Week 1

Wow I have a lot to write about now, I've been very busy being a tourist/teacher I've not had time to visit an internet cafe!
Last Wednesday I went to the school and observed alot of teachers taking their classes, and met Linda, shes from Australia and started on the same day as me. The school is very chaotic your running from classroom to classroom between each 40 minute lesson. I'm always in with a mongolian teacher so its easier to communicate with the kids. The next day I was just asking the children questions until about halfway through the day in a more advanced class a teacher put a textbook in front of me and told me to take the lesson! I tried not to panic but a little warning would have been nice! Since I've got a little bit more used to teaching but the children don't always understand what I'm asking them which is very stressful. It's nice in the classes when you get more feedback and the children enjoy it. The teachers are all very nice and helpful, I just got my timetable and I'm teaching between 5 and 6 hours a day (on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays the school is open from 8 till 6:45 with different kids attending different times of day, on Wednesdays and Thursdays its a half day). I'm now taking biscuits and snacks to the school in case I get hungry (they have 10 minutes for lunch) because the caffeteria food is awful! Very greasy and gristly.
In the late afternoon and evening I wander round the city with Linda and Ann.
My birthday was really good, the work at the school was really tiring and long but Linda took me to a theatre in the evening where there was traditional Mongolian song and dance and throat-singing, which is the most bizzare thing! The costumes and performance was really beautiful. When I got home Chimge, Zula (I now know corrrect spellings!) and Ann had a huge cake for me which was very sweet.
On Saturday morning we all went to the childrens palace to see a performance put on by kids from a few of the schools which Zula was playing the violin in, it was very good all the children had some sort of talent and again were dressed beautifully. Ann, Linda and I met up with some of the teachers and students in the afternoon to visit some museums which turned out to be closed so we had lunch and wandered instead. We visited the State Department Store which was suprisingly expensive but on the top floor there is a tourist area with traditional dress so we played dress up with the crazy hats. We also went to a nice resturaunt for a big meal and what I thought was my first legal cocktail (it wasn't, the legal age here turned out to be 21! But I don't think I'll get IDed here!) when Ann and I got home we found that Chimge had made us another meal (she doesn't usually cook on Saturdays so we forgot to tell her we were eating out). We had to eat it so we wouldn't upset her but I felt like utter crap after eating so much.
Also Ann is now recovering froma parasite she thinks she picked up in the Gobi, I came home to find she'd spent the day on a drip. The medical treatment here and attitude to medication is quite alarming (apparently they have an obsession with using IV drips which doesn't work well which their terrible re-use of needles, especially syringes).
On Sunday Chimge and Zula took us foreigners to the black market which was incredible! The size of the place is unbelievable and it turned out to be a test of self control for me and Ann as we walked past row after row of really good immitation handbags for the equilalent of about 10 quid. I didn't get much cause I'm waiting for a trip to the cashmere factories.
Back at the flat Ann and I treated ourselves to tomato pasta with lots of cheese (the tomato sauce is quite expensive here, about 500T).
The crime rate here is rising quite rapidly so Ann took me to get a membership at a taxi service run by an Australian guy, Sam, who started it since many taxi drivers lock foreigners in the car and threaten them to get ridiculous fares. It still doesn't seem to bad but I'm getting hassled when I'm alone because of my hair colour so I'm now taking a beanie hat everywhere with me to tuck my hair into so I can blend in.
Thats all I can think to tell you, I'm on a break just now so I should probally get back to the school.

Love to all