Why I Joined the Peace Corps

A question I was asked often before leaving for Mongolia was “Why Peace Corps?” Over the years before joining, I gave all of the cliche responses from wanting to experience a new culture, to make the world a better place, and wander off on some great once in a life time adventure. Not to say these aren’t worthy reasons, but I soon realized they didn’t really capture my true motivations for joining. After months of thought, the answer became clear and was embarrassingly simple: It’s what would make me happy.

I come from the school of thought wear I need to look out for myself first and make decisions which will ultimately lead to my own happiness. While this may come off as selfish, hear me out. If I would have stayed at home and picked up some entry level job with my college degree, I can almost promise you I’d have been miserable. I wouldn’t be doing anyone any favors by making that kind of choice. I’ve always believed that if I take care of myself, ensuring that I’m happy and feeling reasonably fulfilled, I’d put myself in a better place to help do the same for others.

I had wanted to become a PCV since 2010 when my good friend, Sarah, set off for her own Peace Corps journey in Mongolia (You can read the blog from her service here, and I highly recommend you do, because, come one, you know you love Dumb and Dumber jokes just as much as I do http://mongolia820.blogspot.com/). I had met her back in 2007 on my first Mission Trip with my church to Mississippi to help rebuild homes for hurricane Katrina victims. After following her blog, I was hooked on the idea of being a PCV and coming to Mongolia. Although I didn’t tell her until well after her service, her friendship and guidance played a big role in shaping me into who I am today.

Thus far, the experience has yet to disappoint, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision to be here. It has been a long road but worth the wait indeed. I feel fortunate knowing that I wake up every morning glad to be doing what I’m doing.

Not creative enough to come up with a title

Now that I’ve been at site for over three months things are a starting to settle down. I have daily routines set out, I’m not surprised by the craziness of day-to-day life in Mongolia, and the novelty of being “the foreigner” has started wane. While it sucks to have the initial rush of getting to site start to dwindle, it is nice to have things slow down and have this place start to feel like home.

My desk at work. I sit across my the math teacher and my CP.

My 9th grade class wanted me to draw everyone. A very attractive bunch. 

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately with my hashaa family lately which I’ve enjoyed greatly. Evenings usually consist of my little sister, Zaya, dragging me around the house to play with Mission. Something I’m eternally grateful for is my families acceptance of Mission. Cats are seen as mean and bad luck which makes their enthusiasm about him pretty astonishing. At first, Zaya was terrified of Mission but now she won’t leave him alone. This is both good and bad as it’s obvious to me Mission sometimes needs a break from being carried around like a doll all the time. Nevertheless, I accomplished my goal of changing my hashaa families view on pets and cats at least somewhat.

My brother, dad, and sister.

Zaya.

Since my site visit things at work have really picked up. In addition to my normal work, I’m teaching an English class to all the teachers in my school three days a week, doing two English clubs on Wednesdays, speaking practice with my CP’s twice a week, and leaving methodology materials in the teachers room once a week. I was also made aware of all these new project on less than a days notice, which I can’t lie, was rather frustrating for my American brain.  “You will do English class for all school workers and English club lesson tomorrow.” Lovely. The lesson ended up going really well and all the teachers did a great job. Everyone seems really enthusiastic about learning English. I’m hoping to use my time teaching my coworkers as an opportunity to showcase different styles of teaching. The hope is, assuming all goes well, they’ll enjoy all the activities we do and want to learn how to do them for their own classes.

My Thanksgiving was extremely uneventful. Plans in our aimag never really developed so it looked like I’d be alone for the holiday. I had tried to talk with my CP’s about the it but no one really took any interest in it. They did ask if I celebrated on my own to which I just shrugged and said, “No, not really.” I ended up just laying in bed with some hot chocolate and my cat which was good enough for me. I definitely missed everyone at home and was fortunate enough to talk with them during their Thanksgiving dinner.

Then on Friday there was a student concert which featured dancing, singing, poetry, and performances on traditional Mongolian instruments. I was originally told the concert would take place on Saturday at 3. On Friday one of my CP’s told me part of the concert was starting today and I should go take some photos. I got to see my favorite class, my 5th graders, do some snazzy dances and songs. Afterwards I just went home and ended up doing a puzzle with my hashaa dad for 2 hours. Later I stopped by the cultural center again only to find out the entire show was today. I ended up missing most of it which stunk but got to see a lot of my students again which was nice.

Look at that outfit!

My 5th graders.

This looked like a very Russian dance.

Shiny pants.

Beyonces in training.

My brother playing the morin khuur or horsehead fiddle.

Now I’m gearing up for a late Thanksgiving next weekend with some the other Khentii volunteers and IST the week after. IST will be filled with fancy dinners, friends, and most importantly, hot showers. Star Wars will also be in theaters here starting Christmas day, so I’ll need to make plans to head back to UB so I can see it. Hope everyone’s Thanksgiving back home was a good one.

Mission enjoying his care package bed by the fire.

And remember, folks.

PS – I’m working on a collaborative blog post with another volunteer which will hopefully be done soon. What I mean by that is Jenni’s done a lot of work on the post and I’ve been slacking. Now she can officially hold me accountable to get this done.

Site Visit

A few weeks ago I got roped into playing in a random volleyball tournament again. I popped by the school gym to see what was going on only to be dragged into a game by a random Mongolian man who I’d never seen before. Our team wasn’t very good and we ended up losing both games. One of those games we lost to a team that had one less player than we did. We only scored 2 points. It was a real hoot.

The 12th of this month was Chinggis Khaan’s 853rd birthday and everyone celebrated by putting on their best deels. When I showed up to work I felt pretty lame in my normal work clothes seeing as how I don’t have a deel yet. Fortunately, everyone has been saying I need to get one for Tsaagan Sar which is coming up in February/March depending on when the lunar new year falls. I was able to get some nice pictures of my students all dressed up.

My 8th grade class and my CP in the back.

2nd graders.

1st graders.

She is not impressed.

My 5th graders!

More 5th graders. I need one of those fuzzy hats.

My next door neighbors!

One of my 6th graders.

Coworkers.

Playing a game called “shagaa” which involves flicking the ankle bones of goats.

One of my 6th graders and her two sisters.

Some of my 7th and 8th graders.

4th graders.

Bayar, one of the regional managers for the East, came to Galshar today to make sure all is well. We talked about work, community integration, safety and security, and about any other questions I had. Then we had a meeting with my supervisor and CP’s to talk about how things have been going. All-in-all it went very well and my ger has never been cleaner.

Our first snow which stuck.

5th graders getting their work checked.

5th graders.

Nomin

My self proclaimed 7 year old sister at the school dorms.

Sheep meat.

Mission hanging out in with the fam.

My dad and little sister. Zaza peed on him immediately after this.

My winterized ger featuring my ping.

Jothlon.

After realizing how boring this post was I made up a list of topics for future postings so expect to see those coming your way soon. For now, enjoy the photos. Oh, and is it IST yet?

What Peace Corps Service Is Really Like

Country Roads

TAKE ME HOMEEEEEE!

This past week marked the end of the first school semester in Mongolia and as a result schools are on break all week. In hindsight, I should have made some plans to travel in Khentii, or really just to do anything at all, but wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Instead, I’ve been sitting in my ger all week watching movies and napping. These couples days of loneliness gave me something to think about: Isolation.

I first started seriously thinking about this topic last weekend when I was on the way back to my soum from the aimag center. We had gotten lost near the end of our ride home and were low on gas. The trip back to my soum is 100 miles on dirt roads with no road signs, lights, or any real signs of civilization aside from the occasional ger or passing motorcycle. On that ride it really started to settle in how out there and alone I was. Sure, I have friends in my soum and know a few people who speak bits of English but by and large connecting with people beyond small talk is often difficult.

Khentii’s country roads.

Random ger we stopped at to ask for directions.

Another go at taking star photos.

I’m actually quite good about being alone. It’s never been something I’ve found troubling and is usually a source of relaxation and comfort for me. This type of alone-ness is different. Whether it’s my culture, language, or physical appearance I’m drastically different from everyone here and because of that everything is magnified. It can be big things like feeling uncomfortable when people come over and start going through my things or small things like having people think I’m weird for saying “thank you” all the time. It’s strange to experience but it’s these moments that broaden your perspective not only in terms of what it means to live abroad but also about the experiences of different people back in the United States. The experiences you have as a PCV aren’t limited to your time in country of service.

On the plus side, I’ve been extremely fortunate in terms of integrating into my community. One of the benefits of living in a soum is that everyone knows who you are. Since my town is so small, I end up seeing the same faces everyday which makes it easier to get to know people. The hope is these connections will make future projects and life in general run more smoothly.

On a different note, I went for a short hike earlier this week and got to see hundreds of Mongolian antelope. They’re super skittish, so I was never able to close too any but did manage to get a decent picture of some.

6th graders.

I’m trying to get better at taking portraits.

A friendly soum dog.

Sunsets and solar panels.

The closest I was able to get without them running.