Sainuu Namar!

"Hello Autumn!"

A chill has come to the Cho, and I personally love it! The time for long johns is quickly approaching! In addition to the delightful chill is the gentle autumn breeze. And by gentle I mean slightly less than gale force, whipping the sand into a frenzy, coating everything with dust, and eroding your hope of ever being truly clean O_o. Oh well, at least I get to wear cute hats.

I am currently writing a text book for work did I mention that? It is for hairstylists/make-up artists/massage therapists. It is an interesting endeavor, full of temptation. I can model conversations in my text however I would desire. How I would love to riddle the text with insane Cassandra slang. Thus far I have been able to resist, however I am only on unit 1 of 15. I did give in and use names of friends and family back home when construction conversations and exercises!

I have gained a rather global community of friends since coming to the Cho, which currently contains a French Farmer; a Scottish Health worker; a white South African born in Zimbabwe, spent the last 12 years in London but has an Irish passport; two from the Netherlands; my 6 fellow Peace Corpsers; and of course the Mongolians! As Kenny says, "I'm sure there is a joke in there somewhere!"

My sister Meredith leaves for England today. I'm a bit envious. But then I think to myself if I were in England, I wouldn't be in Mongolia, and this is the perfect country for me.... Why?

1.

Mongolians collect bags, just like I do. You never know when a plastic bag will come in handy.
2.

You can wear whatever you want here and its okay, in fact its cool as you are the foreigner (even my old lady BlueBlocker sunglasses are a hit)!
3.

Hot water and electricity are somewhat sporadic. Real showers are a thing of the past, and somehow I really enjoy the heating water on a hotplate then essentially sponge bathing.
4.

The weather is just gorgy!!!!! Sure it gets you wicked dirty walking through a cyclone of dust, but man alive is it ever invigorating.
5.

Mullets. They are everywhere and I've grown to love them as they always make me smile.

Time to go home and vacuum (yes I bought a vacuum, how adult of me I know!), Jasmine is in from the countryside and we are having her birthday party at my place. And instead of cake....deep fried mars bars! Oh Mongolia, Bi chamd khairstai!

Blast From the Past

Me, Meredith, Erin

not only is this picture hilair, it is also very Mongolian, as it is common for Mongolian children to nap in a simmilar fashion to puppies ^_^

Chocolate is soooo last season

I have discovered the perfect manner in which to uplift my mood. Go to one of the numerous playgrounds. Sit on a bench. Wait. Within in minuets you will find yourself surrounded by tiny, adorable, albeit runny nosed Mongolian children. Actually surrounded is not a strong enough of a word ….. hmmm ….. ah yes, I know, engulfed. A living breathing blanket of Mongolian children will engulf you and for the moment erase any negative thoughts or feelings. This is also an excellent manner in which to practice your Mongolian, as the children are excited to hear you speak their language and will not hesitate to correct your horrific accent, all with out judging you. You become a super star for a moment, but what to do with that power??? I use it to explain to the kids what “HELLO!” means (a word they say endlessly upon seeing a white person, yet don’t realize what they are saying.) I also use my power to teach them three new English words: “AWESOME!” and “Peace Out!” (Because, really, who needs to know how to say “goodbye”????)

Summer Home Sick

Yamar goe youm bay!!!!!

"How nice it is!"

I got a package from Momapalooza today!!!

There was:
soft TP!
and chocolate!
and soft TP!!!!
and Baby wipes!!!!
and other goodies!
and did I mention soft TP?!?!?!?!?!

I love my Majikio (even more that I love soft TP ^_~)

Hiechelt Baghkgo!!!!! aka TGIF

Heichelt Baghkgo! ("lesson not there" --> school is over!)

Week One is over! Man alive, it started out exciting and then got slow and then got slower and frustrating and then my counter part when to UB today and it went awesome if just a bit busy!

Today I taught for 6hours straight! I taught all of my classes the ABC's, 123's, and then Jobs (using the I do, You do, He/She does grammar as well as the differance between a/an). After that I got to go home for a whole 30 minuets before coming back to school and teaching 23 of the teachers english for 1.5 hours O_o. My throat is killing me, but it was a really great day. Also as this week was mad irksome at point I mentally compiled a pet peeve list to share with you all.

1. Variety packs that don't have variety. If I wanted one type of cookie I would buy one type.
2. Cursive. They teach it to you in the States and you don't use it. They didn't teach it to in Mongolia and that is all they use. Hence spending all week trying to learn Mongolian cursive.
3. Mother Goose. So what if I was born on a Wednesday, that doesn't mean that I have to be full of woe. Just what makes her think she can predict something like that anyway.
4. Dependency on plumming. My director forgot to pay my water bill and thus I have had no water for 2 days and will not get it until Monday. I'm trying to find a friends place to stay at.
5. Being single. Every new Mongolian I meet asks me if I am married. "No." Do I have a boyfriend. "No." Do I have children. "No." And how old am I again. "22" ..... YAAGAD???!?!? ("WHY?"). I feel a bit like a freak everytime this comes up. I swear I'm going to make up a husband just to stop the hassling.
6. Being 22. This is young for a teacher. I have students older than me. They say I should get married and have children. They don't want to play my learning games. I think I am slowly warming up to them though. One older woman even pushed a young boy aside today to get to the board first during the fly slapper game!
7. Being called Cass. Cass is a Beer name, not a person name. Sure they can't say Cassandra, and I tell them to call me Cass, but in Mongolia its just a silly name.

Oh this was a great week!!!!!! Now that its over, all those little bothersome things hardly seem bothersome anymore ^_^. And I am off for Chinese food.

More pictures up!

Me, "Dad", and Davaa in our Dells!

Yes that's the Bear, Yes its eating my hand

Mongolian on bike, Mishka the "Bambrosh", Me, Bimba, Jacob, Baada

more pics up!!!!!
go check them out!!!

Finally Some Photos!!!!!

Yey!!!!!!!!!! Finally figured out how to upload!!!!!!!

Here are a few teasers ... for more go check out my album:
HERE!!!



I love the Mongol Sky!


My name is Cass! Yes like the beer O_o


Sheep Butts!


My Duus ("little siblings")

more to come later!!!!

Hello Real World aka "I love boots!"

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So today was my first day of real work ever!!! It was nervwrekingly exciting. I team taught the whole day and then had an extensive lesson planning/scheduling session after my 20min lunch break (10 mins of which was spent in commute to and from my house) O_o.

I absolutely love all of my students! The are all very enthusiastic about having me as a teacher even if they don't speak a lick of English. I even gave a little speech in Mongolian to all of my classes that basically equated to "I know a little Mongolian, but I always to speak Mongolian. We to speak English must always to do. If to speak not correct, it is okay. Always speak then one year later you can speak well maybe." I think it encouraged them to hear my horrifically broken Mongolian and see that I really care about them learning.

I will be working 30+ hrs a week. Much of it will be tutoring and lesson planning with the 3 other English teachers. I will also be in charge of English Club where I get to do whatever I want so long as it relates to English!!!!!!!! Feel free to shoot me any ideas you have regarding that!

As a reward for doing such a good job on my first day I was given 1/2 a kilo of green peppers!

Then on my way to the MobiCom (my phone store) to buy more phone units I found this awesome shoe store ... It was wall to wall boots!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to get my calves slimmed up a bit and then save up for a few weeks and I am so going to buy me a gorgeous pair of real leather Mongolian boots!!!!!!!!!!

Also I am giving my students "English" names. I wrote two names from each letter of the alphabet (one male one female) and they will get to choose. No repeats in a class. Here are the names:
Boy -- Girl
Albert -- Alena
Bart -- Barbie
Chuck -- Cher
Desmond -- Dwan
Eugene -- Eileen
Finn -- Francine
George -- Ginny
Homer -- Hermione
Ira -- Iris
Johnny -- Jade
Keanu -- Kendra
Ludwig -- Layla
Maxwell -- Michelle
Nelson -- Natalie
Oscar -- Olivia
Paul -- Penny
Quinn -- Queenie
Ringo -- Rita
Seymour -- Sadie
Teddy -- Tori
Ulric -- Ulga
Victor -- Vera
Willie -- Wendy
Xavier -- Xena
Yancy -- Yolanda
Zalan -- Zarina

hahahahahahahaha, I love it! This job is gonna be real fun!