2011!

New Years in Tamir's house

Sulushesh, one of my 5th graders, don't tell the other students but she's kinda my favorite!

Christmas Day in my ger with some teachers.

School New Years Party!!

As usual I have been meaning to post some updates for awhile and thought I would at least do it before 2011... oh well! Things have been pleasantly busy around here lately. Mongolians celebrate New Years big time, so that has made things pretty exciting. I have had to explain quite a bit that I celebrate Christmas on the 25th and then also New Years on the 31st. Most Mongolians don't really celebrate Christmas, but a lot of the New Years decorations and songs and everything is Christmas themed. So I think that has to do with some of the confusion on thinking the two are one in the same. Our school New Years party was actually on Christmas Eve. They decorated the gym and all teachers (except me, as I have no kind of outfit like this here!) got super dressed up, like prom style! It was a really fun night; I had a blast... felt a little under the weather the next day though! My teachers and students were so nice, sending me text messages wishing me a Merry Christmas and coming to my ger with food and presents... it made Christmas really seem like Christmas. And it's certainly cold enough here to be Christmas! New Years Day it was like -20 I believe, with the night being like -30 or -40... today was around zero degrees I believe so it felt wonderful in comparison! On the 31st I went over to Tamir's sister's house next door and ate buuz, and then on the first I went to Tamir's house and again ate buuz... so I ended one year and began another eating buuz! Buuz are the national Mongolian food; they are sheep meat wrapped up in dough that's steamed. Anyways, once I get back in America it's back to vegetarian life for me! Here now though, personally I have chosen to eat a little meat sometimes just because I think it's respectful to the people serving me their food. Sorry the pictures above are an out of order mess! I can't ever seem to figure out how to upload them correctly... maybe I will get it right before I come back!