4-30-2009
It is crazy to think about how quickly my time here in Mongolia is coming to an end. I’m not going to lie, I did think about staying an extra year. Now that I have officially decided to head to the states, there are three topics that enter the mind:
What do you want to do before you leave?
How do you feel about your time here?
What do you want to do when you get back to America?
These are 3 huge questions with very intricate answers.
What do you want to do before you leave?
Outside of my work, I have decided to make more of an effort to see more of the country. I got on a bus headed for the western aimags and found myself 43 hours later in Hovd. At the beginning of the bus ride, I didn’t lead people on to the fact that I speak Mongolian, but it ended up coming out anyway. They all think it’s cute. There is an interesting dynamic when you are stuffed into a small bus for the long-hall. Whether you speak or not, there are interactions between each person… sometimes going undetected. The women next to me found a nice pillow on my shoulder and I found a nice pillow against the window. The first night, I was pretty dang cold, but the second night was not bad at all. I slept the majority of the way and got really tired of countryside people who aren’t used to seeing foreigners ignoring me or having trouble understanding me. Sometimes, it feels like people just don’t try. The first leg of the trip went through my aimag and was the same scenery I’ve seen a million times. The next was through Bayankhongor, which is pretty brown with a few mountains. The 3 part is through Gov Altai, which is basically when I came too and was really beginning to appreciate the scenery. The snow-capped Altai mountains were absolutely beautiful. The last part of the trip is through Hovd, headed for the aimag center. I got there pretty early in the morning, met up with a friend, and went back to sleep. I spent a couple days in Hovd, somewhat recovering from the long trip and relaxing. Hovd is absolutely beautiful and it was funny how happy it made me to see things like the melting river turning into moving water, huge and real mountains (as opposed to the hills we have in my town), and trees (even if they didn’t have leaves on them. Also, the west has a lot more diversity than my town, in their Mongolians and their foreigners. I went through a time last year where I literally craved any amount of diversity in my life. Had I been out west, this may have been different.
From Hovd, I gathered a few friends and we all headed out to Bayan-Ulgii. This is the furthest western province in Mongolia. Due to the Kazakh presence, it almost feels like another country. The city reminds me somewhat of the Middle East, the way it is set up with the stone walls and street alleys. In the stores, some people wanted to speak Kazakh instead of Mongolian, and I once again felt slightly intimidated when walking in to grab something. Some of the store owners were happy to see that me and my friends spoke Mongolian and were willing to converse with us in Mongolian. During the summer, Bayan-Ulgii gets a lot of tourists coming through to see the famous Eagle Hunters and Kazakh embroidery. I think the store owners were surprised to find a group of five foreigners; 2 of which speak Kazakh and the rest who speak Mongolian. In our time in Bayan-Ulgii, we walked around the city, threw around a football with a bunch of people in the market, walked on the river (it was still frozen), checked out the museum and bought cool Kazakh embroidered bags and purses. It is really interesting to see the mix of cultures out there; it is like nothing else in Mongolia.
After Bayan-Ulgii, we headed back to Hovd. I hung around for a couple days, and then got on the bus to head back to my town. I decided to make a quick stop in Bayankhongor to see the town and a friend before going back to Uvurkhungai. Though shorter, the bus ride from Hovd to Bayankhongor was much worse than the previous trip. I was on the “hot seat” on the bus. This means I was sitting on top of the engine or the radiator (or something), causing me to extremely hot and uncomfortable the entire ride. Me and two boys shared the hot seat, and switched it up who sat at the hottest part, but for the most part the entire ride was awful. I was dropped off on the edge of Bayankhongor and called my friend to figure out where I was. Bayankhongor is a town similar to my town, but with a little bit less infrastructure. Their claims to fame are really nice benches and trash cans, a western style restaurant, and a Dinosaur Park. Apparently, there used to be tons of Dinosaur bones but people have since picked them all up. I spent two nights in Bayankhongor before heading back home. The final leg of my ride was pretty short and rather nice, since I got a ride with a family in a Land Rover. Once back in my town it was nice to home, in my ger. I realized that I really like lighting fires and that I wanted to spend a lot of time with my Mongolian Family before I leave.
It is crazy to think about how quickly my time here in Mongolia is coming to an end. I’m not going to lie, I did think about staying an extra year. Now that I have officially decided to head to the states, there are three topics that enter the mind:
What do you want to do before you leave?
How do you feel about your time here?
What do you want to do when you get back to America?
These are 3 huge questions with very intricate answers.
What do you want to do before you leave?
Outside of my work, I have decided to make more of an effort to see more of the country. I got on a bus headed for the western aimags and found myself 43 hours later in Hovd. At the beginning of the bus ride, I didn’t lead people on to the fact that I speak Mongolian, but it ended up coming out anyway. They all think it’s cute. There is an interesting dynamic when you are stuffed into a small bus for the long-hall. Whether you speak or not, there are interactions between each person… sometimes going undetected. The women next to me found a nice pillow on my shoulder and I found a nice pillow against the window. The first night, I was pretty dang cold, but the second night was not bad at all. I slept the majority of the way and got really tired of countryside people who aren’t used to seeing foreigners ignoring me or having trouble understanding me. Sometimes, it feels like people just don’t try. The first leg of the trip went through my aimag and was the same scenery I’ve seen a million times. The next was through Bayankhongor, which is pretty brown with a few mountains. The 3 part is through Gov Altai, which is basically when I came too and was really beginning to appreciate the scenery. The snow-capped Altai mountains were absolutely beautiful. The last part of the trip is through Hovd, headed for the aimag center. I got there pretty early in the morning, met up with a friend, and went back to sleep. I spent a couple days in Hovd, somewhat recovering from the long trip and relaxing. Hovd is absolutely beautiful and it was funny how happy it made me to see things like the melting river turning into moving water, huge and real mountains (as opposed to the hills we have in my town), and trees (even if they didn’t have leaves on them. Also, the west has a lot more diversity than my town, in their Mongolians and their foreigners. I went through a time last year where I literally craved any amount of diversity in my life. Had I been out west, this may have been different.
From Hovd, I gathered a few friends and we all headed out to Bayan-Ulgii. This is the furthest western province in Mongolia. Due to the Kazakh presence, it almost feels like another country. The city reminds me somewhat of the Middle East, the way it is set up with the stone walls and street alleys. In the stores, some people wanted to speak Kazakh instead of Mongolian, and I once again felt slightly intimidated when walking in to grab something. Some of the store owners were happy to see that me and my friends spoke Mongolian and were willing to converse with us in Mongolian. During the summer, Bayan-Ulgii gets a lot of tourists coming through to see the famous Eagle Hunters and Kazakh embroidery. I think the store owners were surprised to find a group of five foreigners; 2 of which speak Kazakh and the rest who speak Mongolian. In our time in Bayan-Ulgii, we walked around the city, threw around a football with a bunch of people in the market, walked on the river (it was still frozen), checked out the museum and bought cool Kazakh embroidered bags and purses. It is really interesting to see the mix of cultures out there; it is like nothing else in Mongolia.
After Bayan-Ulgii, we headed back to Hovd. I hung around for a couple days, and then got on the bus to head back to my town. I decided to make a quick stop in Bayankhongor to see the town and a friend before going back to Uvurkhungai. Though shorter, the bus ride from Hovd to Bayankhongor was much worse than the previous trip. I was on the “hot seat” on the bus. This means I was sitting on top of the engine or the radiator (or something), causing me to extremely hot and uncomfortable the entire ride. Me and two boys shared the hot seat, and switched it up who sat at the hottest part, but for the most part the entire ride was awful. I was dropped off on the edge of Bayankhongor and called my friend to figure out where I was. Bayankhongor is a town similar to my town, but with a little bit less infrastructure. Their claims to fame are really nice benches and trash cans, a western style restaurant, and a Dinosaur Park. Apparently, there used to be tons of Dinosaur bones but people have since picked them all up. I spent two nights in Bayankhongor before heading back home. The final leg of my ride was pretty short and rather nice, since I got a ride with a family in a Land Rover. Once back in my town it was nice to home, in my ger. I realized that I really like lighting fires and that I wanted to spend a lot of time with my Mongolian Family before I leave.
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