I cannot even begin to describe how incredibly happy I am.
Granted the highs and lows here are inevitably crazy and unpredictable but I
have definitely been having some great moments.
Most
of these moments had to do with practice teaching. Because my students were so
young I decided to take the song approach to most of my lessons. We decided to
focus on westernized holidays for the last week and one of the first was
Valentine’s Day. I solo taught this lesson and killed it! We made Valentine’s Day
cards and learned the Barney I Love You song. I told all of my students that we
were going to sing it the next day. And when they did they knew all the words!
It was adorable and made me feel like they were actually enjoying what they
were learning.
My
second favorite moment was definitely our Halloween lesson on the last day of
class. We started out by introducing all the different kinds of costumes each
person typically wears and then we all proceeded to make our Halloween masks. I
had my kids line up single file and come knock on the imaginary door to play
pretend trick-or-treat. Each student went up and knocked on the creaky door and
said trick-or-treat and then described what they were. Only after did they get
the candy and they surprisingly got really into it. I was surprised by almost
all of my students. They had a willingness and want to learn, even the youngest
and unfocused kids of the bunch.
Our
last week of the summer we had family appreciation day and I was able to sing a
bit of the Mongolian song I learned from my host family. William and I also
made homemade deviled eggs, which were scarfed down because of how delicious
they were.
The
last week I was in SukhBaatar was a blur. We went hiking everyday, finished our
language classes, and our host siblings even threw us a surprise going away
party. It was adorable. They even made us a vegetable cake because one of my
site-mates is allergic to gluten. I was extremely sad to leave my family but
excited to continue on this amazing journey.
We
finally headed to Darkhan for final center days where I learned I will be
living in Bayankhongor Aimag (State), Bogd Soum (town). I will be living with a
host family too! I am one of two volunteer out of all 87 of us who is living
with a host family. I even found out that they have a heard of camels and
participate in the annual winter camel race! They have a 6 year old son and a 1
year old daughter so I will definitely have my hands full. And now I am
extremely thankful I have had experience nannying for so many years! Needless
to say I am excited. But truth be told I am dreading the first week or so of
inevitable awkwardness. The last few days of final center days I was able to meet
my supervisor who is also my school director. She is adorable and calls me
jijik jenny (small jenny) because the previous volunteer was Jenny. My soum is
5 hours away from the closest other volunteer which makes me a bit nervous but
I know I will love it. I cannot even portray my emotions because I don’t even
know myself.
Not
only did I get the site placement of my dreams but my 22 birthday was the
cherry on top of the best summer I have had in some time. It started when
entering the breakfast room my new aimag-mate, April, and my old soum
volunteer, Jenny, surprised me with a piece of cake! Now this may not seem like
much, but here that means you’re love, a lot! The day continued and by the end
I was exhausted. I was able to celebrate that evening at the hotel with many
other volunteers and I was surprised to receive my favorite beverages,
watermelon, Pringles, bread, and even a solar shower! To see that this many
people cared about me after only 2.5 months of knowing who I was is amazing and
warms my heart.
The
next day we were off to UB and it was a madhouse. We are all staying in a
universities dorms and it seems like I will never escape college. We were able
to walk around for a short period, but it was mostly all of us lugging our
baggage, including our winter bag up 9 flights of stairs due to having only one
working elevator.
But
it was all worth it for today we swore in. I can now say I am officially a
Peace Corps Volunteer! The ceremony was beautiful at the American Ambassadors’
Fortress, and yes that is what it is called. I was expecting a mote, but alas
there was none. I sang a beautiful
Mongolian song called Mini Ardin Setgen Tsagaan with another volunteer, Bud. It
loosely means my peoples hearts are pure. I was crazy nervous but received
endless complements afterwards. One of our Mongolian trainers even came up to
me and said the song made her cry. It was amazing to see so much support. And of
course my supervisor was surprised and amazed to see I had a singing voice and
decided I will sing on the first day of school. By now I am not surprised by
these little things Mongolians assume.
I
fly out early tomorrow morning, 3:30 am, and am off to my soum! Unfortunately I
don’t believe I will have internet for the next three months but I will try my
best. I am attaching my new address just in case you want to be old school and
send me a letter. Also I hear my new counterparts love American candy so feel
free to send anything you would like. Lastly, if you do send anything I would
love a picture of whoever you are and me or just you, doesn’t really matter, to
show my new friends and family who you are!
