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,