Finally

For the last few weeks, blogspot.com has not allowed me to publish photos. I'm not sure whether the problem is on my end or theirs, but I suppose this is a fine time to close the blog. I plan to leave Ulaanbaatar in about three weeks. I'll travel to Beijing by train, and stay a few days before flying home.

I hope I get a chance to show you my amazing Christmas photos, and future Beijing photos, in person. It's been a rich year, and I hope to catch up with you to hear what 2008 was like for you. Bayartae! (Good-bye!)

I'm thankful for...

...so many things. I’m thankful for my 24 years. I’m thankful for being able to see the world with my own camera. I’m thankful for visits over tea. I’m thankful for smart, caring, funny friends. I’m thankful for the sunny days and mountains that offer a background to my days. I’m thankful for an amazing job. I’m thankful that teaching and learning are not separate. I’m thankful for being able to chuckle (most of the time) at the absurdities of daily life. I’m thankful for my health. I’m thankful for the beautiful, cold mornings, and the little birds that manage to live and sing here all winter long. I’m thankful for my family. I’m thankful for books and the writers who take time to create them. I’m thankful for people who are able to think differently. I’m thankful for all the opportunities I have. I’m thankful for the path of freedom that Jesus showed.

a-sound

This is a new band that’s quickly becoming popular. I got their CD after I saw this video on TV one evening. This song is about a boy who loves his radio, because it reminds him of summers past. I like the band’s mellow, acoustic sound. Enjoy.

(Also, in this video you can get an idea of how common smoking is; people hate the terrible pollution in the city, but many smoke too.)

KARAOKE!

On one recent Friday evening, I was invited to join one of my classes and another of their teachers for “class bonding” via Karaoke! Karaoke is immensely popular. There are clubs all over Ulaanbaatar, but I’d managed to avoid them thus far. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to hang out with the students, but not so enthusiastic about the singing. Thankfully, we weren’t performing in front of a crowded bar, but in our own little room, with a tv set and two microphones. Some people had brought snacks, and almost 20 of us crowded in, hip bone to hip bone on the wraparound couches. We stayed for 3 and a half hours! It was a sweaty good time, and an excellent introduction to one big Asian pastime. We sang mostly in Mongolian, but also in English and occasionally in Russian. As long as the words aren’t 50 syllables and the tempo isn’t too fast, I can follow along just fine in Mongolian, although mostly I don’t know what I'm singing about! In English, Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, the Pussycat Dolls and Westlife (an American? band I’d never heard of in America, but who have some popular hits here) were favorites, and I disappointed the students with my limited familiarity with these giant representatives of American culture. However, our knowledge of English songs overlapped in Norah Jones, and Avril Lavigne. The students love to sing. Singing is a important part of Mongolian culture in so many ways (for example last semester when students made lists of the qualities of good leaders one group said a leader needs to be a good musician).

In related musical anecdotes, it’s been surprising for me to realize how much our American media and popular culture is spread and analyzed abroad. Last week, I was discussing with students an article about the boom of drive-through windows and other conveniences for a growing percentage of commuters in the US. There are no international fast food chains in Mongolia, and no drive-through windows at all, so it occurred to me to check that they understood the concept. After a moment, one student said, “oh yeah. I know what a drive-through window is. I saw one in a 50 Cent video!”(50 Cent = a commercially successful, American rapper). Who knew that rap videos were educating folks all over the world?

the Minibus

I'm finally becoming a minibus rider. My four transportation options around UB are as follows: by foot, by bus, by taxi, by minibus. Each of these has its pros and cons and each is more or less practical depending on the destination and how much time I have to get there. Minibuses are cheap and go directly to places all over the city.
However, their routes, mysterious place names marked sometimes on their windowpanes, or more commonly, simply shouted in a well-practiced vendor's call, are often extremely difficult to discern.
The minibuses are all vans, dark green, with maybe eleven seats in the back for passengers, (and the conductor). So, the bus stops, the conductor leans out, hoarsely shouting their mantra of mysterious syllables, and slowly, people pile in. 9, 11, 15 (plus the conductor) and finally we're off. Weaving, veering and slamming through traffic... bouncing over the unpaved shortcut on the way to the 15th district, a single, crammed mass of riders. Then, climbing out as gracefully in the little, low van, over all the legs and laps and bags to squeeze out the door and back into fresh air and SPACE!
These vans really begin to show their versatility and hardiness outside of UB. This summer, there were times when we were driving in countryside-equipped vehicles on terribly bumpy countryside roads (tracks) and were overtaken by a humble, low-riding minibus, zooming along, with it's passengers hanging on stoically inside. Amazing.
My friend Shino was in a minibus here in UB when it was hit by another vehicle. I don't like to think about that, packed against the metal frame, swerving around in traffic... but it is exhilirating to have mastered another transportation option. What you can learn in a year...

Goodbye September

Sometimes, walking home in the cold, late evenings now, the distinctive smell of coal smoke from the ger districts is in the air. I haven't smelled it for several months, and the odor is amazingly nostalgic, bringing back my first impressions of Mongolia from when I arrived here in January.

The central heating turned on today. Everyone said our building must be one of those scheduled for Oct. 1, but I was trying not to let myself hope too much for heat by the end of this week. Incredibly (this is the first time I can remember something like this happening as scheduled) this morning water was gurgling in the radiator- and when I got home late in the afternoon- it was hot for the first time in 6 mo.s or so. Funny to remember I was so excited when it finally turned off during the warm spring weather.

School is pretty much keeping my full attention. I meet 3 times a week with the second-year teacher's classes, and twice a week with the third-year translator's classes (my second-year students from last semester.) This week I'm finally feeling our routine has settled and become consistent; the new students and I are getting to know each other. I'm enjoying the differences between the two groups, (new and old, young and not-quite-as-young)- and I'm experimenting with adapting my lessons to their needs. I love being surprised by flashes of originality and excellence in individual students, and I love that I can see my older students have improved in their listening comprehension since I've known them.

-Although I still don't see teaching as my single, future career- I'm looking forward to going back to school where my practical experience can be refined and informed.-
In the past I was hesitant to pursue teaching for fear I'd fall short of being a Great Teacher; it can be an idealistic business. I have to say though, that one of the biggest encouragements here has been other teachers, giving me ideas, insight and confirmation.

Finally, I'd like to share two small, but important successes.

1. For the first time, a Mongolian woman asked ME for directions! (... and although she looked taken aback when I started to speak, I was able to send her off in the right direction of the market she was looking for. )

2. I learned how to make a Greek Salad Dressing, (very easy). Add another feather to the Hostess Cap!

Fall

Fall arrived last week, unmistakable and sudden. Wednesday and Thursday were rainy, our first rain in a while, and the temperature cooled off. But then when Friday dawned bright and clear, the heat didn't return. There was a definate chilly edge in the air.

The weather here is a wonder. It's extreme, mixed-up and arrives without warning. I've always lived near the coast; and apparently the ocean really does have a tempering influence. Last week, my cheeks were red from sunburn after walking across town, this week they're red from cold. Those still, hot days of 95+ degrees are, thankfully, over. And the leaves haven't even started to turn!

Appropriately, this was also my first week back at school. It's teacher-prep time; (hopefully my schedule will be "finalized" today, *fingers crossed*) in advance of the first classes on monday.

~Winter is coming~