My Job

I realize that since I’ve started my actual work, I haven’t really written about it. So here you go. Sorry this got a little long. Skip the first part about scheduling if you wanna. I don't really have pictures of me teaching, because I'm teaching during those times. :) I will work on this. 

My work week has been in the neighborhood of 32 hours, pretty consistently. It may be a little more starting this week due to clubs finally happening.

My school’s schedule is pretty typical for a Mongolian complex school, I think. A complex school is a school that has all grades, 1^st-12^th. The day is divided into two sections. High school students, grades 9-12, have classes in the morning, from 8am to 1:15pm. Middle school students, grades 5-8, have classes in the afternoons/evenings, from 1:30pm – 6:45pm. I don’t work with elementary students, so I’m not sure when they have classes.

There are seven blocks of time in the morning, and seven blocks of time in the evening. Each block is 40 minutes long. So there are 14 class periods in a day.

I have three Mongolian counterparts (CPs). I teach one English class with each of them. On Mondays, I co-teach 9^th grade for two class periods (2 “hours” as the teachers call them, even though the “hour” is only 40 minutes) and again on Thursday for one hour. Both days this class starts at 9:30am, which is the earliest class I have during the week.

On Wednesdays, I co-teach 2 “hours” of 5^th grade, and again on Friday for one hour. Also on Wednesdays, I co-teach 2 hours of 8^th grade from 5:20-6:45, and again on Thursdays for one hour starting at 6pm.

I also teach English to my CPs three hours a week. And there is a separate class for my CPs who will be participating in the teachers’ Olympics competition in the spring, also three hours a week.

This week, we are also finally starting with the clubs at my school. Once a week, I will co-teach an English class for teachers and school workers that want to learn English. We had the first class on Monday, and although only 3 teachers showed up, I think they all really enjoyed it. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if the class stayed that small.

I will co-teach an English speaking club for middle school students Wednesdays at 12 and for high school students Thursday afternoons. The middle school club will be one hour, but the high school club will be split into two groups I think, 9-10^th and 11-12^th.

Altogether, I have 19 hours of teaching every week. Outside of that, I meet with each of my CPs individually to lesson plan about 2-3 hours each, and I lesson plan by myself for the English classes I teach to my CPs. I have also been typing up all the lesson plans on my computer for all the classes I co-teach, and occasionally, I have to prepare materials for classes, but my CPs usually take care of this.

In a broader view, my Mondays are pretty nice, only one “real” class with 9^th grade. Tuesdays, I have NO real classes. On Tuesdays, I have my CPs come to my apartment to lesson plan and have CP English and Olympics classes. Since I don’t have an office and the one small teachers’ room is often crowded and noisy, it’s nice to have a day where my CPs aren’t distracted. Wednesdays are my hump days, for sure. 5^th and 8^th grade, 2 hours each, and I don’t get home until 7. Thursday is like a bookend day. 9^th in the morning, 8^th at the very end, not too much going on in the middle. And Fridays are pretty good, just 5^th grade and CP classes. No lesson planning or late nights.

Classes themselves have been going pretty well. The 5^th graders are all so excited about learning English, and they always seem to make me feel like a rock star. It’s easy to have fun teaching them. 8^th graders are my least favorite, just because they can get unruly in a matter of seconds. This is also just me trying to work out classroom management skills, and my CP for this class can’t communicate on the spot with me very well. 9^th graders are great. Some of them are reluctant to participate, but if I keep pushing those students, they will eventually work with me. The majority of the class seems really into English.

One thing that makes it difficult to teach here is the lack of materials and resources. Every school is different here in those terms, but I really feel it at my school. In my 8^th and 9^th grade classes, they only have 5 or 6 books for the whole class. They share maybe 5 or 6 students to one book.

My access to a printer is not ideal. I haven’t had to print anything personally, which is nice. My CPs always print any materials we need for class, but my school charges 100 Tugriks for each piece of paper you print. This converts to about 5 cents, but this can really add up when you’re printing things for every student, especially on a PC budget.

Speaking of which, I know you are dying to hear about class size. I don’t know what the average Mongolian class size is, but I can tell you about my school. My 5^th grade class has 24 students, my 8^th grade has maybe 26, and my 9^th grade class has about 22. In my school, there are probably about 25-80 students in each grade. They are divided into different homerooms. For example, I teach the 8^th B class. There is also an 8^th A class that I don’t teach.

I am starting to feel pretty settled in with my job. The two main challenges for me have been scheduling and communicating. Communication is always going to be a challenge, I think, but the more I work with my CPs, the better we get with communicating with each other. Scheduling is just hard. It’s the clash of Mongolian and American ideas about time and priorities. I have a schedule worked out for my week of classes, CP classes, and times to lesson plan. I kid you not when I say there hasn’t been one week when something hasn’t been moved, changed, or canceled.

That being said, the more I’m here, the more I get used to it. Teaching is getting easier for me, even though it’s hard for me to label myself as a teacher. It’s not a bad job, and I appreciate all the teachers and professors I ever had classes with so much more because of this experience, but as a career, I don’t think it’s for me.

But I digress. We’ve been at our site for 2 months now, and time is not slowing down. Work is steady and good, and I feel needed. It’s nice and I’m happy!

~Sally

Life in Chinggis Town (Амьдралд Чингис Хот)

Life is good in Chinggis town. Sally and I have now been at site for 2 months. We have grown accustomed to all of the unique features of our town and are comfortably beginning to call this home. Let me tell you of some of the things that may not make it into other blog posts.

Bathing requires us to use every water warming device we have since we do not have hot water. Usually this process involves two stove burners, a rice cooker, and an electric kettle (water boiler that holds about 2 liters). The kettle which brings water to a boil in under ten minutes is used repeatedly to add hot water to large pots on stove. Once everything is close to boiling point it is all dumped into our tub that is large enough to sit cross legged in. During the summer Sally and I grew accustomed to bathing in 2-3 liters of water in a plastic tupon bath. Now it is true luxury to bath in 15-20 liters (cold water is added to boiling water via bath tub spicket to regulate a nice hot bath).

Three of the possible four surfaces for warming water. 

Electric kettles are amazing for heating up water, but if you accidently turn it on without water, be prepared for chaos. I have now done this twice. The second time, instead of melting in a cloud of smoke like the first one did, the kettle actually burst into flames which I tried to beat out on the kitchen floor burning holes in the linoleum before dousing it in the sink… Tomorrow, I will go back to the store and buy our third electric kettle. I may need to hang up a sign in the kitchen with instructions for myself…

Burnt a hole in my foot too. 

Laundry is a therapeutic experience with our Chinese machine. One starts by filling a large bucket full of water from bath tub 4 or 5 times and pouring into the washing portion of the machine. Then soap and clothes are added and agitated for 15mins. Then the water is drained via bucket, and fresh water is added.  Once the clothes have been rinsed, they are placed in the spinner portion of the machine which spins most of the water from the clothes allowing them to dry on a rack in less than 24 hours. What luxury! You may think I am joking, but I am dead serious. After two months of hand washing laundry, this machine is a godsend, and really is quite therapeutic. There is something satisfying in manually moving so much water.

Weather this October has not been too bad. It was chilly in the beginning of the month, but the past few weeks have had sustained highs in the mid 50’s and 60’s. Mongolia, being a landlocked country, has seen a significant change in temperature due to global warming. The winters while terribly cold are not as terribly cold as they once were. The summers are much hotter every year. This is good because it is not as common for whole herds of animals to freeze, and in the case of puppies, may reduce the chance of pupsicles… Oooh, Oooh, I know you are laughing on the inside.

Pupsicles to food… Our diet has become more vegetable based in Mongolia than it ever was in the states. We are easily able to obtain bell peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, garlic, and onions (in the winter it may become harder to find some of these items). Veggies are cheap and less of a hassle than meat. When we do eat meat, it is primarily in the form of imported chicken (legs and thighs, who knows what happens to the rest of the bird) and sausage. Last week, I made a veggie and cheese based pasta, stuffed vegetarian bell peppers, and pizza. I have been experimenting with yeast and may have a decent pizza dough figured out. 

Red meat can be complicated. I was buying a hunk of beef (Үхрийн мах) in the local store (Дэлгүүр). When I asked if it was beef the shop attendant said, “Тийм, үхрийн мах гэдэстэй.” I thought Гэдэстэй, гэдэстэй why does that word sound familiar and why don’t I know what it is? It was not until I had left the store that I realized that гэдэс (geddis) means internal organs, so I had purchased a hunk of beef with internal organs. The shop keeper had tried to warn me. When I got around to boiling the meat I was able to determine what looked like part of the pelvis with some of the pelvic cavity attached.  Disgusting taste and smell.

Grocery shopping is usually done on an as needed base, meaning that once or twice a week I will stop by one of the “super” markets on my way home from school. I have been choosing not to use taxis while the weather is good, so often I am walking the 1-2 miles home with my backpack loaded in groceries and a twenty pound bag in each hand.

Pushups and yoga videos have been our most recent form of exercise outside of lugging groceries home. I am able to download any video off of youtube with a program I have, so Sally and I are experimenting with a 30 day yoga challenge. Although, I was disappointed to find that yoga only burns about as much calories as a walk through the mall.

Free time has been spent watching TV shows, movies, playing Super Mario on a SN emulator, and reading. The peace corps community does a lot of data sharing in the form of TV show downloads and movies. Sally and I recently watched “Jurassic World”, so we are not feeling as disconnected as we thought we would be.  I have been reading prolifically and will publish a list of books read this year in a later blog post.

Social events have been plentiful. Tomorrow, I am going to the river with some of my English teachers to hang out for a few hours before the weather gets too cold.  At least once every week or so, Sally and I meet up for dinner with the other PCVs in our city. These are our site mates of which we have two. Living in a foreign country can be hard, and it is always nice to speak with other Americans. A few days ago, we met at our apartment and enjoyed homemade pizza.

Herein lies a taste of life in Chinggis Town as autumn swiftly flees before winter.

~Caleb (Кэлиб)

Teacher's Day (Sally)

Thursday, October 1^st is national teacher’s day in Mongolia. On this day, students celebrate teachers. The students run the school the entire day. Each 12^th grade student chooses one teacher to switch places with, and that student teaches that teacher’s classes all day. Teachers dress up like students and attend some special classes where they act like students.

I was told early on in the week that I should attend my student counterpart’s class that I normally teach. My CP told me this, and I got the impression that we would be attending this class as “classmates.” However, when I got to class, she wasn’t there. So I found a group of students to sit with and experienced the whole class anyways. It was interesting. The two students who were teaching the class did a good job. I was surprised to figure out that none of the teachers attend their normal classes. The student teachers go unsupervised during the entire day while the teachers sit back and relax.

"Dear Sali teacher, (7th grade Ch. Delgerjargal)
Thanks for giving me the key to my <3.
Good luck for your job. You are a wonderful teacher.
We love you. Happy world teachers day. "

There were two classes put on by students for teachers only to attend. My school had a gym class and a music class. I opted for the music class. All of my fellow “classmates” were acting like class clowns. They gave the student teacher a hard time, but she took it all in stride and continued to act like a professional teacher. (This student happened to be my student counterpart that taught my English class earlier in the day – this kid is awesome!) This class was divided into three groups, and each group had to create a song about a given topic. I wasn’t much help, since most of it was discussed in rapid Mongolian. It was interesting nonetheless.

"Dear Sally, Happy teacher's day. Thank you teacher.
Good luck. Yours sincerely, 7th grade student D. Khaliunaa"

After this class, two different young students approached me and gave me a handmade card for teacher’s appreciation day. These were both representatives of the two 7^th grade classes, whom I don’t teach or see much of at all. I was quite touched.

Apparently, this day is also Old People’s day in Mongolia. I don’t know if it always falls on the same day as teacher appreciation day or not. I was asked to perform a song on my uke, and I was able to get Caleb to agree to play with me on his tin whistle (to get out of singing). We played the go-to Mongolian song for PCVs and everyone liked it, even though we screwed it up a bit. Today, (Tuesday) my counterpart gave Caleb and I gifts from the main organizer of this event: a key chain key pouch for Caleb and a shopping bag for me, both made in Mongolia with Mongolian leather.

My bag (top) and Caleb's key pouch (bottom)

After the Old People’s Day celebration, Caleb and I parted ways to go to our schools’ parties. Mine started at around 8, even though, of course, I arrived at the given time, 7. The teachers all prepared gifts for their student counterparts, which was a framed picture of the 7 wonders of Khentii (our aimag), a bar of chocolate, and a button pin with our student’s picture and name.

My shopping bag, expanded

The party was in the gym. After entering the gym through two lines of students clapping enthusiastically and saying “Happy Teacher’s Day!” again and again, the teacher’s sat down and the party began. The students made speeches and led games and dances. Near the end, the students and teachers exchanged gifts. The students gave the teachers a mug. It was pretty fun altogether, and I am proud to say that I stayed for the entire event! I was home by 9:30.

My mug: "Mongolian teachers' 49th year. Congratulations."

Saturday was when the city celebrated teacher’s day. As Caleb mentioned, we went to the theater in the city center. We sat through 4 hours of speeches, award giving, and cultural performances. During this performance, my CP sent me a text telling me that all my teacher’s had paid for my party fee. Caleb and I weren’t originally going to go because it was a bit pricey for both of us to pay, but after that, we couldn’t say no.

My party was scheduled to begin at 4, and surprisingly, it actually started around 4. I was so glad to have food there, and the food was really good. Grilled chicken with pineapple! Mmmmm. I stayed at the party for about 4 hours, and managed only 2 shots of vodka and about a quarter can of beer. When no one was watching, I would pour water into my vodka glass! HaHA!!!

My student counterpart for the day

 The party was food, drinking, dancing, singing, and some more award giving. I was given a certificate because I am a new teacher. I had fun dancing with people too, although the one teacher that asked me to Mongolian waltz with him probably regretted it. I was constantly stepping on his feet. This is weird, because I have danced the Mongolian waltz plenty of times pretty decently. Oh well.

My certificate for being a new teacher

At around 8pm, Caleb was waiting outside for me. We walked to Kyra’s, another PCV, party so we could walk home together. Safety in numbers!!! We heard that the parties went until 4am, and some teachers had more partying on Sunday. Many teachers were hungover at school Monday.

This whole holiday has been quite interesting. I’m glad I was able to participate, but I’m also glad it’s over. Hopefully, we can start focusing more on the students and school work. The next party, I’m told, isn’t until the new year.

I know this post may be a bit repetitive after Caleb’s, but two perspectives can be nice sometimes. Plus, I’ve got cool pictures of things. J

~Sally

Teachers Day Celebration (Багш Нарын Өдөр)

Sally and I have now been working at our new jobs for over a month. Last Thursday, October 1^st, was teacher’s day in Mongolia. It is during this day that teachers switch places with their best students and enjoy a holiday from teaching. Usually gifts are exchanged between the chosen student and the teacher. Later at the end of the day the 12^th grade students put on a sort of party/dance for the teachers and entertain them with music and games.

Teacher’s day has been a climatic event that seems to have been building in anticipation for a month. Sally and I have witnessed multiple competitions between teachers of various schools throughout September. Volleyball, chess, and singing were a few of the ways that teachers could compete with each other to determine who was the best school, or rather the best teachers… If I was to offer one complaint about the festivities, it would be the lack of activities for the children. The focus of all of the fun was toward the teachers who have only just started their school year.

My teacher’s day started like any other, but upon arriving to work I realized that the teachers had already attended their morning lessons and were free from school for a couple of hours. So I joined my foreign language teachers in a nice lunch at a local restaurant. It is amazing to think that the students did such a good job of maintaining discipline and respecting the event that the teachers were essentially granted a holiday. I found myself marveling many times that this might not work in America.

In the afternoon, I went with Sally to her school event where current teachers were putting on a performance for older retired teachers. Sally had been asked to play a song in the performance, and she asked me to join her. We arrived on time, and true to Mongolian Standard time we waited for an hour or so before the event started. Our performance was a ukulele/tin whistle rendition of a classic Mongolian song. I experienced slight performance anxiety and slaughtered the tempo, but Sally was able to masterfully keep us together. The Mongolians loved it.

A word on the Mongolian clap, which is not an STD. Mongolians have a tendency to clap together at the end of a performance at about 90 beats per minute. This is unnerving to an American. To an American performer it feels like one large silhouetted person is clapping slowly and ominously at the end of a dark room. To an American audience member you find yourself wanting to show enthusiastic appreciation, but forced to slow down to this monotonous clap, clap, clap…  

 Later in the evening, I attended the student led dance and games. It was entertaining to see the students have the teachers do a number of games and activities all in good humor. Students and teachers competing for whose group are the best dancers. Naturally both groups thought they won.

Friday marked another day of festivities for me as a social worker. My counterpart instructed me be in the town square at 9:30 a.m. I failed to accommodate for Mongolian Standard time, so found myself waiting in the cold for an hour and a half before the event started. My CP had (through my English/Mongolian Dictionary) explained to me that this was to be a children’s demonstration. I was expecting a performance. There were some speeches, and a few children’s performances. Teachers, myself included, received a red neckerchief for our service. I walked with a number of my school students in front of the stage and then out of the square and down the street. If you have never found yourself in a parade in a foreign country, let me assure you it leads to a lot of self-reflection on the art of miscommunication which I seem to have mastered.

The parade completed a two mile circuit, and I found myself at the town theater with my social worker CP. We took seats, and it was there that I gathered that the celebration was for 90 years of government children’s programs. Two hours were spent at the theater listing to speeches that lacked enthusiasm or infliction.  The result is that a significant portion of the audience fell into peaceful slumber. After the speeches came the award section of the show where a significant percent of the audience received medals, plaques, or ribbons to a pleasant march by John Philips Sosa. This section of the event lasted about an hour and a half and led directly into children’s performances. I found myself watching a multitude of performances that the local children had put together for their teachers and government workers. The acts were very entertaining ranging from singing, to Mongolian string orchestras, to dancing. (Unfortunately I didn’t have our camera with me at this time.)

Two hours later I left the theater at the end of the afternoon marveling at how a demonstration had become a performance, a parade, speeches, award ceremony, and musical performance. The most ironic part was that I did not see any of it coming…

The third day of festivities found Sally and I back at the theater at 11 o’clock for a teachers meeting. From my experience the day before, we had a good idea of what this “meeting” was going to be like. All the teachers went to the theater where we received shorter speeches, longer award ceremonies (so many medals and plaques…), and performances put on by the teachers. (Hoping for the children again, I did bring a camera.) It seems like there is a lot of prestige for being a teacher here. The event at the theater lasted until 4 in the afternoon at which point we emerged into the light with stiff legs and sore buttocks.

Picture of traditional Mongolian Dance

After the “meeting,” all of the schools had teachers’ parties at various restaurants around the city. Sally and I were planning on not attending our separate parties because the cost per person was more than we could afford with winter clothing still needing to be purchased. However, it worked out that we were able to go at cheaper rates. We attended our parties for a several hours enjoying good food, dancing, singing, and lots of vodka. At one point I even played my tin whistle for all of my teachers spinning them a traditional Irish jig. Sally and I are becoming experts at moderating our drinking while maintaining the illusion that we are drinking as much as everyone else. The result of this careful moderation is a nice sober walk home while the night is young. (To everyone who travels or plans to travel, I cannot express the importance of maintain some sobriety while walking distances in the dark in a foreign countries. In Mongolia a majority of crimes against foreigners are done against people who are inebriated.)

Some teachers from my school singing

After the conclusion of three long days, we find ourselves at the other side of the much anticipated Teacher’s Day. Now the celebrations here will be tuned down until the New Year, which will no doubt be a party.

~Caleb