Last Day!

Well, today is our last day of Pre-Service Training. Tomorrow we swear-in as official Peace Corps Volunteers. It sounds like it will be quite the shindig -- very ceremonial with several volunteer performances. We'll also have the U.S. ambassador and Mongolian foreign minister in attendance. Very fancy, we know.

Ashlee and I are incredibly happy to be back together -- we'll definitely think twice about any future long-term separation, but I think it was definitely a chance for us to realize exactly how much we rely on one another.

We've been in Zuunmod, right outside UB, for the past few days. Yesterday the Peace Corps announced the sites of all the trainees and they brought in our supervisors for us to meet -- they will also be helping each of us to make it back to sites alive and in one piece.

My school director seems to be a very kind woman. My school has 1,500 students and 7 or so English teachers. I will be solo-teaching 15 hours per week and spending the rest of my time helping the faculty with their English and co-teaching their classes with them. It all sounds very exciting.

We fly out to Bayan Olgii on Saturday 8/22. Between now and then we'll be in UB, hopefully relaxing a bit and also taking advantage of some choice shopping.

We found out that in Olgii we will be living in a "wooden house." Don't let the word "house" mislead you. It is a one-room dwelling with an outside well and toilet. But I've actually heard that this is the way to go -- you can regulate the heat yourself during the winter, making sure it is nice and toasty as opposed to an apartment with central heating controlled by the city.

Gotta go for now.