7/30/2013
Right now, I am
watching a Korean soap opera with my parents. I watch it almost every
night with them. I'm addicted. Its dubbed over in Mongolian and is
actually really helping with my Mongolian. I am picking out words and
am able to get the basic gist of what is going on in the scenes. My
other favorite show is this Russian prank show, which basically is
just practical jokes played on pediatricians who are walking the
streets in some Russian city. It's hilarious. They also have a
Mongolian version of “Lost”, which I can't really figure out, but
I could never figure out the American version either. It's basically
Lost, only with drunk Mongolians who crashed their boat. So kind of
like Lost meets Gilligan's Island.
Language has been
going really well this week, granted it is only Tuesday, but I'll
take it. One of the M23s (volunteers who started last year), Katie
came to observe; she comes every two weeks to clear up any questions
we have, since our Language Teachers speak no English. When she was
leaving she said that our group was getting really good at Mongolian.
It was so nice to hear that from someone who had been in our place
last year. She is really good at Mongolian, one of the high scorers
on the LPI, so the compliment meant even more to me. During technical
training we had an introduction to project management and got into a
discussion about possible grants we can write for to get funding for
our projects. Apparently, because the mines in Mongolia have been
causing so many problems (pollution, poor working conditions,
prostitutes and sex trafficking) they are trying to reconstruct their
image, so they have been giving out generous amounts of money for
public aid and volunteer work.
We get our flash
drive at final center days, which contains all the information we
will need to be successful and healthy for the next two years. For
the past two months we have heard of this Flash Drive, it has been
like a myth, an all knowing piece of technology, that we will finally
be receiving. All our questions will be answered, well hopefully. It
has recipes and tips for cooking food, how to winterize a Ger, budget
and receipt templates, movies, music, books and most importantly, PB
Works (the mecca of all things Peace Corps). PB works is a data base
of information about Mongolia, former projects, lesson plans,
information on grant writing, list of grants and aid we can receive,
organizations that have worked with PC is the past, and anything else
you can imagine needing to have successful projects. I am still
praying for an apartment or log house, the more and more we talk
about gers the more and more aware I become of my lack of
outdoors/mechanics skills.
Yesterday, we had our
last Cross Culture Training, which consisted of learning about the
different types of transportation to get around Mongolia and how to
survive our first winter. Key lessons I learned about the winter: one
must wake up in the middle of the night to keep their fire going
during the winter months, burning coal lasts longer than wood and
dung (pollution verse warmth), one must sleep with their electronics
so they do not freeze during the night, stuff the bottom of your
sleeping bag with all your summer clothes to lock in heat, during the
month of February Mongolia shuts down (you will get no work done
during this month, as well as most of the other winter months, aka:
sounds like the perfect time to plan a vacation to Thailand and
China), where 3 base layers under all clothes at all times, it will
hit -50 F, and most buildings are not heated well and lastly, buy
socks and boots insulated with camel felt (apparently it's very
warm). They say your first winter is the hardest time of your entire
PC service, so if you make it through that you will make it through
the whole 2 years. We have already had people early terminated and
there are rumors of others leaving from our group and we haven't even
gotten out of training yet! It's hard to believe that soon it will be
well below zero, when the past couple days have been in the high
eighties.
This evening I got to
skype with Ash and my dad! They were on their way to the Buffalo
Bills training camp in Rochester, NY. It still baffles me that I,
while in Mongolia, a day ahead, was able to skype with them as they
were driving down the thruway to Rochester. iphones all the way! Who
knows what kind of technology will be out in the States when I get
back in two years. They are still using Track phones and dial up
internet for the most part, here in Mongolia. I can't wait to buy my
own modem in Darkhan, right now I have to walk 25 minutes to find
internet.
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