Goodbye Summer. I will miss you.



Flowers Justin picked for me on our 1st day in our apartment this summer.

 Summer has come and gone. Where did it go? I don’t even remember being warm anymore. There is a part of me that is excited for fall to return: apple pies, the taste of cinnamon, waking up for that hot cup of spiced anything, scarves (for style, not as a survival accessory, like during winter), and making fires for fun. But I just don't want to let go of the warmth just yet.

Justin and I made it back safely to Mandalgovi two days ago. We had an 8 hour off road bus ride that only stopped mysteriously a couple of times. One time it was to help another bus out because it had broken down. The drivers couldn’t fix that bus, so about 40 more people joined us on our bus the rest of the way. I felt bad for those who had to stand in the aisle for the next hour.



School starts on Thursday. Once it begins our downhill tread will also begin. We’ve made a lot of plans for this year-- we have a lot of projects up our sleeves-- and a lot of new site-mates to help us out! This will be a great year for Mandalgovi and its PCVs:  



Mandalgovi PCVs 2011

Over the summer (for the last 4 months) I have been living out of one small suitcase with about 5 different changes of clothes. It was really doable. There were times I wore my dirty clothes more than I should have before washing-- or people that had seen me in the same outfit every time we had a chance to meet-- but really it was nice to live free and on the go. We moved around a lot this summer, with our Asian Vacation/backpacking trip, training in Darkhan, staying UB, then finally our Mid Service Training (because, yes! We are half-way through our service!). When we got back to our ger though (a little more about that instant in a minute) I realized just how much I can live with out. Wait a sec, I remember saying this EXACT same thing one year ago when I was first moving into my ger. We came to Mongolia with 5 HUGE over-stuffed suitcases and I was feeling the satisfaction of living simply then….now fast forward to today and I’ve downsized to 1 medium sized suitcase and I feel content.

  

Now that I’ve reunited with all the rest of my stuff in my ger-- I feel overwhelmed. We have SO MUCH STUFF. Will I ever be able to live in housing bigger than 300 sq ft and not be overwhelmed by owning too much stuff??

So coming back to Mandalgovi was a little difficult-- as I knew it would be. After living in an apartment with plumbing and a hot shower for 4 months reverting back to a glorified tent and an outhouse isn’t easy. We got home to our ger in the evening and spent the entire night cleaning. A thick layer of sand (because the ger isn’t closed off, the sides are completely open to the world to let in wind, but also let in bugs, mice and layers of sand after layers of sand. So not only was I overwhelmed by how much STUFF we have, I was completely broken down by the mess that we returned to. I bit back the tears and got to work. A mouse had ruined the whole bottom shelf of food we had and left droppings and smelly pee everywhere. That was task #1 (get rid of mouse smell and mess), then I got some soapy water and tackled the dust/sand on every piece of furniture we own and worked my way down--finally shaking out/sweeping the rugs and hand scrubbing the floor with bleach. Clean ger: accomplished.



Open sides of the ger



Surprise! In our fridge-- yes, that's an animal ear you see.

 

You can't have a complete Mongolian Summer without a flat tire.



So I feel hip and savvy these days because my sister gave me a kindle for my birthday. What a life changing gadget that is! I’ve read over 15 books in the last month or so that I’ve had it. And it will definitely help me out with my goal for this winter (to not run out of reading material!). A couple of books I’d recommend on living a life simply are:

• Living the Savvy Life: The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Smart Spending and Rich Living by Melissa Tosetti
•  Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider

Now that I'm home in my ger I will be blogging more regularly. This summer I was always on the go, and Mongolia isn't a place covered in Wi-Fi (not yet anyway), so it was rather difficult to plump down at internet cafes or find some random place with an internet connection that they'd let me use.

Cheers to a new school year, new ideas, new projects, new recipes and new experiences! 

Wrapping Up the School Year

All the schools in Mongolia start September 1st and end on June 1st. There are 2 and a half weeks of school left. But Justin and I are a little lucky and get to venture into UB tomorrow. It seems like this trip crept up on us-- yet couldn't get here fast enough!

It seems that we're leaving when we're just getting started. I feel like I have so many things that I am going to leave undone and waiting for me when we return. We'll come back to Mandalgovi on June 20th for a short couple weeks. Then the next time we come back won't be until the new school year starts (and we'll have some lucky new Volunteers at our site!). Wrapping up everything is difficult. Yesterday my 7th grade students (whom I LOVE) wanted so badly to talk to me (in English!) the whole class period because they knew they wouldn't see me for a while. I told them about all the traveling I was going to be doing (our lesson was about traveling) and tried to fit in as much of a lesson as I could-- but at the end they gathered around me and wanted a picture to be taken. I almost started tearing up after the picture when they, one by one, came up to me to say 'goodbye, see you next year!' Man, what will it be like a year from now when we are saying goodbye forever?

I have a meeting with Peace Corps and the Ministry of Education (the head honchos of Education in Mongolia) on Friday morning in UB. Then on Monday Justin and I will be buying our ticket to Beijing and going to the Chinese Embassy for our visa application. It takes a total of 4 days to get our Chinese Visa. Then we have a few days before our Training of Trainers (since Justin and I will both be trainers for the new Peace Corps Volunteers this summer), we will visit our friend, Nadra, in Selenge. Selenge is straight north of us, and very close to the Russian border. I hear it's a drastic change of scenery from the Gobi. They have trees, I hear. :)

Finishing with TOT (Training of Trainers) Justin and I will be waiting at Chinggis Airport on June 4th for those new M22's coming in fresh from America! It's really weird to think I was in their shoes one year ago.

Straight from the Airport Justin and I will head to the train station and be on our great Asian Adventure!

So, here's to one more night using a jorlon (outhouse), washing my hair in a bucket, cleaning sand out of my ears (literally) and sleeping in a sleeping bag! We'll be in a real bed, with toilets, showers(...I don't even know which I am more excited about anymore. It used to be the good food in UB, but now I think the toilet is trumping over it all.).

And just one more snapshot of our weather for today... It's just geting worse and worse, man. It feels like 8 outside on May 11th! We've been getting hit by sandstorm after sandstorm. It's not fun. They don't have sandstorms up north! Goodbye Gobi Desert weather! Khongor Guesthouse here we come!

***Edited: Khongor Guesthouse once again has let us down. They're full and don't have beds available...so we're off to our second Guesthouse choice! UB Guesthouse!***

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I know, I know-- I'm posting too many weather reports on here-- But, it's just blowing my mind! It's like we hit a nice warm high of 70 degrees once in mid April and since then it's been downhill. I mean, it feels like freaking 14 degrees outside right now. Why did the weather even begin to get warmer in March in the first place if it was just going to go back down? The last couple of weeks have felt more like February than April-- and it's May! Needless to say, the sandstorms do not help whatsoever.

Well, I have a few more things I'd like to post, but school is beckoning me to make the trek in 38 mph wind.

Unfortunately, I will have to miss the Royal Wedding. I'm sorry, William.

But the weather outside is just too bad for me to leave my royal ger. I poked my head out and this is what I saw:

Here's the weather report:

Things Spring in Mongolia has taught me:

Never put your lip gloss on before your walk to school. My once shiny lips were turned to sandpaper during the course of my 3 minute walk to school. No body likes sandy lips.

I love not having to make a fire! Clean hands, non-smoke-smelling clothes and hair and ultimately a dust & soot free ger!

Electricity is not always a part of daily life. It comes and it goes. Sometimes in the middle of making dinner.

Despite the wind, sandstorms, and occasional snow it is a heck of a lot better than winter.

Dogs have strong lungs. Now that it's warmer they've started to bark again and there are a couple dogs that every time they bark Justin and I look at each other in amazement. How does he bark so fast and continuously for so long without taking a breath? And what IS he barking at at 12am?

Going to the jorlon (outhouse) will never be a comfortable experience. In the winter all the human waste is frozen over so there is no smell...but the cold numbs your bum to the point of frost bite (not really, but it's dang cold!); I always held it in until the last minute because I just didn't want to go outside to go. BUT, now the weather provides a pleasant temperature, however the waste has unfrozen and the smell is...well, not good.

What a Whirlwind Spring is! (and our Asian Vacation Plans)

Read it and weep-- because I almost am.

This has been by far the sandiest day yet, and we've had some pretty dang sandy days. This sandstorm has been going on for two days straight. Tomorrow it's supposed to die down. I hope it does soon. I don't like being sandy. When I came home from school today I had a 'tumpin' bath. First I wash my face in the bowl of water, then I wash my hair. Well, after I was finished with those two things there was already a thin layer of sand at the bottom of the bowl. It's brutal out there right now.

Speaking of whirlwinds...Man, time has flown by. We've done so much in the past couple of weeks that I don't know where to start.

First of all, we had our 2nd Annual Spelling Bee. It was really fun to organize. All of the schools in my town competed (we have 5 schools). We even had a Spelling Bee for the teachers and they loved it! They all did a great job. We were really lucky that the Education Department funded our awards and certificates for the top 3 winners in every grade level. Next year they suggested that all the schools in our province be invited. I love that they had such a great time and want this competition to continue.

Here's a funny story to go along with this. Each of the PCVs in my town helped create word lists for certain grade levels. One of Justin's grade levels was 9th grade. We started each Spelling Bee with simple words (to build confidence in the students). When Justin was making his list (a week or so before the Spelling Bee) he asked if he should put the word 'rubber' on the list. I know we have non-American English speakers that read this blog and to you this doesn't seem funny-- because in all other English speaking countries a rubber is an eraser. But to us Americans, a rubber is a condom. And we are immature Americans. We teach from British ESL Books, so the students learn that a rubber is an eraser (not a condom), so to them this word is quite normal. I told Justin that it was his list and he could put whatever words he wanted on it. Okay, let's fast-forward to the day of the Spelling Bee. Justin is the 'reader' and I am sitting next to him being the 2nd judge. My student comes to the podium and Justin says 'Please spell rubber'. A smile broke out and I tried so hard to stifle a giggle, which made Justin giggle and we had to pause the Bee for about 1 minute or so until our immature minds were able to settle down. It was a little embarrassing, but funny at the same time. Here's a picture of the 'rubber' moment.

These are the 7th grade Spelling Bee participants:

7th grade winners:

All Student winners:

Megan and I passing out awards:

My teachers waiting for the Teacher's Spelling Bee to begin:

Well, Justin and I have about a month and a week until our big Asian vacation. I tell you, it has been the HARDEST thing to put together. We love to travel, but it can be so expensive. So, it's important to find ways to save money while traveling. We're not doing any tours (we don't like them, plus they are pretty expensive), so I've had to research the cities, the histories, the tourist spots myself online and how to go about seeing everything we want to see without being part of a long, expensive tour group. Which has proven to be difficult because we're working with three different languages/currencies. I typed the master plan out and have saved all the important websites. So if you are ever wanting to vacation in Japan, China or South Korea and don't want to waste money on an inclusive vacation package, let me know and I will give all of this information to you-- it was so dang difficult to find everything I needed online (and in English!).

Here's our plan:
We want to take the Tran-Siberian train from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing. We'll stay 4 days in Beijing, see all the major sites (including the Great Wall-- we will actually be going through the Great Wall on our train ride from Mongolia to China-- which is a 30 hour ride!--, but we want to see it again up close and personal). Then we're off to Tokyo via airplane. We'll stay a couple days in Tokyo, then take the speed train to Fukuoka, Japan where we will stay a day, then take the Ferry to South Korea. We'll have a day on the beach in Busan, South Korea, then venture on the speed train to Seoul. This is our relaxing point. I want to go to spa after spa and shop and maybe go to a theme park, and hike. After about 4 days in South Korea we are back on our way to Ulaanbaatar via plane.

If that's confusing to follow, here's a map that gives you a visual. I think I should get into the Travel Agent business! It was hours of work, and I mean HOURS. But, I did enjoy it and now everything is ready for us. There won't be anything to stress about on our great Asian Vacation!

I just can't win.

So read my post before this first (if you haven't already). For the past couple of hours I have been in one of the toughest fights of my life. Ashlie vs. the wind. First of all, it is cold outside. COLD. Without a fire in our ger it would be in the 40's inside. But, because the wind blew away one of our windows we had to close our flap to keep the warm air in and the sand out. (A flap is a THICK blanket that covers all of the windows (to keep out sand during sandstorms, rain, water, etc.) And when the flap is closed you cannot have a fire, because the blanket touches the stove pipe (and if you had a fire, the blanket could catch fire from touching the hot stove pipe).

In this photo you can see our missing window, the duct tape, the flap and the stove pipe:



Well I had an ingenious idea to cover the window with cardboard and duct tape it. That way I can open the flap a little (enough so it's not touching the stove) and start a fire since it's FREEZING in here. So I did. After about 45 mins of bliss, the fire was dying down, so I put a small piece of cardboard on top of the coals and blew on it so the fire would start up again. At the same time as me blowing, a wind came down the pipe and got the fire aflaming! The flames came out of the grate and onto my face! The flame fringed my hair on the left side of my face. MY HAIR HAS BEEN BURNED OFF!

What do you do with fringed hair? I've already tried to comb out the frizzies, then splattered some hair conditioner on????



That's not the end of it. Then suddenly the cardboard that was covering the window got sucked out the window and also blew away. Now I have a hot fire that is still going, but just wasting coal because I'm not feeling any warmth with a window open. One more thing. The ash tray at the bottom of the stove wasn't cleaned out before I made this fire. So now every time a gust of wind comes down the chimney (about every 30 seconds) ashes scatter out of the grate. So my cold ger is sandy, windy, and ashy and there isn't anything I can do about it until the wind stops and we can replace that window. Oh, and the side of my head looks ridiculous. I'd like to go home now and lick my wounds please. Mongolia was fun for a little while, but today it is too hard to handle... Or just let me curl up somewhere so I can go to bed at 3pm and not wake up for a while until I'm back in a warm clean ger without wind. I hate you, wind.

And A Big Sand Storm Came And...

blew one of our windows away. We have 8 small triangular windows that make up a small circle opening on the top of our ger (one window is dedicated for the chimney pipe).

IT IS WINDY today! Justin can tell you more about his adventure in it later. As I type this our ger is shaking. Every ger has a rope that hangs from the top of the circle. This is your lifeline when the wind gets blowing. I actually had to use it one time this summer. We had a quick 5 min wind storm, but all of my host family and I had to hang onto that rope so our ger wouldn't blow away! I haven't had to use it yet today (mostly because my ger this summer had holes in it, so it was easier for the wind to pick up-- my ger in Mandalgov hasn't any holes and is a lot sturdier than my summer ger).

Well this isn't some 5 min wind storm. Since we are in the desert it is very much a sand storm! It's been going on since about 6am this morning (it is now 2pm). I went to school earlier this morning with a scarf tied around my neck and covering my nose and mouth. I had to walk at an angle against the wind. When I made it inside the school I had a handful of sand in my mouth and eyes and nose and ears...I also wore my calf high boots today, thinking it would keep out the sand-- nope. I had sand in my boots and stuck in all the wrinkles of my clothes. After I type this I will give my ger a wipe down & sweep. There is sand everywhere! But first, my adventure to the outhouse:

After I got home from school today I put my backpack and things in my ger, then ran with the toilet paper into our outhouse (called a jorlon in Mongolinan). Our jorlon is very short (maybe 5 feet tall) and very small (maybe 3ftx3ft)-- just enough room for you to squat. Well, I closed the door behind me and was squatting and doing my thing while watching the walls of the little shack shake and wave in the wind. I had a momentary fear of the whole shack collapsing on me and me falling INTO the jorlon hole (about 10 feet deep, with a pile of you know what at the bottom) when suddenly...the wind blew the door wide open! I am plain as day. Thankfully no one was around. There is a metal rope/handle on the inside of the jorlon door and NOW I know what it is for...windy days like these.

Not that crazy...

The reason I don't blog more often is because I don't really think that the daily minutia of our lives here in Mongolia is that strenuous or exciting. There are certainly things that make me chuckle to myself (reassembling a live electric wire from the telephone pole to the spliced wire running from our ger for instance or saying all of the things to my students here that I would have never gotten away with in America because they don't speak English). But Ashlie has pointed out that maybe I should write them anyway because they are a part of my experience here. So a quick run down of events...

- The aforementioned wire splicing

A major windstorm snapped the spliced wire running from the telephone pole to our ger that provides us with glorious internet. Yesterday, I mentioned to my haasha father that is was broke and he said something about calling the phone company tomorrow. Then I saw the hamster in his mind wake up, jump up on the wheel and decide this would be a teachable moment for Justin. He then took me over to the other side of the house and pointed to our neighbors roof. I thought, "Oh damn, it's up there, oh well." Then I realized he intended me to scale the wall, jump on the roof and retrieve it. So I did. I felt like freakin' Aladdin jumping across flat roofed, adobe buildings, looking for the wire. The woman's house on which I was jumping came out and watched me. I was probably disturbing her, but she was so surprised to see a white man climbing on her roof, that she was speechless. Then I jumped down and my haasha father and I began cutting and tying the wires back together. At first, he was doing most of the tying, then he said, "Yana!" Depending on the tone and pitch used, yana can range from 'whoopsie-daisie' to 'holy shit that hurt.' I figured the electricity had got him. Immediately after, he decided it was time for my hands on training, and I got to tie the wires. I was doing pretty well and was almost finished when I too got a spine-straightening dose of electricity and he took it away and finished the job. Thanks to some good ol' Mongolian engineering I am now able to blog.

-Attacked by dogs

I was attacked by two dogs yesterday in the country while on a hike. They came ferociously charging and barking at me so I immediately began arming myself with stones and throwing as fast and hard as I could. A very large stone hit one of the dogs and it let out a loud yelp and both of them retreated. Justin 1 Mongolian dogs 0.

I'm going to leave on the high note of my victory over the dogs. Until next time.