Part 3

This is my heating system, which tends to work quite nicely as my ger is pretty small
A beautiful sunrise, I had an extremely early class to watch and was able to snap this as I left
Some of the entertaining little people who I see everyday...even though I am a teacher trainer, I still get to co-teach with my teachers so I am able to enjoy some teaching. Okay, I need to go get some things ready, tomorrow I start my co-teaching, more Mongolian language lessons and generally speaking, what I came here to do. I am also dicsussing classroom managment and how to teach some of the finer and more difficult points of the English language, so tomorrow is another busy day. I hope to get another update done by the end of this week. In the meantime, any comments or questions are appreciated. Cheerio.

Photos part 2

This is the view from my ger; my front yard and the gate...As I'm not allowed to say where I am, I live in Ovorkhangai aimag on the edge of the desert. Notice I have not included a picture of the outhouse, as it is, well, an outhouse, and not that aesthetically pleasing
My lobby with non-matching wooden sink and mirror. The blue "tunpin" is the walk in shower, which is not that bad; however, real showers are pretty amazing inventions.
My bed and bedside table..it's hard but strangely comfortable
My kitchen and firewood storage unit, as well as a prime example of why I might leave Mongolia with a hunchback...all my chairs are made for 3 year olds... And finally, my living room...yes those are red, yellow and orange flowers set against a green backdrop. Behind that cover are two layers of wool and some wooden gates...and there you have it, MY GER. I may sound as if I am being a little sarcastic about my home, but it is really quite nice, I have added some of my own posters, but other than that nothing has really changed, expect the TV is now gone since I s0 rarely used it.

Some photos, finally!

This is the "site placement" day we had in August in Darkhan. Two maps, one big and one small, were layed out. Our photo was laid on the smalll map and then we had to stand where we were placed. Behind the small white map is a massive concrete and grass copy of Mongolia's borders..pretty entertaining and it gave me a decent idea of how far some of us are from each other.
From our swearing in ceremony. Most of us had tradtional Mongolian clothing given to us by our host families. I'm the blue one..and yes, they are supposed to be worn a couple sizes too big, I haven't gained any weight...
Someone very close to me, literally...
Indeed, that is my home for the next two years...and that is me trying to smile after a day of intensive rescheduling, meetings and class observation...note that what I am wearing is not typical for a school day, but more focused on the "Warm and Comfortable" look...and that is dirt around the edge of my ger, commonly referred to as "insulation".