8/27/13
I got a refrigerator
last night! I am so excited to be able to buy eggs, yogurt and
chicken now! My co-worker and his friend brought it over last night.
So now I have running water and a refrigerator, the next thing I get
is hopefully hot water! My hot water heater in the shower is broken,
so I have been taking ice cold showers, they are so cold that I
literally get brain freezes. So I try to go running or exercise
before I take one, so it won't seem so cold. But I would really love
to have it up and running before winter hits. Yesterday, we went out
to dinner at a Korean Restaurant, it was delicious. I had this spicy
soup that reminded me of Ramen Noodles.
8/29/13
Well this week has
been more productive then last week work wise. I have been bust
translating documents into English and proof reading my one of my
co-worker's translations of a document for WHO. I also managed to
hand out my surveys and am now just waiting to get them all returned,
I have gotten 2 back so far. My task for the weekend is to translate
them with the help of one of my Mongolian friends, since the answers
are in Cyrillic script, and I only know how to read the print form.
Next time I must ask them to print their answers.
8/30/13
Today, the health
Department hosted a training for different Health Organizations in
our Aimag. The training was put on by World Vision (I would love to
work for them in the future!) World Vision is one of the world’s
leading humanitarian organizations. Their goals for the countries
they work in are: 1) emergency relief to victims of natural or
man-made disasters; 2) long-term sustainable community development
focusing on clean water, education, health care, agricultural
improvements and sanitation; and 3) working with policymakers to
build awareness around poverty and to address the unjust systems that
help perpetuate it (http://www.wvi.org).
I have a meeting with the Director Of World Visions in Mongolia this
week, to see what I can do to help with their projects here in my
Aimag.
Today's training was
on water sanitation. I learned that Arkhangai has the dirtiest water
in Mongolia. The water contains E.coli and various other contaminants
that are detrimental to the health of the citizens of my Aimag. Water
filters are expensive and people need more water safety education.
World Vision is trying to come up with new piping systems and water
sources to help combat the problem. I would love to help out on this
project! It seems that people in my Aimag do not utilize rain water.
It rains a lot here in the summer, at would be an easy way for people
in the Soums and Ger districts to have access to more water, which
they could then boil and drink and use for cooking. This is something
I am going to research more and perhaps make a project proposal on.
Another project I am
interested in starting is a series of helmet safety trainings for the
community. Everyone rides motorcycles, and no one wears a helmet. I
want to right to a couple organizations for grants and see if
different organizations will donate helmets, that could be given out
to community members once they complete the helmet safety course.
Another volunteer a couple hours away from me, also asked if I would
come up with a Health Training curriculum that I could travel to his
Soum and do for dorm students on sexual health and fitness.
I also want to do some kind of project dealing with Mental Disabilities and Mental Health. Best Buddies International is starting up a best Buddies Program in Mongolia. They are in the early stages of development, but I really want to be involved. Mental illness and Mental Disabilities have such a stigma here. They believe that if you have a child with a mental disability, its because you did something wrong in a previous life/bad karma. These children do not go to school and in a lot of cases, never leave their house. I really want to do something to combat the stigmas and teach young people about.
Back to the training,
I ended up being 10 minutes late to the World Vision training, do to
being told about the meeting at the last minute, so I rushed up the
stairs to sit in on it. I get to my seat and put my tea down, which
then spills all over the floor! So embarrassing. It made a huge
mess. All the Mongolians turned around and laughed. I sat down
quickly, cursing my clumsiness. But I soon realized that my small
disturbance was nothing compared to how Mongolians act during
meetings/trainings. They answer their phones in the middle of
meetings and conduct conversations, children visit their parents
asking for money, and side conversations happen through out the
meeting. The training was in all Mongolian, so I didn't understand a
lot, but my counterpart was able to translate the main ideas to me in
English. We were given trail mix, cookies and Aloe juice through out
the training, such a nice surprise! I also got a really nice leather
bound notebook and pen. World Vision then paid for everyone's lunch
at a local restaurant, which I couldn't go to, because my plumber
decided to show up at my apartment at that exact time. I have no idea
what he did for two hours, because I still have no hot water and my
toilet still does not flush. But I am moving out of the apartment at
the end of this month into a new one, so hopefully that one will have
the basic amenities this one lacks.
9/2/2013
Friday night, we all
went to Will's to hang out. We were going to go to Karaoke but
realized Friday are dry days in our Aimag, so clubs and bars are
closed. So instead of Karaoke, we danced around Will's apartment and
just hung out. Saturday morning I went for a great run through the
mountains on the mountain biking paths. It was absolutely beautiful
and at one point I found myself running through herds of cows, horses
and yaks. We made brunch (Kegs and Eggs) at Will's. I learned how to
make French Toast and it turned out spectacular. We also had eggs,
home fries, “bacon”, which was actually just pork chunks and
hillbilly mimosas (beermosas), which is orange juice and beer mixed
together (pretty delicious actually). After brunch, we decided to
have Spa Day. We did face masks, hair conditioner treatments and
manicures. Yes, Will joined in. He reluctantly wore a face mask and
we trimmed his nails and removed his cuticles. Haha. Then Lori, Jen
and I took turns using his shower (hot water). This is going to be
our new Saturday morning tradition. Saturday night, we met our
Mongolian friend Urtaa out at a dance club. So much fun! There was a
Mongolian woman there who has doing cartwheels and dancing so
enthusiastically to every song. I have never witnessed anything like
it. Mongolians love dancing with us at the clubs. The cartwheeling
lady told me that I was the most beautiful dancer she has ever seen.
I thanked her and her husband kept giving me the thumbs up.
Sunday afternoon I met
with the Director of School 1 (a school near my house) and drank
Airag (fermentated mare's milk) for the first time. It has a very
interesting taste, I do not care for it. The director wants me to
work with the Physical Education teachers, so once school picks up I
need to set up a time to meet with the teachers and see what I can
help out with. We all went to Jen's and watched “He's Just Not That
Into You” and “ The Killers”. Poor Will is always stuck with
chick flicks. After the movies we went shopping at the market for
food and I went home to play with GiGi, my cat. She is hysterical. I
love her so much! I now feed her chicken or rice with fish mixed in.
She seems to love both. She has so much energy and always wants to
play. She reminds me of my cat back home, Mayble. GiGi loves to play
fetch just like Mayble. It's hilarious.
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