I finally got some of my boxes that I had assumed would be here two months ago. It was almost like Christmas! The only downer is that three of the four boxes I sent arrived. I have heard that in the past not all or even none of the things shipped arrive so I'm not going to hold my breath. It is nice to have my books and movies, especially my "Sex and the City" tapes!

Today was sort of a stressful day. I have been having to mediate a lot lately between students and forcing them to apologize. When I say "Okay, now apologize" they say "what's apologize?" When I explain it means to say you're sorry they grudgingly do so. One poor girl yesterday fell off the monkey bars. She cried a bit but said she was okay. That has happened many times since school has started. You know how kids are, one minute they're dying and the next playing with friends again. I didn't think much of it as she went the rest of the day without saying anything. I asked her a few times if she was okay and she said "yes." I found out today that she had been bleeding and actually needed stitches! I was so distraught! Why didn't she say anything? I watched her today and she was playing and having fun as usual, so she's alright. I just don't understand why she left it until she got home. If she felt she couldn't explain it to me properly, she could have showed me, or at least told Doogie.

I have asked Oko to look into booking my flights to Bali. I also have the Gobi coming up. I must admit, I'm a bit worried about being even more tired upon my return from Gobi than my departure. R&R is much needed right now!

It's all booked. I'm going to the Gobi next week for the vacation we have coming. It's going to be nice not to think about school for once for at least a few days. I woke up this morning thinking I had to get ready for school and then it finally dawned on me that it was Saturday!

Everyone is also thinking about what to do at Christmas. I have decided, thanks to some help from some other teachers, to go to Bali. I will put out the invite to anyone who wants to join me there over Christmas, come! It's inexpensive and really fun! I am planning on going for 2 and a half of the 3 weeks I have off then. That is just seriously too much time to spend alone here and the cost to fly home is, guess, outrageous.

Everyone is having their potluck Thanksgiving. I was invited but chose not to go. Just wanted to give a shout out to all my friends and family a Happy Thanksgiving. For art today the kids all made turkeys out of construction paper. They seemed to like it. They are also excited because swimming starts on Thursday for them. I am excited too, as I don't have to teach those periods anymore! Yeah!

I had numerous parents come to visit me today. One was in regards to this girl in my class. The grandmother wanted to know how she was doing. I informed her that this particular girl was struggling in the classes to stay focused and was experiencing issued on the playground with her aggressive behaviour. They would like for her to be tested for a learning disability as if she had problems learning they will take her out of the school and place her in another that is not expensive. I actually have a few in my class who seem a bit unreachable.

Tomorrow is the meeting with BG's parents, the principal and the grade 4 teacher, Laurie. We will discuss the chance for BG to move up to 4th grade. I know he, and his parents are all for it, as am I. Though Chandmani is on vacation and Khulan B is in the hopsital, it still is a full classroom. I'd like for it to be one, maybe even two less. If Animaa tests poorly she may get moved out. She scored 0 on the science test. Edward says his family is going to America at Christmas and may not come back. It's just that in the 4th grade there are only 14 students while the rest of the primary grades are packed to the hilt!

I did get a chance to show the kids my photos of Terelj. They liked them. They are always trying to correct my pronounciation and I just can't get it. It's all horking and gutteral sounds.

I got a bit frightened today as I was coming out of the local store near my house and one man was pummelling another. I hightailed it out of there! It's so sad to me because it's easy to see this is an aggressive culture. I see it everywhere, even on the playground. We are hypothesizing about it and first thing is the parents are not around. The kids are pretty much left to raise themselves. They are also left in the charge of a sibling not much older than them. There are many who have moved from the countryside have this same aggressive attitude. Countryside living is tough and the kids have to get roughed up to become men.

It is also sad to see the amount of drunk people here, usually men. On Sunday Doogie and I went shopping and one man was lying right in the middle of the sidewalk, sleeeping and had peed his pants. She said that they can not afford to eat so they buy this cheap liquor especially manufactured for them. It is very inexpensive. She said they drink until they die. Some people have said it's an Asian thing where they cannot hold their liquor, but it also is a poverty issue. So far no one has troubled me. If I see a street kid I give him my leftovers but I wonder what the growing cold and winter will bring.

It has gotten cold here very fast. I woke up Saturday to see snow and though it is still sunny, it's very chilly. Everyday the kids and I take the temperature in the morning and after lunch. This morning it was the coldest yet, 18 degrees!

I finally did laundry again as I was out of socks. The washers here are kind of screwy and sometimes it looks like their working, then when you come back they have an error or just didn't wash. I can't tell you how many times the cycle says it's done and won't open the door! The tried and trusted way of all women to fix things, by banging on them, works everytime though! I also got spoken to by the principal as I wore flip-flops on Friday (because it was a Friday) and was informed my dress was too informal. If the kids get to have dress down day, why can't the teachers too? I apologized. He told me some nice things though too and I like working for him. For a brief instant I thought he was going to fire me. Why, I didn't know, but he said "No, no, no!" He says he sees me with the kids and knows how they love me, and I them. Phew! That's me though, always expecting the worse. Here I thought I was getting fired for some unknown reason and it was all due to the fact I wore flip-flops!

I apparently am not getting much sleep tonight. It would seem the staff is getting together tomorrow night to have a Thanksgiving dinner. I feel I have nothing to bring. The food situation here is difficult for me and it is hard for me to cook. I was kind of asked to bring some sort of dessert, but were on earth do I find pumpkin pie in a place like this?
When I say a place like this, I mean a country struggling to it's feet. It was very common during the Russian reign to have their thoughts and go to their schools. Now, it seems America is rearing its head here now too. There are two schools here that are English and we seem to be in competition with one another, though I have no idea why. The other school really looks down on us.
I have to admit, I am really beginning to miss Canada. Just for the convience of it all. Today I went shopping with Doogie and on the sidewalk was a man who was too drunk too get up and had actually peed his pants. She told me that it was because he was so poor he couldn't afford food. The only thing he could buy was cheap booze and that's what he takes until he dies. I asked if he could not save the money he spent on vodka and buy food and she told me that they produce such products especially for people like him and this is his fate. It is very, very sad to me. I am glad that Doogie says she has a good job, though her husband does not have one. She keeps inviting me over to her house and I keep saying no. I am afraid to really see. She is a very smart woman and really misses living in Sweden.
We were looking for footwear for me and she said it was better to order it from some where else, as here it is of poor quality. I said once you factor in all the exchange rates and shipping, it was easier for me to just buy it here. I found a pair that I loved and were so beautiful, but she wouldn't let me buy them because she said they were too small for me. It is difficult to find sizes that fit for me. Mongolians have small feet and small everything else. I definately stand out. Small children stare at me as I am so alien looking to them.
Just the other day I had asked if Doogie's daughter could go back to the school to get something from my classroom and she was too afraid, due to the children in the neighbourhood. While they are very pleastant with me, saying hello all the time, they apparently can get quite mean to people who they deem have it better than them. I was surprised but don't blame her. I get nervous sometimes too. Also, some one in one of the ger's feels the sidewalk is the perfect place to do #2. It is so obvious that it is a human and it's really gross. I have to walk past it everyday, practically. I don't know if it's because they don't know any better or if it's some sort of protest against the school. Due to the fact the school is now there, the neighbourhood is growing, in what may be to many in a good way. There is a huge difference between here and the"countryside". As you may well know, more than half the population of Mongolia resides in Ulaanbaatar, leaving the rest of the country the "countryside". It would seem the parents don't raise their own children and leave it up to the grandparents, or else there is just no one at home for them. So differnt from North America where kids aren't to be left alone until they're 12 or some age closer to that. Here, they're in grade 2 and deemed able to fend for themselves.

It has snowed, already! At least I know we'll definately have a white Christmas!

My classroom and the cafeteria have been disinfected. It's a bit smelly but worth it. We still have concerns about the Hep A getting around. One of my students came in today and he did not look well. I was obviously worried as he sat next to Khulan B. and immediately sent him to the nurse's room. Turns out a bunch of them got their flu vaccinations last night. Poor Tuguler, he's such a small boy and struggles as it is. He told me the needle hit his bone and almost broke it, I'm still not sure if that's possible but wonders never cease here in Mongolia. He ended up going home.
I now have my full 26 students though Khulan is off sick (obviously) and Chandmani is on vacation. I have a parent meeting with BG's (Tserendorj's) parents on Tuesday to discuss his moving up to the 4th grade. I have a funny feeling I'm going to meet some resistance from the 4th grade teacher but I know both he and his parents are ready for the change. It's been going around that in America they do not move students as they feel it is detrimental to their mental health. I do recall in Canada, as a child, students being moved around. I will be sad to lose him as he is a great student and an asset in my classroom, but he his bored and needs to be challenged. The teacher who may get him has only 14 students at this time and did say she could take more, however I feel she is hesitant and worry she may have some reservations. The princpal says it's a majority rules sort of situation and he will probably go. His mother came to see me on curriculum night and said they were for it.
I finally got to hang out with Doogie and we did not speak about our class, for once! It was nice. We had fun. Her daughter came to meet us as she is a student at the school in grade 7 and now I understand why my mom used to make me so bored while talking to friends. You don't get a chance otherwise! She is going to take me shopping on Sunday as all Mongolians have this fabulous footwear and I've never found a pair of boots that actually fit me. She also wants to take me grocery shopping to show me what is good food to buy and what is not. That I definatley appreciate as I cannot read any of the labels anyway.
It would seem that people here are quite the matchmakers! One of my student's mom wants to take me away to the new hotel in Terelj that opened up recently because she has an English speaking man to keep me company. She wanted me to write a note in her ESL journal saying if I would come or not but I told her it was too short of notice. Apparently this is the norm in Mongolia as they seem to really hold teachers in esteem here. Also, my TP, Doogie, wants me to meet her brother. Geez!
It is unusual to me that teachers are so revered here as back in Canada it seems if the child does no learn it is the teacher's fault. Doogie and I spoke about that tonight and she wanted to know what we do in Canada when the child is slower. I told her we usually define them as ADHD and give them pills. I am grateful for her help in the classroom now. We have a small handfull of students who just never seem to get it, no matter what language we speak. She said "I don't know what language to tell them in as they don't seem to understand in English or Mongolian." On the advice of a very wise teacher who contacted me though a friend, David Cuthill, I will make a new seating arrangement where the students are in groups with varied abilities. They help each other. I have already seen it where I'm talking to a student and if they don't understand, another explains it to them.
I seem to have lost Chinzorig's science test. He told me he put it on my desk, but it is nowhere to be found. The kids tell me it's because my desk is too messy, but it's an ordered mess! I know where everything is and I dont' really look forward to the addition of a new computer to the contents of my desktop. It would be nice though as my laptop never seems to get internet at school. At home it's okay, but the computer tech needs to come and set it up every time and I have just given up. It is a bit frustrating as the VP keeps telling me about emails I got but haven't had a chance to look at yet. It's also unnerving that they can tell if I've read my emails or no. Big brother!
The weather here is starting to get cold. I have gratefully asked my mom to send me some extra clothes. I knew it was going to get cold, but it's tough to pack for what you don't know. I'd like to send out a warm thanks to my mom for putting together a care package for me and shopping randomly for me. She hates buying me clothes as I never like what she buys, but trust me, I will wear it this time mom!
I'd also like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! If you count back the months, I think it was around this time I was conceived. Cinnamon and nutmeg, such aphrodesiacs! It's so strange here because most of my studens are born in Oct, Nov, and Dec while where I'm from we mostly are summer babies. I have informed my mother that though I planned on calling the family at my aunt's place, it will be Tuesday morning for me when they are actually sitting down to dinner and will be a hard call for me to make. I send my warmest Thanksgiving wishes and hope that Michael will be rememberd in the grace!

I had a bit of a shock today. One of my students had been ill and we discovered today that he has Hepatitis A. We are looking into it, especially when it comes to the cafeteria. The food there has been less than desirable and we are concerned one of the employees may have it. The school nurse contacted the board of health and due to the fact it is only one student thus far there really isn't much they can do. My classroom and the cafeteria are being sterilized tonight and the employees tested. I should know by tomorrow if one of them has it too.

The poor kid, Khulan B., he went home on Tuesday with a fever and returned for the second half of school yesterday. He was falling asleep at his desk and we sent him to the nurses to lie down. Today we got the news. It sent Doogie and I into a bit of a tizzy but thank heavens we found out so quickly and the proper steps have been taken.

I had to send a newsletter home to the parents because they have been calling Doogie saying they asked their child what they learned today at school and the kids say "I don't know." They find it really easy to say that they don't understand due to the language barrier. I gently reminded the parents that this is an English speaking school and outlined what steps I have been taking to enforce new vocabulary and language skills. I also gave them some steps they can take at home to assist in their child learning English. It is just so frustrating as these students are all returning and have had one entire year of Enlish instruction already. It is also frustrating as everyone wants their kids to sit in the front. I have some I need to sit there due to bad eyesight as apparently in Mongolia no one goes to the eye doctor. There are also some who are smaller and those I need to keep my eye on. In a class of 26, all the parents want their child to sit at the front!

On the upside, some of the teaching staff took a trip to the countryside last weekend. It was a place called Terelj and it was beautiful. We rode horses, visited "Turtle Rock" and hiked up to a monastery. It was great to get out of Ulaanbaatar, even if it was just for one night.

The ger camp we stayed at was very nice indeed. Clean and welcoming. It was nice weather but got very cold at night. The wood burning stove did it's job too well! We were boiling at some points during the night. We stopped at a place on the way to Terelj where 100 monks hid in this stone cave. If you climbed to the top you were said to have good luck, as they were never caught. My immediate response at seeing the stone formation was to climb it. Once I got up there my fear of heights kicked in and needed help down. The rock has been climbed by hundreds of thousands of people and had become quite smooth. Pair that with bus loads of kids all clamoring around you with their "barger's brigade" attitude and I got very nervous. There also was a suspension bridge at the monastery that was quite shaky. It also made my stomach flutter! On day two I rode a horse whom I named Eeyore. He had the same attitude and kept giving me sideways glances that said "Leave me alone, woman!" The Mongolians just name the horses by their colour and the first one I rode was called "brown horse". In Mongolian is sounded similar to Chester to me so that then became his name. The horses are funny because they don't stop walking to poo but they stop if they have to pee. It's quite the mini version of Niagara Falls when that happens! We laughed and laughed the first time it happened.

On another plus side, we finally have hot water, well, what passes for hot water here. That also means our heat is on. No more freezing mornings!