I will hopefully be getting my WiFi set up at site within the next few days. I’ll be typing up a few post and have lots of pictures to share once I’m settled in. Sorry for the lack of posts, but I’ll be sure to make up for it in the coming weeks.
After a long while I’m finally getting around to writing another post. I just got out of my Country Director interview which went well and am taking advantage of the school’s sparse and very weak WiFi signal. Oh, and thanks for the pb&j, Darlene.
Two weeks ago we had mid-center days which came as welcomed break from the typical drone of PST. All the trainees got back together for various training sessions and it was nice to see everyone again. We had drinks, sang karaoke, and ate a lot of good food. We also had more of our usual exciting sessions and meetings on safety, security, and medical information.
Last weekend our training site went into Ulaanbaatar for a weekend trip. We visited the Choijin Lama Temple, Sukhbaatar Square, and the National History Museum of Mongolia. UB is an exciting city which combines a lot of old and the new Mongolia. And, of course, we had a lot of very, very good food.
Now everyone is getting ready for our last few weeks of PST. In only two weeks time, we’ll all be finding out where I’ll live for the next two years of my Peace Corps service. It’s exciting and nerve-racking. It’ll be tough to leave the other trainees I’ve grown so close with over the past three months.
As always, hope everyone is all and well back home.
I started writing this post last Monday but never finished it. I haven’t been in the mood to write lately because we’ve been so busy.
I moved in with my host family around a week and a half ago. Things have been really awesome. I have a mom, dad, and three lovely sisters. My youngest host sister knows a bit of English which has helped a lot with the language barrier. We’ve played cards, basketball, gone shopping, “family bonded” (this involved killing two sheep), named all the animals in my Yellowstone National Park book in Mongolian, bathed me, and much, much more.
I’m quite fortunate to have such a wonderful and attentive host family. The food they’ve made me has been all over the place. One day it’ll be a traditional Mongolian meal like huushur (deep fried hot pocket) and the next day I’ll have fried chicken and fries for lunch. No matter what it has been, it’s been amazing. It’s nice to get that kind of variety with my meals as most trainees don’t. Cabbage and boiling soup for everyone!
I have my own ger (similar to a yurt) in my families yard. Ger (G-Air, rhymes with care) life is one of my favorite things about being here. I have my own stove, water boiler, tea, water filter, and other generic home furniture. It’s a cozy place. I was my clothes and bathe in a tumpin, which is a small water basin I fill up with about an inch and a half of water. It has certainly been a change I’m still getting used to.
Our first weekend here was for getting acquainted with our training site and spending time with our host families. We took a tour with our Mongolian LCF’s (can’t remember this one) of our training site which was enjoyable. One of my favorite things is to hear stories about what each volunteer’s family is like. Even in our relatively small town, everyone is having wildly different experiences. Hey, Brain! (His family made him wear a dead fox and dress up in military garb).
PST consists of four hours of language training in the morning, an hour and a half break for lunch, and then three hours of technical training in the afternoon. Once a week we have cross-cultural sessions and thus far it has all been tiring. I’m up at 7 and am pretty much going until non-stop until 10-11 each night. The Mongolian language is very difficult and I’ve yet to have much success with it.
There are 13 other TELF trainees at my site. It’s been fun getting to know everyone and it’s crazy how fast everyone has bonded. I was lucky to get a great group for language training and partner, Jenni, for our micro-teaching sessions. Micro-teaching sessions are small practice teaching classes meant to introduce us to teaching English in Mongolia. We develop a 40-minute lesson where we teach to three different groups of students of all ages and experience levels. Jenni and I did a lot of planning for our first lesson and it paid off. We have great rapport, which has made things go really smoothly.
I know a lot more has happened but it’s a lot to remember.
I wrote this post ages ago. It has a lot of old info but I’ll still post it anyway. Since I now have a consistent source of WiFi (nope), I’ll be able to post more frequently. Pictures will be included in my next post so Jenni can get on the WiFi after me. You’re welcome, Jennifer!
This morning we left for our training site. It was a few hours by bus and was the first time we truly got to see Mongolia, and let me tell you, it is beautiful. It’s arguably the most beautiful place I’ve been, which is saying a lot.
The countryside is full of rolling hills and mountains with herds of various animals dotting the landscape. You’ll probably never see a group of people more excited to see baby goats than a bunch of Peace Corps trainees. Harper was so excited and was willing to do whatever it took to get the best photos possible. She stuck her head clear out of the bus window camera and all! Apparently this is something she does in every country she travels to. I wasn’t nearly as committed.
The bus ride got pretty rough at times considering large portions of the main road were closed. We had to drive travel on the makeshift dirt paths along side the road which created a many interesting moments. Greyhound style busses were not made for off-roading. It was essentially Mad Max: Road Fury, Mongolian style.
When we arrived at our training hub, we broke into small groups to take a tour of the city. We saw a local college, market, “shopping mall”, and then grabbed Korean food for dinner. It was easily the best food I’ve had thus far in Mongolia.
Tomorrow we’ll learn who’s in our training clusters and I’m pretty nervous. These are the small groups we’ll be spending most of our time with over the next three months. They’ll play a big role in dictating how things go during PST. I can only hope some of the people I’ve grown close with over the past few days will be in my cluster (#teampositivity).
Note: As we really get into exciting stuff of PST and our host families, I’ll have much more to share. These past few days have been nothing but meetings and logistical sessions. No one does boring meetings quite like the federal government. Anyways, as things start ramping up, I’ll be sure to share as much about this great country as I can. Also, be sure to shoot me any questions you have or things you’re interested in knowing.
The morning of the 29th came quickly. We had to be up and checked out by 4:30 to get ready for our trip to the airport. When my alarm went off at 4, I somehow managed to drag myself to the shower and get packed up. Our room still littered with empties and take out containers from the night before.
Everyone had been broken up into small travel groups of 7-10 people. Each group had a team leader who was responsible for making sure we all survived our days of travel. Each of them stepped up and did a wonderful job keeping things running smoothly (mostly). There was a mass purge of luggage at the check-in counter for some trainees. We can only bring two bags each weighing a max of 50lbs and many folks had to ditch a few items last minute. Just image clusters of trainees scrambling to organize their spread of two years worth of shirts, photo albums, and other knick-knacks all strewn about the airport floor. Eventually, items were consolidated and suitcases duck taped shut. It was madness.
I had never been on an international flight before and it wasn’t that bad. Our first flight to Seoul was 13 hours. I got stuck in a middle seat but slept a lot which made things go by quicker. I also spent a fair amount of time standing in the back of the plane talking with another trainee, Logan. This plus melatonin and Lord of the Rings extended editions helped me survive the day.
Our layover in Seoul was 6 hours which gave us time to eat and take advantage of the free showers at the airport. There was also some sort of Korean parade happening which included swords and and dancing. This parade surprisingly did not lead us to the showers as we were lead to believe by our travel lead, Mikey. I also had a traditional Korean meal of KFC before getting on our second flight. The rest of my day was spent sipping drinks at the Heineken kiosk and napping on oversized lawn chairs. The Incheon airport was without question the best airport experience I’ve ever had. I could live there and never get bored.
Right now we’re at resort about an hour outside of Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar. We’ve had a lot of meetings and a medical interview but haven’t really gotten too deep into any one topic yet. A bunch of us also went on a hike in some of the hills surrounding the hotel. We were immediately yelled at and told not to leave the resort. Either way, Mongolia is seriously one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.
Tomorrow we’ll be traveling to our training city where we’ll be assigned our smaller training groups. TEFL volunteers are going to be spread out all over the region so with some luck I’ll get placed with a few people I know. Each group will have 8-10 people and they’ll be the folks you spend most of your time with during pre-service training (PST).
And as always, more photos.
There were so many matching couples in Seoul.
First meal in Mongolia.
Our staging event has finally come to a close. Today our sessions focused on the concepts gender and identity and their respective impacts on our Peace Corps service. On the whole, I enjoyed myself. Even though it was more of a broad discussion, it was nice to talk about how these aspects of our lives will effect our Peace Corps service. I was also stoked when they handed out Hofstede’s cultural survey (if you know, you know).
Last night a bunch of us got take-out from a Burmese place near our hotel and went over to an Irish Pub for some drinks. It was a warm and peaceful night in San Francisco. Meeting the other trainees has been a lovely experience. Everyone has been friendly and I’ve been thankful to be included in other people’s plans (I largely have Mikey to thank for that). It was a night filled with the smells of mohinga, cheap beer, and saw dusted fingers from shuffleboard.
Tomorrow we check out at 4:30 AM and head to the airport for our flight to Seoul. I’m not sure I want to imagine what getting 75 people with two years worth of luggage to the airport will be like… It’ll surely be madness. I’m very stoked to get to Mongolia.
Here are some photos from our second night of staging. Enjoy and stay safe.
First off, hello and thank you to everyone who’s taken an interest in my travels. I’ll do my best to keep this space chalk full of stories and photos. Thank you to everyone who has shared their support with me thus far – it truly has made a world of difference.
I’ve arrived at our staging event in San Francisco. Staging is a two day intensive orientation program meant to fill us in on the logistics of the next few days before heading to Mongolia. It’s extremely overwhelming – not so much from the all the information but the overall experience has proven tiring. It’s a lot of walking up to various groups of strangers and asking “Peace Corps?” You get the idea.
I feel fortunate to have gotten a great roommate, Mikey and have met some great people (shout-outs to Hana, Julie, Tom, Marc, Sally Anne, etc.). It’s made the transition into this new adventure much easier. When I first walked into our hotel room, there was a random women sitting in the corner of the room. It turned out to be Mikey’s friend who had been spending the day with him while she looked at apartments in the area. I nearly panicked thinking I had stumbled into the wrong room but the situation ended up giving me a bit of a laugh.
One of my college professors, Craig (RPCV Kazakhstan), once talked about Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” and how many people misunderstand a crucial element of the piece. The narrator takes the road less traveled but does so with a sigh. The point being no matter which path you choose, you’ll always be missing out on something. I already miss everyone back home very dearly and will be thinking of you all often. Again, thank you for everything you’ve done. I’m here because of you.
Well, I’m going to try and relax here before heading to bed. I’ll be sure to post photos once I have some worth sharing. We have to be down in the conference halls by 8:15 tomorrow morning. This will prove to be a stark difference from my schedule back home. Until next time, folks.
Chasing Mongolia 