Friday

It's Friday afternoon, and while it ended on a high note, I'm glad the week is over.  I know that a few of you may be surprised that I was able to manage almost an entire week without Ashlee, and although it was difficult, it taught me a valuable lesson: living by yourself in a house (or a ger) in Mongolia is friggen' hard!  There is just always something to do: wood to chop, coal to chop, water to be got, the fire to be tended, the ubiquitous coal dust to be swept up, and plenty of other cleaning to do.  In between all this I even had to remember to feed myself -- which entails both grocery shopping and cooking.  Ha, that might be a bit of an exaggeration -- I always remember to feed myself, even if it's just half a bag of the sour candies that Laura got Ashlee for Christmas. 

My last couple of days at school have been excellent.  I mean there were still the same frustrations -- including last-minute schedule changes, no lights in the morning classes when the sun isn't out yet, cold classrooms, and no-show teachers -- but the students have been great.  Just today, I was sitting in the teacher's lounge reading a book between classes when a group of students came to get me.  They asked me to follow them, and they lead me to a classroom where the rest of the class was waiting patiently at their desks.  Apparently they were supposed to be studying another subject, but their teacher didn't show up.  Unlike an American class, which can only dream of a teacher not showing up so they can take off early, these students actually tracked down a teacher, me in this case, so they could learn something.  I was happy to oblige them with an impromptu English lesson.

As you may know, I head to UB tomorrow for a training seminar.  Since I will be away from Olgii for almost three weeks, I canceled a lesson-planning meeting I had scheduled for yesterday afternoon.  I was being a bit selfish: I was at home sitting close to the warm fire watching "The Big Lebowski" and I just couldn't bring myself to leave.  Anyways, I got a call around 4pm from my main counterpart and she told me that our training manager (sort of like an American vice principal) wanted to speak with me right away.  Could I come to school, she asked.  This got me worried.  "Oh, crap," I thought, "Did they know that I blew off a meeting so I could stay home and watch a movie?  Are they mad at me?  Am I going to get fired?"  Ok, I was being a bit dramatic.  Oh well,  I decided to square my shoulders and take my punishment like a man -- pardon the chauvinistic expression. 

Fifteen minutes later I was sitting in the training manager's office at a table across from he and my counterpart, Bahtgul.  I was trying to read the mood in the room, but I wasn't sure what to make of the odd grins they were both carrying on their faces.  After the usual small talk I get from all my teachers -- "How is your house?  Is it warm?  Do you have wood?  How many fires are you making" -- Vasya, my training manager, got up, went to the door, and locked it.  Hmm, that's odd, I thought.  Vasya then returned to his desk, reached into a cupboard, and pulled out a bottle of vodka, three glasses, and cookies.  He let out a hearty laugh and explained, through Bahtgul, that he wanted to toast mine and Bahtgul's success at our upcoming seminar.  I guess the two of them have big plans over the next couple of years and they want me to help achieve them.  After five or six shots of vodka, I assured them that I will do all I can to aid them in their efforts.

So yeah, the week is over and now I need to prepare for my trip to UB.  I won't be back until just before Christmas.  I'm not sure how much access to the internet I will have, so don't be alarmed if I don't make any posts until then.

Happy holidays!