Headed into the Gobi! Taking a Don Pepin cigar with me from the awesome package that arrived yesterday from Jose. It's going to be pretty epic... hope the spring winds bring me back again! ;)
18 March 2010
13 March 2010
Steppe 8: Turkish Breakfast Delight and Professor Nininger
Well the end of last weekend was quite satisfying. On Monday, Women's Day, Brigitte and I took a nice walk up on one of the little hills that divides Old and New Darkhan and took some pictures. I also had another session with Tsengel. Dinner, a movie... Good stuff.
The week of teaching went by well. Although every week presents new reminders of the very different kind of student you find here in Mongolia. It's really trying to have our Western ideas of teaching and expectations of the students and be teaching here in Mongolia. I had 9th graders this week say, "Teacher, sing songs, play games! Reading is boring!" I could've slapped the lot of them! Of course I didn't, but what kind of 14-15 year old in America would ever do that!? I told them straight up that they weren't going to improve their English playing games and singing songs at their age, and no matter if they wanted to or not, that's what I came here to do: improve their English. They'll probably all fail the test I've written for them this week, but I have done my job. After a certain point, you can't teach the old-dog-9th-grade-student a new trick of how to study, especially when there is a serious language and culture gap. Also when those standards aren't enforced in other classes. I suppose it is to be expected in an education system where medals are a dime a dozen (hahah almost literally) but grading and evaluation based on actual mastery is rare if present at all... good grades are more for the appearance of accomplishment than reflective of the actual fact of its presence.
The interesting paradox is that there is one or perhaps a couple students in every class section that actually know how to be a good student. When Mongolians have ambition they know how to achieve, and boy do they achieve! Many are studying and living and working abroad. But it seems only with ambition do they learn the kind of respect that we, especially in America and Europe, expect. Of course, I think this is only about a partly correct observation from my culture to theirs, because I don't understand their language. Nevertheless, as an American teacher in a primary school, the way the students behave is extremely frusterating.
Yet here I am, writing tests for the end of the first term! It has indeed been a learning experience. Despite their pleas, I will continue to try to actually teach them English next term, but I will of course attempt some new approaches.
The end of this past week, despite the disappointment of students, was really nice. Thursday night, I got a text from one of the girls, named Hilal, who I met at the Turkish Food Festival last Sunday. She invited me and anyone I wanted to bring to a Turkish Breakfast early Friday morning with her and her students. Brigitte was the only one who could (hahah or wanted to wake up that early, *cough* Steven *cough*) join me, so we set off at 7am on Friday morning for the Turkish School. We were seated at a table in their dining hall and waited for the food to be served with two Mongolian students. They were 11th grade girls, enthusiastic about their English, and apparently entrenched in the stress of Mongolian pre-university/graduation exams. Hilal is a dormitory supervisor, like our friend Boorak, except of course in the femal dorm. By the way, Steven didn't just not want to wake up early, he was also being sensitive to the fact that since the school is Turkish, and thus run with Muslim principles and practices (all the food is prepared according to Muslim law.) As a Muslim himself, he knew the girls and boys are usually quite separate. So the breakfast was an little dorm activity that Hilal had organized. Our EXTREMELY delicious breakfast was prepared for us by the students, and then we ate together, and they had an opportunity to practice their English. The two girls we spoke with at first were absolutely lovely and quite bold in their speaking, even making really good jokes in English! Takes guts to make such jokes in a foreign language! They served us bread, crepes, jam, fresh butter, a milk and sugar mix, a nutella-cream mix, some sauteed peppers, home fries, and a "very Turkish" dish with peppers and I think eggs. We drank tea. The girls finally ran off to their class, then Hilal stayed and talked with us for a little longer before heading back to attend to her duties. She's a really lovely person, full of a lot of energy, practically running everywhere. She grew up in Turkey and this is her 2nd year in Mongolia. She told us her first year she was supervising 10th graders, who were quite easy, which was fortunate since she was learning Mongolian and transitioning to living there. This year, though, she has 11th graders, who are constantly encountering drama in their personal lives, and their education which is focused on these final tests. Brigitte and I are hoping to host a reciprocal breakfast in Swiss-American style sometime in the next few weeks...
Meanwhile, I have a new job or two... I will now be teaching 8 hours a week at Darkhan University. Monday I have 2 evening classes, each 2 hours long, one for first year students and one for second year students. Tuesday I the same, except both are for second year students. It's funny to think that at a University, I am paid less than $4 per hour! But what it makes in Tugrik is a welcome addition to my other salary.
Also, I have acquired a new piano student, who has been in intensive, but not individualized music classes. He will have lessons on Wednesday and Friday, each 1 hour long! He is quite able to find his way around the keyboard, and can play the primary theme of Fur Elise by heart. We'll work on reading music and technique. It's quite nice, because of my 4 piano students, they have about 3 different levels between them, which makes the lessons more interesting. They are also more interesting because it's much easier to teach music than English for me. I've had more experience, but also I guess it just comes more naturally. Plus any change is welcome, in the sense of variety and the sense of cash. ;) Plus the students who are taking piano are quite dedicated and focused. 3 of them I know are children of teachers, and the newest, my only boy, is a 3rd grader whose English is better than the 11th graders (Apparently he studied at an American school in UB.) Two of my students are preparing for a competition in April.
So this weekend is rather full, with writing tests and preparing for the end of school, as well as writing syllabi for the university students, and finally, getting ready to embark on my first tour of Mongolia! On Friday our two week spring vacation begins, and we will be taking an approximately 12 day tour of the Gobi Dessert and some of Central, and a little Western Mongolia! Mark is going to be our tour guide according to plan thus far, although we haven't signed a contract with our driver yet, so we may yet have to use a tour company. If we do have this driver, it will be great because he has over 20 years of driving experience. It's a bit of a risk taking this route, but will hopefully save money, and add a personal flavor to have our Mongolian friend giving the tour. Still, this trip will be kinda costly, so I'm hoping I'll have enough with all my extra working hours to still travel a little in June. Either way, this trip will certainly be worth it.
Meanwhile, that'll mean 2 weeks of no internet, so I've got to get calls in to home before and make sure people don't panic when I'm web-dead for 2 weeks. :-P Jose is home with his Grandmother in Puerto Rico for spring break, so it may be we go for 3 weeks without talking... first time since we met over a year ago! ;) So it'll be an adventure on a lot of levels LOL.
On Friday, as I was running around with tutoring and piano lessons and getting books from the University Library, I misplaced my amazing gloves that Nancy got me for Christmas (and which always get lots of complements, by the way, Nance.) I started to panic and get really sad, certain I had lost them. I double checked where I had been at the university, then returned to a shop where I had bought some juice and a snack for my busy afternoon. Since apparently the concept of "Lost and Found" is nonexistent here (according to several accounts, after people found keys and such important things) I assumed if I had lost my gloves, they were gone. But when I got to the shop, I mimed "glove" haha and the cashier produced my gloves immediately! I was very very happy.
Well I guess that's it for now. Many things to do, first dinner.
The week of teaching went by well. Although every week presents new reminders of the very different kind of student you find here in Mongolia. It's really trying to have our Western ideas of teaching and expectations of the students and be teaching here in Mongolia. I had 9th graders this week say, "Teacher, sing songs, play games! Reading is boring!" I could've slapped the lot of them! Of course I didn't, but what kind of 14-15 year old in America would ever do that!? I told them straight up that they weren't going to improve their English playing games and singing songs at their age, and no matter if they wanted to or not, that's what I came here to do: improve their English. They'll probably all fail the test I've written for them this week, but I have done my job. After a certain point, you can't teach the old-dog-9th-grade-student a new trick of how to study, especially when there is a serious language and culture gap. Also when those standards aren't enforced in other classes. I suppose it is to be expected in an education system where medals are a dime a dozen (hahah almost literally) but grading and evaluation based on actual mastery is rare if present at all... good grades are more for the appearance of accomplishment than reflective of the actual fact of its presence.
The interesting paradox is that there is one or perhaps a couple students in every class section that actually know how to be a good student. When Mongolians have ambition they know how to achieve, and boy do they achieve! Many are studying and living and working abroad. But it seems only with ambition do they learn the kind of respect that we, especially in America and Europe, expect. Of course, I think this is only about a partly correct observation from my culture to theirs, because I don't understand their language. Nevertheless, as an American teacher in a primary school, the way the students behave is extremely frusterating.
Yet here I am, writing tests for the end of the first term! It has indeed been a learning experience. Despite their pleas, I will continue to try to actually teach them English next term, but I will of course attempt some new approaches.
The end of this past week, despite the disappointment of students, was really nice. Thursday night, I got a text from one of the girls, named Hilal, who I met at the Turkish Food Festival last Sunday. She invited me and anyone I wanted to bring to a Turkish Breakfast early Friday morning with her and her students. Brigitte was the only one who could (hahah or wanted to wake up that early, *cough* Steven *cough*) join me, so we set off at 7am on Friday morning for the Turkish School. We were seated at a table in their dining hall and waited for the food to be served with two Mongolian students. They were 11th grade girls, enthusiastic about their English, and apparently entrenched in the stress of Mongolian pre-university/graduation exams. Hilal is a dormitory supervisor, like our friend Boorak, except of course in the femal dorm. By the way, Steven didn't just not want to wake up early, he was also being sensitive to the fact that since the school is Turkish, and thus run with Muslim principles and practices (all the food is prepared according to Muslim law.) As a Muslim himself, he knew the girls and boys are usually quite separate. So the breakfast was an little dorm activity that Hilal had organized. Our EXTREMELY delicious breakfast was prepared for us by the students, and then we ate together, and they had an opportunity to practice their English. The two girls we spoke with at first were absolutely lovely and quite bold in their speaking, even making really good jokes in English! Takes guts to make such jokes in a foreign language! They served us bread, crepes, jam, fresh butter, a milk and sugar mix, a nutella-cream mix, some sauteed peppers, home fries, and a "very Turkish" dish with peppers and I think eggs. We drank tea. The girls finally ran off to their class, then Hilal stayed and talked with us for a little longer before heading back to attend to her duties. She's a really lovely person, full of a lot of energy, practically running everywhere. She grew up in Turkey and this is her 2nd year in Mongolia. She told us her first year she was supervising 10th graders, who were quite easy, which was fortunate since she was learning Mongolian and transitioning to living there. This year, though, she has 11th graders, who are constantly encountering drama in their personal lives, and their education which is focused on these final tests. Brigitte and I are hoping to host a reciprocal breakfast in Swiss-American style sometime in the next few weeks...
Meanwhile, I have a new job or two... I will now be teaching 8 hours a week at Darkhan University. Monday I have 2 evening classes, each 2 hours long, one for first year students and one for second year students. Tuesday I the same, except both are for second year students. It's funny to think that at a University, I am paid less than $4 per hour! But what it makes in Tugrik is a welcome addition to my other salary.
Also, I have acquired a new piano student, who has been in intensive, but not individualized music classes. He will have lessons on Wednesday and Friday, each 1 hour long! He is quite able to find his way around the keyboard, and can play the primary theme of Fur Elise by heart. We'll work on reading music and technique. It's quite nice, because of my 4 piano students, they have about 3 different levels between them, which makes the lessons more interesting. They are also more interesting because it's much easier to teach music than English for me. I've had more experience, but also I guess it just comes more naturally. Plus any change is welcome, in the sense of variety and the sense of cash. ;) Plus the students who are taking piano are quite dedicated and focused. 3 of them I know are children of teachers, and the newest, my only boy, is a 3rd grader whose English is better than the 11th graders (Apparently he studied at an American school in UB.) Two of my students are preparing for a competition in April.
So this weekend is rather full, with writing tests and preparing for the end of school, as well as writing syllabi for the university students, and finally, getting ready to embark on my first tour of Mongolia! On Friday our two week spring vacation begins, and we will be taking an approximately 12 day tour of the Gobi Dessert and some of Central, and a little Western Mongolia! Mark is going to be our tour guide according to plan thus far, although we haven't signed a contract with our driver yet, so we may yet have to use a tour company. If we do have this driver, it will be great because he has over 20 years of driving experience. It's a bit of a risk taking this route, but will hopefully save money, and add a personal flavor to have our Mongolian friend giving the tour. Still, this trip will be kinda costly, so I'm hoping I'll have enough with all my extra working hours to still travel a little in June. Either way, this trip will certainly be worth it.
Meanwhile, that'll mean 2 weeks of no internet, so I've got to get calls in to home before and make sure people don't panic when I'm web-dead for 2 weeks. :-P Jose is home with his Grandmother in Puerto Rico for spring break, so it may be we go for 3 weeks without talking... first time since we met over a year ago! ;) So it'll be an adventure on a lot of levels LOL.
On Friday, as I was running around with tutoring and piano lessons and getting books from the University Library, I misplaced my amazing gloves that Nancy got me for Christmas (and which always get lots of complements, by the way, Nance.) I started to panic and get really sad, certain I had lost them. I double checked where I had been at the university, then returned to a shop where I had bought some juice and a snack for my busy afternoon. Since apparently the concept of "Lost and Found" is nonexistent here (according to several accounts, after people found keys and such important things) I assumed if I had lost my gloves, they were gone. But when I got to the shop, I mimed "glove" haha and the cashier produced my gloves immediately! I was very very happy.
Well I guess that's it for now. Many things to do, first dinner.
10 March 2010
Steppe 7: An (Almost) All-American Weekend
We had a lovely four day weekend this past weekend, since Monday was Woman's Day. Friday there were things to do, but Saturday I lazed around the apartment and enjoyed the solitude, as Nadine and Steven took a short trip to UB for a German speaking Olympiad. I cleaned a little, baked some bread, read... And the bread was amazingly exciting since somehow it came out tasting like Mom's did when I was a kid... made me super happy. :) Mid-afternoon, I had my first speaking session with a guy named Tsengel. He is a few years older and has earned his degrees in business, now working in one of the coal and copper mines in the south. One of the teachers, Nina, is a friend of his and got the little job for me. He is preparing for the TOEFL because he wants to study business and English in America or Europe. Then he wants to return to Mongolia and build up businesses with the good practices he hopes to learn in the West. He loves to travel, and has been to every aimag in Mongolia except the 2 most Western ones. That is actually rare for a Mongolian, since the transportation system is not well developed, so the cost can be pretty high and of course traveling is very difficult in winter... Our classes are not only good for his English, but informative for me as far as Mongolia goes.
After meeting with him, I picked up Christine at the bus station. Christine is an American from Ann Arbor, MI, which has just arrived to teach (indefinite time) in UB. It was lovely to meet her and we had a lovely evening just talking about transition to Mongolian life and Mongolian teaching. Nadine and Steven returned home later that night, so we had a full apartment.
Sunday, we had a nice lazy morning, then Christine and I went to Old Darkhan, and shopped at the Black Market. Then we went to the Turkish School, where our friend Boorak had invited us to a Turkish Food Festival. The food was of course, delicious, and was a fundraiser so it was a good cause. We all took some food home with us for later enjoyment. The 3 Swiss ;) got there a little later. While there, we met and talked with several other foreigners (an American Peace-Corps, a British VSO, Turkish teachers...) so it was an altogether wonderfully interesting experience. After eating Christine and I scurried off to get her to the bus station. Then I napped a bit, and toted some coke and vodka over to the apartment of Stephanie and Ryan, a Peace Corps couple from Oregon. There I passed a long and wonderful evening with about 8 other American Peace Corps. It was a wonderful decompression from the intense focus of living in another culture. One of the guys made a "That's what she said..." joke and it made me so happy! I realized it had been 2 months since I'd heard/made one of those jokes! :-P We made make-shift burritos, played games, and talked until 4:30 in the morning! It was really lovely, and all of them were so nice! Apparently, Mongolia has the lowest retention rate of Peace Corps volunteers. For every "class" or whatever they call it, I believe they said 30% leave. I'm not surprised. It's very hard to live here.
After meeting with him, I picked up Christine at the bus station. Christine is an American from Ann Arbor, MI, which has just arrived to teach (indefinite time) in UB. It was lovely to meet her and we had a lovely evening just talking about transition to Mongolian life and Mongolian teaching. Nadine and Steven returned home later that night, so we had a full apartment.
Sunday, we had a nice lazy morning, then Christine and I went to Old Darkhan, and shopped at the Black Market. Then we went to the Turkish School, where our friend Boorak had invited us to a Turkish Food Festival. The food was of course, delicious, and was a fundraiser so it was a good cause. We all took some food home with us for later enjoyment. The 3 Swiss ;) got there a little later. While there, we met and talked with several other foreigners (an American Peace-Corps, a British VSO, Turkish teachers...) so it was an altogether wonderfully interesting experience. After eating Christine and I scurried off to get her to the bus station. Then I napped a bit, and toted some coke and vodka over to the apartment of Stephanie and Ryan, a Peace Corps couple from Oregon. There I passed a long and wonderful evening with about 8 other American Peace Corps. It was a wonderful decompression from the intense focus of living in another culture. One of the guys made a "That's what she said..." joke and it made me so happy! I realized it had been 2 months since I'd heard/made one of those jokes! :-P We made make-shift burritos, played games, and talked until 4:30 in the morning! It was really lovely, and all of them were so nice! Apparently, Mongolia has the lowest retention rate of Peace Corps volunteers. For every "class" or whatever they call it, I believe they said 30% leave. I'm not surprised. It's very hard to live here.
04 March 2010
Steppe 6
Finished another book! The comic-book novel, "The Watchmen" by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins. It was a really amazing story, and of course was better than the movie, which I *gasp* saw before I read it. It brings up many questions of existence and humanity and our struggles with our imperfections, confronting those questions in a fascinating light.
This week has gone well, and I seem to be under the growing illusion that discipline is actually effective. Made bread for the first time since I was a small child in the kitchen with mom, so that was fun and brought back a flood of memories as soon as I plunged my fists into the dough. This weekend Steven and Nadine are going to UB for a German Olympiad so I will have the apartment to myself for the first time, which will be rather exciting! Tomorrow another American who is living and working in UB (also through Anita) may come to visit me for a night or so.
I have resolved to try to save money for traveling and not use the nice gym at the hotel. Instead I will try to use the school gym for a little running (around and around and around and around) and I have downloaded some yoga videos from YouTube to do at home. We'll see if I can stave off the increasing evidence of winter boredom dawdling around my middle...
Monday is Women's Day, a national holiday, which means no school! Whatever shall I do with myself!?... I tried to schedule a longer tutoring session on that day with a student I'm tutoring for the TOEFL, but he insisted I should rest. :-P
I am completely possessed of everything to finish my financial aid applications, just waiting for Mom and Dad to help me get them mailed back in the US. Such a good feeling! And maybe now I can cut down on my internet expenses. I have to always pay for internet when I am doing financial aid stuff because the secure internet and computers are only in certain internet cafes. The computer at school (on which I write my blog) is filled with nastyness and doesn't even have the firewall activated. So I can write, but shan't handle the financials here.
Feeling grateful this week that Mama's surgery went well! That among other things has made the missing my home peoples that much worse!
This week has gone well, and I seem to be under the growing illusion that discipline is actually effective. Made bread for the first time since I was a small child in the kitchen with mom, so that was fun and brought back a flood of memories as soon as I plunged my fists into the dough. This weekend Steven and Nadine are going to UB for a German Olympiad so I will have the apartment to myself for the first time, which will be rather exciting! Tomorrow another American who is living and working in UB (also through Anita) may come to visit me for a night or so.
I have resolved to try to save money for traveling and not use the nice gym at the hotel. Instead I will try to use the school gym for a little running (around and around and around and around) and I have downloaded some yoga videos from YouTube to do at home. We'll see if I can stave off the increasing evidence of winter boredom dawdling around my middle...
Monday is Women's Day, a national holiday, which means no school! Whatever shall I do with myself!?... I tried to schedule a longer tutoring session on that day with a student I'm tutoring for the TOEFL, but he insisted I should rest. :-P
I am completely possessed of everything to finish my financial aid applications, just waiting for Mom and Dad to help me get them mailed back in the US. Such a good feeling! And maybe now I can cut down on my internet expenses. I have to always pay for internet when I am doing financial aid stuff because the secure internet and computers are only in certain internet cafes. The computer at school (on which I write my blog) is filled with nastyness and doesn't even have the firewall activated. So I can write, but shan't handle the financials here.
Feeling grateful this week that Mama's surgery went well! That among other things has made the missing my home peoples that much worse!
28 February 2010
Steppe 5
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.
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.
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.
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