All is well, pretty much the same, the outhouse isn't bad, the food is still pretty good. I'm in Darkhan until Friday night for more training and today for the fourth they got us some "American" food (bad pizza, hot dogs, watermelon) and soon we'll go back and hang out at the hotel. The best part is seeing everyone after we've been split into smaller groups for so long.
I don't have a lot of time, and I know you all are in Florida helping Jen move in, so I'll keep this short and hopefully send out another one tomorrow or so. I made a list of things I would like in a care package, but I don't have it right now, so I'll try to send you something tomorrow.
So a couple little anecdotes. Last friday night, a small group of us were hanging out by the river, just chatting, and it was starting to get dark, and a man approaches us, out of the woods, sits down and just tries to hang out and chat in Mongolian. My friend gave him a cigarette and he sat for a bit then got up, took of his pants, stuffed them in his boots and waded across the river into the dark. Then it started to rain so we ran to the nearest house, my friend Chris's house, and when we got there (around 10:20 or so) his family had tied up a goat and a sheep inside the parent's bedroom. We found out that they were about to slaughter them. So we sit down, and watch them slaughter them, which is by making an incision in the chest, reaching in and ripping out the windpipe. Pretty gruesome. Then we sat and watched them cut the carcasses up. While we're sitting there, Chris' host uncle comes in and hands us a live hedgehog that he had found outside. So there I am, in a Mongolian bedroom, holding a hedgehog, watching them cut up a goat and a sheep at 11 at night. Crazy.
That Sunday was Naadam, the national Holiday is next week but my town celebrated it on the 1st. Basically its an excuse for the entire town to get very very drunk and do strange things. Four of the guys in my group wrestled Mongolian men in the mongolian style, and lost, quickly. But they won a lot of respect from the men in town, and loved it. That evening my buddy Jeff came by my haashaa (yard/house) to get me and my 83 year old grandfather made him do two vodka shots with him before we could leave. Then we went to hang out again, and later that night our language teachers made us go to the local "Disco/Club" with them. Ironic that we don't have a post office but that we have a club. This club is more like a condemned building with a middle school-esque dance floor. There was DJ who played bad Casio keyboard polka/disco stuff, and dancing was like 8th grade where you stand in a circle and people just kind of bop. Oh, before that, we were sitting outside and the world's tallest man came to meet us. He was my teacher's student back in the day, and was in town for Naadam and she asked him to come meet us. So then he came into the disco with us and DJ'd a couple songs. He wore a shirt that said, "Life is short. I'm not." It was hilarious. I met the world's Tallest Man at a Mongolian disco. Weird.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Life in Dulaankhan! WOO
All is well, pretty much the same, the outhouse isn't bad, the food is still pretty good. I'm in Darkhan until Friday night for more training and today for the fourth they got us some "American" food (bad pizza, hot dogs, watermelon) and soon we'll go back and hang out at the hotel. The best part is seeing everyone after we've been split into smaller groups for so long.
I don't have a lot of time, and I know you all are in Florida helping Jen move in, so I'll keep this short and hopefully send out another one tomorrow or so. I made a list of things I would like in a care package, but I don't have it right now, so I'll try to send you something tomorrow.
So a couple little anecdotes. Last friday night, a small group of us were hanging out by the river, just chatting, and it was starting to get dark, and a man approaches us, out of the woods, sits down and just tries to hang out and chat in Mongolian. My friend gave him a cigarette and he sat for a bit then got up, took of his pants, stuffed them in his boots and waded across the river into the dark. Then it started to rain so we ran to the nearest house, my friend Chris's house, and when we got there (around 10:20 or so) his family had tied up a goat and a sheep inside the parent's bedroom. We found out that they were about to slaughter them. So we sit down, and watch them slaughter them, which is by making an incision in the chest, reaching in and ripping out the windpipe. Pretty gruesome. Then we sat and watched them cut the carcasses up. While we're sitting there, Chris' host uncle comes in and hands us a live hedgehog that he had found outside. So there I am, in a Mongolian bedroom, holding a hedgehog, watching them cut up a goat and a sheep at 11 at night. Crazy.
That Sunday was Naadam, the national Holiday is next week but my town celebrated it on the 1st. Basically its an excuse for the entire town to get very very drunk and do strange things. Four of the guys in my group wrestled Mongolian men in the mongolian style, and lost, quickly. But they won a lot of respect from the men in town, and loved it. That evening my buddy Jeff came by my haashaa (yard/house) to get me and my 83 year old grandfather made him do two vodka shots with him before we could leave. Then we went to hang out again, and later that night our language teachers made us go to the local "Disco/Club" with them. Ironic that we don't have a post office but that we have a club. This club is more like a condemned building with a middle school-esque dance floor. There was DJ who played bad Casio keyboard polka/disco stuff, and dancing was like 8th grade where you stand in a circle and people just kind of bop. Oh, before that, we were sitting outside and the world's tallest man came to meet us. He was my teacher's student back in the day, and was in town for Naadam and she asked him to come meet us. So then he came into the disco with us and DJ'd a couple songs. He wore a shirt that said, "Life is short. I'm not." It was hilarious. I met the world's Tallest Man at a Mongolian disco. Weird.
I don't have a lot of time, and I know you all are in Florida helping Jen move in, so I'll keep this short and hopefully send out another one tomorrow or so. I made a list of things I would like in a care package, but I don't have it right now, so I'll try to send you something tomorrow.
So a couple little anecdotes. Last friday night, a small group of us were hanging out by the river, just chatting, and it was starting to get dark, and a man approaches us, out of the woods, sits down and just tries to hang out and chat in Mongolian. My friend gave him a cigarette and he sat for a bit then got up, took of his pants, stuffed them in his boots and waded across the river into the dark. Then it started to rain so we ran to the nearest house, my friend Chris's house, and when we got there (around 10:20 or so) his family had tied up a goat and a sheep inside the parent's bedroom. We found out that they were about to slaughter them. So we sit down, and watch them slaughter them, which is by making an incision in the chest, reaching in and ripping out the windpipe. Pretty gruesome. Then we sat and watched them cut the carcasses up. While we're sitting there, Chris' host uncle comes in and hands us a live hedgehog that he had found outside. So there I am, in a Mongolian bedroom, holding a hedgehog, watching them cut up a goat and a sheep at 11 at night. Crazy.
That Sunday was Naadam, the national Holiday is next week but my town celebrated it on the 1st. Basically its an excuse for the entire town to get very very drunk and do strange things. Four of the guys in my group wrestled Mongolian men in the mongolian style, and lost, quickly. But they won a lot of respect from the men in town, and loved it. That evening my buddy Jeff came by my haashaa (yard/house) to get me and my 83 year old grandfather made him do two vodka shots with him before we could leave. Then we went to hang out again, and later that night our language teachers made us go to the local "Disco/Club" with them. Ironic that we don't have a post office but that we have a club. This club is more like a condemned building with a middle school-esque dance floor. There was DJ who played bad Casio keyboard polka/disco stuff, and dancing was like 8th grade where you stand in a circle and people just kind of bop. Oh, before that, we were sitting outside and the world's tallest man came to meet us. He was my teacher's student back in the day, and was in town for Naadam and she asked him to come meet us. So then he came into the disco with us and DJ'd a couple songs. He wore a shirt that said, "Life is short. I'm not." It was hilarious. I met the world's Tallest Man at a Mongolian disco. Weird.
First couple days in Mongolia (out of order, sorry guys!)
Anyways, here's what's been happening lately:
Arrived in Mongolia late Monday night, so we were sent right to a ger camp (more like a campy-touristy motel, but fairly nice nonetheless) and we all passed out. The sun rises around 4:45 here if not earlier so we all woke up early and the view was BREATHTAKING. The mountains are so green and not necessarily have trees. We hiked up one, and the altitude was little tough at first but all in all not bad. We ate lunch with the ambassador and then traveled for four hours here to Darkhan in a bus without AC. Problem is, they didn't tell us this really, but it is SCORCHING hot here in the summer. Painful, stifling. It gets nice at night, and yesterday there was a front coming in so there was a lot of wind and as a result, a sandstorm, but its beautiful weather when its morning/evening or night. The capital, Ulaanbaatar (UB) and Darkhan have a lot of Soviet influence. they are pretty dirty and have a lot of litter, and look just like an eastern european city. the poverty is pretty obvious too, as most people live in run down apartments. we are staying at a hotel that is... not so nice, and at first hard to stomach but has gotten easier each day and now really is quite fine. A far cry from the Atlanta sheraton. The food isn't so bad, i've already had some mutton, but we eat potatoes and cabbage and last night i had "spaghetti carbonara" at a restaurant that was pretty cheap and fairly nice.
We have a water distiller now that makes a lot of water quickly and tastes great, but avoiding water at restaurants and water fountains is a challenge. I had to have 3 shots yesterday and probably a few more tomorrow... all in all the most you can get/may get is about 14 i think, but that's over the course of some days or weeks. I was able to avoid the tetanus shot so i'm not as sore as other people. The funny thing about the cities here is that people steal the manhole covers to sell for the metal, so you have to be careful where you walk so you don't fall in and get hurt. And mangy horses pretty much wander around everywhere. You frequently see bones among the trash in the grassy areas and its just kind of amusing now.
Alcohol is a BIG deal here. The Mongolians drink a lot and they drink to get drunk. There's a saying they taught us about drinking with mongolians "remember there is ALWAYS another bottle!" and there are customs they will want you to follow about vodka shots so we've been learning about how to politely refuse or avoid drinking a lot. It won't really be an issue for us female volunteers, but for the guys it is DEFINITELY a problem and should be a challenge. We went to a club/bar last night and danced to some Justin Timberlake with some Mongolians. Dancing is a more asexual out here but lots of fun and the vodka (cheap vodka...think marginally better than Crat) burns but you have to do it as shots. They don't believe that beer is alcohol here, it is not a chaser, but more like juice or tea, and you're not a drinker if you drink beer. Even if you get shitfaced on it. You don't chase shots, or mix vodka. And you traditionally do three shots in a row. Then you drink more. then you sing songs in Mongolian. Then you do shots between songs. They drink til they hit the floor. No joke. I saw a guy stumbling around Darkhan at 2:15 this afternoon more drunk than i've ever seen ANY of you. And for some of you, that's saying a lot.
I've just been having training/orientation, mostly language lessons and culture lessons, as well as more Peace Corps (PC) policies and whatnot. Its a beautiful country and the people are SO friendly that its almost overwhelming.
Sunday I leave for my host family. I will be living in Dulaankhan with a host family and in the same community as 9 other volunteers. There we will continue our language lessons, learn how to teach english and the host family will teach us survival skills that they will later test us on, such as knot tying, fire building, chopping wood and so on. We are near a small river and I'm told Dulaankhan is the prettiest of the training sites. We are all within 2 hours of Darkhan however and frequently will come into the city for more training, shots, or other things. I am not sure, but I think the next time I will really be here for any length of time is July 4th, but if I get in sooner I will for sure send you an email or something.
Arrived in Mongolia late Monday night, so we were sent right to a ger camp (more like a campy-touristy motel, but fairly nice nonetheless) and we all passed out. The sun rises around 4:45 here if not earlier so we all woke up early and the view was BREATHTAKING. The mountains are so green and not necessarily have trees. We hiked up one, and the altitude was little tough at first but all in all not bad. We ate lunch with the ambassador and then traveled for four hours here to Darkhan in a bus without AC. Problem is, they didn't tell us this really, but it is SCORCHING hot here in the summer. Painful, stifling. It gets nice at night, and yesterday there was a front coming in so there was a lot of wind and as a result, a sandstorm, but its beautiful weather when its morning/evening or night. The capital, Ulaanbaatar (UB) and Darkhan have a lot of Soviet influence. they are pretty dirty and have a lot of litter, and look just like an eastern european city. the poverty is pretty obvious too, as most people live in run down apartments. we are staying at a hotel that is... not so nice, and at first hard to stomach but has gotten easier each day and now really is quite fine. A far cry from the Atlanta sheraton. The food isn't so bad, i've already had some mutton, but we eat potatoes and cabbage and last night i had "spaghetti carbonara" at a restaurant that was pretty cheap and fairly nice.
We have a water distiller now that makes a lot of water quickly and tastes great, but avoiding water at restaurants and water fountains is a challenge. I had to have 3 shots yesterday and probably a few more tomorrow... all in all the most you can get/may get is about 14 i think, but that's over the course of some days or weeks. I was able to avoid the tetanus shot so i'm not as sore as other people. The funny thing about the cities here is that people steal the manhole covers to sell for the metal, so you have to be careful where you walk so you don't fall in and get hurt. And mangy horses pretty much wander around everywhere. You frequently see bones among the trash in the grassy areas and its just kind of amusing now.
Alcohol is a BIG deal here. The Mongolians drink a lot and they drink to get drunk. There's a saying they taught us about drinking with mongolians "remember there is ALWAYS another bottle!" and there are customs they will want you to follow about vodka shots so we've been learning about how to politely refuse or avoid drinking a lot. It won't really be an issue for us female volunteers, but for the guys it is DEFINITELY a problem and should be a challenge. We went to a club/bar last night and danced to some Justin Timberlake with some Mongolians. Dancing is a more asexual out here but lots of fun and the vodka (cheap vodka...think marginally better than Crat) burns but you have to do it as shots. They don't believe that beer is alcohol here, it is not a chaser, but more like juice or tea, and you're not a drinker if you drink beer. Even if you get shitfaced on it. You don't chase shots, or mix vodka. And you traditionally do three shots in a row. Then you drink more. then you sing songs in Mongolian. Then you do shots between songs. They drink til they hit the floor. No joke. I saw a guy stumbling around Darkhan at 2:15 this afternoon more drunk than i've ever seen ANY of you. And for some of you, that's saying a lot.
I've just been having training/orientation, mostly language lessons and culture lessons, as well as more Peace Corps (PC) policies and whatnot. Its a beautiful country and the people are SO friendly that its almost overwhelming.
Sunday I leave for my host family. I will be living in Dulaankhan with a host family and in the same community as 9 other volunteers. There we will continue our language lessons, learn how to teach english and the host family will teach us survival skills that they will later test us on, such as knot tying, fire building, chopping wood and so on. We are near a small river and I'm told Dulaankhan is the prettiest of the training sites. We are all within 2 hours of Darkhan however and frequently will come into the city for more training, shots, or other things. I am not sure, but I think the next time I will really be here for any length of time is July 4th, but if I get in sooner I will for sure send you an email or something.
Dulaankhan
My host family lives in a wooden house that looks pretty run down on the outside but inside is quite nice. My bedroom is nicer than the one I had in the Hotel here in Darkhan and has a door with a mirror and a lock on each side and a pretty nice bed. I live in the house with my two "little sisters" one is 14 and the other 8. My "parents" and my "grandfather" live outside in the ger in the yard, where they prepare the meals and we all eat, not always together. Another family showed up because my other "older sister" who is 25 just had a baby the other day; so when she returns, there will be 11 of us total; her, the baby, my parents, my two little sisters, my 24 year old older brother, my grandfather, the other woman and her two kids, and me. I think that's 11... we have an outhouse. I was nervous about using it the first couple days but you really get used to it and realize how much faster you go when you don't have to flush. We have a type of faucet/sink inside where i wash my hands after using what we among the Dulaankhan PCT's (Peace Corps Trainees) call the "little hole in the ground" (so, I'll say, I'm gonna go use the little girls' hole in the ground). It really isn't so bad, not so smelly. My family has a ton of pigs and piglets, a bunch of cows and calves and a ton of chickens, roosters and chicks. I learned how to milk a cow yesterday, and discovered I am NOT good at it. The family cooks for me three meals a day. Breakfast is usually bread, which they put butter and sugar on. It sounds strange but I actually really like it. They'll usually give me bottled juice or hot tea, and sometimes there will be something else like eggs (from the chickens outside....) and maybe some kind of sausage (that looks like kielbasa). Lunch is usually the best meal; dinner and lunch are usually either rice or noodles, with what I think is chopped up beef, with red and green peppers, or maybe some carrots or potatoes, kind of stirfried. It lacks flavor or spice, and we eat a LOT of carbohydrates and starches. So far, not so bad. They make their own yogurt here, which doesn't really taste like Dannon or Yoplait (no surprise...) but its not bad. They will drink it and then lick the bowl. I prefer to use a spoon and only eat a little. My family is CONSTANTLY trying to please me; yesterday they took me to a bathhouse to get a hot shower and paid for it, and then late last night my "mother" showed up with a big bag of what looked like german butter cookies/biscuits. For no reason. The language barrier is the worst part; we don't really talk but more gesture and somehow communicate. They are very overprotective and we all found out soon enough that word travels fast here (its only about 1400 people in this town).
Yesterday my language class and a PC volunteer from last year went up this mountain to the Dulaankhan "museum" wher this crazy old man with long white hair and a white beard lives and tends the museum (basically a showcase of taxidermied animals and wood carvings). He would just start singing and laugh at us all. There is a mineral spring up there with a large carving of Buddha and people make small pilgrimages to the site and drink the water for good health. We all drank a little but not too much because we wer afraid of the diarrhea.
So far, no diarrhea for me, I've been really paranoid and careful about what I eat, so I think as long as I continue I won't get any serious illnesses. The other day I went with some of my training group friends to the river and we all waded in and bathed and washed our hair. It was very... refreshing and much cheaper and easier than using the bathhouse. The town is beautiful, surrounded by mountains, and the weather has been pretty good. I basically spend my days like such: i get up around 7 if not earlier whenever the rooster crows and I hear people moving around. I eat some breakfast and walk about 20-25 minutes to the school for 4 hours of language lessons. I walk 20 minutes home again and have some lunch and then go back to school for either teaching lessons or culture lessons from the Peace Corps. Sometimes we have the afternoons off and we'll go hiking or just hang out or go home. When I go home I basically play soccer or volleyball with my little sisters or read/study language. The language is hard; it is in Cyrillic so we are working on learning that alphabet. It is intense language lessons but we are learning fast. I usually am so tired by 10 that I go to sleep early. At night sometimes I"ll play a Mongolia card game or the ankle bone game with my family. All in all, pretty quiet but busy and intense.
Yesterday my language class and a PC volunteer from last year went up this mountain to the Dulaankhan "museum" wher this crazy old man with long white hair and a white beard lives and tends the museum (basically a showcase of taxidermied animals and wood carvings). He would just start singing and laugh at us all. There is a mineral spring up there with a large carving of Buddha and people make small pilgrimages to the site and drink the water for good health. We all drank a little but not too much because we wer afraid of the diarrhea.
So far, no diarrhea for me, I've been really paranoid and careful about what I eat, so I think as long as I continue I won't get any serious illnesses. The other day I went with some of my training group friends to the river and we all waded in and bathed and washed our hair. It was very... refreshing and much cheaper and easier than using the bathhouse. The town is beautiful, surrounded by mountains, and the weather has been pretty good. I basically spend my days like such: i get up around 7 if not earlier whenever the rooster crows and I hear people moving around. I eat some breakfast and walk about 20-25 minutes to the school for 4 hours of language lessons. I walk 20 minutes home again and have some lunch and then go back to school for either teaching lessons or culture lessons from the Peace Corps. Sometimes we have the afternoons off and we'll go hiking or just hang out or go home. When I go home I basically play soccer or volleyball with my little sisters or read/study language. The language is hard; it is in Cyrillic so we are working on learning that alphabet. It is intense language lessons but we are learning fast. I usually am so tired by 10 that I go to sleep early. At night sometimes I"ll play a Mongolia card game or the ankle bone game with my family. All in all, pretty quiet but busy and intense.
Monday, June 4, 2007
I got Seoul...
Quick post from me in Korea before our flight to Mongolia tonight...
Had a 28 hour lay-over in Incheon, right outside of Seoul, so the Peace Corps gave us free time to see the country/city. Wanted to go to the demilitarized zone, but apparently, it and many restaurants/businesses aren't open on Mondays. But they still sell beer on Mondays. No food, just beer.
Seoul: Sunday night went into the city, ate dinner at a very traditional restaurant. Another PCV with me is Korean so he was able to interpret and get us good food at a good price. Then we walked around the city, which is much like an American city except more neon signs, and in Korean. Duh. The guys with us wanted to get a drink, so we went to a bar that was pretty American, so we girls decided to walk around for a bit. I bought a shirt for 5000 won, which is about a little more than 5 bucks, and it has Korean words for something about stomach fat and a picture of a bear pinching his own stomach fat. Did not realize this when I bought it, but now love the shirt even more. Hilarious. Can't wait to wear it in the MG and send you all a picture.
Today, went on a tour of the beach near the Yellow Sea... pretty cool, it was low tide so you could see a lot of rocks and cliffs, and lots of little tidepools complete with shells, crabs and all kinds of critters. Then we hit a traditional Korean fish market, complete with tons of dried seafood and even more live seafood, such as octopus, fish, crab, various mollusks, and so on. One crab tried to make a run for it and jumped on my foot, and I screamed because let's face it these are some crazy looking critters, and everyone in the market stopped and looked at me.
The last stop was a 1300-year old Buddhist temple. Inside one building were some monks reciting prayers and it was an awesome aesthetic site. Just beautiful. There's a legend that if you drink from a certain pond and pray at a certain tree, you'll have an easier time getting pregnant. Definitely hauled ass away from that tree ASAP. Can't be making babies now kids.
Alright, back to the airport, have a couple hours before our flight. We'll be arriving in Mongolia tonight around 10:30 but probably won't get through the airport and to the ger camp where we are staying the next couple days until late tonight and tomorrow we're having lunch with the ambassador. Not sure when my next post/email will be, and I'm even less certain of when my next shower will be.
The adventure begins...
Had a 28 hour lay-over in Incheon, right outside of Seoul, so the Peace Corps gave us free time to see the country/city. Wanted to go to the demilitarized zone, but apparently, it and many restaurants/businesses aren't open on Mondays. But they still sell beer on Mondays. No food, just beer.
Seoul: Sunday night went into the city, ate dinner at a very traditional restaurant. Another PCV with me is Korean so he was able to interpret and get us good food at a good price. Then we walked around the city, which is much like an American city except more neon signs, and in Korean. Duh. The guys with us wanted to get a drink, so we went to a bar that was pretty American, so we girls decided to walk around for a bit. I bought a shirt for 5000 won, which is about a little more than 5 bucks, and it has Korean words for something about stomach fat and a picture of a bear pinching his own stomach fat. Did not realize this when I bought it, but now love the shirt even more. Hilarious. Can't wait to wear it in the MG and send you all a picture.
Today, went on a tour of the beach near the Yellow Sea... pretty cool, it was low tide so you could see a lot of rocks and cliffs, and lots of little tidepools complete with shells, crabs and all kinds of critters. Then we hit a traditional Korean fish market, complete with tons of dried seafood and even more live seafood, such as octopus, fish, crab, various mollusks, and so on. One crab tried to make a run for it and jumped on my foot, and I screamed because let's face it these are some crazy looking critters, and everyone in the market stopped and looked at me.
The last stop was a 1300-year old Buddhist temple. Inside one building were some monks reciting prayers and it was an awesome aesthetic site. Just beautiful. There's a legend that if you drink from a certain pond and pray at a certain tree, you'll have an easier time getting pregnant. Definitely hauled ass away from that tree ASAP. Can't be making babies now kids.
Alright, back to the airport, have a couple hours before our flight. We'll be arriving in Mongolia tonight around 10:30 but probably won't get through the airport and to the ger camp where we are staying the next couple days until late tonight and tomorrow we're having lunch with the ambassador. Not sure when my next post/email will be, and I'm even less certain of when my next shower will be.
The adventure begins...
Thursday, May 24, 2007
It gon' be cold up in here
Alright, so its one week until staging in Atlanta (sucks that I can't catch a Braves game while I'm down there...) and I thought I'd just put a little quick note up here with my address for the next three months. You just have to include both the Cyrilic and the English addresses, and you know, like fill in my name instead of leaving it "Your Name,".
Not nervous yet, just have so much random shit to do. I'm pretty sure I'm going to put a picture up here of my two pieces of luggage so you all can see just how little I can take with me. And most of it is long underwear or appropriate cold-weather attire. It's all so very very sexy. In fact, I think Victoria's Secret should start manufacturing their own line of heavyweight underwear for all those couples in the arctic who are "keeping warm" together.
So recap: Thursday May 31st, Leave DC at 9:30am, ATL for a couple, then to the land of fashionable long underwear. Hot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
