school break

Well, my first semester of teaching is finished already. I can't say I've worked that hard at the break, but it has been nice to relax a little bit. I watched a couple movies and played some video games, but I've also had extra time to spend with some people at my school. I got a washing machine and it just arrived last week. Though Mongolians do have some frustrating qualities, they are very generous and caring. My training manager came over one day to wash my clothes and showed me how the washing machine works. (I'm not going to bore you with the differences between a Mongolian washing machine and an American one, but its a little more work - way easier than hand washing though). Not only did my manager help me wash clothes but she also helped me clean other parts of my house. I felt strange about it, but I think that she was happy to help me. Could you imagine your manager coming over to clean your clothes, and then start cleaning your floor? I don't think that would happen in the US, but that's just my opinion.
Some other teachers came over a different day to help move coal for me. Mongolian tradition is always to offer food when someone visits your house, and I managed to make banana bread one day, and tsuivan (Mongolian noodle stir fry) one of the other days. They weren't perfect, but they turned out okay. it was also an honor to be invited over to one of the math teacher's house. She is someone that I can sort of communicate with even though my language is not that good. It really helps when the person you are communicating with is patient at listening to you. Since there was no school, it was a good time for me to invite my English teachers over. With scheduling, its hard to get all 5 of them to be together at the same time, but they all came over. I made tacos (my tortilla-making skills are improving) for them and I think they liked it quite a bit. I made sure to make it very mild, because people here typically can't eat spicy food. So yeah... a lot of visiting each other's houses.
And this week I came to UB to meet up with my peace corps friends for thanksgiving. Its spendy here, but I have had some pretty good food. One of my meals was broccoli soup (yum), another was curry chicken (yummy!) and I also had some pizza (cheese!!) and some pancakes (delish :) ). I've only known my friends here for a couple months, but it was nice to see them again. There is a handful of people that I like to talk to quite a bit. My other main mission was to buy a horse fiddle. I wish I already had one a couple months ago because I have wanted to start learning how to play one since I got here. So I asked around for a place to find one. I didn't want go by myself to shop for one, but that's how it worked out. Long story short, I purchased one. It was spendy, but I think it will be worth it. I don't have my camera right now - I'll just take pictures later and upload them in a couple days.
Anyways, happy belated thanksgiving!!
Peace,

my mongolian survival skills... or lack thereof

staying warm - I actually got a cold this week. I'm not sure if it was because someone was spreading a bug around or if my immune system was really low, or it might have been a combination of both. The good  news  is that my friends took me shopping, so I'm plenty warm at the moment. not sure how warm those clothes will keep me for the actual cold part of winter, but we'll see.

making a fire - lol, at first it would take me nearly an hour to get a good coal fire burning. its getting easier but I have not yet reached a 100% success rate. Theoretically, I should get up early every morning to get a fire going, but I never actually wake up in time to do that. And when I go to school after making a fire, sometimes the teachers see remnants of coal because I wiped my face, and they start laughing at me.

cooking food - I just made an amazing batch of tsuivan (Mongolian noodles) this weekend, but cooking takes a lot of time. Therefore I have developed a repertoire of "microwave meals." Bread and jelly is easy and readily available. I recently found some hot cereal that kind of tastes like cream of wheat. It's not oatmeal, but it will do. I also am very thankful for raisins. its not extremely unhealthy and it is an easy snack. I'm eating eggs alot more now, and if I'm really in a hurry I will pick up fruit yogurt at the store. And Its a good thing that I like tea, because I'm going to be drinking it a lot this winter. I just bought a teapot to put on my fire stove, so now I will use my electric boiler a lot less.

maintaining a Ger - If you know me, you already are aware that I'm not a cleanly person. Therefore, a Ger is not ideal for me because its all one room and there's nowhere to hide stuff. And in Mongolia, people often visit without any warning. My sister chewed me out for having a messy Ger, so I am trying to keep it a little cleaner - not sure how long that will last.