Brigitte has arrived! We weren't sure if or when she would get here, but she finally arrived on Wednesday night. She has dived right into the speaking tests which we all have been busy administering since Wednesday. Unfortunately we all had to work a bit on Saturday, but Brigitte and my tests for the afternoon were cancelled, as the 11th graders are preparing for another exam in the coming week. Now after a longer week, straight on to preparations for this week.
Two students from our school have won first and second place in a district English speaking competition.
The challenge in teaching over the last couple of weeks has been discipline and sort of classroom etiquette The students have somehow been allowed to think that it's ok to behave rudely and loudly around foreign teachers... They have almost no respect for the foreign teachers as we teach, loudly talking, even mocking us during our instruction. It's hard to know what to do, since we can only communicate with them to a certain point. It's difficult to know when to attempt to put your foot down, and when to let things go--especially when you can't really know exactly what's happening in the class (since they're jabbering in Mongolian) in order to deal fairly with everyone. For the first couple of weeks it's not too bad, but finally I have decided to try to establish a certian etiquette that I expect from my classes. Otherwise, I don't feel that I'm able to teach in such a way that the school is getting their money's worth from me, or that I'm doing any kind of service to any student that even wants to learn. Part of this is also because whenever the Mongolian teachers are around, the students are stellar: silent, behaved, respectful. I know they understand how they SHOULD behave, so I need to make them understand those boundaries continue into my classroom. And sometimes, it's truly appalling, and basicly not a good habit to get into what these students do. In my 11th grade class, I had a student throwing things at another student! This is the graduating class in Mongolia, these students will be considered adults in just a couple of months. How do they think they're going to get along in the workplace if they can't even pretend to respect their foreign English teacher? No doubt they aren't thinking, and that's why I'm the teacher and they should behave in my class.
Of course, this is basicly an Olympian feat, without the medal and publicity--I'm pretty sure any teacher feels this way! But so far, whether it's true or an illusion I'm choosing to see, I think I am beginning to succeed in getting some order.
Last night, we had a lovely dinner at Jaisri and Brigitte's apartment, with Nadine, Steven, Khishigee, and Boogii, and of course Jaisri's Japanese fiancee, Keichi. Jaisri cooked curry (she is part Indian) and a traditional Malasian dish, Keichi cooked a meatloaf type meat dish and another Japanese noodle dish, and I brought rice. (:-P not my night to do the interesting cooking) Brigitte made a delicious cake for dessert. It was really a lovely time; nice to be all together and chatting outside of school.
Today the 3 Swiss ;) and I took a walk around New Darkhan and had lunch at Texas pub. No I will go home and prepare for classes tomorrow. I have been at the internet cafe which has wireless for personal laptops, updating a few things on my laptop.
28 February 2010
26 February 2010
Readings!
One other thing that is absolutely cool about life in Mongolia is all the reading! The amount of books I've read --of my own choosing, of my own will-- in the last month has been more than those I read in the space of a year since I was in high school. Here's what I've read:
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
-The writing in this book is, of course, absolutely amazing. The story was epic.
"Invictus" by John Carlin
-A really fascinating book about South Africa in the '90s, Nelson Mandela, their rugby obsessions, and their fight against apartheid. Inspiring what a difference Mandela made
"Gunslinger" by Stephen King
-A really really awesome science fiction book (Jose's fav... studying up on the boyfriend :-P). Looking forward to Jose sending me the second book in the series (The Dark Tower series).
"Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
-Amazingly powerful book. I must read more of his books!
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
-The writing in this book is, of course, absolutely amazing. The story was epic.
"Invictus" by John Carlin
-A really fascinating book about South Africa in the '90s, Nelson Mandela, their rugby obsessions, and their fight against apartheid. Inspiring what a difference Mandela made
"Gunslinger" by Stephen King
-A really really awesome science fiction book (Jose's fav... studying up on the boyfriend :-P). Looking forward to Jose sending me the second book in the series (The Dark Tower series).
"Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
-Amazingly powerful book. I must read more of his books!
24 February 2010
Steppe 4: All and Sundry
Teacher's Day was several weeks ago, but it was kind of a phenomenon so I'll write about it briefly.
The date was February 12. Thursday and Friday, teachers had the option to have students teach for them so they had the time off. On Friday morning, the students gave presentations such as Thank Yous and awards to favorite or otherwise noteable teachers. All the teachers were dressed to the nines and each presentation was accompanied by a dramatic recorded musical entrance, perfectly timed. The afternoon for the teachers continued with more awards, ranging from district to national. That evening, there was a teacher's party at the Texas Pub (the "American Style" pub). I attended with Jaisri. We arrived early, and were only allowed to enter the dining room when the bowl of candy and the shot of vodka had been prepared for us, both of which we were required to take. The evening was very pleasant, and at least made me familiar with the faces of my coworkers, although many of their names still escape me! The food was pretty good, the beef and its sauce obviously a tribute to American cuisine, and the vodka of course flowed freely. Most of the beginning of the evening was taking pictures and talking to anyone who wanted to speak English... Then moreeee awards ceremonies! (Complete with triumphant entrance music!) The awards ceremonies became interspersed with dancing, which was fun, especially with the other younger teachers. Towards the end of the evening, Jeezu (Jeezu is a Mongolian from Darkhan, who is the Japanese Teacher at our school. He earned a business degree at a Darkhan University at 18, and then studied in Japan for a degree in that...) offered to take me home in his (sweet) car, and on the way showed me around the town (see the pics of me and Buddha) which was lovely because it was night and snowing. Found out his birthday is the day before mine (and we are the same age) and since Steven's is May 4, and ours April 22-23, I think there will have to be an epic celebration.
So that was Teacher's Day.
The final greetings of Tsagaan Sar for me were Wednesday and Thursday of last week. Wednesday, we went to our school, and joined the other teachers in greeting first our Director, Delger, and then each other. And of course eating boz. This greeting ended with several wonderful toasts, given from eldest to youngest, at which the person toasting had to make a short speach and then sing a song. It was absolutely wonderful to sit back and hear the teachers raise their voices in several Mongolian folk songs. Mongolians love to sing, and the melodies are very haunting. Even though I can't understand the words, from the way they sing, the epic nature of the lyrics is often clear. It resembled a less rip-roaring version of a Shape-Note Sing, or a West Newbury Hymn Sing. :)
After we greeted Delger, Steven, Nadine, Boogii, two other younger men teachers, and I traveled to the outskirts of Old Darkhan with Hishigee to her home. There we feasted on her Tsagaan Sar spread, and met her daughter, and her two nieces. It was a sort of bonding experience with most of us younger teachers joking and talking into the evening, across language and culture, but all celebrating the Lunar New Year.
Thursday, I went with Andrea to Enkhtuya's (Enkhtuya is a Mongolian English teacher, one of the best teachers in Darkhan, and our Mongolian instructor) to great her. We passed that evening talking of many things and Andrea and Enkhtuya teaching me about Mongolian language and culture.
So all in all, the holiday concluded splendidly for me, it has been a really memorable experience.
The date was February 12. Thursday and Friday, teachers had the option to have students teach for them so they had the time off. On Friday morning, the students gave presentations such as Thank Yous and awards to favorite or otherwise noteable teachers. All the teachers were dressed to the nines and each presentation was accompanied by a dramatic recorded musical entrance, perfectly timed. The afternoon for the teachers continued with more awards, ranging from district to national. That evening, there was a teacher's party at the Texas Pub (the "American Style" pub). I attended with Jaisri. We arrived early, and were only allowed to enter the dining room when the bowl of candy and the shot of vodka had been prepared for us, both of which we were required to take. The evening was very pleasant, and at least made me familiar with the faces of my coworkers, although many of their names still escape me! The food was pretty good, the beef and its sauce obviously a tribute to American cuisine, and the vodka of course flowed freely. Most of the beginning of the evening was taking pictures and talking to anyone who wanted to speak English... Then moreeee awards ceremonies! (Complete with triumphant entrance music!) The awards ceremonies became interspersed with dancing, which was fun, especially with the other younger teachers. Towards the end of the evening, Jeezu (Jeezu is a Mongolian from Darkhan, who is the Japanese Teacher at our school. He earned a business degree at a Darkhan University at 18, and then studied in Japan for a degree in that...) offered to take me home in his (sweet) car, and on the way showed me around the town (see the pics of me and Buddha) which was lovely because it was night and snowing. Found out his birthday is the day before mine (and we are the same age) and since Steven's is May 4, and ours April 22-23, I think there will have to be an epic celebration.
So that was Teacher's Day.
The final greetings of Tsagaan Sar for me were Wednesday and Thursday of last week. Wednesday, we went to our school, and joined the other teachers in greeting first our Director, Delger, and then each other. And of course eating boz. This greeting ended with several wonderful toasts, given from eldest to youngest, at which the person toasting had to make a short speach and then sing a song. It was absolutely wonderful to sit back and hear the teachers raise their voices in several Mongolian folk songs. Mongolians love to sing, and the melodies are very haunting. Even though I can't understand the words, from the way they sing, the epic nature of the lyrics is often clear. It resembled a less rip-roaring version of a Shape-Note Sing, or a West Newbury Hymn Sing. :)
After we greeted Delger, Steven, Nadine, Boogii, two other younger men teachers, and I traveled to the outskirts of Old Darkhan with Hishigee to her home. There we feasted on her Tsagaan Sar spread, and met her daughter, and her two nieces. It was a sort of bonding experience with most of us younger teachers joking and talking into the evening, across language and culture, but all celebrating the Lunar New Year.
Thursday, I went with Andrea to Enkhtuya's (Enkhtuya is a Mongolian English teacher, one of the best teachers in Darkhan, and our Mongolian instructor) to great her. We passed that evening talking of many things and Andrea and Enkhtuya teaching me about Mongolian language and culture.
So all in all, the holiday concluded splendidly for me, it has been a really memorable experience.
15 February 2010
Tsagaan Sar !
I think there are a couple of things that happened a week or so ago I need to write about,but while it's fresh in my mind I will write about the biggest holiday in Mongolia, which is happening right now...
Tsagaan Sar means "White Month" in Mongolian, and we know it as the Lunar or Chinese New Year. This year it is over Valentine's Day, which only some young people celebrate here. The actual holiday begins on the eve of the New Year, which was Saturday, the 13th. Close family and friends gather together and eat and greet each other. Sunday, there begins a cycle of visiting which lasts for up to 15 days! Family and friends gather from all over town, countryside, nation, and city to greet the elder persons of each household, and eat. We have no school this week, until Thursday, though some schools will begin on Wednesday.
The visiting routine is that the visitors arrive at the house, and greet the elders by sort of lightly grasping each others arms, parallel hand to elbow, younger person's arms on the bottom, elder on the top. greeting sounds like "Amor Ben-noh" but I have no idea how they would spell it really, and not sure exactly what it means, other than a greeting. :-P You must greet the elders before you remove your hat or jacket, if it is a formal meeting. If the guests are close family or very close friends, they greet with blue silk or wool scarves and give the elders money. If not, there is no gift from visitor to host. Next, the guests are seated and fed an absolutely rediculously abundant amount of food.
The same dishes are served at each home. There is a bowl of rice, upon which are pile traditional sweet breads in a careful puzzle-like stack, and topped with Mongolian dried dairy products of various types, and sweets such as sugar cubes and candy. This stack will stay put for around 7 days of visiting, then they will begin to eat the bread. If the elders who are visited are middle aged, they will have cooked the chest of a cow or sheep; if the elders are older, they have the back and tail of the cow or sheep. Each guest is first served a modest slice of that meat, which also sets on the table, completely intact (not carved). There are various plates of salads, mostly of potato, salami, and carrot with mayonnaise, and then rice with raisins. There will also be plates of sliced salami and sliced pickles. These you eat first, and are often expected to put a considerable dent in the 3 or 4 dishes they set in front of you. The eating is semi-communal, depending. It seems the less prosperous homes serve one dish and one or two utensils, with which many people are expected to partake. The more prosperous houses serve individual dishes and silverware. However, this observation may be wrong... It could be varying observance of tradition, or some such thing, I didn't visit enough houses to know. With the salads, you are served the Mongolian milk tea, which is very good, and a welcome and speedy warm-up after the chilly outdoors. There is then juice, which is often of a kind made from a native Mongolian berry, which has fat! The juice is a light orange, and really delicious! Sometimes you are served a fermented version of this juice, which is alcoholic and tastes a little like hard cider. Depending on the household, you may or may not be served vodka, and that may be before or after the "botss" (spelling wrong, just the sound) which are the sort of "main course". If you are served vodka, it is in a shot glass, and you must toast the elder, who initiates the toast, and either pretend to sip or take the shot. If you take the shot, they will inevitably refill you and toast again. The frequency depends on the household and the guests who are visiting along with you. Finally, you are served up to 50 "botss" which are small, look a little like pot-stickers, but rounder. They are filled with meat, which may or may not have been cooked with onions or some mild spice, and may or may not be mostly fat which takes FOREVER to chew!! The meat is wrapped and "pinched" at the top in a dough that resembles dumpling or, again, pot stickers. In some households, they set 30 "botss" in front of a couple of guests (Steven and myself) and expect us to eat every single one... at only one house! Needless to say, whether you take the shot of vodka or not may have quite a lot to do with how many houses and how many "botss" you have met with in the recent past... sometimes a shot or two of vodka is the only thing that enables you to remain polite and chow down on another "botss". It's not the most capitol of crimes, but they defintiely insist very very strongly that you EAT EAT EAT! Fortunately, I find the food very good. ;)
Finally, when you feel as if you have eaten them out of house and home, or rather that they have stuffed you and are perhaps preparing to take you out back and fatten you up for the next holiday... The host presents you with a gift. It may be a handful of candy, or a box of chocolates and a souvenir of sorts. Then you leave. Take take take, leave. I have to just do what my Mongolian friends tell me, and trust if they are decieving me at least they will have a good laugh... because it's so completely contrary to everything my New England Tradition has taught me. You don't even wait for the host to eat! They don't usually! They just watch! And you are served by younger relatives who are laboring all day in the kitchen. On the other hand, it is a remarkeable who of generosity and hospitality, that the hosts obviously take pleasure from. They thank you for visiting them, and the process of greeting is quite important, especially for older people, and among family.
I visited 4 homes on Sunday: 3 with Steven and his friend Mark, who lives a couple floors above us in our building. We greeted Mark's parentsin Mark's home, served by his wife and of course entertained by Amka, his 2 year old daughter. Then with him, his wife, and Amka, we visited his wife's father, and his wife's brother. They lived on the outskirts of Old Darkhan, in very small homes built on the sides of the hills, with small dirt courtyards for each one or two homes. The toilets are outside, in outhouses... I think they expect me to be more surprised by that. ;) Last on Sunday, we visited the home of Saraa, the director of our language department at school. She lives in Old Darkhan also, in an apartment. Her sons (who we teach) were also there, and they greeted us and we talked for a while. On Monday We visited Mark and Steven's friend Jack (I have written about him before) at his mother's house, also on the outskirts of Old Darkhan. At his house, we were not served vodka, because it has been only 2 years since his father passed away, and no alcohol is served until 3 years after. Later that day, Steven and I went to the Turkish School, which is the best school in the area, and visited another friend of Steven's, Boohrak (sp?!) who is Turkish, and is a dorm supervisor there. (He has been living in Mongolia for 4 years, and speaks Turkish, Kurdish, English, Mongolian, Azarian (Azerbaijain), and I think a couple other languages... he's 21.) Nadine joined us there and we hung out and talked over coffee in his apartment. Then we recieved an invitation to another home, of one of our fellow Mongolian English teachers. So we took Boohrak along (although he can't eat the Mongolian food because he is Muslim, we knew this friend has travelled much and would understand), and we headed to Boogii's! We had a lovely time there, and then returned home, where we spent the evening with Jack and Mark and some cards and vodka. It definitely feels like a holiday. :-P Today(Tuesday) I visited the grandmother of one of my students (11th grade, named Monkhoo) who invited me to greet her. We visited her home, on the outskirts of Old Darkhan as well, with several other family members. They have a large house, and apparently his grandmother (a really wonderful spunky lady) owns a company that as far as I could tell processes coal or some other type of fuel. Tomorrow I will visit my friend Hishigee, to greet her parents, and then all the teachers from our school will go to our school where we will greet our director, Delger.
And all of that visiting is the lite foreigner's version. Monkhoo told me he had visited 8 homes yesterday! Mark told us that often 60-80 people will visit one home per day.
So the holiday will last a day or so more, then we have work on Thursday. Friday and Saturday, although I usually have them off, will be spent administering some English Speaking Tests... Meanwhile I have emerged from the abyss of no internet that the holiday brought on. ;) And I'm thinking I will have no appetite, and no need to eat for several weeks...
Tsagaan Sar means "White Month" in Mongolian, and we know it as the Lunar or Chinese New Year. This year it is over Valentine's Day, which only some young people celebrate here. The actual holiday begins on the eve of the New Year, which was Saturday, the 13th. Close family and friends gather together and eat and greet each other. Sunday, there begins a cycle of visiting which lasts for up to 15 days! Family and friends gather from all over town, countryside, nation, and city to greet the elder persons of each household, and eat. We have no school this week, until Thursday, though some schools will begin on Wednesday.
The visiting routine is that the visitors arrive at the house, and greet the elders by sort of lightly grasping each others arms, parallel hand to elbow, younger person's arms on the bottom, elder on the top. greeting sounds like "Amor Ben-noh" but I have no idea how they would spell it really, and not sure exactly what it means, other than a greeting. :-P You must greet the elders before you remove your hat or jacket, if it is a formal meeting. If the guests are close family or very close friends, they greet with blue silk or wool scarves and give the elders money. If not, there is no gift from visitor to host. Next, the guests are seated and fed an absolutely rediculously abundant amount of food.
The same dishes are served at each home. There is a bowl of rice, upon which are pile traditional sweet breads in a careful puzzle-like stack, and topped with Mongolian dried dairy products of various types, and sweets such as sugar cubes and candy. This stack will stay put for around 7 days of visiting, then they will begin to eat the bread. If the elders who are visited are middle aged, they will have cooked the chest of a cow or sheep; if the elders are older, they have the back and tail of the cow or sheep. Each guest is first served a modest slice of that meat, which also sets on the table, completely intact (not carved). There are various plates of salads, mostly of potato, salami, and carrot with mayonnaise, and then rice with raisins. There will also be plates of sliced salami and sliced pickles. These you eat first, and are often expected to put a considerable dent in the 3 or 4 dishes they set in front of you. The eating is semi-communal, depending. It seems the less prosperous homes serve one dish and one or two utensils, with which many people are expected to partake. The more prosperous houses serve individual dishes and silverware. However, this observation may be wrong... It could be varying observance of tradition, or some such thing, I didn't visit enough houses to know. With the salads, you are served the Mongolian milk tea, which is very good, and a welcome and speedy warm-up after the chilly outdoors. There is then juice, which is often of a kind made from a native Mongolian berry, which has fat! The juice is a light orange, and really delicious! Sometimes you are served a fermented version of this juice, which is alcoholic and tastes a little like hard cider. Depending on the household, you may or may not be served vodka, and that may be before or after the "botss" (spelling wrong, just the sound) which are the sort of "main course". If you are served vodka, it is in a shot glass, and you must toast the elder, who initiates the toast, and either pretend to sip or take the shot. If you take the shot, they will inevitably refill you and toast again. The frequency depends on the household and the guests who are visiting along with you. Finally, you are served up to 50 "botss" which are small, look a little like pot-stickers, but rounder. They are filled with meat, which may or may not have been cooked with onions or some mild spice, and may or may not be mostly fat which takes FOREVER to chew!! The meat is wrapped and "pinched" at the top in a dough that resembles dumpling or, again, pot stickers. In some households, they set 30 "botss" in front of a couple of guests (Steven and myself) and expect us to eat every single one... at only one house! Needless to say, whether you take the shot of vodka or not may have quite a lot to do with how many houses and how many "botss" you have met with in the recent past... sometimes a shot or two of vodka is the only thing that enables you to remain polite and chow down on another "botss". It's not the most capitol of crimes, but they defintiely insist very very strongly that you EAT EAT EAT! Fortunately, I find the food very good. ;)
Finally, when you feel as if you have eaten them out of house and home, or rather that they have stuffed you and are perhaps preparing to take you out back and fatten you up for the next holiday... The host presents you with a gift. It may be a handful of candy, or a box of chocolates and a souvenir of sorts. Then you leave. Take take take, leave. I have to just do what my Mongolian friends tell me, and trust if they are decieving me at least they will have a good laugh... because it's so completely contrary to everything my New England Tradition has taught me. You don't even wait for the host to eat! They don't usually! They just watch! And you are served by younger relatives who are laboring all day in the kitchen. On the other hand, it is a remarkeable who of generosity and hospitality, that the hosts obviously take pleasure from. They thank you for visiting them, and the process of greeting is quite important, especially for older people, and among family.
I visited 4 homes on Sunday: 3 with Steven and his friend Mark, who lives a couple floors above us in our building. We greeted Mark's parentsin Mark's home, served by his wife and of course entertained by Amka, his 2 year old daughter. Then with him, his wife, and Amka, we visited his wife's father, and his wife's brother. They lived on the outskirts of Old Darkhan, in very small homes built on the sides of the hills, with small dirt courtyards for each one or two homes. The toilets are outside, in outhouses... I think they expect me to be more surprised by that. ;) Last on Sunday, we visited the home of Saraa, the director of our language department at school. She lives in Old Darkhan also, in an apartment. Her sons (who we teach) were also there, and they greeted us and we talked for a while. On Monday We visited Mark and Steven's friend Jack (I have written about him before) at his mother's house, also on the outskirts of Old Darkhan. At his house, we were not served vodka, because it has been only 2 years since his father passed away, and no alcohol is served until 3 years after. Later that day, Steven and I went to the Turkish School, which is the best school in the area, and visited another friend of Steven's, Boohrak (sp?!) who is Turkish, and is a dorm supervisor there. (He has been living in Mongolia for 4 years, and speaks Turkish, Kurdish, English, Mongolian, Azarian (Azerbaijain), and I think a couple other languages... he's 21.) Nadine joined us there and we hung out and talked over coffee in his apartment. Then we recieved an invitation to another home, of one of our fellow Mongolian English teachers. So we took Boohrak along (although he can't eat the Mongolian food because he is Muslim, we knew this friend has travelled much and would understand), and we headed to Boogii's! We had a lovely time there, and then returned home, where we spent the evening with Jack and Mark and some cards and vodka. It definitely feels like a holiday. :-P Today(Tuesday) I visited the grandmother of one of my students (11th grade, named Monkhoo) who invited me to greet her. We visited her home, on the outskirts of Old Darkhan as well, with several other family members. They have a large house, and apparently his grandmother (a really wonderful spunky lady) owns a company that as far as I could tell processes coal or some other type of fuel. Tomorrow I will visit my friend Hishigee, to greet her parents, and then all the teachers from our school will go to our school where we will greet our director, Delger.
And all of that visiting is the lite foreigner's version. Monkhoo told me he had visited 8 homes yesterday! Mark told us that often 60-80 people will visit one home per day.
So the holiday will last a day or so more, then we have work on Thursday. Friday and Saturday, although I usually have them off, will be spent administering some English Speaking Tests... Meanwhile I have emerged from the abyss of no internet that the holiday brought on. ;) And I'm thinking I will have no appetite, and no need to eat for several weeks...
09 February 2010
More pictures!
3 new friends and co-workers in the English Department, at Teacher's Day Celebrations: Jaisri (Malasian), Hishigee (Mongolian), and Boogii (Mongolian). It should be noted I only know the nicknames of the Mongolians I can't pronounce their real names! :-P
Other teachers from our school. This is our gym, too, obviously. The lady in the Blue is Saraa, who is the director of my Dept.
Later that night at the teacher's party... Jaisri and I.
And another colleague from the English Dept, Nina (Mongolian).
Foreign Language Teachers! Andrea (German), Enkhtuya (Mongolian, me, and Boogii.
My friend Hishigee performing! Hammer Dulcimer! I can't remember what they call it.
Another new friend, Jeezu, took me to see the "God's Mountain" in Darkhan, where there are Buddhist prayer wheels and statues. It was beautiful in the snow... and very cold!
Me and Buddha are tight.
New Dakhan City beyond.
First Pictures Post!
The view of Ulaanbaatar, capitol city of Mongolia from my incoming China Air flight.
My first Mongolian bus station... This picture makes it appear more organized and clean than it felt!
Sunset oveUB from the apartment where I stayed my first night.
Again, in the morning... haze. ;)
The bus ride to Darkhan... ponies!!!
I have many pictures from the ride... these will suffice for now.
From the small entryway in my apartment, left to right: Front door, toilet, shower, kitchen; Steven's room/the living room, and my room. More pictures at some point when things are clean and organized.
The view from the kitchen window. That is what our building looks like too.
The views from my bedroom window. The green doors house the cars. They must be kept inside or they won't start up again.
08 February 2010
woops...
SO the end of that story is I was 15 minutes late for Mongolian class... Which would be very Mongolian of me, except I called to tell them I'd be late. Many times Mongolians will be very late and not call.
So I am beginning to learn the Mongolian alphabet! It's quite hard!
So I am beginning to learn the Mongolian alphabet! It's quite hard!
Steppe 3
Since my last post, things have been starting to acquire a routine at last. That means my exoticism as a blond, blue-eyed English speaking teacher has definitely waned, so I've been challenged a lot more by loud and crazy class rooms-from the 2nd graders to the 11th graders. Unfortunately, foreign teachers normally give them a lot of leeway, plus, they can't really fail the classes since the schools are all in competition, and thus never really give a student below a B. So it's hard to earn their respect and attention. As I am now in the middle of my 3rd week of teaching, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, plus I'm actually able to prepare for classes. I am trying to put a lot into these classes, despite the majority of the students almost certainly won't. Otherwise, laziness and boredom have never been something I do well with... Especially on the other side of the world from Jose and Home! Since it is winter, travel on the weekend is difficult because the weather and transportation aren't really reliable. But I am finding plenty to do, and am very excited about the fact I actually have a little time to read for the first time since my early teens.
Haha, I just had to correct myself because I accidentally typed "exciting" instead of "excited" which is a mistake many Mongolians make when speaking English. Jack came by one night after a few drinks with his friends, and he kept saying "I am very exciting! I am very exciting!" LOL I had to restrain myself from saying, "Yes, you are!"
Piano Students and Mongolian Time
I have acquired 2 piano students! One has been playing for 6 years and the other for 2. They are both in their early teens, and live in the same "district" as I do, but a taxi ride away. Their mother is a social studies teacher at the school where I teach, and she made contact with me through one of the German teachers, as she speaks German, but not English. This happened on one very busy afternoon last week, and the mother insisted I should come over to her apartment if I had a moment to see her piano and the girls and their music. As it turned out, I accidentally scheduled to meet her 30 minutes before the foreign teachers had scheduled to have class in the Mongolian language (we had scheduled and rescheduled said class SEVERAL times over the first 2 weeks, so it wasn't so terrible that I had forgotten.) So I crossed my fingers that she didn't live too far away (since I couldn't really communicate with her) and we set out for her apartment. Of course I became concerned when we got in the taxi, but figured it couldn't take too long... Well, it wouldn't have taken long, if the taxi hadn't taken a round about way through several side streets to drop off the other random people that were crammed in the backseat, AND then stopped for gas... finally we arrived at the apartment building, and climbed to the top apartment. We removed our shoes and I was carefully prevented from putting my bags on the floor, since that is NEVER done here! I had the girls play for me (we'd already met they are in my classes) and we talked about times and prices for lessons. We have been instructed to charge between 3,000-5,000 T for private lessons, so I have set 4,000 T for an hour long lesson. That converts to less than $4 per hour, where I get $24 per hour in the US. Yet this is expensive here, and I'm grateful to have the extra salary.
So I will have the first piano lesson tomorrow! I have permission to hold it at the school if I need to, but I think I will try to have it at the apartment as much as possible since the piano there will I think turn out to be better.
Must off to class! More later...
Haha, I just had to correct myself because I accidentally typed "exciting" instead of "excited" which is a mistake many Mongolians make when speaking English. Jack came by one night after a few drinks with his friends, and he kept saying "I am very exciting! I am very exciting!" LOL I had to restrain myself from saying, "Yes, you are!"
Piano Students and Mongolian Time
I have acquired 2 piano students! One has been playing for 6 years and the other for 2. They are both in their early teens, and live in the same "district" as I do, but a taxi ride away. Their mother is a social studies teacher at the school where I teach, and she made contact with me through one of the German teachers, as she speaks German, but not English. This happened on one very busy afternoon last week, and the mother insisted I should come over to her apartment if I had a moment to see her piano and the girls and their music. As it turned out, I accidentally scheduled to meet her 30 minutes before the foreign teachers had scheduled to have class in the Mongolian language (we had scheduled and rescheduled said class SEVERAL times over the first 2 weeks, so it wasn't so terrible that I had forgotten.) So I crossed my fingers that she didn't live too far away (since I couldn't really communicate with her) and we set out for her apartment. Of course I became concerned when we got in the taxi, but figured it couldn't take too long... Well, it wouldn't have taken long, if the taxi hadn't taken a round about way through several side streets to drop off the other random people that were crammed in the backseat, AND then stopped for gas... finally we arrived at the apartment building, and climbed to the top apartment. We removed our shoes and I was carefully prevented from putting my bags on the floor, since that is NEVER done here! I had the girls play for me (we'd already met they are in my classes) and we talked about times and prices for lessons. We have been instructed to charge between 3,000-5,000 T for private lessons, so I have set 4,000 T for an hour long lesson. That converts to less than $4 per hour, where I get $24 per hour in the US. Yet this is expensive here, and I'm grateful to have the extra salary.
So I will have the first piano lesson tomorrow! I have permission to hold it at the school if I need to, but I think I will try to have it at the apartment as much as possible since the piano there will I think turn out to be better.
Must off to class! More later...
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