These are a few of my favorite things

Gifts are not the most important part of my time here, but I have been gifted alot of things. I will tell you a few stories about them.

Spontaneous - I got invited to a Russian teacher's house. Its really fun visiting a Mongolian's house by the way. Usually about five people live in a house. (Me living alone in a ger is really strange by mongolian standards) So the person who invited me is busy cooking food while I talk to the rest of the family who I don't know. They showed me their photo album, the little daughter sang some songs. And I learned that the Russian teacher's father is an artist. After a nice filling meal, I saw some of his paintings and to my surprise, he decided to give me one of his paintings. I have also been given alot of other gifts randomly. While I was walking down the street one time, a little kid that I didn't know ran up to me and gave me a coin. That was actuall really nice of him because I like to collect coins and they are not readily available here because Mongolia stopped making coins a couple years ago.

Puzzles - Mongolians sometimes make some outrageous claims about things that they invented, but I totally believe that this puzzle made out of bones is Mongolian. I saw this in a school fair and asked if I could buy it, but they gave it to me for free. Also, somebody gave the puzzle with the metal rings to me as a birthday gift. When I brought these to school with me, it automatically draws me into a conversation with teachers that I usually don't talk to. They are the ones who taught me how to solve them.

Gifts from my school teachers and workers. My school has done alot for me. Way more than I ask. For example, I invited my counterparts over for my birthday last year, and I made them tacos. My school teachers decided to get me a bottle made out of stone. Mongolians use these during holiday events. The stone bottle usually has some tobacco powder in it. When going to new house parties or visiting people during Tsagaan Sar, Mongolians are surprised and thrilled that I have my one "horog."

Its nice to have American friends to be here with me. Its a good way to vent frustrations/exitement about Mongolia - because even if you try to understand what I'm going through, you won't really understand it unless you live here. I wrote down a poem that one of my sitemates made for me last year.

Although were not from the same state
I'm glad that you are my sitemate
Us M23s must stick together
Because those M22s may haze us forever
From site announcements, Halloween, to this day
We will survive the winter, I pray
Time is flying by so fast
Before we know it Mongolia will be in our past
So lets make our time here worth it
For this will be an experience we won't forget
I hope your birthday will be memorable
because you my friend are unforgettable

news worthy of noting

Mongolians have compound names and they tend to have an actual meaning to them too. I am Will (future tense). I teach English to people like Sunflower and Radiating Emerald. Eternal Destiny skipped class because she's meeting with No Name (yes, some people actually are called Anonymous). Firm rock and Iron Hero are repairing a classroom along with White Child. The training manager Treasure of Knowledge is in a meeting now with Golden Light... Sometimes I forget how beautiful their names are. My memory is terrible - over the span of 30 days, I have misplaced or lost: a dictionary, gloves, a wallet, a flashlight, and I forgot what else. Some of them I've found, but I wonder what my memory will be like 10 years from now... I'm taking care of my friend's cat for a week. Motivation for me to make fires in the morning so it doesn't freeze. One day my little sister came over and asked me a bunch of questions about it. "Does your cat play chess?" and then she realized that it can't play chess because it doesn't have any hands. Also she told me that its chin is hairy just like mine. One of the rewards of learning Mongolian is listening to her funny comments. Um, what else? Speaking of Winter, I got much better coal this year. Making fires are so much easier and they last longer. That is going to make the next few months a lot more pleasant.

things that I'm thankful for (in no particular order)

Friends - Life is much funner when you can vent your frustrations/bizzare moments with others that can understand where you're coming from. Me and my training buddies have gone through a lot together. It has been nice to meet some of the people from the new class of volunteers (M24's) but I also miss having the previous class here too (M22's). Regardless, I feel that there's a pretty strong bond even though I've known these people for a short time. Family - It is great to be able to talk to my parents, brother, and sisters (via skype) and keep in touch through facebook. Also the packages are wonderful. I also have an extended Mongolian family that watches over me. Yesterday I came home late and was surprised to find that my ger was warm. I had been gone all day, but my sister made a fire for me. School - Work isn't always easy, but I have a lot of people watching out for me. They have provided my ger with a washing machine and refrigerator above and beyond Peace Corps standards. I have made friendships with some of the teachers outside of the English department and they are very wonderful people. The school also makes sure to involve me in activities such as holidays, competitions, and so on. Counterparts - Its fun to see people grow and develop. Though progress is slow sometimes, I do work with a great group of English teachers and other community members. Though communication is not always perfect, they really help me to stay informed and are my main group that I interact with. My home here and my home far away - When I think about America, I get homesick. When I think about Mongolia, I realize that I will sincerely miss it. It can be emotional for me when I realize that my time here is going to be only a little bit longer. It is a mixture of happiness and also feelings of how much I will miss one place when I am at the other.

A little better, a little busier

I've had a good September and a good start to October. Nevertheless, its been really busy. Last year, I had know idea what was going on, and I was just starting to meet people. This year, I'm still disoriented at times, but now that I already know a lot of people - and consequently, I have not had any dull moments. thanks to the friendships that I have made I got to go on several countryside trips. One was a wedding, another was camping out, and another was just hanging out together. They can make an amazing meal with just meat vegetables and an open fire. I got to see a ram in the wild, and the wedding was really fun too. I like being a figurative fly on the wall but since I'm a foreigner its hard to do that. I decided to not take as many pictures on these outings because I don't want to seem like a tourist. Thanks to one of my counterparts I also got to see a shaman for the first time. it was - well I don't know how to describe it, but I was happy to experience it.

My regular English classes for students remain pretty much the same, but I'm doing a lot more English teaching outside of the classroom now. I started a class for other subject teachers again, and this year the attendance way more consistent (people actually show up). Last year I went to my counterparts and tried to set up weekly trainings, but it failed. This year, they came to me and asked for weekly trainings. I've also had other requests from people outside of school for help in improving their English. Not exactly sure why the sudden change. Maybe my understanding of Mongolian makes it easier to explain rules and translate phrases. Or maybe its because they know that I'm leaving next year.

culture preservation

Some of the things that I like most about Mongolia is its unique culture. For example, a ger is very different from houses in the US. Also the clothing is very decorative and colorful. I'm a music nerd, so throat singing and their traditional instruments are really intriguing to me too. And the nature here is breathtaking. I can also tell that some of this is changing though - and its partly because the country is developing. For example, along with electricity comes power lines. Even though I like gers, they are mostly suitable for herders - not town dwellers. The music is being influenced by technology too. Style is adapted towards pop music, and electronic effects are added onto recordings. Mongolian clothes are worn by some people (usually older folks) on a regular basis, but usually reserved for holidays. Mongolians are known for their hospitality, but not everyone displays it and actually a few people are not friendly towards foreigners. To a certain extent, I am a part of this progress by exposing Mongolians to English (along with its culture). At the same time I wouldn't advise Mongolia to stop these changes - exposure to new things, improved roads, electricity, etc. I think that the only way to really "preserve" culture is to freeze time, and well - that isn't life. I can't tell people to stay as they are and not change. But I think the Mongolian people have something to be proud of - their history and their present culture. That doesn't mean that they shouldn't have a brighter future in front of them though :)

glad to be back :)

This summer was a really nice break from the school year. I did some work, spent Naadam holiday at my town, took a vacation in Russia, and visited my family that I lived with last summer. During all of this, I got to spend time with my peace corps friends. I am typically am a loner, but now I mostly do things with others. It was fun seeing places in Russia, but it was a little difficult being in Russia because of the language barrier. I was very lazy when it came to learning any words because I put all of my efforts towards Mongolian instead. One of the best things that me and my friend did was couchsurfing. I had never done it before, but it was extremely helpful to speak with locals and get their advice about the area. The people that we stayed with were very generous - they gave us rides to places, let us do laundry, traveled with us and even made some food for us. It is amazing that there are people out there who are friendly to strangers and being a good Samaritan. I'm sure that couchsurfing doesn't always turn out well, but I'm happy that me and my friend tried it when we were in Russia. That being said, it was a relief to come back to Mongolia. I forgot how nice it is to be able to communicate and its a weird feeling that I feel at home here now. It was bizarre coming back to my Mongolian parents house and actually understanding them. What a difference a year makes! They mean alot to me and it was very satisfying to see them again and talk about whatever. I hope I'll be able to visit them a couple more times before my time here is finished. My second year of school is just around the corner and I think it will go by quickly.

summer adventures

So my Dad came to visit me. I think he was able to get a decent glimpse of what life is like here. We were on the road alot - at least 24 hours worth. somehow he has a higher skill of sleeping on buses than I do. He got to meet some of my Mongolian and American friends. He got to experience Mongolian hospitality too - they are very generous, but offer things that Americans aren't necessarily used to (like goat intestines). He also got to experience the different concept of time frames - they are only suggestions. in reality, things may happen hours later... or days later.

We saw some camels and yaks (a first for me) and also got to hike up a volcano. The volcano hiking day, the camera batteries died though :( It rained a lot more than I thought it would, but it didn't completely ruin anything so that was good. He brought a suitcase worth of stuff to me, and I gave him about a suitcase worth of things to bring back. I hope he had a good time.