photos, supplement to last post....

far left: my school director, me and two of my teacher counterparts in front of the sacred tree.

center: sacred tree, covered with hallaks

right: ohwah, sacred place

each of these places are related to buddhist beliefs, you circle 3 times clockwise, at the ohwah, you throw a rock on the pile with each circle stating your wish. At the tree on the third round you whisper your wish into the tree. They brought me here my second day in town.

Here are my welcoming gifts, delicious chocolate and very sweet wine. I was given wine to drink while my guests drank tea I made. When I was finished with my glass of wine, they each had a small drink and we toasted to my new home and my work at the 12 year secondary school, #1. Cheers!

My wonderful CYD friends, Sheraya, Nate, me, Justin, Little B, Pedro and Crystal, on the morning of our Peace Corps Swearing in!! We are no longer trainees, we are volunteers!!!

my site, my job....

Of course, let's remember I am in Mongolia, and thank goodness for the internet, however, things do not always work as one would expect.......thus no pics with this blog right now...surprise... I am at the internet cafe and can't seem to get my pics on...
There is so much that has happened since I last posted! I have finished my pre-service training (aka PST)and now am a full fledged Peace Corps volunteer!(PCV) Hoorah!!! Me and 74 others in this M 21 class (that's Mongolia and the 21st group of volunteers to be here!)
In my little amaig center of 20K+ residents, there are two other CYD (community youth development) M20 PCV's, as well as me, one English teacher (TEFL) and one business volunteer (I forget the acronym)...There are also 3 VSO (Volunteer service organization out of Great Britain) volunteers here in town, and two more TEFL's in soums (small towns) a couple hours out.
So many opportunities for English speaking as well as the fact that most of my counterparts at the school (about 5 teachers, 2 social workers and many others) who already speak English and many more who want to learn... My Mongolian language skills are not so good and I will be tutored by one of the social workers who does not speak Englsih...
Still getting settled into my apartment, an old, old building though they tell me it is the warmest, but on the down side it flooded a couple times last year, and there were some electricial problems...yikes...I just bought some bleach at the market today and will dilute it and use it to wash down walls, etc....good times...
However, I must give kudos to my school as they gave me a washing machine ( a little labor intensive but definetly beats the crap out of hand washing), a fridg, a TV and DVD player (though they aren't hooked up yet and that will take some time I am sure), curtains....and they are all welcoming people....I think I'm gonna like it here!
Us three new PCV's met with one of the VSO's last evening and we all plan to hang out this weekend...the M20's are currently in UB for training and shall return next week...
Not sure exactly what my job will entail right now...though the director is as excited as me about a big garden (out in the countryside) for the school as well as possibly a greenhouse and me re-doing the potential garden areas around the school...so that's awesome!
My school is named the Number #1 school (literally, that's it's name) and it has over 2500 students and over 100 teachers plus other staff....There is a dormitory which houses around 100 children from the countryside as well....

oops old pics again

this group is the awesome CYD's.... Pedro, Brittany, me, Little B, Sheraya, Nate, Crystal, Ashley and Justin

me at the local Buddhist temple.....lovely

photos of kids....

Naddam fun......

Here in Mongolia the big national celebration is Naddam.... There are local festivals everywhere and the three manly sports are the main attratction; archery, horse racing and wrestling.
I was lucky enough to go with my family to a bigger town for some Naddam fun....some of the highlights for me were holding a falcon, sitting on a horse and getting a groovy hat which is very traditional.
Due to a leg injury, I was unable to go to the countryside with my hasha family, and had to stay home with my leg up...
Check out my facebook page to see my Naddam fun photo album...hopefully one day I can post pics on the blog again!

pics of kids from last post

ok, apparently there is still some malfunction with posting pictures....damn...dunno if it's the computer here in our little town....or what. Will try again next week when we go to the bigger town with better internet...

in the meantime, look on my facebook (Joanne M. Nussbaum) and I will put an album called pics of kids from last blog post