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!