Today is a Mongolian National holiday. It's Independence Day here. We get the day off school. I don't remember celebrating it last year, but the days and weeks manage to blur into one another so quickly. I hardly remember the first day of school again this year.

Our class got to go on a field trip. We visited the National Mongolian History Museum. It was nice. It was kind of a test run to see how the children behaved in a different setting. Unfortunately, one was sick, but refused to miss the field trip. We called his mother to take him home for the day. He spoke with her first and then handed the phone to Mrs. Doogie. His mother was quite rude saying that her son was old enough to make his own decisions and if he wanted to go on the field trip, he should. He was ill the entire time and after we returned, called his mom to come pick him up.

I've decided Mongolia has an unfortunate effect on me. It's like I turn into the angry version of myself, as if I'm the Incredible Hulk or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or something. I find myself standing in front of cars to make them stop and telling people on cell phones in restaurants to take it outside, or at least to the heated lobby, to finish their conversation. I, in turn, get yelled back at, and honked at.

The first term is nearly over. My class has made considerable progress. I'm happy to say that even other teachers have noticed it! Doogie and I had our first fight, ever! We worked everything out, and I told her that considering the amount of time we've worked together, it's more than admirable that we can say this is our first fight. She agreed, I'm happy to say.

One of my students donated her lost tooth to a class science project. What a sacrifice! She said she had wanted to leave it for the Tooth Fairy, but gave it to us instead. We put it in a glass of Coca-Cola and are watching it's progress. I have a feeling it will be slow, but worth it!

Our class has also embarked on a new journey! We have signed up for the Flat Stanley project. It's basically a pen pal kind of program, but international. My students are really excited! We are first sharing with a class in Maine. We got to spend some time in the computer lab and we googled "Maine", just to have a better clue as to where we were sending our Stanleys. They were really interested, and learned a lot about the state. I can say, we've had a lot of offers to host Flat Stanley for a week. Too many! I'm the only teacher from Mongolia who's signed up. The students spent a lot of time writing their letters and drawing pictures. Next, we'd like to send Stanley to Africa!

Sorry, again, no photos are uploading today. Plus, I also managed to flood the apartments down to the first floor! I live on the fourth. I left the tub for 2 songs and the nozzle filling up the tub managed to find it's way to filling up the floor. I came in and, I admit, began swearing. There was at least an inch of water on the floor! I mopped it up, and decided to not let the water go to waste. While I was in the bath, and of course, had something in my eyes, there was the tell tale knock at my door. I thought perhaps I had avoided disaster, but nope! All the way down to the 1st floor! I'm wondering how else I can get in trouble today. Mmmm..let's see.