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.