Steppe 2: First Week of Teaching

So! Long blog last time, I'll try to keep this one shorter. ;)

Sunday, the day after I arrived, I made pancakes for Steven and I for breakfast, and then he showed me around Darkhan for a good part of the day. There are markets nearby us, in New Darkhan, and a black market in Old Darkhan. The shopping centers basicly look like large warehouses with sort of cubicles arranged by product. Meat is in a cold room, with up to 30 butchers trying to sell... there are cuts on the tables and whole sheep strung up behind. There is one place I can buy chicken. There are some veggies available like mushrooms, onions, potatoes, carrots and cabbage. There is also eggplant but it's quite expensive. The dollar goes quite a way, but I am going to technically be living on a Mongolian salary. Living here reminds me of camping-anything that is not essential is too much. I have a couple towels, but no shower curtain, and cereal is too expensive on my salary so I am finding other things to eat for breakfast. Steven has lovely family in Switzerland and America who send him boxes with snacks, which have been lovely to have as I transition to this new way of life. ;) Also, just as I brought Green Mountain Coffee with me, he has brought coffee from Switzerland. But, our electric water pot is broken, so we heat our water now on the stove. When shopping and going online, the shops are not always open even though their hours indicate they should be. I have already found my favorite internet cafe, which is owned by one of the German teachers from my school and her husband. It is quite nice inside, and the teacher and her husband are very sweet! Just now she has brought me coffee, gratis! As it is Saturday, I am surrounded by young boys who are gaming. Gaming is as big here as it is in America.

So I have started cooking mutton, which is an adventure... It must cook for a long time to get to a consistency that is not exhausting to eat. ;) It's quite chewy. The taste pervades everything, since it is pretty much the only meat available... so I made a stew the other day and put in LOTS of curry and garlic.

I still do not have enough shelves for my clothes, I'm not quite sure when that will be resolved... we shall see. In the meantime, i am living out of my bags, and must be very careful to keep them closed or Peek-A will pee in them. Already I am having to wash several shirts who have fallen victim. 

I started teaching on Monday. The head of the English department, Saraa, told me that Mongolian-English teachers would subsitute for me until I felt ready. This was only the case in a few classes, later on. In the first 2 classes, the teachers walked in, told me where the students were at, and sat in the back waiting for me to teach! Quite an adventure. So far, the students are interesting and fun, of course, it's the first week. It's hard to figure out where to begin with them sometimes, especially the more advanced students, and the middle school and late elementary grades. The younger ones are easier... And yes, I have 2nd grade, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, 7th grade, 9th and 11 th grade, then speaking club (preparing for a sort of English Speaking Olympics) for 10th and 11th grade. Me and the Swiss are teaching pronunciation and vocab and speaking, in complement to the Mongolian teachers who teach grammer. That means we only see a class once or twice a week. I have 18 hours of classes per week. Not counting when the Mongolian teachers ask me to come speak to their class, since I am one of only 2 native English speakers there--the other is Douglas, who is British. So it has been quite a challenge trying to pick up in the classes where they left off last term... and trying to communicate when I don't know how much English they know. 

The second graders are sooooo cute!! They want to try to speak to me and are so enthusiastic... they come up to me and pull my shirt and say "Teacher!"... then get a confused, extremely focused, semi-constipated look on their faces as they begin to realize they can't tell me what they want to say in English... then explode in a torrent of Mongolian! I smile and nod. At the end of one class in the 9th grade, one of the boys who was in the front row said, in a rather awed voice, "Teacher, your eyes!... they're so... big... and... blue!" hahaha A+ on the vocab. ;) In one of my third grade classes I have a half American student, and in another, a boy whose mother is a German teacher and the librarian. They both know enough English to be more advanced than their Mongolian peers, a fact which I realized when they would eagerly shout out the answers to my questions, but the other Mongolian students in their classes knew not at all. In 3rd grade, I have so far been able to integrate the American into helping me teach, and he has been the model of cooperation. in the 5th grade, with the German, it is more challenging, because he is only a little better than the others.

The other teachers are very nice! I have made a couple of friends--one, who is a little older than me, has invite me to come to visit her mother for the big holiday on February 14 (the Chinese New Year... it is a holiday throughout Asia). Also, her mother sells the del which is the national Mongolian dress... she said she could sew me one! Steven has acquired several Mongolian friends, who stop by often to chat. They don't call, they just knock and then come in and then commences the epic communication snarl which is a few words of Mongolian, many jumbled words of English, and lots of gestures and drawing pictures. ;) One of his friends, who calls himself Jack (many have "English names") has agreed with his friends in the countryside to invite us out to their ger (pronounced gare, the Mongolian word for yurt) for a real Mongolian meal. He asked us if we would like to eat sheep or goat or camel or horse?! We said we will eat anything. Then we may also ride out to the mountains and shoot targets on another day! It is lovely to meet these people and I feel as though I have the opportunity to become well acquainted with their culture, for which I am very grateful!

Steven and I are beginning quite a nice routine-we begin most days around the same time, have coffee and walk to school, which is not even a 2 minute walk away. In the evenings, he does the dishes and I cook dinner, then after dinner we watch MTV or HBO or the BBC or Euro News or some Australian Channel (The only channels in English) or perhaps a movie on one of our computers, and we play chess and play with Peek-A. Nadine and Steven both work out at the gym frequently, and have been lovely about inviting me... so I went on Friday. It is an alright gym, although the other Mongolians working out there love to stare at us, especially Nadine and I. Nadine has light brown hair and light skin, and though Steven definitely doesn't look Mongolian, he has Indian(India) heritage so he has dark hair and skin. Apparently the Mongolians often think he is a Turk or Afghani. 

Nadine's brother (a little older than her) is visiting while he waits for his work visa. He is also here for teaching English in a different village south of UB, also through Anita. He was living in Moscow studying Russian, and then Kirgistan teaching in a school for the disabled. We 4 went to a volleyball game this morning, of Japanese parents and teachers. Tonight we will eat dinner together at Nadine's and then perhaps go clubbing with the Peace Corps people whom I have yet to meet. 

So the first week has gone quite well. I am enjoying the adventure and looking forward to getting to know new friends better, getting to know the community better, and traveling. Of course there is much more I could tell now, but I will leave that for another blog. I will try to post pictures soon!