All teachers must take a turn of  ’door duty’ so must this young ‘teacher’.

We ‘foreigners’ have our own language to describe things Mongolian.  For example, several of us experienced a Mongolian moment’ yesterday.  Out of the blue, they changed all the arrangements for ‘Teachers’ Day’ and no-one gave it a second thought, except non-Mongolians.  We also make tentative arrangements with each other on a weekly basis, and tonight we usually eat together.  The text message arrived this morning saying: Happy Teachers’ Day!  See you at……………. unless, of course,  you are ‘mongoled’  Well I was ‘mongoled!’  At 4pm, this afternoon, I received an invitation to eat a celebration dinner with the teachers tonight, but I had already committed myself to meet the volunteers.  I could have cancelled, but Maarten is bringing me some mail from his latest trip to UB and I already agreed he should bring the parcel to the restaurant this evening.  So I had to politely decline, again!  Deborah has been ‘mongoled’ and I have no doubt that others will be too.  Plan ahead?  Don’t be ridiculous!

This, 9th Grade ‘teacher’ will teach classes all day today.  On her own!  This good behaviour is not just for the camera!

The general verdict is that the kids prefer their substitute ’teachers’ because their lessons are better prepared and more interesting than normal.

Director for a Day – the Head Girl really looks the part

This traditional day has been celebrated for many years, and everyone enjoys it.  I imagined, teachers would be ‘hovering’ in the background, just to keep things safe.  Wrong again.  Not a sight of one, yet every class ran like clockwork.  The real teachers did ‘their own thing’  awarding each other certificates and running Quizzes and competitions etc.  Some went home early, so I assume a skeleton staff were around ’somewhere’.

There are certain phrases that have not yet reached Mongolia: ‘classroom disruption’, and ‘litigious society’ to name but two.

Yet again, Zulaa and I left early.