December 20th 2010
Hey friends! So much has happened since I last blogged so I figured better update now before the next big holiday comes up (New Year) and even more exciting stories come up. Many of my friends and family are curious as to how the Peace Corps Thanksgiving celebration went down. It was great to say the least. There was about 80 Peace Corps Volunteers (maybe more) and it was strange to see those who I did not know(M20s) and it was wonderful to see those who I had grown close with over the summer yet hadn't seen since. My simple dish of mash potatoes didn't turn out to be as simple as I thought; there was a lack of space in the kitchen to cook the potatoes and a friend suggested to put them in the microwave to cook in a bag of water, yet those stubborn potatoes would not cook! With little time left I simply put the almost raw potatoes in a container, mixed in some mayo and called them “Ellie's Special Creamy Potatoes”. I made sure to avoid them as I walked around the buffet of food when we got there. The rest of the food, however, was delicious and I am so impressed with the PCV's cooking skills. It was great to be able to sit with my friends, exchange stories of our new lives, and eat familiar foods that have long been missed. After Thanksgiving, there was In-Service Training, or otherwise known as IST which you bring your fellow Mongolian co-worker and learn about new methods of teaching English as well as how to do a community project. I was very inspired by the community project sessions and I have a new goal to start life skill seminars for the youth here in my community so they can learn about sex safe, how to achieve their goals, how to apply to jobs, etc. I will also be giving a time-management seminar to some of the teachers at my school. It is a well know, (and well joked about) that Mongolians are always late! They call it Mongol Tsag or Mongolian Time. Why are Mongolians always late, you ask, well it has something to do about coming from a herding culture where families would only depend on themselves and rarely have to work with other families so the concept of working with another person and respecting other people's time or setting a schedule to achieve tasks through-out the day is fairly new. As a herder, your day was the same as the last and there was no need to keep track of time as we Americans do.
As I mentioned briefly before, New Years (Shin Jil in Mongolia) is coming up! Mongolians celebrate Christmas and New Years on the same day,December 31st. They put a Christmas tree in their homes, the children have masquerade parties, many different salads are made, and fireworks are lit at midnight. At least, this is what I hear about when they mention Shin Jil. The teachers will also have a party where you get all dress up in fabulous 80's-like prom dresses and dance the night away. I am not too excited about wearing a dress when its -40 but they say it will be indoors so I wont be too cold. Nor will I be wearing a prom-dress since there was no room in my suitcase for such a luxury. I will look like a plain Jane in my simple gray dress and black tights. I will make sure to post pictures after the event! I miss all my friends and family and hope everyone back home has a safe and happy holiday!
