Rudolph the M&M Nosed Reindeer

Lacking an oven, my options for making Christmas goodies was severely hindered.

But, since the quarantine has been over, my local shops have been stocked with new and exciting products (ORANGES! SLICED BREAD! CARROTS!). One day I found pretzels. So, I bought the shop out. 7 bags of pretzels, a bag of delicious M&M's (courtesy of the Palazzo's (package received and thoroughly enjoyed... watch the mailbox in the coming weeks)), and 9 bars of chocolate later... I made some reindeers for my students!

As close I could come to cookies... but my students (and I) will attest to the fact that they were deLISHious.

(I. Want. Snickerdoodles. Now.)

The Nine Nines

According to Mongolians, winter lasts for 81 days. It starts on December 22nd and goes through 9 phases of 9 days each. I'm 5 days in... and freezing my tookus off.

First 9: It gets so cold that Mongolian Milk Vodka freezes.

Second 9: It gets to cold that Russian vodka freezes.

Third 9: It's so cold that the tail of a 3 year old ox freezes.

Fourth 9: The horns of a 4 year old ox freeze.

Fifth 9: It's starts to get warmer here... Now, boiled rice will no longer freeze.

Sixth 9: Roads become visible again (ha, what roads?)

Seventh 9: Hilltops become visible again.

Eighth 9: The ground becomes damp.

Ninth 9: It's warm again! (Probably finally breaches 10 degrees)

Note: The first 9 is where it becomes so cold that Sarah's eyelashes freeze together due to the condensation from her breath. Can't wait to see what freezes during the second 9.

Just Dancin' and Singin'

Last Saturday, the teachers and the students put on a fabulous dancing competition. I surely never tired of the endless awesome costumes and the adorable first grade cuties dancing around, but I tell ya... 8 hours is a loooong time for anything.

Votes on the best costumes?

The Judges... They look thrilled, no?

My counterpart's ADORABLE daughter.

A Sea of (Mongolian) Faces

Some of my fourth graders... aren't they precious

This is Dilguun's dance number... he's on the right in the front.

To The Skirtzka.

So the other day we had a teacher's sport competition, a jolly good time. During volleyball, my team was starting to lose focus so we called a Time Out.

The team captain started goin off in rapid Mongolian while I stared at my shoes. I was thinking about the Frog.

Suddenly, he stopped talking and everyone looked at me.

I said, "Ribbit."

Pretty sure they think I'm crazy. Well, not too far from the truth I suppose.

We came back and won that game, FYI.

Some random photogs...

And that's not even the coldest it's gotten... and my ger is about 35 degrees in the morn. Lovely.

My neighbors staged this picture. They told me to show it to my family as proof that i can make a fire (a running joke amongst volunteers is the question, "Can you make a fire?" In a typical Mongolian interaction with anyone at anytime, revolves around three questions: "How are you? Are you cold? And can you make a fire?" Yes, for goodness sake, we can make a fire. If we couldn't we'd be dead.)

My neighbor Shinee, my other counterpart, Zolaa, and me in my Christmased out ger.

Sure is gettin crowded up there!

A Mongolian Rubix cube. A friend of mine gave me this for Christmas... I worked on it for 5 days straight and COULD NOT get it. Shinee had it in her hands for 3 minutes and solved it. Grrrrr.

Bawwww. Cutie Patootie.

The Road to Dariganga.

Thanksgiving Burritos! Yum!

The Thanksgivin' Bunch

Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon... In Winter!

So my bestie and I took a walk around town... in the freezing cold. Here's what Dariganga looks like these days...

Dilguun pretending to fall in the ice and scaring the living bejeesus outta me...

That is a lake in front of me. Froooozen.

Silly Boy

"I (don't) Got Worms!"

I'm sad to announce that Norman is no-more. When I returned from IST, he was simply gone. My neighbors told me that one night he disappeared.

Oh well. I didn't really want a dog.

But then I met Lloyd. Lloyd is a timid, shy, and ridiculously adorable puppy that kept getting beaten up by all the other doggies. So I rescued him and now I love him.

Meet Lloyd Christmas!

Lloyd is a big pansy. He's scared of the wind. As a result, negative reinforcement works wonders on him. In less than a week, I had him totally potty trained!

He's also a huge momma's boy (perhaps Norman Bates would have been more appropriate for him than the other Norman). He whines when I leave and gets wicked excited when I come home. He also likes to snuggle in my lap and snuggle in my sleeping bag when I sleep! He's so frickin adorable.

He also will spend HOURS chasing his tail. He's so stupid... it's very endearing. Lloyd suffers from what Douglas Adams refers to as a "Logical Loop." Lloyd's thought process is such:

"Oh! What is that?? I will bite it!"

and then...

"Ouch! Something bit me!"

and then...

"Oh! What is that?? I will bite it!"

and so on and so forth.

The loop is a result of 2 factors. 1) Lloyd has yet to figure out that these two thoughts are related and 2) Lloyd does not experience boredom, thus enabling him to do this for EVER.

Cutie.

I brought him with me to the aimag because I don't want to lose him. If you skype me, you can meet him in person!