by Cinda

Pictured above:  Annika and Toby relaxing after school.  Annika playing computer games, Toby playing with his Hot Wheels track.

Starting today, Annika and her classmates have a new school schedule and a new teacher.  Mrs. Elizabeth Cutler and husband arrived a little over a week ago and have been settling in and learning the ropes of the Darhan school up until today — now she’s the teacher-in-charge.  Mary Ellen is going to be with her in the classroom each day this week to help with the adjustments for everyone.  We are incredibly grateful to Mary Ellen for all of her hard work and dedication to the kids over this past month +.  Now we are very happy to have the Cutlers here for a few months to teach as we continue to await the arrival of Karen, the teacher-to-be.  The kids all go to school at 9:00 a.m. together on a bus, but now the older kids will be staying until 3:00 each day (we had a shortened school day the past month to make things easier for Mary Ellen as our long-term substitute teacher).  Today Annika is working on choosing, writing, and memorizing a Bible verse for a school presentation.

Toby, Levi, and Eli are still going to school in the mornings with the bigger children on the bus, but now they return home at 1:00 via taxi accompanied by one of the Mongolian workers from CLTC.  Today was the first day for these little guys to come home in a taxi!  Toby seems rather nonchalant about it, so hopefully that means it was a good experience for all concerned!  He learned about rivers in school today.  I asked him what lives in rivers and he answered “sharks and whales”. . .  Next week he says they will learn about snowy mountains.