Halfway through training!

Well friends, I've officially made it through half of training out here in Mongolia. I've gotten a few letters (literally a few - three - y'all need to get on that) and a pretty rocking tan, and on the whole, life is good. My host family is great and my training site mates are awesome. The only hiccups I've had are my iPod getting stolen and some adjustment issues, so I still take it as a win. I figure now I'll give you the low down on what my Friday was like last week because it was the culmination of the first half of training and the beginning of the next stage.

Halfway through training, we trainees have to take three test/interview things. The scheduling somehow worked out where I was stuck at the school all day with over an hour between each of my appointments. Unfortunate, but that's how it worked out. It gave me a lot of downtime between each which was nice.

First up was a conversation with one of our PCV trainers about the progress of our Community Development project. Three other trainees and I are going to be working with a host family around their house and give them some manual labor as well as probably teach his host mother about American food. We haven't done the project yet, only planned it out and talked it over with the family. Our trainer said we have a good plan and we're looking forward to actually doing it and seeing how it goes.

Next was my TAP (Trainee Assessment Packet) where I sat down with two of the Mongolian PC/M staff and talked about my host family, how I'm adjusting, and how I'm doing with the TEFL part of training. We talked over a few of the issues I'm having, how well my host family and I are getting along (very well, thank you!), and what I think about the training process. I meet expectations on all of the relevant sectors so far and in another month, hopefully I'll exceed expectations in some things. After all, I am pretty exceptional (heh) :D

Last up - a practice LPI (Language Proficiency Interview....I think). Mine was last and my LCF who was talking with me was starting to get creative with some of her questions. She told me she wasn't married but had 10 children and started listing off the names of our training group. It was cute. She also asked me what the word for dictionary was and I couldn't remember, so I told her it was a little book with words. Not incorrect, but she laughed. I don't think Mongolian is necessarily easy, but I don't think I'm struggling either. There's so much more I want to say but don't have the grammar or vocabulary to say it yet. Frustrating.

Friday also marked the last day our first-half trainers worked with us. It was a little sad, but I think we're looking forward to the new trainers. Our site gets a little rowdy (not in a bad way, we just get along really well and are a little loud), so I hope the new trainers are ready.

Our magical wi-fi goes out whenever there is a particularly bad storm and it was pretty bad all last week, so I've been more or less internet-less for this past week. Probably what we deserve after taunting all of the other sites about it. I'm currently at an internet cafe, but that costs valuable tugriks which can be better spent on candy and juice, so until wifi comes back, I'm not going to be doing much internet time. I'll catch you all sometime later then. Adios!