It is so cold here already! This morning when I took the temperature it was -18 Celsius! That was at about 8:30. I walk less than 2 minutes from my apartment to the school and I get the nose crystals that we get in January/February. Ganaa, my cleaning lady, has been teaching me about how to get through the Mongolian winter. While the beaver fur mittens my mom sent me are good, she says I will need to wear a pair of gloves in addition to them when it REALLY turns winter here. I will also have to wear two hats. She looked at my touques and said that they are knitted and need an extra layer. She also told me you eventually won't see anyone's face as the clothes get closer and closer to their eyes.

My students and I are steadily practicing the play we are going to perform for the Winter Festival. This is a (fuzzy) photo Oko took of us during rehearsal in the gym. That's Doogie and I in the background, if you couldn't tell. And yes, that's all my 25 students. Actually, Chandmani was not there that day, so only 24. I think because I had rehearsal first thing this morning I feel as though I've been running around screaming all day, so home is a nice place to be.

My eyes are still terribly sore all the time. I have an opthomolagist (did I spell that right?)appointment next week. I will have to miss a bit of school, but it will be when ESL is conducted so Doogie will only have to deal with about 8 students. I feel weird about having to miss school for something that I had hoped could be scheduled around my class day, but Oko has assured me there is no other time. She said "I know Doogie can handle it." I wasn't worried about that, I just felt strange missing school for a personal reason.

This is a picture of the Harvest Moon I saw on Sunday night. And, that is my breath that has managed to fog up the view, it was that cold! I didn't even realize I was ruining the picture. Some of the other teachers went back in to put on more layers. I'm not sure how prepared we are for this. We say, "Oh, yeah, were Canadians, eh?" I've never really experienced cold like this, even in Leadville, CO.