Tis the Season for Competing

Tis the season in Mongolia for competitions!!! March has been busy for all of us PCVs here in Khentii due to all the competitions that have been happening.

Some of my teachers performing at the culture competition

On the weekend of March 12-13, all the schools from the western part of Khentii were all in the aimag center. Teachers came and brought the students who would be involved in the regional academic Olympiad (round 1).

On Saturday the 12^th, the teachers from the schools were involved in a culture competition. A few weeks before then, my music teacher found me in the hallway at school one day and asked me what Mongolian instrument I could play. I laughed, looking at all the multi-stringed instruments lying around the music room. I told her I can play flute. Thus, I was drafted.

From that point forward, we had countless practices that lasted for hours. I was glad when that Saturday finally arrived so the endless practices would finally be over.

There were about eight schools that participated in the culture competition. Each school had about 7-8 acts, like a group dancing performance, solo dancer, group singers, solo female singer, solo male singer, solo instrumentalist (my music teacher played the accordion – it as awesome), group instrumentalists, etc. All of the performances showcased Mongolian culture.

It was a long day. I watched a few of the schools perform, but not all of them. My school didn’t go until around 3:00. Caleb, Dylan, and Kyra all came to watch.

At the end, my school won first place overall. The group I performed with was judged the second best group music performance of the day.

The next day, my school hosted Khentii’s western regional academic Olympiad competition. Students from the western schools took academic tests in English, Russian, math, physics, etc. Caleb, Dylan, Kyra, and I along with a couple of other PCVs who were there with their schools from soums, Cassie and Ashley, were asked to judge the English part.

Basically, we graded tests. I’m glad they get us involved for these things, because the tests themselves often have many mistakes within the questions and the answer keys. We had a minor setback when someone from my school wanted us to change the grade so our student could be in 3^rd place instead of 4^th, but it was all resolved in the end.

Judging the speech competition

Just over a week later, the aimag wide Olympiad took place. This was a much bigger event because all schools were involved, not just the western schools. Starting on the 21^st, students and teachers were taking tests in all subjects. The English portion for students and teachers took place on Tuesday the 22^nd. So again, Caleb, Dylan, Kyra, Feebee, and I, as well as Ashley and Stephen from the soums, were asked to grade the tests.

It took quite a bit longer for this one, since we also proctored the tests and there were more tests and grades to grade (9^th, 12^th, teachers). Again, we were basically just grading paper tests. One of Caleb’s English teacher CPs got first place in the teacher’s Olympiad. My teachers were disappointed with their placement, but hopefully that will motivate them to spend more time speaking English with me!

The next day, our Foreign Language Methodologist organized a speech competition for the English teachers. This was done in three phases.

Phase 1: The teachers received several topics to choose from a month or so in advance. They had to give a 10 minute presentation about one of these prepared topics.

Phase 1

Phase 2: The top 13 teachers from the last phase would compete in this phase. In this one, they would pull a topic at random, have five minutes to think and prepare notes, then talk about it for five minutes.

Phase 2

Phase 3: The top 6 teachers from the last phase would compete. Teachers were randomly assigned in pairs, then given a debate topic. They were also randomly assigned whether they would argue the affirmative or negative side. Then, they would debate for five minutes.

Phase 3

This competition wasn’t bad, I thought. Not all the teachers were forced to participate, and it gave the teachers a chance to practice speaking in English and also presenting in front of an audience (great for teachers!). It was an all-day event, though, and the judging was really involved throughout the entire day.

Naraa, who works with the Peace Corps in the summer and who is a great English teacher at one of the schools in the aimag center here, won first place! Two of Caleb’s CPs also made it to the final phase. And two of my CPs made it to phase 2, and I thought they did really well!

Speech Competition winners and judges

Thus ends the competitions of this year. It’s nice that they are behind us now, and I’m glad to have experienced it so I can know better what will happen next year. If anyone has questions about something I didn’t cover, please ask in the comments!

There are only two months left in the school year. We’ve been in Mongolia for 10 months, and time isn’t slowing down. Spring has arrived here and the weather is getting nice. Highs have been in the 50s. Caleb put away his winter coat. I’m still keeping mine out just in case…

~Sally

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

I try to find recipes to use to make amazing desserts in Mongolia. It can be difficult, but sometimes something turns out great.

                                          

This is a great pie to make here, because you don’t need to bake it, and there are only a couple of ingredients that are hard to find in Mongolia: peanut butter and powdered sugar. Both of these were sent in care packages. I know you can buy peanut butter in UB. Also, my sitemates just discovered that you can buy powdered sugar in our aimag center.  I’ll include a picture here:

Powdered sugar

                                                      

Without any further ado, here’s the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

What it calls for

1 package whole Oreos (about 36 Oreos)

1 cup butter, divided in half

1½ cups + 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter, divided

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup chocolate chips

½ cup heavy whipping cream

What I actually used

36 Off-brand chocolate cookies

1 cup butter, divided in half

1 ½ cups + 2 TBS crunchy peanut butter, divided

1 cup powdered sugar

1 chocolate bar, broken into small pieces

½ cup milk, beaten profusely

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Crush the cookies in a Ziploc bag (or even easier, in its original packaging before opening), using a rolling pin. Stir crumbs together with 8 tablespoons melted butter until well combined. Press into the bottom and sides of a pie pan. Freeze crust for 10 minutes until set.

2. Add the remaining 8 tablespoons of softened butter, 1½ cups peanut butter, and 1 cup powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl. Stir vigorously until smooth-ish. Spoon the peanut butter mixture over the crust into a smooth layer. Place back in freezer.

3.  Place chocolate chips/bar and remaining 2 tablespoons of peanut butter in a large glass or heat-proof bowl. In a saucepan, bring heavy whipping cream (milk) to a rolling simmer over medium-high heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate chips/bar and peanut butter and let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk (fork) until completely smooth. Pour the chocolate layer over the peanut butter layer. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 hour until ready to serve.

And if anyone is interested, here's the link to the original recipe.

Odds and Ends (03/01/16)

Winter is leaving! Today’s high is 40º F! However, the month of March will still be a cold one for us. Next week it is supposed to snow and the high stays in the teens and low twenties, but the silver lining remains that the yolk of winter is lifting.

It has been a long winter. I am ready for the warmth and not wearing jackets. My enthusiasm for warm weather has led me to shedding layers a little early, so I’m still getting cold. I find myself thinking of what the Birmingham temperature must be, but avoid looking so as not to be depressed. The month of March is usually when Alabama has its pollen rich spring. In a few short weeks after some heavy rains, everything is in bloom, everything is alive. It is one of my four favorite seasons in the south.

Sally and I recently moved on to our 5^th water boiler (electric kettle). We have been at site for 6 ½ months. This one was not directly my fault, nor did it go off in a fiery kitchen conflagration like its predecessor. It just stopped working. I think that the cheaper brands we buy are not designed to last a long time, but we can’t really afford an expensive UB water boiler. Luckily, one of my English teachers had an old boiler sitting on her balcony that she wasn’t using and gave it to us. It doesn’t quite bring the water to a boil, but it works for heating water up quickly for baths or cooking. It also looks durable, so I am optimistic.

Mongolia does dog culling every winter. While Sally and I have not witnessed this at site, our site mate Kyra did. She was walking one morning through the ger district and was asked if a dog was hers. She said it wasn’t and walked away. When she was about 15 feet away, the man pulled out a pistol and shot the dog. Naturally, he blotched the job, and the animal ran away screaming in pain. I don’t need to explain the first side to this story. You are all feeling it, but let me tell you the Mongolian side.

Every year there are literally hundreds if not thousands of stray prolific dogs in every Aimag center in Mongolia. The only vets that neuter dogs are in UB. Dogs do not have a natural fear of humans like wolves or coyotes. When the coldest days of winter strike, the dogs are freezing and very hungry. I believe that this tradition of dog culling is a direct result of attacks on humans, most likely children.

While I am sure we are both good for Vitamin D, Sally and I are whiter than we have been in perhaps 10 years. We’ve both lost what little tan we had from the summer. 

Work is slow for both of us. It is hard to find people that are willing to volunteer time to help us create sustainable projects. However, I have recently started working with a population of children with special needs. My hope is to improve their life in some way by providing was to manage their disabilities easier.

One day in the sunny warm month of October, I saw a woman in a wheel chair with a toddler on her lap trying desperately to roll over the hard dirt road. I was walking to work and had the usual inner debate on whether to help or not. Deciding that it had been a long time since my last daily “good turn,” I walked up and pantomimed pushing her chair. She seemed gracious enough, so I pushed her a quarter of a mile to the front door of the hospital and left her. Being new to town at that time, I was conscientious of all the stares, and had the usual awkward feeling that accompanies doing something helpful and not being sure if it was needed.  It wasn’t until I was almost to school that I realized to my horror, that I had not asked her where she was going! I had made the terrible assumption that someone in a wheel chair must be going to the hospital and was so caught up in my inner awkwardness that I failed to ask. She finds herself being pushed kindly by a large foreigner. Of course, whether from fear or surprise, she would sit quietly and not speak up! For your reading pleasure, this remains one of my most embarrassing blunders in Mongolia. Perhaps, she was going to the hospital. We, certainly, will never know.

~Caleb

P.S. If you are interested in reading Kyra’s Blog. Here is the link. http://mongoliantrav.blogspot.com/