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