2023.03.14. – A random busy day

Today was kinda crazy. Teaching with a film crew in the room, meetings, swimming, and getting so much done.

First, I went to the university – a bit early for my class, as usual –, and made a worksheet for next week for one of my classes. About 10 minutes before my class, the film crew (I learned about them yesterday from the Ambassador, coming in a future post about my previous few days) arrived, so I met them in the aula of the building and took them to the classroom. They took a few minutes to set up in a corner – they chose one of the front corners of the room for the camera, so I was forced to use the right half of the blackboard, as I didn’t want to accidentally knock their equipment over – it was stood right by the left side of the board. They stayed for about 20-25 mins and hopefully managed to get some useable footage from my class – there were only 4 people at class today, as one girl had emailed me in the morning that she would be absent today. Two of these 4 are not very quick students (and they don’t speak much English either, so I suspect they don’t always understand me) so I assume the crew had some fun listening to me trying to teach them – especially as this was my complete beginner group, not the more advanced one – but hey, whatever. Once they left, the atmosphere got a bit lighter (I guess the students were a bit nervous about being filmed, understandable) and we had some jokes with the students. Also, one of the girls got an email just as we were discussing restaurant menu items and it said that their visas are finally ready! Which means the students who are going to Hungary this semester (and are already late for university there) can actually leave for Hungary in a few days – so exciting! They were super happy, of course, even jumped up to hug each other. I am also happy for them (but sad for those guys in my other group who didn’t even get nominated for Stipendium Hungaricum). Oh, and we talked a bit about summer universities at the end of the class and they asked me to send them links as they might be interested in applying for that too.

After my class, I had about 30 minutes to do some administration, send out (and upload) homework files, and the links about the summer university. Then I had a meeting with Munkh about my journal article. It was basically me sitting in a chair and him trying to translate my abstract into Mongolian, as apparently the committee’s only remaining problem was that the translation I’d provided (with Google Translate, if you remember) was shitty, naturally. He really seemed to struggle with the translation though, as his English is good enough for casual conversation but my abstract was written in academic English with quite a few field-specific expressions – I had to explain many phrases and concepts to him so that he could provide a more-or-less accurate translation; and to be honest, I am not sure how well we succeeded, but I also don’t really care, I am just happy it’s (hopefully!) finally over. But this is like my 4^th time saying this, so I won’t believe it’s actually over until I see it published.

Going back to my office, I also had a short meeting with Otgontuya, asking if my Monday class can be moved to a different building (as per my students’ request) but she said no – which is fine with me, I don’t mind either way, it’s just that my students have to walk between classes, and they are usually a bit late due to that. But if I know it’s regular, I can plan with it, and if Otgontuya says it’s fine, then it’s fine.

Once that was done, I gathered my stuff and went over to the Embassy to grab the safety pins that they managed to find me (for my class tomorrow where we’ll do some arts&crafts and everyone can make their own kokárda. I had a nice chat with the girl from the embassy while she smoked a cigarette, then she went back to work, and I went to the Vegetarian Café to meet my husband for lunch. Today, for the first time, I chose the udon noodles dish instead of the PB fried veggies – it was good, but nothing spectacular. Still nice to be able to have lunch (for the two of us, OJ included) for a mere 2.5k HUF though.

After lunch, we came home, and I took about half an hour to ‘chill’ by making my very first kokárda – mine was handed down to me by my mom as a kid and so I never needed to make one for myself. But I wanted to see how it can come together so that tomorrow I can show the students how to do it in class. (I also realised that it might be better if they bring their own needles so that we don’t have to all wait in line for my own that I have in my travel sewing kit.) Once my – wobbly but recognisable – kokárda was ready, I grabbed my swim stuff and left for ShangriLa.

My improvised arts & crafts station on the couch

Weather today is kinda crazy btw, it was about -10 degrees during the day, and sunny, but also very windy (icy winds in these temperatures!), and when I was walking to the pool, it was also snowing. Dark grey clouds in the background over the mountains, bright blue sky above me, snowflakes whirling around and rushing into my face (bc of the wind), sunshine blinding me (where there were no tall buildings to give shade). Quite the experience.

'Spring' lasted about 2 days so far - and we are back to the cold and snow for now...

The weird scary statue now has 4 multiples and some green stage lights too

At the pool, I had a nice swim, then a nice walk back home (it stopped snowing, thankfully, as my boots got so worn by now – I’d had them for several years – that they simply ripped a few days ago, and I had to throw them away; now I only have my trainers). Once I changed into comfy clothes back at home, I made a quick milkshake (with frozen fruits, vegan protein powder, and flaxseeds).

Then, I started the productive slice of my evening. First, I’ve answered an email and booked a timeslot for an interview. Then I’ve answered another email. Then I’ve sent an email (to the journal committee with my freshly revised article from my meeting with Munkh). We’ve also ordered some fruits and veggies in an app because our Emart delivery arrived while I was at the pool and there were loads of things they didn’t bring from our order, so we just had to place another one for another shop, hoping they would manage to actually get us the products. I’ve watched a Hungarian short film (12 mins only) that a friend (who’s also a teacher of Hungarian) recommended, and I’ll watch another one she told me to once this entry is over. Finally, I edited the video of my students reading/reciting the Petőfi poem Nemzeti Dal from the individual clips on the iPad; and messaged the embassy girl to ask if they wanted to share it on the official FB page of the embassy, and if so, in what format. And now I am writing this diary entry. Also, our groceries just arrived – now we have a bunch of beautiful fresh produce (almost unbelievable, here in Mongolia, fruits and veggies usually look very bleak and small). After watching the other recommended short film, I plan on doing some reading (Danish HP) and watch some videos on YT as a way of relaxing before going to bed. Hopefully around midnight or so, bc I am very tired.