Dust storms and other mundane things

October 6, 2015

Despite my incessant whining, very few people read this blog; confusingly, the number of readers has dropped by about half. As such, I have decided to back off the “every week” thing. Besides, if I stuck to that schedule, there wouldn't be enough time to distance myself from things that make me angry (like students not studying or doing their effing homework), or annoyed  (like how every single child under 12 in this city only knows how to say "Hi", and does so when they see me over and over and over and over). This has been an overwhelmingly positive experience thus far, and it wouldn't be fair to characterize it differently just because I was having a bad day when it was time to write a blog post.

We'll start this week with weather: it's been in the 60s and 70s for the better part of a week, up from the much chillier 20s I mentioned in the last post. Today, however, saw a high in the upper 40s, with a low back down in the 20s. Yesterday we had a massive dust storm that lasted literally all day -- it was like a day-long rainstorm, but with much stronger wind, a brown sky instead of gray, caking of dust all over you instead of rain, and a constant stinging in your eyes. I've never experienced anything remotely like this – even the dust storms at my (and Emily's) training site(s) didn't last for longer than an hour, tops. This one started at night while we were sleeping, when high winds slammed open the large, metal door to the stairwell outside of our apartment, then shut, then open, then shut, then open again ad nauseam. It continued on through the night and as I walked to school, then died down just long enough for me to walk home in relatively clear air. Not fifteen minutes after I got inside and sat down, it started up again with a vengeance. The sun illuminating all of those floating dust particles turns the sky an eerie shade of orange, like Breaking Bad's sepia-toned vision of Mexico. (We took some pictures early in the day that are posted to Emily's Facebook wall.)

Yesterday also marked the first site visit from one of the Peace Corps higher-ups. He came over for dinner with his driver (while the dust storm continued to rage). We made homemade nachos (the whole thing, including the chips) and tsuivan, a traditional Mongolian dish. I saw “we”; I rolled out the dough that became the noodles for the tsuivan, but everything else was Emily and two of our site mates. That higher-up visited with our counterparts and watched us teach classes today, then headed on to the next site. I don't envy his schedule, traveling from aimag to aimag and meeting with as many people as he's had to meet with, all in the span of about... I think two weeks. Maybe less, definitely not more.

We've had a few maintenance problems lately, including a busted O-ring on the faucet in the bathtub. The fixture itself was a piece of garbage to begin with, so it was replaced entirely. The process took about four hours and a total of six Mongolians. The reason for that, I think, was that none of them were actually plumbers, just some handy dudes the landlord knew who said they could do it. Things broke, things got dirty, and water was sprayed everywhere, but in the end, they installed it perfectly, and everything works quite well now. I'm still frustrated that they only seem able to fix one thing at a time, but hey. Baby steps are still steps.

This past weekend, we celebrated International Teacher's Day (it was actually October 5, not the 1^st, which Christina quite correctly referred to as International Ballet Day). On Friday, Emily went with her school to Uvs Nuur, the largest lake in the country, and I went with one of our other site mates to a celebration of how awesome we all are (teachers) at a nightclub. So far as I can tell, it's the only bonafide nightclub in the city. Then again, I haven't actually looked, as night clubs aren't really my thing. Also: Emily told of at least six fights between drunk Mongolian men. If they're drunk enough to fight each other, it doesn't seem all that far-fetched to think that they might take my resting bitch face and lack of understanding as some kind of sleight, and try to fight me as well. Even if I could take one drunk dude, it's safe to say that I could not take one and five of his potentially-sober friends.

As I mentioned in the last post (I think), I attempted to start a tutoring program for students interested in learning extra English. Every slot I offered was filled up by the time it started, but by the third day, only two students had actually shown up. That was, as you might imagine, frustrating, so I canceled the rest. Apparently the mistake I made was to schedule the tutoring later in the day (sessions from 4-6, usually). I've decided to focus my attention on clubs and community work, instead. 

Oh, yes: we've gotten reliable access to the local sports complex, including a fairly well-appointed workout room. This has been a lifesaver for me; depression was starting to creep back in, and for me exercise helps to expunge that insanely well. It also helps to deal with the seemingly constant stream of afflictions I've been going through, including a sinus infection on first arriving in Mongolia, a weeks-long bout of irritable bowel syndrome, an incredibly painful and acute bout of gastro-intestinal issues, another sinus infection or cold (not sure which), and an allergic reaction that makes my hands incredibly itchy. Bleh.

All in all, aside from constant disease, slacker teenager students, and perilous dust storms, things are going pretty well. Meditation helps.

Lastly: anyone who likes folky rock music (Chris, Jaron, Matt, Alex), give The Paper Kites a try. I recommend starting with “A Lesson from Mr. Gray.”