I've only partially frozen to death ^_~

Life has been crazy hectic of late and thus I have been unable to keep you all up to date on the fascinating tales of my Mongolian misadventures. But as my classroom computer’s internet finally works I’ve decided to fill you in! So here are the top 5 most important things that have happened to me since my last update.

1.I got rid of my cat. I was simply to busy with life to really care for the annoying beast, and there was a VSO Volunteer who really wanted her, and is far more qualified to be a cat caretaker as her daughter owns a Cattery. (Yes, I too was surprised by the fact that such things as a Cattery exist, but they are British, so maybe the driving on the other side of the road and spelling “colour” wrong has something to do with it ^_~). Also Omkhee is now called Phoebe (still keeping the whole smelly cat theme going). To be honest though, I’ve already forgotten what cat life was like, and don’t really miss it.

2.I visited the lovely Jasmine out in Choibalsan Soum and got to stay in her luxury ger. There I chopped coal, hauled water from the well, made fire with DUNG!!!!!!!!! (I have to say that burning dung smells surprisingly nice), and was briefly stalked by a local Mongolian boy. Another highlight was the 2 hour Porigon (a Russian truck roughly the size of a bloated VW Van) ride in which there were 25 people and 1 baby riding all together. Ups: body heat and 2 of the people were young girls. Downs: both of those girls were sitting on my left leg, and I was by the window so only half of me had the body heat. All in all it was a most excellent 2.27 days!

3.Winter Break! Yes folks that’s right it is winter break here at Shatalsan College and you know what that means???? I’M FREE AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHahah…..wait, what was that? Oh break for students NOT teachers. Okay then :::goes to corner and cries::: At least I get to party a bit for Teacher’s Day Holiday (after a conference of course) O_o

4.
Conferences. Yes that’s right I get to spend my “Winter Break” attending Mongolian teaching conferences, that are all in rapid Mongolian. Thus far I have learned about Mongolian blood types, utilizing technology into physical education classes, and something that was about forming clubs for students or using them as slave labor. Though I’m really excited for next Monday’s conference about Mongolian Pension and Retirement plans!!!! Now that’s something I’ve always been curious about, I’ll be sure to take notes and tell you all about it!

5.
I got to ride in a Mongolian Ambulance! Not only that I got to miss a conference while I was at the hospital. The only thing that ruined this otherwise exciting experience was the fact that I was between my battered Mongolian best friend and her abusive boyfriend…oh yeah and the fact that I had to see him beat her. Though it felt good to stand in between the two of them and tell him in comprehensible Mongolian that if he wanted to hit her again he would have to go through me first. She is leaving him, and I have the hope that it will be a successful separation.

So this is all for now….Tsagaan Sar (“White Month” aka Mongolian Lunar New Year) is coming up next week, so I will be sure to tell you all about it and hopefully have pictures!

My Babies!

This is MY class:
Battushig, Me, Uguurmur, Orkhon
Uyanga, Uyangtuya, Olzi, Me, Erdentsetseg
Borlgilma
My Waiters Class

"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!!!!!!!!

yes i am alive

So I have been sick...again. I'm not talking about the Ferris Buller kind of sick where you somehow convince your mother to let you stay home from school. Then you spend the day watching Gargoyles and wondering just why Lexington's wings were different from the rest and eating Pop-Tarts (man I miss Pop-Tarts). No, I'm talking about the kind of sick where all you want to do is die but you can't even do that because Death won't come near you for fear of catching what you have. But then the antibiotics finally kicked in and I can do stuff again, like breath, and eat. Its awesome!

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Here is part of Sarah (S) and My (C) radio show from this week (we dedicated the show to My Dad because it was his birthday, and to 50 Cent because we knew how to talk about him in Mongolian!) ZA!

S: Bagshnar babes.
C: Wake up with the king. (*note* we always follow our name with a random slogan)
S: What the hell?
C: You know, the king. The burger king king? It’s their slogan. “Wake up with the king.”
S: ohhh, okay cass. I get it.
C: Although I friggin hate the Burger King King.
S: Why?
C: Because he’s so freaky. I mean okay what would you do if, I mean like, okay... first of all people wake up and he’s in their bed. And then he gives them a crossaintwich and then it’s cool. There’s nothing cool about that.
S: I don’t like crossaintwiches. But if he just gave me a croissant, I would take it. Like a chocolate croissant? Oh man.
C: First of all, how can you not like croissantwiches, that’s just wrong, on so many levels. Second of all, if I woke up next to the King, I would scream, grab my beast of a flashlight and beat the burger out of him. And if he offered me a stupid breakfast sandwich, I’m not eating that. No matter how good that smells.
S: But I really like chocolate croissants.
C: Sarah, you’re the kind of person that gets killed first in horror films. But chocolate croissants are good.

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Thanksgiving was baixgvi in the Cho. I won some money in a teachers sports competition and went out to eat with my teachers.

Yesterday was Mongolian Revolutionary (Independence) Holiday. I went out to the club with Sarah and her school's teachers. I love dancing in Mongolia! I get to be cool by default. On the way home I managed to slam my face into a bar and have a lovely bruise on the bridge of my nose, but it is not broken. I suppose that I will fall down an open man hole next!

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I own exactly 26 pairs of underware, all of which I washed yesterday. It took 2 hours. O_o I've got blisters on me fingers!

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It is still cold frigid freezing arctic piercingly polar

-13°C makes you think funny

Ones language and manner of speaking perpetually evolve. New words are added to our lexicon, a regional relocation may adjust an accent, we assimilate the speaking mannerisms of those with who with constantly associate, and our general perception of our surroundings effects how we convey our thoughts. Its like David Eddings wrote, “Words are the essence of thought, without words there is no thought.” Being my anthropologically minded self, its only natural that I would have an interest in linguistics. I’m now finding myself applying my academic knowledge to the real world as it assists me in learning Mongolian and teaching English. It’s utterly fascinating! However, the most intriguing thing for me has been the greater understanding and analysis of my own personal Cassandrized English.

Imagine living in a setting were your every word was scrutinized with the utmost caution. Slang cannot be utilized as it is a moot point (isn’t taught, isn’t needed). Your rate of delivery must be studied and deliberate. Enunciation is a must. Vocabulary is specific (and British O_o). Writing must also be immaculate. Signs such as #, &, @, simply cannot be used. SPELLING! (Again the British method is preferred). Anything you write, anything you say will be memorized verbatim.
“Teacher, what is divter in English?”
“Uuum…notebook.”
“Za, umnotebook.”
“No, no, no, just notebook.”
“Oo, za. Jusnotebook.”
“Bish, bish. Divter anglar notebook baidag.”
“OK, notebook?”
“YES! Very good, ikh sain!” :::dies:::

As I child I used to use the interjection “um” continuously, until my father got tired of it and told me I would have to give him a quarter for every “um” uttered. I can’t recall if he ever collected, but the “um” stage of my life was over. The timing worked out nicely as we moved to southern California, and I was now in that awkward preteen stage. “Like” was so totally the new “um!” The “like” stage of my life was extensive, and monstrous. I was unaware that I even used the word; let alone how frequently I used it. Again my father intervened, yelling at me, in the middle of some story or tirade of mine, about how he couldn’t stand it, I sounded like an idiot and used “like” almost every other word. I was a junior in HS. It was then that I realized “I like truly did like sound like a ditz.” 6 or so years later, while like has not been completely eradicated (and may never be for those of us 90s generational youth), it is vastly diminished. For the first time in my life my speech actually reflects the fact that I have some intelligence. (Though some would complain that I am to verbose and put on Hermione-esq know-it-all airs :::coughMeredithcough::: ^_~). However, “so” has become my new interjection word of choice in the English classroom. I don’t know why. I don’t know how. But I finally looked up the Mongolian word for “interjection” just to explain that it is unnecessary to repeat my “so.”

The Cho also boasts a varied international community thanks to the European VSO volunteers. This has also been a most depressing blow to my English, as apparently I have an accent, and a moderately confusing one at that (if I am talking in my normal conversational manner, when in official or foreigner mode, I’m completely comprehensible, thank goodness!). I can only assume my “strange” accent is a piecemeal adulteration of the various regions I’ve lived in over the years. I pronounce the words “killed” and “kilt” the same. Words with a long “O” (or is it a short “O”…I’ve forgotten) are also pronounced oddly. Vocabulary such as “wicked” (very/cool), “cream rinse” (conditioner), “dude” (if you don’t know what that means, stop reading this blog, leave the cave you have been living in and go watch Dude, Where’s My Car…you will be okay), also throws people off. I’ve now added various Mongolian words that I will unconsciously sprinkle into conversation, not an issue now as everyone here who speaks English knows these words. But upon my return to the States…yanna! Who knows how altered my personal version will have become.

Also, I finally understand what Mongolians are saying out in the streets as they go about their lives......the same things Americans say when they are going about their lives. The talk about work, what they are going to buy, whats new with their families, which resturant makes the best buuz. I feel cheated somehow, not that I was expecting to discover the meaning of life but still..."hey stop, lets take a taxi its too cold to walk.".......turns out Mongolia and American aren't that compleately different after all.