Another year looms upon me, but looms in a good way. I am looking forward to this year. I have so much more instruction time, leaving me more time for fun, in-class projects. I am going to have to give a kudos to Gary Diamond, who has managed to hire an amazing bunch of great, new teachers!

Ulaanbaatar(UB) has changed quite a bit since I've last been here. There are two new department stores and the State Department has a new burger joint in addition to moving things around on me. I gave up looking for the shop there where I had purchased my old backpack and just went to the North Face knock off store across the street. However, they no longer have a sign stating they sell North Face. It's now something about Outdoor Clothing or some such thing. Still, I got a great one there for about $35. I just worry about the zippers. I bought one there at the beginning of last year and the zippers were the first thing to go on it. If I hadn't (sigh) left my last one on the chair in my mom's basement, containing my prized laptop, I wouldn't be in this position in the first place.

I usually manage to glide under the radar here. The entire year last year I rarely ran into anyone I knew. Today, I managed to run into one of my old students and the school librarian! I felt popular. Having forgotten my book, after shopping I resigned myself to people watching instead. I kind of dislike it because I always manage to see so many near misses with the traffic here. It sets me on edge. Plus, I nearly got backed over by an SUV while trying to hail a taxi. I yelled at them in English and they just drove away, as though nothing had happened. Driving here is like being on a roller coaster. Sit tight, keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle, and hang on! No wonder I hated driving once I got back to Canada! While I was there I did not once go on the high way. Considering I used to be the driving lady, not thinking about driving for over 10 hours in a single day, this is a new development in me.

School begins on Monday, and I'm excited to see what this year brings for me. My class thus far is 18 students, and I'm hoping it does not get any bigger. This is a nice, manageable size. I feel ready and raring to go! I have my first day and month planned out. Right now it will be a wait see kind of period. I will have to gauge my students and see what happens with the ESL part of our classes. Wish me luck!