I can't believe I have been in Mongolia for 3 days already! Everything is still so new and so foreign, and yet so familiar. It's a very weird feeling.

Today was my first day outside the school. I have a crazy schedule-- start work at 8:15 in the morning and finish at 6 in the evening. So it's still dark and feezing when I walk here in the mornings and already dark when I head back to my room... no time to go out and explore a city. Today the other English teacher walked me to the nearby department store for provisions, so I had my first glimpse of Ulanbataar. Nothing really set it apart from jsut any other city for me... lots of tall buildings, left ver from the Soviet times, andnot much else.

Actually, wait, something else did set it apart: where else in the world would you find people complaining about the heat as they walk around in -20 degree weather? Oh and it had snowed this morning, and all the roads were still really icy; now, it is one thing to dart through moving traffic on Delhi roads (even that freaks me out a bit) but completely another to have to do it on such slippery roads. In the short 10 minute walk back to the school, I fell twice-- more amusing/ embarrassing than painful, but yes, I did take my clumsiness to a whole new level here.

What else can i tell? I am still struggling to come to terms with too many meaningless formalities that are a part of my life here. There are too many rules, man of which mena nothing but must be followed simply because they are rules. For example, no teacher may miss a teachers' conference; so yesterday, I had to sit through more than an hour long meeting conducted entirely in Mongolian, of which I didnt understand a word. This despite it already being 7 at night and me being a bit sick and just wanting to go rest... but there was no way to get out of it. Moments like that (and there are many of them) are incredibly isolating. Not that that should be news to any of you; I knew I would experience this even before I came here, but now that I am actually experiencing it, there are feelings at a whole newlevel that i cannot describe... but yes, it is frustrating. I'm trying to do a "semiotic analysis" of it all (oh, I miss you James!) and thereby laughing at it, but am also coming to a deep understanding of what it really means to be an outsider. Hopefully, once we actually get into the process of planning classes and once I start teaching, this outsiderness and the accompanying isolation won't be all I expereince!

In that respect, Miho (my roommate) is a godsend. As the only other foreign teacher who doesnt speak Mongolian (she teaches Japanese but also knows some English), she shares my frustrations. After a long day at work, it's good to go home with a friend and spend many hours talking as we prepare and eat dinner.

Oh, sometimes, though, there is also the amusing aspect of this isolation. Like some students have put up English quotes all over the school, intended I think to be inspiratinal... quotes on happiness, success, hard work, etc. but then there are some precious gems in there that someone obviously just didnt understand. Like "If the facts dont fit the theory, change the facts" and "If three have to keep a secret, two of them have to die." Every time I walk past those ones, I laugh to myself, aware that I am the only person in the whole place who can se that they are so funny, and that I cant explain that to others, no matter how hard I try.

Okay, I have to go now. Please keep writing-- it is so good to hear from you all right now. And Sarah NG, thanks for your lovely email! :)