Apparently Friday is culture day. Not quite sure what that means but today my boss/counterpart informed me that she had taken to liberty of signing me up for a chess tournament today and a ping pong tournament tomorrow. She asked me if I knew how to do either after she signed me up. I told her that I knew how to do both but couldn't really perform either very well. (I certainly foresee getting completely owned at ping pong.) So I am not quite sure if I'm going to have class today or not. It seems like school revolves around special occasions here, not the other way around. If there's a wedding, a horehog, a cultural event, a funeral- anything- school is the first to go. Not that I mind, it'll be fun to try these new things. It's just rather different from America where you need a note and vacation time just to go to the dentist. Anyway, wish me luck!
I woke up somehow extraordinarily happy and blissfully contented today. Not even the smell of cooking mutton that wafted up through my floorboards could take it away (a bold statement because that smell is pretty rancid). Last night Hovd was in my dreams for the first time ever. I dreamed that Peace Corps wanted to take me away from Hovd and put me in another Mongolian town for some reason or another, I vaguely remember Hovd being destroyed in my dream. I was so distressed and even remember crying in my dream. Somehow in sleep I couldn’t be parted from this city- a city I was assigned to by someone else, almost arbitrarily. When I woke, I was relieved to find myself here safe and sound with another day of teaching in front of me. I was glad to see that I had weeks and weeks to live and work here and for the first time was taken aback with the thought of leaving. Since now I’ve been looking forward to getting out at some point, either on vacation or for training. But now I am just contented to live my life in this wee Western city, even in my dreams.
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