Eighth-of-the-way update

Weather
Very cold. When I wake up in the morning, most of my water is frozen, as well as any slobber that may have fallen onto my pillow. I spend a couple minutes urging myself out of bed and make fire as fast as my frozen hands can. Then I jump back in bed and wait for my ger to heat up a bit.

What am I eating?
Well, I’ll admit, I’ve become a bit lazy. It was fun for awhile attempting to make some fancy meals. There were a couple weeks when I hand-made tortillas for almost every meal. But lately I’ve been eating soup -- noodles, green peppers, onions, and a seasoning called Vigora. And, sadly, there have been many-a-day when this humble meal is my breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But, again, don’t feel bad for me. It’s pure laziness.

Then there were 47
Three M-16s have left Mongolia and returned to the states. All left for medical reasons. One was a sitemate here in Uliastai. Another was a sitemate from training.

My ger-mate
Dude has returned to me. The cat with the God-awful meow now roams around my ger permanently. Luckily, her cries have subsided a little. Unluckily, she has horrible gas. Hence the reason I’ve requested scented candles from my mother. But I definitely enjoy her company. Besides stinking and crying, she’s fairly well-behaved. Although, she thinks the Christmas tree in my ger is a giant toy. I once saw her little head sticking out from among the branches in the middle of tree, like a little furry ornament.

The 9-to-5
Ha, I bet your forgot I was actually working here. The second quarter has been much better. My work with the teachers has been a lot more productive. Instead of splitting time equally with all 6 teachers, working on both teaching skills and English language, I now focus on one teacher’s English and another teacher’s teaching. And the remaining 4 teachers get the split. I also get to work more closely with some students -- which makes me much happier. I get to teach two classes a week on my own. And I am working individually with two students preparing for the English Olympics.

The most frustrating part is the set-up of secondary schools here. My teachers teach high school in the morning, elementary school in the afternoon, constantly have to write lesson plans and other paperwork for the managers, and are endlessly preparing extracurricular programs (for example, and alphabet party we’ll be having this week.) Every week there’s a new celebration, competition, informational exposition, or some other extra activity the teachers are responsible for. They rarely leave school before 7 p.m. It makes it difficult for me to work with anyone, and therefore to feel like I’m helping anyone. Although, I’ll admit that I’m not sure they’d be any more productive if they did have extra time. The busy work may be so ingrained in their work ethic, that sometimes I doubt they’d use extra time to improve their skills. But it’d be nice to have the opportunity.