No room at the inn

This has been a really weird week as far as guests go and it's only Thursday. First, one friend came in from his site for the first time in two weeks. This would not be surprising except that he had not that much time there since the beginning of the summer. He's engaged to another volunteer who lives in the eastern part of the country so he spends a lot of time on the road. He does a lot when he's there and got a large grant for new construction at his school though.

We got some good work done on the newsletter we're putting together. Until this year the PCVL (one volunteer who stays a third year) put together a satirical newsletter, called the Kindling, based on volunteer submissions. Recently several aimags have begun to put their own newsletters together that would have competed with the Kindling. So, in a "if you can't beat 'em join em" move, the PCVLs (we have three this year) decided to have two aimags' submissions compete against each other in each issue.

The first contest was between Dungov and Zavkhan. I've visited both places, but I have to say Zavkhan won handily based on their uncanny parody of an issue of Newsweek. To explain, all Peace Corps volunteers in Mongolia get a free subscription to Newsweek's Asian edition delivered to their site. Some people have no other access to world news so conversations can quickly devolve into "Did you read (blank) in Newsweek?" "Yeah me too." Anyway, they were very faithful to the design and tone of Newsweek and were still able to work in Mongolia and Zavkhan specific jokes such as having the "quotes of the week" section consist completely of Mongolian children saying "hello" and "goodbye" at random to any passing American. The Dungov submission was funny too, but couldn't compete with the standard set by Zavkhan. For me, the standout was a word of the day joke in which one volunteer thought the term Quisling meant a baby quiz used to prepare students for a final.

In the spirit of the Zavkhan group, our submission will be an Onion style newspaper call the Songion (onion in Mongolian). We have a few things done and will have it ready after the newbies finish IST. Rob, one new volunteer, came in shortly after my first guest left. He sprained his ankle playing basketball with Mongolians and needed to go into UB early. He stayed one night and we exchanged some Kindling ideas as well as movies and prank phone calls with fellow Arkhangai volunteer Lizzie. A few hours after he left, Michael showed up to resupply and share some more movies and Kindling submissions. He has a lot of time on his hands (and photoshop) so he produced some cool montages and a few oddly detailed articles on hunkering (a common pastime in Arkhangai) and his love of Ramen. Then, last night, Nasaa showed up drunk at 1:00 AM and wouldn't calm down until I asked Mike to relocate to my room so we could have the living room (not exactly complaining).

So, we'll see what happens the rest of the week. I'm not expecting any other visitors, but who knows. I'll be going into UB on the 23rd and staying through New Year's. There's a Christmas Eve party at Star Apartments and I hear New Year's eve in UB pretty fun. Nasaa will be joining me for that and our 1 year anniversary. Wow. I'll try and post a copy of our Kindling submission and also a copy of the business guidebook we're preparing later. More news and photos on all fronts coming soon.

Thanksgiving 2006

The picture to the left is of my winning Pub Quiz team at Dave's. I'll going to Vietnam with the two guys in the middle in January. God help me. I spent most of the week in UB for Thanksgiving. My mom sent some cloves, so I was able to make our traditional bread sauce. It turned out really well and everyone liked it. There was more food, but less wine this year. That was probably good, because the party was a Star Apartments. Star is this gated compound in UB where all the embassy people and other expats like our Peace Corps country director live. They didn't want us staying there after 6 so we moved the party elsewhere.

Several of us also got to go to the new ambassador's house for drinks the next day. Danny (in the Hawaiian shirt) invited him to a hair cutting ceremony when he was in Erdenet and he wanted to return the favor. We talked about his work and foreign service stuff. He'd never worked in a country with Peace Corps before, but he has done recruiting. We told him he should talk to our country director about having a session with volunteers and they just announced he'll have one after IST. I think I'll take the exam again, because it would be good to have the Foreign Service as an option if I don't find a job right away after Peace Corps. As you can see from the picture on the right, it's now quite cold in Mongolia and UB is one of the coldest palces. Send me warm thoughts...and DVDs.

Middle of the Gobi

I spent the past week in Mandalgobi, Dundgobi aimag working with my fellow Mercy Corps business volunteer Denise. We're working on a guidebook to give to non-business volunteers who get approached by Mongolian businesses or otherwise want to help a business at their site. It will be presented to the new volunteers at IST in December. The book will be based on real questions we've received plus things we've developed in our work. It should be something we can leave behind to help future volunteers and the Mongolian business community.

Of course to reach Dundgobi, which really does mean middle of the Gobi, we had to drive 20 hours from Tsetserleg to Mandalgobi. I'm not too sure how long it should take, but the trip probably shouldn't include stopping at every ger to ask for directions and not stopping until 3 AM. But I'm not bitter. The rest of the trip was really good. Densie and I got a lot of work done on the guidebook and I got to hang out with her and the new Mandalgobi volunteers. They took me to this place they call the "rainforest bar". It was real pine bark paneling and this wierd moss hanging from the cieling. It was quite a surreal experience.

On Tuesday I left Mandalgobi with a USAID car that had an empty seat. I got to go along when the guy was talking with clients of AID funded projects. It was good to see the impact Mercy Corps has outside of Arkhangai. The best part of the trip was learning about the Ger to Ger project. It's a nomad centered tourism company that tries to improve herders livelihoods without making them dependent on handouts from foreigners. They have routes in the gobi and arkhangai now. They may have more by next summer. You get to travel between pre-determined points by horse, camel, cart, or car based on where the route is. I think it's a good way to see real mongol life and sites away from cities and towns.

On the last night, we slept in a herder's ger at a place called Ikh Gazariin Chuluu. It means place of many rocks and is made of huge rock formations. It was really cool to wake up to see the sunrise and see these big rocks in the background. We also got to see what a positive effect responsible tourism can have on Mongolian's lives. Everyone should check out Ger to Ger if you're considering a trip to Mongolia.

Changes

Fall has, um, fallen here in Arkhangai and it is getting noticeably colder from day to day. We've had a little bit of snow, but nothing that stays around should happen until Spring. There aren't as many tourists around and most of the ger camps have closed for the year. The new volunteers are settling into life at site and discovering the wonders of Mongolian transportation the joys of the re-supply weekend. The remaining UB expats have probably all retreated inside Dave's pub and I should face less competition next time I'm in town for the pub quiz. Lastly, my good friend Altai is leaving town on Monday for UB and then on to Switzerland to be with her new husband Chris. Altai was the one who brought Nasaa to Enkhee's bar last New Year's Eve when she was sitting home with her parents. We probably wouldn't have met otherwise and Altai was a good intermediary while we bridged the language barrier. She's been a good friend to all Peace Corps volunteers here and she'll be missed.

There are a new buildings, of undetermined purpose, going up around town, but the biggest physical change is the new Buddha statue that was set up on Bulgan Mountain this weekend. There was a big ceremony on the hill with prayers in the monastery and chanting by local monks. Judging by an artist's representation and a brochure I saw, it will be part of a complex of stone steps and pagodas leading from foot of the mountain all the way up to an expanded monastery on top. I'm not sure when it will be completed, but I'll be taking pictures of the progress. I've uploaded a gallery from the ceremony and I'll add to it from now on. I also added some galleries of pictures from over the summer so check out my Flickr page. I'll be editing my old posts to make them look better in the new template also. Check a few posts to look for changes or just start at the beginning to catch up.

The last change is that I have less than a year left of Peace Corps and I'm thinking of what I want to do next. I know I want to work in international development and I'm looking on job boards, but I could use some more advice. Here's a copy of my resume. I'm interested in NGOs, consultancies, and relief agencies.

Ocotber...SUPRISE!!!

I spent all of last week in Zavkhan for their trade fair. I was kind of excited to drive there, but after 17 hours in car each way I think I'll fly next time. The trade fair went well. People from my office and Bayanhongor came up to help. They had a parade and an opening and closing ceremony that ours didn't really have. I didn't have a lot to do so I just explored the city and hung out with Zavkhan PCVs. They have six people, three new, all in the aimag center. Last Friday was our annual consolidation drill. Peace Corps wants to make sure volunters can make it to certain pre-arranged locations in case of an emergency. Since I was in Zavkhan, I had to go to a volunteer's ger and wait for peace corps to call. All the Arkhangai volunteers came in and partied all weekend. They even hung in there for a third day since I missed the first two. They're some fine hyper-socialists.

I've been kind of slow at work lately, but I'm lining up some new trips and making plans for travel and after Peace Corps. I'll keep you updated. Enjoy the Zavkhan Flickr gallery and check out the photo album I added. I'm going to try and upload all my photos from before too.

Mongol Wedding

The plague quarantine was lifted on the 12th so we were able to go to Altai's wedding and hold the trade fair as scheduled. You can check out pictures of both on my Flickr Page. The wedding was really just a big party. People do an official ceremony then go out to the countryside, set up some gers, and receive visitors. Family members visit the first night, then friends in descending order of closeness. It's sort of like how Tsagaan Tsar works. We went on the last night, because the quarantine had just ended. There was one main ger for the party and a couple others where people could make food and sleep. Part of the tradition is to have two bowls in the middle of the ger with, one with mare's milk and one with Mongol vodka (a liquor made from whey). There is also plenty of real vodka going around and they fill various smaller bowls and pass them around. Once you drink, the bowl goes back to the middle to be topped off, and then passed around again. I tried to drink as little of the mare's milk and vodka as possible. The Mongol stuff is much weaker so I stuck to that. I don't know how the wedding party lasted three days, but they seemed ready to get out of there. The tall white guy in the pictures is the groom, Chris, and Altai is the little Mongolian in the red deel. They're probably moving to Switzerland were Chris is from. He already has a ger set up.

The Trade Fair went really well too. I was gone for a whole month before it happened, so I didn't get to help prepare. The staff had been working with other aimag staffs and the local government so they were on top of everything. There were over 70 businesses from the aimag and UB selling everything from vegetables to electronics. I got to help out a little and take pictures. There were some competitions like wrestling and mare's milk drinking, but I missed those. I'll try to put up some other pictures later.

In other news, we're driving to Zavkhan on Monday morning. We'll be there for a week to help with their trade fair and I may stay on another week to work with their clients. I also might go to Bayan Olgi to see the Golden Eagle Festival, but I won't know until next week. I'll keep you posted.

It's my birthday, my b-b-b-birthday!

As you can see from the subject, today is my birthday. My 27th birthday to be exact. It seems like only yesterday that I was 26... My site mates and I did some celebrating last night and Nasaa is coming over tonight. She has to help me finish the ger shaped cake my awesome mother ordered from Fairfield. It's huge and chocolatey and delicious. I uploaded a new set of pictures from our party last night so click on the Flickr link on the left. The pictures speak for themselves. The new guy is Don. He's working in the children's center here in Tsetserleg. You can still order me stuff of my wishlist and my parents will send it along.

In other news, we are unable to leave town because of a quarantine. It seems a student at the Teacher's College came down with the plague after coming into contact with a marmot. Mongolians really like to hunt and eat marmots and they harbor fleas which carry the plague. Peace Corps always tells us to stay away from them (marmots not Mongols) and this is why. There are only three people sick in town and if they are all confirmed to have the plague the the quarantine may be extended. All the volunteers are fine and Peace Corps is on top of the situation. I'll post an update later after I talk with my coworkers and hear from Peace Corps again. If they extend the quarantine, we will have to postpone our trade fair which is happening this weekend. That would suck, but oh well.

Oh, one more thing. My blog has been included on a site called Peace Corps Journals. It lists Peace Corps volunteers' blogs by region and country. Check it out to see what other volunteers are up to. Enjoy the new pictures and check out the wishlist too.