worst training ever

in order to renew my teaching license i have to undergo and complete 'mandatory reporter training'. which basically means that i have been spending up to 3 or 4 hours a day for the past week reading about child abuse.

it's awful. child abuse is disgusting. and yet, i would reccommend everyone to be educated about it. i strongly believe awareness is the first step in creating change.


*according to the IDHS, 15,600 children in IA suffered abuse in 2005 (in 2000, there were 10,822 confirmed victims)
*most cases of child abuse involve neglect
*in 2005, 48.2% of victims were five years or younger and 52.8% were between 16 and 17 years old.
*estimated 1,490 children died due to abuse or neglect (2004). more than 80% of killed children were younger than 4 years.
*78.5% of abusers are parents, 57.8% are female, 42.2% are male (2004)

raikhamshigtai

that's mongolian for "amazing"...

on a walk this morning with a good friend we came upon an older gentleman walking his dog. i will try to describe this animal in all its raikhamshigtai-ness:

about the size of a piglet and absurdly chubby, hippety-hopping along on chop-stick-like legs. it was wearing a blue, semi-puffy jacket with hood and sleeves - faintly reminiscent of something you'd have your baby wear.

we found out it was a french bull dog and the jacket was actually specially made for it.

my friend smartly observed, "even if everything were to go completely wrong today, seeing a french bull dog wearing a blue coat will make it all worthwhile"

jet plane

i bought my plane ticket today. what a massive chunk of change i had to fork over for that! makes me want to live in europe so i can just go by train or something. instead i live in indianola, ia, a very expensive place to get to apparently.

but the travel agent offered me a piece of gum while i waited for her to get it all squared away. on the gum's package it said "if you only had hot dog flavored gum it would be like like a picnic in your pocket." hot dog flavored gum? even the thought makes me want to barf.

the gum she gave me was mint/watermelon, thank goodness. even though minty watermelon is sort of strange tasting.

anyway. that's all.

happy v/tss day!

it was a tricky day this year. tsagaan sar* and valentine's both mooshed together on the 14th. two holidays in one 24 hour time period. could have been overwhelming except for the fact that v-day is a fairly new holiday for mongolians and tsagaan sar has been celebrated for, well, hundreds of years. so the buuz were not heart shaped and husbands and wives still didn't greet each other in the morning.

i, however, not being of mongol decent but also not v-day's largest fan, decided to wait until today to post something in tribute. you can look at it as either a belated or very, very early 'happy v-day' wish. i believe in choices.

so, happy....day to you all, regardless of the holiday you're celebrating!

(if i would have had some fore-thought, i quite possibly might have sent these out yesterday to you and yours. but actually, i think it's much better this way:)

*translation: tsagaan - white , sar - month or moon. it's the lunar new year celebration. yahoo!

spatula in one hand, hammer in the other

for some reason, or many, or maybe not any reason in particular, living in mongolia has made me want to learn how to make all kinds of stuff: candles, chocolate, curtains, tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, pillows, potato chips, bread. it has also made me want to learn how to fix things (after a fashion) so someday i can be my own plumber, mechanic, electrician.

why not?

learning is a good adventure.

60th

happy 60th post day!

go eat some ice cream in celebration of this occasion. you needed an excuse to dive in to that lonely tub sitting in your freezer and i have given you one. so get to it.

it's the little things

1. today i celebrated the birthdays of 4 of my friends with a big lunch and slice of cake*. then i was told 1/12 of the population celebrates their birthday today. i don't know which population that is specifically, but it sounded like a cool statistic.

2. i'm pretty sure there is no particular word for 'bra' in mongolian

3. we are freezing inside our apartment

4. tsagaan sar (Mongolia's lunar new year celebration) is this weekend, in fact it is on valentine's day. heart-shaped buuz* anyone? mm-mm.

5. need something interesting to do March 5th - 7th? go to www.jcsintl.org and click on '40 hours Prayer'.





*cake - mongolian cake tastes something like a moist sponge with cool-whip on top. they sure look lovely on the outside though.

*buuz - mongolian dumplings that tend to stay with you all day and into the next.

hater

he's a bit of a grump, but this is pretty entertaining reading


enjoy.

falling

1. i've fallen behind on my blogging duties. apologies. fun stuff to come

2. i fell down again (3rd crash). this time it was just on my way to the store. the boots i have leave much to be desired in the way of traction, so down i went after i slipped on nothing in particular**. on that day, the traffic happened to be backed up, so hundreds of drivers were given a little show that i like to call, "foreigner biffs it and limps away toward the store."

3. my hopes have fallen in regards to climate change. for some reason, now that it is february, i feel entitled to daily highs that are above -15 or -30 (F). but looking at this week's weather (-20s straight thru) helps to remind me that nature has no time to regard my sense of entitlement. so it looks like seven more days of face freezing fun.

4. nothing else has fallen in the meantime. to my immediate knowledge. so, that's all.



**in my defense - it had just snowed. snow is not immediatley shoveled so it just gets packed down into a slickery, bumpy sheet of ice. so, i suspect part of that played a key role in my downfall.

news no one really cares about but isn't entirely worthless

ok, so maybe it's a little worthless, but you can decide that for yourself:

news #1:
i saw this on the msn homepage today:

"Quitting smoking may double cancer survival"

just imagine the survival rate of those who don't smoke....


news #2:
i'm excited for when this becomes the primary mode of transport.

...although jet packs seem more portable


news #3:

gay armpit moral jumbo hot nuclear scientist missing appendage plastic hungary drag knobby knees fleshy wrinkly dimpled klingon siberian prison nun beauty pageants.

weird craving

i have been eating a lot kimchi and finding it incredibly delightful. of all things, i never thought spicy fermented cabbage could ever hit the proverbial spot, but it does. so, thanks korea!

FSS

over the weekend...

- i experienced my first earthquake (not kidding)

-i tried to open a bottle of wine. but instead of pulling the cork out, it was pushed down into the bottle. so i poured the remainder of the wine into a glass jar which is currently chilling in my fridge.

-the electricity to our apartment was turned off by my neighbor (it's back on now after a lot of confusion and some conversation in broken english/mongolian)

-i figured out why the apartment has been smelling like a toilet. we have what i like to call "swamp pipe" and there is nothing one can do about it except spray air-freshener or burn smelly candles.

-i did not: take down the christmas decorations, wash dishes, clean, water the plants or go to bed early

doing

now that i'm finished teaching and on vacation one of the first questions people ask me is "so, what are doing?" or "what are you going to do?" or "what will you do?"

i find it peculiar that they assume since my 'work' is finished i must have nothing to do, or that i don't want to do anything. which is not that case whatsoever. i would rather prefer people ask me: "so what do you want to do with your time now?" or "how are you enjoying a little break?"

my answers to the former questions are getting a little bitter and sarcastic (ie 'oh, you know, sitting around, eating junk, watching movies, sleeping...'), which can be fun but not for everyone.

the truth is, i'm perfecting the art of enjoying time.

that's what i'm 'doing.'

why i hate winter

at the moment i am wearing:

tights, running tights, jeans, two shirts, a cardigan, a thick house sweater, scarf, and wool slippers.

and i'm just sitting in my living room.


good grief.

freaking ice

when someone falls here in mongolia, there's not much reaction (unless you're old or crossing the street). generally people stare at you and pass by. so today, when i slipped on the ice and tumbled down some steps (biff #2), and heard a couple mongolian girls behind me giggling...i didn't know what to do.

i'm not sure what's worse: no reaction or some reaction? being ignored or being laughed at? seems like a good 'would you rather' question.

at any rate, my butt's pretty sore. and i hate icy steps.