purchase some black boots with a little heal, so I fit in a bit more wearing those! Zulaa my supervisor said I should go around and wish the head government guys a Happy New Year, which I was like, um please come with me! So we went over to their table, and I wished them a Happy New Year. The three of them were so nice and very interested all about me (in a cute older men type of way). They said that they are going to introduce me to many rich, big Mongolian men so that I can pick on to marry. I said sure, why not!

The other day in class my 11th graders started asking me just random questions at the end. Then this group of boys were like, "teacher come on!" and I was like, no, no, it's, "teacher come here" ~teacher come on sounds like something completely different than "come here" I think! So they had written a note (they are all like deathly afraid of speaking in English, but can write pretty well) and it said, "Do you have a husband?" I said, no. Then in about a minute, "Teacher come here!" The note says... "When will you get a husband?" I said, I don't know! A minute later, "American or Mongolian husband?" Me, I don't know! A minute later they write, "Mongolian." I write, "Who??" They respond by writing some famous Mongolian wrestler. To which I was pretty pumped, as they could have been like, oh that drunk guy out there in the street or something, but to give me an olympic wrestler.... not too shabby! But I did ask them if he is good looking, because let's face it, I need that! And they assurred me, "Teacher he is beautiful." Done deal, sorry mom, marrying this wrestler.

Other than the all the craziness of the holidays not too much is new. School is still good, it is busy, and classes can at times still be very frustrating. Still have that wondering if my kids are learning any English from me. Though when I work with them in smaller groups, like when I have clubs with each grade of students and when I work with the kids that will participate in the English Olympics in the Spring, I do feel like I am actually accomplishing something. The other main thing I need to get going is to consistently work with the other English teachers. We have in theory been doing this all year, but week by week it is hard to make actually happen when so much other stuff is going on. That I think though is the key to my being here being truely sustainable; if I can help the other English teachers language improve, then in theory all the students English will also improve. Other random funny thing... The other day in my seventh grade class (of course) some boys were trying to pierce their ears with dull pencils. Which I have already told them, "No, No, No! -you need something sharper and your ear to be colder, so do it after class out in the snow!" But they are persistent, so anyways, I have a group of boys practically crying, ear bleeding during class as I'm trying to teach about the Past Simple Tense. Needless to say, I don't think they could say, "My ear bled during English class today."