The past 2 months.

June 1, 2013

The past few days have been a whirlwind of plane rides and information. First, it was off to Washington DC, where staging took place. I landed at Reagan Airport around 930am and met up with a group of other PC trainees that arrived around the same time. We took a shuttle to our hotel and upon dropping of our bags in our hotel rooms we ventured off to grab some lunch at a Mexican restaurant before signing in and staging began. At lunch we shared stories and I immediately felt like I was in the right place. Everyone was so friendly, and I have never felt so close to a group of total strangers. We then went back to the hotel for staging, aka: orientation. We did a couple icebreakers, learned about the goals of the Peace Corps, and a little about the country we were about to live in for the next 27 months. Our orientation leader, a RPCV in Mongolia had an infectious enthusiasm to her, which completely excited me for the journey I was about to make.

I woke up at 3am the next morning to get ready for checking out of the hotel at 4am. We loaded our suitcases onto the bus and were off once again to the airport, where we stood online for almost 3 hours. There were mistakes and mix-ups about our tickets and vouchers, but eventually we were off to the gate and ready to board the plane to Detroit. Once in Detroit, we had about an hour layover. Our next flight was a 13 hour ride to Sol, South Korea. On the flight I managed to watch 2 movies, a couple episodes of Weeds and managed to take a couple naps in between. At hour 6, I was wondering how I would last another 7 hours cramped on the plane. The time zone changes made it so we never saw night, until we boarded our flight to Mongolia at 8:05pm. The airport in South Korea, resembled a mall, it was gorgeous. Our next flight was on Air Korea, which had really good food and wine, and most importantly spacious seats, where I finally was able to sleep for a couple hours. We arrived in Mongolia around 1230am. Where we waited in line at customs and then waited for our luggage. I started to get panicky as all the luggage went by and mine was not there. Finally, after what seemed to be forever, my luggage appeared. One of the last ones of course. We were greeted by fellow PCV (who have already been working in Mongolia for a year to 2 years) with cheering, applause, banners, and even a girl in a hotdog suit, as we left the airport. The feeling was exhilarating! This is when it finally hit me, this is the country I will be living in for the next 27 months of my life, and these are the people that I will be sharing this once in a lifetime experience with! I had never been so happy/tired/anxious in my life. We hopped on a bus which was going to take us to our ger camp for the first 3 days of training. The roads were unpaved, and not a light for miles.

6/2/13

The ger we are staying in is absolutely beautiful. It has the richest colored fabrics and beautiful furniture. My favorite part is the windows at the top of the Ger. When laying in my bed you can see the beautiful blue sky. Its gorgeous. It looks like a painting. If only this was what the Ger that I may be living in looks like. The ger camp is located on the most beautiful land. Mountains surround us and the blue sky is endless. There are horses roaming around and the air is so fresh. Although it is so hard to breathe because of the altitude change. I am out of breathe walking up the small hill from trainings to our ger during the day. The girls in my ger are amazing and we are having the greatest time together. They are all hilarious. We are going on a sunset hike tonight. I can't wait.

The hike was amazing. Tough because of the altitude, but the view of the sunset was breathtaking.

6/3/13

Ulaanbatar (UB)

Yesterday, we took a 20 minute drive into the Capital City, Ulaanbaatar (UB). Over half of the Mongolian population lives in UB. It was incredible/odd to see how the ger life and the city interact. As we were driving there were gers mixed in with apartments, small houses, construction sites, and companies. There would be two large businesses then a ger then a house then another ger all piled onto this one plot of land. You could see the struggle of keeping the Mongolian tradition of ger living alive, yet trying to expand and become more westernized. As we drove to UB, it was apparent there there are no speed limits or road laws. Cars seem to drive wherever they want, however they want. Cars were passing our bus on the left on the right, driving on the grass next to us in all different directions. Its a wonder how we got to UB in one piece.

We were first dropped off at the Peace Corps Main Office, where we received a couple shots and met some of the PCVs who have been in Mongolia and are finishing up their 2 years. We broke off into small groups and went on an 8 hour tour of the city. We learned where the good restaurants and shop are, how to hail a taxi and use the bus system. We tried dried yogurt and cheese curd. Which I think are definitely an acquired taste so I wont rule them out immediately, since that is what is considered a dessert/snack here. As we walked around the markets, I saw fresh meat dripping in blood, and fish laying out in the open.

We learned about all the “superstitions” we must follow when in Mongolia, to list a few: you can not touch anyone's shoulders or top of their head, never use your left hand for anything, you cannot show the bottom of your foot/shoe to anyone (sit cross legged), no leaning on the ger post, no crossing arms or fidgeting your feet, always walk into a ger clockwise, can not bring out trash at night, you must eat all the food on your plate, and many more that I cant remember right now. These will be the hardest things to remember, since as Americans we don't give a second thought about crossing our arms and use our left hand, whether to pick up things or to point. But if you do these things in Mongolia, it is thought to give you all sorts of bad luck.

June 3, 2013

Today we left our beautiful ger camp and moved into Darhan for 5 days of training as a group.

We drove to Darhan by bus. It was 4 long hours on unpaved roads. It felt like we were riding a roller coaster. We are staying at the Darhan Hotel till Friday. After dinner we changed and went on a little hike to a giant Buddah statue and walked around Children's Park. I love how outdoorsy Mongolia is. It is so beautiful and so mountainous. I wake up every morning in awe of the view. I have now seen all 5 of Mongolias top animals: Camels, horses, sheep, goats and yaks. They all just roam around freely along the roads and streets.

June 4,2013

Today we had our first language lesson. It was terrifying yet exciting. I learned 4 key phrases (sort of). We also broke off into our technical sectors and did a few icebreakers within our groups to get to know the people we are going to be training with better.

June 5,2013

Today we had classes all day, we had cross culture training. We learned how to enter a ger properly, and how to set one up. They also taught us how to clean out the ger's chimney and how to keep it warm during the winter and cool during the summer. There was so much to remember and do, it was overwhelming. We also learned how to properly receive a gift, food and snuff. You must always receive with 2 hands and must tap the side of the bowl before taking a snack/candy out of it. Also, we learned the proper way to drink vodka and how to refuse it. Whenever you visit another family's ger they offer you 3 shots, it is rude to refuse, so we learned how to “take the 3 shots” without having to actually drink all of them, by doing spiritual movements, like offering the shots to the environment, just touching the vodka to your lips, etc. You can imagine what would happen if you visit just 2 houses=6 shots. I would be on the floor. Haha. We also went to a room which had traditional Mongolian food in it for us to taste. There was an assortment of meat, organs, and desserts on the table. I tried a pastry, dried curdled yogurt and a sheep heart. The heart was actually delicious. I did not try the sheep head, intestines or stomach sac. I decided a heart was enough on my stomach for one day. The last room we went to talked about Mongolian superstitions: no crying in bed, no whistling inside, putting hair on a dog bite, drinking your mother's urine, tripping and many other superstitions that deal with giving you poverty if you do them. Today was by far one of the most fun days of training.

June 8,2013

Right now I am sitting at my little desk/table reflecting on what whirlwind I have just been through in the last 24 hours. Yesterday was my first day with my family. We left Darhan in the morning and took the hour meeker ride to Sukbaatar to our VTS school, where we would meet our new families. We were ushered into a room with about 20 or so smiling Mongolian faces and a buffet table full of chocolates, tea, juices c and cookies. We ate the food, while the Mongolian watched us, which felt weird because they were not allowed to eat with us, so here we are 8 Americans stuffing our faces with chocolates as they sit in front of us and watch. But then it was finally time to find out who my family was. They called up the family and then the Peace Corp volunteer. My family consists of a mom (Enkhtuya) and dad (saikhanbayar), 2 daughters, (Munkhzaya) who is 10 years old and Anujin who is 4 years old and a son, Amarjargal, who is 2 years old. From there they took us home. I had so much luggage that we could not walk to the home, we had to the meeker down the road. I walked down the hall with them, feeling overwhelmed and wanting to cry. I questioned whether or not I would be able to handle this for the next 3 months, but then as soon as I walked into their house they sat me down and gave me milk tea and started cooking lunch. I gave them my gift basket of American candies, chalk, toys, playing cards and pins. The kids immediately opened up the candies and began their 5 hour binge until it was gone. Over the next couple hours, they began to question me about my life and things I like to do and eat. It was a lot of pointing at phrases in our Mongolian-English dictionaries, acting out and looking puzzled. For the next couple hours, I showed them pictures of my family and friends. They told me (from what I could understand) that my house was really nice and that my mom and Aunt Christy look the same. I cant wait for more language classes so I can actually communicate with my new family, it is exhausting trying to look up things and get your point across. And one thing that I am going to have to get used to is, in Mongolia there is a lot of together time with families. In America I am so close to my family, but it isn't abnormal to go to your room and hang out, or just sit and watch tv, but here, that is not the case. Everyone is in the same room all the time, talking and playing. That is a lot to handle when you don't speak the language.

June 11,2013

Last night my 4 year old sister was helping me learn my vocab words. She was going over the parts of the body. She kept pointing to her leg and saying this one word. So I kept repeating it and pointing to my leg. I kept pronouncing it wrong so she kept repeating and I kept repeating it back. After about 10 or so times of me trying to get the word down, I heard all my family in the living room laughing. Then my dad comes running in and goes Brittany nooo. I was confused and so I motion what with my arms. He then pulls down my little brothers pants. Apparently the word I was furiously repeating was the Mongolian word for penis. Here I was yelling it while my grandmother and mom's friends sat watching tv in the room next to me.

June 12, 2013

Tonight my health group and the TEFL group met up for drinks and dinner at the Irish Pub here. So random. I had so much fun exchanging stories with them and it is so nice to hear that everyone is having a rough time in language class. It reassuring to hear I am not the only one that sits there mind blown wanting to cry at times.

Mongolian people are sooo curious of Americans. Every time I walk down the street people literally stick their heads out of their windows and stare. When I'm in my yard playing basketball with the kids, people stop in front of our gate and watch. I now know what a zoo animal feels like.

June 14, 2013

Today we went to the hospital to interview a staff member in Mongolian. We each had to write out two questions and ask them to the staff. This was no small task. We practiced our questions with our LCF (language culture facilitators) so we wouldn't be stumbling over every word and we brought a translator with us to help us out if the hospital staff had no idea what we were saying, which was about 12 out of the 16 questions. I would like to proudly say that the staff member was able to understand both of my questions.

Last night, my sisters and I did each others make up and hair. We then had a photo shoot and dance party. We danced for over an hour to Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne. Thank god they don't understand english.

Its a humbling experience being dropped into a country where you don't know the language and culture. My first couple days of school, my 10 year old sister walked me to school, hand holding and all. If my parents had to leave, someone would be sent over to watch me and the kids. A couple nights ago, my 10 year old sister showed me how to bath and wash my hair in my tumpun ( a bathing bowl the size of a large mixing bowl). It is very tricky. It took me a couple times to figure out how to bath without flooding my bedroom floor. She still washes me hair for me. Last night, my mom showed me how to hand wash my clothes properly. She sat with my for an hour helping we wash, ring out and hang my clothes. Simple acts that we take for granted are amazing bonding experiences with the family. I don't know how to explain it. It shocks me how caring and loving these people are to complete strangers.

6/16/2013

This morning has been so quiet! I love it. I am actually going to get some studying done. I think the kids went to their aunts house.

Yesterday, we got a group of us together and went for a hike. We climbed the highest peak in Suhkbaatar. The bugs were crazy. Next time we all decided we could cut parts of our mosquito net off and make face masks out of them. I ingested enough insects to get my protein intake for a week. But once we got into the woody area the bugs seemed to dissipate and it was much more enjoyable to hike. We all sang songs, took funny pictures and at times ran up parts of the mountain. It was great to be alone on the mountain without anyone watching us. We were free to act American again. In Mongolia, people are very reserved and don't show emotion a lot. You would never see a group of Mongolians running and singing down the street, let alone dancing around in public. The views from the peak were amazing. You could see Russia.

6/20/13

I woke up and went for a run. I'm finally used to the altitude and was able to go on a fantastic run through the town. Its going to be my new morning routine. After I ran for 30 minutes, I did 15 minutes of yoga and it really helped me to relax and start my day! I feel so energized! I will definitely be doing this every morning.

I had my first day of PST practicum today! I am working at a small family clinic, and by small I mean 4 rooms: one for vaccines, one for normal visits, another for gynecology and the other is the doctors office. There are 2 doctors and 2 nurses at the clinic. They are all so sweet but speak no English. We used my oxford and the computer to communicate. They just kept pointing and showed me every book in the clinic, since for the whole 4 hours I was there, I saw one patient. Apparently its normal to not have patients in the summer. The male doctor was pretty cool. He had a t-shirt on that said livin the vida loca. He asked if I was single and then asked to be my husband. He calls me Britney Spears. The mongolian men here are so forward. The first time I meet anyone, whether it is male or female the first question out of their mouths: “are you single?”. Everyone wants to date you or wants to fix you up with someone they know. Being single and 22 is a strange concept to them. Most women in Mongolia are married and have kids by this age. I tell them that in America women wait till 27-30 to get married and have kids. They told me that is to old.

6/23/13

Yesterday, this man came to my house and told me he was taking me somewhere in a taxi. I couldn't understand where we were going, but my parents kept telling me to leave with this man. I got so nervous, that I called my friend Cidell and asked her to come over and try to figure out what was going on. I did not want to leave alone with this man that I could not communicate with in a taxi!! Cidell came right over and we both were looking up in our dictionaries what he was saying. It ended up that he was a friend of my father's and he wanted to take me to the new queen monument. I got my 10 year old sister to go too. First, he took us out for lunch, and we had pizza! It was delicious. We then walked to the taxi station and got a cab to the monument, which was so cool. It was a giant silver statue of the former queen on top of a hill. We took a lot of pictures, and my dad's friend Sobo asked to be my boyfriend and then listed his hobbies, like an interview. Haha. While at the monument I saw horses and told him how much I loved them. He found this random man from a ger in the village next to us and told him that an American wanted to ride his horse. The man threw me up on the horse and I got to ride around on it!! It was amazing! After that we went down to the river and played in the water. which I probably shouldn't have done, since there were cattle about 200 feet away standing in the water doing god knows what. But when in Mongolia, do what the Mongolians do. Oh and we had to climb over barbed wire fences to get to the river too, probably another sign we shouldn't have been down in the water. But there were other Mongolians having picnics and swimming, so I went with it.

June 26,2013

We started to prepare for our swearing in ceremony. We received what song we will have to sing as a group and practiced today during language training. It was beautiful and very uplifting. It is about two lovers who have to separate but hope to meet again one day. Then we found out we have to pick another Mongolian song to sings as just the health group. Our one teacher Agi is going to teach us a comedic song. She is very excited about it. So I am very excited about it. Singing with my group really lifted my spirits and it was a nice break from the stress of language. Its weird how much one little thing can really influence your spirit. We also went to my friend Cidell's house for tea with my teachers and another classmate Sarah. It was nice to relax and drink some tea and eat pastries with them. My teachers are so sweet. I think they are starting to like me more! I always felt as though they thought I wasn't trying or was a complete idiot. But now whenever they see me they hug me and are so sweet. Either they have gotten to know me and like me or they just feel bad for me. Haha.

6/27/13

Well today was interesting. I went to practicum at the family clinic, which went great. I got a lot of questions answered about the community, its strengths and weaknesses, but then around 430pm, the one male doctor tells me we are going walking outside, I understand this to be we are walking for a house call/walking to the hospital to see a patient, so I do not bring my purse with me. Big mistake. The other doctor then comes out and says she will drive us. I hop in the car and about 10 minutes down the road the doctor pulls over, and the male doctor motions me to get out with him, at Beer Bar. Apparently he wants to get a beer and chat. As we are walking up to the bar, I'm freaking out in my head because my purse, with my phone, keys and money are back at the clinic, which usually closes at 5pm. I have to get back to get them, but I figure he has to go back too, so I'm fine. Then I see all my other health volunteers from the hospital walking out of beer bar, so I run up to them and say hi. They tell me its a dry day, at the bar is not serving beer. The doctor sees all my friends, and gets weird and than says sorry and walks away really fast. Here I am about a 20 minute walk away from the clinic and the doctor leaves me, without my belongings and I have no way of getting a hold of the nurses. They speak no English and I don't even have my phone with me. I then run back, and by run I mean I am sprinting in my skirt and flats back to the clinic in hopes the nurses haven't left yet and I can get to my purse. I get there just as they are locking up. They look shocked to see me and asked what happened. I act out what happened, and use a few words I actually know that describe the situation, basically I repeat “beer and bad doctor” about 5 times to them. They get the point and agree that he is a bad doctor. Luckily I get my things and make it back to my house. Lesson learned, I will never go on another house visit with the male doctor and I will never leave without my belongings.

6/28/13

Classes went well today. For technical training we got to go to the Education Department or World Visions. I went to the education department, which at first I was disappointed that I couldn't go to World Visions, but I was pleasantly surprised! The director that we spoke to at the Ed dept had some pretty cool projects she was working on ( I would love her job). We had our translator/ technical teacher Bolgi with us. I just love her. She is always complimenting me and takes time to talk about how I am doing in Mongolia. She really cares. She is like a mother to me. Its so funny how much I rely on my teachers, they are like my mothers here. Seeing their friendly face everyday, even if its a terrible day, is so comforting.

Back to the Education Department, we talked to the director of health education (I think). Her job is to implement biology, chemistry, and health education classes in schools, especially kindergartens and secondary schools. She has this really cool hand washing program she is implementing in the community, where they have had the local bread makers, put hand washing instructions inside the bread in little plastic bags, so the family reads the instructions every time they eat the bread. The teachers then travel around to the families homes and interview the families and make sure they are implementing the hand washing techniques. They also run a health competition and have the school children make songs and poems about washing their hands. They also have supplied all the children in kindergarten with health notebooks, in which they can bring to the doctors and get two free health checkups a year and the doctor writes the child's health status and health plan. Its amazing how much the doctors here do for the kids. They are their health teachers in the schools too. The doctors here have so many jobs/tasks to do outside of their work at the clinic/hospital. It was pretty awesome to see how excited the director was about the programs and how successful they have been.

7/5/2013

So Monday-Thursday were spent in Darkhan. It was great to be back and to be reunited with all the PCTs. It was great catching up with them, even though we still tended to stay in our little “safe” group. It was weird, it was like we were getting to know everyone again and we tended to stay with our groups that we have been living with. The first night was designated as laundry and playing UNO. A handful of us then woke up at 6 to go for a run around Darkhan. We ran out to a near hasha along the mountains, it was beautiful. We had to go to trainings from 845am-530pm every day. We had our first TAP and LPI tests this week. TAP is an interview assessment of basically how we are doing in every area of training. We had to fill out a questionnaire and rate ourselves, our trainers had to fill it out and so did our family. My TAP booklet was almost identical to the trainers, so that was good. They are really happy with how I am doing and even said I was doing beyond what they could ask for. They kept telling me how much they love my enthusiasm and how I am always smiling and happy. They told me that that is so important and to keep it up, that I am doing great. The LPI, which is a language proficiency test, was less difficult than I thought it would be. I was able to understand every question they asked me and give an answer, even though most of them were not grammatically correct. The only hard part, was when I had to ask questions to the interviewer I had studied my answers so much, that it was hard to then think in reverse to ask the questions to her. But she was so nice and walked me through it. I am interested to see how I was graded.

7/6/2013

Today, a bunch of us went for a hike. It was a beautiful day for one, really cool out with a slight breeze. On the way down the mountain we decided to take what we thought was a quicker way, which really turned into a straight decent down the mountain through a slippery, rocky area. We had to move from tree to tree in order not to fall to our death down the mountain. At times it felt like I was skiing down it. At one point, I stopped to record a video of the decent down the mountain, because it was so unbelievably straight down and so rocky and treed. I decided to start my climb down while taping and proceeded to fall and roll about 10 feet on the ground. In total I fell 3 times, and did the splits a handful of times. But it was so much fun and worth all the bumps and bruises I got. I then came home and played soccer with the kids.

On Friday, I was lucky enough to get to eat sheep innards, intestines and the liver. It was hard for me to eat them, and my family noticed and gave me some bread and jam. The intestines themselves were okay, reminded of calamari, but what ever was inside of them, I could not bare it.

7/7/2013

Today, I went to get fitted for my del. It's going to be magenta and gold. I'm excited to see the finished product!

7/9/2013

Today, was Peace Corps/Family Meeting Day. We had language class for 2.5 hours then our families came to eat with us and talk to the Peace Corps housing staff. Each family was supposed to bring our favorite dish to eat to pass around to the other families and PCTs. My mom and dad had made hosiers and kimbop and milk tea. Which, are my favorite meals. They were delicious as always. Each family brought a unique dish only a couple were the same. We also made a poster abut the things we like to do with our families and the things we would like more of or what we would like to do. Most important on our poster was more coffee, fruit and vegetables! I pray it happens. Today, we get to go to Shaamar for TEFL for Non-TEFL trainings. I'm excited to hang out with the CYDs for a couple hours. I also heard Shaamar is beautiful, so im really excited to see it.

Yesterday, I went for my second fitting of my Del. They made me strip down to my underwear and bra in the middle of the store and try it on and remeasure. They kept touching my hair and calling me Barbie. At the end, one of the seamstresses pointed at my chest and said “Tom” which means big and then said “nice”. It was hilarious.

For technical class our LCFs took us shopping in the market and then we went back to Marylin's house to make a meal for our LCF, some of our families and ourselves. We decided to make vegetable hosier and apple hosier. All the Mongolians were so against the apple hosier but once they tried it, they all loved it. It reminded me of the McDonald's apple pies. So good. Our vegetable ones came out good, but could have used some more salt in them.

7/10/2013

Today is Nadaam and it is also my host mom's birthday today! Last night, me and my sister went on a hunt for a birthday cake at 9pm. I really wanted to make an “American” birthday cake, but there were no cake mixes in sight and without the internet, I had no idea how to make one from scratch. That is now on my list of things to learn and perfect while here in Mongolia. We went to the market, which had no cakes and then ran to a bakery, in hope its was still open a 930pm. It was! We picked out a pink and white cake. We brought it home to surprise my mom. I think she really liked it!

We have to fill out a site questionnaire that they are going to use to help with site placements. Part of me wants to live in an Aimag, where I'll have running water and access to more foods, but then there is part of me that would love to be out in a small soum, living in a Ger and have a simpler life. The only thing I am positive that I want is a site mate. I do not want to be all alone. It's very important to me to have some to work with, bounce ideas off of and have to just vent to. I can't imagine not having another American around. But I'm trying not to worry about it that much, I feel as though what is meant to be will happen. The more and more I think about my life, and how it has gone, the more I see that I can't control my path, it has already been made for me and I must do my best with whatever is thrown at me. I have the power to make decisions, but in the end, it will lead to what I am supposed to be doing all along. It's comforting believing that I am on the right path and that everything I have went through has led me here to this point. This is exactly where I am supposed to be. Who knew? I certainly never would have guessed that I would be living in Mongolia, that's for sure.

7/11/2013

Yesterday, was opening day of Nadaam. My dad and Anoja went to the stadium by taxi. I got o wear my new del. I love it, I think it is so pretty! My favorite part was the horse racing, which I got to see the end part, as they were finishing. The race is 26 miles, and the jockeys are children! It blows my mind. I also got to see wrestling, which was weirdly fascinating.It was very cool to see all of the gers, horses and people dressed up in traditional clothes.

Last night I met up with everyone and we went to the Square for fireworks and a show. It was raining, but we still had a great time. The fireworks were awesome, it was like a mini- 4^th of July celebration. They had live performances, that we danced along and sang to! I absolutely love dancing in the rain. I love dancing period.

7/12/13

Yesterday, I just relaxed and did a bit of studying. I went to the square to use the internet and went to the black market and bought an apple, banana and some dried fruit. Great snack. I'm so glad I found this little produce market there. It has been a life saver. I also wen on a great run with Laura and Sarah H. We ran to the Nadaam Stadium and watched the archers warm up for the days competition.

7/22/13

Today, starts the last 3 weeks of PST. The thought of this is exciting and somewhat scary. Soon I will be sent to my permanent site and have to start all over again. I really hope I get put with a site mate.

On Saturday, I met up with the girls. I woke up in the morning and did my usual Saturday morning run and stretch at the monument on top of the small mountain and then Cedell called to say her and Sarah were at the river swimming and relaxing. So then started my hunt to find them. After a few calls and repeated directions, I finally found them in a secluded area, behind trees near the water. It was so nice. We jumped right it and swam around, laid out and sarah read us her book out loud. It was such a nice time.

7/25/13

We had our final interview with Zortigo today for site placements. Previously, we had filled out a questionnaire about our skill sets, what work interests us, concerns, questions and placement preference. She said that I filled out my survey so thoroughly she really didn't have any questions, so we just talked for 15 minutes about language and what is coming up next for us as volunteers. I had told her that I would love to live in the Hofsgel region of Mongolia, but she said that there may not be a placement there, and just because somewhere is beautiful, doesn't mean you will have a good experience and a good CP. In her words “you can't lay out by the lake and hike everyday”. She said we have plenty of time to vacation and visit those places, not to worry about where we are getting sent. The most important things is getting a CP with whom you work well with, so the 2 years fly by and aren't filled with boredom. Which I completely agree with. The one thing I really stressed is how important it is to me to have a site mate, for my own sanity and I think I would do better work if I had someone to collaborate with. Also, I didn't want to be anywhere hot. Those two points are key for me, other than that I am pretty open to living anywhere. I can't wait to find out. Just 2 weeks away! At our site placement and swearing in ceremony they walk us onto this giant map of Mongolia on the floor and we get to stand at our Aimag/Soum and see in comparison where we are to the rest of the volunteers. So by the end, we are all on the map and get to see who is near us. Really Cool.

7/26/13

Today, our country desk head came in to do training/orientation with us. We learned about finances, how much money we receive monthly, travel money, reimbursements, rent, utilities, readjusting allowance, winterizing allowance. Basically it was jut a run down of all the money we will receive over the next 2 years, when rent and utilities is do and how to budget our money. It was helpful.