My Mongolian Baby

Needless to say, this past week has been a whirlwind of excitement, sadness and just running around crazy. So, we found out we're having a baby and our lives have and will change drastically. Unfortunately, this means that I am not able to continue my service in the Peace Corps. The medical attention the US government requires a pregnant woman to have are not met here in Mongolia. So, we are going home.

Happy? Of course! Sad? Of course. Ultimately, we feel content in the work and service we've done here in the past 17 months. We don't have any regrets in that sense. We were expecting and preparing to leave Mongolia in 8 more months-- so having that change to preparing to leave Mongolia in 7 days is drastic. We have so much stuff we were stowing away for the winter, or clothes we wanted to wear out, friends and places we wanted to visit and projects and work that needed to be completed. But it's time for this Mongolian adventure to end and a whole new one begin! We're hopping straight from one adventure to the next--with absolutely no downtime.

I can't see this any other way than exciting!

"How did this happen?" You may be asking yourself. Well I found out the same way most women find out-- in the bathroom. It's just that my bathroom is quite different than most women's. This is where I found out:

How did I tell Justin? Well, that special trip to the outhouse was about a week ago. I knew Justin was teaching at the government building until 6:30, so I prepared dinner and got our TV show ready on the computer. Also, it's chilly here once it gets dark so I prepared a fire in the stove but didn't light it--so that it would be ready to light when it got chilly enough. Inside the door of the stove I wrote a note informing him of my pregnancy. Then closed the door up so it was not noticeable.

I imagined that after dinner it would be cool enough for a fire and I could ask Justin to light it-- then he'd see the note.

And that's exactly what happened.

He was so surprised and shocked and gleaming at the same time! I am very lucky to have my man. He is a wonderful one. I am very excited to take this next leap with him.

Once we found out we needed to have it confirmed in UB with our Peace Corps Medical Officers. So we were off to UB the next business day. When it was confirmed it was time to tell our families. I love giving surprises and what better surprise is there that your daughter is pregnant and coming home to you? I had my little sister help me out with this one.

My sister designed a cake and wrote in Mongolian 'I am pregnant. I am coming home.' (with my help). She gathered the family together and showed them the cake.

We gave hints. Hint 1 was the cake. Hint 2 was this:

"Check your E-mail"

They all ran downstairs to check their email.

In their email was a link to a Mongolian-English translation website and they were to translate the cake. And figure it out themselves...Which they did:

And that's how I told my family. I loved that my little sister was able to take these pictures for me! They speak volumes! I am so happy that they are happy and I can't want to be happy together with them!

Now, according to our Mongolian Fortune Teller friend that came and visited us last spring (check the blog post about that) this first child will be a girl. We'll have to wait and find out!

Beautiful Life

I am typing this from a Guesthouse's computer. I'm in UB for yet another eye exam. I have no idea how this exam will go-- but I'm hoping it will finally put my eye troubles to rest.

We've had such beautiful weather here! UB has trees and the trees are that magnificent color of gold and red and brown. There is a slight cool breeze that picks up the leaves as you walk. You can wear a long sleeve t-shirt and a scarf and be completely comfortable.This is autumn!!

But Wednesday brings snow and a temperature drop into the 20's. I'm eating it up while I can!

Speaking of eating...I think it's time for me to go find a cheesy croissant and bacon.

Comfortable Living Part 1

This year is going to be all about comfort. Last year I was in it to survive and did my exploring-- This year, I know what it takes. It was rough, it was brutal. I remember some very, very dark days. But I'm going in it with a fight this year to make sure peace will be made between us. And yes, I'm talking about you, winter!

Why am I bringing up winter on the 6th of September? Well because of this: 

That's the weather up in UB right now. Here in Mandalgovi it's a warm 41 degrees. I knew this cold front was coming. Last night before I went to bed I put on my leggings, put my long thigh socks on over them (I'm sooo glad I bought those from Target before we left...I actually bought them by accident, but they've been a life saver), then added another layer of socks: my fluffy, pink, knitted socks. Now up on top I have my undershirt, a t-shirt, a light sweater then my fleece sweater on top. I was NOT cold last night. I prepped like a pro.

The topic has come up between us experienced PCVs about how not right it feels right now. We are all basically constantly looking over our shoulder every where we go in search for winter. Like it's going to creep up and grab us when we're least expecting. It's just not right to be here and not be cold...I'd rather it be cold than in constant fear and anxiety of what lies ahead. Bring. It. On.

I have a "Comfortable Living Part 2" post coming later on today/tonight/ or tomorrow. I won't give it away just yet. But it's one of the better things that could happen to us--or me. Why we didn't do this last year, I don't know-- but we've lived and learned and will definitely make up for it!

Today is a busy day! I have to teach class within the next hour, finish creating my schedule (which means hunting teachers down all day trying to get their schedules so I can harmonize them with mine), create curricula for my English Clubs, Community English Classes, Primary Teacher Methodology Classes and National Exam Prep Courses and other grunt work-- but the fun part comes this evening. We're having the first Mandalgovi PCV Meeting tonight. We have 6 PCVs in Mandalgovi this year (3 English Teachers, 1 Social Worker, 1 Health Volunteer and 1 Business Volunteer)-- a lot! And we're going to sit down and discuss all the projects we're wanting to do this year and collaborate with each other. We have so many organizations between us (the Hospital, the Children's Center, Mercy Corps, 3 out of the 4 schools in our town, etc.) that anything is possible. Between the 6 of us we can do great things in this community this year! OK, so I am excited about the meeting-- but really I'm most excited about......ROOT BEER FLOATS! We can't have a social without some type of refreshments!

Last Spring my dad sent a package with root beer extract. We don't have root beer here-- and I haven't tasted its marvelous deliciousness in over 18 months-- but we do have club soda...and right now we do have little ice cream sandwiches and per the directions on the back of the root beer extract box we can make root beer floats with these ingredients. It's a chilly day today, it's a shame we didn't do this last week (or even yesterday), but it will be amazing.

It's time for me to get to work! Comfortable Living Part 2 up next!

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! 

Summer of the Pink Eye

Justin and I got back from our great Asian Vacation 3 weeks ago. I have been in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, ever since. Justin’s pink eye seemed to come and go rather quickly, but I have gone from one Dr to the next trying to seek help for my eye. In total I have seen 5 professionals concerning my eye. Which turns out that the pink eye also came and went after the first several days and then my eye (right eye) had an assortment of other little complications all at the same time (making it look like I had a really bad case of pink eye the entire time). I lost a little vision from my right eye (now 20/30 with my glasses on), but am expected to regain it back with the use of steroid drops I will be using for the next 2 months at least. So, no contacts for at least that long. I am now a glasses wearer :(
Good news is that my eye is getting better and in fact is almost completely better (minus the vision). I think I have one more Dr.’s appointment to go to on Monday and I should be released.
It has been a little nice, I have to say, staying in UB and seeing all the PCVs that have come in for the summer. Also, it has been really nice sleeping on a comfy mattress, taking hot showers and using a toilet. The food that is available in UB is mind-blowing at times.
In a little over a week, Justin and I will start our ‘summer job’ as trainers for the new PCVs who have just started their 2 year assignments this summer. They have been in Mongolia for about a month now, and Justin and I will be training them for one more month. I am very excited to be apart of their training crew.
That’s where I’m at right now. Justin is in Mandalgovi trying to get some work done and tying loose ends up because it’s going to be about another 2 months until we return for Mandalgovi for one more school year.

The Pink Eyed Travelers

                                     

We made it safely back to Mongolia last Friday. Seoul was amazing. Justin and I fed ourselves at as many Western restaurants as possible. You can get Korean food in Mongolia like you can get Mexican food in Texas, so our priority was to eat what we'd miss most: McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin Robins. Our tummies were very happy. Seoul seems to be the most like America out of the three countries visited. Mostly because it has a lot of Western shopping and food chains. Everything was just familiar there. So, it was a nice way to end our journey-- to relax at 'home'.

We splurged and took 1st class on the bullet train from Pusan to Seoul. When I say we relaxed in Seoul, I mean we relaxed in Seoul. A 1st class train ride was a must!


Somewhere along our vacation Justin started getting pink eye (back in Beijing). I know how contagious pink eye is. Even though I tried not to, I, too got pink eye. I hate to think about how many others we infected along the way because we were in one public place after another.

Justin's pink eye came and went, though it was uncomfortable. However, I got mine our last day in Japan. That was 2 weeks ago today. I had it in one eye for the rest of the trip. When we touched down in UB I went straight to our Medical Officers. They informed me that we couldn't go back to Mandalgovi until both our eyes have cleared up (Justin still had traces of pink eye). So now, a week later we're still resting it up in UB. Justin's eye is completely better. I ended up getting pink eye in both my eyes and another bacterial infection in my original pink eye.

Good news is our Asian Vacation was a success (pink eye or no pink eye), AND we get a little R&R in UB while we fend off this infection. Next week: Madalgovi! It's been over a month since we've been in our ger. A glamorous month of flushing toilets, running hot water, showers, mattresses, friend and good food. Next, home sweet home.

Tokyo is my No. 2!

Typed: 6/13/2011

Japan is amazing. Quite beautiful in every way. I think Tokyo has made it to the No. 2 spot in my favorite cities (No. 1 being Paris). I love the tree lined streets, the small but clean and sturdy roads. Sidewalks that are gushing with flowers of every kind. It smells wonderful here. It smells like what spring should smell like!

What I noticed right off the bat when we walked out of the airport was how serene it is here. The people are so polite and peaceful. Something that Justin keeps saying is: Now he understands where the background for Super Mario Bros. comes from (because the streets are so perfect and clean and fake looking).

Now, Tokyo is still a happenin' place. We didn't have to go too far to find where all the people were at. We walked around Ueno Park, did a little pedal boating in the pond, looked off into a shrine surrounded by a pond infused with lilies, turtles, koi. It was beautiful. All the while people were still peacefully quite.

We went to the National Museum (which was more interesting than the one in China), had our fill of sushi & fresh fish, roamed around the Imperial Palace's Gardens and spent an ETERNITY in the underground world better known as Tokyo Station. My goodness, it's about the sizeof a medium sized city. It took me a good 45 mins to go from one side to the other (and I was speed walking & sweating profusely-- I don't know why I added that).

We took the Bullet train to Fukuoka, Japan. Justin was unimpressed with it. I think he thought it would make your cheeks flap because it was going so fast. It did go really fast (especially compared to the old fashion train we took from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing), but it was a smooth fastness. I am going to miss all the friendliness of Japan. How strange it was to see people politely letting others off the subway before they entered, or seeing people in the streets bowing to each other-- even the workers on the train would bow to us everytime they passed our compartment. Now we're in Fukuoka. It's an amazing city! I wish we had more time here. But, tomorrow we're off to Pusan, South Korea.

Getting your Chinese Visa in Mongolia

I've been planning for this trip for a while. I did all my research on getting a Chinese Visa, the sites we want to see, the prices, the transportation, etc. I got all the paperwork in order and we got it all printed out (a few times, because...well, just because that's how it goes here in Mongolia).

Justin spent a good portion of the day on Friday running around UB trying to make things possible for us to get our Visas, but really ended up not doing anything because he found out that we needed to get our train ticket information (our way out of Mongolia & into China) for our visit application.

Problem: You can't buy train tickets in Mongolia more than a day in advance. So how can we get our train ticket receipt to show the Embassy in enough time to process our Visas? You have to go through a travel agency. I hate travel agencies. The reason is because they're over-priced. But I do understand that they take away a lot of the headache that planning your own trip can give. So...I was about to give in when......UB Guesthouse saved our lives.

There, on the door of their building, was a flyer saying they'd help with train tickets & visa-- perfect! And it was, they printed out everything we needed then said, 'you're done'. So all the running around Justin did the other day was sadly for nothing, but we went to the Chinese Embassy this morning and pretty much just went in and out. They took all our application papers, pictures, train ticket in, flight ticket out, and our hostel information while we in China. We can pick up our visas next Monday.

It wasn't so bad. Really.

UB Guesthouse has been good to us. We have a private room here, good pillows, hot showers, toilets, they've done our laundry, and now pretty much sealed our deal with our train tickets and visa application. Though, Khongor Guesthouse will always be my 1st choice. UB Guesthouse is a tough competitor.

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!***

Ger, Sweet Ger

We're home! It was a great 5 days of not making fires and smelling of smoke. Also a great 4 nights of sleeping in t-shirts and no socks (because the rooms stay heated all night long!) It was great not having to layer up before going to bed.

Speaking of great...It was great to see all my friends. We didn't do much more than eat at amazing restaurants, go to American food stores and lounge around, taking showers-- not bagging coal, preparing lessons, adding dung to the fire, etc.

This was my frist bowl of cold cereal in 9 months! It was really amazingly awesome. I also ate the cup of noodles (pictured) with my breakfast. Gotta eat good while you're on vacay!

We didn't end up staying at Khongor Guesthouse because it is apparently being renovated. So we stayed at UB Guesthouse. It was nice, but I am partial to Khongor. Khongor's beds are magical! But, UB Guesthouses bathrooms are cleaner and nicer...

One of my friends went to America a couple of weeks ago and brought back a bottle of Dr. Pepper for me and Justin. Can you believe it?! Every where they sell Coke we look for Dr. Pepper. No luck. This was our frist sip of the Dr.'s orders in 9 months. It was delicious.

Another one of our friends, Erin, invited us to dinner with her Mongolian friend. It was a great meal and the Mongolian couple actually had a lot in common with me and Justin...same age, same graduation year, started dating the same year, have been married for the same amount of years. It was interesting to compare lifestyles that are so similar yet different to ours.

All in all it was a success! I only got thrown up on once on the bus to Ulaanbataar. Our bus seats 28, yet on the trips to and from UB there were over 40 people on the bus, so we were packed. On the way back we even had a live rabbit sitting on a man's lap waiting to be taken to his ger for supper. This is my last visit to the big city for a long while. Now I'm back at school, smelling like smoke and just not as squeaky clean. But it's okay because summer is on its way, right? :)

Mutton tacos...you oughta try it!

This is the last full week in February! Where has the time gone? Next month is supposedly a very busy one for Mongolian English Teachers and their PCVs. At the end of March is the nationwide English test for students and teachers called "English Olympics". The students and teachers study for this test all year long and have a chance to win money and credentials. It's a big deal. And PVCs play a BIG role in not only preparing them, but sometimes creating the test, grading the test, giving the test, proctoring the test... I have been teaching an English Olympic prep course on Friday nights for those interested in coming. For this week's English Olympic prep course, however, I will not be here. I'll be resting it up in UB!

But before I get into that, this is a little peak of what I've been doing for the last couple of weeks (post Tsagaan Sar):

Made Mutton tacos! It doesn't sound very good, and I'm not a mutton eater-- but these were darn good. Closest thing to Mexican in Mandalgovi. Our hashaa family's daughter came over and helped us mince the meet, made pico de gallo, and tortillas. We even found some cheese to shred and put on top. They seemed to really like it! Especially because it was mutton.

I went to a children's modeling show. It was really interesting and fun for the girls! I even got a picture with the models :)

I taught Justin how to sew. It was a big thing in our ger because he has the HOLIEST clothes...but he got them sewed up pretty good!

Justin and I both applied for training jobs this summer for the new PCVs that will get here in early June. This is a big thing to me. I'd love to help these new volunteers transition into Mongolian life and help them succeed once they are released to their own sites. I loved my training last summer and my trainers were awesome. I hope I can do the same for some of them! It's a big deal because if we get this 'job' (still volunteering) we'd be moving into a big city (in an APARTMENT) for half of the summer. Big stuff...having a toilet is a BIG deal! So, cross your fingers for us!

Now about UB this weekend. I am so excited because this is my first break from school (taking personal days off) and I am just so excited to escape the ger life for 5 days.

No more hard plywood bed made for 1 1/2 people with blankets as a mattress! And no more sleeping in a sleeping bag-- heavenly Khongor Guesthouse bed here I come!

No more handling camel poo to make fires and sweeping up its messes!

No more fighting coal and having coal stained hands!

No more fake sinks or water bucket!

No more handwashing or tumpin bathing!

For 5 days anyway :)