The adventure continues… This past week I decided to invite all my teachers over to my ger as somewhat of a welcoming party. We have 38 teachers so it was a bit of a feat to make food and drinks for all of them. I decided that I would make my famous deviled eggs, because they went over so well last time, and kimbab, also known as sushi with balogni and pickles instead of fish and cucumbers. It is quite a delicacy here. As the week continued on I became more and more nervous. I just kept thinking what if nobody comes, and then what if everyone comes and I don’t have enough food? What then? But the day of judgment finally arrived. Thursday.

After lessons I went to the store and bought 30 eggs. It was quite a sight to see because who buys 30 eggs when living alone. The storekeeper was so pleased she said that I would come back to her store from now on, right?  Being the polite and non-confrontational person that I am, of course I agreed. Once home I boiled my eggs and started preparing my ingredients. I had 11^th grade English club so I came back home with my CP Ichka who helped me peel all the eggs. After that I made the rice and started to make my eggs and kimbab. Ichka left to teach 5^th grade and as time passed I realized I would not be done in time. I became frantic and nervous sweating like everyone does but is too afraid to admit. I was finished with the eggs and halfway through the kimbab when my friend Tegshe, an elementary school teacher, came in to help. I was so thankful and relieved. Ichka came too when she was finished with her lesson. Being so nervous I wasn’t really thinking and had the electric stove, my phone, and my laptop plugged in. Just as the rice was finishing cooking the power goes out. At this point I am frantic. I just sent my CP Gerlee on a run to the store to get vodka and candy and she was the one person who knew about my ger. Thankfully after some time, aka 5 minutes of me anxiously pacing back and forth mumbling, “I broke my ger, I broke my ger,” we switched the power and it worked! Gerlee was even kind enough to make milk tea in her ger and bring it over because I was in such a frenzy.

When the teachers arrived, surprisingly on time, they all staggered in. Around 20 of them came and I was ecstatic! They loved my eggs and said my ger was beautiful. They all even pitched in to buy a winter del for me! My first real del! I gave a short speech saying that my door is always open and feel free to stop by anytime. I really try to encourage that type of atmosphere, even though I know they probably wont. The party lasted a whole 45 minutes! It was fabulous. The fact that they took time out of their busy days to come for a quick bite was really touching. After everyone left, my director stayed behind to say that she was really proud of me for living like a true Mongolian by living in a ger, keeping it clean, and now looking like a Mongolian too with my new del.

But every party needs a pooper…. When another one of my CP’s, Erdee and I were planning for our next lesson the boys showed up. They were wasted. I have seen people drunk before, but usually I am there right along with them. It was weird to be on the other side of the looking glass for once. So three of my male teachers showed up, two who most definitely would not remember being in my ger the next day. One even had his kid with him. They kept on repeating I’m sorry in English, which I was kind of impressed by. We awkwardly sat waiting for them to leave while they both fell asleep sitting up. We convinced one of them to leave but unfortunately I had no idea that he was driving his motorcycle home with child en tow. As he swerved off with his emergencies on my CP said well maybe the police will stop him before he crashes. Yes, they have a different outlook on things here indeed. Drunk #2 we had to help to his feet and out the door, only after he knocked over everything in his path. We piled him behind the driver of motorbike #2 and were rid of them. I was relieved but also worried. This is one thing I will either have to get used to or pretend it doesn’t happen.

The next day I had been looking forward to all week! My aimag mates were coming in to visit! They arrived late Friday and we chatted into the wee hours of the night. The next day we ventured off to the infamous white caves. Apparently these caves were one of the first places they found evidence of man or something of the sorts. We stopped a few times to take pictures of camels, visit gers, and pee. We saw a woman riding a camel and she let us hop on! It was amazing! Did you know that camels make sounds? Well, they do and they kind of sound like a mix between a donkey and a bear, also like they are in extreme pain. I was the last of us to ride him and I hopped right on. I knew camels were tall but never really connected the dots that I would be so high up. You could see for miles. No wonder they use them to herd other animals. It was breathtaking. They stick a sharp stick through their nose and tie a rope, which they lead them with and we walked around in a few circles. Once it was time to finish she led him in a small circle and the camel gets on its knees first to come fully to the ground. And man they hit the ground hard with their knees. I flew forward and pretty sure I bruised my pelvic bone. Was not expecting such a rough landing for one of the world’s most majestic creatures.

After that I didn’t really care what the rest of the day had in store for me. We finally made it to the caves and they were awesome! It was high up in a mountain and went pretty deep too. Nothing like Carlsbad Caverns, but just as surreal. The way back took an hour and a half, compared to the four-hour drive there. We sang songs to pass the time, English ones now that I had some backup. Once home we relaxed, napped, and filled our time with Sudoku and crosswords. After we decided to venture to the club. Unfortunately it was closed so we all decided to teach our CP’s how to play kings cup. It was a great learning experience for them, as well as entertaining. The beer helped too. We hung out for some time after that but I fell asleep on the bed, per usual. April and Joanna left bright and early to get back to the aimag. I fell asleep right after they left and hadn’t slept that well in a while.

Before they left we talked about how our outlook has changed quite a bit. There are no more thoughts of, “wow I can’t believe I am in Mongolia.” It just is now, almost like a fact you would read in the dictionary. Rarely any new surprises and a routine tends to do that to you. Although the occasional spider still scares me every time. I used the rest of my day to bag coal and do laundry because now I have a washing machine! And by washing machine I mean an Asian washing machine where you still have to wring out and rinse your clothes with clean water after the wash, put them in the spinner, and then hang them up outside to dry. But it is way faster than by hand, trust me! After fetching water from the river 3 times I was exhausted. I know I finally feel at home because I am lazy and never want to leave the comfort of my ger, especially now that I can make a fire by myself, granted it takes me 30 minutes but still.

Hope you still have adventures that fill you with glee

XOXO

            Rojo

                        Rojo

My ger is fabulous. There is no other way to describe it. My curtains are a beautiful pink with roses decorated around them. I finally have a kitchen area and am able to make food for guests! It was a whirlwind moving in because my dresser was too big to fit through the door so they had to take it apart and put it back together inside. It was nice to be able to see it all happen. I felt like I was really apart of it, even though I basically just stood there watching them move everything. I spent all Sunday trying to clean and do things around the ger but of course the children from my host family just came over and ate all my candy, which to be honest is better than me eating it.

            Tuesday was the big day. Site visit time. Peace Corps came to see how I was settling in and not gonna lie I was a bit nervous. I had just moved into a new ger and wasn’t sure if they would approve. I don’t know if I could handle having to move yet again. But Munkniam came and loved my ger! She said it was beautiful and that my school must love me. She was very impressed with all the activities and things I have done in just 2 months. I was a little surprised because I feel like I should be doing a lot more. I mean I still have so much free time on my hands. We met with my teachers, teacher manager, and director to talk about the progress at school. We definitely showed her too! I was so relieved that it went well! My director even had buuz for us afterwards.

            But just as I got home that’s when it hit me. Almost every 2 months I get sick for no apparent reason. I usual hurl a few times, writhe in pain, and sleep it off. This time was no different, except I was supposed to go to another soum, Bayantsagan, the next day for a seminar. I didn’t teach in the morning just to sleep and a few teachers peaked their heads in to see if I was alright. Unfortunately they saw something that looked half dead in the morning. But as the afternoon approached I felt better, packed, and even washed my hair. As 2 o’clock rolled around I was starting to feel nauseous again, but I just thought to myself mind over matter, mind over matter. The ride was long, including songs, beers, and many Mongolians who got carsick. It was like a clown car gone bad. There were 17 of us in one meeker, which is the size of a large van. I thought I was the one who was sick, but man was I wrong. They were throwing up left and right. We finally arrived around 9:30 and I was exhausted. We were staying at the cultural center, which was just built last year. We went upstairs for dinner and I barely touched mine. I still felt awful. I though maybe if I just sleep I will feel better. Man was I wrong.

            I was tossing and turning all night. I got up twice to puke and other unmentionables. But lets just say I now have no fear of the bathroom anywhere. I am like Jane of the jungle, or rather Rojo of the Gobi. The next morning my teachers were all worried about me it was adorable. I slept through the opening ceremony and most of the day. But around 4 I was able to see the school with my director and it is beautiful. It is two stories and has a fantastic music room and art room. All the students are very talented and I was wondering why there were no volunteers, until I remembered it is 8 hours away from the capitol of the state, which is a bit too far if there was ever an emergency.

            The time finally came to perform our song of musical rocks. I had my uniform and we all looked great! Everyone was staring at me and I’m pretty sure most had never seen a foreigner before. We were glorious. All on key and killed it. It was amazing. This was the moment I finally felt like one of the teachers. Afterwards we of course celebrated with more vodka. Thankfully many of my teachers understood when I only touched it to my lips to be polite. They nodded and continued on with their conversations. We got 4^th place, which was a little disappointing but my teachers said the judges were bias. That night I slept wonderfully. We all slept in the same room in sleeping bags piled in together like sardines. It was cozy and I loved every second of it.

            The next day was a bit more relaxed. No seminar, just competitions. The volleyball competition is where our soum shined. We took 2^nd place only because the team that took 1^st had a freakishly tall guy on their team. And I am not being mean, he was freakishly tall for American standards as well. Finally we loaded up the car and were on our way, or at least that is what I thought. We were all cozily squished, me in the back by the window of course, caravanning back home with a few other soums close by when we stopped. We all got out had some vodka and had a guitar sing along. It was beautiful. At first I was a little annoyed because it was freezing outside and all I wanted to do was sleep, but it ended up being pretty enjoyable.

            The ride was horrible though. Our driver got lost and it took us double the time to get home. Thankfully I can sleep anywhere so I just stuck my headphones in because eventually after 5 hours you would think they get tired of singing, but nope you’d be wrong. We got home around 1 am and I slept the most of the next day.

            Man, it feels good to be home.

            Hope your home is as cozy as mine

            XOXO,

                        Rojo

Let’s just say that the past few weeks have been a rollercoaster of some sorts. Although my morning running days seem to be over, not by choice but because it is pitch black in the morning so you can’t see a thing let along unleashed dogs who may or may not attack, our school gets together every Saturday at 8 o’clock to workout together. It is adorable. And by workout I mean run around the track 3 times and stretch. It is perfect for me.

The past few weeks have been nothing but filled with new experiences. I played in my first volleyball tournament, sang in my first concert, and had my first teachers day!

It must have been three weeks ago when my teachers told me I would be singing a Mongolian song with them for teacher’s day. I was ecstatic! A little taken aback by the fact that my manager assumed I would do it, but a little proud as well. The whole week I practiced with my other teachers after school and got the first verse down pat, until they threw another song at me to learn in a day. Then my English teacher wanted to sing an English song too. And of course they wanted me to sing the song I already knew from the summer. So all in all I needed to know four songs by teacher’s day, which was a week away. I thought to myself yea I can do that no problem, that was until they said the concert wasn’t on teacher’s day but the week before… So I sucked up my pride and said why the hell not.

The day of we practiced for an hour or so and got all dressed up for the party. Once it finally started, two hours after it was supposed to, we danced and gathered while more people came in. Many people taught me how to Mongolian waltz and I was happy. In that moment I knew I had made the best choice of my life. I may have stepped on a few feet here and there, but I finally understand what it means to be apart of a community.

As the time approached for us to sing all the performers gathered backstage and of course took a few shots of vodka for a little encouragement. It was interesting how my teachers almost argued that taking vodka makes you brave. We sang a song and then had a waltz and this pattern continued for the remainder of the night. It was so fun! I had a blast and couldn’t have been happier with the night.

But my festivities didn’t end there. The next week for teacher’s day they split all the teachers into teams for the volleyball tournament. Now I am no sit on the sidelines type of player, but volleyball just isn’t my sport. Put me on the basketball court and I’ll elbow you out of my way, or on the soccer field I’ve got your back, but I’ve never really been good at hand-eye coordination… But I tried my best and they actually did a pretty good job of making all the teams equal levels. I had Paga on my team, a Mongolian language teacher and she is amazing! We ended up winning the tournament! Granted I think I touched the ball all of 3 times in the six games we played but still! I was apart of something and won!

The week after the tournament was awesome! I finally had something to talk about with all of my teachers and they complimented me on my skillz, even though I clearly had none. This was also the first week I ate at the dormitory. It was really nice to not have to make lunch for myself and be able to practice my Mongolian. Even though I am in a small soum, all of my English teachers are amazing at English so I have to really make an effort to keep the minimal Mongolian knowledge that I have. I decided that week that I would try to eat lunch at the dormitory as much as I could.

I also started my English club that week too! Because my school is larger than I expected I have had to have an English club for each grade, so I basically have English club everyday instead of once a week. But to be honest it is the best part of my day. In English club I encourage them to speak English but also allow Mongolian too so many of the students are much more relaxed than in school. It is really fun too. I have taught them different English songs (including Adele’s Someone Like You and Pharell’s Happy), American games, and introducing themselves. I also played a game I got from the wonderful Christie Gingras where they have to use English directions to help their blindfolded classmates get around the room. And needless to say they loved it. They even had me do it while they gave me directions in Mongolian!

And then teacher’s day arrived. On Thursday parents taught every class and on Friday the seniors taught the classes. So we basically had a four day weekend. On Thursday we prepared food for our party in the gym all morning and most of the afternoon. It was really nice to hang out and mingle with the language department. I have come to really enjoy my teachers company. I wore my fancy dress and headed out to teachers day. We feasted for about two hours. And then the awards began. I had no idea one school could have so many awards; it was insane. But of course my volleyball team got an award too! The art class made a bunch of clocks and even gave me one!

Then finally it was time for secret teacher. Now you may be wondering what is secret teacher. Well it is only the best thing ever. I’m sure you all remember secret santa when you were in school and how excited you would get about it. Well about a week ago all the teacher wrote down what they wanted and I got Paga! She said she wanted something exciting so I decided to get her a house decoration. Basically a sculpture of elephants because they are so in right now, well at least in Mongolia they are. So each person went up one by one describing their teacher and finally it was my turn. I was a little nervous because let’s be real, I had no idea if she would like it or not. But thankfully she loved it, or at least was really good at faking it! I received a beautiful Mongolian red leather wallet, a ceramic red starbucks cup, and bon-bons! I could not have asked for a better present! I use both of them everyday, and needless to say I enjoyed the bon-bons the following night. After we had endless dancing, where I showed off my incredible moves from middle-school. They had a few cobwebs on them but I spiced them up for the audience. Oh and did I mention we had been taking vodka shots throughout the whole party?

Afterwards we went party hoping all over the soum. Now it is a little different than in America. We went to one of my counterparts houses first and had milk tea, candy, and aaro (or what is basically cheese). And then the vodka came out. The way they drink here is very interesting. At most houses you have one shot glass or bowl. The host fills it up and gives it to the first contestant. They drink as much or as little as they please and hand it back to the host. The host then fills it up again and gives it to the next guest. This continues until the bottle is empty. So it is a little different when you are not suffering through a shot together but one at a time.

Once the bottle was finished, all 15 of us piled into one car, and a regular sized car at that, and went over to another teachers house, Erden-Chimig, another Mongolian language teacher. We had milk tea and went through two bottle of vodka there. Then we went over to the dormitory teachers house and thankfully it was really close to mine. I was starting to get an upset stomach from all the drinking, but strangely hadn’t felt the affects yet.  We stayed here for a while, mainly because she had fruit too. we went through three bottles here and I was pretty done for the night. Her husband opened another bottle and I refused. Unfortunately because of the culture it is considered rude to do this. He said this is the first time you are in my house, we are happy that you are here, I am the owner and you have to drink. So I sucked it up took a shot and got the hell out of there. One of my counterparts walked home with be because we are neighbors and I am so thankful we left. Apparently more men arrived with more beer and they stayed drinking until 5 in the morning.

But because I participated many of my teachers have been more friendly and talkative with me this past week. It had really opened some doors for me. It is interesting because drinking might be looked down upon in America, but here it is a bonding experience like no other. Because I was open to new customs I am going to be in a concert next week with a bunch of other teachers playing musical rock. And yes I do mean musical rocks. So get excited to see what is coming up.

Oh I almost forgot! I am moving into a ger today! I am so excited and will explain next time but I will finally be able to cook my own food, not hear crying babies all the time, be able to lock my door, and even be naked if I wanted to! Not that I would because it is starting to get cold, but at least I have the option to dance around naked if I please.

Hope all is well in the land of the free.

XOXO

            Rojo

P.S. sorry there are no pictures this time but I've been so busy! I will try to get them up soon!