The First Few Weeks...

the first syllable of “garret.”] There are several that I can see from my apartment and the school has one outside where they hold their Mongolian class. Really they are everywhere! I am not kidding. The city must be growing like crazy as I can see 23 building cranes just from my balcony! It doesn't feel like any city that I have ever been in before. A lot of the other teachers have been to other places in Asia and they say that the culture and the city are much more relaxed and comfortable for westerners.

The school is brand new and beautiful and I love all the primary teachers that I am going to be working with as well as everyone in Administration. I am the youngest teacher here by several years, so I have been hanging out with older people but I don't mind.

Teaching is going great. The kids are angels. Really, really smart angels. I had a conversation with one of the fifth graders the other day about thinking outside of the box and creative problem solving. Really! These kids are very different from the kids in Togiak. There isn't that sense of urgency in my teaching here. In the village the kids needed the teachers to be good so badly that I felt as if I had to perform a miracle every day. There futures might not have depended on my but I almost felt as if they did. You know what I mean I hope. Here there isn't that feeling. The kids are going to make it with or without me. I am not sure how I feel about that so far.

Almost my entire job is ESL, which is not really what I was expecting and I am not really qualified for it, so it makes me a bit nervous. On the other hand, I had a mother come in to see me on Friday to tell me that she thought I was doing a great job with her son (a first grade Finnish boy who speaks no English) and how worried she had been about bringing him to school. That was nice to hear. The people that I am working with are great. The ex-pats and the Mongolian staff are all really good at their jobs. The aides in particular impress me. They are so on top of things and are always working. I don't have an aide this year (which is fine with me) but it would be less of a hassle than in Eagle Buttle or in Togiak where I had to constantly be chasing them down to make them do their jobs. This is a nice change.

To get around I either walk or take a taxi. It is a little weird getting into some stranger’s car and I haven't yet got the nerve to go it alone (in the real taxis. yes but not the gypsy ones). The other day a friend and I got into one that was covered with Mongolian flags. Mongolia won its first two gold medals (or any medals at all) and the entire town was freaking out—driving through the streets hanging out of the car windows holding flags, setting off fireworks and other bits of insanity! Taxi rides cost about a dollar, and more than half of my Mongolian vocabulary has to do with directing them. Zoon Tish (turn right), baroon tish (turn left), Chigarree (straight ahead), zogs (stop)! Limited—yes but it is working. The third grade aide helps me with translations and helpful phrases sometimes. She is a lovely person. Even so, learning Mongolian is not going all that well. One of the other teachers just came from the US where she and her husband (who works at the Embassy) took a 10-month course on Mongolian, and she still can't speak it very well. Still, I am going to persevere!

I haven't eaten anything exotic lately. I tried some traditional Mongolian food and I have to say I am not a big fan. We went to something called a khorhog last week which was like a picnic where you eat something like pot roast cooked in a milk can over hot rocks over in open fire. It was okay but the meat still tastes strange to me and you sort of have to pick it up and tear into it with your hands and teeth. Traditionally for luck you are supposed to toss a hot rock from hand to hand until it cools. They were really, really hot so I only tossed it a couple of times.

I found a place to order normal chicken so I will be doing that today. Other than that I haven't bought meat at all. The cuts are different than what we are used to so don't know what part of the animal it is let alone what animal it is. I am less adventurous with meat than other food. I will try it when someone else makes it but I don't want to buy meat and cook it only to find out I don't like it. I am doing fine without it. There is something about dealing with cooking for myself that I just can’t deal with.

That’s all for this episode…. Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of “My God, she moved Where?!”

Tara

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