"Last Christmas and Merry, HO HO!"

CHRISTMAS BAYAR MENDE XURGI!

Its hard to believe that it is really and truly Christmas as I sit here in the PC office at 7am having spent all night on a train after a most hectically interesting 2 weeks ... confused? Well lets take a little trip back to yesteryear.....

Saturday 15-
Meet up with all my fellow M18 volunteers and our Mongolian Counterparts (CPs) at the PC Office and caught a bus to Terelge, the ger camp where our IST was held...had a few training sessions...caught up with old friends...tripped and sat on the ger stove (thank goodness for thick jeans and long johns or my butt would be fried) 2nd degree burning my arm on the stove pipe...huddle shivering under blankets next to Dwan, attempting to keep warm in sub-zero temperatures

Sunday 16-
Woke up late and got "toast" (aka bread that may once have layed on a stove for 2.6 seconds) for breakfast, it seems as if most people have forgotten the sitting on the stove incident, until they see my arm. Have around 10 hours of training sessions...took my Language Proficiency Interview...died from the stress of it...came back to life to watch Indian Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark with my CP and remembered why I was in love with Harrison Ford as a child...hung out with my Sukhbaatar boys and helped Fahd to win big at poker

Monday 17-
Woke up late, again, had "toast", again, and had about 10 hours of sessions, again...realized that it takes 2 days for burns to really start to hurt...took a hot shower!!!!...hung out with my CP for a while...wandered around to the various gers attempting to find people to hang out with, but kept walking into awkward situations...accidentally walked into the Trainers poker game, stuttered confusedly, blinked 7.9 times, turned and left...decided to call it a night, went to my frigidly cold home for the week, and gossiped with the girls for a bit...had a random 10 minuet freak out during which I said "I have 2 brains and the little one is eating the big one" and also "Why am I such a young, stupid, white girl?"...that passed and we all laughed about it and went to sleep together in the big bed in an attempt to keep warm...it worked!

Tuesday 18-
Woke up not late only to realize that breakfast only included "toast" and slabs of fat that were trying their best to be bacon...10ish hours of sessions...Talent Show!!!!!! I helped in 2 skits, one on the proper method of cuddling to keep warm in winter, the other called A Day in the Life...of Sarah (wonder who came up with that idea hmmm ^_~)...was once again amazed by how talented Mongolians are...DANCE PARTY! and Video Games...back to the ger for some 13 (this awesome card game I play with my SB boys) and major winnings on my part...hung out with some of the CPs for a bit...stole Yoomie's sleeping bag and slept warmly

Wednesday 19-
woke up late and didn't even bother with breakfast...the CPs left...10ish hours of sessions...Kim's Bachlorette Party!!! which included a horrifyingly hilarious parody of a striptease by James, Chris, and Kevin...escaped the massive gathering of women to go play cards with the guys (and take more of their money!!!)...stole Fahd's bed as the party was still going on at my place and was warm thanks to Sharsons amazing fire making abilities!

Thursday 20-
Woke up late (surprise, surprise)...learned that sessions were cut short!!!!!...took too long to pack and was the last one on the bus...drove back to UB...checked into the guesthouse...had amazing Indian food...went to sleep early

Friday 21-
Decided that since I had a few free days I would go up to Sukhbaatar (SB) to visit the Mongolian Family...caught a car to Darkhan with Jacob, Fahd, Dwan, Peter, Jason, and Robin...3ish hours in a speeding car (horrify on Mongolian roads)...in Darkhan caught a meeker (van type thing) to SB...2ish hours later...Jacob, Peter, Dwan, and I visited our families, ate ALOT of food, drank ALOT of suutai tsai ("milk tea") and airg ("vodka" true Mongolian style)...crashed at Jacob's families house

Saturday 22-
work up earlyish...Jacob, Peter, Fahd, and I took a hike in the SB mountains...went to Jason's families house to hang out with the SB city folk and our Mongolian teachers...went back to Heraldo to hang out with our teachers there...realized that I don't know nearly enough Mongolian songs

Sunday 23-
woke up and had breakfast with Jacob's family...visited with Charlene's family...decided to skip the walk to the river to help teach my family how to use the computer they got...went to the store with the family to get marogen ("ice cream") as was our tradition...said our goodbyes...Jacob, Peter, and I caught a late night meeker back to Darkhan...took a hot shower at Peter's place...watched the end of Small Soldiers on his cable tv...feel asleep warm and comfortable

Monday 24-
was awoken at 7am by, wait, could this be real, am I dreaming, that's right it was Jacob watching, LIVE FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!! and a Patriots game too!(sorry Miami)...exhaustion took over and I fell back asleep...got up later, ran some errands for Cady (Peter's wife who was making us Christmas dinner)...chilled with my dvv ("little sister") who is studying in Darkhan...then went back to Peter and Cady's to have amazingly delicious Christmas dinner with the two of them, Yoomie, Dylan, Jess, Kevin, and Jacob...caught the 12:40am train to UB with Jacob

Tuesday 25-
was awoken upon arrival at UB...caught a taxi to the PC office...and here I am now...maybe I will go watch Rush Hour 3 later, or go for sushi with Sharson and Fahd...don't quite know...but tomorrow morning my plane leaves boku early...Merry Christmas!

Bright Lights Big City

I'm writing to you all from the Peace Corps office in Ulaanbaatar!!!! I will have 4 wonderful zawtai ("free") days until our In Service Training (IST) Conference at a nearby Ger Camp! I am staying with Shuree's brother's Mother-in-Law, so I save money because I don't have to pay for a room at the guest house, and I also get free delicious Mongolian food! (I offered to pay but she told me "You are like my daughter, now eat another piece of candy." ... I love Mongolians). Also, she has a real live photograph of her granddaughter with Steven Segal. It was so wierd looking through her album. "This is my son by the camel. This is our car in the desert. This is my classmates at the river. This is Steven Segal. This is from Naadam." Totally blew my mind!

My upper respiratory system is entirely healthy, hooray antibiotics! I have just gotten my very first flu shot ever O_o. I will be getting more booster shots next week. I also have Costalcondolitis which means that the cartilage connecting my ribs and my sternum is inflamed making things like moving and breathing very painful. Unfortunately nothing can really be done to "cure" it except wait, but I am taking a mild anti-inflammatory for the pain. Hopefully I will be all better by next week. This being sick/in pain thing is getting old ^_~.

I'm excited about IST and getting to see all my fellow M18s again! There is totally a heated, indoor pool in the place where we will be staying!!!!!! Maybe if I win enough money from Jacob, Fahd, and Chris in our 13 (a card game) tournament, I will be able to afford to go swimming (though I don't have a suit, oh well I can work it out some how).

UB is a real city. I miss little Cho, and my apartment, and my students, and my Mongolian friends. I'm glad to have a break, but it will be nice to go back when the time comes!

Older Students are Fun

I am soooo hungry. This is probably due to the fact that all I have really eaten in the past 3 days is bread, butter, and xiam. You see it has been most snowy and when it takes 10 minuets to get dressed, another 10 to go to the store (20 if I want to go to the market), then I buy food and walk another 10 (or 20) home … and then it takes an hour to cook the food… and I’ve just been far too lazy of late, not to mention busy.

In addition to my teaching at school I am volunteering to help this amazing Mongolian woman, Shuree. She is a teacher for the Global Leadership Foundation, and is one of my best friends here. Here English is better than mine! She is teaching a class to the engineers at the local Power Station, and I agreed to teach the speaking class. It’s a once a week deal, and is tons of fun. All the Power Station workers are older than me of course, and very excited to be learning English. This week after class they took me out for a drink and pig tongue (its very delicious, you should try it some time). It was sooo fun getting to talk mostly in Mongolian, with random English thrown in (because they are still at the beginners level). They sang Mongolian songs, I sang English songs, and it was funny because Togtox (a 37 year old mechanical engineer) kept calling me Bagshaa (“teacher”) and I kept telling him Ugui, odoo bi bagsh bish. Bi zugair Cass, tanii naiz! (“No, now I’m not a teacher. I’m just your friend Cass!”) The others found this hilarious.

In other news I go to UB in about 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait to see everyone again!!!!!!!!