Snow in September

This is the view from my apartment this morning! 

 

Crazy huh?  And it’s only September!

Sahn bahn uu?

How are you?  It has been so long since I have written. I’m so sorry! I finally got a computer so it seems so much easier to talk to everyone and it really makes me feel more connected!  Plus I can watch American tv shows online!  I love it!

 

So, I’m currently teaching 6 classes of English a week at Otgontenger University.  I have 3 English 1 classes and 3 English 2 classes.  I feel like the students are very smart and they know a lot, but sometimes there accent is hard to understand and I feel bad when I can’t understand what they are saying.  I’m actually a mentor for two 4th year students who will be English teachers next year.  They are teaching all of my classes for the next 6 weeks.  It is cool helping them and giving them advice (people here actually think I can teach! Ha!).  The students all say hi to me in the hallways and in the cafeteria.  It is nice.  But if you thought learning 120 students names in America was hard, try Mongolia!  I feel like I will never learn.  I’m almost to the point of taking pictures of them, but I feel like they will think I’m a tad creepy. 

My apartment is very nice, but hot!  I know it will cool down soon and it already has a little.  I really have everything I need – refrigerator, stove, washing machine, tv, desk, shower,etc.  The only weird thing is that I don’t have a sink in the kitchen so I have to wash my dishes in the shower.  Is that sanitary? I guess so, I’m getting used to it. 

The weather is getting cooler.  All of the leaves are falling and it really feels like fall.  You can tell the wind now is crisp and not just hot air.  It snowed the other day, but I was in class and missed it. I’m excited for the cold weather though.  Oh! I live on the 5th floor of my school so I don’t even have to go outside unless I need something.  It will be good when it is super cold, but it is always nice to get out.  A short walk would have been good, but I really can’t complain. 

This past weekend, I went to the hoodo (countryside) with my school.  All of the teachers went and we stayed at a ger camp.  I had the best time!  We got there and immediately opened all of this candy and food and started drinking.  I was proud of myself because I drank everything they gave me and didn’t get drunk or sick (vodka, beer, cherry wine, saki, and whiskey).  Can you believe it?  For dinner, we have horhuck which was goat that they cut up and put in a huge metal can with hot rocks, potatoes, and carrots.  They just serve it on a big platter and the only silverware you have is a knife.  We were lucky enough to get the head on our plate:

No, I didn’t eat it.  I ate a rib and some meat my counterpart gave me.  But here is the after:

Ha!  I thought it was so funny!  Everyone took the bones and other parts home and that is what they ate for breakfast. It was mostly fat.  My one counterpart told me, “Mindy, I am eating a fat sandwich!” and it was a fat sandwich – about an inch thick piece of fat in between two pieces of bread.  There were also competitions like tug-of-war, double dutch, and a relay race.  I only tried the double dutch and I got out miserably.  I’ve never been able to do it.  My department did win the tug-of-war though!  One the way back, we stopped at the Chinggis Khan (not pronunced Gengis – like I had originally thought) monument.  It is supposedly the biggest monument in the world.  They just built it was couple years ago and it also has a giant Mongolian boot in the building below.  You have to pay to go in and there is also a restaurant up there. 

 

If you like the boot, send me some money!  I totally know where to buy you a pair. 

The other weekend,I went to Terelj park which has a lot of ger camps, a river, and some great hiking.  I went with Swiss neighbor Julia. My favorite thing was Turtle Rock.  It is huge and you guys know that turtles are my favorite animals.

They also have one part that has fake dinosaurs.  Very random!

I finally had Indian food – it took me going to Mongolian to eat it – but it is amazing! 

 

I think that is it for now.  It is so hard to think of things when I am writing these.  I will have to start taking notes!  Love you guys and can’t wait to hear from you!  I am off next summer if anyone wants to visit or plan a trip!  Just let me know!

~Mindy