Pre IST

I'm leaving for IST (in service training) tomorrow morning. We get to spend four days at a resort called Nukht. It't 20 km outside of town in the mountains and they refer to it as a "three star" resort. That should mean hot showers and tiolet seats. Score! It's the first time all the remaining M16s are together since swearing in. We've had a few ETs early terminations), mostly for medical reasons. IST will consist of hours of playing in the snow, drinking, and some kind of "training sessions". Each volunteer is supposed to bring their "counterpart" or main coworker. I've heard stories of hanky panky involving volunteers and counterparts so some of us have started refering to IST as prom. We'll see what happens. There should be plenty of gossip by the time the week is over. I got a glimpse of that when I took a Mongolian girl to lunch last week. Actually, my tutor fixed us up. A few days later I hear about it from my counterpart. Apparently, she heard about it from a friend who heard about it from the owner of the restaurant we went to. It's a very small country.

Well, I'm looking forward to spending some time with my fellow CEDs and attending a session about teaching large, multi-level classes. That will be valuable when I start teaching at the market when I get back to site. I'll post some pictures when I get back to site. For now, here are some from a trip I just took to Khangai soum.

Oh, and thanks to who ever followed by brother's orders and sent me a card. The only ones I've gotten so far are from Nicole of worththetime. Thanks again Nicole.