let's have us a little visit

I was going to write a post about Halloween, but it wasn't terribly
exciting and you can just look at the pictures on Facebook instead. It
is far more fun to look at pictures of adorable kindergarteners than
to read my boring words.

So, onto life events. Yesterday (Sunday, assuming I actually get to
post this on Monday) was a big day. Partially because the teacher who
gives me access to this magical internet brought me eggs (!!) and
chicken (!!!!!) from Erdenet because she knows I'm sad that I can't
get either here in town. Supposedly there's a place I can get eggs at
the school, but I haven't investigated that yet. I'm so excited for
the chicken that I honestly don't know what to do with it. I'm
thinking one of the chicken breasts (because they are breasts and it's
not a whole chicken oh my god I am so spoiled) might be destined for a
chicken-parm-buuz experiment. I will let you know.

Why can't I focus on what I want to talk about? Okay, so in the fall
and apparently the spring, Peace Corps comes around and visits us all
at our sites to check in and help us resolve any problems we might be
having. Mine was supposed to be a couple weeks ago, but it was pushed
back. They got here earlier than expected because the road here had
been repaired (good news) and stayed later than expected due to a
scheduling issue. All in all, I spent a solid 8 hours getting to know
my regional people. Lunch was a little sad because there isn't
anywhere to buy food on Sundays (but apparently there is during the
rest of the week, I just didn't understand the word they used when
they told me about it – score one for my culinary laziness / apathy)
and we had to go to one of the two stores open on Sundays. Ramen
noodles, bread, rolls/pastries/боов (another word I have lost the
English for), and some sort of fish in a can. I passed on the fish,
but my new kitty ger-mate turned into even more of a psychotic kitty
and was trying for the fish really hard. We did a little sightseeing
during lunch break too; it really is pretty out here.

We did actually do some work. When they first got here, the three of
us sat down and talked about my situation out here – things that are
going well, things that aren't going so well, questions, concerns,
etc. I told them that I have serious classroom management issues
because no Mongolian child is going to take a 22 year old blonde
American seriously. With all of my team teaching classes it's not a
problem because my CPs are inherently more intimidating than I am. We
did figure out a nice system with my 4th grade class where the
homeroom teacher sits in the back of the room while I teach and keeps
them from getting too rambunctious, which is very nice. Also the
various ger issues I've had but luckily everyone's been great at
fixing those as they come up (or come down as it were). After lunch,
there was a meeting with my director, the training manager, my 3 CPs,
the two PC staff members, and me. They're going to look into getting
students to chop my wood for me, which is good (it's not entirely
laziness, my shoulders really wouldn't stand up to it). If I
understood correctly, my solo-taught older classes (9th and 10th) are
going to be taken away and I'll get more younger kids instead (5th and
7th). I am all for that because (a) our maturity levels will match
much better and (b) it's considerably easier to teach that grammar and
vocab by myself. My director also liked this plan because I can help
give the younger kids a solid foundation of grammar and pronunciation
instead of playing catch-up with the older kids. And hopefully my
schedule will condense more so that I don't have Mondays which consist
of a class at 8:30am and then again at 4:30. That's a lot of "Ashley
is bored and has nothing to do" time.

Overall a productive day. None of this will actually take place for
another couple weeks though because the first quarter ends on
Wednesday and then we have a school break. I keep hearing that "we"
are going to Bulgan for break, but I haven't figured out if that
includes me or not. Most likely situation is that I'll be sitting in
my ger for a week bored out of my mind. Either way, don't expect to
hear from me for awhile. Unless you get a calling card. And call me.
And entertain me. Think about it.