March blog, yehaw

March 1, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia
Today’s Temperature: Around 10 Fahrenheit….and wind and snow!
Today’s Quote: “Tell me your greatest strength so I can undermine you. Tell me you care for most so I can take it away from you. Tell me what you crave so I can deny you and tell me your greatest fear so I can force you to face it.” –Darth Plagieus, Palpatine’s Master

Great quote huh? What can I say…im a sucker for a good quote, even from fictional Sith Lords that don’t even have books written about them…yet…
Got back to my site good and exhausted as I always do. The meeker ride was both lucky and uncomfortable. I took a risk at noon that the first meeker would not have launched yet. I think I am getting more situated to taxis in Mongolia…ie every car on the road. Literally without even making the hand gestures of “are you going to travel?” I went to the first driver stationary on the road I was walking along and gave the Mongolian for the black market. Its fun that the well established price of going to Naarantul is 2000 tugriks, but every time I go in they try to charge me 10000 until I say something to them in Mongolian. They laugh on cue and then get their regular fare of 2000. Well after giving her her money I walk to the place where the Bagkhangai meeker leaves from and literally as I am walking there the meeker starts to back up with one “space” left. It was good luck in getting the meeker but this means that its stuffed to the rafters and on this trip its full of babies. Not kids but babies….AND THERE ALL CRYING! I didn’t even know my town HAD this many babies. Add to the fact I almost never hear them cry and I need to wonder what the hell. I imagine its when one hears the other they all chime in and cry…so a two hour stress test went horribly wrong as the babies all screamed and I sat awkwardly on the incline of two of the seats. Imagine if I lived 12 hours away! Ah well, least that’s one thing I no longer care about in terms of placement. Two hours away looks and feels as isolated as any other town in Mongolia really…anyways at least I got home without pushing the meeker either.
My hair was light as a feather and flowed to either side of my head instead of straight behind me as it does when caked in dirt and sweat after a month of only water rinses. I tried to regain my strength but unnaturally my legs demanded more of that wonderful strenuous activity it had gotten to do the week before. I did a little jump rope, but I was simply too clean to want to sweat up so quickly.
UB as always was nice. No PCV’s this time and instead I bumped into a couple cute French girls, a whitty Spaniard, and two Americans one of who was black. He was the first black guy I had seen in a really long time. It sorta put the idea that I as a tall white guy stand out in perspective. The American guys just couldn’t get over the fact that I am able to speak Mongolian. They both spoke Spanish and therefore a language that a good portion of the world speaks and here I am in the only corner of the world where this insanely difficult language is finally at a competency level and they stare wide mouthed as I rattle off to the waiter our drink order. Who knew that knowing an obscure language would get me cool points??? The Americans had seen the movie Avatar and seemed to think that the way I speak Mongolian sounds exactly like the language the characters speak in the movie. Havent seen it so no idea but as the design of a lot that is in Star Wars came from Mongolia we do seem to be a treasure trove for fantasy. I think the idea of following the day in the life of a youth hostel would make for an awesome TV show, for theres just far too many interesting plots in them. I took them out for a drink at a place that I got props for bringing them to good food and all around it was great.
Good thing we went in the group too because the kid street thief/beggars were in high gear. I was shouting at the group to full on push them off themselves as the kids quickly abandoned trying to rob me when they realized I would actually push them off me when they tried to grab my stuff. The men in the group instantly protected the women and within 50 yards the kids were all shouting wildly incorrect English cuss words at us and we all felt rather proud of how well we had handled that.
Mongolia and especially UB has an amazing child care system in place. Orphanages that could accommodate every lost soul exist in the city. There not religiously affiliated either and as a result are more nationalistic in nature than pious. The problem is that not all boys and girls are on board with staying there. Its not where you can just drop in and sleep the night and then head out to do whatever, no to stay means you full on are required to contribute and be a part of the community and do chores, go to school, and in general keep your life on track. Its like the family based culture of not being out there only for yourself, and as such I see the program as difficult but giving kids with a lot of disadvantages about as honest a shot of making it in the world as any other system out there.
Obviously not all kids are on board with this…and these are the ones shouting and pushing foreigners around for money and such. I emphasize they are an exceeding minority to those staying out of trouble…but it was just an interesting site last time.
When I got back to my apartment in the evening I had a visitor. This was most strange as I almost never do, but to top it off it was a woman not from this town either. Shes an English teacher in UB and the daughter of one of the elementary school teachers in town. We played cards for a few hours and just chatted, I think she was looking to hone her English skills. A divorced 20 something girl with only one kid spends a couple hours Sunday night with the white guy in his apartment. My that must have made for some tasty gossip in town, but luckily as a man I can only be its victim and not its creator….at least stereotypically.
Today at school I found out a lot of new stuff. The schedule has been changed yet again as from now on all 10th and 11th grade students from both my town and Baghkhangai will be taught in the Ondortolge school. At first this sounded cool but then made me realize when I teach next year at the other school I wont have 10th and 11th grades to teach. I just made new curriculums for em for bloody sake! Ah blast, but from what I gather the other school will keep me busy as well.
On that new information was passed on to me. I was summoned early to see the principal, training manager and Moogi to help translate for some kind of meeting. I rarely get to talk to them when I want to bring something up so I imagined this was quite important. We sat down and I listen to my neighbor and training manager ask me a question. I had been expecting a school question so what I thought I heard almost made me laugh. When Moogi translated I actually did laugh.
“Josh…next year at Bagkhangai do you still want to live in Ger?” Makes sense now that I think about it. This had been something I had brought up nine months back and they undoubtedly thought that after nine months in the wonderful apartment I am in today I would realize just how much easier and more comfortable apartments and houses are to the gers which I by no means need to stay at if I didn’t want to. Surely nine months living in Mongolia had knocked a little sense into me yes???
I don’t know how they reacted to me laughing but I replied yes. At this they kept looking at me so strangely. My towns are in the UB aimag and are quite progressive. Few wear dells except on holidays and with running water, fewer mice and radiators why in the hell would you want to live in a ger? Old school elderly are the only ones who prefer rocking out in gers if they have the choice between a ger and a house or apartment, which I do have the choice of.
In their defense I see how idiotic this must sound. For an adventuresome American the idea of living in a tent for a year probably sounds awesome, but you got to realize that gers and living essentially in a tent for years or even their entire lives is nothing new to anyone here, and as such you gotta give it an American perspective.
For instance, would you request living somewhere in America where you only have dial-up internet service providers “for the thrill of actually having to punch in to the phone line?” rather than a T1 Broadband connection? Its just flat out nuts, but in essence that’s the type of thing I am requesting to do. When I first got to Mongolia, I seemed to take note of all the crazy things that Mongolians do. Around late November I came to an important revelation that it was the other way around. Mongolians don’t act strange, Americans do! Mongolians don’t eat insane amounts of meat. Americans flat out refuse to! Mongolians don’t disrespect personal boundaries, Americans need 20 feet of personal space at all time! And so on!!!
The principal and training manager meanwhile finally realizing at long last that if I am crazy it’s a very unique brand they said. “Okay, but then you will move at start of the summer to ger so you can practice how to survive in winter.” I had initially been planned to be moved in August just before school opening. Now I am tentatively scheduled to do so the first week of June when school here wraps. Meaning in less than a hundred days not only do I move towns which after a little under a year here is suddenly hitting home but also that after all my earlier bitching and whining and complaining to all those within range after finding my site placement I find myself getting absolutely every single thing that I had wanted from my Mongolian living conditions as well. I will have lived in a house, apartment and a ger….the Mongolian Hat Trick. You know if I ever try to make this blog into a book I think I might call it that. Actually I had a rather clever name picked out in parody of that book about the women trying to learn so badly in certain countries called “Three Cups of Tea”. I may name my book “Three Shots of Vodka.” You think Oprah will pick that up?
But yea, so to all those who are gonna be future PCV’s in Mongolia heed my warning. I did not react well to my “luxurious” living arrangements when I first found out. I sat around moping about something to the point that I had to reintroduce myself in October when I saw a lot of the volunteers at consolidation who didn’t recognize me happy. Coming off like a complete moron and jerk is a surefire way to not build bridges to your fellow colleagues. I was just lucky that a feature of PCV’s is to be willing to forgive and forget as long as your willing to get it together yourself. Don’t we rock?
Also let me tell you whether your in the Gobi desert with a ger and ten camels outside or your one floor below the President of Mongolia with mirrors and hot water in a suburb of Ulaanbaatar I warn you, do not react negatively. Youll come off like a complete moron and if your actually interested in serving in Peace Corps more than caring about lifestyle then you will find yourself enjoying yourself no matter what corner of this amazing country you find yourself in. The work is amazing, and as I am the type that makes work my life I find where and how I live to be great as well…I just wish I remembered that at all times it would save me some apologies later.
When I realized what month we had just hit I came to the conclusion that in less than a hundred days I have not only a new town to live in but also a ger. I still txt with a few volunteers here and there and all those with gers tell me the exact same thing. Im gonna be in love with the idea for all of ten minutes and then the shine wears off and you realize you live in a round tent in a country with -40 winters. I haven’t a doubt they are right, and an ego is a terrible thing…but still. I just cant bring myself not to find some whimsical pleasure in the idea that for a year of my life I will occupy a round tent on the Mongolian steppes as I attempt to teach English and master a language spoken by only 3 million people on this planet. (More people speak fluent Hebrew than speak Mongolian!) The more I let things happen and stop trying to make everything into something that its not the more uniqueness I find. It’s a far less stressful way to live your life.


March 2, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Temperature: 30 degrees Fahrenheit…don’t buy it.
Today’s Quote: “When you make love to a woman you get revenge on all the things in life that defeated you.” –Ben Kingsley

Okay my weather beacon tells me that its 30 Fahrenheit outside. That’s rather strange because it feels really cold today and theres no wind out like yesterday. Seriously that’s as warm as its been in months and to me it just feels like a day where a hat is optional with a winter coat. Maybe I am just not feeling too good. Mustive been all those hot showers I took…..
Last night my school had a talent show of sorts. You see as ive explained theres no real loners in Mongolian culture. Just doesn’t happen, cant happen. It’s a little too rough and tough to do it by yourself, and last night I guess in school systems you see examples of that based on their dance/music performances. The clicques at school are also the ones doing the various performances. Noone gets assigned to perform here. When you have no internet and no ability to go outside for extended periods for months at a time you find yourself out of ideas as to what to do other than throw on a good show.
Fortuitously I actually brought my camera and got some great pictures and videos of some of my students performances. Some were traditional and played with the classical instruments, and others were dancing to Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”
It’s a very refreshing thing that I observe in Mongolian culture is their pragmatism. They have traditions for one reason alone, they still are the most effective! If something better comes along they have no qualms about replacing a tradition with an update. This is regardless of origin of new updates or its methods. In essence, through pragmatism I see Mongolian as one of the most liberal societies I know outside of the United States and general travelers who require liberalism as well. Anyways ill be sure and upload some pics and videos when I get a chance in I imagine three or so weeks when I have a week off school. Never really been to UB during the weekdays I suddenly realize…huh.
Today the new schedule kept me busy as hell. We have three additional classes now and I have been given two of them. Eeep. Luckily I think I am finally getting the hang of teaching in Mongolian and in essence when you truly realize just how the system is setup there so very very little stress other than the amounts you put yourself on that you have no problem whatsoever. As usual reflection is easy as hell, its figuring it at the here and now that requires so much practice.
Tomorrows a long day too, but I don’t teach as many of those classes as I do today. Monday, Thursday and Friday each have only 2 classes, though there annoying spaced out so I need to arrive early and leave late and do very little in between. Still, as I mentioned long long ago there is so utterly little else I need to do so I may as well use the time to bond with the fellow teachers. Bring the warmth weather plz, getting bored inside!


March 3, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia
Today’s Temperature: 3 degrees Fahrenheit…no way the UB gauge saying its above freezing is true!
Today’s Quote: “Its all a dream…” –Julia

Got great news for the town of Bagkhangai! Today a van rolled up while Moogi and I were doing a lesson and who should pop out but two of the Peace Corps staff members! Todays item up for business…the reestablishment of this town as a training site! This is great news for everyone. Town gets credentials bump, pay over the summer for the Mongolian host families and teachers and I even get some new blood to intimidate with my semi competent Mongolian and war stories of the worst winter in 30 years.
The big debate is which town gets to house the volunteers, Ondortolge or Baghkangai. Both the teachers live in Ondortolge, but as ive described 90% of my town lives in apartments. For training, PCT’s are forbidden from having such a luxury as an apartment with power and water so they need enough Haasha families willing to take bodies in. That number may unfortunately for the teachers mean they need to commute to Baghkhangai. I am a little indifferent, but if they are in Bagkhangai that means ill see em on a more frequent basis unless I become a trainer in which case ill be seen by em everyday. Either works as ive said.
Tuesday and Wednesday have become workhorse days followed by Thursday and Friday being almost non-existant as well as Monday. Its strange but then again I think as the weather warms I will enjoy the days with extended periods of being able to be outside again. Fun fun indeed.
I did something today as well that I hadn’t in a long long while. With the temperature and wind defeating me for outdoor exercise yet again today I found myself at 3pm in my apartment wondering how to eat up time until school started again tomorrow. My options ran along the line of 1)playing my ocarina 2)practice Mongolian 3)go buy some alcohol 4)read every book that ive already read 6 times and read it yet again 5)watch yet another video clip or listen to yet another song on my computer 6)Play video games. These were all things I have been doing a lot of lately (cept the alcohol thing, but I want to break into the Mongolian millionare club at the end of March and I rather enjoy sobriety after being drunk for such a period of time so nah) So today instead I did something I haven’t done in over a year. With the trusty help of IMovie and Quicktime Pro I created a montage movie. Its amazing how with no computer knowledge outside an IT minor in 2004 (IE everything I learned is 2 generations out of date) one can make full on top notch movies oneself now thanks to how idiotproof computers are getting. While I am glad it does not exist now I am pretty sure that barring an end of world scenario of some kind my winter years of life will be spent with a vizor on my head playing a video game that reacts to my thought pattern given the speed to which technology is growing. I am okay with that btw…
Anyways so yea I made a montage movie. Heres the kicker, it took me longer to upload the video file into the editing software than it did to make the bloody movie itself. I made a montage of the love triangle in the Movie “House of Flying Daggers” featuring the music from Within Temptation called “What Have you Done.” Ill weigh options about if I should post it here or on Youtube…or either. This was sorta done for kicks…and I will say it did provide some variety, which was what I was going for.
Please melt snow, I need to go hiking again to get my legs used to going great distances! Three months until the First International Mongolia Marathon!


March 4, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Not fair? You keep saying that, I wonder what your basis for comparison is…” –David Bowie

I am abandoning my temperature gauge as of now for two reasons. The first being that while still too cold to go outside for extended periods of time its not nearly the -30 I was experiencing a month ago, so the point seems moot. The second being that I usually estimate the temperature based on the UB thermometer I can see on a Mongolia news channel. As I live two hours away I have often estimated that this is the closest I am going to get to knowing how cold it is without actually owning a thermometer…remind me to go get one sometime, they gotta sell em somewhere. Well today the UB therm dared to tell me that its 7 degrees Celcius. That’s 44 bloody degrees Fahrenheit! It cant be more than 10 degrees F out given the cold and the wind! Aside from not wearing wool socks anymore I have to wear the same clothes I have been wearing for almost a month now. Not that I don’t invite it to be 44 degrees outside…its just not!
So on to life. Sorta big news today regarding one of my students. I hadn’t brought this up in a blog entry before because I wanted to make an all inclusive blog instead of drawing out little by little update. One of my 11th grade students is pregnant. Actually she has been since the start of the school year. Today her doctor (our school doctor) ordered her home to wrap up her third trimester and give birth. Teen pregnancy and out of wedlock pregnancies are something once again that I think Mongolia handles WAY better than America. Heres a handful of examples.
To begin with everyone in town knows the father. A little risqué given that one is in school and one is not, but hardly something to cause a stir beyond gossip. The pregnant woman lives with her family, as everyone does until they marry or find a profession that can support them. The father of the child will of course help out as well. The pregnant teen has gone to school every single day the entire school year, and was not sent to another school as can happen in the American public school system depending on what state you live in.
Most of all I find the idea that shes not only not shunned but flat out pampered to by both the teachers, the community and her fellow students as a sign of how much easier Mongolian culture handles sex and its consequences. As a nation of liberal Buddhists/atheists/a handful of Christians/ancient pagans (not as many…but still) the idea of sex before marriage is and has almost always been quite expected and welcome, but even young people having sex is not out of the question either. On AIDS day back in December I did notice a lack of material advocating abstinence, and instead went into detail about having safe sex instead…saved a lot of time if you ask me.
Though getting pregnant before your 18 is probably not Plan A for everyone the age of pregnant women in this country is still quite young. I dunno it just felt like for a situation that would have rocked any community in America I have lived in and the school systems as well this pregnancy in my small Mongolian town was handled with the alertness and intensity of someone with a cold. Something to keep an eye on and handle accordingly. Though as a man in his late 20’s this obviously does not effect me as it might others, but I still found the situation so refreshingly received by the community I live in. Its another one of those examples I come across where I realize that its Mongolians who act sane and Americans are out of their minds…go figure!
So yea…she now doing her homework and classwork at home and should have the baby with enough time to walk on graduation. How fortuitous! (Though they literally just walk out the doorway with everyone watching, but still graduation)
Today I helped throw together some stuff for her to study. I hope to be one of the people who throws in a candidate name for the baby naming ceremony. I am thinking of Gandalf, you see it sounds a lot like a common Mongolian mans name Gambert, and forever my geek like impact would effect the Mongolians I have lived with….but somehow I doubt ill make the cut.


March 5, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “MAHHH MAHH MAHH SHOLEE!!!!” –This is the canteen lady shouting at me what food was available today. Meat Soup…what weve had for the past three days.

Today the UB thermometer reads -23 celcius. That’s -9 Fahrenheit. It doesn’t feel that cold either. Granted were still down in the low single digits but I doubt its below 0 F. Again this is why I am abandoning my daily temperature gauge as its just too unreliable. But tragically despite the inaccuracy its simply still too cold to go outside and run or really do anything fun. Its funny to look at the snow around here because much of it has been here since November. Snow in Mongolia is incredibly dry (climate thing) To those that make snowman know dry snow doesn’t glue itself easily to its fellow snowflakes. Add that the temperature here is not only freezing but then -30 below that and the snow crystallizes with itself, turning into either ice or this really grainy chunks of stuff that’s absolutely ridiculous to see. We cleared some off near the school entrance and it still sits in these giant chunks. Ill be sure and grab a picture.
Developments in computers have happened at my school. Everyone in my town aged 8-11 now owns their own laptop. Not bad huh? Thanks to the 1 Laptop per Child program and progressive school teachers with minor connections to parliament my town scored big with these machines. They’ve been distributed and as you can imagine the kids are going absolutely batty over their new toys. We don’t have wireless internet (or internet for that matter) so their use is limited to typing on screens but still, huge step for the community. It actually reminded me of an early computer that my family had in their house. I was a kid who used computers before computers were at every university, let alone home. I remember the first real computer being a Mac Plus. I can still picture the 7 inch screen right now…I played Mathblaster and Carmen Sandiego and Reader Rabbit on that thing…and now I am in Mongolia typing on a 17 inch Mac Powerbook Pro and all my Mongolian kids have computers…we come a long way.
Meanwhile in the computer lab I have brought a little more fun to the kids at the school. They have computer games, and better still educational ones! Yep, Mathblaster, Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego. You see when I was young the only computer games I was allowed to posess were either educational in nature (such as these titles) or something stratagem based such as Sim City. I believe it was this early molding that gave me a taste for video games such as Civilization IV and Tropico 2. My brother adopted a more Doom like approach to his video games and…actually come to think of it I don’t think I have ever seen my sister play a computer game in her life…What the hell does she do all day then?
I also installed DragonsLair 3-D. An amusing game in which is not so much a fight and slash but one must solve puzzles in order to get to the next part of the level. Its handy as it requires very little English to play it, and is so far the most popular game. I gave a tutorial to the teachers of both the computer lab and the various subjects on how they could use the games in their classroom development and that went well too. I guess its sorta up to them about how much they plan to use it, but after watching kids play minesweeper for 9 months straight in which not once has any of them figured out that you are supposed to be deducing where the mines are based on the numbers that pop up I can only hope that ANY type of computer game would bring better recreation. So yea, one of my big projects is in its final phase…implementation.
Yesterday with five minutes of internet at my disposal I applied to be a trainer for the M21’s and snuck a peek at other PC Mongolia blogs. Apparently some are not getting funding approval for their projects. As my town is both progressive and well funded I find myself very rarely having to jump through such hoops. (I paid for the very cheap games myself) If I had been placed in one of my more distant locales that I had initially imagined I believe that is what much of my time would be focused on, but instead it seems my goal is to take the already acquired resources and be sure their being put to optimal use. I actually had to twist a few arms in my community to finally get them to distribute the laptops. So yea, we may all be PC Mongolia volunteers but we all have our unique circumstances don’t we?
You know what the month of March in Mongolia reminds me of? Its mile 23 of a marathon. What? You’ve never run 23 miles in your life? Ah no worries, let me fill you in. Basically your body is out of sweat, out of energy, your skin feels cracked and broken and though you can still use your legs you haven’t had any sensation in them for the past hour. Yet despite this your still moving along, somehow aware that three miles are all that separate you from an amazing accomplishment and a tall glass of water and food that is not a power bar. In essence the idea is at this point you have come so far that there is no longer a question of IF you will finish this race. After 23 miles if you have to drag your broken body across the finish line you will. Its just that you’ve been at this so long you just wish you could get it over with.
That is the same way I feel about March in Mongolia. Its technically the first month of Spring. I am long past -40 Fahrenheit days. I no longer wear wool socks and on days when its not particularly windy I can even go to school without wearing a hat. In essence the hard part is over. Baring an act I am not aware of I will make it through the Mongolian winter. I am aware of just how close I am to wrapping up this winter and having long sunny spring days of 50 degree afternoons and ground that goes from ice white to brewing brown all the way to the sea of green again.
Its all so close….but right now its not warm enough to go outside recreationally, and THAT is what is driving me crazy. I want to run, and hike. The hiking will be critical. I can jog 5 weekdays a week, but on Saturday or Sunday I need to get my legs used to doing strenuous work over long periods of time again. This means that I need to do what I did in October before the snow came and just pick a direction in which I just start walking and don’t look back. As the days get longer this will be easy….but the snow on the ground needs to melt and the wind needs to cut back to the point that I can at least move when I am against the wind.
Sorry for the long blog about little. I chose to pass on booze this weekend and with the weather being what it is I just cant seem to get out as much as I would like. Hope the states are warmer, heard the east coast had a tough time with it.


March 6, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’ Quote: “Dang! That hundred dollars could have bought me…ONE gallon of gas!!!” –Al Gore

So today I turned on my TV and instead of just looking at the temperature and turning it back off I flipped through the channels. I haven’t done this since the start of February and when I flipped to the channel that used to have Al Jazeera (hasent been on since October) I saw a new news network on. BBC World! Kick ass! I loved this network and hadn’t seen it in ages.
Well with no pressing agenda I watched a special they were doing on the internet and they did an experiment I could relate to. They went to Nigeria and brought broadband connection to a remote village that had never had internet before, and then they went to Seoul and they took away internet from 2 families. Wow, I wish BBC would have sent out a notice, I could have told them what I was doing! Wouldve made for a kick ass documentary.
Actually my circumstance is a little different. You see before Mongolia I was indeed quite the internet user. Living on a college campus from 2000-2009 allowed me to stream information at an astounding rate. There really was no wait for any info out there. Now when I came to Mongolia I got one feature of my living arrangement dead on right from the spot. The internet in this town is next to absolute zero. The internet café is used solely to play Warcraft, the schools internet 99.9% of all days is dead, and my sitemate contains the only reliable method in which I could use the internet all be it at a snail pace and I use mainly to blog post.
So indeed yes I did go from cutting edge to cold turkey, but in Mongolia where its not like you have a whole lot of options yes I can see how its not like I have many options here no matter how much I miss the internet (which honestly I really don’t all too much) Now if I lived in America right now and tried to keep myself off the internet I don’t know how successful I would be at that. As with food the act of denying yourself something you have is far harder and more painful than the discomfort you face from having nothing available to eat at all. As always that lesson may be one of the most important ones I have learned since coming here…That and be sure to eat something high in fiber after you’ve eaten over 2 pounds of goat meat in one sitting…youll thank me later.
More still is that I could very well have internet like my sitemate. With my laptop and a flash drive internet device that I could buy in UB for 250,000 Tugriks (about 160 dollars) I could have internet service practically anywhere in this country. At the moment I think I have around a million tugriks…not counting some chump change in an American bank account I am saving for some summer traveling.
Some of my fellow volunteers who have already done so I inquired about if they liked it. They all say the same thing, it’s a blessing and a curse. To have the ability to research or communicate at anytime does exactly what it does to us back in the states. It means that important things get handled NOW and not as soon as physically possible allows. So at the moment Ill pass on getting internet, but when I move to the next town in June it may just be something to consider. In essence I would give up indoor plumbing and get semi-slow internet service. Or as a fellow volunteer so eloquently put it, Outhouses and DSL. Jurys out…


March 7, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “A person who votes is noone, a person who counts votes is everyone.” –Joseph Stalin

Today I estimate we were just above negative Fahrenheit numbers, but outside it snowed. It was again that annoying thing of being weather where after much colder temperatures it wasent so much the cold that kept me indoors but the lack of ability to run that hindered me…so today I went for a walk. I don’t worry so much about finishing the Marathon in 3 months. Once you have run one marathon you begin to realize just what the human body is capable of and unless you get WILDLY out of shape you come to terms with the idea that your willpower gives out long before your legs or lungs truly do. However, the cold has all winter kept my runs very short. 30-40 minutes. I needed to get myself used to movement and activity for hours at a time.
Today I put on jeans, a pair of wool socks, my winter coat, hat, gloves and scarf and two layers of shirts and went out walking over the snow. I walked for just under three hours, and in doing so I walked approximately 13 miles, a half marathon. Not all that bad, and I easily could have doubled that based on how my legs feel. This is a good sign, my fastest marathon was done in 4 hours and 32 minutes, and I am a little curious how fast I will run this one.
Now at midday I find myself a little curious as to what to do next though. I really am not in the mood for alcohol this weekend, so I imagine a combination of a little Mongolian language learning followed by some video games will have to do. Ah it aint that bad. I gotta get some laundry done, though noone complains about my clothes and my standards are abhorrent even I can tell I am a little overdue in getting everything cleaned up.
Ive started to think up a side project that I am going to start next winter so I don’t find myself quite as bored as I did on some days this winter. Bayarcahn knows Russian, and since I know Cyrillic maybe I should try and learn a little. Would be a little more useful to know a little Russian as a skill on a resume than Mongolian. Maybe ill take up the horse violin if I can find someone to teach me as well. In essence I need an indoor hobby. The spring and summer will give me plenty of new abilities and opportunities to keep myself busy. The amount I am gonna run when the snow melts will put even me into shock!


March 8, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “A nations strength is not measured in its ability to wage war, but in preventing it.” –Gene Roddenberry

No school today. Some random holiday that my town apparently exclusively celebrates and noone bothered to bring me into the loop. Remember when I said Mongolians are pragmatic in nature? Their holiday schedule is one such example in that I believe the holiday took place on Saturday but in an effort to better coordinate it at a time when people would be in town the actual celebration is happening today so they can milk a day off work as well. Clever, America this is another place we should take a page out of the Mongolian book!
Showing up to school when you think theres class but there is not. I remember all the blogs I read before coming to Mongolia and for some reason this seemingly unimportant side note of a day somehow finds its way into every blog I read. Go figure. Not like my Mondays are all that busy anyway, I usually just team teach three classes with my counterpart Moogi so its not like I feel like I am missing out on all that much.
You know now that I think about blogs I think I remember getting my Mongolian placement in the month of March. I imagine a few volunteers are getting their invitation packets as we speak. The majority of the M20’s I talked with about this said that upon realizing they were going to Mongolia their thought process is always the same. They had believed they were heading somewhere else, but upon realizing they were going to Mongolia they quickly realized how cool that would be. My interviewer had told me from the word go that Mongolia was my likely fate, but I kept it under my hat for I didn’t want to be wrong and therefore disappointed. To all those getting invitations to Mongolia let me tell you something. Having been a volunteer only this time and never seeing or being in any other PC country as a volunteer I promise you as close to a moral certainty that there is NO other country on this planet more unique, amazing, difficult, and rewarding to be a Peace Corps volunteer in as Mongolia.
Pat yourself on the back you lucky buggers, and go buy some wool socks. And eat as much exotic fruit as you possibly can and drink insane amounts of good wines before you come. I remember a month before I entered service I asked my friend and former volunteer if I should start eating meat and less fruit to prepare myself for Mongolian food. He laughed and told me that you have two years to get used to it, eat nothing BUT fruit and spices before you come here. And hummus….and wine!!!! Youll thank me later.
Got a good lesson for each of my classes this week. A little physical moving around followed by some putting some of what we just acted out into writing. The week after is the last week of the third quarter. Test week obviously. Then a week off school. As always it’s the days that last forever but whole weeks take mere moments.
Last night I had a last year dream. Ever have those? That’s where you dream about exactly what you were doing a year ago that day. Well that’s what I had happen. I was standing on Fordham University’s main plaza in front of Keating Hall and on the step was none other than U2. I was an RD working security/crowd management. I was close enough to have touched Bono himself. Never really was a U2 fan but you gotta realize what a world this is when you find yourself in situations like that. I miss Fordham. Left a job I loved to do another job I love. As my dad always told me, that’s a good problem to have…point taken.
The day wrapped up with another drop in from Bolor. Bolor is Mongolian for crystal and it’s the name of a Mongolian teacher living in UB. I mentioned her earlier where her mother lives in my town and is one of the teachers at my school. I believe that while she never formally introduced her Bolor was made aware of a tall bachelor in this apartment block by her mother and she dropped in at the start of the month to say hi and has done so again. She is 23, divorced, not legally but here that’s tomato tomatoe difference (got her early relationship out of the way is the mentality if I understand it correctly in a culture where I explained that love is far more mild and healthy than us lovesick romantics that America and Europe are so famous for brewing up), only has one kid, and has a job as an English teacher at a complex school in UB. In essence, a Mongolian catch…and even long out of the dating game I think I understand what is expected of me when random single women come to my bareboned apartment to chat…
Added bonus is that of the Mongolian women I know she is definitely one of the prettier ones too. I have a type and rarely do women from Mongolia fit it but still, quite pretty. She came to celebrate womens day with her mother and sister and spent the last hour before going back to UB hanging out with me. Its so amusingly awkward. We sort of sit in my room and just play around with Mongolian and English as my room does not exactly have a whole lot of exciting traits to it. More then that this sorta was a most unique encounter when a girl I didn’t even know just randomly knocked on my door a week ago and I invited her right in. I don’t even want to imagine what her mother two floors down thinks we are doing! Nah I think its pretty obvious she wants to be more than friends, I dunno. Its all very complex and luckily the awkwardness keeps us pretty superficial at this point. Just gotta keep an eye on it.
She was looking over my family photos and she saw what I looked like with short hair and again commented on how much more handsome I am with shorter hair. It’s irony thick enough to choke a whale. I have thick dark brown hair that grows like a weed and in America I kept myself a quarter inch past marine my entire life. Now I come to a country where the crew cut is the hottest thing a man can do and I grow my hair out to its insane length of today. Girls want me to cut my hair….what do you all think? Ill add in a picture in my hair at next blog posting. Nine months without a cut, that’s easily gotta be a record.
Wow…cool flashback. When you all took your sociology class your Freshman year of college did you have to read “The Forest People?” Its this English guy who lives with a bunch of pygmies in Africa and its amazing stuff and all that but I do suddenly recall where a woman was put to him and he had to use amusing tact to get around not sleeping with her and not losing face with the village. I am not at that stage yet, but I suddenly think I get how those like him and James Cook must have felt when they tried to turn down the company of exotic women. General all around awkwardness….i imagine many other volunteers would be turning this “problem” of mine into a solution. Jury’s out people, im not sure how to react at this point. She is nice and pretty, and she brought me cake this time. What do you give as a gift that’s not alcohol anyways? Fruit probably…like I gave my mom.


March 9, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “I have a pressing urge. To go…farther than any man has…or perhaps even can…” –James Cook

Great long day of school. Classes went well, even the 7th graders gave me a break today. I spent the rest of the time helping out with team teaching the other classes. After school wrapped up I was invited over by the building jijur (administrator) for some meat and tea. I was rather flattered, and glad to be given the invite. The food was excellent too.
Big news. Next week is test week for the third quarter, and after that I have 2 count em 2 weeks off school. Outfreakingstanding. That’s enough time not only to drop into UB and wash clothes and all the regular chores, but then I feel as though 2 weeks is enough time to do something rather daring. This is all in the developmental stage but right now I am thinking about going out west. Some of the old Erdene crew got stationed out there and seeing as I bitched and moaned about not getting put far far away from my site I can at least travel to them, and see some old buddies in the process. Its still a little too cold to enjoyably travel though, and where I propose to go is so far out that those living in the distant aimags don’t drive but fly (on PC’s dollar, insanely out of my price range) You think I can make three days in a bumpy and rusty old Russian shockless jeep to the most impossible reaching corner of Monoglia in one piece? If you said anything but yes perhaps I should remind you I am the dude who not only survived a trip on Cambodia’s only active 20 hour trainline, but I even made the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs!
Nah but there would be a drawback, not being able to run. Today something amazing happened. As I walked along the snow/ice blocks to school today I was not flailing for my life as I always had before. In fact my footing seemed quite stable. I looked down and couldn’t believe my eyes…my feet were sinking in. After Id guess over four months of non stop ice and freezing temperature the sun and the temperature must have actually reached a level at mid-day was able to thaw and melt a tiny fraction of the snow around me. I thought about all that ice right then and there. All the dirt, feet, urine, booze, and endless dust that had settled in with it. A tapestry of waste…It would have brought tears to my eyes if I wasent a little dehydrated.
This means though that if the weather stays like this I could be looking at daily runnable weather in the coming weeks, and id like to spend it on foot then crammed in a van. In essence I like to think of it like this. I live in the center of Mongolia. I will go north this summer to run the Hovsgol Lake Marathon, and in the fall I go South into the Gobi to run the Gobi Desert Marathon, and that leaves everything out west and east to see….Might as well see it all right? Ill think it over, and text a few of the old Erdene crew to see if they are game. This might not be something to do alone if at all possible.
Run a hundred miles….or travel over a thousand…..decisions decisions…
We also had a staff meeting today. Three hours, I kid you not. Fordham University gave me a good stomach for sitting in an enclosed space with people id rather not spend as much concentrated time with listening to dry exchanges of information 99% of which has no bearing or effect on me whatsoever but egads peoples! Though this was a special case and something was indeed up this week. There had been a bad round of gossip or so and two people in particular were really going all out. Moogi tried to let me escape, but in an effort not to distance myself from the fellow teachers I hung in there. It wrapped up soon enough.
It sorta flashes me to something my dad briefly mentioned about being one of the bosses in his company where his subordinates basically all have these long drawn out arguments in meetings over whats best to do. When they got tired or arguing with one another they would just nudge him awake where he either says “were doing this..” or “were not gonna do that” and the conversation instantly ends. Say what you will about being a businessman in America, but I think teachers and the field of education could learn something about meetings from my dad and the American businessman!
Ger update: Peace Corps called me and asked for the name and number of the people who will be my hasha family in Baghkhangai. No doubt they just want to feel em out and make sure there cool with having a tall white guy who doesn’t know every word of Mongolian for a years time and that the ger has things like electricity and a lock on the door.
But apparently when I asked for this information I was told to stall PC for a few days as the principal of my town is reassigning me to another ger. Its likely what is known as a four wall ger. PCV’s are either in 4 or 5 wall gers. 5 walls are bigger, not by much and that doesn’t bother me. Its easier to heat a four wall. Five wall gers are usually for families and such and a bachelor can quite easily make a home in a four wall. Aside from that I don’t know the family yet. Hopefully we will get along. Now that I have some Mongolian and this being a town I have spent very little time in I can treat this as yet another fresh start and this time I am going to be sure that I am active with my neighbors. Mongolia will break me out of my Anglo-Saxon reserve even if it kills me! Its also official that it will be the town of Bagkhangai that houses the new bloods this summer. Itll be nice to be helpful like Julia was to me last summer. Erdene is also gonna house another batch of trainees too. That means my mom and sis are likely gonna have another American son or daughter. Right on! So would that like make us half brother sister once removed or adopted brother sister? My family on my mom’s side has a few genealogists, ill ask them.


March 10, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Number of miles run today: 4
Today’s Quote: “Out of my mind?… Well that’s between me and my mind.” –Jubel Earley

New opening indicator in case you skimmed past that. Ill discuss this in todays blog but as I no longer log the weather the amount I will jog each day will be put up whenever I do go out running. As much of this blog is for me this also will be a passive way of reminding myself to run more, though after a day like today I wont need any reminders.
So yea, on to today. Wednesday is a long day of school. There from opening to close, and with classes all in between. They went very well, and today Moogi and I did some of our best team teaching to date by creating a test for next week to wrap up third quarter. Then as I mentioned I have two weeks off. Yesterdays ambition to travel out west for the sake of travel got its plug pulled for two reasons. The first being that when I sent out some feelers to the old Erdene crew as to what everyone was up to not everyone seemed to have two weeks off like I did. I think some school systems stayed closed a week longer that we did during swine flu and the backlash was that they needed to be open for one of these two weeks that we now have off. I also pulled the plug because I feel that even with my trip in July up north I should still have more than enough time to go as far east or west as tickles my fancy. So yea, ill spend the two weeks here running.
Speaking of running. Today the weather was so warm. I could tell the minute I looked out my window in the morning and there was no ice on my window as there has been for over four months. The sun shone like it always does (that sun was my saving grace this winter) and as I was in class I knew that after four LONG months of cold, ice, falling on my ass and snot freezing in my nose itself that Spring at long last had come. (I love it. For one day the temperature is probably around 38 Fahrenheit and I think I am in a sauna!) The snow little by little is trickling away. Better still is that aside from the huge piles of ice that form when a certain hill configuration is formed the constant wind of this country and dry snow kept the layer of ice that covered everything in this country to only an inch thick. With the warmth out the ice just trickles away. Already I can see mounds of brown out in the distance and the road is now bone dry and ice free….spring is here. When you live an uncluttered life you begin to come to terms with just how remarkable things like a world without snow or clean water actually are…everyone’s really psyched about that “Avatar” movie I have yet to see…who needs Cameron when I have a different colored ground!
No delusions anyone! I am well aware that in the blink of an eye another cold front will sweep in and may even bring a new round of snow, but for I think the settled temperature will be just above freezing from now on, leaving me less encumbered in movement as I don’t have to wear my massive coat and hat, and able to spend more and more time outside, like I did today when I went out running. Yep, I threw on the layers and went outside. Maybe I don’t have the power I did before the freeze at the end of October but right now I can keep myself going at a run for over 4 miles with energy to spare! With three months until the first Marathon that is absolutely perfect! That gives me 10 or so weekends to build my runs from 8,10,12,14,16,18,20 miles. (these don’t really make you stronger….you need to convince your mind that its physically possible to keep yourself moving for such a period of time) Add to that that I have ice free roads and a comfortable schedule I should be good to go.
Now lets talk about hair. I have made a command decision. This is no country for long haired men! The women of my school (you ever been yelled at by a 12 year old about your hair?) are simply fed up with the length of my hair as it is. Yes, my long and I am sure in America quite handsome hair is simply the ugliest thing that Mongolians have ever seen and when they saw a picture today on my computer about what my hair looked like back in the summer they were simply fed up and demanded that I cut my hair….so heres my plan. At the end of April I will take a meeker into UB for my monthly resupply and R&R and during this time I will go to one of those random barbers and at long last yes I will get a bloody haircut back to my summer length. Now before you say anything hear the rest of this out! So I figure that means that it will be nice and short for the warm summer and the marathons and all the good things that come from short hair and such…but then that means that 14 or so months later my hair will have grown past the length that it even is at now and then I will wrap up my term of service and can return to the states for the first time in my life with long hair and into a society where such a fashion is popular, though given my luck Mongolia and America will switch and ill find my hair length unsatisfactory yet again. Personally I will say that long hair to me feels novel but is not my style. I am a crew cut Peace Corps type of guy. Still….a lot of what I do feels novel so for now long hair suits me just fine, but I got Mongolian women breathing down my neck these days!
Hair and running….these really are the days huh?

March 11, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Head of State, a Sith is just a Jedi who went off their meds.” –Daala

Beautiful day outside, and the temp is only just below freezing, but gale force winds are out in full force and unfortunately that drops the temp down another 20 degrees. Ill have to use today as my day off of running. Shame I wanted that to be tomorrow, course its not like I have a whole lot pressing going on either day.
After a week of trying I was finally able to get my grandmother and grandfather on the phone today. Ive been trying like mad but something is wrong with the receiver in the area or something because every time I tried calling they said the gateway was blocked or something like that. No matter, I got through. They sound happy and in good health. Just what I wanted to hear.
Nine months in Mongolia…nine months in the Peace Corps. What a life…what a world…Another rather large anniversary I think happens in March as well. Peace Corps just turned 49! Not bad! Not bad at all. Way too many feats and accomplishments to list em in a blog entry in which I don’t have the internet to check facts so if you want to know more just take a look around the Peace Corps website. I like that ill be a volunteer during the 50 year anniversary of its formation. Peace Corps, perhaps the only true survivor of the great society. Say what you will about money spending bleeding heart liberals but we like to help dammit!
On to movies. Tripp loaned me a movie called Taken. I am glad Liam Neison is still getting roles. He and Harrison Ford keep seeming to get the same roles where the all American dad (though Liam is English) keep seeming to find their family in danger and they risk all to save them. They have their niche, like Jodi Foster doing the single mom or battered women roles, or Ben Stiller playing a short man fighting not to display his inferiority complex…digress…okay so the plot of Taken has Liam’s daughter kidnapped on her first trip out of the country to Paris by some ass of some kind and he has to rescue her.
Interesting cast I will say that. Frankie Jameson (played Jean Grey in X-Men, though my favorite role was the woman in Deep Rising) plays the mother…btw remember when I said I had a type but didn’t specify in earlier blog entries. Shes pretty much a walking example of my type if you were curious. Also Shannon who died in the second season of Lost plays the girl too.
I love the mentality of the movie of how “your not safe and can be kidnapped anywhere” runs into complete contradiction with my life. Unlit empty train cars in Cambodia. Thai meekers filled with massive and drunk thai guys. Drinking towns away from my hostel at German beer festivals. Wandering the rice paddies of Northern Vietnam. Did all my traveling alone and in countries in which not only did I not speak the language but I stood a foot taller than everyone else so blending in was not an option.
Never once even worried for my safety let alone got in trouble. Now luckily I have had a few things going for me when it comes to travel to far off places. I traveled poor and light. Also I am a guy and while I may not be strong enough to win a fight luckily my build suggests that I could. I also didn’t start traveling much until I reached 24, and at that point I had finally gotten myself organized in life (still waiting on maturity but I learned how to hold myself in a more confident manner.) Theres just the confidence thing. Your gonna get robbed (or in the movies case abducted) if you look like you cant handle yourself or don’t know what your doing. Best advice you could ever get: Fake it till you make it everybody. A lie is a lie…unless someone else believes your lie, and then it’s a commonly held belief! Cool movie too…


March 12, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Number of miles: 5
Today’s Quote: “Well…another day another doughnut. And now for your edification and enjoyment without further ado and with no more dilly dallying around…” –The way the greatest teacher I ever knew started his classes.

Ah…beautiful day! And with this being Mongolia that is really saying something! But yes indeed today the sun was even brighter, the snow little by little started to melt in certain spots and all around you can tell that the winter days are little by little finding their way behind us!
Went out running after classes today, and felt great once again. Each time I run now I see a little more dirt on either side of the road. Off in the distance I see more brown hills instead of white. Inch by inch the season of spring is arriving. So perfectly timed and utterly invigorating. I forgot just how good exhaustion feels. To balance an exhausted mind with an exhausted body. It brings sleep that babies envy. Come Sunday ill start my long run weekends. Eight miles will be enough. A 15k. Some of the road still has a smidge of ice near the other side of the air force base so 2 out and back runs should do it.
The rest of this evening will be spent playing some Settlers and sending a few quick emails. Ill pass on updating the blog until I get back to UB next weekend. I sorta have been enjoying being off the grid a little more these days now that I have the luxury for going outside for periods of time.


March 13, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “I vote he’s not in charge!” –Charles Gunn.

Yesterday sadly was a tease of weather. I woke up this morning to blowing snow and bitter cold yet again. I am very glad to have gotten those runs in when I did though. After the run its great to throw water on my face and to feel all the salt trickling out of my pores. Nothing feels better than it, and unfortunately I cant do so again today. Clean the room, play some video games, maybe even a few rounds of cards with the neighbors…ill think of something to do round here.
Oh but big and bummer news. There was an M19 I knew that I liked and got along with really well who I just found out bailed on Peace Corps service. Dangit! Really wanted to hang out with her, and she was an M19 for cryin out loud. She had another 5 or so months to complete in service. Ah blast. So now Peace Corps finds itself one body shorter…too bad really. Actually if the hear say is accurate the reason is a good one, but the reason behind that reason is Peace Corps doing, and though I would never doubt the infinite reasoning which is Peace Corps I found that to be a bummer as well. Sorry again for the cryptic talk, want to keep this all basic.


March 14, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Hey! Do not hit me with that truck!” –John Hancock (the movie not the famous guy)

Something rather amusing happened last night. I was heading out to get a few beers for the evening when the store had a new brand. It was in Cyrillic but the translation made me laugh, and brought a little bit of New York to Mongolia…by way of a Russian beer.
Near the corner of 2nd avenue and 4th street (the east village, by far the best part of New York, an opinion shared by the late George Carlin too btw) is the Krane theatre which one floor above is a little bar called the KGB bar. Its all red, posters of Lenin and stuff, rather cheesy but still kinda nice. Anyways they sold a beer that I really liked called Baltika. It comes in 6 different flavors designated by numbers. Last night, the beers were right there.
In manhattan a beer of baltika cost me six bucks. That’s more than I make in a day here, and that more than some make in a week here! The beer in the store cost a thousand tugriks…about sixty or seventy cents. Its all relative huh? Speaking of manhattan, I saw on BBC world news that its 50 degrees in New York right now. Oh good gods when it gets that warm here again…..tick tick tick.
Boring day…boring weekend for that matter. The snow yesterday coupled with the howling wind and cold grounded me once again. Come back warmer days (and by warmer I mean 40 degrees…seriously that’s all I really need!) So yea, my blogs talking about beer…hey think of it like this. If your this bored reading about my boring weekend, just imagine how boring it must be to actually go through with it! Ill play the ocarania. Getting pretty good at it too.

March 15, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “So…it’s a show about three hookers and their mom?” –Brian describing the plot of Sex and the City.

This evening the students of my school put on yet another show. Basically it was exactly the same thing that had been put on a few weeks back but this time it was done at the school. Watching the dances does show all that Mongolians dance and sign pretty much about the same theme over and over again. The dance is usually men riding horses or portraying the shagai dice that are being rolled or thrown while the women portray nature and the elements mostly. These are the ancestors of the Native Americans. The dance is so similar its frightening.
Funny thing though was the song and dance that’s stole the show was not Mongolian at all but Russian. Given how open Mongolian culture is its sometimes a little difficult to remember that for over three generations of lives Mongolians were under the rule of the Soviet Union. The playgrounds are all Russian in nature, ballet is still performed at the concert halls, anything larger than two stories is a crummy looking Russian apartment block they made by the thousands during the 70’s throughout Russia and in the 80’s in Mongolia…. and the vodka…you know what scratch that its REALLY obvious that Russian influenced Mongolias recent culture. But the costumes they wear while doing Russian dances and moves are all taught to them by their parents, who speak Russian while their kids learn English. It is an imposing barrier to their family structure and luckily as I said Monglians who are pragmatic in nature are willing to just as quickly stop learning Mongolian if English or Korean will suit them more. Ive made many of the thoughts ive heard about Mongolians regard to their Southern neighbor something I keep under my hat. Even the most liberal of us laugh at stereotypes I suppose.
So that was all well and good, but now its 11pm. Way past my weekday bedtime and I got seven classes to teach tomorrow. Last week of the third quarter. Days last for eons and the weeks just fly by!

March 16, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “YOU #^$& GO!!!” –One of my seventh grade students incorrectly telling me to go #&$^ myself!

That was a freaky ass dream last night. It was another one of those dreams where my imagination was playing out a scenario I did not want to see the end of and so I kept waking up but that would only last five minutes before I fell asleep again and the nightmare would literally pick right back up where I had left off…UGH!
Ah 7th grade. Weve been over this, but im not a fan, and my options are pretty sparse. At this point ive adopted the only remaining strategy PCV’s have to widespread apathy. The 10-15 students willing to sit down and look at the board I teach while I do my best to ignore the kids playing on their cell phones, punching and wrestling with each other and throwing pen caps at each other.
Eight more classes of seventh grade. Eight more classes of all grades for this school year. Actually 24 more, but I individually and alone teach eight more. Next year I intend to lay down the law like some other PCV’s do in regards to apathy during team teaching and say that if my counterpart wont create lesson plans with me or at least consult with me about what we will teach I will not be in any class that is not specifically assigned to me. I don’t want to do this because it will hurt the students learning experience more than anything else. Also I like teaching and I don’t want to say anything that will withdraw me from any class, but in essence I am a government loaned mule of sorts. Its one of the goals of a teacher in Peace Corps is to work your way out of a job, and many of times I find myself simply easing the work load of a fellow teacher and not giving any specific instruction or long term practicality to my methods and strategems.
Now I know that this is to be expected and not even a bad thing to contribute in such a manner, but after a year of being used in such a manner it can rub someone the wrong way. The moving of me to another school is an ideal time to start fresh so I have no intention of making such a declaration until the next school year, and maybe I will bond well with my counterpart there as well and not need to either.
Moogi and I are acting like an old married couple. We really haven’t said anything nice to each other in over a month, seeing as Moogii does nothing but incorrectly sarcastically insult me, and I have learned to give it as well as I have taken it. As a man who tries unsuccessfully to teach Mongolian kids to use their words more I feel it only fitting that I should insult back when she insults me.
Strangely though we do get along well enough. We both have jobs and they often intersect so we get along as two people with distinct personalities. Moogi wants to be an English teacher again over the summer and I want to be a trainer. She sarcastically mentions how bad I will be as a trainer, giggles to herself and I say to her that my 5th graders know more English than she does. Personally this is not how I would have our working relationship but I grow tired of being annoyed by her fake insults so I just go with it. From what I can tell it is an exclusive trait to my counterpart.
This afternoon I was invited by my students to play some ping pong. As its still to icy and cold to run any form of recreation sounded like fun and it had been a while since I got to play ping pong, so I packed my gear and headed over to the labor center. Even though I hardly am working out by playing ping pong I think the psych factor I am getting from it is the key thing. I got a good feeling about the weather in the coming weeks, and I have two weeks with nothing to do but stretch and run. So open up already roads. Mile 23…mile 23…


March 17, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Number of Miles: 4
Today’s Quote: “It be a scumbag yard sale…we should come here once a week and clean house.” –Those brothers from the Boondock Saints.

Today it was so warm outside that we didn’t even need the sun to be glaring to melt snow as it has done for the past couple weeks. Instead we are now above freezing and while the roads still had a little snow from the snowstorm last weekend I went out running on this beautiful day. Funny thing about it being above freezing temperatures is that it brought out something I had sort of forgotten about. Smell. You see after November the temperature outside resembled anything from the temperature of your freezer to about 30 degrees below even that. Meaning all the animal droppings, the dead animals that froze to death in the winter, the meat discards in the garbage heap, the T1000 unit sent back to kill John Connor, all of this was preserved and frozen for the past four months. Today with the temperature above freezing the snow melts and all that which has been preserved suddenly comes out. I am not a man able to smell all that well (hard as hell to know when kids were smoking pot when I was an RA) but today while running down the road I suddenly recalled what it smells like in Mongolia. The dead sheep I have seen on the side of the road for the past two and a half months is going to begin rotting. I imagine the labor department will hire someone to clean that, but the animal droppings are beginning to thaw…and WHOFF!!! But a good run in, so I say today started off pretty damn good.
Well this caught me off guard. I looked at the calendar that my mom had shipped me in my last package and at the bottom of today’s date it reminded me of a holiday that I literally forgot existed. It’s St. Patrick’s Day. That amusing little Roman-British guy who showed up in Ireland and said to all the Gaels… “Hey Pagans! Knock that off!!!” Okay and now having been woefully insensitive both to nationalities and to religious faiths I say….yehaw its St. Patrick’s day!
That glorious day where were all Irish, even the Anglo Saxons of Germanic origin living thousands and thousands of miles both from Ireland and my country of origin such as myself (very exclusive club). Actually last year though at a Jesuit school and in New York I found myself stone sober as unfortunately I had to work an RD shift at my school where in essence I told 18 year olds not to drink instead of being a 28 year old who should be drinking. My mind wonders what St. Pattys day is looking like at my Alma Matter this year…eggs and kegs no doubt at the local bars...ah well.
So though I had hoped to save up for my weekend in UB im afraid a few beers were in order and bought them accordingly. I watched the Boondock Saints and all around passed the day trying to think of what I would be doing on a day like this if I wasent in Mongolia. Pretty much the same thing, except playing Nintendo Wii and the beer would cost 10 times as much and would be a little green…yea….good times everywhere.
More fun news I saw in a two minute email from my boss Jim Carl, who got to be the bearer of great news. As of April, all Peace Corps volunteers everywhere will now receive an extra 50 dollars per month resettlement allowance at the end of our service. That means that I get an extra 700 or so bucks at the end of my service. Heck, maybe I will take a business class ticket back to the states…or land on the west coast and take the train out east. Or Trans-Siberian rail it to Europe and fly out of Heathrow after seeing some of Eastern Europe, or go south to India and the old Muai Thai gym in Thailand I was in a while back…head deep South and learn to surf in Australia… fly to Israel and take up a job on a Kibbutz…or stay in Mongolia and use it to buy a place to live and work…or use the money to pay for the medical tests I will need to do for another term of Peace Corps service, heck I could even look up jobs in Residence Life and pick back up right where I left off…I really am free aren’t i?…dammit im wandering again. I wander a lot…good thing im a fan of my blogs title.
Enough rambles…off to bed. Night all…Happy St. Patrick’s day!


March 18, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Number of Miles: 3
Today’s Quote: “You know that bedtime prayer If I should die before I wake? I had bedsheets that said that!” – Christopher Titus

Wow, between America and Mongolia we got a holiday every five minutes around here. Todays special…SOLDIERS DAY! All the men currently active or ever have been active dress the part of their job and parade around the main square as the governor gives a speech and we all clap in unison. VERY Mongolian if I do say.
Were a town of 2000-3000, so we only had a dozen or so guys actually in the service. The uniform for troops is camo stuff but the officer uniform obviously borrows the Russian bear hat. I will say this. Though I am sure unintentional the uniform of the officers with its long black coat and gold lapels on the shoulders has a mild SS streak to it. I asked my sitemate Tripp who agreed. Like I say, totally unintentional I am sure and the suit is practical in being both authoritative and suited to the cold….
Well they shut down school today not because of the holiday but instead to at long last administer the Swine Flu shots to all the kids. Were four months past the outbreak and NOW it finally reaches here, and from what I can gather we are one of the early town to get em.
I can tell I got some work to do runningwise. I just don’t have the same drive I had last fall or the ability to push myself like before. The obvious cure is to just keep it up daily which I will…gotta make up for lost time. Please let there be some type of running machine in Bagkhangai!


March 19, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Hey just think! We could all have jobs right now!” –A Canadian I met in Thailand shouted that at me as we were bodysurfing.

Ah…Friday. Actually Friday work wise is pretty simple. One class at the beginning of the day. One class at the end. It leaves me a lot of time to sit in the teachers lounge and listen to the ladies all gossip. Friday from what I can tell is indeed date night for all the married couples in my town, but in a town without restaurants or bars going to anothers home usually is the plan of action. The ladies usually get themselves all dressed up and makeuped in the lounge.
Well I awoke from a very nice night of sleep to come to the discovery that after above freezing temperatures the day before which had melted away much of the snow and ice on the hills around my town and the main road that it had snowed a full feet of snow over the night. As the temperature hovers around freezing the snow falls like it did where I come from in the states. It was wet and chunky, and actually stuck to the ground when it fell due to the lack of winds today as well. It felt a lot like home. Why, if it wasent for the bathtubless bathroom with only cold water, the meat soup for lunch, the Mongolian language, the crummy Russian block apartments, the distant gers off at the corner of my town, and making $4 today….it felt exactly like I was in America! What can I say… Peace Corps rocks!
Bummer being though that tomorrow I was gonna try to make it to UB, but the white haze and blocked off roads may have cut that off. Sunday may be wise to travel instead. Heres something fun to think about. Not counting airplanes, when was the last time the weather ever dictated your travel plans? Its one of those things you don’t think about till you realize noones out there throwing salt on the road or that there isint even a road! Yep…more reminders.
Today I ate the same thing I have eaten the past four times at the canteen at the school. Meat soup. Basically they take the sheep and goat meat and just boil boil and boil. Meat and fat on the bone and they just cook away. Then if they feel like it they add in two potatoes and low and behold theres lunch. You eat the meat with your barehands off the dripping bones and drink the broth…fat fat fat and more fat and its hot to eat, everything a growing Mongolian needs to survive. I was a vegetarian before I showed up here but not for any objection to animals or anything, and was willing and abandoned that diet knowing that I would not fit in and limit my options by doing so….i got another year of meat meat and more meat in me…no sweat. But when I get stateside I am gonna eat the apple orchards empty, drink California dry of wine and eat enough hummus to choke a whale!
Today I think was a day of hangovers for my town. This may have just been a “last Friday before the two week break” laziness but while all the teachers were at school noone really seemed to be teaching. The kids had had enough of school from the feel of it too. I wish it hadn’t snowed so we could spend more time outside and in fall jackets instead of what it is now.
With yesterday being Soldiers Day it was a day of celebration, and in Mongolia that’s a good reason to drink. I actually did not. Didn’t get invited to any specific hangout either by the teachers or those at the government center and as I was not in the mood to drink a lot I simply enjoyed the days festivities of parades and volleyball and retired for the evening. Everyone at school kept asking me how much I drank last night, and everyone kept going wide eyed when I said I hadn’t. I think I was the only sober person over the age of 20 last night, go figure.
So now at 4pm with work over, none of the people I sometimes hang out with around town or already doing something I sorta find myself weighing options about what to do next. I could make it a movie night with some fermented sugar, but I really don’t feel like that. Video games are of course an option, but after being able to spend the past two days outside they don’t pass the time as easily. Mile 24 of the winter marathon I guess huh?
Nah ill figure it out, and ill inspect tomorrow and decide if I should chance riding into UB then or wait a while for matters to clear…cyas!