Liquid water!!!

And not even inside! Today the mercury rose above freezing for the first time since early November, and boy oh boy weren't we glad to see it. The whole town came alive: children playing in the street, grandmas chatting on their stoops, dogs frolicking in puddles, you get the idea. Yesterday it was almost as warm as it was today, so Bob, Geoff, Trinh, Susanne, Jagaa, and I made the most of it and went on a three-hour long expedition to the Khalkh Gol Pilot's Monument on the east side of town to watch the sunset. It was so liberating to be comfortable outside for such a long time. You can see all of them enjoying the weather as the sun went down in the above picture. I only wore one layer of socks and no long underwear at all! I'd heard PCVs talk about how they'd swear off layering as soon as the first vaguely warm days arrived, no matter how cold it might get afterwards. This seemed silly to me, but now that I've had to spend hours upon hours out of the last few months getting ready to go outside even for the shortest amount of time, I understand entirely. To be honest, getting dressed was the worst part of the winter for me. Once you're out there, assuming you put enough on, the cold really wasn't that bad. What sucked was the five to ten minutes you had to spend getting ready in order to be even remotely comfortable. So yeah, the walk was very welcome indeed. And it was nice for once to be able to give Jagaa the kind of physical stimulation she really needs. If only I had time to make a nice big walk like that every day.

I've spent the last week and a half gearing up for the Olympics, which, after living in Mongolia for two years, will always mean nationwide secondary school competition to me before worldwide athletic games. Every spring, students across Mongolia compete in a variety of subjects to determine who is the best. There are comparable events in the states, such as Academic Decathlon, but none of them bear nearly the level of significance for our education system as the Olympics do around here. Normal classes are rearranged or even missed entirely to allow the best students to prepare for the Olympics. Needless to say, I'm pretty busy helping our best students with their English from this point on. TEFL volunteers are worth having if only for this one time of the year. As ridiculous as this whole brouhaha may seem, tutoring is a welcome change of pace from my normal work, especially since I get to work with the best and most motivated students. The competition occurs on three levels. The school's will be the first week in March, the aimag's will be the last, and the nation's will be some time after that.

On Friday, I picked up from the post office what may well have been the largest package ever to be delivered to this remote corner of the world from America. It was a Christmas package from my mom and sister, a bit behind schedule, but still very much welcome. After getting a good workout carrying it home, I tore the thing open and reveled in the glory of board games, candy, a lunch box, magazines, dish rags, socks, dog treats, scented candles, a guitar humidifier, Rudolph boxers, Christmas lights, a mini-Christmas tree, horseradish mustard, and FIVE different kinds of peanut butter. It was quite nice. Unfortunately, I had to leave my apartment soon thereafter, and I failed to hide everything adequately. I got home that night, tipsy from singing karaoke with the gang, to puddles of chocolatey brown puke all over the carpet. Jagaa had gotten a hold of a pound of chocolate chips, and she'd eaten the whole bag. Fortunately, she was fine, which is more than could have been said for me. I couldn't really be angry at her, though. Of course she was gonna eat a bag of chocolate chips if I left it in reach. I grumpily cleaned it up and went to bed. Since then I've spent a lot of time getting this dump in order. That little turd is getting bigger and more capable of pulling stuff off tables and eating or attempting to eat it, which means I have to stop leaving stuff on tables. Ah the woes of becoming responsible.