I have been in a more comtemplative mood lately. On weekdays I walk to school in the morning and after about 4 hours of Mongolian language lesson I walk home for lunch. Maybe it is the peace corps strong warning about people falling in potholes or maybe its my own interest, but I find myself noticing the footprints in the sand. I see the footprint and take notice to the shoes mostly...converse, pumas, umbro soccer shoes, cleats, or hasha sandals. Sometimes I see...crocks, now i know i am the only one with crocks in this town and i know this footprint is mine. it serves somewhat as a symbolism for me. I am really just learning in Sukhbaatar, but no matter how insignificant my role, i am leaving my footprint in the sand. Everyone around here has noticed the 15 american peace corps volunteers and little kids will scream "hi, hi" as you walk by. some will even say "how are you?", but when i respond with a simple, "i'm good, how are you?" they giggle and run away. they have no idea what they are saying...they just know that it's in English. The other day we practiced games in mongolian with a bunch of mongolian kids. people as they walked by joinged our group and the kids were so excited to play with americans. they laughed as we muttered the directions and made mistakes with our crappy mongolian skills. Where this experience will lead me....i have no idea!! only time will tell. All i know is that i'm happy to be leaving my footprint in a place on the other side of the world and a place that would otherwise not know I exist. I think sometimes, in our everyday lives we forget that with everything we do...we live our footprint. In all of our interactions we are leaving an impact on the people we are sharing our lives with. People have always said....a smile goes a mile, but i think that smile needs to be genuin and it is important to appreciate all the people that walk in and out of our lives. All of these interactions make up who we are and how we perceive the world. Everything is a matter of perception and I think people would be more satistied with their lives if they realize that they are leaving their footprint in the sand. Everybody's footprint is different, but recognizable if we take the time to look.
on another note:
Today, I chopped wood and learned how to cook Mongolian food on a fire stove. it is really cool to think about when i get home....i'll be able to say "i'll cook you some bomb mongolian food"! I have been here for almost a month....i think.....but it's funny my mind still sometimes reverts to hebrew. i feel sometimes that because i went to israel before coming here i was somewhat more prepared. simply because i have gotten over the "i miss american food" stage. of course i miss the people in my life at home, but i have gotten past the innitial shock and know that the important ones will keep in touch and still be there when i get back. (physically or not)
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
blog #3
Blog #3: 6-26-07 ( I have decided to start dating these because who knows when they will be posted…I date them for when I right them)
I overheard somebody say today that I have been here for 20 days. I’m not really sure if time is going by fast or slow. I basically have NO sense of time whatsoever…..and its kind of nice. With everyday, I feel that I am becoming more comfortable in Sukhbaatar and am becoming more familiar with the area. At night, it is sometimes hard to find my way home, but I’ve got it down now. Even in the dark. Don’t worry….I always have somebody walk me home. It’s really cute, at night all the guys become super protective over the girls, making sure we are safe. If I’m walking with two guys down a street and we see people coming the other way, they automatically tense up, put me in the middle of them, and prepare for whatever may come. So far, I have not had any problems with being harassed by drunk people. I have had a few encounters with some drunk guys, but nothing that wouldn’t happen on an average night in California.
Alright…..for those wondering how I’m living over here, here it goes. I live in a 2 story pink brick house, in an Aimag center called Sukhbaatgar (near Russian border). It is bigger than anything I’ve ever lived in. I have electricity, but no running water, which is really not as bad as it sounds. The outhouse took some getting used to, but now it doesn’t really phase me. I definitely appreciate a toilet and a shower more than ever. I have to resort to spongebathing in my peace corps assigned pink tub. It’s not the best, but it gets me clean. I have decided that on those frustrating days, where I have extra money, I will treat myself to a shower at the bathhouse. I was so nervous when I went because I didn’t know what to expect, but it really wasn’t bad at all. It was not a big room of shower heads like I was thinking. Instead it was a row of shower stalls. You basically have your own shower room. The water was warm and it felt GREAT!! I live with a 13 year old girl, Unroe and her 17 year old friend, Segi, an 8 year old boy, and their grandparents. My host family is so nice! Unroe knows a fair amount of English, but I told her to try not to talk to me in English because it will be better for my Mongolian learning. Mongolian is a difficult language, but it is coming along. Due to the hospitality of Mongolians and the peace corps guidelines, the majority of the furniture in the household is in my room. I have a very nice set up and really can’t complain. Peace corps assigned everyone a sleeping bag, a first aid kit, a water distiller, and a mosquito net. So far, I only use the water distiller. I have found that one of the best games to share with Mongolians is UNO! They love it!! It is really a universal game and easy to catch onto. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a yellow 7 thrown down with so much gumption! It’s also an easy way to practice the numbers and some colors in Mongolian. Mongolians love Enrique Iglesias! My little “doos” (the Mongolian word for younger sibling) walk around the house singing “Maria…..” personally I don’t really like this song, but they enjoy it. One day I played my Avril Lavigne CD for Unroe and she was asking me what the songs meant. They all seemed to be bitter songs about boys. Anyway, my house is about 15 minute walk from the school where all my training takes place. It’s a nice walk, but sometimes the guard dogs are a little intimidating…..so I changed my path to one with less dogs. There are sooo many dogs around here! So far there are 2 things I don’t trust in Mongolia, one is the dogs, and the other is the drivers. The dogs, you can only sometimes tell the crazy ones….of course some are really nice and sweet…..but you never know. That’s just how I feel, some of my friends are more friendly with the dogs. I have two dogs…they are nice. Dogs here NEVER live inside. They roam the streets….rummaging through trash, guarding their home, playing and mating. And for the drivers…..I don’t trust them because they are always trying to avoid potholes and other bumps in the dirt roads, so if you are walking…you never know when they are going to swerve. It’s actually kind of cute to hear the little kids yell “machine” when a car is coming. When you hear that, you get off the road and wait for the car to go by.
Sukhbaatar is amazing. I live right next to the mountains, and there are plenty of options for hikes. I have done a little exploring and will continue try new hikes. The sky is amazing! I feel like, if I climbed the right mountain I could touch the clouds. For somebody who usually hates rain, I love the rainy days here. It is absolutely beautiful! It will be a bright beautiful day, and you will be able to see the dark clouds coming. Suddenly it starts to get gloomy and you feel a wind. Suddenly, you hear bits of thunder and see lightening as if it is in a photograph. It begins to rain, but only for a little while. While it is raining, you can still see the beautiful blue sky that used to be overhead. As the dark clouds move, you feel the sun warming up your skin, and the blue sky is painted with distinct clouds of white and purple. There is really nothing like it! I always want to take pictures of the sky!
I overheard somebody say today that I have been here for 20 days. I’m not really sure if time is going by fast or slow. I basically have NO sense of time whatsoever…..and its kind of nice. With everyday, I feel that I am becoming more comfortable in Sukhbaatar and am becoming more familiar with the area. At night, it is sometimes hard to find my way home, but I’ve got it down now. Even in the dark. Don’t worry….I always have somebody walk me home. It’s really cute, at night all the guys become super protective over the girls, making sure we are safe. If I’m walking with two guys down a street and we see people coming the other way, they automatically tense up, put me in the middle of them, and prepare for whatever may come. So far, I have not had any problems with being harassed by drunk people. I have had a few encounters with some drunk guys, but nothing that wouldn’t happen on an average night in California.
Alright…..for those wondering how I’m living over here, here it goes. I live in a 2 story pink brick house, in an Aimag center called Sukhbaatgar (near Russian border). It is bigger than anything I’ve ever lived in. I have electricity, but no running water, which is really not as bad as it sounds. The outhouse took some getting used to, but now it doesn’t really phase me. I definitely appreciate a toilet and a shower more than ever. I have to resort to spongebathing in my peace corps assigned pink tub. It’s not the best, but it gets me clean. I have decided that on those frustrating days, where I have extra money, I will treat myself to a shower at the bathhouse. I was so nervous when I went because I didn’t know what to expect, but it really wasn’t bad at all. It was not a big room of shower heads like I was thinking. Instead it was a row of shower stalls. You basically have your own shower room. The water was warm and it felt GREAT!! I live with a 13 year old girl, Unroe and her 17 year old friend, Segi, an 8 year old boy, and their grandparents. My host family is so nice! Unroe knows a fair amount of English, but I told her to try not to talk to me in English because it will be better for my Mongolian learning. Mongolian is a difficult language, but it is coming along. Due to the hospitality of Mongolians and the peace corps guidelines, the majority of the furniture in the household is in my room. I have a very nice set up and really can’t complain. Peace corps assigned everyone a sleeping bag, a first aid kit, a water distiller, and a mosquito net. So far, I only use the water distiller. I have found that one of the best games to share with Mongolians is UNO! They love it!! It is really a universal game and easy to catch onto. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a yellow 7 thrown down with so much gumption! It’s also an easy way to practice the numbers and some colors in Mongolian. Mongolians love Enrique Iglesias! My little “doos” (the Mongolian word for younger sibling) walk around the house singing “Maria…..” personally I don’t really like this song, but they enjoy it. One day I played my Avril Lavigne CD for Unroe and she was asking me what the songs meant. They all seemed to be bitter songs about boys. Anyway, my house is about 15 minute walk from the school where all my training takes place. It’s a nice walk, but sometimes the guard dogs are a little intimidating…..so I changed my path to one with less dogs. There are sooo many dogs around here! So far there are 2 things I don’t trust in Mongolia, one is the dogs, and the other is the drivers. The dogs, you can only sometimes tell the crazy ones….of course some are really nice and sweet…..but you never know. That’s just how I feel, some of my friends are more friendly with the dogs. I have two dogs…they are nice. Dogs here NEVER live inside. They roam the streets….rummaging through trash, guarding their home, playing and mating. And for the drivers…..I don’t trust them because they are always trying to avoid potholes and other bumps in the dirt roads, so if you are walking…you never know when they are going to swerve. It’s actually kind of cute to hear the little kids yell “machine” when a car is coming. When you hear that, you get off the road and wait for the car to go by.
Sukhbaatar is amazing. I live right next to the mountains, and there are plenty of options for hikes. I have done a little exploring and will continue try new hikes. The sky is amazing! I feel like, if I climbed the right mountain I could touch the clouds. For somebody who usually hates rain, I love the rainy days here. It is absolutely beautiful! It will be a bright beautiful day, and you will be able to see the dark clouds coming. Suddenly it starts to get gloomy and you feel a wind. Suddenly, you hear bits of thunder and see lightening as if it is in a photograph. It begins to rain, but only for a little while. While it is raining, you can still see the beautiful blue sky that used to be overhead. As the dark clouds move, you feel the sun warming up your skin, and the blue sky is painted with distinct clouds of white and purple. There is really nothing like it! I always want to take pictures of the sky!
blog #2
Today is Saturday and there’s no class. Hurray! Instead, I woke up around 8am because I never can sleep here. I ate breakfast and then my ech showed me how they handwash laundry here. I have never worked so hard to get my clothes clean in my life. My hands are achy and dry. My laundry took about 3 or 4 hours. I went to go hang dry it on the line outside, but it looked like it was maybe going to rain. Sure enough right when I got everything hung, I hear the rolling thunder sound coming from the clouds and it starts to rain. I felt like I was in a movie. In a movie, this would be the part when it starts pouring down rain while I was taking my clothes down. Thankfully, I am not in a movie. It lightly rained while I took my clothes down and rushed into the house. My ech and I hung all our clothes throughout the house. Then we made lunch: fried potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and meat. I don’t ask what kind of meat it is, I just eat it. I think it is some kind of salami. I think after so many meals of not finishing my plate, my ech has realized that she does not need to feed me so much. Today, she asked me if I wanted the big bowl or the little. This is a big step up. It is a cultural thing that as a guest, they constantly give me like twice as much food as everyone else. I really don’t need that much food, and usually end up eating the same amount as everyone else. This made me feel wasteful, until today I saw that my ech saves the food and eats it later.
The clouds here are constantly amazing. I am at a much higher elevation here than in California, and it feels like the clouds are so close. They are crystal clear and seem like you could reach them if you climbed the right mountain. The other day, it was rainy and towards the end of the day, the sky started to clear up. The sky does not clear here the same way as at home. I couldn’t get my eyes off of the sky. The huge rain cloud was moving to uncover the beautiful clear sky. Behind this oversized rain cloud was the beautiful crystal clear blue sky. Don’t worry, I took pictures.
The clouds here are constantly amazing. I am at a much higher elevation here than in California, and it feels like the clouds are so close. They are crystal clear and seem like you could reach them if you climbed the right mountain. The other day, it was rainy and towards the end of the day, the sky started to clear up. The sky does not clear here the same way as at home. I couldn’t get my eyes off of the sky. The huge rain cloud was moving to uncover the beautiful clear sky. Behind this oversized rain cloud was the beautiful crystal clear blue sky. Don’t worry, I took pictures.
blog #1 from mongolia
Blog #1
This is my first update on what’s going on over here. I’ll start out with a quick little recap of the major things of the past week. Starting out in Atlanta, I got to hang out with Myiedra and my friend Lee-Ora from my Israel trip. It was nice. I got there one day early. The rest of the Peace Corps people came and I started meeting all these new people. It’s really neat how most of the people I have encountered have done really interesting and exciting things in their lives. I feel like I am just starting my rap sheet, and I am excited to build with every experience. Staging was basically just an introduction into the Peace Corps. Then we left for the longest plane ride ever! Destination: Korea. I was so happy when I found out I was going to have 28 hours in Korea. I took the time to go out on the town and see what I could. A group of us went into the city of Seoul at night and walked around.
There were all these street vendors and many people in the street. Luckily, we had one natural Korean speaker with us. He found a traditional Korean restaurant where we filled our stomachs with delicious meat, salads, and crab. That’s right, I tried crab for my first time! Not a fan, but at least I tried it. After eating we walked around the street and found this huge crowd of people. There was a stage set up and a dance contest going on in the street. It’s crazy! It doesn’t matter where you are, everyone loves Justin Timberlake. We watched for a little while and continued walking. We found a bar to sit it, but it was empty. So the girls went down to do what we do best…..shop. And the boys stayed upstairs to do what they do best….drink. My friend and I bought Korea shirts. Mine is really cute and has these little Korean characters on it. I made sure not to buy one with writing because I didn’t know what it said. My friend didn’t follow the same selection process. When we got back to the boys, our designated Korean speaker informed us that the shirt said “belly fat”. Not until this moment did we realized the character on the shirt was squeezing his belly fat.
We laughed and I thought of those people who bet random tattoos in different languages and end up with the wrong word. At least hers was just a T-shirt. The next day, me and a group of people arranged to go on a tour of the beach, a monastery, and the fish market. I was really excited to see the beach and the monastery. Dead fish was not going to be my highlight. We went to this beach, but it was low tide. This was lower tide than I have ever seen where the water was really far away. So, we walked around where the water would be when high tide came and played with the little crabs and snails. This beach is called ‘fairy beach’ because there is a rock that supposedly looks like a fairy. I’m not so sure I saw the fairy but I took a picture, so you be the judge.
Maybe somebody saw a fairy in the rock one night when hanging out on the beach with there friends, enjoying their favorite past time and decided to name the beach. If naming beaches in California was so easy, I know one that would be called Puff the Magic Dragon beach…..but it’s not…instead it’s Laguna. How boring. Anyway, after the beach, our cute little tour guide (who is probably the sweetest person ever) took us to the monastery. We got to hear the monks praying, which was really neat.
She also showed us how Buddhists pray. She told us that if you have lots of wishes and lots to pray for, some people with pray up to 3000 times a day!!! That’s nuts! Personally, I think the time would be better spent taking actions towards achieving the things that they want, but ‘to each his own’. So, after the monastery we proceeded to the fish market, which was a lot cooler than I thought it would be. It’s insane all the different things people eat out of the ocean. People were there buy their food to feed their family, but I just wanted to play with all the cool animals. I walked around looking at everything, but really I just wanted to poke everything and see what would happen. I felt like a little kid at the hands on part of the aquarium, but I wasn’t allowed to touch. I could have…but I felt it would be rude to play with people’s food. I learned something valuable at the fish market, octopus still moves after you cut him up. Many people eat the octopus and it is moving in their mouth. I think these are the type of people who should go on fear factor. After the fish market we went back to the hotel. It is interesting how in Asian cultures, people do not accept tips.
The trip to Mongolia:
The flight to Mongolia was only about 4 or 5 hours. I was so excited to finally be on my way to my final destination. The lady sitting next to me was the first Mongolian I met. She asked me if I was working in Mongolia, I told her I’m volunteering. I was pleasantly surprised when she asked if I was in the Peace Corps. She teaches nursing at a university and has worked a lot with the Peace Corps. She seemed very pleased with her interactions with the Peace Corps and was happy to see a group of 48 coming to her country. Up until this point, I had been told the Mongolians were open to having the peace Corps, but I had subconsciously wondered if that was just what they said. We arrived to Chinggis Khan airport in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia around 10pm. We gathered our bags and walked into a screaming group of current Peace Corps volunteers. They were so excited to see us…why? I still don’t exactly understand. Upon asking, I was informed that I would find out in a year. It was kind of cool to meet the girl I have been talking to on Myspace. A little overwhelmed by the crowd I got on the bus and waited for our departure. We arrived at a Ger camp for our first night in Mongolia at around 12am.
I woke up in morning to go to the bathroom. I took care of my business and decided to look outside. I opened the door and it was seriously surreal. I knew at that moment that I had come to the right country. Here’s my first view of Mongolia:
I don’t have a picture of them, but there were horses grazing on the bottom of the hill to the left of this picture. We had lunch with the American ambassador and left for our next destination: Durkhan, the third largest city in Mongolia. (which doesn’t say much) The bus ride was long and hot and I was exhausted from the jetlag, but couldn’t sleep from the bumpy roads. The scenery as we drove was absolutely beautiful. I wasn’t hoping to see a yak, but I’m still waiting. We passed by sheep, cows, people bathing in the river, saw stray dogs and miles and miles of scenery. This country looks so different from home. It seems untouched. There is so much land that just exists. We checked into our hotel in Darkhan and have been staying there for the passed few nights. Now I come to the present. We have been having all sorts of safety and security, cross-cultural training, and language classes. Mongolian is not an easy language, but my familiarity with Hebrew has helped me to make some of the sounds. There was a Welcome ceremony where we were introduced to traditional Mongolian dances, clothing, and throat singing.
And we were presented with a Mongolian scarf that they use as a gift for people who are respected and welcome. We have now had the first 8 of our 14 shots in 30 days. Luckily, I’m not afraid of needles. Everything that we are doing here are just preparing us for our host families and the next 3 months of training. I am really excited to get started. We have heard many awkward and embarrassing stories from some current volunteers. I am so excited, even if I am going to be the weird American.
Today we had a meeting with our individual sectors. Mine is CYD, Community Youth Development. I am really excited to start my 3 months of intense training. I still don’t know my exact job, but we got our handbooks and this huge resource guide. I can tell that the work I will be doing is going to be challenging, has a lot of room for flexibility and it is going to be an amazing beginning to the rest of my life. It is right up my alley to be working with “vulnerable youth”, summer camps, and after school programs. I will be working with an organization that is already established here. Aside from the details of this job, I hope to come up with a secondary project that will benefit the kids and be fun. A very important aspect of feeling productive and being a successful volunteer will be how well I learn the language. I am a little nervous about this because it’s not really my strong point. I think I will give it the time and effort needed because I really learned how vital language is while I was in Israel. While in Israel, my language barriers were the main cause of my frustrations. Some current volunteers are helping with our training. I am impressed at their language skills and I can only hope that I can learn enough to communicate what I want to say. With each step of this process and each new experience, I get more excited about the next 27 months. It is going to be amazing and I really feel like this is where I’m supposed to be right now. Of course I will miss my family and friends at home and it is sad to miss out on certain events, but I am confident that I have made the right choice.
The food has not been bad. Mutton is a common dish here and is served in many different forms. Basically, it is lamb meat that is taken from an older animal. It is tougher, but tastes good if cooked right. The cheese and yogurt are really good. I have a feeling I will be eating a lot of rice and meat and I’m ok with that. I haven’t anything different yet. I did see some cow tongue, but I didn’t eat it. I’m pretty sure people eat it in the US also. I was nervous about the lack of spices, but I have been pleased to find out that they do use salt. My diet will change when I get to my host family…
This is my first update on what’s going on over here. I’ll start out with a quick little recap of the major things of the past week. Starting out in Atlanta, I got to hang out with Myiedra and my friend Lee-Ora from my Israel trip. It was nice. I got there one day early. The rest of the Peace Corps people came and I started meeting all these new people. It’s really neat how most of the people I have encountered have done really interesting and exciting things in their lives. I feel like I am just starting my rap sheet, and I am excited to build with every experience. Staging was basically just an introduction into the Peace Corps. Then we left for the longest plane ride ever! Destination: Korea. I was so happy when I found out I was going to have 28 hours in Korea. I took the time to go out on the town and see what I could. A group of us went into the city of Seoul at night and walked around.
There were all these street vendors and many people in the street. Luckily, we had one natural Korean speaker with us. He found a traditional Korean restaurant where we filled our stomachs with delicious meat, salads, and crab. That’s right, I tried crab for my first time! Not a fan, but at least I tried it. After eating we walked around the street and found this huge crowd of people. There was a stage set up and a dance contest going on in the street. It’s crazy! It doesn’t matter where you are, everyone loves Justin Timberlake. We watched for a little while and continued walking. We found a bar to sit it, but it was empty. So the girls went down to do what we do best…..shop. And the boys stayed upstairs to do what they do best….drink. My friend and I bought Korea shirts. Mine is really cute and has these little Korean characters on it. I made sure not to buy one with writing because I didn’t know what it said. My friend didn’t follow the same selection process. When we got back to the boys, our designated Korean speaker informed us that the shirt said “belly fat”. Not until this moment did we realized the character on the shirt was squeezing his belly fat.
We laughed and I thought of those people who bet random tattoos in different languages and end up with the wrong word. At least hers was just a T-shirt. The next day, me and a group of people arranged to go on a tour of the beach, a monastery, and the fish market. I was really excited to see the beach and the monastery. Dead fish was not going to be my highlight. We went to this beach, but it was low tide. This was lower tide than I have ever seen where the water was really far away. So, we walked around where the water would be when high tide came and played with the little crabs and snails. This beach is called ‘fairy beach’ because there is a rock that supposedly looks like a fairy. I’m not so sure I saw the fairy but I took a picture, so you be the judge.
Maybe somebody saw a fairy in the rock one night when hanging out on the beach with there friends, enjoying their favorite past time and decided to name the beach. If naming beaches in California was so easy, I know one that would be called Puff the Magic Dragon beach…..but it’s not…instead it’s Laguna. How boring. Anyway, after the beach, our cute little tour guide (who is probably the sweetest person ever) took us to the monastery. We got to hear the monks praying, which was really neat.
She also showed us how Buddhists pray. She told us that if you have lots of wishes and lots to pray for, some people with pray up to 3000 times a day!!! That’s nuts! Personally, I think the time would be better spent taking actions towards achieving the things that they want, but ‘to each his own’. So, after the monastery we proceeded to the fish market, which was a lot cooler than I thought it would be. It’s insane all the different things people eat out of the ocean. People were there buy their food to feed their family, but I just wanted to play with all the cool animals. I walked around looking at everything, but really I just wanted to poke everything and see what would happen. I felt like a little kid at the hands on part of the aquarium, but I wasn’t allowed to touch. I could have…but I felt it would be rude to play with people’s food. I learned something valuable at the fish market, octopus still moves after you cut him up. Many people eat the octopus and it is moving in their mouth. I think these are the type of people who should go on fear factor. After the fish market we went back to the hotel. It is interesting how in Asian cultures, people do not accept tips.
The trip to Mongolia:
The flight to Mongolia was only about 4 or 5 hours. I was so excited to finally be on my way to my final destination. The lady sitting next to me was the first Mongolian I met. She asked me if I was working in Mongolia, I told her I’m volunteering. I was pleasantly surprised when she asked if I was in the Peace Corps. She teaches nursing at a university and has worked a lot with the Peace Corps. She seemed very pleased with her interactions with the Peace Corps and was happy to see a group of 48 coming to her country. Up until this point, I had been told the Mongolians were open to having the peace Corps, but I had subconsciously wondered if that was just what they said. We arrived to Chinggis Khan airport in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia around 10pm. We gathered our bags and walked into a screaming group of current Peace Corps volunteers. They were so excited to see us…why? I still don’t exactly understand. Upon asking, I was informed that I would find out in a year. It was kind of cool to meet the girl I have been talking to on Myspace. A little overwhelmed by the crowd I got on the bus and waited for our departure. We arrived at a Ger camp for our first night in Mongolia at around 12am.
I woke up in morning to go to the bathroom. I took care of my business and decided to look outside. I opened the door and it was seriously surreal. I knew at that moment that I had come to the right country. Here’s my first view of Mongolia:
I don’t have a picture of them, but there were horses grazing on the bottom of the hill to the left of this picture. We had lunch with the American ambassador and left for our next destination: Durkhan, the third largest city in Mongolia. (which doesn’t say much) The bus ride was long and hot and I was exhausted from the jetlag, but couldn’t sleep from the bumpy roads. The scenery as we drove was absolutely beautiful. I wasn’t hoping to see a yak, but I’m still waiting. We passed by sheep, cows, people bathing in the river, saw stray dogs and miles and miles of scenery. This country looks so different from home. It seems untouched. There is so much land that just exists. We checked into our hotel in Darkhan and have been staying there for the passed few nights. Now I come to the present. We have been having all sorts of safety and security, cross-cultural training, and language classes. Mongolian is not an easy language, but my familiarity with Hebrew has helped me to make some of the sounds. There was a Welcome ceremony where we were introduced to traditional Mongolian dances, clothing, and throat singing.
And we were presented with a Mongolian scarf that they use as a gift for people who are respected and welcome. We have now had the first 8 of our 14 shots in 30 days. Luckily, I’m not afraid of needles. Everything that we are doing here are just preparing us for our host families and the next 3 months of training. I am really excited to get started. We have heard many awkward and embarrassing stories from some current volunteers. I am so excited, even if I am going to be the weird American.
Today we had a meeting with our individual sectors. Mine is CYD, Community Youth Development. I am really excited to start my 3 months of intense training. I still don’t know my exact job, but we got our handbooks and this huge resource guide. I can tell that the work I will be doing is going to be challenging, has a lot of room for flexibility and it is going to be an amazing beginning to the rest of my life. It is right up my alley to be working with “vulnerable youth”, summer camps, and after school programs. I will be working with an organization that is already established here. Aside from the details of this job, I hope to come up with a secondary project that will benefit the kids and be fun. A very important aspect of feeling productive and being a successful volunteer will be how well I learn the language. I am a little nervous about this because it’s not really my strong point. I think I will give it the time and effort needed because I really learned how vital language is while I was in Israel. While in Israel, my language barriers were the main cause of my frustrations. Some current volunteers are helping with our training. I am impressed at their language skills and I can only hope that I can learn enough to communicate what I want to say. With each step of this process and each new experience, I get more excited about the next 27 months. It is going to be amazing and I really feel like this is where I’m supposed to be right now. Of course I will miss my family and friends at home and it is sad to miss out on certain events, but I am confident that I have made the right choice.
The food has not been bad. Mutton is a common dish here and is served in many different forms. Basically, it is lamb meat that is taken from an older animal. It is tougher, but tastes good if cooked right. The cheese and yogurt are really good. I have a feeling I will be eating a lot of rice and meat and I’m ok with that. I haven’t anything different yet. I did see some cow tongue, but I didn’t eat it. I’m pretty sure people eat it in the US also. I was nervous about the lack of spices, but I have been pleased to find out that they do use salt. My diet will change when I get to my host family…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)