Traveling around Arkhangai and getting locked in an outhouse.

July 29, 2014

            Saturday, I went for a run and on the way back it started hailing and pouring rain. It was insane and actually very painful to run back in. As the lightening began, I was afraid I was going to get electrocuted as I ran through the endless fields with my Ipod and phone. So I turned them off and put them in my pants. Not sure why I thought that was a good idea, because than I had to run home holding my pants up, which just added to the discomfort. Luckily, they stayed dry this way. I got back to my apartment drenched; my clothes were actually dripping with water and my mascara had smeared all over my face. Not a pretty sight. I learned today, that is was a result of the tornado that hit a town 2.5 hours away from me. The tornado killed one person and critically injured nine others. 100 live stock are missing and 3 cars were picked up and carried miles away. I have been repeatedly told that tornados don’t happen in Mongolia, because of the mountains and placement of the country itself, between China and Russia. So I asked my counterpart about the tornado and he said word for word, “I have no idea what is going on. Tornados are a very rare; actually I don’t think there has ever been one in my whole life. Wow this is crazy. I don’t know what is happening with my Mongolia. It’s global warming”, shook his head, disgusted, and walked away. We had a long talk about global warming previously and how he thinks it is destroying his country, which I am sure it is, but I am thankful for it, because this past winter was warmer than previous years. I only hope this coming winter is as tolerable as last winter was, for my own comfort.

            Monday and Tuesday, I traveled to two northern soums (town) in my aimag (province). My coworkers have been traveling for the past two weeks, conducting Peer Education trainings in every soum in Arkhangai. I joined them for the last two days, to help train the doctors and social workers in two of the northern soums (I was visiting my host family for the other days, so I couldn’t go to the other soums). My counterpart Ariuk told me how people were falling asleep and talking on their phones during the earlier trainings so he added more activities and games to the trainings which seemed to be help (he used a couple that I have used in previous trainings. Progress!). The real problem with the training is that since money and time was limited they had to fit in 21 topics that the hospitals are supposed to use peer educators for. So this called for a 10.5 hour long training in order to fit all the information in, with very little time for trainee participation and hands on learning. It was two doctors lecturing at another group of doctors for 10.5 hours. I too would fall asleep. So for the last two trainings, after discussing options, we decided on shortening certain topics presentations that we believed the doctors already had a great deal of knowledge about (hand washing, instrument sterilization and personal hygiene). By putting these down into just refresher trainings, I was able to fit in 6 interactive activities and energizers.

I picked what I thought would be the topics that would be the hardest for the doctors, who are training the peer educators, to come up with fun activities for the children to do. So I wanted to show them a few activities that you can do with very little resources, but that have a last impression/big impact on the participants. I picked STI/HIV, nutrition and stress management/emotional health and then 2 energizer activities and a post-test activity. My part in the trainings was two discuss the importance of planning interactive lessons, how to keep community members engaged and how to use icebreakers, warm ups and energizer activities to keep participants active throughout the whole training. My counterpart, who is the Health Department Training Manager and Epidemiologist, and the Non-Communicable Disease Doctor taught the facts. They really seemed to enjoy the energizer activities, we did a drawing one, where they had to get with partners, one was given a picture and had to describe it to their partner was could not see the picture. At the end, they compared the original with their own drawing based on the partner’s description; they all got a huge laugh out of the differences. I also had them do silent line up, where they had to line up in order of their birthdays without speaking and human knot game. For the nutrition activity, I had them get in groups and write down the recipes for the most popular Mongolian dishes. They then had to decide if they were healthy or not. If it wasn’t healthy they had to come up with a way to make it healthier meal. For anxiety and stress management, I taught them deep breathing and imagery techniques that can be used during times of high stress. The STI/HIV activity by far was the crowd favorite. I gave each of the trainees pieces of paper, some were blank and some had letters on them. They were not allowed to look at their cards in the beginning. They first had to walk around and shake hands with three people in the room, then then returned to their seats and were allowed to flip over their cards. The letters corresponded with different actions. One person was given a card that had бздхө (STI), which meant they were infected with an STI. Everyone who shook hands with this person had to stand, they may have and STI, and then everyone who shook hands with those people had to stand, and then once more. After, almost everyone in the room was standing, I then told the people with х to raise their hand, these people had a relationship with that person, but abstained from sex, so they were no infected and could sit. Then everyone with a г  had to raise their hand, these people did not have a relationship with the person, so they were not infected and could sit. The people with бц on their card used a condom, but not properly so it broke and they were infected. Those with a б on their card used a condom properly and were not infected by the STI. Once everyone with a letter on their card learned their fate, it left a group of people who had blank cards. These people represented people who did not use condoms and contracted the STI. At the end of the game, everyone was furiously writing down the abbreviations and directions for the game. I am glad that it went over well and that they thought it would be useful to use in their peer education programs. The best part was that in both trainings the person who had had the original infection was an elderly woman. Everyone laughed has they raised their hands, they seemed so embarrassed. At the end we played a true or false game. Two chairs were placed in the front of the room, one had a sign that had truth on it and the other false. There were two teams lined up about 15 feet away from the chairs. I read a statement about peer education (Ariuk translated) and the two people in the front of the line had to run to the chair that they thought was the correct answer. Whoever got their first and was correct would receive a point for their team. Overall, the two trainings went over well and both groups seemed engaged for most of the training.

The combination of me coming up with activities to help the trainings and the doctors presenting the hard facts really seems to work well. The doctors tell me their topics and then I just come up with ideas and let them pick from the list of ideas. The best part of it, is that after I do one or two trainings with them, they are able to incorporate the activities in their future trainings by themselves. That is when I get the most satisfaction out of my work, seeing them present and train doctors using past activities I came up with. Peace Corps stressed sustainability, that should be in the for front of our minds with all projects, Is it sustainable, which is why we are not given any resources or funding. They want us to develop our counterparts and communities skills, and when I see them using my activities or coming up with their own on the spot when they see their audience losing focus, it is the best feeling in the world. Building a new library, giving money, or new supplies, is nice, but it’s not sustainable, once you leave the country, so does the money and supplies, so I really understand now why capacity building is so important, that lasts, when you leave the country. That realization had taken me a while to learn, I wanted funding, I wanted to buy supplies for the hospital and schools, I wanted to build a new wing to the hospital, and found myself thinking that I was failing because I did not have this large project, which I came into Peace Corps thinking my job was going to be one of those things. If I could give one piece of advice to someone who is thinking about joining Peace Corps, it would be: Do not join PC if you want to see large measurable results, it will most likely not happen. Peace Corps is about making small changes in community members who will in turn help change their community permanently. You will not be building houses or hospitals. And you will definitely get more out of the experience than you give. If you want to have an immediate effect on a community, join another volunteer group, Peace Corps is not that. And now that I have accepted that fact, I now measure my success differently. Success is showing a coworker a new way to teach a subject, how to add pictures to their power points, helping research statistics, helping translate materials, emailing doctors in other countries for information on techniques they are currently using and most importantly, success is having formed friendships with my coworkers and so that they trust me enough to ask for help with their projects. I have to remind myself every day of this fact, but as each month goes by I find myself being more proud and happy with the work I am doing.

“To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

 -Emerson

“For it is in giving that we receive.” - St Francis of Assisi

After the first training, we made an impromptu drive up one of the mountains on the way home to pick strawberries. The entire ride there the road was lined with children selling strawberries to cars driving by. They would yell at the cars and hold up their jars of strawberries. So we decided to see if we could pick some for ourselves. Ariuk drove his car to a mountain that he thought had strawberries on it. Mind you Buyaa and I both had high heels and dresses on, but we did not let that deter us from strawberry picking, we began climbing in our heels, which was very difficult. In the end we realized that the three of us didn’t even know what strawberry plants looked like, even though Ariuk pretended he did and made fun of me when I told him I had no idea what I was looking for. After 15 minutes of searching we gave up. No strawberries.

            When we first arrived at the second hospital, I had to use the bathroom, so I went outside to search for the bathroom, which ended up being in the field behind the hospital. Yes, even hospitals here do not have indoor bathrooms. So I went into outhouse, and as I tried to leave I realized the lock (a piece of wood that moves back and forth) on the outside of the door that keeps the door from swinging when the wind blows, had moved and locked me inside the outhouse. At first, I thought I could stick my finger through one of the cracks in the wood, and push the lock up, but that failed, and that’s when the panic set in. I was in a small wooden box with a giant hole that led to a pit of feces. The thought of being stuck in there for an unknown amount of time caused me to start dry heaving. I began pounding on the door and trying to shake the wood to get the lock to move. Nothing worked. I then found a piece of metal in the corner of the outhouse and tried to stick it through the wood door to move the lock, that did not work either. So then I began to think about how I would break through the wooden wall. I kicked at it, it seemed sturdy and based on the condition of the wood, it was new, still strong. As I banged and shook the door, I saw Ariuk walking across the field to the outhouses and yelled to him. He began laughing as I told him to unlock the outhouse and get me out. Once outside the whole incident was hilarious and Ariuk and I stood there laughing as I told him how I thought I was going to be stuck in there for hours. He assured me that he would have come to check on me if I hadn’t returned after a while. I thanked him for always having my back and walked back to the hospital to get ready for the training.
             On the way back to Tsetserleg the second day, we stopped at a herder's ger for dinner. It was a family friend of Buyaa. I love random stops at gers while traveling. It is always so interesting to meet the families and share a meal with them. This family was so sweet and had a compound of 4 gers that all the family members lived in. The most amazing thing happened while I was there. The grandma is suffering from heart disease, so Buyaa, was checking her pulse and blood pressure and going over how to take her new medications. Once Buyaa finished her examination, she taught the grandson,who was about 14 years old, how to take his grandmother's blood pressure and pulse. It brought tears to my eyes as I watched this teenage boy be so gentle and careful with his grandma. He practiced taking her blood pressure and pulse over and over. For me it was such a special moment to be apart of. He obviously was chosen to be her caregiver and he was so concerned for her. He took notes as Buyaa spoke about her medications. Children here have so much more responsibilities than most American children. Families in the small soums do not have access to medical care, so family members must learn how to care for the ill, because there are no doctors around. After he was done practicing, he jumped onto a horse and went off to herd the families goats back to their home. I wanted to tell him how proud I was of him, but he rode off to quickly. At the end of the meal, as I got into the car, the mother of the boys ran out and gave me a bag of yogurt curds that she has just made. She called to me as I was walking "Hey Russian girl. Wait.". I laughed, everyone I meet thinks I am Russian and are so surprised when I tell them I am from the Unites States.

            The best part about those two days, was getting to spend time with Ariuk and Buyaa. I learned a lot of new Mongolian words which I have been trying to use every day so that I will remember them. I have a Mongolian language proficiency exam August 28, and I really want it to tell me I have improved at least one level since my first test. But we shall see, I hadn’t planned on taking it because in past years it has been optional but Peace Corps is making it mandatory this year. Although, it doesn’t actually mean anything, even if I have not improved or gotten worse, I still get to stay the next year and continue working. Really it is just another thing to worry about now. I wish it didn’t matter to me, but for some reason if I don’t show improvement it is really going to bother me. So the studying and cramming will begin. It is really just a blow to the ego or an ego boost at this time.  Here’s hoping it’s a boost!

July 31, 2014

            Yesterday, I had my Kids Club. We went to the river and made sail boats out of branches, paper and string. It was so much fun. I brought stickers and patterned tape to decorate their sails with. Once we tied together the branches, to make the bottom of the boat and added the sail, we had races with them, down the river. They got really into it and were running down the river yelling at their boats and eventually it turned into them jumping into the river and splashing the other boats so they would fall over or splashing behind their boats to get them to move faster. It was such a beautiful day out; it was perfect for hanging out at the river. I taught them new summer words and practiced answering the question “What are you doing?”, using the summer vocabulary they have learned over the past couple weeks.

            Tomorrow I am going to hiking and camping with my Health Department coworkers. We are going to Ihk Tamir Soum , where there is apparently a beautiful lake on top of one of the mountains. So we will hike up it and camp there for the weekend. It should be a lot of fun! Next weekend, I am visiting my friend Gerlee at her parent’s ger. We are going to go the Airag Festival (fermented mare’s milk festival) and then they invited me to go on their family vacation with them to Lake Olgii, which is a large famous lake in Mongolia. I am so excited to spend time with her family again. They are so sweet and love showing me around Mongolia. This is the same family I went and stayed with a couple months ago, who showed me how to herd animals, milk cows and shear goats for cashmere. The following weekend, a bunch of PC volunteers are coming to Tsetserleg to visit for a week. We are going to go to the hot springs and relax before we have to go to UB for MST (mid-service training). It is going to be a great couple weeks and I think they are going to fly by, which is great because that means my vacation to Greece and Turkey is coming up so soon. I cannot wait to spend almost three weeks (and my birthday) with my best friend in such gorgeous countries, that are completely different than Mongolia. I need a break from my life here.

Visiting my host family

July 23, 2014

                I arrived back in Tsetserleg at 11 o’clock last night. I had an energizing week vacation in Ulaanbaatar and Sukhbaatar,Selenge. The highlight of the week was definitely reuniting with my host family again for three days. I love them so much and I am forever indebted to them for helping me get through my first 3 months in Mongolia.

                I first took the 9 hour bus ride to Ulaanbaatar where for two days I gorged on veggie burgers, iced coffees and chicken sandwiches. Hands down, the best meal I ate was the veggie burger which not only had hummus and tomatoes on it but an avocado as well! I literally dream about avocados, among other foods. I saw on the menu that the burger had avocados on it, but in Mongolia, ingredients listed on the menu are commonly not actually on the food you are served. Most of the time, the dishes in the menus are not even available. When going to a Mongolian Restaurant you must ask what they have, because if you just go by what the menu says you will be severely disappointed or will have to keep naming dish after dish to only be told they don’t have that today. So it is just best to not even look at the misleading menu and ask the waitress what they have today. So when the burger came out and avocados were present, I nearly squealed with delight and to celebrate I ordered a glass of white wine, more expensive than my burger, who cares that it was only 1130am. I sat outside in front of the fountain at this nice table devouring my veggie burger and trying to not guzzle the wine. I then ordered a bottle of sparkling water and sat at my table admiring the beautiful day and reveling in the fact that I was on vacation and could drink wine at 11am on a Thursday. In UB this summer, they started what they call “pop up” restaurants near the main square. Local restaurants take turns cooking their food in tents  and have tables near the fountains and statues. It is so nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy your meal. That is something I really miss about home, enjoying a meal out on the patio of a restaurant or sitting outside a café with an iced coffee in hand.

                After lunch, I went to the Chojin Lama Monastary complex, which is in the center of Ulaanbaatar among the new modern buildings. The difference in architecture is striking. When walking up to the Monastery, the background behind the beautifully crafted temples, is tall glass buildings and construction cranes. It is a representation of how quickly Mongolia is urbanizing and how very different the culture is now than it was 50 years ago when the temples were built. The monastery is now completely surrounded by high-rises and construction. But the minute I took my first step inside the monastery complex, it was like being transported back into time. There were magnificent gardens and statues. The complex itself it house to 4 different temples, which each served their own purposes from 1908-1960s. In 1938 it was turned into a museum by the Stalinist government. You are not allowed to take pictures inside the grounds, which was disappointing, because the architecture was extraordinary.

                One my tour of the monastery was over, I met up with some friends and other PCVs who were traveling in UB to go dinner. I ate a delicious grilled chicken sandwich with and iced mocha coffee. I swear I spend all my money on food when I travel into the capital. Everything I crave can be bought their for the most part (except sea food), so it totally worth spending my money on the overpriced dishes. The 20 minutes of joy it gives me is worth the empty bank account when I go home. Who cares that for the next week I will have to live on oatmeal, raisins and Fluffanutter sandwiches (thanks to my parents for sending them), it is worth it. I also can bake a cake if I get desperate enough. After my two days were up in UB, I boarded the train to Selenge aimag to visit my host family in Suhkbaatar city. I splurged on first class train ticket, which got me my own soft bed in two bed cabin. There was no way I was going to sit on another bus for another 10 hours, or sit on a crowded train. And boy was it worth it. I was able to read, watch a movie on my laptop and sleep. I wish the train went all around Mongolia, because that by far is the best way to travel. Unfortunately, it only runs north to south from UB on the Tran Siberian railroad system. Seeing the Mongolian countryside via the train was one of the most beautiful things. Wide open space for miles upon miles and wild flowers and herds of animals everywhere. Also, I lucked out, in that my cabin mate was a young man who was fluent in English. He had just gotten back from the United States where he studied for a year in Chicago through an exchange program with a university. He was on the train with his son, on their way to visit his grandparents. For the most part, we kept to ourselves sleeping or watching our own movies, but we chatted for a brief period. And as luck would have it, I also was placed with him on my way back from Suhkbaatar! What are the chances! More about that later. So after another 10 hours, I was arriving in Suhkbaatar around 8pm on Friday night.

                My oldest host sister Muksayaa and my family’s new volunteer met me at the train station and walked me back to the house. As I walked up to the house, Amaraa (3 yr old host brother) and Anokaa (6 year old host sister) ran to me screaming my name and hugged me. I was so happy to be back and hearing them scream my name was the best feeling. I was hoping they would remember me, but they were both so little, I wasn’t sure if they would. Amaraa did have problems remembering my name over the next couple days, most of the time calling me Bill (the new volunteer is named Will, but they can’t pronounce Ws so it becomes a B sound). I responded to Bill or Brittnana. I was ushered into the house where dinner was waiting for me. Delicious noodle soup and bread. My host mom told me I needed to eat more because I had lost weight and winter was coming again, therefore I needed the weight back to survive. My host sister kept looking at me and told my host dad numerous times that my face was smaller. Haha. Before I sat down to eat, I gave everyone their presents from America. I then sat down to dinner and chatted with them and the new volunteer who seemed to be having the same experience that I did with the family. After dinner, we decorated shirts my parents had sent from America with puff paint. The girls loved it and really took their time writing and drawing on the shirts, Amaraa just emptied the contents of two paint bottles all over the shirt and then spread it around with his hands. So adorable. We then played with their new barbies and they did my makeup. It was like I never left, we got right back into the same routine. After spending some time with the kids, I went to meet the new volunteers in town at one of their host family’s houses. It was a lot of fun talking with them about how training was going and hearing them all so excited about finishing training and swearing in as a volunteer. At the house, was one of my favorite family, more like favorite host dad, of one of the volunteers in my group. This man is hilarious and is so into peace corps volunteers. It was fun to be hanging out with him and his wife again and to hear his new PCV talk about the craziness going on in his host family house, just like the madness that went on last year in the very same house. So much fun.

                The next morning I woke up and helped my host mom, along with the new PCV, make hushuur. That afternoon we were going to be going on a picnic with my host family and their friends. I love making food with my host mom, she just laughs at me the whole time, as a try to figure out how to properly pinch the dough. I still can’t do it, and inevitably my hushuur looks like large raviolis instead of properly pinched Mongolian hushuur. Although esthetically unpleasing, they still tasted great. We packed up the car and drove off to the mountains to meet up with their friends. We played volleyball and soccer and hung out for the whole day, drinking beer and eating huushur and chips. It was a great time! Half way through our time there, Amaraa, who is obsessed with cars, hopped into my host family’s car and pretended to drive it around. Anokaa hopped in as copilot and they played for hours in the car. At one point, Amaraa called me over and told me to get in the back of the car. He asked me where I would like to go and for 30 minutes I sat in the back seat telling him different places to drive, which he did so with driving sound effects. He is obsessed with cars. Over the three days, he played with the little match box cars I gave him, as well as his little car he can sit in and move with his feet. Also, anything that was in the shape of a circle, he turned into a steering wheel and would pretend to drive around. He used a plate as a steering wheel throughout the house all night long. Driving in and out of the rooms and outside, making his little driving noises. Eventually it turned into driving his play car around the house, picking up the girls’ barbies from different locations and making up stories about where they were going and what they did.

                I was planning on leaving Sunday to go back to the capital for a couple days, but my host family asked if I would stay a day extra so that I could visit a friend of their’s at her ger for lunch Sunday afternoon. I was having such a great time, I said of course I would stay another night. So Sunday morning, I woke up early and walked around town. Everything was pretty much the same as when I left a year ago, except for the fact that there were now sidewalks along most of the streets and a new apartment building had been built on the main road. After a couple hours of playing with my sisters and brothers, we all once again piled into the tiny car and drove off towards the outskirts of the town to a friend’s ger for lunch. As soon as I entered the ger I was offered milk tea and dried yogurt curds. Two of my favorite Mongolian foods/drinks. We all sat on the floor of the ger snacking on the dried yogurt, waiting for the meat to finish cooking. I listened to them talk and was introduced to several family members. The meat was then brought into the ger in a giant metal bowl, along with a smaller bowl containing potatoes, onions and carrots. We all dug in grabbing pieces of meat and vegetables with our hands. No bowls, plates, forks or napkins offered. We were each simply handed a knife to help aid us in removing the meat from the bones. This is one of my favorite parts about Mongolia in the summer. Freshly cooked/roasted meat and vegetables, that you just simply eat with your hands. Something about the raw animalistic way you rip the meat off with your teeth (me mostly with my fingers, because I hate how the meat gets stuck in my teeth if I use them primarily to remove the meat from the bone), really makes me feel like I am in Peace Corps. This is exactly what I imagined eating in Mongolia would be like. Sitting on the floor of a ger, chomping away at meat and root vegetables. There was very little actual meat in the bowl, I think I may have gotten one of the only pieces actually; most of it was the organs and insides of the animal. Luckily, I spotted pieces of the liver and heart and steered clear of the intestines. After we were done eating, the grandfather of the family, took my on a proper tour of his house next door and of the “barns”. Not sure if that’s what you call the buildings that pigs and sheep live in, but that is what I will call it for now. First stop on the tour was the pig barn, he showed me the large hole they had made in the ground from rolling in the mud, and explained that they like to sleep in that hole. I was happy to just look into the barn, but he then pushed me through the little door and told me to walk around and really see it. So I walked around and tried to seem impressed, but really it just looked like a wood shack with a lot of mud inside. But apparently, this was a nice barn and one that should be admired. We then took a look at his potato plants and headed over to the sheep barn. This one was much larger and had a place from them to graze in front. Again I oohed and ahhed at the barn. He seemed pleased that I was so pleased about it. We then went into his house and he showed me around the two rooms. It was actually a pretty decent sized house and with really cool Buddhist paintings and masks hanging on the walls. After my tour was over, my family decided it was time to go home and take a nap. So we all laid down a took a nice afternoon nap. When we woke, we decided to try out the water balloons I had brought. Since there is no running water, so no faucet, the new PCV suggested we use his air pump, put water into it and shoot it into the balloons to fill them. It worked, although it was very time consuming to go to the well and fill up a couple pots of water and then funnel them into the air pump and them fill the balloons. We each ended up getting three balloons after about an hour and a half of work. The kids really enjoyed throwing the balloons at the house, they did not like when I threw it at them however. That night my host parents left to go to a friends house so Will (the new PCV) and I were left to watch the kids. Luckily, the kids are really good at playing by themselves and doing their own thing, so we watched a movie and hung out for the night.

                I left Suhkbaatar at 6am on the train. My host parents gifted me with some snacks for the train ride and nice Russian shampoo (which I actually needed to buy when I got back to site, so it was great to get it). They walked me to the train station and carried my bags for me. They even boarded the train with me and made sure I got to the proper cabin. They joked as they left the house that morning, that they would be going back to Arkhangai with me and that Will needed to take care of the kids for the rest of the summer. I told them as they left me in my cabin that they should come visit me in Arkhangai and that I would visit them again this winter. On the train I was walking down the aisle, looking out the windows when I ran into my friend from the way to Selenge Aimag. It was so surprising seeing him again, what are the chances we would be on the same train again. So he moved himself into my cabin to chat. This time we talked for almost the whole ride back to UB. He told me all about his time in Chicago and how he would watch Family Guy and the Simpsons to learn English slang words. He also told me about some fun clubs and bars to go to in UB. He is really into trance/EDM music and told me some different Mongolian DJs to listen to. He was so funny and I shared all my funny Mongolia stories with him. He became seriously concerned though, when I told him how I keep my food in the back of my toilet to stay cold since I have no refrigerator. He told me that I was going to get sick and I told him, I have it all figured out and I know how long certain foods last back there and that I have yet to get sick from it. He just shook his head is disapproval. It was such a great trip and talking to the new volunteers really energized me and helped me to be more excited for this next year! I made it back to UB and stayed there for another two days, shopping for items I couldn’t get back at my site and enjoying the food options.

               

Naadam, visitors and a message to my sister.

July 14, 2014

                This past week has been pretty fabulous. I’ll start from today and work backwards. I am on holiday, because of Naadam so I had Thursday, Friday, and today off from work.  Today, I went on a hike that I have been looking forward to and planning on doing since I arrived at site, but for some reason or another, have just been putting it off and finally a year later I successfully climbed Bulgan Mountain. Bulgan Mountain is the Buddhist mountain at the northern most end of town, right near my apartment, which is revered as a sacred mountain by Mongolian Buddhists. It is part of the Khangai Mountain Range. Women are not supposed to climb it, but my counterpart said I could get away playing the “fatuous tourist” if any one questions me, which I have played on more than one occasion in the past. Pretending to not understand the language does let you get away with some things, like climbing Bulgan Mountain as a woman. Luckily, no one was even around when I started the climb, therefore I was able to climb it peacefully. On the face of the mountain are these large paintings of Buddhist gods and symbols, I really wanted to make it up to the paintings and seem them up close. The climb was more tedious than I thought, and involved a lot of rock scaling and trying to grab on plants to pull me up the steep parts, hoping their roots were deep. I realized half way up, that I definitely did not take the route that was suggested to me, but it was a lot of fun trying to find nooks and crannies to put my feet in and ridges to grab to hoist myself up to the next rock ledge. I ended up making it to all the paintings, which were much, much larger than I thought they were. Some of them are massive. They were even more striking up close. The paintings are actually carved into the rocks and then painted over. It must have taken so long to complete them! Once I reached the last painting, I decided the weather was so beautiful out that I might as well climb to the top of the mountain, which I am glad I did because the view was spectacular, but the thigh high grass and swarms of flies and deer flies were not so pleasant. I then decided to go down the opposite side of the mountain I came up, which was even trickier than the first side, plus tall grass and flies. I could not wait to get back down to the bottom. Note to self: long pants and bug spray are not optional. Next time, I will be better prepared. But the view from the top did not disappoint and I saw so many hawks and other birds. It was an awesome hike, which I can’t wait to do again when the new volunteers get here! I can’t believe I waited this long to do it.

                Today, was also my sister’s graduation brunch. She and my family had brunch at Saratoga National Golf Course. I wish I was there to have celebrated, but when I get back to the States next summer, we have so many things to celebrate together Ash! I cannot wait to make up for all the missed holidays, birthday and various other events and dates that deserve celebrating! My sister also has an amazing blog http://letterstobrittnana.blogspot.com/. She is really a fabulous writer. I will be addressing some of the things she talks about in her blog, as her blog is written as letters to me, which is such a neat concept. Her latest letter was about graduation and it brought tears to my eyes.  Ash, I am so proud of you and I just know that you are going to be so successful. You are such a confident, loving and the funniest person I know, you will have friends anywhere you go and you have some of the most amazing friends from college, who will always be in your life. I have always been envious of the close friendships you had with your sorority sisters, and I am so lucky that you let me get to know and hang out with them. They really are such wonderful women! You are so lucky. But never forget how wonderful you are alone without the whole crew. Yes, we both have had pretty easy lives, mommy and daddy have taken care of us (THANK YOU!), like not many parents do, but guess what, for everyone who thinks we were spoiled or caudeled ( we have heard this millions of times throughout my life), I moved across the world and am alive! Even though most things were done for me in the past, I have figured out how to cook, wash clothes, walk around without getting lost, and various other life tasks and I think I am doing pretty well at them, so I have the utmost confidence that you will thrive in these next couple years after college and I cannot wait to get home and witness it and be a part of it! You have had the past four years to ease your way into real life. Plus, I will have been gone for two years, I am going to need some friends to hang out with in Albany, so if you could please work on our social life, it would be greatly appreciated. I can’t wait to read your next post!

                Yesterday, I got to skype with Emily in the morning and we basically have our Turkey/Greece vacation dates set. I am so excited and cannot wait to fly into Athens at the end of September! I so need this vacation and it is going to be absolutely amazing and so much fun! Words cannot describe how thrilled I am to see her and I know we are just going to have a blast traveling around Greece and Turkey for three weeks.  I then did a small hike to my usual reading spot which was infested with black flies, so reading did not last very long. I think because of all the rain we have had lately, it has made a breeding ground for flies, it can stop anytime now.

                Wednesday and Thursday was Naadam, the three games of men, which is my favorite Mongolian holiday! Naadam has existed throughout Mongolian history, buy It now formally commemorates the 1921 revolution when Mongolia declared itself a free country. The two days are full of wrestling, archery and horseraces. Mongolian archery is interesting because they do not aim at a single target. They have dozens of surs (targets). Each sur is a small woven or wooden cylinder. They are placed one on top another forming a wall 3-high, which is approximately 8 inches high by 5 feet wide. Knocking a sur out of the wall with an arrow counts as a hit, though knocking a sur out of the centre will bring you more points. After each hit, an official repairs the damaged wall and makes it ready for the next attempt. So the archers aim their arrows to go up in the air and then curve down to hit the cylinders, since they cylinders are on the ground that they must hit.  The first day is my favorite, because the morning is the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony starts out with a parade around the Naadam Stadium, which I got to be in this year. I was told to wear my del and that I would be marching with other important people of the community, including some of my HD staff. It was really exciting, I got wave and take pictures with people. At then at end of the parade, we went to the center of the stadium to sing the Mongolian National Anthem, which for some reason always makes me emotional and proud to be an American even more. We then walked to our seats in the stadium and watched the opening ceremony performances. The first couple were dances done by children, which were absolutely adorable. The first group was dressed in traditional Mongolian clothes and performed a Mongolian dance, the next group sashayed out in latin outfits and preformed a salsa and tango. These kids were no more than 7 years old, and they were dancing their little hearts out to Pitbull and Shakira songs. Next, was an older group doing gymnastics and then a long line of adult singers who sang various traditional Mongolian songs. I walked around the stadium during the singing with one of my coworker’s little brother and sister (in my English club). We played a couple carnival games, which I was terrible at. The game where you throw darts at balloons, I went 3 for 12 in. My darts kept bouncing off the balloons. Apparently I have lost strength in my arms. The little boy felt bad that I did not win a prize so her played two rounds of the game and won stuffed animals for me and his sister. So sweet. We then  got shish cabobs  from one of the vendors for lunch. I then met up with Will and the French Volunteer. We walked around and then I left with Rudolph (French Agriculture volunteer) to meet up with his translator who was going to drive us to the horse races. Her brother ended up driving us to the races. We made a pit stop at her father’s countryside ger, where we had a snack of bread and cream before jumping back into the car. We arrived at the horse races early, the horses wouldn’t be crossing the finish line for another hour and a half, so Rudolph and I walked around taking pictures and sat down to eat a couple hushuur which is like the food of Naadam. Hushuur is mutton fried inside dough in a flat shape. Finally, the race was about to finish, so we ran over to where the finish line was to watch them all come in. We ran across the field to get to the less busy side and were yelled at by police, but that was the perfect time to pretend to be tourists who don’t speak the language, because Naadam was crawling with tourists, so we blended in well. Except I was still in my hot pink del, which drew a lot of attention, next year I will remember to bring a change of clothes. So many people pointed at me but more of them also complimented me, so it was okay. I had not planned on going to the horse races that day, so there I was running across a field in a hot pink del, my bright blonde hair curled and in high heels. Everyone else was in regular clothes with boots and hats on. There was trying to blend in, so I just pretended not to notice the pictures being taken and the people pointing at me. The races are exciting, but are actually really sad to because the horses and jockies, who are boys ages 6-11 years old look absolutely exhausted and look as though they will barely make it over the finish line. Mongolian horse racing  is a cross-country event, with races 15–30 km long, dependingon the age of the horses. Usually the horses are ages 2-5 years old.  The races are among the same age horses. So one race is the 2 year olds, the next the 3 year olds, and so on. In the race I watched, one horse was jockieless, another boy was actually holding the other horses reins and crossed the finish line with both horses. In each race there are always a number of horses who finish without their riders. This year a law was passed that all the boys had to wear helmets while racing, thank god. I remember last year none of the boys had helmets on! It was terrifying to see, especially because many of the boys ride bareback, so there is nothing for them to grab at in case they start to fall and they are going so fast! Rudolphe who is a vet in France, was shocked to see the state of the horses at the end of the race. Many of them were injured, several crossed the finish line limping and barely moving. Once they cross the finish line, men on horses run up to the boys and their horses and pull them off the horses onto their horses, because the boys are so absolutely exhausted that they are doing all they can to hold on till the finish line, so once they cross they are grabbed and put onto another horse with an adult who holds them and brings them to the winners circle. It is so intense. I was cheering like crazy and it is very cool to see, but sad to actually see what happens after the race. I am sure many of the horses and riders are fine, but it is apparent at the end that there are also ones that are not.

                After the race was finished, the man drove us back to town, where we then met up with Will and two other volunteers who were visiting for a couple days. It was so great to see them and spend the next couple days with them. We went hiking to the old soviet cemetery and up to the Monastary on Bulgan Mountain, and  went camping for a night at the river. It rained and stormed for an hour when we first got there, but then cleared up nicely. We cooked horse meat and veggies on the fire and listened to music. It was a nice relaxing night. The next morning, we woke up and walked home and had a nice breakfast together.

                On Wednesday I will taking a week long trip to Selenge to visit my host family and then visit Ulaanbaatar. It will be so nice to see them again, I cannot wait!

Happy 4th of July!!

7/4/2014

                Happy 4^th of July everyone! 4^th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love the bbqs, boats and fireworks. Today, after  work, I will be going to the river with my site mate to layout, swim and “bbq” steaks and veggies. It is supposed to be 76 degrees day, so it should be a beautiful day for the river, if the rain and thunderstorms hold off.

                Yesterday, I had my kids’ English Club. It was such a gorgeous day, so I decided to take the kids outside for the day, once I introduced the new vocab and played two round of BINGO and a matching game. We then stopped for ice cream and headed out to Bulgan Mountain. Since the hike was a spur of the moment decision, I hiked in a pencil skirt and ballets flats. Luckily, this was not the first time I was hiking in a skirt or dress, so I have it down. The first time with my host family was a disaster. Two of the little girls had heels on and they hiked as though they were in boots. We reached a nice point about a 1/3 of the way up the mountain and decided to sit and relax. They started singing all the English songs they have learned, their favorite is Head Shoulder Knees and Toes, because it also comes with a dance. While we were sitting on the rocks, we spotted two teenage boys who were holding birds. We all walked over, as we got closer I realized they were holding pigeons and were also surrounded by at least 30 other birds. It was the strangest site. As we approached the other pigeons flew away, but they still held the two by their legs in their hands. The children all wanted to pet the pigeons and try holding them, the boys would not let them hold them, thank god, because I just had visions of their arms being pecked and trying to explain to their parents that they were attacked by pigeons. They settled on petting them, and kept signaling me to come touch them (I hate birds), I kept saying no, but finally went over and pet one of them (when is the next time I’ll be able to pet a pigeon?). The boys holding the pigeons, put them in their sweatshirts and then tried catching more. I tried asking why they were catching pigeons and how they learned to catch them, but they did not understand what I was asking, or just didn’t want to tell me. We hung out with them for a while until the kids got sick of the pigeons, and went back to our spot on the mountain, where all the other pigeons had flown. Once again as we approached they all immediately swooped away, this time it was amazing to watch them soar up against the bright blue sky. We then hiked back down the mountain and went to the river, where the kids brought me to a spot where I could sit on a big rock and told me to stay put, they needed to talk with out me there, they were planning a surprise. I half-jokingly told them, it didn’t matter if they were right next to me because I can’t understand when they speak Mongolian anyway. So off they went down the river and sat in a little circle, intently planning something, which turned out to be a camping trip. They were going to take me camping on Saturday morning. When we left, we parted at the main street, they were going to the market to shop for food for camping and I was going back to my work. They were so excited, I was weary about the idea. First of all, I have been camping  only twice in my life, therefore have no skills when it comes to starting a fire, putting up a tent and just surviving outside, second, I would be responsible for ten 10-12 year olds, who know very limited English and speak so fast in Mongolian that most of the time I have no idea what they are saying. But I went with it, thinking it would be a fun adventure and they were so happy, I couldn’t say no. So we shall see how it goes.

                When I got back to work, I learned that the training that I thought was going to happen at the end of August on Peer Education is actually going to take place at the end of July instead. Luckily, my main counterpart divvied up the tasks and gave them to other doctors to do, instead of just me and him, which is awesome. So now I am responsible for the Stress and Anger Management information portion, which I already made the presentation on and the most important part of the training, the activity book that we are going to give to all the schools, that contains activities and interactive games that I have been compiling dealing with the 21 subjects that they should be teaching in their schools. I think it will be a really great tool for them to use and it will make lesson planning easier for them, so hopefully they will teach the lessons and they will be more interesting for the kids. That is what I will be working on the for the next week and then giving it to my counterpart to translate and get it printed for the school social workers and hospital staff. Four health department staff just came back from a two day training on peer education and how to use it with behavior change methods, which I had no idea about and am so happy that they went and learned about peer education, because now Ariuk and I do not have to hold a training for them. Originally our plan had been to train the HD staff on Peer Education and how it pertains to Health Behavior, and then have them train the soum doctors and social workers, but now we can just go directly to the doctors and social workers, saving money and time. Although, I wish they told me about this training, because I had already spent hours making presentations to teach the doctors about Peer Ed. But in typical Mongolian fashion, everything is left to the last second, and apparently the doctors didn’t know they were going until the day before the training took place.

7/6/2014

                Friday afternoon, I went to my director’s house to teach her two daughters and their friend English. They had heard that I make cakes with the little kids’ group, and asked if we could make cakes at their house. So I went over to their house to make cakes and practice their English speaking skills. It was so much fun and they taught me Mongolian words too and laughed at my pronunciation of the word meaning to grow, because apparently the way I was saying it was the slang word that basically translates to boobs in English. They had just come back from an English summer camp, taught by a man from Afghanistan who is traveling around Mongolia teaching English to school children. It is really cool to see how many countries are involved in helping Mongolia grow stronger as a country. So far I have been introduced to organizations from Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Afghanistan, Finland, Australia, Russia and China, who are all here in Mongolia trying to help the new generations of Mongolians who are growing up in a country that is drastically different than the country their parents grew up in. Before coming here, I had no idea that Japan and Korea had their own versions of Peace Corps, that are basically the same exact entity. In my community, I have both. They are also here for two years and go through similar training as we did, the only difference is that they are more specialized, they come here with a specific job to do. The four Korean volunteers are teachers, one is a gym teacher, one is a Kindergarten teacher, another is a computer teacher and the last a music teacher. The Japanese volunteer is a physical therapist. What is cool though is that we all hang out and have the same feelings about our programs and being in Mongolia. Our experiences are so similar and all the emotions that we have been going through in Peace Corps, they have in their own organizations too.

                I was supposed to go to the river today after work, but the weather was terrible and the weather report said thunderstorms all evening, so instead we cooked the steak and veggies at Will’s house, celebrated and watched movies. I miss 4^th of July back at home, it is just not the same without watching fireworks on the river. Also, because of the weather, my camping trip with the kids got cancelled, so we will have to pick another weekend. They were so disappointed, on my lunch break on Friday, three of the girls had come over to my apartment to pick out my clothes to pack and bring over the bags of food they had purchased from the market. They were so proud of themselves and showed me every item that was in their bag and then chose my clothes for the trip. I think their mothers told them to do this, because last time I went camping with my HD doctors (the kids parents), they were all worried that I was cold and didn’t bring enough layers, which was so true but I kept telling them I was fine. I had no idea the temperature dropped so drastically at night, especially down near the river, it was freezing!! So this time to ensure my warmth, the kids were sent over to pack my bags. Too cute.

                Saturday, it was gorgeous out, so Will and I went to the river to lay out and swim. The water was pretty cold, but it felt great. It reminded me of our pool back at home. Because it was shaded by trees, it chilly most days, so the first step in made your teeth chatter, but then once you became fully submerged and swam around it was comfortable. I think the river is so cold here, because at night it gets so cold and it has been raining almost every day here. We decided that we are going to by motorcycle inner tube things to float down the river in next time we go. It has a pretty fast current and would be so much fun to tube down. Another thing I miss about home, tubing and river rafting down the river with friends and family. There is just so much to do in the summer in Upstate New York, I can’t wait to get back to it. Next summer I will be back in NY, it is so strange. As I was walking to river, I was thinking that this is the last summer I will be in Mongolia. This time next year I will be on a plane back to the States. Whenever I am missing home, I tell myself that this is the last time I will be in Mongolia doing this, and then all of a sudden I get sad about leaving Mongolia. It goes back and forth practically every day. I miss home so  much, but then I know when I leave I am going to miss Mongolia so much. The quote “You will never be completely home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”, sums up my feeling perfectly. Mongolia is going to be such a major part of my life, it already is, that it is going to be so hard to leave the country and all the people that have cause this major personal growth in myself. Most of the M23s have left the country and seeing all their posts on facebook about leaving Mongolia really makes it real that I am now on the downhill slide of my Peace Corps service. I am now counting down from one year. Insane! I hope to come back and visit after five years. I already,  cannot wait to come back and visit Mongolia and see how much it has changed. It is going to be just amazing. I have decided that when I get back to the states one of my goals is to start an NGO or some type of organization that supports healthcare in Mongolia, raises money and awareness for Mongolians. As I look up grants and do research for projects, it has become painfully obvious that the United States and many other countries do not recognize the problems and need for knowledge and supplies here. I could only find two grants that would support projects in Mongolia and Asia. Compared to the hundreds of organizations that supports projects in Africa (I support the projects and am not saying that they don’t deserve the help they receive, but I wish that other places received just as much aide). Also, there are no research findings ever from Mongolia. I will go to different websites that have statistics for almost every country, yet they have no information about Mongolia at all. I have talked about this a lot with my mom, that all the money goes to African countries, celebrities and businesses do charity work for African countries, but hardly ever do they support Asian countries. I think that people forget or just lack the knowledge that there are people in Asia who live in just as terrible conditions and need just as much help. But are not receiving any. Mongolians as a whole are so smart, they just lack the resources to truly become a strong country with a presence in the world. They are so driven to help their country and work so hard, that I hope that I can start a movement towards recognizing them and getting other to recognize the help they need and the potential they have if they were just helped along.