Week 1 aNd THen SoMe! 8/26/13

The past week has been a good starting point to settling into my new life. I have only gone to work twice and both times have been for meetings. On Thursday, 22^nd…I met with my supervisor and she briefly showed me around my school, and introduced me to an English teacher.  The English teacher Nara was extremely nice and pointed out various rooms in the school. My school Huumun #1 is just as beautiful inside as it is out.  It is very open when you walk in, and there are murals and art on some of the walls. On the second floor there is a huge tree (fake) that I surrounded by potting plants.  I am excited to start working in this environment.  

On Friday I was supposed to go into school so that I could meet the social worker Togtohoo. Unfortunately, I had to cancel that meeting because I came down with a HORRIBLE case of the flu. I was pretty happy however, that I managed to inform Dashka over the phone that I was incredibly sick and we would need to reschedule. Every time I am able to speak Mongolian and be understood is a bit of a victory in my book! Our soum volunteer also came to visit us. He lives an hour away by himself, so I have a feeling he will be visiting us a lot!   

Saturday, I spent a bit of time with my Hasha Family. My Hasha parents do not speak English so they brought out an English school book and pointed to animals and objects telling me what they were in Mongolian.  I say it in English, and “voila!” it becomes a bit of a game.  My parents also informed me that my dad will chop wood for me and I don’t need to. I would really like to learn how to do it myself, so I will probably just use the ax at some point and give it a shot.  Saturday night, my site mates and I went to club Neptune.  The locals were really nice and included us in their circle dancing; which warrants in its own blog!

On Sunday, an M-23 came to visit (peace corps volunteer that has already been here a year). It is great to have someone who knows the area and more of the language around!

On Monday I was able to meet with my supervisor and the social worker. If I haven’t stated this before, Mongolian time is way different from American time. American’s are late if they do not show up 15 minutes early to a meeting; Mongolian’s may make you wait an hour once you get to that scheduled meeting. LUCKILY, my supervisor Dashka has been fantastic about keeping to American time and not making me wait. On Monday, I made it to school at the exact time I was supposed to meet with my supervisor and social worker counterpart, and Dashka called to tell me she would come grab me at the school entrance.  After a warm welcoming, she walked me to an office down the hall from the school entrance. Thinking I am meeting the Social Worker, and simultaneously attempting to put my cell phone on silent, I step into a room and observe;  a women at a desk staring at me, and two police officers.  Assuming I may have been pulled into a random meeting (this happens a LOT to PCVS) I am briefly confused, and look to my supervisor who waves me to Nasha (come here).  Realizing I just invaded a meeting; I probably turned a shade of red and high-tailed it out of there.  We then met the Social Worker Togtohoo, and with him in tow made our way back to the office. I realized fairly quickly that this was the directors’ office.  We spent about a half hour with the director. She was almost as warm and welcoming as Dashka! Togtohoo didn’t say much during the meeting, leaving Dashka and the Director to do much of the talking; with me answering the directors various questions.  This leads to me to one of the most awkward requests in a meeting I do believe I have ever had.  I was asked about my degrees’, so I informed the director of my Bachelors in Psychology and Associates in Dance.  The conversation then continues in another direction and then out of the blue; Dashka says something to the director and the director looks at me and says “Dashka say’s don’t touch your body!”  Now; I do not know if this is true of everyone, but for me, I immediately look at my body composure; my hands are on my knees, my legs are crossed, and I am sitting up straight. Have I been playing with my hair? Am I fidgeting too much? It was a strange request and rather off putting in the moment.  I of course said ok, nodding with a smile.  Pondering on this odd request later, I assumed that perhaps she was talking about gaining weight. It was after the dance conversation, so it would make sense. For those of you who do not know, Mongolian’s are very open about body type. They have no quarrels stating that someone is fat or skinny and, do not mean it in a vindictive or cruel way.  Girls will tell you if you have a nice butt, body or if you are pretty and it seems to be the norm, even if they do not know you that well. Since this conversation about not touching my body was in front of my male social worker and my director, I guess it shall but chalked up to another awkward moment in the Mongolian Context!