End of November.... Little over five months and schools done????

November 1, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “A Writer?!?! Why on earth do you want to be a writer? Your not oppressed your not gay!!!” –The Dude who was the serial killer in the 4th season of Dexter (he said it in a movie called “Orange County” and the show “3rd Rock From the Sun”…ive obviously forgotten his name)


Bombs are gone. Last night they were just sitting their collecting more rust like they had for the past two months. I woke up to go to the bathroom and I didn’t notice the missing bombs right away. I noticed that the yard seemed a little…clean. As if they had pulled some of the long grass and removed the odd nut and screw scattered around the mechanical yard. Then I looked at the spot where the bombs should have been…not there.
Bummer…I liked them. They gave the area a sense of…childish excitement. This “fall cleaning” is likely a sign that soon the Peace Corps will be dropping in to do the annual “So how does it look now?” inspection in which we go through the motion of having someone from Peace Corps make sure everything I need is here and if there is anything I have had a hard time relaying to my community to clear that up. Guess they want them to think I got a nice clean yard. Not like I have a whole lot to say against my community. This place is a Peace Corps Volunteer dream come true. Small, gers, but still internet and beans. I have the best of so many worlds and though my counterparts may not be falling over one another to learn new teaching styles based on some of the other stories of volunteers ten times better than me who had to quit because of how bad they got along with their counterparts things could be SO…SO much worse.
If I really was looking to complain about something…hmm. This year im alone here. The UB crew are pretty tightly knit, and as I only go to UB once a weekend a month or so its not like I have any of them on speed dial. My town is ideally suited for two TEFL’s, and I will be sure to tell them that when my time here comes to a close. Instead im just an oddly placed Teacher Trainer with a bunch of mildly successful projects and plenty of teaching work. I learned a long time ago not to delude myself that what I was doing out here was a game changer, I learned to realize that through a very very passive way I have made a subtle and yet significant change to a small little town that would never have had this kind of experience otherwise, and I think two years out here is definitely giving me the privacy and time I needed to work through some issues I keep to myself. Exile is not always a bad thing I suppose…
In all honesty of late ive felt rather estranged from my haasha family of late. Not angry, just as though they have resigned to leave me alone. Still, I get to interact with them way more than I did with my neighbors when I lived in the apartment, so alls well.
Last full week of the first quarter of school. Fun fun! Pardon me now, I got eleven or so teachers who all found out I have the ability to make pizza and suddenly they are all flocking to my tiny little ger to eat…fun fun!


November 2, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Ive seen and heard some pretty fracked up stuff in my time in Peace Corps, but tonight…what I heard….well it took the cake. It trumped anything else. Even more than when I watched from a balcony as a drunken man beat his wife and chased his daughter in a drunken haze into the countryside. Tonight my haasha father euthanized another round of puppies, and it was not fast and based on the noise NOT merciful.
The circle of life, it is what it is, if not him then the slow decay of winter, what is a flower and what is a weed, the gardeners choice. The list of metaphors goes on but as liberal as I may be I have far too often come across one undeniable and fundamental fact about life. Existence is here because of its willingness to kill others to continue to exist. Life is struggle and is red in both tooth and claw.
Some are bigger, some are stronger, and no matter how many committees or support groups we set up the world bows to this one undeniable fact. What I heard, it wasn’t even the sound of torture, it was the sound of people being very aware they were doing something that if they talked about it long enough they would convince themselves that it was wrong and that is should not be done or at the very least that THEY didn’t want to be the one to do it. That’s why it happened fast, the way warfare and mass murders happens fast. It needs to be done as soon as we can, before we talk ourselves out of it. That was….well…just nothing for it that was me cowering in my ger while something utterly awful happened that I was powerless to stop. I hate that feeling, because I am pretty sure it means that I acknowledge the truth of the longest fang always winning.
I guess the only time I will ever find out is if my own life is on the line. What a depressing and terrifying thought that is as well.


November 3, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.


Saw online the election results of America. My lack of proximity to the states has blissfully kept me away from the neurosis that can build from being around such political hubbub but it sounded like the election results were much what I predicted. The pendulum continues to swing, as 2006/08 were the liberals time to regain their strength, and now as they sit on the high horse the conservatives get to bite back now. On and on it goes. Ah well, ill be back for the 2012 presidential race unless I enlist again. That will be fun. I hope it’s the American version of the Le Pen situation in France where a hyper conservative gets the Rep nod and so the primary election is a blowout…I guess we just have to watch and see…


November 4, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Moogi called me and basically told me to do her English paperwork for her. Again id complain about this but its not worth it. Im not exactly pressed for time out here and its not like its hard to do either. I am pretty sure I could type up a page from War and Peace and turn it in and noone would bat an eye.
I don’t like it, but like I said I have expanded my range of temperance to the idea of fake cheating bureaucracy….go me!
I found out something rather amazing today by the way. Now one thing that occasionally happens among PCV’s is we compare and contrast countries. Sometimes its all in good fun, but occasionally those in slightly more rustic conditions claim themselves as a tad more “hard core Peace Corps” Though rather rustic I think anyone who volunteers for Peace Corps is pretty badass period, though the saying during tough times in other Peace Corps countries is “At least were not in Mongolia” I figured we were paid pretty low, but I mean common, its not THAT bad right? That’s the cool thing I found out today, putting aside climate and lifestyle and all the other hard stuff we do out here in Mongolia, we also live off almost the least amount of money. Theres only one other country that the volunteers get less money than we do. Your not going to believe it, but its Jamaica! And they get other fringe benefits in Jamaica…you know what im talking about right??? That thing…im sure Bob Marley was a fan of this.
That feeling they get from something that comes from their country among many others but not Mongolia….that mellow feeling of it rising and falling ever so gently…over…and over….and over…and over…again. Its like waves crashing down on them…again….and again…and again…it must be sheer bliss…
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IM TALKING ABOUT AN OCEAN PEOPLE!!!!!
(sorry…just had to do that! Go California for not legalizing mowie wowie!!!)
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but wow….we beat all of Africa for cheapest amount to live off of? I mean I know it’s a Spartan lifestyle around here even for me…but…Wow….
We are trying to get a raise of living salary which is looking quite possible, which we do by calculating what we spend on things each month and then submitting a form. I got chewed out…wait for it…because I spent less than the amount Peace Corps gives me! I estimate around 80 or so percent of us out here monthly dip into American savings to keep their heads above water. I did that over the summer myself too to pay for my vacation. The summer I was far more prone to drinking, especially because there was a smoking hottie from Hong Kong who kept me company in beer tents over the summer too. Now I usually only drink on the weekends and it’s the $3 liter bottle of vodka. What can I say….i can slum! I guess if you don’t drink a lot or drink something that’s the staple of a country you really can live off pennies around here.


November 5, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Esthers famous! Shes been back in Hong Kong all of two or so weeks and already she has her photos published in a travel book. Great shots too…some of which are even on my computer because she used it to move photos to a DVD. Go her, go her indeed. If she indeed gets her book published I am gonna be sure to ask for her publisher for my own book. “Three Shots of Vodka: An American Teacher’s Experience in Peace Corps Mongolia” Emily if your willing to correct my spelling ill let you be my manager for 10% straight off the top.
Anyways…when it starts to get cold out in a country where you are not near heaters or even buildings you tend to spend the overwhelming majority of your time with your clothes on. I am not a clothings person…not a nudist, but I am not prone to wearing layers unless I absolutely have to and a shirtless lounge is find by me. Its not that cold out yet, heck I don’t even have wood or coal of my own yet (im told coming next week) but it is the month of November in a country where the snow falls and stays in September and it was not until last night that I saw myself in the mirror with my shirt off.
Maybe I have just been running a lot without drinking a lot or maybe it has to do with the constant shivering burning calories….but wow ive lost some weight. More then that though im seeing my abs again. I mean they have been around for the last five years, but never standing out. They just looked like a guy who ran a lot and didn’t have enough money to eat. Last night…well I had my first vain moment in a long long while. I am looking good! Could I be one of those annoying people who actually looks BETTER as their chiseled 30’s approach than their impish 20’s?
Nah, its just been a while since I had a prolongued period of beer drinking and pizza eating in UB. A few full good meals will fatten me back up. When the real cold actually shows up im sure my running will not be everyday either. Still, I could be uglier…im smelly that’s for damn sure, but not entirely ugly…go me!


November 6, 2010. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Just a day trip, that’s all…just run in, grab the packages from my father and stepfather and run right back out. I hadn’t been to UB in a while, I guess that explains my naivety.
It snowed last night. First snowfall. Its not really all that cold yet, especially compared to last November, and the snow was moist in nature instead of the bristling stuff that fell for the majority of last year. This stuff made the road into UB a sheet of ice. Lotta overturned trucks on the side of the road and whatnot. Very grisly! It took us six hours to travel into UB. By the time I reached the city we passed the daily meeker already heading back to town. I guess I am glad I did this on Saturday instead of Sunday huh? No worries…ill just park it for the night and head back tomorrow. The city is getting ready for the cold, I can tell. Already foot traffic is down and the guesthouse is not stuffed to the rafters like it was in the summer. Theres a handful of 21’s here who are here for various medical things. I am glad I got to chatter with them. Good life good life….


November 7, 2010. The bus back to Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Well a rather fine evening last night. I got to meet quite a few fellow M21’s who I sort of invited myself over for dinner at an Indian restaurant. Im sure that was semi-impolite but I think I was accepted in well enough. I got the packages which I cannot wait to get back to site to open. The next chapter of the Harry Dresden awaits me. From what I gather from the jacket of the previous book this ones quite the adventure!
The road is all icy again, and im not sure if it will get warm enough even with the sun to melt it off before more snow and cold arrive. Winter is creeping its way here. No worry, I had a really good summer/fall. Schools out for 2 weeks as of Thursday too so I imagine ill eventually make my way back into UB in the next week or so. Get some more good meals in me. I am a little more skinny than I expected. To come to UB I dug out my “bad” jeans. The ones that got torn and semi fixed last year at Swearing in. Have a lot of good memories in those jeans, but im afraid that this last great adventure in Mongolia will be their last before age collects its due on them.q They are size 30 waist and when I put them on I need my belt to keep them from sagging. Almost 30 and im still a size 30….havent let myself go yet!
For some reason im feeling rather nostalgic today, and I flash back to last January, when I was pushing this very bus through the snow in the middle of nowhere in sub zero temperatures and without gloves. What an amazing life this is huh???...


November 8, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia

I just read “Changes” by Jim Burton….well that fracking sucks. Epic to be sure, and now that I think about it all of 1 of 10 people I know read this book who also read this blog but what happened….the way the war ended. Dammit…really, really dammit.
Starting to get cold to the point that I cant just wait for my fuel to show up. Think I am going to have to kick some ass to get wood and coal that’s mine delivered to my place. For all the times the community has asked me if I am cold youd think it would have manifested into a pile of fuel in July or something, but yea, even for a mild season so far November at night is cold!
My counterpart overslept today…boss got a little angry at her. I cant tell for sure why but my counterpart has been a tad off her game the last week or so. I imagine she may just need a nice week off school like I do.


November 9, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Still no wood or coal. They have until tomorrow…then I get Peace Corps involved. I like to pride myself on my ability to live off and in just about anything, but this is no longer a comfort issue. This is me needing to actually not shiver myself through the night.
Were giving tests to all the kids grades. Kinda ridiculous given everyones guaranteed to pass…but eh whatcha gonna do huh?


November 10, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

I miscalculated. I thought school closed after today, and it turns out it happened yesterday. Well that’s all well and good I suppose. It gives me another excuse to go into UB this weekend to fatten up and to see if the package from my mother came in. I would put off going for another week, but in two more weeks it will be the Thanksgiving holiday and I like to space out my UB runs if I can help it.
I think we resolved the wood/coal problem. I thought that I had been leeching my familys coal, it turns out that they are leeching MY coal. Well seeing as I occasionally had leeched their bark chips about 5 times since I moved in we will call ourselves square. They seem to want me to buy wood from someone in my community who sells it, but im in talks to see that resolved too. Peace Corps is supposed to be paying for all this and If that’s the case then they will give me money for that, but I sort of doubt it. I should be afforded my own wood pile. Well, im in UB for the next weekend so it doesn’t matter all that much.
Snow is about to pick up more. Were well overdue anyway. Time for the hard months. Today as I had time to spare I played around with a search engine I had not used in a LONG long time. Im reconsidering my thought of flying out West to go on an Eagle hunt in January….do I REALLY want to spend my vacation being colder than usual playing with birds in search of animals we rarely catch? More on that later.
Ill go to UB tomorrow….mmmmm….pizza. The good stuff too….


November 11, 2010. On the train to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

17 months of Peace Corps service. G….M….CHRYSLER!!!! Wow…that’s impressive accidently no less! Spending it using the train for the first time even in my Peace Corps service to get to UB. Had to get my ass up at the crack of dawn to do it too…bleh…
So I found out yesterday I did not get selected to be a trainer for the IST. Okay, so im angry but atm I am REALLY trying not to do as I have done in the past when I get passed up for something I think I am the most qualified for. That goes nowhere as I learned from the past and just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and those I was trying to impress even less thrilled about me. I will however stress the reason I got for me not being a IST trainer was not in good taste whatsoever. I was declared something that is not true and…wow im a little curious just how much I openly want to write down about what was said, and the reading between the lines of what they told me that really makes me want to get angry over this too.
They did something I wouldn’t have done. Some of the higher ups around here I don’t think take me very seriously. Maybe that was even my fault from times past….but that’s just…nope…not getting angry. I need a pizza before I write and post anything else.


))…three or so hours later…((

…okay, yea I am glad I ate something. I got into UB, with a head full of steam and I ordered myself to sit down at Nayras and not to stop eating until I had some emotion running around in me other than anger. I ate 2 12-inch pizzas and a Cheese and tomato sandwich… I had no idea at all that I was so hungry. It was that kind of hunger you get where you don’t even feel the food going into you for the first ten or so bites. The woman gave me my first pizza and I had eaten it by the time she had returned a minute later with the silverware and I was ordering another pizza to go with it.
After another pizza and a sandwich that went a little slower I instantly started feeling better. My anger was no longer something that I just wanted to use to piss and moan about. With my astronomical hunger sated I found myself still angry, but at least now I was able to turn my anger into something more productive.
So, their decision not to use me as an instructor has changed some things for me. At this point, I am out of opportunities to demonstrate that my initial whining about my site and team player lacking skills (from 15 months ago) are simply not going to be forgotten no matter how ideal of a Peace Corps volunteer I am now nor how many successful secondary projects I perform. There’s simply nothing for it, I cant make those that knew me a year and a half ago forget, and I have no way to get back in good favor. Therefore I think I can rule out two potential futures I had been considering for the following summer.
I will not be a third year Peace Corps volunteer and I am also not going to apply to be a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader at least not for Mongolia.


November 12, 2010. UB Guesthouse, Mongolia.

Well, that was a good evening. We are linked to food, some more than others I am sure but when your hungry everything in the world sucks. Get a pizza in your gut and a beer in your hand and the whole world suddenly feels like a heavenly place.
Well without anyone around I am uncertain really how to spend my time other than eating and drinking. Not like that is a particularly bad thing, but you get my point right?
I got a text message from Sarangoo today. My principal and technically a supervisor called her to ask if they could move me into an apartment. They seem unsatisfied that I want to live in a tent and insist I move into an apartment with hot water and creature comforts. I turned them down, but they were being rather insistent. I hope they think im weird and not actually crazy. I wanted it, now im gonna get it!


November 13, 2010. Nayras Cafe, Mongolia.

Saturday. Ive done all my UB chores of late and I find myself already missing my site. I got an appointment to talk to our Country Director on Monday afternoon. I need to ask her for some raw data so I can get this documentary project off the ground. That coupled with the fact that the bus does not leave for my town on Tuesday means that I will be in this town until Wednesday. Im not missing any work and most people in my town who work for the school left the minute school ended, I just sort of miss the simple life I have there.
Ill be fine, its just now that ive had a monthly dose of good food I sort of find myself awkwardly comfortable. The idea I not only showered but I did so repetitively over the past few days, and each time I take one I lose that sensation I had the first time. I dunno but when you start to realize just how little you need to be happy when you find yourself with so much more it can feel unnatural. That I spent a month without a hot water shower and now I need to take one each day… I am trying to describe this without bringing up any Buddhist philosophy I usually use but its hard to do.
Ugh…even comfortable I complain. Im fine. I think I miss running some. Ill survive a few days more of luxury!


November 14, 2010. Nayras Café, Mongolia

Question…is it a beer with breakfast if your breakfast is pizza? In all the times ive eaten at Nayras café (PC Mongolias second headquarters) I have never drank a beer here. This morning after staying in at the guesthouse I guess I just was not feeling particularly conservative and I ordered a Budweiser to go with my breakfast of pizza. Ah…the finer things in life.
I miss Bagakhangai.


November 16, 2010. UB Guesthouse, Mongolia.

Good gods this year is spoiling me rotten. Almost no snow yet, its barely freezing during the day and the bright beautiful sky continues to shine. I love it. Even UB can occasionally look nice in weather like this.
Went to Peace Corps office today to get some flu shots and went on a fact finding mission involving some questions I got to ask the Country Director. I got pointed in the right direction about a lot of it too.
Tomorrow I get to say goodbye to UB for my town once again…ah! Ger sweet ger…and the whole back to work thing the following week. Granted I have to come back next weekend but seeing as that is for Thanksgiving I think I could stomach UB one more weekend. Besides, after that I am well aware that the cold will indeed be coming and that means if I so choose I can stay in Bagakhangai until the cows come home (which in my town is around 3:30pm each day) Horray!


November 18, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Hot Damn its good to be back. I could tell my spirits were lifting the minute I woke up yesterday thinking it was time to head back into town. I threw everything together, put on newly snug pants thanks to the excessive amounts of beer and pizza I have been eating for the last week or so and got set to move out. I put myself down for a bed the following week during the time of Thanksgiving as well. One might think returning so soon would bum me out, but you got to take into account that over 100 volunteers are converging on the capitol for this and UB guesthouse is one of the cheapest and best ones for us to. That place will be all volunteers. Horray again!
Heading back was a snap this time, largely because I did not have any liquids this morning. You see, I am one of these people who will drink over 5 liters of water a day if I have the choice. Now having a healthy body also means that stuff just glides right through me and as a result I pee a lot. In the world of plumbing I call America this has never been a problem, but now I live in the world of outhouses, and a high traffic area like the black markets outhouses are not a place to visit.
Its gotten pretty bad before. You cant be the only foreigner in a bus and be the one who asks em to stop once we hit the countryside so I can pee either. The embarrassment would be overwhelming!. So instead I just sit there, thinking of how to explain to my medical officer why I now need two new kidneys because my own have burst. Anyways, this time I didn’t need to pee, and the whole trip felt a lot more pleasant.
Theres snow on the UB mountains but as of now my town STILL does not have snow on the ground. Its past the midway mark of November. The snow is over two months late here it is so disgustingly beautiful outside for the month its not even funny. Im obviously savoring it. And so we drove an hour or so southeast, the snow on the grounds disappearing little by little. Cattle still roam the countryside, trying to get some free final calories in the animals before the snow buries their food. If the animals could take a blow like last winter and live I am pretty sure they could survive this milder one too (btw: they STILL say this winter will be as tough too)
We pull into town and life felt like time was slowing down. I got out and didn’t instantly need to guard my stuff, I didn’t need to worry about buses and taxis (though if I can help it I will never use a taxi again) I had so little left to bother me. I took a deep clean breath of air and thought ahead to my ger…and then started walking.
Ah, my ger. Had to have a txt message war to keep it over the break too! I get back and the final liter of water in my water container is frozen over. My sinkwaste water has frozen solid as well. No dead mice like last time, I guess they realized without me here to heat the place its not inhabitable. The sliver of bread I left behind was hard enough to snap the table if I brought it down hard enough. I had just put my stuff down and thought of all the chores I had to do to get this place livable again. Sky Father dammit its good to be back!
So yea, a couple hours of work followed. I stole a neighbors cart and got 70 more liters of water. Got the distiller running to give me fresh water by morning. Emptied the waste bucket (mental note: do this BEFORE I leave for trips in the future so its not a block of ice. Then I went to the store and got some more bread and a can of beans, topped it off by breaking some of my coal to use and from there my haasha father in an uncharacteristic display of grammar and assistance showed me a shed where he had placed my kindling wood and he assured me that as long as I used that the axe in the yard was also at my disposal. I got a fire going and then after washing off the coal soot I fixed a Peanut Butter sandwich and turned on some “Truth Beneath the Rose” by Within Temptation and taking a swig of actual coke coke.
I love Mongolia, I love Peace Corps, and I love life. Life is GOOD!!!!!
So that moves us on to today. It’s the morning and im at the school where my fellow teachers are all passing their time by playing endless games of volleyball. You all know my feelings about this enclosed space/whistle blowing sport and the fact that they complain I smell when I work out I am given the great honor of being the audience while they play. So ill do that for the next few days. Get a good run in before the snows and ice hit the roads and finally get some more complex food ingredients from the stores so I can get cracking on some more culinary delights.
Back to the finer…simpler things in life. It’s a wonderful thing!


November 19, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

NEVER….EVER…AGAIN! Strike the ending of my last entry. Right after I wrapped up typing that I got carted off to Ondortolge where I had been recruited into a volleyball team…im wearing jeans and a nice long sleeve shirt and some wool socks!
I have not had to actually play volleyball in over seven or so months. I figured, maybe…just this once…they wouldn’t use a whistle or scream when one of them was trying to hit the ball and that the room wouldn’t be a sauna. For a smart guy academically im pretty damn dumb!
You know they say that the ability for humans to forget their past pains and sufferings is the reason we have more than one child per person. If a woman actually remembered the pain associated with childbirth, she would never even have sex again! I have a far less dramatic example with volleyball in my town. It was everything I hated. Loud, hot, yelled at for always being in the wrong place, and most of all it went on from almost sunrise to complete darkness outside. Nine hours of volleyball. As before I sucked it up for the first four or so hours, and then exhaustion, hunger, and all around stress just started to take its toll on me. They wouldn’t let me leave and all around I spent the final few hours angry as all hell. I would hope my behavior has deterred them from recruiting me into playing volleyball anymore, but given the amount of time I have left in this country and how the cold weather will slow down the number of these stress test tournaments my town and school decide to throw I have decided what I put at the top of the entry. NEVER!!!!EVER!!!!AGAIN!!!!
I don’t care if President Elberdorj himself drops in and wants to play a few rounds. Ill come, ill watch, ill cheer…but I simply cannot do this again. Ive made a fool of myself one too many times.
Good news is that I think I might get that space though. The rest of this day is pretty low maintenance. Im off booze until Thanksgiving as my recent run in UB definitely bled me through a lot of my money. Good clarity for things like running before the snow comes, I don’t care how mild this fall has been it wont be long now.


November 20, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

So life has finally gotten back to its calm and quiet pace. Ive decided with my spare time to finally start writing the “Peace Corps Mongolia” book as my blog is excellent reference notes, but it lacks an author like feel. The book wont be that different than the blog though. Think of it like a mix and match between Anthony Bordain and Frank McCourt and their writing styles. I actually met Anthony Bordain on a flight back from Hong Kong to New York. Granted I got to speak to him for all of two seconds but the guy was a bit of an ass! Never meet your heroes….hes not one of them but you get the idea.
Snow is falling at last. Not any more cold than last week, I guess the clouds have finally dropped in. Well enough I guess. Its still not all that cold though in my ger. I have fires available (now that I have everything that I need to readily make them but more so I find myself not particularly needing them still. I like the feel of cold, I do. That crispness and clarity I have when its cold, I really do like it. I also own a space heater. Now before you jump to conclusions first realize that it does NOT make my ger warm. In essence the rapid movement of air pretty much creates enough friction that things in my ger (like 70 liters of water) will simply not be cold enough to freeze in under the 8 or so hours I am not in the ger. That’s really all were talking about people.
Another month, when its REALLY cold again that fire though…mmm…thas gonna feel real good after a long day at work. A week or so till Thanksgiving…my favorite holiday of the year. Fun fun fun!


November 21, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

So ive been thinking. I was planning on in January rounding out my Mongolia extensiveness by going on an eagle hunt out near Kazakhstan. About as unique an experience as one could get and all that good stuff. Cold as all hell, awkward and hard to do and cost more than enough because I would have to go through a tour group, but you….lets do it right?
Well I made inquiries with the only tour group I could get in touch with and they don’t arrange for this to happen alone. They want someone to come with. I invited my stepfather but this trip is far away and no picnic so he gave it a rain check (probably working as he always is too!) and the rest of my family…well…there the salt of the earth types and I don’t think salt of the Earth lasts well on horses with Eagles that crush bones and -50 daytime temperatures.
So unfortunately, my winter vacation may not happen. Not this time around anyway. All for the best perhaps, it will leave something inside Mongolia left for me to do!
Meanwhile…that means I need a new vacation. Something…springy I think. 3rd quarter break takes place late March/Early April and after that I am too far into Peace Corps to get to take a vacation out of country. I am not equipped or dressed to do a country like Japan or Korea. India needs more than a week or two, ive done Southeast Asia, and everything else is too far away for me to justify a trip. What to do…what to do… Well a third of the world lives directly beneath me on the globe right? I think I even know a really hot girl from Hong Kong that knows Beijing like the back of her georgous hand and speaks Mandarin/Cantoneese/English…and Mongolian! Yea…lets go to China!!!!!
One final thing that sort of set this straight was ensuring that my dear sweet mother, who is threatening a visit to Asia next summer would not be devastated if I were not able to accompany her on much of her travels. She travels business class and in the company of a good friend so no…no problem at all. I imagine she will be in Mongolia going to my town “um…nice, they like it cold here do they? So that tents yours um? Ah lovely…right along!” If shes truly Mongol crazy ill set her up with a 5 or so day tour group that handle gringos like her and me and she can safely ride all the horses she wants to before she goes to China.
So yea….instead of freezing my ass off in the winter in a place even colder than where I live now I instead get to spend a few weeks of the otherwise cold and windy Spring in the land of China. Theres something to think on for a bit I suppose.


November 28, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

…and on the next morning…My computer went dead. No fun, but I had gone through this before.
This is not an easy country on technology. Living close to smoky fires, frigid outdoors and a lot of animal hair all around never directly damage your machines, but the damage worms its way in little by little. Soon you find yourself in a town with no bars/cafes/ friends who have no passions in life other that drinking vodka until their innards explode and so on. So I got some good runs in, reread some of the less frequented books of mine and burned some more fires.
The primary reason everyone keeps asking if I am cold is directly related to the infrequency of fires I make (only one a day, usually at the start of dusk!) so ive picked up the pace and….they still ask. Nothing for it.
My ipod had been inactive for a while and therefore the cold had sucked all the power out of the machine so I had no music either. No fun, no fun indeed. Without internet I found myself once again not being able to go to CNN each day and check on current events. One blank screen and things suddenly got a whole lot darker. For instance, next time I was able to check the news I found out that N. Korea lost its mind (a little more anyway) and started to shell S. Korea. Really???? More impressive to me is that this has not exploded into a war already. I mean think about if this had happened ANYWHERE else…yea…. It seems even the South Korean citizens are sorta in the “Uh….government/military you guys wanna hit back already?” Granted that WILL set off a major war but to do nothing is going to make N. Korea realize they really can do anything they want.
Now for the most annoying thing to me about all this is that this was not then and still does not seem to be what the news agencies care about. They care about Dancing with the Stars and nonsense like that. Go figure….
Well Wednesday rolled in and I got on a meeker to UB. This computer needed fixing before Saturdays made up holiday. I go to the place I went before, the Mac guy is not there…not going to be there until the next week…well that’s a problem!
I know theres a huge store that sells all sorts of odds and ends for computers. I know what I am looking for to Zacvarcan….repair (or its equivalent) I scan the first floor and cant find it so I ask and a little errand boy gestures for me to walk with him into the basement. I know you kinda had to see the place and all, but I had it on very likely authority that I was being taken down here to be jumped, slaughtered and sold as scrap…oh and they would take my computer too!
Still we round the corned (of several dark alley rows) and find ourselves at a tiny cubbyhole that looks to be indeed a repair shop. The dude is all smiles as I try to explain things like “motherboard” and “video card” to him in Mongolian before he gets done laughing and he asks me to park it away from him.
…then I sit for about three hours. No idea what he did. I was too nervous/over my head to complain and so he finally gives me back my computer that I really really wish I had booted up and played with the keyboard before leaving. He asked me to go lite on my video game playing as indeed that would be what broke it last time (less Civilization IV I guess, more time to write my book.)
It cost a bit, but now I got a location with a dude with regular hours and a warrenty lasting the rest of my service. Cant guarantee this will keep working but at least I got a computer fix guy now…always something huh.
The next three or so days in UB was a constant state of intoxication. I would be upset with myself about this but you sorta had to be there. It was just….good gods there was a lot to drink and way too good company to not do so. Everyone stayed safe enough, and the drinks were all good enough. Did a little file swapping with some fellow computer users and in essence waited until Thanksgiving on Saturday. Went to that and….well, food of the gods never sounded more appropriate. We ate so much, drank REALLY good wine, and we also watched our old swearing in video from 15 months ago. Good gods we all look so young…MY HAIR!!!!
The next day we got in a meeker and headed back. I find myself here, back to work and about eight or so weeks from another school break. Horray!