"You are like a child."

Welp, here I am, sitting in an internet cafe in my new city. Choibalsan seems pleasant enough so far. My apartment is on the fourth story, and I have a pretty good view south. This is literally the flattest, emptiest place I've ever been in my life. It's kinda beautiful in a way. The ride yesterday (see the post office bus which brought us above) was exceptionally long, and my ass was aching by the time we finally got in at 11 PM, fourteen hours after we left Ulaanbaatar. I sat facing backwards, which afforded me the opportunity to watch the mountains get smaller and slowly recede in the distance. It was almost as sad as it was gorgeous. Nevertheless, I think there is a certain charm in this landscape, and at least I'm only a kilometer or so from the Kherlen Gol, a very pleasant river, and the same one I visited back during training. It's Mongolia's second longest.

In spite of the length, I didn't mind the ride so much. Probably as a result of my iPod, the views, the amount of stuff I had to think about, and Munguu, my fellow teacher who accompanied me. We had all sorts of good conversations, about everything from god to alcoholism to special education to American music. Apparently I'm far more inquisitive than your average Mongolian, as at one point she said to me, "You are like a child. You ask so many questions!"

Also, my Mongolian mom has been texting me like crazy since we got our new phones, and she wanted to know when I'd be rolling through our old training site. I told her, expecting she just wanted to be aware. But when we were driving through, she called me. Unable to understand what she was saying, I handed the phone off to Munguu, who had the driver stop the bus. Realizing what was happening, I apologized to the thirty plus other passengers and told them that my mother was "too good." I don't know if they knew what I meant. A few minutes later, my sister, some other relatives, and my mom come rolling up. She runs out, a thermos of hot milk tea in one hand, a bag of fresh-made cookies in the other, all the while apologizing that she didn't have time to make me a real meal. It was amazingly sweet, and it was great to see her. About a minute later we were back on the road.

In other incredible kindness related news, once Munguu and I got to my new apartment, five of the other English teachers with whom I'll be working were waiting there (below you can see Zola, one of them, presenting me with airag to welcome me), having cleaned it and set it all up for me, as well as made me buuz (steamed dumplings) for dinner. It was very sweet, and they all seem quite friendly. After that I pretty much went to bed, which was nice except I think I might have fleas. This morning I got up and started unpacking and setting up. My apartment is small, but I like it. I have a stove and an oven and a shower, and allegedly I'm getting a TV, a fridge, and a washing machine sometime today.

Well anyway, just wanted to update and let everyone who cares know I'm safe. I go into work tomorrow to get acquainted, and classes start on Wednesday. I can't believe this is all really happening.


Oh, and here's a video of Andrew and I (with some help from Sarah) playing our milk tea song at swearing in. Enjoy!