Thats all for April's blog. The Close of Service approaches and this will be the last i see of many M20's...

April 8, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Well, short week. I am okay with that for the first of the last four. Actually im not here for the last week so…wow I only have 2 real weeks of teaching left….its not sinking in I don’t think. This second year has moved along at ludicrious speed. Truly I blinked and we went from October to March. Hardest month of the school year? By far January, Easiest? I would say that whole October/November time when I was learning to diversify my cooking and I could still recreationally go outside. I was playing basketball with kids until the second week of November this school year. Wow…
So I had a videoconference job interview with my ole alma matter last night. It was 10pm my time and 10am their time. It was funny having the conference in a place I knew and had been in before. There have been a few A/V additions since I left but it did bring back memories. I put a really good foot forward and I really would love to have this job. I do what I love and I love what I do, and this is where I know I would thrive the most. Yet alas, I am here and they are there…it may come down to just that.
So its 5pm and I usually leave the school by now but today I don’t want to leave, for there will be no internet this weekend and the 50+ weather does not kick in until Monday. No matter, my stepfather sent me a package with some new books. Some good looking Sci-fi….and Bridgete Jones Diary…. My stepdad is all for jokes and so am I, but I am not quite sure whats funny about this aside from being a girls book and I am a guy. Must be a “He’s so bored I bet he will even read this!” type thing….i will probably.
Boring looking weekend up ahead. After my 12 day German thing ive chosen to remain sober until the Close of Service conference. Three reasons, the first being having tasted the liquid of the gods themselves I will not sully my tongue with vile brews of the yellow alcohol nature in Mongolia nor the dark fires of vodka. The second being a month of exercise and getting my body fit for the summer months. Hanging up the sauce will give me little else to do after all. I shall be returning stateside thin and trim and tough! Finally, the start of May will be when the beer tents in Ulaanbaatar open, and as school closes around that time and Mom doesn’t show up until the end of the month ill have plenty of time to spare with those, and the beer tents at least serve Gem and Bavaria, which is infinitely more passable of a beer than Borgeo or its equivalent. Given that I am not going to drink this month and the sizeable amount of money I have stored up in the Khan bank account I have….well, May and June are going to be some golden summer months!
As for this weekend… No problem, clean the ger, cook, run, type the story….just like the good ole days. I miss Civilization IV, or any computer game for that matter! First thing to buy when I get back stateside!

April 9, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Stupid wind! It’s the most beautiful day outside but the wind today is really one of those spring type breeze things. The type of wind that if this was the desert would flay the skin off your flesh if you stayed outside long enough. As for me it merely means that I am barely able to run at all and that I cant just lounge around outside and maybe play with the kids in the park. No matter, got my ger all nice and clean at least. Tomorrow I hope to get a good hour or two run in if the wind dies down.

April 10, 2011. Bagkhangai, Mongolia.

More wind, more running, more sun, warmer weather and an all around happy weekend off the grid. Tonight I will use the last of my cheese to make a good grilled cheese sandwich and ill top it off with a liter of orange juice. Life…is….good….
There is something very strange about me. Just over a week ago I was in a state of intoxication for pretty much 12 days straight, and I didn’t wean off, go through a withdrawal or anything. One day the end of a bender, the next day stone sober as though all I drank in Germany was tea and exercised. Naturally the lack of calories from beer has made me lose weight but all in all I really cant feel any particular difference at all between how I was and how I am now. I don’t deserve the degree of flexibility and versatility my body provides for me. It just somehow all came together that way and even at the age of 30 I still party like a rockstar one minute and the next minute work like mad and run like the marathoner that I am. Ill take that trait over something artificial like wealth or social skills any day of the week.
So this week of school looks to be pretty routine. 2nd to last week of official teaching for me. I imagine ill be doing some informal teaching in May but nope, the second to last week of April and we wrap this all up in a bow. A fellow PCV who I trained with over 2 years ago named Allison did something absolutely kick ass. We are doing a final slideshow for the M20 group to be shown at the COS conference, and though Allison is becoming a PCVL and will be staying a third year and as the higher ranked person was assigned the task of creating the video she was actually kind enough to offer to have the two of us work on it together. We have already begun to set up the email to receive all the PCV’s pictures and before the conference we are gonna take the before/after photos of the training groups and the whole M20 group. Really? Where the hell did the second year go?

April 11, 2011. Bagkhangai, Mongolia

Month 22 in Mongolia. I am running out of ways to express how quickly time has flown this second year, so ill add in something that sounds even more encouraging. Its easily over 50 degrees today and starting next week its supposed to be around 60 or 70. With weather like that….naturally I could make use of this very very well. The wind even looks to be dying down in the coming days. I predict the sea of green before we even hit May! Naturally this means that there will be some random and dramatic temperature drop, but hey im in too good a mood to care.
I think one of the reasons I remain a little sleepy during the day is that I haven’t drank any coffee or soda in over a week either. This is quite monumental, for any of the Jacobs/Matthews bloodline come to think of it. Its meant a lot more juice and water instead. That’s good for me, I just gotta get into the habit of it. Its tricky, but the warmer weather also makes me open to the idea of turning over a new leaf.

April 12, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia

Whoops, forgot a small little aspect of the warm weather. There really is nothing I can think of to complain about the weather being warm this year. The cold was wonderful, just long enough, and though the wind is strong it’s a gentle fan breeze compared to last year. There is however something that happens when the weather gets warm that I forgot happens.
Drunk men go outside… I hate that part. Its not the warm weathers fault, but dammit yea. During the winter the drunken men go and buy their vodkas and then find the apartment or ger in which the husbands wife is not present and get full on drunk, but at the very least because of the cold they tend to stay secluded to that one location. Now with warm weather they can buy the bottle, go home and drink it with their friends…and then go outside and harass the foreigner.
Drunken Mongolian men also have this one really annoying thing they do where they shake your hand and then try to lightning fast yank your whole body. I don’t understand the goal of this, but it has happened enough times now that I am pretty sure it’s a common thing. Now luckily I am tall, strong and man. I try to imagine being half my size and weight and a woman, and I can see how this goes from annoying to dangerous.
I took a long way back to my ger to avoid a crowd of drunks sitting nearby the well…ah well, if that’s the worst the warm weather brings I say bring it on. Today its just under 70 degrees and theres hardly any wind at all, bring it on!!!

April 13, 2011. Bagkhangai, Mongolia.

There is a significant difference between being original and being creative. Original means it comes from no other source than yourself while being creative can mean taking some idea that already exists and modifying it to creating something new of your devising. Some may even argue that given that we are subtly influenced by everything around us that nothing these days may in fact be “original” but the point I am making is that while I lack certain original qualities, if you show me a good thing I can promise you that if you give me two or three other cool things I can turn them into a hybrid that blows them all out of the park.
Last year my big thing was taking film and television shows that I had at my disposal and mixing them with cool music to make montage music videos. “House of Flying Daggers” “Twilight” “Balls of Fury” “Buffy/Angel” the list goes on…that habit sort of faded off when I had more work to do and internet to distract me, and given how geeky some of them are I have wisely only published one of the montage videos I created.
Today though, after a 10k run I did something creative I have been meaning to do for months, actually pretty much since I moved to my ger. I have made a Green Acres themed Ger song….and its good! So fellow amature film Guru and M20 Allison who I trained with I will help incorporate this into the Close of Service Slide Show for the M20’s. I personally am making my own movie about my own private experiences and I will likely use the video in both movies, and tonight I do the editing…
Fun day!

April 14, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia

I did something foolish today. Whenever I have internet handy a good way to pass some time between classes is to go to the peace corps journals website where I can read all manner of stories and blogs from PCV’s both within Mongolia and without. It also contains a great deal of information regarding news events having to do with Peace Corps. When ABCNews did that absolute railroad piece on us the journals website was nice enough to publish the Peace Corps report on all major crimes that have happened to volunteers in the last 15 years while in service. Considering both where we work and the relativity of crime in some of these countries its actually not that bad. But in one morning to read 15 years of terrible crime histories that have happened to PCV’s…well lets just say I am glad both to be a man, but also to live in a town that really is pretty crime free.
I really don’t have a good reason for why I haven’t been robbed on one of my adventures though. Aside from stopping the odd pickpocket here or there I really have had noone try anything on me, be it robbery or assault or anything nefarious at all. I drink a lot, travel alone, I look like I could be rich on occasion… I guess providence has taken me for a pet in some circumstances such as this.
Now having written that, I have a whole summer in which to get robbed or assaulted and having successfully jinxed myself, but you get the idea. I don’t recommend reading that crime report btw. It shows just how much Peace Corps follows through on crime but it just REALLY is hard to read in one sitting!
Ive been sober close to two weeks now and I have been running five miles a day every day during that time too. Its impressive how a few degrees of weather and a little less wind can really get me to pound some pavement.


April 15, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

So it turns out my school is going to extend its school year past May 1st this year. Its so different teaching in Mongolia. The idea of rules or policy just really is not here. Check that, its all here and written down on paper…and noone even reads the damn thing. Each town and city and specific school just goes on about its business like it is the one and only deciding voice on the matter. Only in a Mongolian town can a teacher “just not come in” without anyone even batting an eye…
This is not me complaining by the way. I obviously don’t have all that much to do these days so it I may as well teach right? It will give my daytime some structure as I reach the final two months of my time in Mongolia. I do imagine though that much like last year at Ondortolge a good number of teachers are just going to start giving classes all around a “miss” or at the very least phone it in. Classroom numbers will also begin to thin for two reasons. Some kids will be outside playing hooky because its far too nice outside and some will be headed out to the countryside to help with the chores of keeping the livestock alive and well.
I think for next week ill be taking it light. I got a final few episodes of Samurai Jack that I can show the kids, ill do that. Tomorrow the weekend begins and once again for a few days ill be off the grid. Good, give me some time to run longer and soak up some sun and peace and quiet from the rambunctious school. The stores got a new batch of peppers and tomatoes so a good salad over the next few days will be a good substitute for being sober. Will say this though, only ten days off alcohol and running everyday and already my body is looking awesome once again. Go metabolism go!

April 16, 2011. Bagkhangai, Mongolia.

Weekend sobriety is a lot harder to keep than weekday sobriety. It’s the extra time no doubt. Drinking because I am bored. Well good, boredom is something that can usually be cured!
I wanted to buy a few beers and just start walking out into the hills like I did over the summer, but I settled for orange juice and just sort of walked around. It was pleasant and nice, nothing too special. Bruschetta and salad for dinner. Its too windy to run today (its about 20mph outside) so tomorrow ill take a good 2 hours getting around 12 or 13 miles in…I am going to start the summer off looking hot as all hell. I just hope the beer tents at the State Department store don’t hog all my time. I was sort of glad to hear I would be teaching a little bit of the month of May. Gives me a reason to stay put and stay on my exercise program.
Boring Saturdays….

April 17, 2011. Bagkhangai, Mongolia.

So….heres something interesting. Since I have gotten back from Germany I have been in sleeping in my ger for the last two weeks. My yard mother is a teacher at the school and I see her and my yard is teeming with broken down cars and vans, one of which is literally propped against the side of my ger. I keep getting this wonderful dream image of the weight finally just snapping through my ger structure when im asleep…but anyways.
So I have been here in the yard alone for the last two weeks. I mean ALONE… Neither my mother, father or younger brother have been in the yard during this time. I know they were separated but usually one sleeps in the ger and one sleeps at a neighbors… Theories naturally abound. Most likely my father is on some long term mechanical project outside of town and my younger brother is living with relatives in UB as my mother is simply finding the floor of an apartment with company more enjoyable than an empty ger.
Mongolians don’t like being alone. Alone is directly associated with depression in this country. Now my town is progressive enough to grasp the concept that yes maybe the tall white foreigner actually likes to not be bothered every single minute of the day but Mongolian by default will usually find a way not to spend much time by themselves.
It does mean though that I literally have my own yard for my final few months of service. How unique! Seriously I am just one guy who has his own little world to reside in. I love my ger, I really do. I bitched and moaned so much about it last year nothing would have been more ironic than if I hated the experience, but here I am having loved every day I got to sleep in this glorious round tent I called home. Its truly the one and only place in the world that people put these things to use, a testament to their usefulness to still be in service for millennia after millennia!
So to pass the time today I went out early before the winds kicked in and I ran for 2 hours. Just under a half marathon. One hour out, one hour back no food and only a half liter of water. When the run was over I felt almost no different than when I began…gods damn its good to run and even more hot damn its good to be in shape!

April 18, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

Power outage in my town today. No rhyme or reason, certainly not from a storm or anything. No matter, it’s a nice day outside and this gives me a reason to write my book and to play some Wizardry.
Speaking of my book. Remember how I am calling it “Three Shots of Vodka” in honor of the far more epic tale of “Three Cups of Tea” Turns out that book may become the next “Million Little Pieces” Wow….theres just no real story is there…
Oh yea, a NES emulator/mod has been developed for the timeless game of wizardry, in which I am fighting to get my character up to a ninja!.

April 19, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

The construction crew is back. The second school currently being built that will be up and running for the next PCV now has its construction crew hard at work. Absent during the last six months due to the cold weather and the like they set up a construction sleeping ger and have gotten right back to work. That’s nice, means that the semi-cool weather must be here to stay and the like! Tuesdays are boring. I don’t really get to teach all that much and the office is jam packed with people doing a whole lot of nothing, including little babies who need to work on their audio levels. I am well aware that I too have a very loud voice, which I have found ways to control. Yet in my rambunctious youth I can only imagine how loud I was. Good gods how the hell did my parents not throw me out of a window????
Never having children….EVER!!!! Love kids, they rock and all that but ill be part of their learning experience or the godfather or goofy uncle who spoiles kids rotten….not a parent!

April 20, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

I only teach one class today. Its my last week of teaching 4th grade and I decided to go out with a bang. I showed them a one of a kind movie! I had been saving this up for 9 months, waiting for it to be the last thing I ever get the pleasure of showing this class, and so…I showed them “Labyrinth.” Yes…Jim Henson and George Lucas on Acid. Where David Bowie takes a bunch of muppets as minions, puts on tights and signs along to “Dance Magic Dance…” …I promise I am not gay, I am just a wildly emotional and mildly flamboyant individual. It was a confusing and rousing success. I know for a fact they did not understand a word of what was said, but they loved every second of the film. Kick ass….
Alas, I had only one class to teach today, and as I am going to remain sober until I do my medical checkup next week I found myself without a whole heck of a lot to do…so I went running.
Hot damn I love running everyday. More then that I can run as long as I want as my digits aren’t freezing while I do so. Its strange how two months ago when I went running in three layers I had to run while clenching my crotch so that my most important digit would not freeze, and now I find myself in a Muay Thai wife beater and boxer shorts running on and on and on.
I should really start to run a little faster. I run almost 5 miles every single day and have been running between 3-6 miles at least three times a week for over six years now. I have become the master of the ten minute mile, which is a very respectable and brisk jog, so I guess aside from running more marathons the only thing to do is get myself to run faster instead of farther.
I have been resisting this for many reasons. To begin with, running for the longest while has sort of become my meditation. Something about the movement, the serenity, and the high level of activity really does something to me that helps bring all matters I consider to a much higher clarity. If I start to run faster then for the next month or so my body and mind will be too focused on my running to let myself concentrate like I can now as I adjust to a faster speed. I guess there is always a cost to whatever you do. I do know though id lose an arm before id lose a leg…Running is just too damn important to me.
The next time I join the Peace Corps maybe ill be in a more tropical location and can spend my time instead running longer year round…or an island where ill live near the beach and can take up running… Two months left of service…I see my mom in about a month too…that hasn’t sunk in yet. Its been far too long that I have been away from my American family that the concept of seeing them again doesn’t give me an immediate reaction….im sure it will kick in as May rolls around.
I love the month of May, all good and wonderful things happen during that month. Even in Mongolia…its when the beer tents outside the state department store open back up. Ive been sober for close to three weeks now… I love what its done to my body but boy howdy am I bored sometimes.

April 21, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.

It’s a little known fact. Most people think that most movies that were based on either comic books or video games didn’t really kick off until the 21st century when X-Men really paved the way. Its sometimes hard for me to remember all of them, but some of the earliest live action movies of video games go back way further.
Back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s a lot of action video games and comics were made into video games. They usually had the motto and themes of movies of that time. The innocence of youth, the unbendable will of the human spirit. The goodness of all of us to be hard working and industrious people who rely on ourselves above all else…basically your Regan propaganda stuff. Perhaps the greatest example I can think of… “Double Dragon” Released back in about 1991 or so the movie was and still holds a very dear place in my heart. When I was younger I didn’t really realize it but the two protagonists are in essence if Bill and Ted knew martial arts. I mean it, it’s the two of them running around fighting characters vaguely familiar to the video game and goofy gangs such as “The Clowns” and “The Mowhawks” is a great tribute to “The Warriors” or something like that.
Recently I dusted off my copy of the movie “Double Dragon” and I really gotta say, they don’t make movies like they used to. I am not old either, merely I mean that less than 20 years ago we used terminology that we don’t anymore… loved the movie.

April 22, 2011. Bagakhangai, Mongolia.
Today’s Quote: “I do not like that man…I must get to know him more…” –Abraham Lincoln

So today something totally awesome happens. We as humans are very prone to the idea of symmetry. We like to see how things continue as they were before again and again and we strive for it in many ways. Perhaps the most enjoyable though is when it seems to happen by pure coincidence, and it is that that happens today.
It is my grandfathers birthday, bringing him to the ripe bold age of ninety years old! (may we all have such longevity!) Well now that in it of itself is pretty awesome, but better still is that this means the 30 year interval now has the perfect round number. I am 30 years old, my father is 60 years old, and my grandfather is now 90 years old. That ladies and gentlemen…is pretty badass. It also tragically means that barring Esther keeping a secret from me that I will not be bearing a child at the age of 30 and will not carry on the symmetry of this cycle. Still, such a cool event as a grandfathers birthday warranted a phone call home. I called at 9am their time as that’s 9pm my time and I sleep pretty early these days, and though my grandmother picked up the phone my grandfather was out at the farmers market in Greensboro, North Carolina. I gotta say for 90 years old my granddad is still pretty spry! Ah well, I got to catch up a little with my happy as always grandmother who was thrilled to hear that I would be back in America within a few months. Its funny, but I really sort of miss Greensboro myself of late. Maybe I just miss the idea that I used to consider Greensboro rural…now the town has a population that rivals all Mongolian cities but Ulaanbaatar! I miss salmon steaks and iced tea on my grandparents (now my dads) house and I miss that annoyingly muggy summer heat that for some reason seems so appealing now. I even miss the endless amount of lawns that need to be mowed because there are no animals to just graze the ground like we have here in Mongolia. Mongolia once again demonstrates the way in which relativity can make all the difference in all things…
… in other words it was great talking to my grandmother this morning, and I got to wish my granddad a happy birthday through her…

so what else happened today….

Okay, now odds are I will be teaching at random intervals throughout the month of May at my school as needed, but if May is anything like last year the kids who actually have tests that matter have already taken them and the concept of sitting quietly in a school loses to the prospect of going outside and running around like it is going out of business. Given how its not even May yet and its already 60 degrees outside I imagine school will be even more empty than it usually is. So, for the sake of argument I am going to say that today is my last day of class. I showed them the rest of Labryinth, and I helped them all in writing down and singing the David Bowie song “Dance Magic Dance” I love to teach…but I am looking forward to the summer as well. If they want to see another film during the month of May I think that I will show them the 1987 live action “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” movie. Ah good times.
So, im a geek…obviously. Have been my whole life, and while I may mature the geekiness remains. One thing that qualifies my geek status is my daily checkup on a website called aintitcool.com. The title of this website was actually based on the John Travolta one liner from the John Woo 1997 movie entitled “Broken Arrow” in which Travolta goes one on one with that dude who played Will Scarlet in the Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie. Anyways, the site has been around since people started socially using the internet and it has always been my source of finding out about news on what new on tv.
This is a website run by a couple king geeks out of texas who have sources in film, tv and some video game material btw…
So anyway I had little going on being a Friday and when I scanned down the website I saw the following caption: “Capone says: The Paul Reiser show doesn’t suck that much!” I keep up on movie and tv news a lot so it takes a lot to bring me up short…but the name Paul Reiser. Now that’s a name I have not heard in over a decade. The man who was half of the great “Mad About You” duo. The tv show that made me fall in love with New York, the idea of marriage, and pretty happy blondes like Hellen Hunt. As per Paul Reiser…well he didn’t do anything bad to the show at least. The show of course completely fell to ruin the minute they started trying to, and then actually having kids. What the hell is that about?

-Mad About You
-L Word
-Angel
-Charmed
-House
-ER
-The Office
-Xena
-Even Community I fear will apart now that what’s her name is knocked up
-Spartacus: Lucy Lawless gets knocked up and the next episode shes dead!

All of them have lost their zeal the minute a kid shows up…but I digress.
So to hear he’s making a show…well a quick Hulu later and I watched an episode. My feelings…difficult to say. To see what Paul looks like ten years later is sorta what happens when you compare Ed O’Neil from his “Married With Children” days to his “Modern Family” times now. Not really all that different looking, just a little more filled out and with grey hairs. The show itself is of Paul Reiser as the family man in the suburbs. Hell the house even looks like one of the “Modern Family” houses!!! To me the show feels like it’s the continuation of Mad About You, except in the last ten years Paul dumped Jamie, married another woman, moved to the suburbs and started to have children. Not the worst show ive ever seen and I hope it gets to go on to another season, but you never know. The crowds are fickle….Greys Anatomy made it, Firefly got canceled…so being good seldom results in assured outcome.
But I recommend everyone who likes Modern Family to give the show a try…or Mad About You, but your either over 50 or were like me and watched this when you were a kid.

April 23, 2011. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
“When you decide to move on, there are only a few things to take with you. A few sets of sturdy clothing, the tools of your trade, and a memento of your past. After that, everything else…you just don’t need.” –Dexter Morgan

This morning I woke up rather early. A month sober has made me realize just how much alcohol was making me sleep more than I needed to over the winter. Then again, the 4pm sunsets were not helping either but still. Anyway while packing to get to UB with time to kill I started looking around at some of the things I posses and wondering what exactly will be returning to the states and what things will not. I am not a man of a great number of possessions. Buddha hit that on the head and Chuck Paulanuk brought it to my young adulthood attention ten years ago: “The things you own, end up owning you.” Yet today I looked around at all the things that are “mine” and realized that there is so very little I will be returning with.
My mother told me when I left that none of my clothing would be welcome back when I return. How wonderfully Freudian that at the age of thirty my mother still tells me what I can do and it actually gets enforced. Actually the reason her demands are still met are due to the fact that she never makes a demand I cant follow, and she is willing to bend her rules from time to time. So when looking at the duffel bag under my bed and in the back corner of my drawer I realized that a lot of the formal clothing I bought I never even wore. I only used my ancient khaki cargo pants and polo shirts for teaching, and the other formal gear was worn only once or twice. Meaning I have two dress shirts, a tie, black cargo pants and formal black pants that I never wore once…and should a job stateside that requires formal clothing come up that would be a handy thing to not have to purchase again. As per some of the other clothing I have…yes I imagine that even my hand washing has not given my casual shirts their last call.
I looked at some of the shirts I have here and saw that they are all around five years old. That was back in 2004, the time when I had lost all my weight and was finally in shape enough to wear the decent one shirt/pant combo I loved. My two pairs of jeans were also exactly as old. Size 30 by 34…hot damn its great to be thin! Alas, going beyond even smell the jeans I brought have reached their journeys end. Both are worn and shredded in various spots, and though I can still fit in them, it may be time for another set. So no jeans. The socks I own are finished. The wool ones were very nice but I don’t see myself living in -40 conditions with tents much in the future. Maybe for a keepsake ill take one pair home, but it may be nice to donate my remaining pairs of socks to the M22’s. Im sure someone could forgive the smell in exchange for the warmth.
My boxers…again five years old. They are worn and shredded, most of which were already falling apart when I first joined two years ago. Now they barely even have a partition for each leg anymore. Yet somehow they still have the red string on them. The string the Thai kickboxing camp tied to the cloth that signified they were one particular load. Ive always been amazed how in five years those tiny red threads somehow stuck around…
Like all things I own, it has a story behind it. It has traveled with me through good times and bad. Hard knocks and golden ages…and yet time little by little wears all things away….
Running shoes….winter coats…foxtails and solar showers….all dearly purchased…and all will likely be left behind. I just don’t need them, or like my running shoes will buy a new set when I get back. I pounded a lot of pavement with those running shoes, but two years is the life expectancy of those things when you run as much as I do…maybe even a little less. The winter coat was nice, but I miss my black trenchcoat… My Harry Dresden look will be taken back up when I return.
As per my book collection…I dunno… The books I have had sent to me over the last two years have been a saving grace, especially last year with the absence of the internet. Though I love every one of them the logistics of bringing them all back would nearly occupy a suitcase in it of itself! Perhaps I will donate the hardcovers I have to the Peace Corps library and hang onto a few key novels that have sentimental value to me. Ill have to decide on that when the time gets closer.
When flipping through my books and files collection I came across a notebook I hadn’t seen in a LONG time, and yet when I saw it my heart warmed. I had found my old Mongolian language notes. The ones I had taken notes on two years ago in Erdene. I flipped through the pages, looking at the things I had written down and didn’t know. Every time I turned a page I laughed and cried. I looked at all the words and things I didn’t know how to say. I still suck at speaking foreign languages, but every now and then you need to look back on what happened in the past to realize how different you are now. Ill hang on to those tiny notebooks. A good keepsake/souvenier of personal value.
After that I sort of looked over everything else in my ger. Kitchen supplies, water bins, decks of cards, jump ropes and a few toiletries I never used like sunblock… in essence, my ger is full of things that when I move on I am truly just leaving behind. Its important to have that ability I think. To let that which is no longer to do with you…just let it go. I should take that lesson and apply it psychologically too.
Well I guess the month of May and June can be used to clean ger and give away things as I will be splitting my May and June between UB and my town tying up odds and ends and just making sure theres nothing left undone.
My host father/family still owes me over 50,000 tugriks but seeing as I am not all that pressed for cash ive decided to leave the matter and consider it a gift of goodwill.
So when being driven into UB it turns out that my town has a brand new bus to use for carting people back and forth. Compared to the minivan that used to take us this thing is mammouth! Seriously its got seating for 25…which meant 50 people crammed in it but still it was nice to have it. Its very Korean of a bus too, the writing is even in Korean too. Nice to see my town getting nice, new things. Sure it may not survive a trip to Dadal but it certainly would do fine carting people back and forth between Bagakhangai and UB. Itll be nice for the next two PC volunteers in Bagakhangai to use!
Anyway, today I bought a bottle of duty free whiskey to compliment the bottle of Jagermeister I brought from Germany so that for the COS conference we will have something to party with… On Monday I will find myself in a dentists chair and I will see if my new habit of daily flossing will do anything to improve my time with these sadists, on Tuesday I run through medical to be sure that I am illness free and hopefully capable of another round of service at the conclusion of this one. Then on Wednesday…wow, its that old gang of mine. The M20 PCV’s, all together again…one …last …time. The Close of Service conference is about to begin…
Endgame, last call, twilight, the dark shadow cast by the final salute…Couldn’t tell if I want to laugh or cry at this moment believe me. I think that’s all for this months blog. Ill pick back up and fill you in on the conference in May… The month of May

…my favorite month of the year is almost upon us…