In Mongolia it is tradition to have a big celebration and opening ceremony to welcome in the new school year, beats any first day I have ever had in England. Mix together, a beautiful sunny day, a speech from the British Ambassador for Mongolia and your new head teacher, a Mongolian singer performing ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams, with some cute 5 year olds ringing a bell to welcome in the new year, a flag raising ceremony with the Mongolian National anthem and your new class presenting you with lots of flowers and you have the perfect recipe for a successful start to the year.
The stage new staff had to be on to greet the parents, my beautiful flowers and a little creativity and all flowers in ‘vases’.
It was a lovely way to meet my new class and all their parents. The following day was a little more challenging but still just as rewarding. My new class are as lovely as any previous class and will be a delight to get to know properly. We have to get round the language barrier with over a third not speaking English and one not speaking Mongolian either but I have managed smiles and we have produced some work. I have developed my use of non verbal cues 100 fold and they do seem to understand some things – either that or they are good at guessing!
My colleagues in England know they are spoilt with resources but until you don’t have them you don’t realised how spoilt! I’m thinking outside the box constantly on how to deliver successful lessons with nothing like the resources I am used to. If the printer/internet doesn’t work, it’s ok, I can just tell my TA the plan in my head, if I have a lack of resources in class, it’s ok as lots of the children bring their own, if I have no pencil pots, it’s ok I can eat lots of Pringles from the mini tubes and use those instead! As I said in a recent interview I am flexible and laid back … it takes a lot to fluster me and 2 and a half weeks in, Ulaanbaatar and the school still haven’t managed it!
As the term progresses I will forget that I used to have instant access to printing from my own classroom and that there was always paper available that wasn’t recycled and there were mirrors aplenty for the whole class to do self portraits all at the same time. But the joy of the lack of resources is that I have had to plug in to my creative side in a big way and so far it is working. Everyone is a bit more laid back about things because you have to be and that suits me.
A final note on life in the city. Shopping is different. The shops don’t scream from the outside what they sell on the inside. You have to peer in and see if you like the look. They are not busy either, even in the middle of the city, you are often the only people in there and when there are 5 of you from England, you get a lot of looks as you enter. The money is still confusing at times, they have no coins and one of their notes is worth 0.003p. This weekend we went to a cashpoint and took out half a million Tugrits (that’s actually worth less than £200). The shopkeepers always have a trusty calculator by their side to show you a price and are very relaxed when you are trying to count out all your notes. I can now direct a taxi back to the school, say hello, goodbye, thank you and it’s ok, it’s ok and if all else fails and you want to know if the meat in front of you is beef just point and get your husband to moo like a cow!
The children on their first day, their new PE kits and the tailor who made their blazers.
September 6, 2015 at 4:24 pm
If I can Send you anything let me know
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October 24, 2015 at 2:54 am
The smell of the sea ………………….
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September 8, 2015 at 8:33 pm
Wow Mary how do you find time to blog!! Just so interesting.glad you all seem to be enjoying the experience.Do let me know if you need some resources especially nearer christmas.I love hunting for unusual things and posting off parcels.Love Auntie Gwen and Uncle Chris
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October 24, 2015 at 2:51 am
Thanks for your message, finally replying to them all now we’ve reached the holidays. Thanks for Erin’s present, looking forward to doing a few crafty things this week. We are off to a ger camp and mum sent me some crochet things so may take that to tackle. Definitely getting colder here but children don’t seem to notice much and have been very excited each time it has snowed, disappeared quite quick each time so far. Hope your back is improving, get little updates from mum. Take care xx
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September 9, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Hi Mary, Pete et al,
Emma passed on a link to your blog and I think it’s LOVELY! I have just subscribed and so hope to be able to read about your adventures throughout the year. The photos are wonderful; I can’t believe how brave Erin was to hold onto the owl – I could barely look at the photo at the thought of those flapping wings… Must admit I thought you were slightly bonkers to go so far but heartily understand your “life is too short to wait for adventures” approach, and wish you all lots of happy times. Sorry that we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to you.
Lots of love, Helen, Isabelle and Nicholas xxx
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October 24, 2015 at 2:45 am
Sorry it’s taken so long but am replying to all posts now we have finally reached the holidays. Thank you for your messages. Even I thought we were a bit bonkers at times but all is working out well so far. Still just as busy during the week due to both being full time but have some amazing opportunities at the weekends. Off to stay at another ger camp this week. Hope things are good in Deal. Take care. x
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September 10, 2015 at 5:47 pm
Hello how are you? It looks nice and sunny there but isn’t Ulaanbaator the coldest capital in the world?We like the owls you are holding. What were they called?Love Isabelle and Nicholas and Sunny the cat and Ecto and Benji (our new guinea pigs) xx
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