Hello to all who may read this.
If you don't know, I have an 18year old little brother, who is the absolute love of my life. His name is Gregory. I was 5 when I found out my Mom was going to have a boy. I was so excited and asked if he could be my baby, envisioning in my little 5 year old brain how cool it would be to have some cute little baby call me "Mama!" My mother agreed thinking it was just some childish fancy. But when he was born and I asked for "my baby" she of course set me straight. I was furious and didn't talk to my mom for a long time (in 5year old time...so who knows how long it actually was! LOL!). And for all who know me, and my infinate babbling prowesses, you will realize just how serious of an issue this was for my 5 year old self. I got over it, and became the best oldest sister I knew how to be. When travelling the 2 of us were always "moving buddies" and despite the 5 year age difference he became one of my best friends. We both love kung fu movies, acting like fools in public, techno music, screamo music, parfait (though I never met anybody that didn't like a parfait). Anyone who has been in my company for more than a few hours, will usually end up hearing about him. My Mongolians can never remember my sisters names (Meredith and Erin), but they some how always know Gregory. Like I said I love the kid something fierce.
Last Monday he was in a severe skateboarding accident, suffered major brain trauma, and is in the hospital. He has yet to regain consciousness. While he doesn't seem to be getting any worse, he also doesn't seem to be getting any better. Though I hear that his physical appearance has improved some. Doctors say there is still hope, but to prepare for the worst.
Even if you have never met him, I beg of you to please pray to whatever God, Goddess, animal, plant, mineral, or anything else you may worship, speak to, or believe in to help him get through this and wake up.
I will be leaving Mongolia on Monday, December 22 to fly to America and be with him. (I will be transfering flights in Beijing this time instead of Seoul. My first time in "China" if the airport counts. I have a 7 hour layover, it will be interesting I think.) My parents have let him know that I'm coming, and on Tuesday morning my sisters and I will drive to meet up with my parents so we can all be with him especially for Christmas.
I want to thank everyone who has been praying for him, and sending out good thoughts. I'm very hopeful. He is young and strong and I know he can make it if given the opportunity. I especially want to thank those people in Mongolia who have helped me keep my sanity, given me a shoulder to cry on, and supported me in the most trying days of my life. Julie, Sarah, Shuree, and Ganaa...you are all the loves of my life, I don't know what I would do without you. Not that I don't love the rest of you, you see I'm just bad with names.
Again, please please please send good thoughts twards Roanoke, Virgina for a one amazing Gregory Raymond Weiner. Thank you, and if I've free time I will update about all the goings on in Mongolia, and most importantly, about Gregory.
please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live please let him live
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
What are the spoons doing in the Pancake Drawer?
A number of the higher-up in command American Soldiers came back to my soum the other day, and man alive was it ever like Christmas (and not just because Lt. Simmons was decked out as Father Christmas!). They not only came to check on the work they did this summer, but they brought along a ton of books, art, and school supplies for the kids both from the Hawaii and Alaskan folks back home! They may not be contiguous but that doesn't make them any less excellent. Even more amazing was seeing the book Hopscotch, the Tiny Bunny, a book that my 1st grade teacher gave to me, and will always be one of my favorites. Now I get to give it to my students! The students are already getting excited about writing the thank you cards with their new supplies! Yey giving!
We are also preparing for the New Year's celebration (which is a combination of America's Christmas and New Years). Its cute to hear groups of children walking around our snow covered Christmas card town singing Jingle Bells. Not so cute is having to hear the worlds stupidest song ever (thanks Germany) played over and over and over for hours on end as I'm trying to type up lesson plans, and the kids still don't know the words. :::bangs head on table:::
That's about it for now. I don't have anything in my life worth talking about really at the moment. Except to apologize to Mother Nature for my love of coal and its glorious warming prowesses (is that a word?).
Oh yeah now I remember. Americans have a lot of stuff. I occupy the same amount of space that a family of 4 does in Mongolia. Albiet, my ger is much more sparsly filled than theirs is, but one must remember the boxes of stuff I have in storage in America. I find myself asking...why? What is all of it for? It obviously isn't necessary for survival. I don't miss it (well except for my bed, I miss that something fierce sometimes...my books too...and movies...okay so I do miss a lot of my stuff if I give myself the time to think about it being not here). But, its kinda nice knowing that I could fit all I needed in my firetruck red L.L.Bean backpack and mom-worthy purse. Knowing that I don't have to worry about my ger burning down because there is nothing in it that I would lement over (considering I had my packed bag...if it happened now...:::gasp::: GURGI! I would cry).
Also if one were to look at my journal they would think I have some sort of disorder. And I quote..."I absolutly love my 4th grade babies! they are the joys of my life and a pleasure to teach. As for my older kids and the postmaster, I just what to [sic] deck them. I hate that [sic] piece of [sic] song baby!!! What would I do if my family died? Could I go back? How would I survive? If only one person died, I could get over that...but to lose everyone at once o_O that would indeed break me. I LOVE CRAYONS!"
The family's Thanksgiving card is right. I am special.
We are also preparing for the New Year's celebration (which is a combination of America's Christmas and New Years). Its cute to hear groups of children walking around our snow covered Christmas card town singing Jingle Bells. Not so cute is having to hear the worlds stupidest song ever (thanks Germany) played over and over and over for hours on end as I'm trying to type up lesson plans, and the kids still don't know the words. :::bangs head on table:::
That's about it for now. I don't have anything in my life worth talking about really at the moment. Except to apologize to Mother Nature for my love of coal and its glorious warming prowesses (is that a word?).
Oh yeah now I remember. Americans have a lot of stuff. I occupy the same amount of space that a family of 4 does in Mongolia. Albiet, my ger is much more sparsly filled than theirs is, but one must remember the boxes of stuff I have in storage in America. I find myself asking...why? What is all of it for? It obviously isn't necessary for survival. I don't miss it (well except for my bed, I miss that something fierce sometimes...my books too...and movies...okay so I do miss a lot of my stuff if I give myself the time to think about it being not here). But, its kinda nice knowing that I could fit all I needed in my firetruck red L.L.Bean backpack and mom-worthy purse. Knowing that I don't have to worry about my ger burning down because there is nothing in it that I would lement over (considering I had my packed bag...if it happened now...:::gasp::: GURGI! I would cry).
Also if one were to look at my journal they would think I have some sort of disorder. And I quote..."I absolutly love my 4th grade babies! they are the joys of my life and a pleasure to teach. As for my older kids and the postmaster, I just what to [sic] deck them. I hate that [sic] piece of [sic] song baby!!! What would I do if my family died? Could I go back? How would I survive? If only one person died, I could get over that...but to lose everyone at once o_O that would indeed break me. I LOVE CRAYONS!"
The family's Thanksgiving card is right. I am special.
Monday, December 1, 2008
I'm no good a.k.a. Mr. Ed is delish
My dear devoted readers, I'm sure you are feeling most neglected as it has been over a month since my last update, but I have to admit that I'm lazy and a bit boring of late so besides the fact that I'm perpetually on the verge of freezing to death in my sleep and have yet another respiratory infection, nothing much is new.
However, as its snowing right now and I'm inside my friends nice warm apartment, having just showered and eaten a delicious dinner I shall provide an interesting tale from the past month.
~~~~~~~~~~^_^~~~~~~~~~~
Having awoken one particularly chilly morning with a painfully full bladder, I ignored the cold and dashed to the outhouse to relieve myself. I made note of the density of the steam from my pee and the fact that the combined poo of the various inhabitants and visitors to our compound was starting to form a poolagmite (or would it be a poolagtite, I always for get which is which O_o). Winter was finally upon us. One my way back to my windowless ger, thus meaning that the inside temp is only slightly warmer than the outside temp, I noticed that there was a new addition to our compound...a beautiful brick red horse tethered to the fence. He must have arrived some time in the night. How lovely. Then I dressed in record time and was quickly on my way to my heated school. I taught an uneventful day of classes and then when home...
Now because the horse was such a new addition and because I was still half asleep/cold as all get up, its no surprise that I didn't realize it was missing. That was until I walked into my "family's" ger. Come here Cassandra. Come help me clean the horse intestines so we can finish cooking them. It's only logical that the innards of a horse will be much larger than those of a sheep. However, the actualization of this is a bit disturbing. Yet I didn't hesitate to squat down beside my "mom" and hold open one end of the former horse's large intestine so it could be cleaned, filled with blood, tied, and cooked. I don't know what this says about me.
That night around 7pm when I wandered out in the near pitch dark to get more wood to make a fire in a futile attempt to warm my ger, not only was I attacked by Puppy, but I found that when reaching blindly for chopped wood chunks, I actually encountered chopped horse leg chunks. Not to mention jaw chunks. This only freaked me out for a nano second. Again, not quite sure what this says about me.
~~~~~~~~~~^_^~~~~~~~~~~
That is all for now. I will try to be better in updating this month. Maybe make it my New Year's Resolution. Now for sleep!
p.s. horse meat is sooooo delish you should really try
However, as its snowing right now and I'm inside my friends nice warm apartment, having just showered and eaten a delicious dinner I shall provide an interesting tale from the past month.
Having awoken one particularly chilly morning with a painfully full bladder, I ignored the cold and dashed to the outhouse to relieve myself. I made note of the density of the steam from my pee and the fact that the combined poo of the various inhabitants and visitors to our compound was starting to form a poolagmite (or would it be a poolagtite, I always for get which is which O_o). Winter was finally upon us. One my way back to my windowless ger, thus meaning that the inside temp is only slightly warmer than the outside temp, I noticed that there was a new addition to our compound...a beautiful brick red horse tethered to the fence. He must have arrived some time in the night. How lovely. Then I dressed in record time and was quickly on my way to my heated school. I taught an uneventful day of classes and then when home...
Now because the horse was such a new addition and because I was still half asleep/cold as all get up, its no surprise that I didn't realize it was missing. That was until I walked into my "family's" ger. Come here Cassandra. Come help me clean the horse intestines so we can finish cooking them. It's only logical that the innards of a horse will be much larger than those of a sheep. However, the actualization of this is a bit disturbing. Yet I didn't hesitate to squat down beside my "mom" and hold open one end of the former horse's large intestine so it could be cleaned, filled with blood, tied, and cooked. I don't know what this says about me.
That night around 7pm when I wandered out in the near pitch dark to get more wood to make a fire in a futile attempt to warm my ger, not only was I attacked by Puppy, but I found that when reaching blindly for chopped wood chunks, I actually encountered chopped horse leg chunks. Not to mention jaw chunks. This only freaked me out for a nano second. Again, not quite sure what this says about me.
That is all for now. I will try to be better in updating this month. Maybe make it my New Year's Resolution. Now for sleep!
p.s. horse meat is sooooo delish you should really try
Friday, October 24, 2008
Yes Dad...I'm still alive...
...but only half thawed out.
We have now entered the point in Mongolia where it will continue to get colder and colder and colder. I'm a little nervous about how I will survive the winter in my ger, in the central region (which gets colder than my old place out East). I know I will be fine but still, when I wake up at night because I just had to have those last 4 cups of tea before I went to bed...and I take less then a minuet to pop outside to pee (no need for the outhouse in the dark of night!)...and return shivering and slightly miserable as I try to warm up enough to fall back into raptor haunted sleep...I get nervous. This is nothing. What is -11 when you know -40 is still ahead. My "dad" and "uncle" when out to the...well actually I dont know where they went, but the came back with my winter's supply of wood, and next week "dad" and I are gonna go buy me some coal. I won't freeze to death, but still I was pampered my first winter.
I wear make-up everyday I teach. It is interesting. In America, I rarely wore make-up, and when I did it was usually just mascara or eyeshadow. But here in Mongolia, ugly women just don't get jobs, or respect, regardless of their qualifications. Oh she is the prettiest, lets hire her. As it is I already feel like I giant beast in comparison to my co-wokers, the majority of whom have the figures of 15 year old girls, and my wardrobe, while nice, is hardly the height of fashion in Mongolia. So an extra 5 minuets in the morning to apply a full face of make-up is worth being able to feel at an even level with teachers, and its professional. I haven't quite gotten to the "I look kinda like a retired street walker" level of make-up application that is prefered by many Mongolian woman, but that is probably a good thing. LOL!
Now the big task for this trip to the city: can I find a pair of winter boots that a) I can afford, b) I can fit into, and c) dont have 3 inch heels?????
We have now entered the point in Mongolia where it will continue to get colder and colder and colder. I'm a little nervous about how I will survive the winter in my ger, in the central region (which gets colder than my old place out East). I know I will be fine but still, when I wake up at night because I just had to have those last 4 cups of tea before I went to bed...and I take less then a minuet to pop outside to pee (no need for the outhouse in the dark of night!)...and return shivering and slightly miserable as I try to warm up enough to fall back into raptor haunted sleep...I get nervous. This is nothing. What is -11 when you know -40 is still ahead. My "dad" and "uncle" when out to the...well actually I dont know where they went, but the came back with my winter's supply of wood, and next week "dad" and I are gonna go buy me some coal. I won't freeze to death, but still I was pampered my first winter.
I wear make-up everyday I teach. It is interesting. In America, I rarely wore make-up, and when I did it was usually just mascara or eyeshadow. But here in Mongolia, ugly women just don't get jobs, or respect, regardless of their qualifications. Oh she is the prettiest, lets hire her. As it is I already feel like I giant beast in comparison to my co-wokers, the majority of whom have the figures of 15 year old girls, and my wardrobe, while nice, is hardly the height of fashion in Mongolia. So an extra 5 minuets in the morning to apply a full face of make-up is worth being able to feel at an even level with teachers, and its professional. I haven't quite gotten to the "I look kinda like a retired street walker" level of make-up application that is prefered by many Mongolian woman, but that is probably a good thing. LOL!
Now the big task for this trip to the city: can I find a pair of winter boots that a) I can afford, b) I can fit into, and c) dont have 3 inch heels?????
Friday, October 3, 2008
The bus is ten miles north on the Duesberry Road...
...and they're having a LOVELY time!
On the road today coming into UB (a sort of protest if you will, in the hopes that my school will finally winterize my ger after procrastinating for about 2 months), we hit a traffic jam. Do you know what it was? Goats. Yes, I had to wait an extra 10minuets in the Microbus with an unplesently full bladder, so that a bunch of goats could be herded across the little bridge into the city. Then in a little cafe where I stopped to pee and eat some breakfast I ran into one of the Mongolian soldiers who had helped repair our dorms! He bought my breakfast, that was nice. Then when I was next to Peace Corps I ran into one of the teachers from my college back in the Cho. We exchanged news, my hands went numb, she gave me a piece of gum (score!), and then we parted ways. I wonder if one day I will be able to reach my Grandfathers level of acquaintances (he runs into someone he knows EVERYWHERE! Its crazy! LOL!)
Next week starts my English Clubs. In Mongolia, English Clubs are actually just additional English lessons for the good kids who need to be challanged more. I will have a 4-5th grade club where the students will learn English songs and poems...I'm going to have fun with this one! Its cool to see how many kiddy songs and what not I still remember, though if you have a good poem shoot it my way I'm a bit low on those. Then next club is 7-9th grade club (remember we have no 6th grade O_o). This will be half songs half actual lessons. Finally is the 10-11th grade club, in which conversation and pronounciation will be our main goal (but I'll prolly end up teaching them songs too ^_^). In addition to the students I will be starting an Adult Class for the older memebers of the community who want to learn/refresh their English. I'm most excited about this one as I always have fun teaching adults, and I don't have to submit any of the evil lesson plans I sooooo hate. We also kinda maybe have internet at my site now, and I will be teaching internet/computer classes on the weekends...maybe. Its a little confusing now but we'll see!
We just had "Old People's Holiday" (don't be offended thats the litteral translation) on Wednesday. There was a concert, food, drink, more food, more drink, even more drink, and then parting gifts for the Elderly of the town. It was so cool to see people celebrating their elders, all of whom were dressed in there traditional Mongolian outfits and looking so cute and old and weatherd by their countryside lives. Then there was a dance for the younger people, that only lasted about 3 songs because the musician decided he didnt want to play anymore, but that made some people mad and because it was a holiday and most folks had been DRINKING a fight broke out, the broke a speaker, and I think the musician's nose, and it was cancelled.
Its been really cold and I keep dreaming about velicoraptors. Its most disturbing.
On the road today coming into UB (a sort of protest if you will, in the hopes that my school will finally winterize my ger after procrastinating for about 2 months), we hit a traffic jam. Do you know what it was? Goats. Yes, I had to wait an extra 10minuets in the Microbus with an unplesently full bladder, so that a bunch of goats could be herded across the little bridge into the city. Then in a little cafe where I stopped to pee and eat some breakfast I ran into one of the Mongolian soldiers who had helped repair our dorms! He bought my breakfast, that was nice. Then when I was next to Peace Corps I ran into one of the teachers from my college back in the Cho. We exchanged news, my hands went numb, she gave me a piece of gum (score!), and then we parted ways. I wonder if one day I will be able to reach my Grandfathers level of acquaintances (he runs into someone he knows EVERYWHERE! Its crazy! LOL!)
Next week starts my English Clubs. In Mongolia, English Clubs are actually just additional English lessons for the good kids who need to be challanged more. I will have a 4-5th grade club where the students will learn English songs and poems...I'm going to have fun with this one! Its cool to see how many kiddy songs and what not I still remember, though if you have a good poem shoot it my way I'm a bit low on those. Then next club is 7-9th grade club (remember we have no 6th grade O_o). This will be half songs half actual lessons. Finally is the 10-11th grade club, in which conversation and pronounciation will be our main goal (but I'll prolly end up teaching them songs too ^_^). In addition to the students I will be starting an Adult Class for the older memebers of the community who want to learn/refresh their English. I'm most excited about this one as I always have fun teaching adults, and I don't have to submit any of the evil lesson plans I sooooo hate. We also kinda maybe have internet at my site now, and I will be teaching internet/computer classes on the weekends...maybe. Its a little confusing now but we'll see!
We just had "Old People's Holiday" (don't be offended thats the litteral translation) on Wednesday. There was a concert, food, drink, more food, more drink, even more drink, and then parting gifts for the Elderly of the town. It was so cool to see people celebrating their elders, all of whom were dressed in there traditional Mongolian outfits and looking so cute and old and weatherd by their countryside lives. Then there was a dance for the younger people, that only lasted about 3 songs because the musician decided he didnt want to play anymore, but that made some people mad and because it was a holiday and most folks had been DRINKING a fight broke out, the broke a speaker, and I think the musician's nose, and it was cancelled.
Its been really cold and I keep dreaming about velicoraptors. Its most disturbing.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Don't Read This (it hilair...but really don't read it)
The following is a true story. Its not exaggerated as my siblings will be wont to claim. No exaggeration could "improve" on this story. But I warn you now if you've a sensitive mind, ext ream love of dogs, or are one of those individuals who like to ignore the fact the excrement (henceforth refers to as poop) is a natural part of life...PLEASE STOP NOW!!!
Okay, for the rest of you still reading...here goes...
I pooped on a dog.
If this is too much for you honestly stop! It only goes downhill from here...
Having spent the previous evening at a fellow teacher's wedding (and subsequently consuming copious amounts of ariag "fermented mare's milk") its not surprising to say that my insides were a little wonky at school the following day. So it came as no surprise to me that in the middle of teaching my 4th and 5th graders "If Your Happy and You Know It" that my bowels began a horrid attempt at contortion ism. Telling the other teacher, "I'll be right back." I started to make my way outside, only to realize I had no toilet paper. With a pee this would be no problem, I've gotten medals for my drip jiggle technique...but for #2, especially the poop attack I could feel coming...no way! I knock on my School Director's door (its in the same building). But no one was home. Blast. Then from across the hall the door to the bank opens and an old man walks out. I dash into the tiny two room bank and approach the manager at her desk. "Hi, I'm sorry but do you have any toilet paper?" She looks confused and I try again. "Toilet paper, outhouse paper?" "What kind of paper?" Curses! Both the word for toilet and outhouse have the Mongolian "L" a letter I can't pronounce for the life of me no matter how frequently I practice. So I'm standing there panicked, trying to breath deeply and make no sudden, potentially fatal move. Finally, I ask, "Poop paper, do you have any poop paper?" "Oh yes here you go." ......... O_o ..... Grabbing the tp I dask back out of the bank. Had this happened in America I'd have died of mortification and never been able to show my face in the Post Bank again. But in Mongolia...hey, everyone poops, its all good.
So I start to head to my Uncle's house on the other side of the school yard. He has the nicest outhouse in town, and I just have to hop his fence to use it instead of:
A) walking the 10 minuets home
B) using the schoolyard's outhouses...which are terrifyingly full of extra holes, with doors that never stay closed, and boards that seem unable to support my weight.
However, the whole accquisistion of "poop paper" used up my fence hopping time. So with no choice I enter the school's outhouse.
STOP NOW THIS IS WHEN THE WORST OF IT GOES DOWN!!!!
Nature takes is course when suddenly I hear a noise from the putrid pit below. I look down and there is a huge dog down there who walks over and begins to lap up my digested and expelled mare's milk and steamed stomach dumplings. Now what does one do in a situation like this I ask you? I couldn't shoo it away...I had nothing to throw at it...and bowels in motion stay in motion...so I pooped on the dog. And did it move??? NO?!?!?!?!?!?! WTF MATE?!?!?
Shocked, disturbed, yet at the same time finding the situation highly hilarious while trying not to laugh, lose my balance, and join Fido in his poopy lair; I made use of my "poop paper," got up and left.
As I was washing my hands with the help of a student (as there is no running water) I lost it. "That did not just happen," I mutter and laugh, utterly unable to even begin an attempt to explain my laughter to the girl.
But it did happen...I kid you not...kinda wish I was, but its all true.
And that's how I came to poop on a dog.
Okay, for the rest of you still reading...here goes...
I pooped on a dog.
If this is too much for you honestly stop! It only goes downhill from here...
Having spent the previous evening at a fellow teacher's wedding (and subsequently consuming copious amounts of ariag "fermented mare's milk") its not surprising to say that my insides were a little wonky at school the following day. So it came as no surprise to me that in the middle of teaching my 4th and 5th graders "If Your Happy and You Know It" that my bowels began a horrid attempt at contortion ism. Telling the other teacher, "I'll be right back." I started to make my way outside, only to realize I had no toilet paper. With a pee this would be no problem, I've gotten medals for my drip jiggle technique...but for #2, especially the poop attack I could feel coming...no way! I knock on my School Director's door (its in the same building). But no one was home. Blast. Then from across the hall the door to the bank opens and an old man walks out. I dash into the tiny two room bank and approach the manager at her desk. "Hi, I'm sorry but do you have any toilet paper?" She looks confused and I try again. "Toilet paper, outhouse paper?" "What kind of paper?" Curses! Both the word for toilet and outhouse have the Mongolian "L" a letter I can't pronounce for the life of me no matter how frequently I practice. So I'm standing there panicked, trying to breath deeply and make no sudden, potentially fatal move. Finally, I ask, "Poop paper, do you have any poop paper?" "Oh yes here you go." ......... O_o ..... Grabbing the tp I dask back out of the bank. Had this happened in America I'd have died of mortification and never been able to show my face in the Post Bank again. But in Mongolia...hey, everyone poops, its all good.
So I start to head to my Uncle's house on the other side of the school yard. He has the nicest outhouse in town, and I just have to hop his fence to use it instead of:
A) walking the 10 minuets home
B) using the schoolyard's outhouses...which are terrifyingly full of extra holes, with doors that never stay closed, and boards that seem unable to support my weight.
However, the whole accquisistion of "poop paper" used up my fence hopping time. So with no choice I enter the school's outhouse.
STOP NOW THIS IS WHEN THE WORST OF IT GOES DOWN!!!!
Nature takes is course when suddenly I hear a noise from the putrid pit below. I look down and there is a huge dog down there who walks over and begins to lap up my digested and expelled mare's milk and steamed stomach dumplings. Now what does one do in a situation like this I ask you? I couldn't shoo it away...I had nothing to throw at it...and bowels in motion stay in motion...so I pooped on the dog. And did it move??? NO?!?!?!?!?!?! WTF MATE?!?!?
Shocked, disturbed, yet at the same time finding the situation highly hilarious while trying not to laugh, lose my balance, and join Fido in his poopy lair; I made use of my "poop paper," got up and left.
As I was washing my hands with the help of a student (as there is no running water) I lost it. "That did not just happen," I mutter and laugh, utterly unable to even begin an attempt to explain my laughter to the girl.
But it did happen...I kid you not...kinda wish I was, but its all true.
And that's how I came to poop on a dog.
Friday, September 12, 2008
G-mail is not my friend
Gmail doesnt work right now....I don't know why, but I can't send emails...I can read them but I cant send them......poop
Life is going most swimmingly in the soum. Classes have been in session for 2 weeks now and after a few 10+ hour days, my schedule has become much more tolerable. I LOVE my little kiddies, they are soooo cute to the max! I have even tought all the 1st 2nd and 3rd graders how to say Hi and Bye-bye so thats how they greet me! It rocks!
At first I was only co-teaching, but then our training manager got sick so the oldest English teacher became training manager, and I took over his 7th and 8th grade classes, so I teach those by myself! YEY! Teaching is rather fun! I like it!
Also right now I have a wonderful part time job of serving as translator for the Hawaiian Army Unit that is currently living in my town and repairing our student dorms! They are a swell bunch of fellows and its nice to have people to speak English with. Also that means that should all building go according to plans we will have running water and SHOWERS!!!!!!!!! And the students will have a warm place to live which I suppose is a good thing too.
They also give me candy, and real coffee, and MRE Milkshakes! Its glorious!
I got really sick for a few days...I think I ate something bad...but I've developed a slight fear of the more "exotic" mongolian foods. And by slight I mean I break into a cold sweat and bolt in the opposite direction. Now I'm pretty much cured of this fear but as I walked in to my familys ger last night, sighted the goats feet waiting for me, I straight up turned around and left. Didn't even say a single word! Now in the city for a few days I will glory in "real" food and resupply on fruits and what not that will hopefully last longer than last time.
I randomly remembered the Goldfish jingle the other day during yet another long teachers meeting. Then I remembered the opposite version I used to sing with the siblings:
I hate the Squidies cuz their so disgusting, gonna go shoping...
I could eat them every night,
But my Dad says, "That's not right!"
I hate the Squidies cuz their so disgusting, gonna go shoping!
I then spent a long time wondering just how we figured that shopping would be roughly equivilant to the opposite of fishing. I don't think I arrived at an answer, but the meeting went very quickly.
It is consolodation day in Mongolia (meaning we all have to go to the nearest city center type place and check in...practice should say China ever invade and we have to evacuate or something), and I have gotten to meet many of the new volunteers. They seem like a rather cool lot, it will be fun meeting new faces.
I'm sure there is more, but I'm hungry and I'm meeting with Shuree later to translate things and celebrate her birthday! So that's all for now!
Life is going most swimmingly in the soum. Classes have been in session for 2 weeks now and after a few 10+ hour days, my schedule has become much more tolerable. I LOVE my little kiddies, they are soooo cute to the max! I have even tought all the 1st 2nd and 3rd graders how to say Hi and Bye-bye so thats how they greet me! It rocks!
At first I was only co-teaching, but then our training manager got sick so the oldest English teacher became training manager, and I took over his 7th and 8th grade classes, so I teach those by myself! YEY! Teaching is rather fun! I like it!
Also right now I have a wonderful part time job of serving as translator for the Hawaiian Army Unit that is currently living in my town and repairing our student dorms! They are a swell bunch of fellows and its nice to have people to speak English with. Also that means that should all building go according to plans we will have running water and SHOWERS!!!!!!!!! And the students will have a warm place to live which I suppose is a good thing too.
They also give me candy, and real coffee, and MRE Milkshakes! Its glorious!
I got really sick for a few days...I think I ate something bad...but I've developed a slight fear of the more "exotic" mongolian foods. And by slight I mean I break into a cold sweat and bolt in the opposite direction. Now I'm pretty much cured of this fear but as I walked in to my familys ger last night, sighted the goats feet waiting for me, I straight up turned around and left. Didn't even say a single word! Now in the city for a few days I will glory in "real" food and resupply on fruits and what not that will hopefully last longer than last time.
I randomly remembered the Goldfish jingle the other day during yet another long teachers meeting. Then I remembered the opposite version I used to sing with the siblings:
I could eat them every night,
But my Dad says, "That's not right!"
I hate the Squidies cuz their so disgusting, gonna go shoping!
I then spent a long time wondering just how we figured that shopping would be roughly equivilant to the opposite of fishing. I don't think I arrived at an answer, but the meeting went very quickly.
It is consolodation day in Mongolia (meaning we all have to go to the nearest city center type place and check in...practice should say China ever invade and we have to evacuate or something), and I have gotten to meet many of the new volunteers. They seem like a rather cool lot, it will be fun meeting new faces.
I'm sure there is more, but I'm hungry and I'm meeting with Shuree later to translate things and celebrate her birthday! So that's all for now!
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