First but not last...

1. Made a fire with coal! (not the soft kind that comes in a bag at the supermarket---walmart, I miss you-- the kind that comes straight out of the ground in form of hard rock)

2. Woke up to a ger that was 45 degrees this morning.

3. Made chicken and dumplings last Friday and it was a success! Cooking in a ger IS possible...if you have the right ingredients--that's the hard part.

4. Got followed by a guy in a car yesterday. Yes, he was in a CAR and following me while I was walking. His head hanging out the window while he kept honking for me to look at him. It was EXTREMELY awkward, but I kept looking ahead and ignored him. He finally drove away.

5. Had a 'get together' with the other PCVs in my town. We had banana bread, apple crisp, pico de gallo & tortilla chips (all homemade). It was fun. We hardly all hang out because of our schedules and our mode of transportation (walking).

6. I went to a special shop yesterday and saw something amazing! I took plenty of pictures. I will post more about that trip this weekend...Can't give it away just yet.

7. Gave Justin his first haircut in Mandalgov. But, I know it won't be his last :( I'm not bad at cutting hair--I just really don't like to do it, then clean up after it...and clean up more after it (you can never get rid of the hair!).

8. Yesterday I found some fig newton type cookies and bought a kilo of them. While the store clerk was putting handfuls and handfuls in the bag and weighing it, I realized a kilo was probably too much. Next time: half a kilo.

9. Watched Justin participate in an all teachers track meet last Saturday. It was freezing (literally) in the morning and Justin had to run a 1500 meter race. So he was wheezing all day afterwards. Running in the cold is not fun. Oh, he got 7th out of about 30.

10. Yesterday I was talking with one of my teachers and she said, "Did you ever get that letter for you?" and I said, "No!". I was so surprised, I hadn't heard of ANY mail coming for me yet. And she said "Yes, the Librarian told me you had mail". I asked her when the Librarian told her this and she shrugged and said "Oh, back in September". It was hard for me to contain myself. September?!!! Today, I will finally pick this mail up. Sadly, I know circumstances like these will never cease while here in Mongolia.

11. Saving the best for last! I was told about an AMAZING store last week! I can't believe I've been shopping at other places! It is a store that's kind of hidden away. But it has EVERYTHING! Well, not everything. But it has a lot of things (including chicken...since all the other stores have magically run out for the past few weeks). It has Chicken, Pepsi, tuna, canned peas, ...and that's about it...but usually that would take a visit to AT LEAST 3 different shops. The only bad side is that it's the farthest shop away from my house. So going in the winter will not be fun. But, the good side to that is that it's pretty close the Justin's school...so maybe he can pick things up on his way home some days???