Round One

On Monday we taught our first real English class. We and our teammates were assigned several activities to lead during the three hour class. These activities are similar to some that we will be using regularly when we get into our actual class next semester. Monday provided us with some practice time under the watchful eye of our country curriculum director.

Nerves abounded and sleep fled, but we prepared as best as we could. On Monday, following our language lesson, we walked to the school where the class was to be held. We got there early enough to set up the room and do some last minute preparations. Slowly, our students arrived. We ended up having 17 Mongolian English teachers in attendance. This was a good number but less than what we were expecting. Our curriculum director began the lesson with the first activity and then handed it off to us for the remainder of the time.

The activities were fun and the students participated well! We did well considering it was our first time teaching in Mongolia. Some hindrances were pointed out, and some positive changes were suggested. Over all the experience was a good one, and it has prepared us more for our two week practicum class that we will be teaching in less than two weeks from now. Round two is just around the corner, and we have a lot of preparing to do!

Fun All Around!

When we set up this blog long before we left the US we thought that living in Mongolia would produce daily adventures, many of which we would convey to you on a regular basis. However, little did we know that life, even in Mongolia, has a day to day routine. Many of the things we do on a daily basis are adventurous by our normal standards, but in the two months that we have lived here they have simply become routine. Therefore, we often don't seem to have much to write about. We do try to update the blog as often as possible and do think of you all often. Please forgive us if we don't update as often as we would have originally liked.

Now, for the blog post! One of the primary aspects of our organization is team. We work in teams and do many things throughout the week within our team. Beyond our particular team, there is the greater Mongolia team. In order to promote greater teamwork and relationships between teachers we have monthly get-togethers. Some are for fun while others are more work related. These times are a great way for us to get together and share in what we are all doing. Normally, we do not see much of each other because the three teams here are spread across the city. One team is on the west side of town, another is on the east side of town, and the third (our team) is in the center of the city. Therefore, it takes time to get together, but it is well worth it!

On Sunday evening our whole team gathered at the west side's apartment for a pseudo-Halloween/Fall Festival Party. In the spirit of the festivity, all in attendance were asked to dress up. Needless to say, there was an interesting assortment of costumes. For dinner we had a baked potato bar and a yummy carrot salad. Afterwards, we had cake, cookies, and apples. The meal was topped off by homemade mulled apple cider! We played games, sang songs, and had a wonderful time of sharing together. Also, in attendance was a dear couple from the States. They were here for a short visit and where able to take part in the fun. Here are just a few of the crazy costumes, including ours. Try to guess who we are dressed as.
Amidst the stress of living and working in a foreign country, such activities bring a lot of joy and laughter. We are very thankful for our team and for their generosity and hospitality. They make life a little more interesting and fun!

Our New Addition

For those of you who follow our blog regularly, we apologize for our delay in posting something new. We have had a very hectic schedule, and it is only going to get busier. This has caused a good deal of stress and anxiety over the past week. However, we are trying to lean on each other and, most of all, the one who directed us here. In the midst of all our stress, we have an exciting announcement! We have a new addition to our family! No, we are not expecting a child (yet), but we adopted a cat. For those of you who know me (Joshua) well, this might come as a surprise. From the time of my youth, I have not been a big cat fan; however, once you hear our story you may understand the transformation.A couple weeks ago we visited a fellow teacher's house and played with her cat. We were already under a lot of stress and pressure, but being around the cat was surprisingly soothing to our nerves. After dinner that night Jennifer and I began talking about the possibility of getting a cat, but we made no plans to do so in the near future. Little did we know, our lot as pet less people was about to change. On our way home from language class a week and a half ago, we found a kitten in the stairwell of our apartment building. He was sitting on a high window ledge cold and frightened. The sight was more than we could bare. We had no desire to leave him out in the cold to die, so we took him to our apartment. He warmed himself by the radiator and ate a little food. It was not long before he stretched out on our laps to take a nice long snooze. Needless to say, we were both sunk. If leaving him out in the elements to begin with was not an option then sending him back out into them certainly wasn't. We verified with our landlord that we could have a pet and then began thinking of a name for our new kitty. Knowing that he is a Mongolian cat we decided he needed a Mongolian name, so we dubbed him Жижиг Баатар (it is pronounced Jeejeeg Baatar). It means Little Hero!
Not knowing how healthy or sick our new little fellow might be, we took him to the vet a few days after finding him. Along with our fellow cat owner,we went to the only vet in Mongolia. Thankfully our fellow teacher knew about it and where it is located. It was started by a group of foreigners who came to train Mongolians how to care for animals. It provided jobs and valuable information to many of the Mongolian herders. We learned that our kitty is in perfect health for his age and only needs a little more calcium in his diet. Being unfamiliar with the price of a vet in Mongolia, we prepared for the worst. However, his checkup, vaccination, and de-wormer medicine only cost us about $13. Those of you who own pets are probably picking yourselves up off the floor right now. This too was such a blessing because, as I am sure many of you can imagine, we are not swimming in Төгрөг (Mongolian currency). After his vet visit, we bought him some food, litter, and a few other accouterments to make his life more enjoyable.

He has been such a blessing! Having him has helped alleviate a lot of stress. Besides, we know that we rescued him from certain death. Pets are not a common thing in Mongolia. Many people have dogs but train them to be defensive attack animals, and cats are not widely liked at all. They are considered to be bad luck. It was evident when we found our cat that he had already been tormented and beaten. We feel like he was left on that window just for us. He has quickly become a very spoiled member of the family, but we think he is worth it!

New Creations

When we came to Mongolia we knew that we would experience and eat many new things. We were expecting a few familiar things as well. Turns out that we have seen and eaten a lot of familiar things, including pizza. You can not imagine how thrilled we were about that! Jennifer, being the masterful cook that she is, decided to make a pizza of her own for dinner a few days ago. I, having eaten her pizza before, was very excited about this idea. Our thoughts drifted to the toppings. What should we pile onto this masterful creation?

Remember my first sentence?

Feast your eyes on Jennifer's new creation which we have dubbed The Mongolian Steppe. Feel free to drool a little. It turns out that many of the things we are used to take on a different spin living in another country. The toppings on this bad boy included horse meat (yes, we do eat Trigger), onions, mushrooms, and cilantro. The thing was quite delicious!! However, I doubt many of you have ever considered horse meat on a pizza. We have had to adjust to many things, but this place is our home. We are able to make it feel that way by the things we do and make even though those things may be done differently. Different is not bad but beautiful. We are thankful for what we have and what has been provided to us.

I challenge all of you reading this to remember us and lift us up to the Father every time you eat pizza.

We are thankful for all of your support and need it every day!

Class Time

Every weekday from 9am till noon we gather around this table to fill our minds with the Mongolian language. Most days our heads hurt after class, but we also have a lot of fun too.
We have two wonderful language teachers who have been very patient with us. We have learned so much from them and are very thankful that they are our teachers.


At the end of every lesson we record what we learned that day so that we can listen to it later.

Who said you couldn't have a little fun while studying. Somedays laughing is the only way to maintain our sanity.