Today was “Би Монгол Хүн,” or “I am a Mongolian,” day at school. Students and teachers were instructed to wear traditional Mongolian clothes, and because all my dels are in America, I borrowed a very pretty one from Darkhuu. In some grades only a few kids wore outfits, but in the 11th grade most kids did, and they looked wonderful. Here I am with my very tall students.

Most of the teachers also wore dels, and there was lots of joking in the teachers room about how their dels seemed to get smaller each year. When one teacher was demonstrating how hers was pined in the front to keep her top shut, I reminded them that one year, for a reason I can’t remember, I had to wear a Mongolian outfit that was so small on the top that my friend Ulambayar had to sew the front shut with me in it. They all laughed but kindly said that I wasn’t that big on top- one friend even checked for herself by giving my boobs a nice big squeeze! The tata squeezer didn’t get away without some ribbing of her own, though, because she was one of the people whose dels had mysteriously gotten smaller over the years. Not only was her belt on the very last hole but someone said that next year we will have to scotch tape her dell shut. I love my co-workers and their totally inappropriate senses’ of humor.