pet shop boys | Chasing Mongolia

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.