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!