February and my 20's...Smell yea later!!!!!

February 11, 2010. Bagakhangai, Mongolia
Today’s Quote: “If I take one step further, itll be the farthest from home ive ever been.” –Sam Gangee.

Month….twenty. 20. Twenty months of Peace Corps service. Twenty months outside of America. I am glad this particular monthly anniversary took place on a Friday, it gave me time to actually write out a little bit about this. Before joining the Peace Corps I would have considered myself a well traveled individual. Honduras, the Carribean, all up and down and across the United States, Hawaii, all of Europe both with parents and by myself. Greece, even Southeast Asia. Ive been to plenty of places, but my service has demonstrated just how short a period of time I had actually spent either in travel or in living somewhere other than my place of origin.
Prior to Peace Corps service the overwhelming majority of my trips had involved less than a few weeks of travel. My longest trip taking around four or so months when I had gone through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam in the fall of 2006 after my meltdown. I used to remember how long that time had felt, even being somewhat of a vacation. Now however, i have passed that period of time in something that was not a vacation and doubled it several times over. I have been outside of the country over 5 times longer than I ever had before, living this time in a sub-zero tent than a Muay Thai bungaloo.
In that’s scene in the movie, when Samwise Gamgee is standing next to the scarecrow in the field at the Shire, realizing that he was as far away from everything he knew as he had ever been, that first step afterward looked to be so very awkward. Like every step that followed would be no different. He hadn’t even left the shire at that point, and he would travel the entire span of his world before he would return back. I take a person note of amusement in that their journey (there and back) had taken exactly 13 months to the day. Ive been at it a little longer, but in all fairness I don’t have a ring!
I don’t parallel my time in Peace Corps to Lord of the Rings. I just see how to those willing to leave their zone of comfort, find a form a strength unlike that of those who use routine and previous reliability to protect them. When you live in the same place and do the same thing again and again the routine becomes both your comfort and your strength. You become the master of that to which you are tasked. When you are on a great adventure of your life, you have no such mastery. Every day I find myself struggling to do things as easily as Mongolians a quarter of my age have already mastered. Instead though, when doing that which is not routine you begin to realize just how little you need to actually feel strong and safe. It’s a long road ive been on, and I do not refer to just Peace Corps service when I say that… I hated change more than any other person I knew for well over half of my life. I think near the twilight of my puberty the hemispheres of my brain switched at the last possible second. I shiver at the thought of how I was likely going to turn out too if that had not happened.
Despite how every day feels like an adventure and even boring days take a lot to be comfortable and certain of my purpose I feel a calmness within me I lacked before. As my months in Peace Corps pass I do not see myself interested in leaving, nor trying to stay on longer in the current role I have, and so I feel as though no matter how things unfold I am willing to support that which follows. Good for me huh?
This weekend I go into town to gather some English resources with my counterpart out of my own pocket. I make an additional 50,000 tugriks a month thanks to our bump in Peace Corps living allowance. 50,000 tugriks buys a LOT of textbooks in this country that otherwise would not have been bought. I had been living off my old salary fine, so my choices were that I could either buy some English textbooks for my kids that could be used for years and years after my time here is up…. or I could go buy some more booze to drink. Don’t think too highly of me, a flipped coin made up my mind for me.

February 12, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

100,000 tugriks. Around 70 or eighty dollars. Over a third of what I make each month. I could have bought a LOT of good beer for that amount or SOME really nice vodkas and whiskeys or even a LITTLE of the good wine with that amount of money. Or…as I did I went with Sarango to buy some English textbooks that she and my school will be able to use for a long long time after I am gone to improve their English skills.

What can I say, I am probably not the greatest Peace Corps Volunteer to ever exist but I have my moments.

I met Sarango at the ass crack of dawn of 6:40am. Ohf….probably the thing I hate most about teaching was how early it always began. I remember having to get up at 5:30 when I worked at Robinson High School so I could shower, shave and then walk the 5 kilometers to school so I was in time to get everything together. I was also working two other jobs at the time…im old now and even doing it once drained me. Bleh.
I try to think about the traits I have and whether I got them from my mother or my father. This is always tricky business. My mom and dad are both under 5’10. Neither are particularly quirky. Neither in their younger years were particularly ADHD. Both real salt of the earth types which I am not. Only a few things I think stand out. I think I got my dose of paranoia from my mom along with some other behavior traits from my mom. I guess I got the eyes and my great grandfather on my Dad’s side was quite tall too but theres one trait I didn’t get from my dad that I wish I had. My dad is really one of “those” people. Gifted with a talent loathed by those like myself that do not have it. My dad is a morning person! Lucky bugger!
I digress once again…
Still, it was my first time taking the train. Sarango kind of used me as a way for her to get a free ride/meal/errand in UB, but heck, ive been used in worse ways in Mongolia before. The train sort of overshot the station at Bagakhangai so we all had to run to get to the last car, once there we had to walk through over 10 cars to reach the seat portion of the train where we had tickets. It was sort of like walking to UB.
Maybe its just my time in Europe but I will say the trains in Mongolia are a little disappointing to me. Nice views and everything, but these trains need to run through everything from sweltering heat to -60 winter storms and so they are really built for durability more than comfort or style. No matter, it still got me to where I needed to go. On our walk through the train we first passed the “soft sleeper” beds and I will say I am quite pleased with the type of lodging my mother will be using to travel to Beijing once she finishes seeing me.
Oh wait, I haven’t written about that yet. My mother…my….mom…my loving, ambitious, mildly crazy mother, whose overwhelming trips out of America have been to Caribbean islands is going to make her first trip to Asia….by going to Ulaanbaatar! Seriously shes not even going to go to China first and ease her way to the wild country of Mongolia. Nope, shes getting off the plane in Beijing (BUSINESS CLASS!!!!) and then catch the next flight to UB. And I thought I was the one who didn’t do things half assed huh! Mother like son…not really but in vague ways yes.
There is no talking her out of it, and I get that “well my sons there and its now or never” but still! So she wants to come see me along with a female friend of hers the last week of May. I like that my mom is traveling with at least one other person…but…I mean this is Mongolia! Im an able bodied 6’4 man who actually can speak to my fellow Mongolian and this place intimidates even me sometimes. My mom is inching towards 60 for cryin aloud! Sky Father watch over her please. Earth Mother why don’t you get in on that too!?
So her initial goal is to land in UB, spend about 4 days with me as I find some tour group that will at least show her the countryside life and some nice scenery. I was worried my mom would want to do something bold and adventurous like I did at Khovsgul Lake, but she luckily has mentioned that she might need to find some sort of “cart adventure” as she does not want to ride all day. Given the types of horses and how close I came to getting myself killed last year this was music to my ears. I think ill try to find a group that does this thing where Yak’s pull carts of dismantled gers and supplies out into the countryside and then build a ger and you have a camping experience. That sounds authentic and diverse in various experiences without putting her in much risk.
Then I put them on a train where the two of them will share a sleeper bed thingy into Beijing and then see that country as well through a tour group. I am still in Peace Corps for that time so the two of them will have to conquer China on their own. Not that I would be much help as I don’t speak the language nor have I been there. I figure that’s a week trip of my own to do at the end of my service if I have the money and am not pressed for time.

My dad has a much safer strategy: “Take lots of pictures, ill rent a beach house when you get back to the states and you can show me them there.” Well played sir! Sharky’s pizza and some cheerwine too plz! Ill bring my dad back a warbow antique to put on his wall too!

Anyways, one thing at a time, back to going to UB…

I also found a wonderful store in UB called “good price” A misleading name for a store that basically sells all food American, and naturally charges for the privilege. It does mean though that for 6000 tugriks I am now the owner of a full bottle of real deal Tabasco sauce. I dropped a dab on my tongue tonight and….WOLF! The flavor and sensation of spice….REAL spice poured back into me. Wild fun. The place also sells liquors I forgot existed. Bottles of Jack Daniels for around 20 US dollars. Is that a lot? Ive never been a whiskey drinker, heck im not even really a liquor drinker, but just the uniqueness of seeing Jack Daniels in Mongolia made me almost buy the thing. I luckily had other things that needed to be bought instead. I may like my beer and my wine, but its moments like that that can assure you your not an alcoholic, at least by non-American standards.
We bought the books, Sarango and I had some great conversations, and I was back in time to catch the meeker heading back into town. It was a really good day.

February 13, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Sunday in Bagakhagai. It’s a beautiful day outside but still too cold to go out recreationally. The absence of the wind this year really does wonders though. Maybe last year was just really bad but this year the wind is almost feeling like its non existent. No crawling to the stores, no iced over eyebrows, in essence its just….cold. Not even all that cold either. Not even sub-zero during the day! Such a nice way to go through my second Mongolian winter. Though I dare believe that come March and April the wind will indeed pick up.
My school’s wireless network is down. They are not exactly sure what the problem is and the guys who set it up from UB haven’t made their way here. It means that on weekends the only way for me to use the internet is to go inside the teachers office itself, which is under lock and key with the key kept by my boss. My boss usually (like today) goes to UB on the weekend. Heck, anyone with monies pretty much goes to UB on the weekend in this town. They are all surprised how rarely (once a month) I go to UB. She took her key with her, and so while I am currently ten feet away from the source of workable internet I cannot use as such.
On the up side, it has afforded me time to write more. My computer is still unable to play anything but the most basic of video games (dos-box type. Mostly pre 1995 games.) so I find my computer use to be mildly incapacitated. Ah well, ill use the money of my end of service to buy another top end computer and video games of the PS3 that have come out during my term of service. Only four months left in this country… wows.
Peace Corps sent us an email asking those interested in applying for a third year or who want to be PCVL’s to apply. Im not going to apply. No point. Ive been rejected for every one of the training staff positions and I get that I screwed up at the beginning of my service, but I think if I am going to be successful in my ambitions like that I need to return to the states, apply again to Peace Corps to another country and start fresh and this time NOT act like a complete brat when I get assigned my placement! Not angry about it anymore, just a little regretful of how I had acted. It was unnecessary, and I know that I am better than that.

Like all bad ideas…it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Again, that line above is one of the rare times where I create my own original quote.

February 14, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

I tell yea. You don’t use internet for one lousy weekend and Egypt’s military overthrows its government! It reminds me of last year around this time when I had only monthly internet access. Id look up CNN and a whole new list of celebrities were gay, some had died, and massive changes in government had all taken place without my knowledge. This was just a smaller dose of the same thing.
So heres a history lesson for you. Long time ago a lot of people were pagan. Actually a lot were not pagan but some did, and the rest were either atheist or maybe in a cult. Anyways, Caesar (at the time named Claudius II) was a Pagan in the 200’s, but there was one such cult that was gaining a little more ground than the others had. They believed that there was this guy who had been a Jewish carpenter who claimed that he was the son of god and that the 2nd coming was happening really soon. (Actually it was pretty much supposed to happen right after he died, but that part just sorta got swept under the rug) So now there were acolytes of this Christian faith in Rome walking around telling Pagans that their own faith was better and such. He liked to mention how much he loved the followers of Christ and all that good stuff.
Claudius didn’t like that. There was one priest in particular that was getting on his nerves named Valentine. This one was even marrying Christians together meaning there was going to be even more of these monotheists! So Claudius arranged for Valentine to be beheaded on February 14th. And so valentines day was born….we celebrate the day a religious man got his head cut off. Somehow we turned that into a holiday in which we buy each other chocolate and flowers. They actually also took a pagan holiday in which certain women were whipped/flayed for sexual pleasure (though the college class that taught me that was so long ago the name and details elude me.) Christianity did that, as do pretty much all new religions. They put their holidays over old ones to help with the transition of casual faith believers. What can I say, part of the fun of being a historian is getting to know why we do so many of the stupid things we actually do.
Speaking of stupid, I am beginning…no not beginning rather am convinced that the government center of Bagakhangai is not doing its job. Why? Because my school does it! Lotta people who don’t even really live in town have been in the lounge of our school today. They come with their ID’s from the countryside to get as far as I can tell some kind of “subsidy” money from the government. It turns a small teachers room into a place of noise and commotion. They are all surprised to see a white guy on a computer and they hover like being close to me will further help them understand this entry that I am writing. I find it annoying.

February 15, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

NOOOO!!!! I knew I had put it off too long. It was going to be one of the most disgusting photographs I was going to take during my entire time in Peace Corps. I was even going to find a way to put it into a book that I am writing too. But alas, I put off taking the photo too long and now the chance of a lifetime is gone forever.
…the “shitsicle” is no more. Now in all fairness the outhouse in our yard had gotten pretty damn bad. It wasent even just up to the floorboards it was protruding as well, but dangit I wanted to take a photo of it.
It does mean that at some point over last night (on valentines day) my host father must have gone into the sub level (actually not as bad as you think as everything is frozen solid) and literally chopped the thing down at its base. Damn shame, would have been a photo so disgusting it would have freaked everybody out stateside.

February 16, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.
“Anyone can make a throne out of bayonets, the trouble is sitting on it afterwards.” –Boris Yeltsin

On Tuesday’s and Wednesdays my school only has one active English class. We have tutorings and some kid always needs me to help them fix their One Laptop Per Child Laptops but as per actually classroom work there is only 4th grade once each day. The counterpart I work with is actually a very nice teacher, but she is rather old school.
As well she should! She has been teaching in Mongolia since before I was born. She used to be the Russian language teacher, but as times changed and she read the writing on the wall she learned how to teach grammatic English and works both schools as both the Russian and the English teacher. As I said before, I have learned to pick my battles and to not get frustrated in it, and after MANY failed attempts to try to get the two of us to work in unison in a team teaching exercise I have abandonded such efforts. I just cant get her in any capacity to teach with me at the same time. She just would regiment half the class to me and half the class to her.
So for a while she and I have just taken one day each. She teaches Tuesday and I teach Wednesday. Commonly she runs the kids through a reading and writing set of drills and then the following day I teach the kids a song or get them to play simon says or some other type of non-grammatic form of lesson. Its not perfect, but this is what Peace Corps teaches us about when they say that the change comes slowly, if it comes at all.
This week she has suggested a new style she wants to try. She will teach both classes one week and I will teach both the following. Again I just let it go, and my other counterpart is awesome and so interested in working with me. I just wish I knew how I could connect closer with my other counterpart. Still, she seems perfectly cordial to me, so I cant be that mad.
It does mean though today I have no official class, so I decided instead to book my guesthouse reservation in Munich. I may not spend all my time in Munich but as a festival is taking place around that time I didn’t want to take any chances. Besides, in March/April a bed at a guesthouse in Germany is incredibly low. 11 day stay at a hostel one block from the central train station costs $200. That’s under 20 bucks a day. Believe me, for Europe it’s a good deal.
As for what else to do while in Europe, that I am coming up a little bit of a blank. I think I will take my mom’s advice and bring my running shoes. At first I was not sure about the idea, but now that I think of it a little running exercise in the English Garden would feel wonderful after all the drinking and eating. Out and about, fresh air, cherries, a beer with an 8% alcohol content, chesses, maybe even get back in touch with some old friends who live around that place.
And the women….. oh good gods the women! You know how I wrote a long time ago that Mongolian women are not exactly my type? Not saying they are ugly, and in fact I have (usually in UB) seen plenty of Mongolian women I would say I was attracted to, but all in all we have a type and Mongolian women usually are not my type. But German women….ooohhhh.
Maybe its my own German heritage, or just the cool ones I keep bumping into when I travel, or maybe I just have a type and in both looks and personality they always seem to fill it but German women are hands down the most attractive women on the planet. Period! In their young adulthood German girls are all with beautiful skin and bright smiles. They either have long flowing hair that makes them look almost elvish or angelic and the chiseled faces only add to their look. Its either long and flowing or they cut their hair to their ears, spike the tips and grow a grin that makes them look almost like predators in nature. Both styles I love. Even as a firey eyed predator German women, and actually all Germans for that matter have a similar trait. They have the upmost respect for law and authority. They don’t not cross at a crosswalk….like anyone! I miss that as well. People unnecessarily obeying the law. I don’t get that all that much around where I live now.
German women like to listen to foreigners try to speak German. I can still remember when my stepfather came with me to a beer festival and this gorgeous 22 year old woman literally started chatting my 60 year old Stepfather up when he uttered the 20 words of German he knew and talked about his home in San Mateo. I was very proud of my stepfather that evening.
It’s the women who even if they are at a beer hall table with three guy friends she is the one who will introduce herself and then include you in her band of merry men and perhaps other women. They have the metabolism that lets them eat and drink like men twice their size and they still can carry you home after you have had one too many (believe me I know) As they reach their 30’s they keep their smiles but their faces start to become lightly impish and their bodies somehow fill out even more. They still never get drunk and instead watch as men their own age continue to drink themselves to excess in their company, and they giggle among one another as you make a fool of yourself trying to impress them.
Even in middle age German women have surprises in store for you. They grow a little heavier as their diet finally overtakes their metabolism but they also cut their hair short and dye their hair. Not blonde mind you, but green, or red or gold or any other wild color you can think of. Seriously, like Milla Jovovich in “The Fifth Element” these 50 year old women whose wide smile is replaced by a serenity like grin. There are always smiling, I miss people who just smile in public, that does not happen a lot around here.
Even in late March the weather will be more than warm enough for me to buy a half kilo of cherries, sit down on a bench at the cobble streets of Munich, and watch the most stunning women on the planet just walk on by. Then at the Paulaner beer hall I can see all the Bavarian women strutting around in their traditional dresses…sorry if you’ve never been you have no idea what I am talking about. Its been a few months since I got to admire the site of a woman I was sincerely attracted to so there was a little more for me to write then I though there would be.
I suppose I could go see Vienna or Prague, but I don’t know. Money is of course a consideration but also just the idea that as a vacation going into the wild and unknown may not feel that enjoyable. Ugh, I sound like such an old guy when I say that! I better go brush off my German though, I haven’t had to say a word of it since the Summer of 2009. “Ich bin friedenskorps lehrer” “das auto is schwarz” “Ich liebe Viva Colonia und Cowboy und Indianier”

…Oh yea, German girls are gonna be falling all over me with terminology like that!


February 17, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

I was raised throughout my childhood and young adult years in the city of Vienna…Virginia. Bet during the war they thought up a funny way of saying it so they wouldn’t be associated with the other place that we were fighting against.
So after typing up everything I wrote yesterday I decided to humor myself and see how much a train ticket from Munich to Vienna would cost. In all my trips to Europe in the past I have never actually gotten into Austria. The closest I ever got to was atop of the Bavarian Alps where the Eagle Nest was created for Mr. Hilter (I did that on purpose). Now it’s a restaurant and a place for tourists to snap photos. I recall ages ago looking up the price of a summer train ticket between the two towns and the price had been absolutely ridiculous. Something close to a hundred Euros for a one way ticket. So I punched in all the data and looked up the price. I checked it over several times. The ticket would cost…29 Euro…for a direct trip between the citys two main train stations. The trip from the Munich train station to the city is the same amount for a round trip. Same price coming back…hostels cost around 12 Euro a nite in that city in the month of Spring too….dammit am I going to Vienna? I may very well be getting around to doing that!
Good, so I will be going somewhere new during all of this. That’s decent sounding. It would be cool to look around for sites from “Before Sunrise.” I can also ask my stepfather as I recall he recently traveled there and hopefully could tell me a cool place or two that would be worth my time.
Late March/Early April is getting more and more exciting each day!

Okay, enough vacation stuff, lets get back to the matter of Peace Corps. In a couple weeks Peace Corps turns 50, or at least the real 50. Its hard to give Peace Corps an official birthday, mostly because its hard to decide what was the “start date” Some might argue that it was one of the many projects JFK and his followers created as part of “The Great Society”

Fair warning, I need to digress on this for a minute. “The Great Society” I love that title, it really does describe what I think was trying to happen in the early 60’s. I don’t refer to those who were the Vietnam protesters or those who spent all of the 60’s listening to new rock and roll music and took the carnal and drug like benefits of a liberal minded society and left the rest to whoever was listening to politicians. I mean those educated and dedicated liberal minded people inspired by a charming young Pesident and those people who actually understood that to truly change the world for the betterment of all that it would begin at the most simplistic unit: A single person willing to help. Comedian Lewis Black is a great example of this. He didn’t join the Peace Corps, but he did work on a Great Society project. He lived and worked with low income families in Appalachian America trying to get job training and family support for their children. He was paid pretty much nothing, and his project was shut down in under a few years when funding ran dry. In his book “Nothings Sacred” he even rants about how he still tries to envision us trying to sell the idea of helping people…because they asked for help. I know crazy right?
The Great Society had other projects in it too. Putting astronauts in space and eventually on the moon. I know it was a space race of technical superiority to our military enemies, but I think there is another element to our exploration of space some people are not aware of. That race may have had a ridiculous component to it that fueled it, but I would like to point out that this was not an all or nothing bet. Had America not won the race to the moon a human being still would have set foot on another sphere in this galaxy regardless of nationality.
Consider this: Space exploration is NOT profitable. Its not…nor going to be for hundreds of years either. Only now are there even beginning to be commercial flights into space by private companies because it is profitable. The long and deep look into space is something that will never bring back profits like Cortez did. These trips of exploration remind me of when James Cook took a ship to the other side of the planet in a rickety old boat so that he could scientifically take note of an eclipse. Literally that’s all he really did. It cost the British public fortunes in their taxes to pay for such a quest, and the individual benefit it brought to the British public was negligible.
So my libertarian friends would remark, why do we do this then? Why not keep the money we would otherwise be taxed and often wasted so we can all pursue our fortunes in our own special ways. For instance if the British government had not undertaken the endeavour of observing the Transit of Venus eventually someone who actually needed such information (most likely a trading company or something of the like) would have handled that. By the by, I equate libertarians to the old school philosophy of the Republican party before the second half of the 20th century threw everyones American politics for a loop. (Ronald Regan used to be a Democrat…so was Strom Thurmond!)
Space exploration and other such “impossible” projects is something we as a society should contribute to for a different reason than money. We should because it is things like going to the moon in a decade that demonstrates to ourselves and those we consider our children just how possible absolutely everything is. When we come together in such ways, we do something like we did in the 60’s. We invented technology that did not even exist at the beginning of a decade and in 9 years and with a computer weaker than your calculator flew 250,000 miles to a twirling orbiting ball around our planet and walked on its surface. We did that over forty years ago… take that same drive and determination, add in all of our technological advances over the last 40 years, and imagine focusing it in any other category of human discovery with the same degree of zeal we had in the 1960’s for space exploration. DNA, deep sea exploration, alternative and permanent energy sources, longevity, cure for cancer, coexistence programs, world hunger.
Maybe its just that I was not alive during its time and therefore can innocently grandise it into something that it is not, but I think its times like this when I realize why I am and remain a liberal. Individually and kept free from the obstructions and distractions of others, man is capable of great things. This is true, but when we agree to work together, really work together. When we forsake our own fortunes and initial desires for the hope, perhaps sometimes even slight hope of a community based goal…well…
We have the chance to all become something equivalent to a God itself. We become more than the sum of our individual bits, and we create and accomplish things that could never have existed or have ever happened.
That sounds like a god to me. Maybe that is why I am also kind of an atheist these days too. I am far too impressed with just how limitless our potential is.

…okay rant over…where were we? Yea so some would say Peace Corps was born when JFK became President and “The Great Society” got underway.
Others would argue the Peace Corps was born back in October of 2010 when JFK gave “The Peace Corps Speech” What is that you ask? Well if memory serves JFK was at a University and he gave the idea for a new government program of volunteer workers. He called it a “Peace Corps” I say that term a lot in the course of my job. I still just try to imagine what everyone listening to the man at the time he said it thought. The Peace Corps… So often the term “Corps” referring to a branch of a military organization that is assigned to a particular line of work. Instead it was going to be people, pretty much going and living somewhere poor and doing their best to give instruction and guidance to those seeking new skills and forms of understanding. It must have been such a thing to hear that man speak aloud.
Finally, we come to a day that actually had a real deal “event” so to speak. On March 1st, 1961, on the lawn of the White House itself, with JFK himself standing before them, the very first Peace Corps volunteers took the oath we all do when we swear in for service. It was a while ago, but I still remember my swearing in ceremony. Our Ambassador to Mongolia had to do the swearing, I guess the White House lawn was being watered.
At the end of our oath which btw is pretty much identical to the oath a President takes when he swears in, the part “So help me God” we were told that if we had an objection to such a statement (say perhaps you’re a Jehovah Witness or the like) we were allowed to not say it. Much like we were allowed to “solemnly affirm” instead of “solemnly swear” I know I already mentioned it, but I still enjoy reminiscing about the snort from my neighboring friend Matthew when I replaced that last bit with the phrase “…may the Force be with us.” Hey don’t get too mad, it was either that or “…so say we all.”
Most of us agree that last one is the “birthday” of the Peace Corps. We have all been asked to do a little something with that in our communities to try to get them to further understand the depth and degree to which the Peace Corps works. Today while I was out running…I had an idea. I get a lot of those while running. I begin to feel as though my running has begun to become a meditation of sorts. Often while running I lose huge chunks of time. I had made turns and decisions about where to go during my run that I had no idea that I had made. Its during these runs that great ideas enter my mind, and I use my running time to toy with them.
I had a ridiculous, montage parody idea. One similar in style to “12 Days of Mongolian Christmas” but Peace Corps in mind. I am still working out a lot of specifics, and I don’t want to say what it is I am thinking of until I actually present it, but if I pull this off…well we never got the documentary off the ground but if I get this to work I think I will be quite happy.
March 1st 2011. Peace Corps will be turning 50 years old, go ahead and mark that down everyone.

February 18, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia

Unseasonably warm these days. Don’t even need a fire really anymore. Granted, I like it cold but still, last year around this time I couldn’t physically go outside and nowadays at midday sun the snow on the ground thaws a little! Today this morning when I rolled out of bed and started to put on socks I realized that it was so not cold…I don’t need to be wearing wool socks anymore. I went over to the cubbard and dug out my old run of the mill socks and put them on. Oh so much more comfortable (or maybe just clean…who knows) and off to school I went, this will keep my feet from sweating so much. Gonna like that.

February 20, 2011. The bus between UB and Bagakhangai, Mongolia

Ive been going to UB a lot more of late than usual. It may be that as my Peace Corps service comes to a close there is more both to be done and also to do when in UB, but in all honesty im not ever going for anything but a practical reason. My Uncle and my mom both had packages waiting for me at the office, and I didn’t want to have to deal with that on my birthday weekend, so I just came in for a Saturday/Sunday layover. Besides, there is no internet at my town this weekend…
So I am bouncing along back to my town, with two packages full of goodies, one of which hopefully has a new book for me to read. I went outside the realm of Star Wars and got one Fantasy based in nature this time. Looking forward to that. I bought all the provisions I need for a good birthday. Olive oil, cheese, lemon juice (to flavor my hummus) two bottles of good white wine, corn flakes…and….a 20 dollar bottle of Jack Daniels. Seriously that costs a lot more in America right? How does that work? How does liquour shipped in from the states cost less here? Honestly though the only people coming to my birthday party are my counterparts so I imagine I will keep my bottle of Jack to myself and drink it at a more convenient time.
Last night I got myself quite happy at American Burgers and Fries. I love that place. Some of the cosmo PCV’s living in UB dropped in and I told them they were welcome to meet me next Friday for the “shindig” I am throwing for myself. In essence it would mean ill buy the first round of anyone who feels like showing up…or ill just drink myself silly as I have done many a night. Ever since we buried my Grandmother on my birthday at 23 ive not really ever made a big deal about these birthdays anyway. So onwards we drive…the road goes ever on and on…out from the door where it began, a path ahead the road does go…

February 21, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia

So, I opened a package. One sent from each side of my family. The one that my Uncle administered was pretty original. Lots of varying kinds of trail mixes and the like. Only had a little but already very tasty. There was one thing though. My uncle has snuck me a few bottles of hard liquor and the like. Very clever….but he sent NOTHING but vodka! No Jack Daniels, no Captain Morgan…..VODKA!!! Quite a good chuckle I got from that, and despite my aversion to the stuff I am sure I can put them to use on my birthday party on Thursday. Turning 30…heh.
Its really wonderful outside now. Cold but not daunting, and the wind is not there anymore. It means that I can stand outside without a hat on, and just sorta take it all in. Even in the winter (maybe even more) Mongolia is georgous, but too often the wind and cold deter you from seeing it. Today….absolutely stunning.

February 22, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Globus Hystericus. Also known as “A lump in your throat.” It’s a feeling I haven’t encountered in over two years. I am 99.9% certain this has no actual illment behind it. Its my mind giving me a physical condition to worry over. I had it when working on my Masters and applying to Peace Corps in the Spring of 2009. Now I find myself with the same annoying feeling.
Doesn’t hurt, clear mucus, nothing else is wrong with me and this stupid lump just wont go away. So I called Peace Corps medical for a favor. I go to UB on Friday for my birthday anyway, and ive asked them if they would be so kind to stick a scope down my throat and tell me there is nothing wrong down there. Personally I am certain this is just me not running my stress out so its manifesting but I might as well get a doctor to tell me im fine to maybe boost my psychological healing.
Common body work with me here!

February 23, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia

I grow impatient. Its my lack of running I know, but I really do. Today I spent three hours helping my counterpart get her photos. “Her” photos is a relative word. She doesn’t have a camera, so she uses mine. Not for special instances, as in I give her my camera and I see it two months later when I say I need it for my birthday. Next her computer wont transfer the photos, so she wants to use my computer. So I help her do that, then she wants me to keep all her photos (were approaching 5 GB of photos) till I can put them on a flash drive that will transfer photos to her computer so she can send them to her friend. They are photos to be seen exclusively by a friend too btw…
I grow impatient because its on a morning like this where my sole use has been my computer is that I feel I am REALLY not satisfying the first goal of the peace corps. I am not working my way out of a job out here. I am a release valve. The guy with the technology that works and the knowhow to use it that they have no particular interest in learning so that they could do it when I am gone. Their solution.... the next volunteer will probably be able to do it too. I choose not to be angry about a lot, but today im angry about this as all hell. It’s a buildup thing, ive spent far too long used by my town in this fashion, and I don’t have the option of running my stress away. I know it comes with the territory and the job...and I usually can just let it go, but it has gotten to me today more than it usually does. This is why I have a damn lump in my throat too.
Lets talk about something else…
So according to Foxnews there is a television show called “Spartacus” which follows the dudes life as he fought in a Ludo (gladiator training center) and whatnot. The wife of the Ludo owner was none other than a 10 year removed Xena named Lucy Lawless. In this new show (on Starz) Ms. Former Xena is seen in various raunchy scenes of getting it on both with men but also scenes of other women too. Its funny, Xena was just a few years before my time but I remember the innuendo of the show enough to know that all the former Xena bars in San Francisco must have all been screaming jackpot to finally see here in a televised setting doing the thing they always expected she and Gabrielle had been doing off the camera. Based on the four episodes I ever saw of Xena (two from the second to last season and the 2 of the beginning of the last season) I was holding out for Aeries.
This is what happens when you join the Peace Corps. Even with the help of fast internet and Hulu you still miss out on stupid television, and when you live in a town without bars or cafes or movie theatres and your stuck indoors for over half a year you realize just why television was invented. Yes its oversaturated now, but folks before tv….life was boring. Now granted it still kind of is, but ill tell yea ive lived in both ways of life now, and my relativity screams for high def once again. Ive gone on enough walks into the hills to put “Planet Earth” to shame.
So today is ger cleaning and supplies buying. I have no idea how many teachers intend to come to my ger for my birthday tomorrow, and so ill either have a big party and drink a little, or have a small party and get drunk. Either way, I think this weekend is going to try to be the last time I drink until I make my way to Germany at the end of March. I could use a few weeks of detox I think.
11:50pm update. I just got done with a phone interview with Georgetown University. Unlike Cornell I do not believe that my Peace Corps (other side of the world phone convo) impressed them all that much. Not that it matters, none of these schools are going to hire me without being able to see me (which they will not until the end of June and by then they have all hired) So as I wait for a few minutes to kill I poured myself a beer (so much for detox until the festivities are done) and am counting down to 30….30….Nah, lets not make this a big deal. I feel young and healthy, I run marathons, I still love sex and I still watch cartoons…. I can be 30 if all of those things remain….29…. Well my 20’s…I didn’t start out all that well but that was the strongest finish I could ever have. Go me.

….now im 30…

…::belch:::…

February 24, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

I saw on the news the events that are unfolding in Tunisia. I tell you, its funny what actually brings a country and its ruler down is it not? Those people have put up with that guy for decades! In the end their country begins an uprising that looks like it may actually throw the guy out…because their neighbor did it. Seriously did I miss some recent political misstep of Tunisia that started off their own insurrection…or really yea was it just the success of the Egyptian revolt?
So I am 30. Go me…
No philosophy, I promise. I know sometimes I write in this blog like I know what I am talking about. I wont even deny myself the idea that on VERY rare occasions I feel like I am genuinely on to something, but all in all…no. I just find comfort in occasionally writing things out that give me some peace of mind.
Lets not make this bigger than it is. My brother and sister were the first to send me regards on facebook. Very kind of them, we may have the Waspy interaction among adult siblings down pat, but we do truly all love each other that’s for damn sure. I like it, it gives peace of mind without being unnecessarily clingy. At the moment I am just cleaning up my ger for the army of people who will be showing up to sing me happy birthday and eat the bruschetta I am making. Go Mongolian life go! I wonder how many are planning to show…

February 25, 2011. The road to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Noone came to my birthday party. Oh dear, I am 12 years old all over again and for some crazy reason of both bad luck and being a horrible pain in the ass noone has been able to attend my birthday party. (hehe…hey mom. You’re the one who had to deal with me at that age. Do you remember what I was like!?! :::seriously people in my bus are asking me why I am laughing right now as I try to type this. That’s the great thing about if you change when you get older. Your good memories stay the same and your bad memories either fade away or become funny as hell:::) Undoubtedly everyones absence is due to something happening at Ondortolge that noone has bothered to tell me. My reaction when I was 11 years old was to go sit in my room alone and cry. This time at 30 I went and sat in my room alone and drank. See how much more mature I have become? Okay…now for the disclosure: I am not depressed about this. I find birthdays as little more than an excuse to drink more than I usually do, and that is a lot.
Funny thing though, yesterday in the afternoon before I thought my guests would arrive I went out for a run. I hadn’t been running since the week before, and the lump in my throat and the general all around discomfort I had been experiencing was gone. Like really gone. Adding further proof that my pain was psychological in nature and not something that actually was affecting me, but also that my life is so much better when I dedicate 1/24th of each day in the pursuit of running.
Until the age of 23, I never ran. I remember not always feeling all that good but considering it takes me merely a week of inactivity to truly feel lousy, I can only reminisce on how terrible I must have felt before.
Good news about noone coming to your birthday btw? You get to drink all the wine your kick ass Aunt sent you! Yes I drank 2 liters of wine in about three or four hours. Ive gotten drunker before, but its been a long time before I got to drink something so ambrosic that I wanted to kneel before gods that I don’t believe in and offer my blood in exchange for more of what was in my cup. What can I say, even while not as drunk as I have ever been I still got pretty damn drunk! So now I am en route to a doctors appointment and then to return to American Burgers and Fries to drink to my 30th in a much more roudy crowd, a crowd of fellow Peace Corps Volunteers. Go kick ass life…GO!!!!

February 27, 2011. The bus heading back to Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Now Peace Corps Volunteers and the UB restaurant American Burgers and Fries….now THEY know how to throw on a shindig! Got to UB and checked in to UB guesthouse, figuring as last week the place would be empty. How wrong I am. Not only lots of people, but exclusively PCVS! Now actually all of the PCV’s at the guesthouse were M21’s who decided to meet this weekend at the Peace Corps office to discuss the formation of summer camps, but it was also just a good excuse to hang out. Shamefully I know almost none of their names as I both rarely see any of them and I am not that good at names to begin with. Im also at the stage where its too embarrassing for me not to know their names so I just pretend to not be a constant name “throwerouter” Wasent there an episode of Seinfeld about all this?
First things first, I needed to get checked out by medical about the lump in my throat. Prognosis: It’s a stress lump. They looked in my mouth, felt for actual lumps in my throat and all around anomalies and found none. No other symptoms or physical pain past the discomfort of the sensation itself and therefore any x-ray or the like was unnecessary….in essence I just need to work on my stress. You may be surprised to find me stressed as I have very little these days to stress over, but I have always been prone to stress bouts and my inability to run has augmented me in such a state.
So pretty much as soon as I can start running again I will be fine. Not as easy to do as it sounds though… This week the weather has brought new batches of snow to the area, and so now we find ourselves with even icier roads. The weather is also going to be cloudy for the next 10 or so days. VERY uncommon in Mongolia. I had no real other chores in UB this week, so I just sat at a café an ate. Ive been eating and drinking a little too well of late. While at medical they weighed me but I still had gained eight pounds from last summer. I could feel it too. Jeans still fit, and I still feel semi agile but yea there is some weight on me I didn’t have four (or even 2) months ago. Well I could worry about eating a little less when I got back to my site and didn’t return to UB for a month, and that evening American Burgers and Fries were cooking me up a massive calzone for all the Peace Corps volunteers who were either there for the birthday bash or were just there and joined the masses.
That part was fun, but the M20 UB ladies who were my guide for the evening took me two blocks up to an art gallery I did not know existed. It was….AWESOME. It was chock full of ex-pats! Hot ex-pats too! Some of them were playing guitar and we all just mingled and played around a little. I chatted up two VERY hot German women, who seemed to think me turning 30 was the hottest thing since the lava lamp. A fellow PCV was even nice enough to buy me a round of tequila. Now I may not favor my liquor but that shot of tequila was something else! When you drink vodka the sensation you experience (provided its not rotgut) is one of a cleansing type sensation. With tequila, the sensation is blinding and shocking. It tasted good.
It was rounding 1am at the art gallery/guitar thingy and I thought everyone was going to take off…and then something else was proposed by the UB ladies. We were going to a nightclub. Now then, I famously hate nightclubs. I don’t dance well, I hate screaming loud techno music and I especially hate expensive beers. But you know, I was drunk enough but still with my wits, I was so damn flattered that I kept being taken to all these places that I had not been to before, and most of all they assured me that a Philippine cover band played at the place too. The last one sealed the deal. It was a nightclub called strings….never had heard of it before, and like all nightclubs its built the exact same way. Dance floor, comphy seats for VIP’rs and a bar with expensive beer. We checked in our coats and got the one and only beer for that spot. I was drunk enough at that point anyway.
When we first got there the band was on a break, and head splitting techno music of some kind was being played. I sat at a table while the others danced during this and sorta went into a sense of serenity about my 30th birthday right then. I realized now that I am 30 I never ever again have to go to one of these insane and loud nightclubs ever again. Despite the noise I was having fun, and then when the band showed up and started playing the noise at least took on the form of music. It was a cover band, and was very presentable. We white folks were there in enough numbers to form our own dance circle which ambitious Mongolian men and women would join and we just wobbled around to Bon Jovi and Metallica and more. That might have been the highlight point too. When everything was just so damn perfect, and once again I felt like I was the king of the world.
We closed down the nightclub, and at 3:30am were in a semi-out of the way place in UB. We piled into a cab. 5 of us in a space built to hold 3. Some were literally piled atop one another. Hehe…that was an amusing and drunken ride back to the state department store. At that point we all had to walk back to our respective guesthouses. So there I was…30…alcohol…alone…at night. Additionally the side gates to our guesthouse courtyard close after midnight and given both the ice and my state of intoxication I did not trust myself to climb the iron fence (see? Even intoxicated I usually have my wits about me) so instead I went to the driving gate which meant walking down a pitch black alleyway to reach it. As I did so and a few rather burly looking Mongolians were chain smoking to a side of the alley all I could think was “wow…now would be a REALLY good time for someone to try and rob me!” But the Sky Father was watching over me, and through sheer blind dumb luck I got back to the guesthouse and into my room with nothing taken or stolen. I was asleep at 4am…and awake and sober at 8:30am….i was spared a hangover for a birthday present I suppose. Saturday was chatting with the M21’s about their summer plans and a movie night at the guesthouse with some of the 21’s. A lite Saturday so to speak. Appropriate.
I woke up today and its time to head back to UB. I didn’t get the front seat that I like which sucks because I was the first on the scene….but you cant have it all…right? Time to post this blog I suppose. I forgot to take a lot of pictures but ill have a few in a little bit. February is about to end. That’s sorta seen as the end of Mongolian winter. Now we move on to the chilly and windy days of spring. Not a lot of days left of Peace Corps service….Time moves right along.