Excited!!!!

So there are alot of things that happen everyday that are exciting but I have to say I am really excited about one thing that is about to start happening.

I am starting a pen pal system with a teacher in Enid Oklahoma. She is not just any teacher either. She was my 6th grade teacher and she was so awesome. Mrs. Corderman's class is going to be writing letters to one of my 5th grade classes and we will write back. I am really excited about this because she was always one of my favorite teachers. She was also very into teaching us through hands on activities and for Social studies and other subjects she has us learn through looking up information and doing reports. This is an awesome way for our students to get a little taste of different cutures and talk to people from a totaly different country.

In other news.....it is getting cold here. I mean it would be okay if the wind would stop blowing. The wind just makes it so much colder.

Update

So I have not written on here in a long time. I really do feel bad about that. Well let me just tell you guys about what has been going on since I last wrote.

I have been teaching for a month now and I have finally gotten the hang of my days and the many changes in the schedule. I teach two 5th grade classes on Tuesday and Wednesday. I am really enjoying it. The kids are awesome and even though there are times that it is awkward because either I am saying something wierd in Mongolian or they don't speak much English. We have fun. I was afraid when school first started because kids all over the city would say hello to me and I did not know them. I was afraid I would not recognize my students and I would feel bad about it. After a month I can recognize almost all of my students and they even walk me home after class on somedays. My mongolian is getting better and that is a good thing.

A few weeks ago the teachers had a competition where we dressed as people in the Army and we marched around. We ran out to the country and did different events where we had to march, run, carry boxes of bullets, and shoot AK47s. It was pretty awesome. I did not care for the running because I am a fat kid and I cannot run. Our team did not win first but we got 3rd. It was pretty cool though. It was the first time I shot an AK47.

Well it finally happened.....they winterized my ger a few weeks ago and it is so much warmer inside. I could not believe how much the extra layer of wool or felt could keep me warm. They also put a ong layer of material around the bottom of the ger and they burried my ger about a foot with dirt and that also helps keep the heat inside my ger.

This weekend was not a good weekend. I started getting sick on Thursday I just was not feeling well and I felt kind of tired. On Friday I decided to try to take a nap just to get some rest. When I woke up from my nap I had a 103 degree temp and in the next 2 hours it went up to 104.8. I took some tylenol and later the fever broke and I started to feel better. Later in the night I started to feel like crap again and took some medicine and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and I was even sicker than the day before. Let me just say there is nothing worse than having a toiletless outhouse when you are sick and running to the bathroom every 10 minutes. I think that after this weekend my leg muscles have gotten a great workout. LOL!!!!

Well I think that is about it and that is all that is going on with me. I am sorry for not writing for so long.

Thanks for reading!!!!

Jeff

Placement

Well the time has come and as of tomorrow at 2:00pm I will be a Peace Corps Volunteer. We do are swearing in ceremony tomorrow. I am so glad that PST is over and it is time to move on to the next stage of Peace Corps. I recieved my placement on Monday. I am going to the imaig Khovsgul and I will be in the city of Merun. Khovsgul imaig (like a state) is in the central part of the country close to Russia. I will be in the Imaig Center (like a capital). This area is suppose to be the prettiest part of the country. I will be working at a school there and doing teacher training. I have already met my supervisor and she seems like a nice lady. I have heard that the people who lived in my ger before me had internet so if that is a possibility then I will probably get it. I have to fly to my site on Monday from UB. I was not happy about my placement in the beginning but I think I am happy about it now. I think it will be a perfect place for me. Thank you for reading my posts and all of your support.

Sainuu

Hope everyone is doing well. I am in the city today planning for a conference that I will be teaching at tomorrow. I decided to sign on and update everyone really quick. There is only 2 weeks left until the swearing in ceremony and everyone is so anxious to hear where they will be for the next two years. I just finished my practice teaching this week. I taught an adult English class with the help of another volunteer. We had a mixed group and it was amazing to see them improve over the three weeks of class. I am really excited to get into my primary teaching though. If you are reading this and want pictures sent to your email. leave your email in a comment or email me at jglenn1182@gmail.com. I will be back in the city in a few weeks and I will send all my pictures out. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Whats up with Jeff!!!!

Hello, I am finally writing in on my blog. It is hard to get to the internet in the town I am currently living in. I am sorry I have not updated before now but here ya go....

So I have been at PST for about 2 months now and things are amazing here. I have finally gotten past the "oh my goodness things are so different here" and now it just seems like another day in the life of. The first week here was hard because even though I tried not to have any expectations it was not what I expected. In addition there was some problems back in America that made it hard to adjust here. Those are taken care of though and all is good. I live in a Ger and it is pretty cool. They say the worst time to live in a ger is during rain. That is okay though because Mongolia usually doesn't get much rain. LOL!!!! Except this year!!! It is okay though my ger has held up very good with only a few water problems. My Host family is really nice to me. They give me space and freedom which is much needed while adujusting to a new culture. They are very friendly people and although we still don't understand most of what we are saying to each other, we have great sign language and motions. There is a holiday here in the summer called Nadaam and it is a fun time where people get together and go watch horse racing, dancing, and the most entertaining for me was the wrestling. My family tried to get me into the wrestling but I didn't do it. I am thinking about doing it next year though. Nadaam was a lot of fun. I can't believe I have already been here two months. This week our training group went through a rough patch. One of our friends in our group had to leave. She has only been gone a day but she was super cool and she will be missed.

I have pictures to post and send out so if you want them sent to you please leave your email address or email me at jglenn1182@gmail.com. Thanks for all the support and I will talk to you later.

Jeff

2 months and Counting

I think back and I remember the day that I recieved my invitation to Mongolia. It seems like it was just yesterday that I came to work excited to share the news. I realized today that I only have two months before I leave and I am still super excited. I think about everything I have to get done during this time and I just know time is going to keep on tick tick tickin away. My last day at my job is going to be May 8 followed by graduation on the 9th. After I have done the graduation ceremony I will be leaveing for Colorado for a week and then California for a week to visit some family for the last little bit before I go. Then I will come back to Oklahoma for a few days and leave on May 31st for San Fran. I cannot wait!!! It has been so great talking to others that will be going with me to Mongolia and I just can't wait to meet them and hang out. I just think the attitudes that I have seen so far our team is just going to ROCK!!!! Well I am going to go think about packing. Thanks for reading.

-Jeff

Space Saver Bags

I finally got them...the Space Saver Vac bags. I even tested them out last night and they worked like a charm. In one of the carry on bags I packed up my big winter coat and it smashed it down to almost nothing. In the Extra Large bag I put my bed spread and three pillows and once again it smahed it down. I can't wait to pack for Mongolia. I am going to have so much fun. Fellow volunteers you should get a set of these bags. I got mine at QVC.com. They were only 31.00 for 15 bags. GREAT DEAL!!!

Sunday/Funday

So today was such a nice day. I sat outside on the patio and just relaxed in the sun. I read some of my book and just took it easy. It was such a great day and since I missed an hour it was nice just to relax.

Almost half way there

Well it is coming up on the middle of the semester and I am very happy about that. I am excited because I am almost done and about to get out of here. Everyday that passes I get more and more excited for the next adventure (MONGOLIA). I am getting my wisdom teeth extracted in March at the end of the month so that won't be any fun but I have to do it. Well thanks for reading!!! Have a great day!!!

Shopping List

So i finally got a packing list for my move to Mongolia. I need a few things and I am really suprised I dont need more. I should be able to get the rest of the stuff I need for about 200-250.00. I was wondering if the Space saver bags that you vacuum all of the air out and it shrinks really work as well as they say they do? If anyone knows will you please post and let me know how they work.

Vista

So yesterday Jana from the Vista (UCO Newspaper) interviewed me for a story she was doing on me and the Peace Corps. I thought she was very nice and it was good to get to sit down and talk to her. Well I dressed nice and was ready for my picture to be taken just in case she was going to use a picture. She did not take a picture so I just assumed it would be a story about me. I am at work today and I get a message that Jana from the vista called and wants to send a photographer over to take my picture. Well since the weather was going to be bad I did not dress up for work today. So there is going to be a picture of me in the Vista on Thursday. It may not be a very good picture but who cares. I am so ready for May!!!! Only 100 days to go!!!!

I finally did them

Yesterday I finally sat down and did my taxes and I have to say I am very happy with the outcome this year. I am getting back more than I expected so this is good. It will allow me to do a little more before I leave. I like doing taxes because it is like a savings account that you get back from every year.

Panera Bread

So today my roommate and I decided to come up to Panera Bread and eat and get some homework done. We would get more done here than we ould at our place because we just focus better here. I really like it here because I can get a large Tea, six packs of Sweat N' Low and use the free internet to do my homework. This is probably one of the things I will miss the most when I go to Mongolia. I don't think you can just go into a place and link up to the wireless internet and work. Well thanks for reading now I need to submit my webpage to Doc Hoc.

Are we there yet

So ever since I recieved my invitation to Mongolia I have been so excited about what is to come. I only have two online classes this semester to get through before I graduate and go. It just seems like the time is going by so slow. I know that the time to leave will be here before I know it and that is crazy. Yesterday I started thinking about daily or routine things that I do here that I might not be able to do while in Mongolia. This weekend I spent some time on Youtube watching videos that people have taken in Mongolia and I got a better understanding what the inside of a ger looks like. I am so excited and ready to go. 109 Days left!!!! It seems like a lot when you say that. Hope everyone enjoys reading this.

OH OH OH I forgot to mention....I built a website so everyone should go check it out and let me know what you think. The address is www.jeffsjaunts.com Subscribe to my email list while you are there.

Bad Weather

I hate bad weather. It was so sad to wake up this morning after such a beautiful day yesterday. It was cold and rainy. I had to go to work today since I was feeling better. I got a lot done though. I have contacted more people that I will be going to Mongolia with and that is exciting. I also listened to the language lessons while I was working today. I am really worried about the language but I am sure it can handle it. I am going to look into other language aids to help me get a better understanding for it. I hope it does not cost too much because I am not sure I will be able to afford it. Until next time....thanks for reading my blog.

geedad if you read this I would like to talk to your daughter if she would like to talk to me. I could get some more info about packing and staging.

Nice Weather

It was such a bummer that today was such a nice day outside and I spent it inside not feeling well. It would have been a wonderful day to go to the zoo or the park and just have a nice day in the sun. I decided to take this day off and work on some things that I needed to get done for the Peace Corps. I recieved a call from the Passport office today and they needed to verify my SSN because it got put into the system wrong so it was making it difficult to issue my passport. Well thats taken care of so we should not have any problems since then.

Are you sure

Ok so over the last two weeks my posts have been about Peace Corps and that is okay because thats what is going on with me right now. It seems like when I tell someone about going to Mongolia one of the common questions I get is "Are you sure?". I so bad want to tell the next person " No I am not sure, I just went through the last eight months doing applications, medical tests, and not planning for a life after graduation for nothing." I did not dedicate the last eight months to not be sure. I am not trying to sound like a punk because I am not. I just think it is crazy what people have said to me.

This is crazy

Okay so the only reson I have this blog is because of the Blogs class I am in. Well on my last post I posted about where I will be going after graduation and how I will be serving with the Peace Corps. When I got home on Friday night and checked my blog there was a comment on my last post from a guy named Travis. He is also going to Mongolia with the Peace Corps in May. It is funny how this worked out because on my way home I was telling my roommate that I wish I could talk to someone who was going with me and then boom there is this message from him. I just really thought it was crazy because he somehow came across my blog and messaged me. Well yeah so I guess that is it. I just wanted to share my thoughts with you.

Are you excited????

I have noticed over the last couple of days that everytime I tell someone about where I am going they almost all have the same expression...(worried) OOOOOHH!! Are you excited? My response is "I am very excited". It is interesting how people respond to the country and sometimes just not knowing anything about the country they are fast to judge. Oh well!!

I finally recieved my invitation

As I mentioned before I have been going through the application process for the Peace Corps over the last year. Well on Friday I recieved my invitation to the program. I will be going to Mongolia in June of 2008. I will be serving there until August of 2010. I am very excited about this experience. This whole time during the application process I didn't know where I was going except I was sure it was somewhere in Central Asia. When I opened the letter I was really excited when I read it and found out a country. I have a lot of things that I need to do now to get ready to go.

New year, New semester, New Experiences

Since I was a freshman in college have wanted to spend at least a year overseas teaching. I have worked hard to accomplish that goal. In May of last year I decided to apply for the Peace Corps. I am excited because on Monday I got a call from the headquarters in Washington DC and I was informed they are ready to offer me an invitation. I am so excited and I am so anxious to find out where in Asia they are going to send me. I should be getting my invitation in the next couple of days. I am so excited that everything I did to get to this point is now paying off. I will post more info when I get my letter.