Back in UB

I'm back in UB, for 2 months this time. I'm teaching English to a group of professors at the Mongolia State University of Agriculture, School of Veterinary Medicine. The total number of students I'll have is unknown at this time. Yesterday I met a group of them and tried to make a determination of whether they were beginner or more advanced students by asking questions and seeing how well they understood me or could answer the questions. Then I had to divide the names into 2 classes and present the rosters to the director. I wasn't sure if I needed to be political in this decision or not (should I put the department head of surgery in the beginner's group?), but in the end I decided to just go with my gut instinct and divide them as I saw them. Today will be my first day of really teaching and I'm a bit nervous.

As for my accommodations - they're a big improvement over last year's apartment. I have a room in the dormitory for the "better students." It's one room, with a bathroom, and has 2 twin beds, a fridge, hot plate, desk, chair and TV. The bathroom is nice (no exposed pipes!) and has a handheld shower in the corner without shower walls or door. The floor is slightly depressed in that area to let the water drain out there. The building is only 2 years old and is in very good condition. The stairs are stone, not concrete, and more regular in terms of the height of the risers, although not always quite standard. I'm on the 5th floor this time, so I'm still getting plenty of exercise up and down the stairs. I have a splendid view of mountains out my window. If you look at a map of UB, I'm in the southern part of the city, near the Golden Buddha statue and the Bogd Khan mountain, which is one of the peaks I see from my window. The electricity situation is slightly improved over last year. This time I have a long florescent bulb in the middle of the ceiling (not the single suspended incandescent bulb I had last year). There still is only one outlet, but I do have a power strip, however. Unfortunately the outlet is not near the mirror, so drying my hair took some improvising. There is an aluminum tray in the kitchen area, so I propped the tray up on top of the fridge, using a ladle to keep it from sliding down, and I dry my hair looking at my reflection in the shiny tray. You do what you have to with what you have!

How I happened to return to UB is a story I will share soon, as well as the saga (and it IS an epic story) of my trip here. I know, too, that the ending of my 2010 trip is missing from this blog, and I will fill that in in later posts. For now I'll say that I'm pleased to be back in Mongolia and looking forward to more adventures. I feel like an old hand in many ways. I was able to tell the director of the department how to register my passport, and I already knew that I had to get a new SIM card for my cell phone since they use a different technology here.