BORED!!!! I like it....heres a blog, cyall later im off to Dadal

June 7, 2010. Naarantuul Market, Ulaanbaatar Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Ahhhh….thatll make your bull run!” –Simpsons character talking about drinking wiskey from a civil war flask.

Sitting in a nearly empty meeker at 1 in the afternoon waiting for it to fill so I can go home and get some sleep. I can already tell I wont have the energy to write a blog entry when I get back. When you get done reading my next entry I hope you will be able to understand why. Ill try and update it tomorrow. Its not like ill have much else to attend to at that point given that its unlikely Ill be sent to my Ger sometime next week…unless that falls through as it so far has every single time.


June 8, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “To become the god that you are, that we all are. To know no bounds and to never fade away…” -Ilyria

THAT…was one hell of a weekend. It all began on Thursday when I got to UB. I posted the blog and got myself posted with a new blog entry. It was another long one and I even threw on the video of Lewis Black shouting THE @#*$&%* PEACE COPRS as well. Thursday I needed to relax, and relax I did. I got a load of laundry done and I sat in Nayras doing my usual thing of internet after not having access for a long period of time. Fun fun…
I woke up Friday and headed over to the Bayanor Hotel to get registered for the Marathon. Technically I had not signed up yet so I had a faint fear that I would be denied entry or something even though the form said we could register on the fourth. I get to the bib pick up spot and find out that its run by Germans. Instantly I lighten up but then something happened. Something I didn’t think even existed. Unicorns probably exist, someone can probably even demonstrate speed reading if we asked around long enough. Yet what happened in that hotel lobby rocked the very foundation of my life….
I stood before them and tried English to ask for a registration form…and they stared at me blankly. I had met Germans (plural!!!) who didn’t speak English. I know how arrogant I am to have assumed that but after all the time I had spent traveling both to Germany and to other foreign countries where I met Germans I had never met a single one who had not spoken English. Though a year ago I took German courses without constantly practicing a language the specific words I had needed were lost to me. So unless I needed to tell them that their car was black or that I needed a beer I had encountered a language barrier.
Mongolian saved me. They had a translator working with them, who didn’t speak English. However, he did speak German and Mongolian…This is too complicated to even be ironic. The Germans would say something, the translator told it to me in Mongolian which I then mentally translated into English so I could respond in my Mongolian to the translator who brought it back to German. The term “going the long way around” never seemed to apply more than in that moment!
Here I am wishing for a good portion of my adult life that I would have mastered the German tongue and here I am talking to a German translator in Mongolian. Seriously I would ask for the form in Mongolian, he would translate it in German and then I got the form. We had to have a similar dance with money. Weak as the media would have us believe the US dollar is still the de facto currency of our current times. When traveling through South East Asia back in 2006 many of the cheap hostels I stayed at in Cambodia and Vietnam would not take the Riel or Dong and would only take US dollars. The marathon organizers wanted me to pay the entry fee in dollars too. All I had were Tugriks. Luckily with some more Mongolian translating I was able to get them to accept Tugriks for an added amount of money. Of goodie! I had my bib and the race started at 8am.
After that major translation job I went over to the information area and saw something that didn’t quite add up. I saw the race course and while the information was all in German I luckily learned how to read German very well two years ago. The race course had changed. No longer would we be running in and around the city. I was actually glad to see that. The idea that they would shut down all the roads in the city for six hours on a Saturday was absurdity. What I saw and read though made even less sense….no…. well get to that when we reach the race. I will tell you then.
With the packet in hand I had the rest of Friday to rest up and prep up. Marathons are psychological in nature. Once you run as long as I have your lungs and legs will make it no matter what. Your brain on the other hand needs some convincing. I had done this four times before and always felt the exact same way. The day before a marathon you worry and wonder how the hell you can pull this off. I needed something to take my mind off it, and I found it.
Friday night was a concert. Sukbaatar Square lit up as everyone and their uncle went to a free concert in the center of UB, which in essence constitutes the center of the country as Mongolia is in essence a city state. The warmup bands drew very few numbers, but there was an appearance by The Lemons. They were great, and as a fan I liked hearing them. They did some of their less known songs too and so we all got a treat. The main event was an American band. OZ…something. Sorry I didn’t know them, but they came from LA and were fans with a horse violinist and a throat singer from Mongolia so they came to perform.
I was with fellow volunteers and the crowd reaction was rather comical. While outwardly I find Mongolians very expressive I will say that in concerts Mongolians are statues. They don’t clap along, they don’t dance (not even the wild celery dance!) they don’t sing and they don’t even really clap. Americans do, and the only Americans in that crowd were from the Peace Corps. Peace Corps Americans REALLY get into it. We created our own little dance floor on Sukbaatar Square, and ten minutes into the concert more people were watching us than the band. We rock.
Better still was near the end of the concert. The horse violinist started to break out a little and the lead guitarist started going one on one with the horse violinist. It was a Mongolian version of Deliverance. While I am sure the meaning was lost on the Mongolians, even they could understand it was an American and a Mongolian dueling. At long last the Mongolians started to get psyched up in the crowd.
By far the highlight came at the end. The lead singer and the throat singer did a duel of voices. The American was hopelessly outmatched. You have to hear throat singing to believe it. It’s a noise that you seriously question if it should be coming out of someone. The American basically sang along as the Mongolian dude literally held one note for over a minute. I apologize for not having any pictures, but I didn’t think to bring one for the performance. Wouldn’t do the scene justice anyway. Standing in the crowd and watching the two guys go at it I had to sorta remind myself that I was in the Peace Corps at that point. I felt like I was at the MCI Center or something watching something I would have spent hundreds to see. It was one hell of an amazing night.
Saturday morning. Marathon Morning… I woke up before my 6:30am alarm. Went through the yoga poses and stretched as much as I dared. Ate my first powerbar and luckily cleansed out my body (one of the harder things to time so that you don’t feel the need during the race) It was an ugly day outside. Seriously ugly. Raining already and the clouds were not scattered as they often are but instead littered the sky. Though not pretty the fact that the temperature had dropped was very helpful. It would help to keep me hydrated and capable of running.
I got to the starting line of Sukbaatar Square ready to roll. Before the race we had an opening speech, this one in German and Mongolian. We were asked to hold up signs indicating our countries of origin. Germany had every other country beat put together including Mongolians. They had someone sign up from Singapore who did not show, so for a while I held that flag. A dude who organizes the US embassies kid running club was doing the 5K with a bunch of little ones, but the only one there from America going the long way was myself. The only American running in an International Marathon. That’s a little intimidating.
Well we gathered at the starting line as the rain started picking up a little and off we went along Peace Avenue on the newly designed running course….
How do I put this so its relative to you? Think for a moment about the island of Manhattan. A drop of space smaller than a quarter of the area of Ulaanbaatar, and home to more people than this entire country has and then some. Think of how many people commute to that tiny island every day. Buses, trains, bridges, hell even ferries. You got the list? I do. Brookyln, Manhattan and GW Bridge. Now the Staten Island Ferry and the two tunnels. I think the one up on third avenue to the Bronx as well. Also the subways that lead to the Bronx and Brooklyn. Finally the trains that go from Jersey straight to Penn. Think of all those ways in and out of the island. Now shut every one of them down. Not stall, stop them. ALL of them. Every, single, one! That’s what they did to UB and Eastern Mongolia. In the countryside there are very few cars. I figure my main road as one of the busier ones and on average no more than one car travels down the road a minute. Inside UB the roads are a honeycombed mess allowing experienced drivers to slither through certain parts of the city without touching a main road, but the Peace Avenue. By far the only thing that constitutes a main road in Mongolia. It cuts the city and even the whole country in half literally. Keep following Peace Avenue long enough West and youll pass the Dragon Bus Station and three or so days later your going to reach Olgii next to the border with Kazakstan and keep going East on Peace Avenue and you will pass Nalikh and go straight to Choivolsan in the East on the border with China. Peace Avenue is the one and only artery that is commercialism and traffic in this country….
They shut it down.
For five hours on a Saturday morning they shut down Peace Avenue. I know the previous idea of running throughout the city would have been difficult. This was just flat out insane. To intensify the insanity I add this. There are fifty three of us! This is not the NY Marathon where tens of thousands are running. No there were just over fifty of us. We didn’t need one lane of traffic let alone the whole thing, but that’s what they did. On the way out of town on Peace Avenue we could see all the cars they had already stopped up. Drivers sat outside their cars angrily wondering what the hell was going one hour into the run. After an hour I had reached the outskirts of the city and were running out into the countryside.
Actually this is the exact road I take between my site and UB. It’s the road that goes to Nalikh and then on to Bagkhangai and beyond. By this point there were no cars to stop, everyone knew the roads were closed to the UB. The east was sealed off from UB, for no other road led to it but the ones we were running on. The faster runners were on their way back and with only 50 or so running (a few marathoners had bailed) I was at the back of the pack alright. I run a 10 minute mile and I am near the last of the runners. Morale booster! Better still by the time I hit the halfway point and turned around I couldn’t even see where the next runner was they were so far ahead of me. Not good.
By the third hour I had a wall hit. If you’re a runner you know what this means. At some point in every race your body feels as though its encountered a wall and you simply cannot take another step. The feeling of this “wall” takes on many forms. Some just feel like all the warmth in your body got sucked out while others feel that their legs are no longer connected to their bodies. I on the other had had a different type of wall experience then I had before. Someone shot me in the legs. The right a little bit more than the left, but yea. Someone full on took out a gun, pointed it at my thighs and just went BAM!
I didn’t fall over, but my jog became a run and a walk. By this time, I had reached the city limits again. It was hour four, people were pissed. I mean Mongolians are emotional and don’t like stupid things. Four lanes of traffic were closed off and I was the only person on the streets besides the cops. People were seriously pissed, and while I didn’t draw the race course and agreed with their assessment of the race course EVERYONE blamed me. So in addition to having bullets shot through the muscle in both my legs I also felt the hated jeers of every stranded body and car in UB. Not fun. I crossed the finish line with a final burst to finish just under five hours. Not my slowest marathon ever but if I hadn’t had that sudden onset burn I could have done better.

….the name is Josh Jacobs. Teacher, Pisces, former vegetarian who in a year will never eat meat again… oh yea and FIVE TIME MARATHON MAN!!!!!!!

….better still. I know its because of extraneous circumstances but I finished FIRST PLACE FOR AMERICANS in an INTERNATIONAL MARATHON! As I said its because im the only American but yea…first place.

Caitlin was there at the finish line to cheer me on. She so rocked. Though I should have predicted at the end of a run that long that your in such pain that you make awful company. Still she took pictures and helped me limp back to my guesthouse. Its funny, I sort of walked like those Mongolian men whose legs don’t quite work so well anymore. No medal, not even a T-Shirt!!! What the hell? Ah well, as I expressed to Caitlin I will make a medal out of yogurt caps and paperclips like they did on that episode of the Office. And I have my racing bib, that makes for a good souvenir.
No blisters on my feet from this race. After running as long as I have your feet tend to callus up some. The pain I had experienced during the race subsided from being centralized in my thigh muscle to being just a general discomfort all around. More amazing was just how tired I became once I got back to the guesthouse. My body had been running red hot and now I needed to shower and get into warm clothes and covers as my bodys immune system was gonna be pretty weak during the next few hours. (this is why ive gotten mono several times before, this happens to a lot of runners actually) went to bed at 2 or so and woke up at 7ish. I was still really tired, but I had one other thing to do that Saturday.
While I had been down below running, seventy five or so noobs were coming. Gotta go wave hello at the airport. I hadn’t been to the airport since last year when I had arrived at 2 or so in the morning. It was still light out as we approached the airport, and I had my first American flash back in Gods knows how long. Chingis Khans airport is the splitting image of Washington Dulles International Airport. The layered drop off pick up spots and the arch stuff. I know other airports have a similar design as this, but when you lived outside of IAD your whole life the building sorta sticks with you. I even saw that airport before I left for LA even though I left from Regan Airport (again sorry mom) so seeing the airport during the day was cool. When we got inside it turns out a LOT of 20’s and 19’s had come to be the welcome wagon.
An added bonus was that the security camera of people getting off the plane from Seoul was displayed in the pickup lobby. So though they couldn’t see us, the 20’s got to see the M21’s walking through the airport for the first time. They were all so clean and full of smiles. One of the guys was even taking pictures of himself. I imagine we also looked like that when we first got there, but they just seemed so young to me. It was at this point I realized that we really were at the halfway point of so. That there were now Peace Corps Volunteers who had been in this country a shorter time than the 20’s had. It rattled my train of thought as to how that could be possible. I felt as though I had just stepped off the plane last week. I know I have done so much and encountered so much, BUT A YEAR!?!
Id have stewed on it longer but by that time the entry doors opened and the first new volunteers did what I did a year ago. They walked out into a crowd of cheering volunteers such as myself…WELCOME TO THE PEACE CORPS!!!!!
Their reactions to this welcome wagon were mixed. Many just smiled and tried to hide their intimidation and confusion. One amusing soul seemed so surprised that it looked like she was trying to turn her cart so she could go back the way she came. One of the best responses I saw came from a guy who hiked up his backpack and ran through the crowd of cheerers giving hardcore high fives and shouting Hell Yea as he ran by. Good for him, good for them all. With that group of seventy five (supposed to be 76 but one pulled the plug) we suddenly still had all the M20’s and a substantial number of M19’s left.
Mongolia is chock full of Peace Corps volunteers. Kick ass!
Some of the PCV’s were headed to the nightclub that we frequent when in UB for more celebrating, but having stood on my feet for two more hours to welcome the M21’s I didn’t trust myself, and luckily I found four others going home so I split a cab with them. I went to bed at 11:48pm and woke up sometime around 10ish. It was incredible to sleep uninterrupted for so long. Especially on a bouncy mattress and in warm sheets. I could never do it justice with words, but do you remember how you felt looking at Frodo resting in that huge bed after he gets saved from Mount Doom? Remember how you felt as though it made up for all the nights he had spent trekking Mordor and sleeping on the rocky ground? You personally hadn’t experienced any of it and yet you were so happy and comfortable seeing him now resting? That’s how I felt, or the closest I can express it.
Sunday afternoon was a day of calories. I don’t recall just how many pizzas I ate but I do remember having breakfeast with Caitlin and remembering just how much I apologized for not being as polite as I should have been to her at the marathon. Being the kick ass chick that she is she accepted the apology and turned the conversation to things we had left to do for the summer. We are ambitious individuals I will give ourselves that.
Sunday night was pawned off on alcohol. Granted its sorta become a traditon of mine after marathons to drink a lot. Something about chasing that DVT. After pounding my legs for as long as I had in a race, the chance of a clot increases. If a piece of that clot travels up to your heart you can have a heart attack and all that stuff. Now being under 30 minimizes this risk, so to up the stakes you can always drink alcohol and have a few cigs. With two fellow volunteers in hand, we tore up the bars, big time. LOTS of beer. I am sorta glad I didn’t drink the night before as I was way too tired to have done so successfully. Waiting a day gave me my constitution, and the company I went out with rocked. Gods I love beer, but worst still I miss wine. Still, the stuff was liquid ambrosia. And we drank till we started ranting at one another about random things and giggling about abstract nonsense. At 29, I imagine many people would advocate that drinking myself to stupidity is probably not wise, but as I didn’t even start drinking until a was 22 and never went on a real binge until I was 25, I give myself a little wiggle room. So far my drunken stupidity has always been pretty damn harmless. Worst I can think of was when I knocked over some beers at a table in a beer tent, and everyone pretty much forgave me.
I woke up Monday mildly hung over and after getting back into the meeker to drive back to Bagkhangai I tried the final step to getting a DVT by sitting in a car for hours on end. Alas I am just far too healthy that even that didn’t get me a DVT and I found myself back at site at long last. I fell asleep as I predicted and now with the day to spare I have been catching myself up blogwise and also just walking out and around my site.
Moogi contacted me today and told me the noobs arrive at the sites on Thursday. Good, thatll give me something and someone to look forward to as the days roll on. Back at site, and will probably stay for a few weeks. Bank up a lil money and get ready for my first camping trip. This summer started with a bang and already is looking further up. Yehaw.
Hell of a weekend huh?


June 9, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
“Be careful of your use of the word “impossible” strictly speaking pretty much everything that has been claimed as being impossible has eventually happened”

So I didn’t bring this up in the previous blog though it happened over the weekend, but now that the person has left the country I feel the urge just to pass the sobering news on. There was a fellow volunteer that I trained with last summer who as of now no longer is serving the Peace Corps.
He had mentioned this a week ago but I didn’t really believe it until I saw him with the seperation paperwork the day before the Marathon. As we roll into a year of service a number of M20’s have begun to explore new ventures and some we who are “vacationing” back in America over the summer I am taking bets with others as to how many M20’s will be left standing at the end of the summer, but this particular person rattled me.
Not his reasoning or anything, his reasons behind leaving were his own and were sound but what made it all the more home hitting was how I thought of this guy. I would like to pretend that I am Peace Corps White Knight or something. That I am the beacon of hope in a world of despair. That I am the working radiator in an endless Zudd…but if my blogging and even a light dose of reality settle in I cant pretend that any of that is true. I consider myself a completely mediocre Peace Corps Volunteer trying to help but not exactly sweating blood sweat and tears out here. Not the best, certainly not the worst either.
The reason I was so shook was that this guy was a better PCV than me. By far. I know that and I mean it. He cared and dedicated himself in ways that I haven’t even imagined. He faced hardships where he lived that all my graphic detail about living conditions make me look like the Hilton. More still in all that time he never once blogged about it or even really complained when we would all meet up. If the M20’s had a White Knight I would have said it is him…and he is leaving after a year.
That can really sober a person, especially if you’re the sentimental type like myself. Still, the way he described it I think he is doing this of his own choosing and that is a good thing, so I wish him the best and good journey wherever life leads him.
On to today. Nothing really to do at it, but I went to school anyway. I tried to get the computer lab to work with the printers along with fellow Mongolians for a good two hours before we all threw up our hands in disgust and went to lunch. A driver error that ten seconds of fast American internet would have cured was us spending the morning trying all the different drive files we have saved as we don’t have internet. That was no fun, but as we all failed together it was a bonding moment. Something I have learned how to latch onto and to enjoy the feel of after so many similar experiences.
On the subject of internet I have made a Summer decision. I will not get internet until the end of the summer at least. From what I gather GMobile or some company is trying to extend their coverage to my site more thoroughly and when I have their assurance that it is covered ill take my chance and buy the card then. Meanwhile I have lived for a little under a year without the constant bombardment of internet so I am sure I can keep it up for a second if need be. I dunno, its mildly liberating everytime I get back to my soum to realize that theres so much intenet information I can no longer access. All the stuff that I would read or do that would just drive up my neurosis is all gone. I think I do well like this, but end of summer I might change my tune.
The Bagkhangai/Ondortolge trainers come to town tomorrow. I cant believe how many gringos were gonna have around here by tomorrow. I figure ill take pictures of their welcoming bowls of sotatsae and then ill give them the day to just relax some. I remember how overwhelming the first day here can be. Ill meet the Ondortolge people I suppose but then that means that when I move ill have to find where the other six volunteers in Bagkhangai are. Shouldn’t be too hard. Fun fun…


June 10, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “We don’t want to be one of “those” couples” –Bill Compton

Its nice to have ugly days of weather without the cold. Better still its ugly outside because its raining. Trust me, we needed the rain. It hasent really been good and wet around here in forever. The ground needed it especially. It does however mean that were not going to get to move around much these past few days. Luckily if memory served from the ten day forecast I looked up when I had internet the rain should soon subside. That and the new American neighbors will mean the kids will be out in full force. Ill bring my foxtail, the kids love that thing.
It was fun this afternoon to walk around town and to talk to people. Its kind of funny. There are some people in my community who still don’t talk to me. If this were an Aimag center that would be more forgivable but were in a town of 2000 or so people and we live in buildings that put us less than a hundred yards from one another. I can speak this language. Maybe I cant talk to you about politics but dammit at this point I can have those boring superficial conversations that we all have in 90% of our day to day lives. Still, some people refuse to understand me. Its not even for lack of hearing, they flat out refuse to hear me say anything in Mongolian. You cant make people listen to you, but I think it was important for the community to realize just how used they are to having an American in their town who can speak to them in their language. For later that afternoon twelve more bodies are going to show up and live here for over two months in which they know how to say NOTHING.
I am sorry, that’s totally schadenfreud I realize it but after a year of banging my head on a table trying to learn a hard language and not being able to communicate as well as I would like I am FINALLY not going to be the worst Mongolian speaker in town. The noobs loaded up and shipped out to reach the two towns at 3pm.
They showed up and though I wasn’t sure what to expect it all felt FAR too familiar. Clean and happy campers showing up looking around like every single crummy apartment complex was the 8th wonder of the world. I talked to them briefly but I knew that there on stimulation overload so after Moogi gave the host families some brief “don’t shove food down your new kids throats” types of advice I let them be. Ill invite them over sometime this weekend for an icebreaker. Ill be curious to see how all of them are doing.
Ger update: I leave for Bagkhangai on the 20th. That’s next Sunday. Sure, why not. That works. Moogi seems to think I get to keep my fridge. Dang…my ger’s gonna be pimping!


June 11, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Im gonna have a good year aren’t i?” –JD

June 11, 2009-June 11, 2010. And that’s a year. Wow. Sorta sneaks up on you. I mean I sorta knew in the back of my head that the summer would mean I had been here for a year. But that’s the kind of thing that you just sorta need to experience. I have spent a year in Peace Corps now and a year abroad on the other side of the world from where I grew up.
Any life lessons to take from it? Any great moment of life clarity in all of this? Not especially. Oh sure I brought up a few points over the year about how the longer I live and the more I encounter that I haven’t before I gain a wider spectrum of relativity, but I cant say I have had an enlightening moment. Some people are philosophers. Some people could do the things I do and come to some conclusion that they could relay to another in some great quote about life and how we live it. I resign myself and I have no such delusion. I am a clown.
Not with the makeup and the props, but in the way I simply react in contrary to how many others would. The way I lead my life is a constant attempt to find the things in life that scare or frighten or bother us and to find humor or amusement in them. People watch me, from pushing snow stuck vans to singing made up songs of “12 Days of Mongolian Christmas” and find amusement from it. It helps them to be the people they are as well. Its where I fit in in this world I suppose. Some are fighters, some are parents, some are teachers, some are students, some are philosophers, some are workers and the salt of the earth. I am the clown. The one who lives and speaks in a way that makes others less afraid of themselves.
Some days I hate that, but trying to be something your not or even acting in contrary to the way your inclined is superficial. You can call a cat a duck its whole life, call the cat Donald, let it play with fellow ducks and even teach it to quack instead of meow, but throw it in the water and it doesn’t swim. We like to think were all special, and we are when you think about it but we don’t change, we just get older and a few just get a little wiser as well.
Now the good thing is that even those of us who identify with less glamorous roles still do amazing things if we bother to notice. In this year I have learned much, both about myself and about the way of life that while so disconnected from the way of life I was used to I still find we have so few unsuperficial differences. I find amusement in many things I come across and I think that I help people in my own unique way as we all do.
Additionally, I get to live in this country for another year. Now settled and with more of the language and customs already known, I feel I connect a lot more with those around me. Many things to do, or not as I choose. Six months into a year that I pledged to myself I would not be looking into the next step. So far I have done well in that task, ill keep it up.
SO….thats clown philosophy for ya. Speaking less deep I found my time here to be an amazing thing. I have new PCV’s for company and a beautiful day outside. I think ill go hiking, maybe walk past a few animal skulls and reminisce on how that used to be something that would scare me.
A year of my life in Peace Corps, a year of my life in Mongolia. Lifes a funny thing you know?


June 12, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia
“A mob is no less a mob simply because they are on your side.” –John Adams

Yesterday was fun! I hung out after the M21’s finished their Mongolian lessons and afterwards I got to eat lunch with a fellow volunteer and his family. He lives WAY out of town, in pretty much the most remote ger of the ger district. I knew the parents as they work at the school. They live that far out because like my host family they are herders. Not too many sheep or goats, but they got a metric ton of cows. Lucky for him that means a lot of beef, way less fat!
Eating lunch was great just because I got to be a mild translator for some of the conversation. Never saw that coming! Neither of his parents know any real English, which is ideal for learning and I explained this in Mongolian and they went into a mild rant about how unlucky those with mild English knowledge will make the language learning process more difficult. Actually it just draws out a little bit of the Mongolian language learning, but so far the 21’s seem a LOT better at just going with the flow, good for them!
His ger though….dear gods. HE HAS A KING SIZED BED!!! Not a wood slab, BED!!! That dude is gonna live like a king in that. The rest of the day we sorta hung out on a hilltop and just chatted. There was a rather amusing moment where one of the volunteers asked “so…what happens now?” Yup, its time to learn about boredom! It takes a minute to catch up and realize that we are indeed off the grid and learning how to entertain oneself can be boring. Now luckily come the start of next week the M21s will have language lessons all morning and then cultural lessons and practice teachings in the afternoon that will eat up a lot of time Monday through Friday, so they will be fine. As for that particular day we spent an hour or so throwing rocks. Strange how I never thought to do that before now. I also threw aroung the foxtail. (hehe…hes gonna sleep like a king in the king sized bed…im just realizing that I made a joke by accident)
All the volunteers said how in their homes all they can do is stare awkwardly at their host families. Ah memories, and while I have full confidence that they will all bond with their families over time I do recall that it is a rather awkward beginning. I gave them the advice to sit with their dictionary during the long awkward sittings so at least they have an excuse to focus on something other than just the staring. Hehe…ah memories.
I told them I would walk them out to the Air Force Base on Sunday, I figured its best to give em a day to sorta get really settled in and adventurous on their ownselves. I also am going to break out the spaghetti sauce my mom sent in a package a while back and I will make some spaghetti for the 21’s and myself.
One of the volunteers is 22. Good gods I remember what I was like when I was 22. I wouldn’t have lasted five minutes out here at that age.
Meanwhile today we had a summer storm. Seriously tough one too. We were walking between the center of town and the ger district when the temperature dropped ten degrees and the weather was seriously boding. We got into a house just as the downpour began and all the ger owners realized they hadn’t closed the flap at the top of their gers. Many had left belongings on the floor, and I hope there all alright for everyone.
Even I living in an apartment have a less than leakproof window in which my entire kitchen was flooded by the time I got back to my apartment. Bleh. Well…theres your tradeoff. The rain is finally back its just a little more than you might expect.


June 13, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Don’t worry, that could happen to anybody” –One of the cited quotes in the Mongolian/English book Peace Corps gives out.

My room was BUSY today that’s for sure. Armed with a single large can of sauce and four packs of spaghetti, I created the only meal I am capable of. Spaghetti w/sauce. I had eleven bodies to feed, who absolutely crammed into my apartment after we had gone on an uninterrupted tour of the Air Force Base (no Russian jerk anymore) Apparently I said the “ask your family to give you a bowl” order to myself as noone had, and I only had one bowl. What can I say, bachelor lifestyle I suppose.
So I knocked on the door of my neighbor and asked if I could use ten bowls and forks for the evening and they responded without even raising an eyebrow. How comical. So the feast was prepared and somehow I made exactly enough despite having never cooked for more than two people in my life at one time. For a guy named Josh somehow having exactly the right amount of food is very Jesusy.
The sauce…oh good gods that tasted good. The spices and flavors were so unknown and so unexpected. I had truly forgotten what this stuff tastes like. This is not even the good stuff either. Its your ordinary out of the can nonsense. Wow. Though terrified the food would not be any good it turns out everyone loved it. It was a smaller than average bowl, but the M21s are all being stuffed by their families with food so that matters little and they all loved the flavors as I did. Its nice when things work out well.
Afterwards I walked them out to their ger district and made sure none of the parents were frantic that I had kept them out and fed them, and from their I just made my way back to my place to clean up a little. I know I have seen a lot of the 21’s very soon into their training but as of tomorrow they have the same schedule I had last summer of being at school by 8ish and aside from a lunch break not being done with training until after 5pm. Then in a weeks time from today I also move towns, and so my interaction with this group will shorten as well. Tomorrow I will probably head to the black market in UB to procure a tent and camping supplies for my upcoming trips to the countryside. Better to do that now while I am in the town that the meeker leaves from instead of once I move and need to spend a few weeks learning the ger life. Probably just a day trip, in the market and right back out is all.


June 14, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Tired…so very tired” –Robert Lee

Ill do the UB thing Wednesday. Pick up packages, get more spices, buy the tent and be back on Friday. Personally if there were not errands to run in the city I would stay in town but ill survive. After that ill leave the last weekend of the month to go out East to Dadal and Hoh Lake where Chingiss did his thing.
It appears that I am a topic of discussion among host families to their new children. The general concensus about me is that I am crazy. What specificially I do that’s crazy that they choose to latch onto is that I run outside when it is cold. I like that. I was worried they would say I was antisocial as I live alone or that I don’t spend every waking minute at my neighbors places but instead im just a tall white guy who doesn’t get cold often and runs a lot. Hells yea!
Today my neighbor and former boss was being helped home after a bender. He has been drinking a little more than he should of late. Granted I drink a lot too but I have a few less years under my belt than he and so I bounce right back. Something to keep an eye on I suppose.


June 15, 2010. Ondortogle, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “You have business cards? You’re a stormtrooper!!!” –Stewie

Caitlin called me up today to reflect on the year of Peace Corps service we have both been through. Cailtin is spending part of the summer out in Olgii working for some type of day camp. I get it, it’s a change of scenery and some actual work which can be a big thing for us volunteers. Were the working sort after all.
Also set up today a hangout with Tripp. Its so surreal to think in a month hes out of here. Granted we only hang out once every other week or so but he has been a great buddy to have in a small town like this one. Hes the one that showed me where most of the things in UB were and was always willing to bring a package or two to my site when I didn’t feel like going to the city. Granted it looks like he is gonna remain in the country and all that but still. How surreal. If an M21 gets placed here I hope to be as good at helping them as Tripp has been in helping me. Oh yea, it also means I wont have anyone to play Settlers with either. Bleh….but I get his oven…Yeay!
Though I don’t get to see the games live, the world cup is occasionally shown on my Russian ESPN channel. I liked the game of US vs England. Common dude, I could have prevented that goal!!! Go America, were not completely getting our asses kicked. I remember where I was last World Cup. A beer festival in Erlangen, Germany. I was even in Munich during the Germany vs Costa Rica game. Damn that was fun. Mongolia is not so much into soccer as they are the sports they rock at like Wrestling and Horse Racing. Ah well, theres always 2014…wheres that happen?


June 16, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “And they said unto the Lord….how the hell did you do that???” –Rowan Atkinson

Water always tastes better after a run. Something to do with the whole “the further you move away from a center the bigger the backlash. When I go back to the states in a year and get a glass of Foxtail or some other four dollar bottle of wine it will taste like liquid ambrosia, and as time goes on and I get to more commonly drink the stuff that long awaited euphoria will dissipate. Originially I tried to see how I could use this new understanding to change my life. Eventually I found that it didn’t have to change my life, only how I decided to interpret my life and I found the knowledge far more useful then.
So yea, I went out for a run. I had put off running long distances since the marathon as both of my feet’s third toes are still black. I have full sensation in both of them and neither hurt, but that run had obviously done something to them. Just keeping an eye on them. The run felt amazing, and I was out there like I hadn’t missed a step.
I am officially pulling the plug on the ultramarathon up at Hovsgul Nuur. The reasoning being threefold. The first being that if I were to run up there I would need to bring all the gear necessary to run a marathon. The shoes, the clothes, the gels and so on, and if I intend to ride around the lake I need to pack down to the bare bones of things. Price also killed the race. The race is organized by camp Toilogt (everyone obviously calls it toilet, and the name is strange because that means nothing in Mongolian either) and they want fifty dollars a night to stay at the camp an I would need to stay both the day before the race to get medically checked out, id have to spend over 100 US dollars to enter the race and then I would need to stay the day after as well. Also as traveling alone the idea of the safety of all my stuff as I actually run the race and…yea theres just too many variables for me to do this the right way. Ive had expensive races before, but even that’s a little too rich for me. The third reason is that in September the Gobi Desert Marathon takes place, and two marathons in four months is more than enough (the Gobi Desert has a medal as well).
Instead it means that I will be heading up to Hovsgul Nuur to fish, horseback ride, meet the ancestors of the native Americans, and other once in a lifetime stuff. I know I need a guide once I get up there but with conversational Mongolian under my belt its my hope to get one of the cheaper guides who knows the area but doesn’t speak English as well. I am sure in July I will be able to find a handful of adventure minded travelers who can go in on the cost of renting the guide.
This means certain camping gear needs to be bought. A tent, water purifier, and maybe some type of cooking apparatus. I figure im well bought at 100,000 tugriks all things there included. In essence I am trying to spend no more than 2000 US dollars on my summer outings (including the Gobi Marathon) so that I can go on that Eagle Hunt in January out in Olgii. That will be expensive, but once in a lifetime truly. One by one a lot of M20’s have already begun to head out to their vacations either in Thailand or back to the States (a lot to the states!) but ah well.
Actually one additional expenditure of money has been on food. Not food in UB, but food in my community. Upon traveling to Bagkhangai to photo the M21’s arrival, I spent some time looking through the shops and found that this town has full on cans of beans in the store. Red kidney beans, black beans, peas, and even corn. Now while they are relatively as cheap as in America (little under a dollar a can) that would be out of my price range to live off the stuff, so instead I find myself taking a draw or two out of my American bank accounts to eat a little additional fiber this summer. I weighed options about if I wanted to use my American money to give myself some more luxurious living arrangements, and yes I have some reserves, but given that I am already drawing on my money to send myself on trips throughout the summer its not like I am already drawing external revenue sources, and this one would full on be healthy for me. So yea…ill eat some cans of beans.
Ive decided to remain at my site until my move on Sunday. Ill grab the camping gear after ive settled into my tent. Boring…but then again it beautiful outside so its not all that bad. And now im eating beans!


June 17, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quoute: “It is your god that despises wealth and the pursuit of it, not mine!” –A Pagan Roman General arguing with a Christian Magistrate over taxing rights.

Last night there was a disturbance going on outside my apartment. From my balcony I saw the man I had seen a few months back. The one who struck his wife and had chased after his daughter in a drunken stupor. He was obviously on a bender again, but this time he had gotten a little too hectic for people to ignore. It was strange to see but basically from what I can gather he had been ejected from his apartment by his wife for being drunk and he was not entirely too happy about that (though as I explained that unlike in other places ive lived women really do have complete and ultimate say about who is or isn’t allowed in the home) so basically he started shouting swear words outside up at the balcony where his apartment was. His friends came over and started to try and calm him down, but he was far too gone to be reasonable.
The man took a swing and that was all it took. He got flattened (all this time and despite all the fighting I have never seen a Mongolian flat out throw a punch) by his friend who had his knee on his back and his other friends held his flailing arms. After the drunken guy flailed for a second he basically passed out the guys scooped him up and carted him away to what I imagine is one of their places to sleep it off. I don’t have a lesson here, its just me observing how this family based culture handles these things.
Beautiful day outside. Not even a whole lot of wind even. I love it. This summers amazing. Boring at times without a whole lot of work but all around amazing. Will the landscape of this country ever fail to amaze me? Seriously every single time I look off into the countryside I feel like im in some far off world or staring at a computer simulation of something that could never exist. Then I remember that for a year of my life I have indeed been in a far off world.
I wonder how that felt to travelers in earlier times. Not Marco Polo, but ordinary individuals who through one set of circumstances or another found themselves living far far away from what they probably considered home. War probably was the most common cause of this, and they would be taken to city centers and not small towns like I have ended up in. What extraordinary lives we all end up living when we bother to notice.
You ever do that thing where you pick a different time in history and while keeping yourself financially at the same amount of money you think of how different your life would have ended up? Today I walked to the top of a hill and played around with that. What can I say? I do alone well and I do boredom pretty well too.
HUGE news: After writing that I went back outside and bumped into the M21’s heading off to Bagkhangai. They told me why and I decided to tail along. They were chasing after a unicorn. Something I new doesn’t exist and could only exist in some fairy tale world. So we walked along, they all seemed happy and to be doing great. We got to the other town and at the school they all pulled out their laptops…
…and the wireless bars all went to full….
Clocks all stopped, inspect my butt for flying monkeys, the Red Socks won the World Series again, up became down, disco came back, there is INTERNET in Bagkhangai!!! It gets even more insane. You see, Bagkhangai the town exists along the main road/railway that literally cuts the country vertically in half. Meaning that even though it is only a town of a few thousand that it is not getting its internet wirelessly, but through an actual line, giving it speed relative to what you would have back in America. Seriously ten computers were running IM messaging and Skype and all of them ran at top speed. I felt the urge to cry seeing that, I really did.
Literally I could feel the Earth stop moving and stand dead in its place. Not only does the Bagkhangai school has internet, it has full on Skype capable Wifi. They also have a huge pack of the One Laptop Per Child computers. Kids who don’t have textbooks are suddenly going to have the whole world in their hands….THAT so to speak, is a huge game changer. With wireless fast internet at the school I will no longer need to worry about an internet card and the classroom lessons I can do with the power of the internet are truly limitless. Google Earth, videos about Native American dances (the future generations of ancient Mongolians) as well as American school interactions. This second year of school is gonna be amazing, and with a town that has beans for sale I truly think I may have hit nirvana.
I lose plumbing…and I gain internet. Fair trade. I believe in unicorns now...
Three days till the move…


June 18, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “I should warn you guys. Im a screamer…” –David Crocket’s final words to the Mexicans about to execute him.

In a years time I have grown to appreciate a great number of things. Beans, communication, diverse foods, wine (which I already had a great amount of respect for) but the sun is probably the one constant I can pull from Mongolia. The sun is why I survived the winter the way I did, and on boring and lazy June days like today I sit out on my balcony in my crappy hammock and with the light breeze and the bright shining light of that globe you feel like your literally bathing in the light. I will in my own way probably worship the sun for the rest of my life now. I always was prone to being connected to the weather but it took Mongolia for me to realize to what extent. I am doing a lot of retrospective thinking of late.
As I thought more about how in a few days I will find myself no longer off the grid, I realized that this past year has taught me a lot about myself and my relation to the internet. The internet is what it is. It takes the continuous and neverending flow of information throughout the world and provides an outlet for it to anyone who can receive it. In essence it brings the world to anyone, anywhere.
For a year I did without. I showed up to UB once a month or went to Tripps place and simply checked my email to make sure my family was okay and to order the next Star Wars book. In essence even this amount of internet I could do without, but there was also pizza to eat as well of course. When I was without internet I could feel the world get bigger and bigger, and I found that so much of what was going on in the world no longer affected me. The constant battle for health care reform was something I knew nothing about. I didn’t know that a tanker blew in the gulf, I was unaware of so much…and it didn’t bother me at all.
Could I do this for another year? With ease…in fact I begin to see how I could truly do without the constant flow of information for the rest of my life if it came to that. Yet I found the resources of the internet to be something that I could put to use even in my tiny little Mongolian town. I could provide more vivid English lessons to my students, and I could use the communications part to raise the funds to purchase dictionaries for my students (missionaries give bibles…I give dictionaries…theres something about that that seems so utterly important that I cant properly articulate) in essence I found out why I still not utilize the internet like I did in America. Where all I did was use the internet in excess to bombard myself with unnecessary information that eventually lead to neurosis and worry over matters that should not. In essence when the world gets smaller, everything in the world can effect you. When the world becomes massive, things that affect you fade away.
Also, when I saw that there was hi-speed wireless in Bagkhangai but I didn’t bring my laptop, I thought to myself “ah well…ill be able to use it in seven or so days, no big deal.” A year off the grid has taught me some patience, and the requirement of waiting and needing something became something I learned.
Try this someone. Turn off your computer, dont use your cell phone unless you have a physical emergency, and don’t use any of the communications tools for three days. I am curious how you would do. Ive done it for a year…youll go through withdrawal at first but when you finally get that feeling that you no longer need worry about everything that is happening in the world the world becomes a far more enjoyable place.


June 19, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “You gotta accept the good, because believe me there gonna make you accept the bad.” –Quentin Tarintino

Dammit, last night I did that annoying thing I do when im surrounded by new people I don’t know. I try too hard to make what I have to say interesting and it just comes off like some rant. Okay lets back up. So Tripp invited all the 21’s over to his place to hang out and what not and while I was there that’s just what I did. I didn’t do anything all that bad but in retrospect but gods dammit I hate when I do that!
This is why I do alone so well, or live and interact in a country where I cant articulate myself very well…
For example today I spent most of my time either running, throwing out some final pieces of junk from my place and saying a few VERY brief goodbyes to neighbors who I will likely all see again just not in the immediate future. 90% of the day I was bored out of my mind, and I really didn’t seem to mind all that much. I do alone well…
Ah well, shaking it off. Another georgous day. This summer has been full of very slow and very boring beautiful days… and I couldn’t be happier. Oh sure some days go a little slower than others but to be honest when its as nice outside as it has been the past couple weeks it can go as slow as it would like. I also phoned into Peace Corps today to let them know that I was going to head to Dadal to do some camping in the next two weeks. Peace Corps told me happy camping…they so rock.
I move tomorrow but ill believe it when it happens. Not as in its surreal to finally be moving into that round tent that ive spent pretty much the origins of this blog bitching and moaning about but just the idea that im already 20 days behind moving schedule so ill be surprised if this deadline holds. I hate myself in someways for just how much I want to live in a ger. Some abstract observation it says about me that a lot of my embrace of the exotic or interesting in this world is superficial in structure or something or another. I know this is me thinking too much, but an ego as I stressed a long time ago is a terrible terrible thing. But as Sky Father and Earth Mother are witness this is something I want SO badly, and whether it happens tomorrow or some day down the line it really is coming about.
Its strange to look around and see just how little stuff I have. I held on to all the care package boxes my family members have sent me and even with all the books (both the ones sent and from the Peace Corps library and all the new kitchen gear I have aquired over this year I still barely fill all the boxes and my tumpin with stuff. Even with all the boxes filled I look inside and absolutely every single thing I see has no real permanence. The books will all be donated to Peace Corps at the end of service, ill give my kitchen gear to my haasha family. Though I will bring back some of my sturdier clothes its also pretty obvious that some of my shirts and boxers have seen the end of their days. May be for the best, turning 30 and I probably shouldn’t still be wearing Nintendo pajama pants.
The only real souvenirs I have at this point that aren’t clothes are a Beer Stein from the bar “Greater Mongolia” and the bib from my UB marathon run. I have a winter dell and the shirt my mother made as well but aside from some war bows that ill buy in UB im pretty sure once I give everything I plan to give away ill be looking at no more stuff than what I left with.
I like that for some reason.
Not a lot of stuff…which is good because im going from a one bedroom apartment to a one round room ger with wireless internet at a nearby school. Who has a cooler life than me?


June 20, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “The brave, are the first to die.” –Magneto

HAH! Told ya I would believe it when I saw it happen. Apparently they are not satisfied with the Peace Corps power discussion and so my move to a ger has been delayed yet again. As usual I am employing the laughter defense mechanism to avoid being upset by this delay yet again. In all fairness I guess it really does not matter when I move to the ger, and im all packed up. I let Moogi know about my camping trip and she said just to go and not worry about when exactly it would happen. Fair enough.
I could go to UB today, but if I do then I would need to go on Monday to get the tent but I then would need to spend an extra day in UB because meekers don’t leave from Naarantul on Tuesday, and bored though I may be I would really like to limit my UB exposure. Monday is out because that means id need to wait until Wednesday to go into the market and then leave on Thursday, so now I wait until Tuesday so I can come back to my soum on Thursday. Yea that will work.
Might as well go walk over a few hills while im just lounging around.
Oh yea, its Fathers Day. Better call up the gallopin geyser. (hey, he still calls me bear at the age of 29!)


June 21, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia
Today’s Quote: “Are your legs wet? Are you seeing pyramids? Because your knee deep in DeNile.” -Bob

Well that’s just not fair. I was going to be the coolest son on the planet. A world away and yet on Fathers Day I was going to call up my dad who in no way was expecting this to happen and wish him a happy fathers day. He was not even going to be aware that the only reason I knew it was Fathers Day was the Fordham University calendar my mom had sent me in the mail had the specific date down on it too. I had my phone card, punched up the number and it tells me “you have 25…seconds” dammit!
That’s not right. Not the unfairness of it, that card had over 20 MINUTES left on it last time I used in back in April. Well, I can go back to the Bagkhangai school tomorrow and send my dad an email and when I go to UB on Tuesday I can buy another….but you know so much in life depends on timing. No fair! Actually this is not the first international card that’s short changed me either. The first one I ever used lost over thirty minutes when I called my mom the first time…but its not exactly like I can explain myself in enough detail to a customers support desk in UB either…Well, happy Fathers Day dad, and know that seriously I was going to call. I even tried to use the international calling feature that would have blown through 20000 tugriks worth of time on a phone in a minute but the phone would not even have let me do that! Blasted…
On to a chipper note. While I haven’t moved towns yet I have by lucky chance got to meet my soon to be new haasha family in Bagkhangai. Shes one of the teachers and seems a very happy and nice lady. Its so different being able to communicate from the very beginning with someone I will be living with. Im already invited in for dinner whenever I want. I had to fight the urge to leap over the table and kiss her at that point and then I called myself into check and reminded myself that I will NOT in fact be fed like the M21’s are every single meal, but it did instantly support a theory of mine that apartment buildings like the one I am currently in makes it a lot harder to have the more open type of Mongolian closeness that is prevailant in Ger/housing living in this country. I got a five year old younger brother like I did at my Erdene home. Thatll be fun. Emotionally im a kid and I have about as much Mongolian as he does so I get the feeling were gonna hit it right off. He wears this pimp ass NY Yankees hat. I tried to explain to them that they are an American Baseball team that I used to live near when I lived in the Bronx. Probably the funniest part was that the only thing I didn’t know how to say was “baseball” in Mongolian. Its pretty much the only sport we don’t play around here. Ill look that up.
So heres something. Its boring around here. No school, noone wants an English club, and the PC people are all busy with their language lessons. Now ive mentioned boredom quite a bit in the past few entries but in all this time I haven’t really complained about it. I like the peace and serenity that Mongolia has in the summer. Sitting on the hammock with an overpriced beer doesn’t hurt either but still…the calm and quiet is nice.
So what do I do with my time? Well I occasionally go hiking as I mentioned. When I go tomorrow to go buy a tent in UB ill even be able to begin practice for camping and whatnot. I also play with the kids in the town square and go running and all that. Additionally I read books, and here is what im getting to. I have a lot of sci-fi books because…well that’s my thing. Dresden Files, Fate of the Jedi, that sort of thing and such, but if you read too much of the same thing for too long you can go a little batty. Its like just before I came to Mongolia I spent pretty much a day watching on youtube an entire Spanish version of ER called Hospital Central, and it winded me into a nervous and neurotic ball. Probably should have looked up a few other random shows to level it out.
So as with reading I have diversified. I actually have been making significant progress in a book I hadn’t really gotten around to reading before. Not too many have, even those who I think are a bigger fan of this genre. Now granted it’s a long book and a little dry, kinda like the Similarion if you’re a Tolkein fan, but once you get the pages turning its not all that bad. Its strange that this book is not read more thoroughly given its popularity as well. I think the reason most people don’t read the whole thing is that usually someone else is reading it to them and they only take a small chunk and read it out of context. In truth the whole book is pretty chronological and is more abstract history than anything else. I rescued this book from an outhouse between UB and Bagkhangai and with time to spare and a newfound enjoyment of diversified reading I have started to get through it.
Im reading the bible…(anyone who didn’t know what I was reading based on those clues is a total lunkhead.)
Yea, go figure. The bible. Now in all fairness I had a headstart. In college I took a higher level college course of “Judaism between Old and New Testament” and as such I pretty much had scholastically read the first few books of the bible beforehand, but that’s where the trail had gone cold. Genesis is your whole “this is how we got started.” Exodus is what it sounds like “Egypt, enjoy your (ahem…our) pyramids but were outta here” then you go to Leviticus, probably my favorite so far as its “The Ten Thousand Commandments” and then you proceed to Numbers where your basically learning how to be a pious person whether your living in your homeland or if some jerk of a king drags you away. Deuteronomy is more of the same but its also where Obi-wan Kenobi (played in this book as Moses) starts training Luke Skywalker (this one being called Joshua) to get ready to be the next head honcho.
In the past week ive pretty much gotten to the end of Joshua, and I will say that when your not being preached to or looking for any kind of answers to your problems in life the bible is pretty kick ass. Lots of fighting and stonings for looting and heads on pikes, razed towns and all sorts of stuff.
Maybe this is why Sunday school as a kid was so boring to me. Where the heck was all this stuff when we got together? All I remember was sitting in a room with a group of other kids in uncomfortable formal clothes being told about love…ah well.
Backtracking a little bit. The book I rescued from an outhouse (I can assure you it would not have been used for reading) was actually published and brought to Mongolia by none other than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Good for them, though I would like to point out that I have yet to see a book of Mormon in this country despite their substantial presence especially in UB. Come to think of it the Book of Mormon might be worth reading while im out here too.
So yea, this is my roundabout way of saying that I would actually encourage people to go find a bible and give it a read. If your not religious like me you still will get a decent story of war and battle and curses and heads on a pike. Granted it could use a little of the Harry Dresden wit every now and again but its still something worth reading for the fun of it.
Who knows, maybe ill get bored later in the winter and tackle the Koran as well!


June 25, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Hail to the king baby” –Harry Dresden (those that have read that in the context that he said it are laughing their asses off right now)

As usual, whenever I make a trip into UB I find myself forgetting to blog. So lets reminisce. This trip was pretty much two fold. There was a tent that needed to be bought and there was World Cup soccer going on. Including an American game! The tent was a snap. Back of the black market was a cache of people whod assembled a bunch of tents so you could pick and choose. I kept trying to find something small to buy. I didn’t know the Mongolian word for bivouac or a tent that only one person uses so instead I found a two person one that broke down into a fairly simple round cartridge. The price war took place, but once you speak Mongolian you get half the price knocked off after a few rounds back and forth. A water and wind proof 2 person tent cost me 20000 tugriks. That’s about fifteen bucks. That’s four beers in a New York bar! Good gods I love this country. I should probably secure some kind of stove or something, but I am putting that off until I reach the lake and resign myself to actually needing to buy the stupid thing.
The rest of the time was spent watching the world cup. Well done America. Havent advanced to the next round since 2002. They actually showed the England game first and everyone and their uncle seemed to be cheering for them. Meanwhile it was me and a couple germans I had met at the beer tent and we were rooting for Slovenia as we wanted America to advance. It was a peculiar situation to say the least.
Honestly if I didn’t need that tent I would have forgone going to UB. The final factor was picking up two packages sent to me by my mother and stepfather. Full of outstanding goodies and both showing their personality based on what they sent me. The Italian salad dressing mixture will make for great meals and salads as time goes on. I was glad to get the next Star Wars book and as before I plowed through the entire book in one day. What can I say, I have a low level of self control.
Tonight I am going to take my tent out for a test drive. Hopefully I didn’t buy what I paid for and the thing survives. It only needs to survive one summer of camping!


June 26, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quotes: “hoho…winebagos.” –Jake Busey

It’s hot in the summer. I sorta forgot about that. Though I will say I don’t think at any point I remember it being this hot. Were easily over 33 degrees outside right now and now that its summer that insane wind machine that was cranking all spring and keeping me frozen and miserable is now nowhere to be seen.
What I am curious about is if it was this hot last year and I was just naive. Or if after spending a year in a country with negative 50 winters also has the capacity of being over 90 in the summer. Cant tell.
Still, im not going to let it stop me from camping. Today I head out to some random hill arrangement with a little food and water and my tent and I give the thing its first test outside of my room. Its pretty simple to put together I just am not sure if I believe that this tent can stop a flood or something. Only one way to find out.

June 27, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Good for the skin” – An English soldier on leave in Thailand remarked that the constant 100 degree temperature of the country ensured a good amount of sweating “that was good for the skin”

Its 9 am and already its so hot outside. Bleh. Seriously it was not this hot last year, and its been hot all week. I do the “old school Jacobs” method of staying cool where I sit on top of my sheets without moving or doing a single thing and I can still feel my body sweating like mad. Not a fan, but after so many months freezing to death ill cut myself a little slack on this one.
Camping got canceled yesterday, and I am weighing options if I will do so tonight instead. I really should. Just a quick test of the tent and my ability to live Spartan and all that. Next week at some point I head to Dadal. I have no real ambition for that trip. Just sorta head out there and see where it leads. But first seriously it has got to cool off some! Im sweating from typing for crying out loud.
4:30pm: Its dropped about two degrees outside. That’s it, I gotta go camp this!


June 28, 2010. Ondortolge, Monoglia.
Today’s Quote: “Wow you must be shitting a lot.” –My best friend Martha once told me that when I told her my diet back in America.

Camping is NO fun when your sick. More amusing was how my body decided it was not sick all the way until I arrived 15 kilometers in the middle of nowhere. This is just the steppeland. Miles and miles in every direction of nothing but rolling hills and grass on top. It’s the ideal pastureland, and it perhaps one of the greatest examples of natural beauty on the planet.
But yea…I got sick.
I got out there and my body officially decided everything in my stomach was going one way and everything in my intestines was going another way…RIGHT NOW!!! Bleh. I brought water but not enough to fight a sickness, and I was too far out to hike back so I just pitched my tent and slept it out. Good news is the tent works well. I probably need to buy some kind of mattress because the sleeping bag I take on these trips is the one dollar silk sleeping bag I bought in Vietnam.
I woke up at 4 this morning (sunrise) and quickly shut up shop. I got back to my room and drank some more water, all of which is still flowing out of me pretty regularly and so with it over 33 degrees and no AC or even fan I just sit in discomfort waiting for my body to get over, whatever the hell is the matter with me.
I summoned up enough strength to go buy a sprite, so now I at least have SOME calories in me. Havent been sick like this since I got to Mongolia. Not fun.


June 29, 2010. Bagkhangai, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “Bagkhangai is where PC keeps its hot volunteers.” –anonymous quotes from a volunteer

Today’s blog comes from the other town as I decided to hike over here to buy some beans along with get some internet time in. Fun fun!
So yea, being sick in this country sucks!!! Its was that fun sickness where everything pure liquid was just pouring out of me and despite best efforts to hydrate you have that ache/hypersensitivity that comes from being sick and dehydrated. I took some of my first medicine in all my time in Peace Corps and that along with the massive amount of sweating I did from the heat yesterday and a good night knocked out by medicine I luckily woke up feeling right as can be. I love my body. When its sick…it is SICK!...and then it gets itself better pronto. Kick ass.
Its cooled down a good ten degrees today, making it much more enjoyable outside. Im told that’s as hot as its been in Mongolia for a prolonged period of time as well. What the heck is with me and finding the hottest and coldest temperatures? I sorta find that cool so im not complaining its just odd ya know?
The internet is slow today, but aside from checking blogs there was not a whole hell of a lot to do on it. No one from my family was online, and ive gotten up to speed on what to purchase book wise for the next six months.
More amusing Ger updates: I heard tale that my town may receive the piece of power cord technology my ger needs to be ready for me, but ill believe that when I see it. I will however insist I move in July. The Bagkhangai crew seemed ecstatic that I would be available to help tutor. Cool…
Gotta get some beans. Cya!


June 30, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
-Today’s Quote: “EMILY I HATE YOU!!!!!!” –That was me about fifteen or so years ago screaming at my sister from the turret of a tank that shot tennis balls at other tanks. My sister was driving the tank and repetitively ramming us into a wall. I had a freaky ass dream about that last night.

Emily do you remember that? I cant remember if we were at a theme park or even the exact year but I still remember that crazy ass tennis ball shooting tank. Ah…mamries!

As much as I am “planning” my trip out into Eastern Mongolia, there really is not a whole hell of a big plan all around. Pretty much I have two specific places in mind. Dadal, where some historians argue is where Temujin was born. That spot is home to a mountain spring that’s supposed to have some of the freshest water in all of Mongolia (given how fresh the water is thats really saying something!) and plenty of great places to hike around and horse around. The second place I have in mind is Khoh Nuur. It’s the lake where Temujin gathered up everyone of Mongolian ancestry and said “okay, now im in charge!” And once again its supposed to be very beautiful and whatnot. Neither of these places takes me to the far east, but the two easternmost providences of Mongolia are a little dry. The only things really worth seeing are only reachable if you hire someone with a vehicle, and while I would love to see some of them I cannot take on the expenses of going that far alone. So unless I bump into some ambitious German girls out to see it all I may be stuck with my square down plan (a man can dream right?)
Yet once I reach these locations I plan to pretty much break out my Mongolian and ask some of the ger camps what they would suggest for recreation. Seriously give me a fresh water stream and I can make my own entertainment for a week, but I plan to move around just a little during this time. From what I can gather this is really gonna cost me almost nothing aside from food and travel. The really expensive vacation will be the trip at the end of July to Hovsgul Nuur….and for that I will spare no expense, but this does not look to be that bad at all. Go vacation into the Mongolian wild!!!!
That’s kinda the thing about Mongolia though. This aint Europe! Theres no castles to look at nor churches to peek inside. No monuments to mankind or anything as simple as that. No this country simply has too much natural and diverse beauty that pretty much you can cross over any hill and come across a postcard shot of the natural beauty of this country. From rolling steppes, to Siberian forests to massive lakes to the burning sand dunes and even the rugged Altai Mountains. This is a country with so much natural beauty it really is hard not to be taken away be a simple trip out to a small town you have never been to. Cool.
-Afternoon plot twist. Something may have come up. You see, last year we did Naadam in my town AFTER the big one in UB. I naturally want to find myself in a soum doing Naadam but my town doesn’t do it until August. I just got off the phone with my sister who informed me that Erdene is doing there’s from the 7-9th of July. Meaning that if I want to go to Dadal on the 4th I would need to come back pretty dang fast if I am going to the Erdene Naadam.
But now that I think about it it might be worth it to see Naadam in a different town this summer. Where better than a town like Dadal right? Birthplace of Temujin, shamanism still in full swing out there, probably some traveling tourists as well. Granted, if I went back to where I trained I could see my family and would be a lot more knowledgeable about where and when things were. Too many cool and good places to be. The curse of my life. As always my Dad’s voice is inside my head reminding me “That’s a good problem to have”
Ill think about it some today….


July 1, 2010. Ondortolge, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “In the quieter words of the Virgin Mary…come again?” –Bricktop

Uh oh…bored again today. So I started thinking. Always a bad sign.
Its no secret that I am a geek. Never bothered me, especially as I got older and I went from 5’11 and fat to 6’4ish and a marathon runner AND still remained a geek. In essence women randomly walk up to me at bars and whatnot back in New York, and it was only after they started talking to me that they realized that I was a geek. Well disguised as a normal person or maybe someone who goes to the gym just enough to keep in shape as he nears 30. (5 mile runs and a limited diet against my will….same thing)
So yea, if I tell you that I read Sci-Fi series books no one here should be all that surprised right? Good…moving on from that.
If your anything like me you often will come across book series where you try to determine which character in the book is “you” All the other geeks nodding so far? Good. Ive done this for the longest time. In Mission Earth I was the doctor that Soltan Griss brought over from Voltar. In The Star Wars Chronicles I identified with Jacen Solo, in Lord of the Rings I connected the most to Boromir and then Faramir, and on and on. BTW: I was a little too old to identify with any of the characters in Harry Potter.
Still after reading about seven or eight books of a series in a row in the span of about two months I really gotta ask…am I being a complete narcissist in that I believe that I am the living walking Harry Dresden if he wasn’t a wizard?
Hear me out:
Six foot four white guy.
In shape in ways that matter performance wise but not exactly teeming with muscle.
Owns a black trench coat (gods my family hates that thing… $20 EBAY baby!)
Lives Alone.
Not a lot of money, doesn’t really care.
Has only one real bar that he actually likes.
Drives (drove) a shitty outdated car about ten sizes too small for him.
Has an older sister whose fiercely independent.
Has a younger brother far more charming and socially accepted than himself.
Owns a Star Wars and Lord of the Rings movie poster.
Turns everything he sees into a television or movie reference.
Takes cold water showers (granted due to Mongolia but still)
Drinks pretty much only coke.
Loves a woman he is not with, probably never going to be with.

Seriously? I know we all read to imagine ourselves as something that we are not but seriously take away magic and what’s missing????

On to something not completely nerdy. I didn’t decide what to do about where to go to Naadam. Ill probably go to Naadam in Dadal and spend a day or so on my way back to Erdene saying hello to my family. Good way to bring it home so to speak. I head to UB tomorrow. Gotta post this and then get set to head out East. Dadal ahoy!