This week Cosmo officially started printing in Mongolia. This is pretty cool. The women of Mongolia are already stunningly beautiful and incredibly well dressed. It is not uncommon to see Mongolian ladies strutting their stuff down Peace Ave in 4-6" heels over ice covered and slick sidewalks. Do they slip? Rarely. Do they even look apprehensive? Never. Now, they have an international publication recognizing them and including them in fashion and women's issues. Superb.
Only there's one problem, Cosmo's move into Mongolia is the brunt of late night TV jokes. I understand that no topic is sacred and that anything can be fodder for comedy. However, they piece that you, Stephen Colbert, did is both ill researched and insulting.
One line insinuates that Cosmo will now be able to help Mongolian women feel self-conscious as well as women all over the world. This could be true. However, the part that you seem to think that is most concerning for Mongolian women are their beards. Here's the quote, "Now that Mongolian women have Cosmo, they'll finally know which body parts to feel insecure about -- it's the beards." Dear Stephen, Mongolian women don't have beards. Actually, Mongolian men rarely wear beards either. One idea that I've heard is that wearing a beard is a sign that a man has lost his father, and is nearly an orphan. Beards are not a good sign on Mongolians. Cosmetically or symbolically. Thanks.
You also posit some possible headlines..."This Season's Hottest Unisex Leather Gerkins"; "Go From Stable Girl to Yurt Flirt"; and "Does Your Mongol Have a Horde on the Side?"
Where to begin? Steve, dear. They're not gerkins, and they're probably not leather. It's called a deel, and you'd be pretty hard pressed to find a warmer piece of clothing. In fact they're absolutely beautiful. Deels are often made of bright, patterned silks and lined with various furs or hides. They are warm and yet pliable to allow for things like riding horses, and conquering nations. Leather, while great for shoes, wallets, and things, would be too heavy to wear for manual labor and riding. Which is mostly what they're worn for because deels are most common among countryside folk. Most people of the younger generations in the city have deferred to western wear, which is a shame. Deels are beautiful - like most things in Mongolia.
Next, "yurt flirt"...really? Fooling around, dating around, and multiple partners doesn't seem to be the style of Mongolian women. American women maybe. But not Mongolian women. Most women I've talked to either live with their parents while they go to school or work. Or, they live with their husbands and families. It's kind of hard to date around when you've got mom and dad and honor looking over your shoulder the whole time. They seem much more interested in finding the one person they can actually share a life with - not just the flavor of the week. Also, it's not a yurt. It's a ger. Kind of like - it's not Genghis. It's Chinngis.
I was recently listening to an interview with John Stewart and he seemed to think that research was one of the most important parts of comedy - because if you don't have the right facts you're not funny, you're just an ass. And, that's what this piece makes you look like - an ass. Most people in America don't even have an inkling of a clue of what life in Mongolia is like, and now you've painted a picture of a homely, backwater, Mongoloid existence and it's simply not true. Mongolian people, men and women, are beautiful and proud people. Who else can look as sexy as Mongolians while surviving -40F/C temperatures?
Don't get me wrong, Mongolia is by no means perfect - it's got it's share of problems. But, fashion is not one of them.
Stevie, dear - get it right please.
With embarrassment and frustration,
An American in Mongolia
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been.
I suppose that this is the time of year when people start reflecting on the past 12 months. We start measuring how far our lives have come, and plotting a course for the next 12 months. Well, I have come pretty far if I do say so myself. Starting the year at an AIESEC conference, learning about this far off, magical place called Mongolia. Spending a week in India on a mission trip, of all things. Seeing my family in Michigan. Road tripping across the country with my best friend. Moving to Utah to move to Mongolia. Getting kicked out of my apartment. Taking "black" taxis, trains, sleeper buses, and other fun things to get in and out of China. Moving into a new apartment. And so,so many other things.
In 5 days I will have been in Mongolia for six whole months. That's crazy. It certainly does not feel like 6 months has passed. At least, not at a normal rate. In school, time always felt like it was dragging. Not this time, no sir. 5 days until I've been here for six months, one month the first ever conference for AIESEC Mongolia will be closing, in one month and four days I will be going to Italy, and then shortly after that we will have elected and selected the next MC team for Mongolia 2011-2012. And, my team will start passing on the legacy we have been working our butts off to create. Then we will move on and dive headlong into another year of craziness.
In the spirit of reflecting on the last year, I think it would be fun to do a "things I've learned this year" list:
-Road trips are best done with good friends and loud music
-Never eat unwashed street vegetables
-Traveling on a poor man's salary can result in interesting adventures
-Supposedly you can get chlamydia from koalas
-Teammates make tough, awkward situations so much easier
-Skype is truly a gift from the gods
-Downloading is fun for everyone!
-Camping in the cold without a sleeping bag is probably a stupid idea, but will result in great stories and hours of enjoyment, well, for your friends
-Poker is an internationally appreciated way of buying friendship
- -20C really isn't that cold (-4F)
-Getting dragged into teaching English is not at all related to your ability to teach
-Coats can be magic
-If the electricity, the hot water, and the internet are out it's probably time to go out for a beer
-Drinking and working don't have to be mutually exclusive activities
-Sometimes strippers show up at the most unexpected places
-Labels on food should always have pictures, languages are unreliable
-Walking on ice in boots without treads is fun! Or dangerous...
-Sometimes the smallest ideas can lead to the biggest adventures
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."
In 5 days I will have been in Mongolia for six whole months. That's crazy. It certainly does not feel like 6 months has passed. At least, not at a normal rate. In school, time always felt like it was dragging. Not this time, no sir. 5 days until I've been here for six months, one month the first ever conference for AIESEC Mongolia will be closing, in one month and four days I will be going to Italy, and then shortly after that we will have elected and selected the next MC team for Mongolia 2011-2012. And, my team will start passing on the legacy we have been working our butts off to create. Then we will move on and dive headlong into another year of craziness.
In the spirit of reflecting on the last year, I think it would be fun to do a "things I've learned this year" list:
-Road trips are best done with good friends and loud music
-Never eat unwashed street vegetables
-Traveling on a poor man's salary can result in interesting adventures
-Supposedly you can get chlamydia from koalas
-Teammates make tough, awkward situations so much easier
-Skype is truly a gift from the gods
-Downloading is fun for everyone!
-Camping in the cold without a sleeping bag is probably a stupid idea, but will result in great stories and hours of enjoyment, well, for your friends
-Poker is an internationally appreciated way of buying friendship
- -20C really isn't that cold (-4F)
-Getting dragged into teaching English is not at all related to your ability to teach
-Coats can be magic
-If the electricity, the hot water, and the internet are out it's probably time to go out for a beer
-Drinking and working don't have to be mutually exclusive activities
-Sometimes strippers show up at the most unexpected places
-Labels on food should always have pictures, languages are unreliable
-Walking on ice in boots without treads is fun! Or dangerous...
-Sometimes the smallest ideas can lead to the biggest adventures
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Winter camping
What's more crazy that spending the night in a ger without a sleeping bag in -15 Celsius? Probably hiking up a mountain at midnight in the same -15 degrees. (5 Fahrenheit). Or driving down the road with 7 people and a dog packed into a car with 5 riding on the outside of it. And, where else is all of the possible, but in chilly, crazy Mongoland.
So, it was one of my friend's birthdays this weekend and for her birthday she decided that an 8 hour hike out to a monastery (which I skipped)and overnighting at a ger camp would be the best way to celebrate. So, 14 crazy people hiked out and another 10 crazy people joined them post hike to party hardy in some gers about an hour outside of the city. And, of course the ger camp was at the bottom of a hill/baby mountain so why not climb it in the middle of the night? I couldn't find an adequate answer so I climbed it with two of the other campers. It was cold, but gorgeous. There was a fully moon to light everything up, which made hiking easier. The stars were big and bright. And, all of the mountains and valleys we could see from top were lit up beautifully. Then I spent the night bundled up in my parka sans sleeping bag huddling between a fellow sleeping bag-less, parka bearing camper and the ger stove for warmth. Fortunately one of the guys in my ger used to live in a ger for real during his Peace Corp days so he got up early and re-kindled our fire. Which was awesome. We hung around for a bit in the morning before Jocelyn's car could get a jump so we could drive back to the city. Most of the people who hiked in to the camp on Saturday were hiking back out to a nearby town to catch rides back to the city. We crammed a few into Jocelyn's car just for the short ride - 7 and a puppy in total. Then when we passed some of the hikers on their way to town to catch a ride a few of them jumped on the car and stood on the runners and held on for the 5k ride to town. All in all we had 12 people and a puppy in or on the car until we got to town. And from there back to the city it was a mostly normal car ride.
Today is team day for MC Mongolia complete with massages at home (from a blind Mongolian lady trained in Japanese style massage - whatever that means), dinner and movies. Yay!
So, it was one of my friend's birthdays this weekend and for her birthday she decided that an 8 hour hike out to a monastery (which I skipped)and overnighting at a ger camp would be the best way to celebrate. So, 14 crazy people hiked out and another 10 crazy people joined them post hike to party hardy in some gers about an hour outside of the city. And, of course the ger camp was at the bottom of a hill/baby mountain so why not climb it in the middle of the night? I couldn't find an adequate answer so I climbed it with two of the other campers. It was cold, but gorgeous. There was a fully moon to light everything up, which made hiking easier. The stars were big and bright. And, all of the mountains and valleys we could see from top were lit up beautifully. Then I spent the night bundled up in my parka sans sleeping bag huddling between a fellow sleeping bag-less, parka bearing camper and the ger stove for warmth. Fortunately one of the guys in my ger used to live in a ger for real during his Peace Corp days so he got up early and re-kindled our fire. Which was awesome. We hung around for a bit in the morning before Jocelyn's car could get a jump so we could drive back to the city. Most of the people who hiked in to the camp on Saturday were hiking back out to a nearby town to catch rides back to the city. We crammed a few into Jocelyn's car just for the short ride - 7 and a puppy in total. Then when we passed some of the hikers on their way to town to catch a ride a few of them jumped on the car and stood on the runners and held on for the 5k ride to town. All in all we had 12 people and a puppy in or on the car until we got to town. And from there back to the city it was a mostly normal car ride.
Today is team day for MC Mongolia complete with massages at home (from a blind Mongolian lady trained in Japanese style massage - whatever that means), dinner and movies. Yay!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Adventures in China!
Gina, Pago, and I - now the only three members of the national team or MC (Member Committee) of AIESEC Mongolia headed to China for Great Wall fun and a conference.
This trip has been an experience if nothing else. Well, the last two and a half weeks - at least. So, I went from being kicked out of my apartment - with my two roommates on Thursday morning. To learning my third teammate was kicked out of his apartment on Friday night. To finding and moving into a new apartment on Sunday. Then packing for China and leaving on Monday. Getting there was only the beginning of the adventures.
We got on a train in Ulaanbaatar around 8pm on Monday and got to Erlian, a city just across the Chinese border around 11 am Tuesday morning. We then caught a "black taxi" for a 7 hour drive from the border to Beijing. Our driver was awesome! But, of course, spoke no English so there were a few scary moments in mis-translation. Like, when he giggled, said Beijing, and pointed in the direction opposite to where we were actually driving. After freaking out for a few minutes, he showed us some receipts that indicated he had done this same long-ass drive the day before and we were indeed still headed for Beijing. We all breathed a sigh of relief. There was also another pretty sweet moment when "Hey, Soul Sister" came on the radio and he started 'singing' along and then giggled some more. It was the only song he knew through the entire drive - we were listening to our iPods on his radio...
We finally made it to Beijing around 7pm on Tuesday, crashed the MoC (Mainland of China) MC office, and went to dinner. MC Mongolia and MCP of Canada then went back to the MC flat for a "nap". Only to be woken up 8 hours later to go to the GREAT WALL!! Holla. It was an awesome nap. There is only one working shower in the MC flat and my team had not showered in several days. But, when we went to shower the electricity was out in the half of the apartment with the one working shower and toilet. No, worries there was still water. And, of course the Mongolian MC has been dealing with far more interesting things than cold, dark showers for the last four months so we got to be stinky free for the first time in a few days. The rest of the MCs were too chicken.
Then, on to the Great Wall! It was pretty great. There were LOTS of people at the bit that we went to. Silly tourists. But, it was still pretty awesome. At one point my group blocked off a section of wall for jumping pics, which of course none of them turned out right. Eventually, some guy with a professional camera came over to help us out - hopefully we'll get those pictures, but who knows...
After the Great Wall we went to visit the Temple of Heaven, which I don't really know what that was. I think it was some kind of religious grounds or something. It was really pretty though.
Then we went for dinner at a hot pot place that served free beer all night. That was awesome, and a little absurd. After the free beer and hot pot we went to a hookah bar and club for a going away party. With a small cover charge (about 3$ USD) there was an open bar. Yay open bar! There was lots of dancing and helping my guy friends get drinks when they got ignored by the male bartenders. Oh feminine wiles - how useful you are.
The next day we left for the conference, bright and hungover early. Four days of dancing, learning, AIESECy awesomeness. And, of course, damn China being as freaking huge as it is had nearly 500 NEW members at their induction conference. My team and I were facilitators for sessions which was pretty cool working with new members. But, as conferences usually are, it was exhausting.
We made it back to Beijing too late on Sunday to figure out our return travels so we just "napped" again. Got up Monday morning trying to find a car or something to take us back to Erlian so we could catch a train to UB. Well, that didn't work. So, we decided to catch the Tuesday Trans-Siberian and come back all the way by train. But, when we went to get the tickets we found out that they had switched the schedule - because why would you ever have the correct schedule posted online? And, the train only went on Monday and Wednesday mornings... Eff. Well with lots and lots of logistical assistance from the MoC MC we found a bus that was leaving Monday afternoon for Erlian and we could catch a train to UB on Tuesday evening. So we hauled ass back to the MC flat to pack and then rushed to the bus station just in time to grab our tickets and jump on the bus. At first we were confused there were only 4 other people on the whole bus which had space for 30 (it was a sleeper bus, so we had bunks not chairs). Well, we drove around the block to the stop where all of the Mongolians got on the bus with their heaps and heaps of boxes, bags, and other goodies. The aisles were filled with boxes and luggage so that when the rest of the people finally got on the bus they had to scramble over all the junk in the aisles to get to their bunks. It was pretty absurd. Then 15 hours later we arrived in Erlian only to have to wait for another 9 hours to catch the train back to UB. And, after 15 hours on the train the last leg of our epic 42 hour journey from BJ to UB was finally completed.
All in all it was a fantastic experience - I got to meet lots of cool people including the MC from China, the MCP of Canada, and all of the new members. I got to hang out and bond with my team, which we haven't been able to do yet in our term because we've been so damn busy working. I got to talk TM with other VP TMs and finally feel like I have a direction to take the rest of my term. It was a pretty awesome trip.
This trip has been an experience if nothing else. Well, the last two and a half weeks - at least. So, I went from being kicked out of my apartment - with my two roommates on Thursday morning. To learning my third teammate was kicked out of his apartment on Friday night. To finding and moving into a new apartment on Sunday. Then packing for China and leaving on Monday. Getting there was only the beginning of the adventures.
We got on a train in Ulaanbaatar around 8pm on Monday and got to Erlian, a city just across the Chinese border around 11 am Tuesday morning. We then caught a "black taxi" for a 7 hour drive from the border to Beijing. Our driver was awesome! But, of course, spoke no English so there were a few scary moments in mis-translation. Like, when he giggled, said Beijing, and pointed in the direction opposite to where we were actually driving. After freaking out for a few minutes, he showed us some receipts that indicated he had done this same long-ass drive the day before and we were indeed still headed for Beijing. We all breathed a sigh of relief. There was also another pretty sweet moment when "Hey, Soul Sister" came on the radio and he started 'singing' along and then giggled some more. It was the only song he knew through the entire drive - we were listening to our iPods on his radio...
We finally made it to Beijing around 7pm on Tuesday, crashed the MoC (Mainland of China) MC office, and went to dinner. MC Mongolia and MCP of Canada then went back to the MC flat for a "nap". Only to be woken up 8 hours later to go to the GREAT WALL!! Holla. It was an awesome nap. There is only one working shower in the MC flat and my team had not showered in several days. But, when we went to shower the electricity was out in the half of the apartment with the one working shower and toilet. No, worries there was still water. And, of course the Mongolian MC has been dealing with far more interesting things than cold, dark showers for the last four months so we got to be stinky free for the first time in a few days. The rest of the MCs were too chicken.
Then, on to the Great Wall! It was pretty great. There were LOTS of people at the bit that we went to. Silly tourists. But, it was still pretty awesome. At one point my group blocked off a section of wall for jumping pics, which of course none of them turned out right. Eventually, some guy with a professional camera came over to help us out - hopefully we'll get those pictures, but who knows...
After the Great Wall we went to visit the Temple of Heaven, which I don't really know what that was. I think it was some kind of religious grounds or something. It was really pretty though.
Then we went for dinner at a hot pot place that served free beer all night. That was awesome, and a little absurd. After the free beer and hot pot we went to a hookah bar and club for a going away party. With a small cover charge (about 3$ USD) there was an open bar. Yay open bar! There was lots of dancing and helping my guy friends get drinks when they got ignored by the male bartenders. Oh feminine wiles - how useful you are.
The next day we left for the conference, bright and hungover early. Four days of dancing, learning, AIESECy awesomeness. And, of course, damn China being as freaking huge as it is had nearly 500 NEW members at their induction conference. My team and I were facilitators for sessions which was pretty cool working with new members. But, as conferences usually are, it was exhausting.
We made it back to Beijing too late on Sunday to figure out our return travels so we just "napped" again. Got up Monday morning trying to find a car or something to take us back to Erlian so we could catch a train to UB. Well, that didn't work. So, we decided to catch the Tuesday Trans-Siberian and come back all the way by train. But, when we went to get the tickets we found out that they had switched the schedule - because why would you ever have the correct schedule posted online? And, the train only went on Monday and Wednesday mornings... Eff. Well with lots and lots of logistical assistance from the MoC MC we found a bus that was leaving Monday afternoon for Erlian and we could catch a train to UB on Tuesday evening. So we hauled ass back to the MC flat to pack and then rushed to the bus station just in time to grab our tickets and jump on the bus. At first we were confused there were only 4 other people on the whole bus which had space for 30 (it was a sleeper bus, so we had bunks not chairs). Well, we drove around the block to the stop where all of the Mongolians got on the bus with their heaps and heaps of boxes, bags, and other goodies. The aisles were filled with boxes and luggage so that when the rest of the people finally got on the bus they had to scramble over all the junk in the aisles to get to their bunks. It was pretty absurd. Then 15 hours later we arrived in Erlian only to have to wait for another 9 hours to catch the train back to UB. And, after 15 hours on the train the last leg of our epic 42 hour journey from BJ to UB was finally completed.
All in all it was a fantastic experience - I got to meet lots of cool people including the MC from China, the MCP of Canada, and all of the new members. I got to hang out and bond with my team, which we haven't been able to do yet in our term because we've been so damn busy working. I got to talk TM with other VP TMs and finally feel like I have a direction to take the rest of my term. It was a pretty awesome trip.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Dear Landlord,
I don't care that your brother needs a place to live. I don't care that you might be having business problems with the current renter which I am subleasing from.
What I do care about though is the fact that I have a lease with you and you are breaking it for absolutely no legitimate reason and leaving me homeless. I care that while I should be packing for an awesome trip to China, I am packing up my small and apparently insignificant life to start living as a drifter. I care that every time I show up to look at an apartment the price suddenly changes from 600,000Tugrik to 600 US Dollars - a significant increase of about 200USD. A jump which takes an apartment from the realm of affordable to the realm of impossible.
My favorite moment so far in apartment hunting was when we were meeting with our third or fourth landlord of the day yesterday and the reason he gave us for not dropping the price was that "he needed money for things". True, I'm sure. We all "need money for things". But, he is barking up the wrong girl on that front. You need money? You? A wealthy businessman who rents to foreigners on the side? And you plan to get that money from NGO workers who get paid a salary that is lower than the rent of the apartment? I appreciate your plight sympathetically, I'm sure. But, I'll just keep looking.
Or, new favorite moment of the day, when another landlord wanted us to help her run her company and teach English in exchange for lower rent. I swear, if one more person, company, or otherwise wants me to teach English in exchange for anything other than a salary I will scream.
Anyways, landlord - I have a few choice words and accompanying songs for you. (Click the words to hear/watch the songs...)
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.
Love, Bridget
What I do care about though is the fact that I have a lease with you and you are breaking it for absolutely no legitimate reason and leaving me homeless. I care that while I should be packing for an awesome trip to China, I am packing up my small and apparently insignificant life to start living as a drifter. I care that every time I show up to look at an apartment the price suddenly changes from 600,000Tugrik to 600 US Dollars - a significant increase of about 200USD. A jump which takes an apartment from the realm of affordable to the realm of impossible.
My favorite moment so far in apartment hunting was when we were meeting with our third or fourth landlord of the day yesterday and the reason he gave us for not dropping the price was that "he needed money for things". True, I'm sure. We all "need money for things". But, he is barking up the wrong girl on that front. You need money? You? A wealthy businessman who rents to foreigners on the side? And you plan to get that money from NGO workers who get paid a salary that is lower than the rent of the apartment? I appreciate your plight sympathetically, I'm sure. But, I'll just keep looking.
Or, new favorite moment of the day, when another landlord wanted us to help her run her company and teach English in exchange for lower rent. I swear, if one more person, company, or otherwise wants me to teach English in exchange for anything other than a salary I will scream.
Anyways, landlord - I have a few choice words and accompanying songs for you. (Click the words to hear/watch the songs...)
Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.
Love, Bridget
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Holidays...
So, I guess for my first birthday out of the country it was decent. Some of the highlights... The night before my birthday some friends sang happy birthday to me in at least three different languages at the same time (Czech, Mongolian and Japanese). Then Wednesday evening I went out for drinks with some of the Fantasticks cast before practice. Which then led to the four of us being late and slightly tipsy for rehearsal. Oops. One of the ladies from the play made me cupcakes and so the cast sang Happy Birthday to me and we devoured cup cakes. And, the other lady who is doing tech crew with me brought me a bottle of wine. After wine and cupcakes most of the cast and I went to go watch a jazz jam session at The Square. The band even started one of their jams with Happy Birthday. I ended up going home early because I was tired and being a butt. The end of my birthday was pretty good, but it was just a really long, tiring day.
It's challenging to figure out how to celebrate when you can't use any of the traditions you've used in the past. This is less for birthdays, although still applicable for lots of holidays and celebrations. It's not the just the date that makes a day special, it's everything else that happens before and during that little black number on a calendar. Is it really a birthday without cake and presents, friends and family? If no one sings happy birthday, how can it be a happy birthday?
And, then there's Christmas. Because I tend to think that organized religion is a bunch of phooey, Christmas is not completely about the angels and wise men for me. It's about people being nicer to each other. It's about getting together with friends and family and appreciating the good things in life and the past year. It's about believing in the impossible whether it is Santa Clause or peace on earth or flying deer or good will towards all men. For one brief blink in time the impossible seems possible. It's about having faith in people again. About believing that good things can and do happen. It's about showing that you care about somebody, letting them know that they matter.
Of course it's also about Christmas cookies, and pie, and Christmas movies, and making wreathes at your grandparents house, and decorating the tree, Christmas music, and waking up at 4:00 in the morning to sneak downstairs before your parents wake up. Even at 21, I had to set an alarm to wake up before my mom to sneak downstairs. Although I'm pretty sure that she was already awake. What is Christmas without that overwhelming scent of pine that will always bring me back to my grandparents workshop when I would help them build wreaths? What is Christmas without phone calls from family and text messages from friends wishing a Merry Christmas? What is Christmas Eve without Scrooge and snacking all day? What is Christmas without a tree?
I suppose it will have to be an opportunity for new traditions. For making new friends into family.
It's challenging to figure out how to celebrate when you can't use any of the traditions you've used in the past. This is less for birthdays, although still applicable for lots of holidays and celebrations. It's not the just the date that makes a day special, it's everything else that happens before and during that little black number on a calendar. Is it really a birthday without cake and presents, friends and family? If no one sings happy birthday, how can it be a happy birthday?
And, then there's Christmas. Because I tend to think that organized religion is a bunch of phooey, Christmas is not completely about the angels and wise men for me. It's about people being nicer to each other. It's about getting together with friends and family and appreciating the good things in life and the past year. It's about believing in the impossible whether it is Santa Clause or peace on earth or flying deer or good will towards all men. For one brief blink in time the impossible seems possible. It's about having faith in people again. About believing that good things can and do happen. It's about showing that you care about somebody, letting them know that they matter.
Of course it's also about Christmas cookies, and pie, and Christmas movies, and making wreathes at your grandparents house, and decorating the tree, Christmas music, and waking up at 4:00 in the morning to sneak downstairs before your parents wake up. Even at 21, I had to set an alarm to wake up before my mom to sneak downstairs. Although I'm pretty sure that she was already awake. What is Christmas without that overwhelming scent of pine that will always bring me back to my grandparents workshop when I would help them build wreaths? What is Christmas without phone calls from family and text messages from friends wishing a Merry Christmas? What is Christmas Eve without Scrooge and snacking all day? What is Christmas without a tree?
I suppose it will have to be an opportunity for new traditions. For making new friends into family.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Snow and Salsa
So, it is probably an understatement to say that things have been crazy around here. Chaotic, mind-blowingly hectic, topsy-turvy, yes. Those are closer. But, eventually rewarding.
I've been running recruitment for the last two weeks, and it should be officially over next Saturday. While I enjoy meeting new, potential members, and seeing the next generation of AIESECers at the very start of their journey, it is still an intensely draining process. Doing interviews was a fascinating process. It was fun to watch the current AIESECers learn how we wanted them to interview and then have them interview and evaluate potential new members. It was also impressive to watch the interviewees stand up under the pressure of being drilled about AIESEC. Although Gina and I may have been more intimidating at the start because we don't speak Mongolian, we were definitely the more lenient interviewers. Some of our members, Adiya and Boldko, were pretty damn tough. Although, it had to be difficult for them too to interview in English (which they both speak well), but had to do it and not let the interviewee speak in Mongolian - which several of them wanted to. But, they did pretty awesome...
I'm also working on pushing AIESEC Mongolia to take shape and have leaders and such - which is interesting. Some people that the MC had thought would be good for leadership positions are not interested and all, and then there have been some surprises for people who are interested who we didn't think would be. As long as the people who eventually end up in leadership can be reliable and communicative, I think we'll be in decent shape.
Mostly, I've been slowly climbing a pretty respectable learning curve. Work ethic in college is completely different from the work ethic required for running a nearly brand new NGO. The hours are wonkier, the days longer, and the level of adaptability required to keep sanity is through the roof, as is the ability to bullshit believably. With possible members, potential partners, current partners, complete outsiders, current members asking all kinds of questions you never thought of or thought you would have to answer - it helps to be a little quick on your feet to assemble enough of the truth with just a hint of bull and a dash of eloquence (more or less used to obfuscate the language than anything) to convince the questioner that you actually do know what you're talking about. College so did not prepare me for this - then you could offer to answer with prepared BS, or just write it down in term paper format with a well cited list of people who did know what they were talking about. Here, it's all original. Thank you, thank you I'll be here all year.
Anyways besides working my little brains out recently, there has been a sneeze of social life. The play that I am tech crew for is slowly chugging along and hopefully will live long enough to make it to production. Meeting more people from the ex-pat network which is nice to have people to share experiences with. I re-attempted shopping. It went better this time. Still not great, but better. Slowly accumulating more acceptable clothing. Slowly. Finally found shoes that fit, and a few shirts, but I'm going to have to locate a tailor to get pants. Also, Saturday it snowed and I went to a fund-raiser salsa event. The whole eventing was kind of a cultural conundrum - It was at an American bar called American Ger'll. My group drank red wine (while salsaing), ate pepperoni pizza, and danced to salsa music - in Mongolia. Sounds more like a night in Athens than Ulaanbaatar.
Also, you should probably watch this http://vimeo.com/15041403
It might not make a lot of sense if you don't know Mongolia. But, it's pretty fun. (And, I know them.)
I've been running recruitment for the last two weeks, and it should be officially over next Saturday. While I enjoy meeting new, potential members, and seeing the next generation of AIESECers at the very start of their journey, it is still an intensely draining process. Doing interviews was a fascinating process. It was fun to watch the current AIESECers learn how we wanted them to interview and then have them interview and evaluate potential new members. It was also impressive to watch the interviewees stand up under the pressure of being drilled about AIESEC. Although Gina and I may have been more intimidating at the start because we don't speak Mongolian, we were definitely the more lenient interviewers. Some of our members, Adiya and Boldko, were pretty damn tough. Although, it had to be difficult for them too to interview in English (which they both speak well), but had to do it and not let the interviewee speak in Mongolian - which several of them wanted to. But, they did pretty awesome...
I'm also working on pushing AIESEC Mongolia to take shape and have leaders and such - which is interesting. Some people that the MC had thought would be good for leadership positions are not interested and all, and then there have been some surprises for people who are interested who we didn't think would be. As long as the people who eventually end up in leadership can be reliable and communicative, I think we'll be in decent shape.
Mostly, I've been slowly climbing a pretty respectable learning curve. Work ethic in college is completely different from the work ethic required for running a nearly brand new NGO. The hours are wonkier, the days longer, and the level of adaptability required to keep sanity is through the roof, as is the ability to bullshit believably. With possible members, potential partners, current partners, complete outsiders, current members asking all kinds of questions you never thought of or thought you would have to answer - it helps to be a little quick on your feet to assemble enough of the truth with just a hint of bull and a dash of eloquence (more or less used to obfuscate the language than anything) to convince the questioner that you actually do know what you're talking about. College so did not prepare me for this - then you could offer to answer with prepared BS, or just write it down in term paper format with a well cited list of people who did know what they were talking about. Here, it's all original. Thank you, thank you I'll be here all year.
Anyways besides working my little brains out recently, there has been a sneeze of social life. The play that I am tech crew for is slowly chugging along and hopefully will live long enough to make it to production. Meeting more people from the ex-pat network which is nice to have people to share experiences with. I re-attempted shopping. It went better this time. Still not great, but better. Slowly accumulating more acceptable clothing. Slowly. Finally found shoes that fit, and a few shirts, but I'm going to have to locate a tailor to get pants. Also, Saturday it snowed and I went to a fund-raiser salsa event. The whole eventing was kind of a cultural conundrum - It was at an American bar called American Ger'll. My group drank red wine (while salsaing), ate pepperoni pizza, and danced to salsa music - in Mongolia. Sounds more like a night in Athens than Ulaanbaatar.
Also, you should probably watch this http://vimeo.com/15041403
It might not make a lot of sense if you don't know Mongolia. But, it's pretty fun. (And, I know them.)
Thursday, September 16, 2010
backgui tom
When I first moved to UB, it didn't feel much different than moving across the country. The biggest differences were the language barrier and the time difference. And, I still maintain that feeling. Shopping in UB doesn't make me feel any better than shopping in the US. And, Ice cream still makes everything better.
However, when I do shopping here instead of having to try things on for hours and going home discouraged, now I just have to walk into a shop and they look at me and go "backgui tom." Kind translation "We don't have your size." Actual translation: "Holy shit, I don't think I've ever carried clothes or shoes big enough to fit you. You mammoth." Okay, so that might be an exaggeration. But, it still doesn't make for happy shopping trips. I've even been losing weight like crazy, so that most of the clothes I brought with me are baggy. And, usually while shoe shopping is kind to the ego - they don't really have sizes larger than an (American) 8. I wear a 10. It's swell. At least the ice cream is cheaper and still delicious enough to sooth a smarting ego.
However, when I do shopping here instead of having to try things on for hours and going home discouraged, now I just have to walk into a shop and they look at me and go "backgui tom." Kind translation "We don't have your size." Actual translation: "Holy shit, I don't think I've ever carried clothes or shoes big enough to fit you. You mammoth." Okay, so that might be an exaggeration. But, it still doesn't make for happy shopping trips. I've even been losing weight like crazy, so that most of the clothes I brought with me are baggy. And, usually while shoe shopping is kind to the ego - they don't really have sizes larger than an (American) 8. I wear a 10. It's swell. At least the ice cream is cheaper and still delicious enough to sooth a smarting ego.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Dear...
Dear Eyes,
If you start replaying any part of our last two months together I will sell you on the black market and get new ones. I don't think you understand that I need you to be reliable, and you are not keeping up your end of the deal on this one.
Love,
Bridget
Dear Eye Doctors,
If you could fix my shit the first time and not the twelve hundredth that would be super. My pockets are not deep enough to support the rent on your third vacation home in the countryside.
Love,
Bridget
Dear Internet,
You are adopted.
Love,
Bridget
If you start replaying any part of our last two months together I will sell you on the black market and get new ones. I don't think you understand that I need you to be reliable, and you are not keeping up your end of the deal on this one.
Love,
Bridget
Dear Eye Doctors,
If you could fix my shit the first time and not the twelve hundredth that would be super. My pockets are not deep enough to support the rent on your third vacation home in the countryside.
Love,
Bridget
Dear Internet,
You are adopted.
Love,
Bridget
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thoughts on traveling and karma...
More thoughts stemming from a conversation with a friend on traveling to places where the locals can be assholes to person of the non-local persuasion...
For me, it's just being rude to traveler's in general - for any country- that is a no go. I understand pickpockets and such, in a lot of places if you have the money to travel - you are richer than the local population. But, not always. Just because we chose to travel doesn't mean we are rich. It means that this is a particular life choice. It means that this is what we want to do with our lives, and we'll make it happen whether or not we are rollin' in the Benjamins. It does not necessarily logically correlate to travelers making bank. In fact it can just as easily be other other way. Obviously we have some money because we can make it from place to place. But, some of us are still surviving on a tight budget...
But the people who really bother me when they choose to be dirt bags are the people who work in the travel/tourism sector or run businesses that end up catering to travelers. There's no reason for them to be crappy. We are still bringing business. Our money works just as well as locals. And I'm convinced there are only a few other ways to rack up karma points quicker than being nice to someone in need - this includes travelers. Which, although travelers of the vagabond variety have to be self sufficient and independent - everyone needs a hand sometimes. And, especially if you ever plan on traveling yourself, you had better be nice to your fellow travelers. One day you will need help, and if you've been a douche bag --this goes for all of the hotel managers who charge triple normal rates for skin tax, and taxi drivers who over charge and grab at people to prevent them from leaving the car, among others-- who knows how favorable Karma is going to look upon you. She is meticulous in her tally.
For me, it's just being rude to traveler's in general - for any country- that is a no go. I understand pickpockets and such, in a lot of places if you have the money to travel - you are richer than the local population. But, not always. Just because we chose to travel doesn't mean we are rich. It means that this is a particular life choice. It means that this is what we want to do with our lives, and we'll make it happen whether or not we are rollin' in the Benjamins. It does not necessarily logically correlate to travelers making bank. In fact it can just as easily be other other way. Obviously we have some money because we can make it from place to place. But, some of us are still surviving on a tight budget...
But the people who really bother me when they choose to be dirt bags are the people who work in the travel/tourism sector or run businesses that end up catering to travelers. There's no reason for them to be crappy. We are still bringing business. Our money works just as well as locals. And I'm convinced there are only a few other ways to rack up karma points quicker than being nice to someone in need - this includes travelers. Which, although travelers of the vagabond variety have to be self sufficient and independent - everyone needs a hand sometimes. And, especially if you ever plan on traveling yourself, you had better be nice to your fellow travelers. One day you will need help, and if you've been a douche bag --this goes for all of the hotel managers who charge triple normal rates for skin tax, and taxi drivers who over charge and grab at people to prevent them from leaving the car, among others-- who knows how favorable Karma is going to look upon you. She is meticulous in her tally.
The road goes ever on and on... Or musings on home and travel.
The first question people usually ask me when the find out I'm in Mongolia is how long I'm staying in Mongolia. I get this from people here as well as people in the US. It's a fairly easy question. I should be here a year barring great love or great loss.
The second question people usually ask me is when I'm going home. This one is a bit trickier. I know that I'll be here for a year, but I haven't a clue where I'm headed after that. Or, for how long. The other part that makes this question tricky is that "home" is a rather abstract idea to me. For me, it's not a place. I've lived in a lot of places all of which have had their merits and downfalls, but none of which have captured my heart forever. Clearly, I'm still moving around. It's hard to even label it as a set of people because all of the people in my life that as an aggregate would make up "home" are never in the same place. So, really my home is spread all over the world right now. This makes it hard for me to pin point a time at which I will be going home. Safe to say, it probably won't be for a while. Recently, a friend labeled me as "undomiciled". I am on the move without a permanent fixture to which I return. I think that's a pretty accurate description
When people ask the second question they are usually asking when I will be returning to the US. I don't even really know that. (Sorry Mom and Dad). I have been dreaming about traveling for a very long time. I still remember sitting on the bus in middle school plotting travels to New Zealand (thank you Lord of the Rings...). Or just buying my own island somewhere in the world. It'll happen. It's not that I don't like the US. Well, not all of the time anyways. And, even in the three months that I've been gone I have learned to appreciate the US. But, now that I'm out, I want to see what else is out here.
I want to have adventures and travel before I get too overwhelmed by a sense of "responsibility". Or, if I'm lucky, I'll be able avoid it altogether. I don't ever want to be trapped doing something soul crushing. I know that doing the crappy work that no one else wants to do builds character or something equally unpleasant. But, it's not that I'm against doing grunt work. I'm against doing things that bring down the soul. Things that are frustrating, and detrimental to emotional well being. No one should be stuck doing something that they hate. It makes for unhappy people, and unhappy people never did anyone any good.
In another recent conversation a friend was asking my plans next, which of course I don't know. To which he rebuttals, Bridget you're probably going to end up somewhere interesting and stay there, aren't you? I hope so. I don't know what I want to do, but I don't think I have to know that yet. I'll find it. Or, it'll find me. Eventually.
The second question people usually ask me is when I'm going home. This one is a bit trickier. I know that I'll be here for a year, but I haven't a clue where I'm headed after that. Or, for how long. The other part that makes this question tricky is that "home" is a rather abstract idea to me. For me, it's not a place. I've lived in a lot of places all of which have had their merits and downfalls, but none of which have captured my heart forever. Clearly, I'm still moving around. It's hard to even label it as a set of people because all of the people in my life that as an aggregate would make up "home" are never in the same place. So, really my home is spread all over the world right now. This makes it hard for me to pin point a time at which I will be going home. Safe to say, it probably won't be for a while. Recently, a friend labeled me as "undomiciled". I am on the move without a permanent fixture to which I return. I think that's a pretty accurate description
When people ask the second question they are usually asking when I will be returning to the US. I don't even really know that. (Sorry Mom and Dad). I have been dreaming about traveling for a very long time. I still remember sitting on the bus in middle school plotting travels to New Zealand (thank you Lord of the Rings...). Or just buying my own island somewhere in the world. It'll happen. It's not that I don't like the US. Well, not all of the time anyways. And, even in the three months that I've been gone I have learned to appreciate the US. But, now that I'm out, I want to see what else is out here.
I want to have adventures and travel before I get too overwhelmed by a sense of "responsibility". Or, if I'm lucky, I'll be able avoid it altogether. I don't ever want to be trapped doing something soul crushing. I know that doing the crappy work that no one else wants to do builds character or something equally unpleasant. But, it's not that I'm against doing grunt work. I'm against doing things that bring down the soul. Things that are frustrating, and detrimental to emotional well being. No one should be stuck doing something that they hate. It makes for unhappy people, and unhappy people never did anyone any good.
In another recent conversation a friend was asking my plans next, which of course I don't know. To which he rebuttals, Bridget you're probably going to end up somewhere interesting and stay there, aren't you? I hope so. I don't know what I want to do, but I don't think I have to know that yet. I'll find it. Or, it'll find me. Eventually.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Meditations on Mongolia.
When I found out I was moving to the other side of the world, it didn't dawn on me right then that I would moving to the other side of history as well. And, to me it is incredibly eye opening to be on the other side.
On the world stage, America is probably the popular, flashy jock. He's pretty good at a lot of things, he can be a good guy, everyone wants to be on his good side (even if they don't really like him), but there are a lot of people who just don't like the bastard. Mongolia would be the quiet Asian girl who is smart, older girl, who mostly flies under the radar, has seen a lot of things, made some mistakes, and is trying to get back on her feet. She's proud of who she is, she's opinionated, but she gets along with most people, even if she does have a few weird hang-ups.
It's interesting to go from the US where there are people who still consider Communism a threat to Mongolia where it's simply part of their history. There are buildings with Marx and Lenin on them. There are giant monuments celebrating Russia and the Russo-Mongolian friendship. Here, Russia is the good guy because he chased out the Chinese. And, although China is not exactly our favorite country in the US, I don't know if anyone could hate China as much as Mongolians. In a way, it's understandable - Mongolia is a sparsely populated, small, mineral rich country. China is a very large, hungry, densely populated giant with the political and man power to take what they want without being stopped. In many ways it seems to me that the Mongolian hate for China is just fear that turned sour. But, it also has something to do with a long, bloody, angry history between the two. Should the Mongolians hate the Chinese? Probably not, because hate is never the answer. But, then again who am I to judge I'm from a hungry superpower, not the country whose land and resources get poached by the hungry superpower...
Mongolia is also one of the few countries in the world with an open North Korean presence. There is a North Korean embassy. There are North Korean restaurants, and North Korean people who work in them. This would be pretty much unheard of in the US. As far as I know, in most places in the US, it just wouldn't happen. I still remember Freshman year of college I had a t-shirt on that was pro-human rights activities in NoKo (not pro-NoKo), and I was angrily approached by some of the ROTC kids in the dining hall. Once they realized I wasn't a Kim-Jim-whatsisface supporter, they backed off (one even apologized). But, still, it's just a country that is not really tolerated in the US. But, here it is.
But, the one thing I'm still trying to wrap my head around is the Mongolian appreciation Hitler. As in, Adolf Hitler. The fellow who is responsible for WWII. Yeah, same guy.
I've seen several people throw up the Nazi Salute for pictures the way I use the thumbs up. And two seconds later they're putting up a peace sign. I've seen several people with swastika earrings or gear. These are people I know, friends, students - people who seem sane and peaceful. There is a blossoming anti-Chinese, Mongolian purity movement. I think it's something akin to a KKK movement. It's not super large, but it is definitely present. I'm pretty sure that the two are linked to a mis-seated sense of Mongolian pride. Not, normal pride. But, the kind that spawns hatred, fear, paranoia, and a twisted desire for absolute purity. Although, of course the desire for purity only seems to be concerned with the behavior of Mongolian women, not Mongolian men, and the activities of foreign men not foreign women. (How convenient.) Anyways, I want to know where this fascination and approval of Hitler came from. Is it taught in schools? Or just passed through families? How can a family be pro-Hitler, pro-Mongolian exclusivity, and yet still be interested in learning several languages, still encourage their children to learn languages, still want to travel outside of Mongolia? It's okay for Mongolians to infiltrate the rest of the world, but it's not okay for the rest of the world to reciprocate? I can understand national pride. I'm not really very patriotic, and even I can summon my heart to feel a twinge of pride when America does something right. I can understand being afraid of your neighbors. (It makes me wonder how Mexico and Canada feel about the US). But, I can't understand idolizing Hitler. I just don't get it.
I can't really rectify the two different Mongolia's. There's the Mongolia who has a relationship with NoKo (which I don' really think is a negative thing, just a thing), and fond memories of the Russians. The Mongolia who has decent relations with most of the world. The Mongolia who will be a significant presence in the global mining industry. With the key word being "global". There are a lot of countries who are going to be dipping their sticky fingers into Mongolian mining as this business takes off. The Mongolia who has been growing, and internationalizing rapidly over the last decade. Then there's the Mongolia who hates China almost more than it loves itself. The Mongolia who fosters fond feelings for Hitler. The Mongolia that is dangerous to foreigners simply for being foreign... I could understand if these two Mongolia's were manifested in different people, it's when I see both of them represented in the same individual that I'm confused.
It also makes me wonder what conflictual ideology is leaking out of America. At least Mongolia is fairly small and homogeneous. America is neither. What kind of wonky rhetoric are we spewing forth for the benefit and confusion of the world?
I do know that even children whose English is patchy at best, American vocabulary is being slowly dispensed through music. They know what umbrellas are - thank you Rhianna. They know terms from various Lady Gaga and Beyonce lyrics. At least one person I know contributes her interest in English to her love of boy-bands in the 90s. And, oh yeah, they know, and use with ease - nigger. As does the rest of the world apparently. From what I've gathered from different people from Mongolia and Europe and maybe a few other places that America is one of the few, if not only, places where this word still has a huge stigma. And, I'm okay with it having a stigma. It's a nasty word with a vulgar history in the US. And, it seems to me that most people who use it with ease are from places with little racial heterogeneity, and little history of racial violence and discrimination. So, I don't really expect them to understand the gravity of that word because they don't have a history to accompany it - just a library of vulgar rap songs. Fantastic.
As always it is interesting to see which parts of history make it into circulation, and which parts do not. What bits of information make it around the world, and which get stuck in their country of origin. I wonder if we all took off our rose colored glasses a long time ago and replaced them with those shiny mirroirized sunglasses. Because I'm pretty sure that no one can see anyone else clearly. But, it is interesting to see how different interpretations of history manifest on the other side of things...
On the world stage, America is probably the popular, flashy jock. He's pretty good at a lot of things, he can be a good guy, everyone wants to be on his good side (even if they don't really like him), but there are a lot of people who just don't like the bastard. Mongolia would be the quiet Asian girl who is smart, older girl, who mostly flies under the radar, has seen a lot of things, made some mistakes, and is trying to get back on her feet. She's proud of who she is, she's opinionated, but she gets along with most people, even if she does have a few weird hang-ups.
It's interesting to go from the US where there are people who still consider Communism a threat to Mongolia where it's simply part of their history. There are buildings with Marx and Lenin on them. There are giant monuments celebrating Russia and the Russo-Mongolian friendship. Here, Russia is the good guy because he chased out the Chinese. And, although China is not exactly our favorite country in the US, I don't know if anyone could hate China as much as Mongolians. In a way, it's understandable - Mongolia is a sparsely populated, small, mineral rich country. China is a very large, hungry, densely populated giant with the political and man power to take what they want without being stopped. In many ways it seems to me that the Mongolian hate for China is just fear that turned sour. But, it also has something to do with a long, bloody, angry history between the two. Should the Mongolians hate the Chinese? Probably not, because hate is never the answer. But, then again who am I to judge I'm from a hungry superpower, not the country whose land and resources get poached by the hungry superpower...
Mongolia is also one of the few countries in the world with an open North Korean presence. There is a North Korean embassy. There are North Korean restaurants, and North Korean people who work in them. This would be pretty much unheard of in the US. As far as I know, in most places in the US, it just wouldn't happen. I still remember Freshman year of college I had a t-shirt on that was pro-human rights activities in NoKo (not pro-NoKo), and I was angrily approached by some of the ROTC kids in the dining hall. Once they realized I wasn't a Kim-Jim-whatsisface supporter, they backed off (one even apologized). But, still, it's just a country that is not really tolerated in the US. But, here it is.
But, the one thing I'm still trying to wrap my head around is the Mongolian appreciation Hitler. As in, Adolf Hitler. The fellow who is responsible for WWII. Yeah, same guy.
I've seen several people throw up the Nazi Salute for pictures the way I use the thumbs up. And two seconds later they're putting up a peace sign. I've seen several people with swastika earrings or gear. These are people I know, friends, students - people who seem sane and peaceful. There is a blossoming anti-Chinese, Mongolian purity movement. I think it's something akin to a KKK movement. It's not super large, but it is definitely present. I'm pretty sure that the two are linked to a mis-seated sense of Mongolian pride. Not, normal pride. But, the kind that spawns hatred, fear, paranoia, and a twisted desire for absolute purity. Although, of course the desire for purity only seems to be concerned with the behavior of Mongolian women, not Mongolian men, and the activities of foreign men not foreign women. (How convenient.) Anyways, I want to know where this fascination and approval of Hitler came from. Is it taught in schools? Or just passed through families? How can a family be pro-Hitler, pro-Mongolian exclusivity, and yet still be interested in learning several languages, still encourage their children to learn languages, still want to travel outside of Mongolia? It's okay for Mongolians to infiltrate the rest of the world, but it's not okay for the rest of the world to reciprocate? I can understand national pride. I'm not really very patriotic, and even I can summon my heart to feel a twinge of pride when America does something right. I can understand being afraid of your neighbors. (It makes me wonder how Mexico and Canada feel about the US). But, I can't understand idolizing Hitler. I just don't get it.
I can't really rectify the two different Mongolia's. There's the Mongolia who has a relationship with NoKo (which I don' really think is a negative thing, just a thing), and fond memories of the Russians. The Mongolia who has decent relations with most of the world. The Mongolia who will be a significant presence in the global mining industry. With the key word being "global". There are a lot of countries who are going to be dipping their sticky fingers into Mongolian mining as this business takes off. The Mongolia who has been growing, and internationalizing rapidly over the last decade. Then there's the Mongolia who hates China almost more than it loves itself. The Mongolia who fosters fond feelings for Hitler. The Mongolia that is dangerous to foreigners simply for being foreign... I could understand if these two Mongolia's were manifested in different people, it's when I see both of them represented in the same individual that I'm confused.
It also makes me wonder what conflictual ideology is leaking out of America. At least Mongolia is fairly small and homogeneous. America is neither. What kind of wonky rhetoric are we spewing forth for the benefit and confusion of the world?
I do know that even children whose English is patchy at best, American vocabulary is being slowly dispensed through music. They know what umbrellas are - thank you Rhianna. They know terms from various Lady Gaga and Beyonce lyrics. At least one person I know contributes her interest in English to her love of boy-bands in the 90s. And, oh yeah, they know, and use with ease - nigger. As does the rest of the world apparently. From what I've gathered from different people from Mongolia and Europe and maybe a few other places that America is one of the few, if not only, places where this word still has a huge stigma. And, I'm okay with it having a stigma. It's a nasty word with a vulgar history in the US. And, it seems to me that most people who use it with ease are from places with little racial heterogeneity, and little history of racial violence and discrimination. So, I don't really expect them to understand the gravity of that word because they don't have a history to accompany it - just a library of vulgar rap songs. Fantastic.
As always it is interesting to see which parts of history make it into circulation, and which parts do not. What bits of information make it around the world, and which get stuck in their country of origin. I wonder if we all took off our rose colored glasses a long time ago and replaced them with those shiny mirroirized sunglasses. Because I'm pretty sure that no one can see anyone else clearly. But, it is interesting to see how different interpretations of history manifest on the other side of things...
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Dear Eyes
While I love you dearly, and have come to rely on you quite heavily. I would appreciate it if you would stop taking advantage of my love and abusing our relationship.
I know that I should probably pay more attention to you. But, I treat you pretty well. You get contacts and glasses. You get dressed up to go out. And, you always, always look pretty. I take you to wonderful places around the world and let you see the sights. I read books with you. We watch movies together.
While, you keep getting weaker and causing my vision to worsen. And, now this. First an infection, and now a corneal abrasion. Really? Was this entirely called for? What did I ever do to you to deserve two weeks (at least) of itching, burning, oozing, dizziness, nausea, and eye patches? Not to mention that you have been freaking other people out. It's hard to teach with students staring at you because you insist on looking like a freak.
Whatever I did I'm sorry. I hope we can resolve our issues soon as I am living in an incredibly beautiful place and would like to be able to share it with you. Or even just look at my computer screen without feel nauseous.
Dear eyes, please accept my apologies and get well soon.
Love,
Bridget
I know that I should probably pay more attention to you. But, I treat you pretty well. You get contacts and glasses. You get dressed up to go out. And, you always, always look pretty. I take you to wonderful places around the world and let you see the sights. I read books with you. We watch movies together.
While, you keep getting weaker and causing my vision to worsen. And, now this. First an infection, and now a corneal abrasion. Really? Was this entirely called for? What did I ever do to you to deserve two weeks (at least) of itching, burning, oozing, dizziness, nausea, and eye patches? Not to mention that you have been freaking other people out. It's hard to teach with students staring at you because you insist on looking like a freak.
Whatever I did I'm sorry. I hope we can resolve our issues soon as I am living in an incredibly beautiful place and would like to be able to share it with you. Or even just look at my computer screen without feel nauseous.
Dear eyes, please accept my apologies and get well soon.
Love,
Bridget
Friday, July 30, 2010
Back to the "Real World"
If you can call living and working in playing in Mongolia the "real world".
So, camp is over for reals this time. I ended up missing four days of the last week of camp which was a pretty big bummer. Not only did I have to put up with swollen, red, itchy eye, but I had to miss out on the last week with my kids to do it. Suck.
We had class for half a day yesterday, and then played games, hung out, and went wild strawberry hunting in the mountains behind the camp in the afternoon. There are mountains all around the camp and a pine forest right behind the camp boundaries. So, a group of us went traipsing through the woods to hunt for strawberries. They were super tiny, but oh so delicious. And, of course the kids took tons of pictures with their super hip camera phones - I am so last generation with a separate camera and phone. We finished off the day with a goodnight song and camp stories (none of which I understood because it was all in Mongolian). They have been trying to teach me some words and my repertoire is up to 10 or 12 words on a good day. My favorite words so far are pronounced (I have no idea how they're spelled because their in cyrillic) "Yahwee" which means let's go, "Bicham hayartay" which means I love you, and "Yahsembeh" which means what's happening or what's going on. And, every time I use a Mongolian word they would be surprised and occasionally clap for me. It was fun.
Then today we packed up, and left, and that's that.
There were a lot of ups and downs with dreading going in the first place, hating my boss for making me do it, missing everyone at home like crazy, and then finally enjoying the kids as people and as students. The whole experience was way more emotionally interesting and personally fulfilling than I thought possible. They really were fantastic kids. I really enjoyed being Bridged Bagsh, and the younger of the two teachers. So, I got to be teacher Bridged during class and just Bridged after class for games and football and water fights and strawberry hunting. I will miss them a lot. But, it was good - no, it was freaking awesome.
Now, onto the next adventure.
So, camp is over for reals this time. I ended up missing four days of the last week of camp which was a pretty big bummer. Not only did I have to put up with swollen, red, itchy eye, but I had to miss out on the last week with my kids to do it. Suck.
We had class for half a day yesterday, and then played games, hung out, and went wild strawberry hunting in the mountains behind the camp in the afternoon. There are mountains all around the camp and a pine forest right behind the camp boundaries. So, a group of us went traipsing through the woods to hunt for strawberries. They were super tiny, but oh so delicious. And, of course the kids took tons of pictures with their super hip camera phones - I am so last generation with a separate camera and phone. We finished off the day with a goodnight song and camp stories (none of which I understood because it was all in Mongolian). They have been trying to teach me some words and my repertoire is up to 10 or 12 words on a good day. My favorite words so far are pronounced (I have no idea how they're spelled because their in cyrillic) "Yahwee" which means let's go, "Bicham hayartay" which means I love you, and "Yahsembeh" which means what's happening or what's going on. And, every time I use a Mongolian word they would be surprised and occasionally clap for me. It was fun.
Then today we packed up, and left, and that's that.
There were a lot of ups and downs with dreading going in the first place, hating my boss for making me do it, missing everyone at home like crazy, and then finally enjoying the kids as people and as students. The whole experience was way more emotionally interesting and personally fulfilling than I thought possible. They really were fantastic kids. I really enjoyed being Bridged Bagsh, and the younger of the two teachers. So, I got to be teacher Bridged during class and just Bridged after class for games and football and water fights and strawberry hunting. I will miss them a lot. But, it was good - no, it was freaking awesome.
Now, onto the next adventure.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Eye Cold
There are a lot of things that I did or experienced as a child that I just didn't understand or appreciate at the time. And, now that I'm older, I can fully appreciate these things because some things just get better with age. Pink eye is not one of those things. It still sucks even when you're not a kid. Itchy, puffy, oozy, gross pink eye.
Dear Camp Kids,
I love you, but stop giving me diseases. K, Thanks.
Love Brijt Teacher.
Anyways.
I spent all of last week back in the city to catch up on AIESEC work. Most of my attempts at catching up on AIESEC work were foiled either by getting nailed with more hours for my second, not-as-important job or blackouts during my only free hours of the day. Oh adventures. Teaching in the city has made me appreciate camp-time even more. The kids in the city are just boring. I pretty much have to threaten them with torture and almost certain death to get them to talk at all. Except this one girl, who NEVER shuts up. I don't think she's aware that she signed up for a group class instead of a tutoring session. She doesn't give other kids a chance to talk. And, one day when we were playing a game (which the rest of the class was enjoying - I asked them to make sure) she actually asked if we could do book work instead. What. The. Fuck. Crazy child. There's another boy who is apparently a model. And, so some of the days he just decided not to wear a shirt. He had a cardigan on over his chest. But, no shirt. Just a cardigan. I was very confused. And, kind of wanted to laugh at him, but I can't dress myself for shit - so who am I to judge.
But, most of my week consisted of wallowing because I had to teach or pouting because the electricity (and internet) was out again, or sleeping.
We did have a Polish guy staying with us last week - and AIESECer friend of a friend who was passing through. One night when we were drinking with and Aussie fellow and a German fellow, the German and Polish fellows got into a fairly long winded argument about WWII. Who was or was not a victor, boundary disputes, whether or not Poland is right to trust the US over its European neighbors in security matters now, and more. It was really interesting to listen to, of course not being European myself and not really know the European side of that particular conflict, I was mostly listening.
But, those are pretty much the highlights of my week. I should be able to go back to camp tomorrow afternoon. Unless the drops are making my eye worse by tomorrow. Then, I'll have to change the plan...
But, for now I have another week (less than) of camp. Some of the kids from the first two weeks are supposed to come visit this week, hopefully I'm back by time they visit.
Dear Camp Kids,
I love you, but stop giving me diseases. K, Thanks.
Love Brijt Teacher.
Anyways.
I spent all of last week back in the city to catch up on AIESEC work. Most of my attempts at catching up on AIESEC work were foiled either by getting nailed with more hours for my second, not-as-important job or blackouts during my only free hours of the day. Oh adventures. Teaching in the city has made me appreciate camp-time even more. The kids in the city are just boring. I pretty much have to threaten them with torture and almost certain death to get them to talk at all. Except this one girl, who NEVER shuts up. I don't think she's aware that she signed up for a group class instead of a tutoring session. She doesn't give other kids a chance to talk. And, one day when we were playing a game (which the rest of the class was enjoying - I asked them to make sure) she actually asked if we could do book work instead. What. The. Fuck. Crazy child. There's another boy who is apparently a model. And, so some of the days he just decided not to wear a shirt. He had a cardigan on over his chest. But, no shirt. Just a cardigan. I was very confused. And, kind of wanted to laugh at him, but I can't dress myself for shit - so who am I to judge.
But, most of my week consisted of wallowing because I had to teach or pouting because the electricity (and internet) was out again, or sleeping.
We did have a Polish guy staying with us last week - and AIESECer friend of a friend who was passing through. One night when we were drinking with and Aussie fellow and a German fellow, the German and Polish fellows got into a fairly long winded argument about WWII. Who was or was not a victor, boundary disputes, whether or not Poland is right to trust the US over its European neighbors in security matters now, and more. It was really interesting to listen to, of course not being European myself and not really know the European side of that particular conflict, I was mostly listening.
But, those are pretty much the highlights of my week. I should be able to go back to camp tomorrow afternoon. Unless the drops are making my eye worse by tomorrow. Then, I'll have to change the plan...
But, for now I have another week (less than) of camp. Some of the kids from the first two weeks are supposed to come visit this week, hopefully I'm back by time they visit.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Camp Baby Deer - part 2
This week at camp went much better than the first, and much better that I ever expected camp to be. I finally got used to the food, to the fact that my cabin leaks when it rains, to doing work without internet, to winging the whole teaching thing, and it was good. Camp is beautiful and the air is incredibly clean. The weather is a little wonky, but it's okay. And, I really like the kids. They can be hellions in class sometimes, but they are still mostly decent kids. This doesn't mean that I like all kids - it means that this group was decent.
I really like the fact that in the camp atmosphere I get to see them in the classroom as students and get to learn about them out of class as people. It makes this teaching schtick way more worthwhile. It's easier to be patient with the student who doesn't participate in class when you know that he's mildly hard of hearing, doesn't understand English at the pace that class travels, and is willing to show up for an extra hour during lunch to practice at a pace that he understands. It's easier to keep giving up that extra hour at lunch (on top of being in class for 6 hours a day already) when you get to see the progress he's making and that it's getting easier for him to listen, understand, and respond in English - even if it is only a little bit. It's way easier to like the hellions in class when you get to pelt them with water in an epic water bottle fight outside of class. And, it's probably easier to like a foreign teacher who talks too fast, doesn't know how to teach, and is kind of an ogre when you get to watch her be foolish in games after class and pelt her with water in an epic water bottle fight. It's much easier to work together when you get to play together.
I really like the other teacher Sara-bagsh. (Bagsh is teacher, so that would make me Bridget-bagh. Or rather, Brijd-bagsh since the kids skip pretty much all of the vowels in my name. But, that's okay I can't pronounce theirs correctly either.) It's fun to be one of the teachers trading teacher stories. Talking smack about the kids in our classes when they need to have smack talked about them. It's nice to know that at least someone needs me as a lunch buddy as much as I need her. I skipped lunch one day and the next day she was very glad to have me back so she didn't have to eat alone. The kids are too cool to sit with their teachers, of course.
Some of my favorite moment throughout the week...
Toward the middle/end of the week I stopped talking at the intermediate class and started having them tell me what they know about stuff, or asking them what they wanted me to talk about. So, I would tell them about America, and they would tell me about Mongolia. I got all kinds of good suggestions for places to visit while I'm here. I got a whole lesson on things that are Mongolian - NOT CHINA.
The horse-headed fiddle is Mongolian National Instrument - NOT CHINA. The deel (a wrap around coat) is the Mongolian National Clothes - NOT CHINA. A wide variety of mutton concoctions are Mongolian National Foods - NOT CHINA. It is sadly true how much the Mongolian seem to hate their neighbor, but then again I am not from a history that has a hungry, culture munching giant for a neighbor. Although I am a little surprised that they don't reserve at least some animosity for the Russians. But, hey - that's their call I guess.
I also got to listen to the horse-headed fiddle (and if you check out my facebook page you can see some videos of one of my students playing it).
During a class with the beginners, one of my students asked me if I liked Ahz-i-ahn music. To which, I replied with a very confused look until one of the kids next to him whispers, "Asian!". So, I had to giggle to myself over that one.
Then trying to teach the kids the word "sheet" was kind of a debacle. I didn't really realize how incredibly close to another unfortunate word it is until i had a room of 23 youths yelling "SHIT" at me. I lost it on that one. I could not stop myself from laughing my ass off. Then one of the girls at the back goes, "Oh, wait. Shit? That's poo isn't it?" Yes. Yes it is.
Some of the kids that were only there for two weeks left the day before I did. So, Friday was their last day to hang out with their new camp friends. We had morning class and then just hung out for a while. During which time Brijd-bagsh got unceremoniously dragged into a water fight. It. Was. Awesome. It started up by my cabin, but quickly moved down toward the bathroom where there is a whole trough of facets. I started out on a team by myself, but quickly gained allies. On my team was Mohno, Undrakh, Badmaa, Anu, and Bymbaa. The other team was Osko, Tuvshu, Ebe, Ohinoo, and Tomko and Sulde. My team totally won. Even though Brijd-bagsh was soaked head to toe. Then later that night of a fairly hilarious game of "Do you like your neighbor?" (It's like How the Wind Blows, but instead of naming characteristics you name clothing. When kids don't remember which gender certain clothing is specific to, it's pretty funny), there was a disco. For one thing, the disco room is totally creepy with a giant mural of Bambi for Camp Baby Deer. But, Sara and I went in to issue awards to the kids who were leaving after their two weeks, and on the way out some of the kids stopped me to stay and dance with them. So, I did. I was exactly like being back in middle school! Girls on one bench. Boys across the room on the other. No mingling. And, when people did finally start to dance, they weren't really dancing, but standing in a circle. And, the crazy white teacher was the only one dancing. I finally left because they were boring me. I prefer college parties.
I find it interesting how such simple things can be so different around the world, and yet there are some thing that just don't change. A toilet can be several different shapes and sizes depending on where you are in the world. But, Mongolian teenagers, just like American teenagers, are still too cool to dance at the ripe old age of 15.
It was a very fun week. And, I actually get to go back. I'll be in UB all this week, then I'll go back for the last week of camp.
Once again, no acronym
I really like the fact that in the camp atmosphere I get to see them in the classroom as students and get to learn about them out of class as people. It makes this teaching schtick way more worthwhile. It's easier to be patient with the student who doesn't participate in class when you know that he's mildly hard of hearing, doesn't understand English at the pace that class travels, and is willing to show up for an extra hour during lunch to practice at a pace that he understands. It's easier to keep giving up that extra hour at lunch (on top of being in class for 6 hours a day already) when you get to see the progress he's making and that it's getting easier for him to listen, understand, and respond in English - even if it is only a little bit. It's way easier to like the hellions in class when you get to pelt them with water in an epic water bottle fight outside of class. And, it's probably easier to like a foreign teacher who talks too fast, doesn't know how to teach, and is kind of an ogre when you get to watch her be foolish in games after class and pelt her with water in an epic water bottle fight. It's much easier to work together when you get to play together.
I really like the other teacher Sara-bagsh. (Bagsh is teacher, so that would make me Bridget-bagh. Or rather, Brijd-bagsh since the kids skip pretty much all of the vowels in my name. But, that's okay I can't pronounce theirs correctly either.) It's fun to be one of the teachers trading teacher stories. Talking smack about the kids in our classes when they need to have smack talked about them. It's nice to know that at least someone needs me as a lunch buddy as much as I need her. I skipped lunch one day and the next day she was very glad to have me back so she didn't have to eat alone. The kids are too cool to sit with their teachers, of course.
Some of my favorite moment throughout the week...
Toward the middle/end of the week I stopped talking at the intermediate class and started having them tell me what they know about stuff, or asking them what they wanted me to talk about. So, I would tell them about America, and they would tell me about Mongolia. I got all kinds of good suggestions for places to visit while I'm here. I got a whole lesson on things that are Mongolian - NOT CHINA.
The horse-headed fiddle is Mongolian National Instrument - NOT CHINA. The deel (a wrap around coat) is the Mongolian National Clothes - NOT CHINA. A wide variety of mutton concoctions are Mongolian National Foods - NOT CHINA. It is sadly true how much the Mongolian seem to hate their neighbor, but then again I am not from a history that has a hungry, culture munching giant for a neighbor. Although I am a little surprised that they don't reserve at least some animosity for the Russians. But, hey - that's their call I guess.
I also got to listen to the horse-headed fiddle (and if you check out my facebook page you can see some videos of one of my students playing it).
During a class with the beginners, one of my students asked me if I liked Ahz-i-ahn music. To which, I replied with a very confused look until one of the kids next to him whispers, "Asian!". So, I had to giggle to myself over that one.
Then trying to teach the kids the word "sheet" was kind of a debacle. I didn't really realize how incredibly close to another unfortunate word it is until i had a room of 23 youths yelling "SHIT" at me. I lost it on that one. I could not stop myself from laughing my ass off. Then one of the girls at the back goes, "Oh, wait. Shit? That's poo isn't it?" Yes. Yes it is.
Some of the kids that were only there for two weeks left the day before I did. So, Friday was their last day to hang out with their new camp friends. We had morning class and then just hung out for a while. During which time Brijd-bagsh got unceremoniously dragged into a water fight. It. Was. Awesome. It started up by my cabin, but quickly moved down toward the bathroom where there is a whole trough of facets. I started out on a team by myself, but quickly gained allies. On my team was Mohno, Undrakh, Badmaa, Anu, and Bymbaa. The other team was Osko, Tuvshu, Ebe, Ohinoo, and Tomko and Sulde. My team totally won. Even though Brijd-bagsh was soaked head to toe. Then later that night of a fairly hilarious game of "Do you like your neighbor?" (It's like How the Wind Blows, but instead of naming characteristics you name clothing. When kids don't remember which gender certain clothing is specific to, it's pretty funny), there was a disco. For one thing, the disco room is totally creepy with a giant mural of Bambi for Camp Baby Deer. But, Sara and I went in to issue awards to the kids who were leaving after their two weeks, and on the way out some of the kids stopped me to stay and dance with them. So, I did. I was exactly like being back in middle school! Girls on one bench. Boys across the room on the other. No mingling. And, when people did finally start to dance, they weren't really dancing, but standing in a circle. And, the crazy white teacher was the only one dancing. I finally left because they were boring me. I prefer college parties.
I find it interesting how such simple things can be so different around the world, and yet there are some thing that just don't change. A toilet can be several different shapes and sizes depending on where you are in the world. But, Mongolian teenagers, just like American teenagers, are still too cool to dance at the ripe old age of 15.
It was a very fun week. And, I actually get to go back. I'll be in UB all this week, then I'll go back for the last week of camp.
Once again, no acronym
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Camp, Part the First
So, I have survived my first week of teaching English at a Mongolian summer camp. And, by setting myself up for the worst, I came out of the week pleasantly surprised and not completely dreading going back. The first day of camp was kind of a flustercluck. But, the rest of the week improved, and all is well.
The biggest challenges, so far, have been learning to use a squatty potty as efficiently as a “normal” potty, teaching kids to speak English who don’t really understand English when it is spoken, stomaching mutton for at least two meals a day – especially when accompanied by milk tea (read: salt water), and surviving a week with only baby wipes and the ability to wash my hair in the communal trough. It was not actually as scary as it sounds. The kids are (mostly) well behaved, sweet kids, who put in the effort to learn. Which makes my job easier because I don’t have to convince them why they should believe what I say.
Most of the week followed the same pattern. Wake up between 7:30 and 8 when the camp counselors started blasting creepy Mongolian children’s songs from the discotech building which happened to be right next to my room. Stumble to the squatty. Stumble back. Go to breakfast, the best meal of the day, which usually involved bread with either sugar-butter or jam, and some variety of porridge (runny cream of wheat or grits – depending on your geographical persuasion). Go to class. Try to muster enough English knowledge to last for 1.5 hrs. Avoid going to tea (the tea was icky because it was the salty variety, the snacks were usually pretty tasty, but one of the students always brought me one when I didn’t show for tea ). Go back to class for another 1.5 hrs – try to assign enough “homework” to keep them busy for that long, and usually fail. Lunch. Try to hold my breath walking into the mess hall because it smelled like an armpit. Scoot all of the mutton in my soup and on my plate to the side. Try not to let Sara (the other English teacher, she’s Mongolian) see that I was avoiding my meat. Nap. Go back to class for 1.5 hrs with the other batch of kids. Try to keep them occupied. Tea. Back to class. Dinner (same deal as lunch). Free time. Sleep.
During free time I would either read my book, watch a movie on my laptop by myself or with some of the kids, trade songs and rock out to 90’s classics with the other teacher, play games with the kids (and look like a fool), or sleep.
On the second or third evening I watched Bride and Prejudice with a few of the older girls. It was an interesting gathering of cultures. There were 5 Mongolians and 1 American crouched over a laptop in a crumbly old camp school room watching a pseudo-Bollywood film. It was interesting.
Some of the games that I played with the kids in the evenings were strangely familiar. We played the Mongolian versions of Red Rover, Spoons, and almost played Duck, Duck, Goose (which has something to do with a wolf here and not ducks and geese). During Red Rover, Teacher Bridget took a spectacular fall down the hill because the stupid kid at the end let go of his neighbor’s hand. Jerk.
There was also once where I got to partake in the evening song. This is where all of the kids stood around, holding hands, and singing goodnight to each other. It was sweet. It was in Mongolian, of course, so I had it explained to me later. But, it was still sweet.
There’s also a kid who can play the horse-headed fiddle. Google it. It’s awesome. It looks kind of like a guitar designed by a cubist. But is played like the cello. Except, that this instrument only has two strings. This is still blowing my mind. The noises that come out of it don’t sound like they’ve come from two strings. It’s crazy. And, this particular student plays beautifully. It’s pretty cool to watch him play.
Friday night, I was sitting around with one of the girls in my cabin. She struggles with English, but she is really eager to learn and works hard, and tries to practice whenever she and I are in the cabin together. And, she asked me to go visit her family in Erdenet, a city about 250 miles north of UB. If I can swing it, I will try go visit her for a night or two before school starts. I would feel like an ass to not take her up on her offer for a night.
The kids, I say kids, but they’re not really. The youngest is a girl of 10, there’s a few 11-12 year old boys, but most of them are 15-19 years old. There may be one or two older than that, but I’m not sure. They really are a decent batch of kids. There’s a few in the beginning class that can be hooligans, but hopefully if Sara and I bust their asses enough they’ll calm down during class.
I got back to the city early last night so Gina and I met up with some Peace Corp people to go to one of the underground clubs in UB, it was pretty sweet. Afterwards we went to the Chinggis Hotel to continue dancing. It was a crazy nice hotel, but we got a little more than we bargained for. We had been dancing for a while when the DJ turned off the music – so we cleared the floor – and we were treated to a contortionist performance. There were two girls, one of them did a hand stand on the other girl’s elbows, and collar bones, and hip bones. It was crazy. Then the dancing started again, for a while. But, the next pair of performers that we were kicked off of the dance floor for were strippers. At first, I thought to myself, “My, that lady’s nipples are showing through her top.” If you could really call it a top at all, it was more like strings held together with fish netting. Then, “Oh, well, she just took off her ‘top’. Those there are titties. Maybe it’s just a topless deal.” Then, “Oh, well, she just took off her panties. My, that lady is nekked. Huh.” It wasn’t awkward or hot or whatever stripper experiences are supposed to be. It was just confusing as to why these two women were getting naked on the dance floor of a 4 star hotel. Their act was followed up by a dance troupe dressed like cheer leaders. It was a very strange assortment of performers.
Today was Nadaam, the big national holiday celebrating the “three manly sports”. Gina, Pago, Oyunbold, and I went to the stadium, but tickets to get in were expensive and we could see the opening ceremony parade participants lined up outside. So, we skipped the Opening Ceremony. Ate some khuushuur, fried pastries with mutton in them. Yum. Mutton. They actually were pretty good because the mutton was kept to a minimum. And, we had our first experience with airag. Airag is fermented mare’s milk. It’s a tad vinegary. It’s not like I would go looking for it to drink, but it wasn’t bad. Interesting, but not bad, and apparently a tad alcoholic. Then we went in search of the horse races. It was a pretty epic search. We eventually found where they were supposed to end, but after waiting for about an hour (and alerting each other to every passing horse and tourist) we left without catching the race. Oh well, I got a lot of pictures of the countryside right outside of UB during the drive. Which, I shall post soon. Maybe.
That, I think, is all for now. I head back to camp tomorrow morning at 8 am. One more week sans internet, then back to UB.
No acronym this time...
The biggest challenges, so far, have been learning to use a squatty potty as efficiently as a “normal” potty, teaching kids to speak English who don’t really understand English when it is spoken, stomaching mutton for at least two meals a day – especially when accompanied by milk tea (read: salt water), and surviving a week with only baby wipes and the ability to wash my hair in the communal trough. It was not actually as scary as it sounds. The kids are (mostly) well behaved, sweet kids, who put in the effort to learn. Which makes my job easier because I don’t have to convince them why they should believe what I say.
Most of the week followed the same pattern. Wake up between 7:30 and 8 when the camp counselors started blasting creepy Mongolian children’s songs from the discotech building which happened to be right next to my room. Stumble to the squatty. Stumble back. Go to breakfast, the best meal of the day, which usually involved bread with either sugar-butter or jam, and some variety of porridge (runny cream of wheat or grits – depending on your geographical persuasion). Go to class. Try to muster enough English knowledge to last for 1.5 hrs. Avoid going to tea (the tea was icky because it was the salty variety, the snacks were usually pretty tasty, but one of the students always brought me one when I didn’t show for tea ). Go back to class for another 1.5 hrs – try to assign enough “homework” to keep them busy for that long, and usually fail. Lunch. Try to hold my breath walking into the mess hall because it smelled like an armpit. Scoot all of the mutton in my soup and on my plate to the side. Try not to let Sara (the other English teacher, she’s Mongolian) see that I was avoiding my meat. Nap. Go back to class for 1.5 hrs with the other batch of kids. Try to keep them occupied. Tea. Back to class. Dinner (same deal as lunch). Free time. Sleep.
During free time I would either read my book, watch a movie on my laptop by myself or with some of the kids, trade songs and rock out to 90’s classics with the other teacher, play games with the kids (and look like a fool), or sleep.
On the second or third evening I watched Bride and Prejudice with a few of the older girls. It was an interesting gathering of cultures. There were 5 Mongolians and 1 American crouched over a laptop in a crumbly old camp school room watching a pseudo-Bollywood film. It was interesting.
Some of the games that I played with the kids in the evenings were strangely familiar. We played the Mongolian versions of Red Rover, Spoons, and almost played Duck, Duck, Goose (which has something to do with a wolf here and not ducks and geese). During Red Rover, Teacher Bridget took a spectacular fall down the hill because the stupid kid at the end let go of his neighbor’s hand. Jerk.
There was also once where I got to partake in the evening song. This is where all of the kids stood around, holding hands, and singing goodnight to each other. It was sweet. It was in Mongolian, of course, so I had it explained to me later. But, it was still sweet.
There’s also a kid who can play the horse-headed fiddle. Google it. It’s awesome. It looks kind of like a guitar designed by a cubist. But is played like the cello. Except, that this instrument only has two strings. This is still blowing my mind. The noises that come out of it don’t sound like they’ve come from two strings. It’s crazy. And, this particular student plays beautifully. It’s pretty cool to watch him play.
Friday night, I was sitting around with one of the girls in my cabin. She struggles with English, but she is really eager to learn and works hard, and tries to practice whenever she and I are in the cabin together. And, she asked me to go visit her family in Erdenet, a city about 250 miles north of UB. If I can swing it, I will try go visit her for a night or two before school starts. I would feel like an ass to not take her up on her offer for a night.
The kids, I say kids, but they’re not really. The youngest is a girl of 10, there’s a few 11-12 year old boys, but most of them are 15-19 years old. There may be one or two older than that, but I’m not sure. They really are a decent batch of kids. There’s a few in the beginning class that can be hooligans, but hopefully if Sara and I bust their asses enough they’ll calm down during class.
I got back to the city early last night so Gina and I met up with some Peace Corp people to go to one of the underground clubs in UB, it was pretty sweet. Afterwards we went to the Chinggis Hotel to continue dancing. It was a crazy nice hotel, but we got a little more than we bargained for. We had been dancing for a while when the DJ turned off the music – so we cleared the floor – and we were treated to a contortionist performance. There were two girls, one of them did a hand stand on the other girl’s elbows, and collar bones, and hip bones. It was crazy. Then the dancing started again, for a while. But, the next pair of performers that we were kicked off of the dance floor for were strippers. At first, I thought to myself, “My, that lady’s nipples are showing through her top.” If you could really call it a top at all, it was more like strings held together with fish netting. Then, “Oh, well, she just took off her ‘top’. Those there are titties. Maybe it’s just a topless deal.” Then, “Oh, well, she just took off her panties. My, that lady is nekked. Huh.” It wasn’t awkward or hot or whatever stripper experiences are supposed to be. It was just confusing as to why these two women were getting naked on the dance floor of a 4 star hotel. Their act was followed up by a dance troupe dressed like cheer leaders. It was a very strange assortment of performers.
Today was Nadaam, the big national holiday celebrating the “three manly sports”. Gina, Pago, Oyunbold, and I went to the stadium, but tickets to get in were expensive and we could see the opening ceremony parade participants lined up outside. So, we skipped the Opening Ceremony. Ate some khuushuur, fried pastries with mutton in them. Yum. Mutton. They actually were pretty good because the mutton was kept to a minimum. And, we had our first experience with airag. Airag is fermented mare’s milk. It’s a tad vinegary. It’s not like I would go looking for it to drink, but it wasn’t bad. Interesting, but not bad, and apparently a tad alcoholic. Then we went in search of the horse races. It was a pretty epic search. We eventually found where they were supposed to end, but after waiting for about an hour (and alerting each other to every passing horse and tourist) we left without catching the race. Oh well, I got a lot of pictures of the countryside right outside of UB during the drive. Which, I shall post soon. Maybe.
That, I think, is all for now. I head back to camp tomorrow morning at 8 am. One more week sans internet, then back to UB.
No acronym this time...
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
OGX
Things have slowed down a bit here. I am doing more planning and plotting than running around the city like a madwoman.
I start work with my second (money earning) job this Saturday, and am am not happy about it. Thus far this job has already messed up my plans for at least two holidays and a possible trip out of the country. And, I will only be working there for two months. Eff. I start working at a summer camp this Saturday, July 3. So, I will be missing the July 4th celebrations at the US Embassy. And, I am working at this happy fun time camp all of the week of July 12-16 so I get to miss Nadaam as well. This one I'm particularly irritated by. Mongolia has, maybe, three or four recognizable holidays. The biggest (and soonest) of which is Nadaam. It is a three day festival in which people come from all over to compete in the "three manly sports", wrestling, horseback racing, and archery. I will be in UB for Sunday the 11th, so I will get to see the opening ceremonies. But, I get to miss the rest of it, thank you camp. If I were teaching here in UB at that time, the school in UB doesn't have class during Nadaam, but of course the camp does. And, then I get an email from Gina this morning about a conference opportunity in Russia that @Mn really should be sending someone to. Who wants to go? Me! Who can't go because she has class? ME! B is displeased. At least this job is only until August 20th. Then, hopefully I can find something a little less irritating. I know this sounds spoiled. I have to miss celebrations and conferences because I'm teaching Mongolian children to speak English which may or may not improve their chance to eek a more profitable living in globalizing Mongolia. Part of me is okay with missing the festivals and whatnot because I fully plan on doing it next year either on my own as I circumnavigate Mongolia hunting down any and all animal-based festivals (yak festival: July 14-16 at Khatgal sum, Mongolian horses: August 15, Golden Eagle Festival: September 18-19 Bayan-Ulgii province, Tsaatan Festival (which involves reindeer polo): July 1-4 Khuvsgul province - you get the idea. They like to celebrate their critters...) or with whoever can make it to visit Mongolia next June and July. But, on the other hand, I have still seen very little Mongolia. I know this is a byproduct of living here and not making a whole lot of money. I don't get to do the tourist thing. I get to do the living here thing. Which would be okay by me if I got to see more than the walk between my flat and my destination and do more than sit around and make plans. This is supposed to be the adventure-travel location extraordinaire, and all I'm doing is sitting around waiting for something to happen. And, when I finally have to chance to get out and seeing the things I read about before coming here or the opportunity to travel to Russian, I'm stuck doing a job I don't care about. This isn't why I came to Mongolia. I came for the country, for the people, for the opportunity to travel, and for AIESEC - and so far this second job is getting in the way of all of that (except maybe the people aspect). And, I haven't even started.
Now that I'm settling in I have a little more time to be homesick. It's not bad, but it comes in waves of missing certain people or places. I was listening to Corey Smith yesterday and started miss Athens like crazy. For those of you who don't know Corey Smith, he is a singer/songwriter from Athens and most of his songs deal with Athens. So, if you aren't from there or haven't lived there his songs probably will mean very little to you. But, having lived there they remind me so much of my time in Athens it's scary. So, I figured I'll probably stop listening to him for a while at least until I'm more settled and less prone to waves of homesickness.
I have started scoping out places that will probably become my usual haunts. There is a cafe here called Cafe Amsterdam. It's most expats, but I do really like the atmosphere and they have a little in-house library. It's close to the city location of the second job, so I will probably end up killing time there in between classes. There's also a little French bookstore that I visited yesterday. I has some English language books, they mostly have the Classics, and they are pretty expensive. So, I'll probably just end up sitting in the store and reading them there. But, it's not far from the flat and it's pretty cute. There's another cafe that I will try today. I forget the name but it's run by a German woman named Bridget. :) There's also a little bakery right next door, so I don't really see where I can go wrong with this.
Anyway, I've killed enough time lying around the flat this morning and I actually do have quite a bit of work to plow through today so I should put on actual clothes and get my butt off the couch.
Acronym for today: OGX or outgoing exchange the facet of AIESEC that is responsible for sending people abroad.
I start work with my second (money earning) job this Saturday, and am am not happy about it. Thus far this job has already messed up my plans for at least two holidays and a possible trip out of the country. And, I will only be working there for two months. Eff. I start working at a summer camp this Saturday, July 3. So, I will be missing the July 4th celebrations at the US Embassy. And, I am working at this happy fun time camp all of the week of July 12-16 so I get to miss Nadaam as well. This one I'm particularly irritated by. Mongolia has, maybe, three or four recognizable holidays. The biggest (and soonest) of which is Nadaam. It is a three day festival in which people come from all over to compete in the "three manly sports", wrestling, horseback racing, and archery. I will be in UB for Sunday the 11th, so I will get to see the opening ceremonies. But, I get to miss the rest of it, thank you camp. If I were teaching here in UB at that time, the school in UB doesn't have class during Nadaam, but of course the camp does. And, then I get an email from Gina this morning about a conference opportunity in Russia that @Mn really should be sending someone to. Who wants to go? Me! Who can't go because she has class? ME! B is displeased. At least this job is only until August 20th. Then, hopefully I can find something a little less irritating. I know this sounds spoiled. I have to miss celebrations and conferences because I'm teaching Mongolian children to speak English which may or may not improve their chance to eek a more profitable living in globalizing Mongolia. Part of me is okay with missing the festivals and whatnot because I fully plan on doing it next year either on my own as I circumnavigate Mongolia hunting down any and all animal-based festivals (yak festival: July 14-16 at Khatgal sum, Mongolian horses: August 15, Golden Eagle Festival: September 18-19 Bayan-Ulgii province, Tsaatan Festival (which involves reindeer polo): July 1-4 Khuvsgul province - you get the idea. They like to celebrate their critters...) or with whoever can make it to visit Mongolia next June and July. But, on the other hand, I have still seen very little Mongolia. I know this is a byproduct of living here and not making a whole lot of money. I don't get to do the tourist thing. I get to do the living here thing. Which would be okay by me if I got to see more than the walk between my flat and my destination and do more than sit around and make plans. This is supposed to be the adventure-travel location extraordinaire, and all I'm doing is sitting around waiting for something to happen. And, when I finally have to chance to get out and seeing the things I read about before coming here or the opportunity to travel to Russian, I'm stuck doing a job I don't care about. This isn't why I came to Mongolia. I came for the country, for the people, for the opportunity to travel, and for AIESEC - and so far this second job is getting in the way of all of that (except maybe the people aspect). And, I haven't even started.
Now that I'm settling in I have a little more time to be homesick. It's not bad, but it comes in waves of missing certain people or places. I was listening to Corey Smith yesterday and started miss Athens like crazy. For those of you who don't know Corey Smith, he is a singer/songwriter from Athens and most of his songs deal with Athens. So, if you aren't from there or haven't lived there his songs probably will mean very little to you. But, having lived there they remind me so much of my time in Athens it's scary. So, I figured I'll probably stop listening to him for a while at least until I'm more settled and less prone to waves of homesickness.
I have started scoping out places that will probably become my usual haunts. There is a cafe here called Cafe Amsterdam. It's most expats, but I do really like the atmosphere and they have a little in-house library. It's close to the city location of the second job, so I will probably end up killing time there in between classes. There's also a little French bookstore that I visited yesterday. I has some English language books, they mostly have the Classics, and they are pretty expensive. So, I'll probably just end up sitting in the store and reading them there. But, it's not far from the flat and it's pretty cute. There's another cafe that I will try today. I forget the name but it's run by a German woman named Bridget. :) There's also a little bakery right next door, so I don't really see where I can go wrong with this.
Anyway, I've killed enough time lying around the flat this morning and I actually do have quite a bit of work to plow through today so I should put on actual clothes and get my butt off the couch.
Acronym for today: OGX or outgoing exchange the facet of AIESEC that is responsible for sending people abroad.
Monday, June 28, 2010
RA and RE
I feel like today is a good day for lists.
Things I should be doing:
AIESEC planning
eating breakfast
Setting up a GMM schedule for Thursday
Getting more juice (because it’s delicious)
Getting more TP (because we’re almost out)
Not doing this…
Things I did not think I would be able to find here, but am pleasantly surprised that I did:
An awesome variety of chocolate
Really tasty juice
Colgate toothpaste
Garnier Fructis shampoo and conditioner
Charmin Ultra TP (even though we will most likely NOT be buying it as it is at least 20 USD more expensive than the 1.50 USD Mongolian off-brand)
TheraFlu
Nyquil
A 10lb box of NesQuick
A 10lb box of Bisquick.
Refrigerated dairy products (milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt – and all of it delicious)
an iTouch (another thing I will not be buying, but it's nice to know it's here)
A North Face Store
Designer labels
Victoria's Secret (I'm not sure if it's just the lotions, or panties too, but for cryin'out loud they don't even have that much in UTAH!)
Things I cannot find in Mongolia and wish I could:
Tortillas
Air Conditioning - not right now though because it has drastically cooled off in the last 24 hours...
Salsa
Tortilla Chips
(But, there is a Mexican place down the street that I plan on trying soon, so…we’ll see)
English Language fiction (I know it’s here somewhere I just have to find it)
Acronyms for the day:
RA – Raised, as in a traineeship (TN) or exchange participant (EP) has joined the AIESEC repertoire.
RE- Realized, as in a TN has been filled with and EP or an EP is actually matched and working in their TN.
Things I should be doing:
AIESEC planning
eating breakfast
Setting up a GMM schedule for Thursday
Getting more juice (because it’s delicious)
Getting more TP (because we’re almost out)
Not doing this…
Things I did not think I would be able to find here, but am pleasantly surprised that I did:
An awesome variety of chocolate
Really tasty juice
Colgate toothpaste
Garnier Fructis shampoo and conditioner
Charmin Ultra TP (even though we will most likely NOT be buying it as it is at least 20 USD more expensive than the 1.50 USD Mongolian off-brand)
TheraFlu
Nyquil
A 10lb box of NesQuick
A 10lb box of Bisquick.
Refrigerated dairy products (milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt – and all of it delicious)
an iTouch (another thing I will not be buying, but it's nice to know it's here)
A North Face Store
Designer labels
Victoria's Secret (I'm not sure if it's just the lotions, or panties too, but for cryin'out loud they don't even have that much in UTAH!)
Things I cannot find in Mongolia and wish I could:
Tortillas
Air Conditioning - not right now though because it has drastically cooled off in the last 24 hours...
Salsa
Tortilla Chips
(But, there is a Mexican place down the street that I plan on trying soon, so…we’ll see)
English Language fiction (I know it’s here somewhere I just have to find it)
Acronyms for the day:
RA – Raised, as in a traineeship (TN) or exchange participant (EP) has joined the AIESEC repertoire.
RE- Realized, as in a TN has been filled with and EP or an EP is actually matched and working in their TN.
LR
G, Oyunbold, and I met up with Nate on Wednesday morning to pick Pago up from the airport. (N and OB are AIESECers, N is alumn, P is MC VPP ICX – Member Committee Vice President of Incoming Exchange). His flight was supposed to come in at 6:15 am, but didn’t actually show up until 9ish. So, we asked Nate to bring his pc with him to the airport so G and I could use internet (which was still in super high demand then). I ended up spending most of the wait checking email and such. Pago’s plane finally landed and appeared, we caught a bus and came back to the flat. While we were out running errands later G finally got a call from the internet people asking someone to be home in 15 min because they had an operator on the way. By time P and I got back from NUM (National University of Mongolia) we had internet!! But, it’s not wireless yet. It’s still just a cable, but it’s internet. We are learning to share very well.
Thursday night we had a 2nd going away party for Roman with the AIESECers. We ended up sitting at the bar for several hours playing different conference type games and such. It was a lot of fun. I really like our group of AIESECers. They are a lot of fun. They are all super helpful and so far very eager to keep attending meetings through the summer and keep rocking on through AIESEC business. I am really looking forward hanging out, working, and getting to know them. They are a really cool group of kids.
Friday morning we went to take Roman to the train station. We were up around 5:30 to get him to the station by 6:15. The new MC and several AIESECers saw him off. I’ve decided that I prefer airport goodbyes to train station goodbyes. Airport goodbyes and short and sweet then you get to trek off toward security and get on with your travels. Train station goodbyes last forever. And, then those who are doing the seeing-off get to stand around forever staring at the ones being seen-off while the train warms up rumbles off. It’s a very long process.
Now we are officially the MC, not MC-elect of AIESEC Mongolia. As of Saturday. Scary business.
And, your acronym for the day: LR or Leadership Role. Part of the AIESEC experience in which regular members step up (usually into a role they are totally not prepared for) and lead others.
Thursday night we had a 2nd going away party for Roman with the AIESECers. We ended up sitting at the bar for several hours playing different conference type games and such. It was a lot of fun. I really like our group of AIESECers. They are a lot of fun. They are all super helpful and so far very eager to keep attending meetings through the summer and keep rocking on through AIESEC business. I am really looking forward hanging out, working, and getting to know them. They are a really cool group of kids.
Friday morning we went to take Roman to the train station. We were up around 5:30 to get him to the station by 6:15. The new MC and several AIESECers saw him off. I’ve decided that I prefer airport goodbyes to train station goodbyes. Airport goodbyes and short and sweet then you get to trek off toward security and get on with your travels. Train station goodbyes last forever. And, then those who are doing the seeing-off get to stand around forever staring at the ones being seen-off while the train warms up rumbles off. It’s a very long process.
Now we are officially the MC, not MC-elect of AIESEC Mongolia. As of Saturday. Scary business.
And, your acronym for the day: LR or Leadership Role. Part of the AIESEC experience in which regular members step up (usually into a role they are totally not prepared for) and lead others.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
NA
In response to inquiring minds:
I do really like it here. We've been keeping pretty busy so there has been very little down time. It feels a lot more homey that I thought it would this quickly. The other people on my team and I are supposed to start taking Mongolian lessons which will be nice and make everything easier. But even then it's not terrible hard to get around in UB. We pretty much walk everywhere. It's a fairly small city and nearly everything we need is within walking distance. We've used taxis and the buses a few times but those are harder to navigate without knowing Mongolian. Especially the taxis, b/c those are mostly just regular people who pick you up on their way to earn an extra buck and if you can't speak Mongolian you will get ripped off. So far we've only lost electricity once and not for very long.
It is different, but so far the biggest difference is the language. The Mongolian women are very independent and very fashionable. Apparently they get it from Russia. I've been able to find pretty much all of the toiletries I was worried about finding. If we were in the country it would be a totally different story. There it seems to be mostly ger living, some towns, but few conveniences. And, a LOT of mutton. Greasy, fatty mutton. It's kind of nasty. Fortunately mutton is NOT a staple (at least for us) in UB. We've been going for a lot of business, lunch meetings recently so we've had very nice cuisine. But, even not eating at the most expensive places in town you can get nearly everything you could want. There's even a Mexican/Indian place here that I want to try - more for novelty than quality. I've heard it's not the best. We even ate at a North Korean restaurant the other night. It was freaking delicious. Mongolia is apparently one of the few countries where NK has an embassy as well. Once you get past the details like the cost of traveling and language barriers, it must be easy to travel as a Mongolian. They seem to have good relations with EVERYONE.
Anyways, I'm at the airport and running out of battery so I supposed I should wrap up.
NA: No Acronym
I do really like it here. We've been keeping pretty busy so there has been very little down time. It feels a lot more homey that I thought it would this quickly. The other people on my team and I are supposed to start taking Mongolian lessons which will be nice and make everything easier. But even then it's not terrible hard to get around in UB. We pretty much walk everywhere. It's a fairly small city and nearly everything we need is within walking distance. We've used taxis and the buses a few times but those are harder to navigate without knowing Mongolian. Especially the taxis, b/c those are mostly just regular people who pick you up on their way to earn an extra buck and if you can't speak Mongolian you will get ripped off. So far we've only lost electricity once and not for very long.
It is different, but so far the biggest difference is the language. The Mongolian women are very independent and very fashionable. Apparently they get it from Russia. I've been able to find pretty much all of the toiletries I was worried about finding. If we were in the country it would be a totally different story. There it seems to be mostly ger living, some towns, but few conveniences. And, a LOT of mutton. Greasy, fatty mutton. It's kind of nasty. Fortunately mutton is NOT a staple (at least for us) in UB. We've been going for a lot of business, lunch meetings recently so we've had very nice cuisine. But, even not eating at the most expensive places in town you can get nearly everything you could want. There's even a Mexican/Indian place here that I want to try - more for novelty than quality. I've heard it's not the best. We even ate at a North Korean restaurant the other night. It was freaking delicious. Mongolia is apparently one of the few countries where NK has an embassy as well. Once you get past the details like the cost of traveling and language barriers, it must be easy to travel as a Mongolian. They seem to have good relations with EVERYONE.
Anyways, I'm at the airport and running out of battery so I supposed I should wrap up.
NA: No Acronym
Sunday, June 20, 2010
TiM
T.i.M.
So, we still don’t have internet. We were supposed to get it at 10am on Friday, then noon, then four, then seven. We finally told Tuvshu (the AIESECer that is helping us with all of this) that we couldn’t do it at seven because G and I were going to Steppe Inn to schmooze.
Steppe Inn was opened in the backyard of the British Embassy back in the day before there were any bars or nightclubs in UB. The Brits need a place to put back a pint after the long Mongolian winter days. Now, it is an expat hang out. But, you can only get in if you are a member or if you are invited by a member. G and I not being members yet, were invited by David – the Italian we had dinner with last week. We met up with David by MetroMall (more on that later) and walked the 30-40 minutes to Steppe Inn.
It was actually pretty cool. We met a lot of people. Peter who is amateur networker – his wife works here and he hooks people up from various facets of the expat community. For example, G and I got an email from him that we should look another person who has been doing youth leadership programs in UB for several years. We also met the youth leadership guy. And, the British Ambassador and his wife, an ex-jockey and his wife who are trying to bring thoroughbred racing to Mn, and an architect/professor from Britain, and several others. Supposedly now that we’ve made an appearance and met the ambassador applying to SI should be fairly easy.
I also had several small-world experiences on Friday night. At Steppe Inn, I was talking with Steve, one of the first people G and I met at the expat drink on Wednesday. He does IT systems for the Mongolian department of finance, like the stock market. He also had contracts and does work in right around 50 countries. So, I was talking with him and he is originally from Chicago, but has family in Michigan. Mason, Michigan. I went to high school with his niece, and he is familiar with several people I knew at MHS. Weird. Then a bunch of us from Steppe Inn went to Grand Khan to grab a bite to eat before going our separate ways. While the bathroom at GK, I glance over to the back of the line and there is the Mongolian girl I had soccer with this spring. It was kind of amusing. She kept looking at me like she recognized me, but couldn’t figure out why the hell I would be in the bathroom at the GK. I talked to her briefly and ended up giving her one of my business cards that I had leftover from SI. Small. World.
Saturday morning we left for the countryside. Everything in Mn that isn’t UB is “countryside”. We took a three hour train ride to the countryside to a hotel next to a river and just hung out. Andrew (G and my roommate) set up this trip for about 20 people – mostly expats. There were several Australians here for work or volunteering, some Germans that were doing a year with the VOS instead of a year in the German army, another American here with Peace Corp, some Canadians who are doing work with the Mn department of health services, a girl from Singapore doing an @ TN, and a few Mongolians. It was a lot of fun. We went swimming, hung out by the river, went to the hotel’s discotech that night, and did some karaoke. The disco was interesting. They would have the usual lights out dancing music, then would stop, turn on all of the lights, everyone would leave the dance floor, and they would play Mongolian waltz/folk music. The first time it happened there were 15 very confused foreigners left in the middle of the floor. After discoteching for a while we went downstairs to rock out some karaoke, which is apparently very popular in Mn. Go fig. Sunday consisted of more lying around. A group did some hiking around the hotel, but my feet weren’t really up to it. So, I did the river thing instead. We caught the 1:30 train and were back in UB by 5:00.
After some showers and grocery shopping G and I hosted dinner for our @ers. Seven people showed up and it was nice. We made chili, which actually turned out pretty decent considering the time crunch and what we had to work with. We’ve also made several very exciting shopping discoveries in the last few days. MetroMall is amazing. There is a pharmacy with things like tampons and Nyquil and Theraflu and acidophilus and Colgate and razors and shaving cream and shampoo and so many other treasures. (I guess I didn’t really need to pack an entire bag of toiletries). Then there’s the grocery store in the basement of MetroMall with enough Mn versions of American-type food to keep me away from mutton and mutton grease for as long as I am in UB. They even have refrigerated, pasteurized, normal milk. It’s beautiful. And, the yogurt is super delish. Then, next to MetroMall there is an “American” store with American goods. Their food area is small, but they have stuff like Bisquick and Clorox wipes. It’s all much more expensive, but it is also bulk goods from Costco. There is a lot of Kirkland brand there. So, we might not get a whole lot from the Americana store, but at least it’s there if we need or want it.
Mostly for today we are going to be around the apartment waiting for internet. We’re supposed to get internet again today, but we’ll see. Tonight we’ve got more schmoozing with the old expat community. We’re supposed to be going to the North Korea restaurant in town. It’s actually owned by North Koreans with NK décor and NK video propaganda. It should be interesting.
TiM: akin to TIA (This is Africa). This is Mongolia. A phrase expressing the fact that things are done differently here and there's not much you can do about it.
So, we still don’t have internet. We were supposed to get it at 10am on Friday, then noon, then four, then seven. We finally told Tuvshu (the AIESECer that is helping us with all of this) that we couldn’t do it at seven because G and I were going to Steppe Inn to schmooze.
Steppe Inn was opened in the backyard of the British Embassy back in the day before there were any bars or nightclubs in UB. The Brits need a place to put back a pint after the long Mongolian winter days. Now, it is an expat hang out. But, you can only get in if you are a member or if you are invited by a member. G and I not being members yet, were invited by David – the Italian we had dinner with last week. We met up with David by MetroMall (more on that later) and walked the 30-40 minutes to Steppe Inn.
It was actually pretty cool. We met a lot of people. Peter who is amateur networker – his wife works here and he hooks people up from various facets of the expat community. For example, G and I got an email from him that we should look another person who has been doing youth leadership programs in UB for several years. We also met the youth leadership guy. And, the British Ambassador and his wife, an ex-jockey and his wife who are trying to bring thoroughbred racing to Mn, and an architect/professor from Britain, and several others. Supposedly now that we’ve made an appearance and met the ambassador applying to SI should be fairly easy.
I also had several small-world experiences on Friday night. At Steppe Inn, I was talking with Steve, one of the first people G and I met at the expat drink on Wednesday. He does IT systems for the Mongolian department of finance, like the stock market. He also had contracts and does work in right around 50 countries. So, I was talking with him and he is originally from Chicago, but has family in Michigan. Mason, Michigan. I went to high school with his niece, and he is familiar with several people I knew at MHS. Weird. Then a bunch of us from Steppe Inn went to Grand Khan to grab a bite to eat before going our separate ways. While the bathroom at GK, I glance over to the back of the line and there is the Mongolian girl I had soccer with this spring. It was kind of amusing. She kept looking at me like she recognized me, but couldn’t figure out why the hell I would be in the bathroom at the GK. I talked to her briefly and ended up giving her one of my business cards that I had leftover from SI. Small. World.
Saturday morning we left for the countryside. Everything in Mn that isn’t UB is “countryside”. We took a three hour train ride to the countryside to a hotel next to a river and just hung out. Andrew (G and my roommate) set up this trip for about 20 people – mostly expats. There were several Australians here for work or volunteering, some Germans that were doing a year with the VOS instead of a year in the German army, another American here with Peace Corp, some Canadians who are doing work with the Mn department of health services, a girl from Singapore doing an @ TN, and a few Mongolians. It was a lot of fun. We went swimming, hung out by the river, went to the hotel’s discotech that night, and did some karaoke. The disco was interesting. They would have the usual lights out dancing music, then would stop, turn on all of the lights, everyone would leave the dance floor, and they would play Mongolian waltz/folk music. The first time it happened there were 15 very confused foreigners left in the middle of the floor. After discoteching for a while we went downstairs to rock out some karaoke, which is apparently very popular in Mn. Go fig. Sunday consisted of more lying around. A group did some hiking around the hotel, but my feet weren’t really up to it. So, I did the river thing instead. We caught the 1:30 train and were back in UB by 5:00.
After some showers and grocery shopping G and I hosted dinner for our @ers. Seven people showed up and it was nice. We made chili, which actually turned out pretty decent considering the time crunch and what we had to work with. We’ve also made several very exciting shopping discoveries in the last few days. MetroMall is amazing. There is a pharmacy with things like tampons and Nyquil and Theraflu and acidophilus and Colgate and razors and shaving cream and shampoo and so many other treasures. (I guess I didn’t really need to pack an entire bag of toiletries). Then there’s the grocery store in the basement of MetroMall with enough Mn versions of American-type food to keep me away from mutton and mutton grease for as long as I am in UB. They even have refrigerated, pasteurized, normal milk. It’s beautiful. And, the yogurt is super delish. Then, next to MetroMall there is an “American” store with American goods. Their food area is small, but they have stuff like Bisquick and Clorox wipes. It’s all much more expensive, but it is also bulk goods from Costco. There is a lot of Kirkland brand there. So, we might not get a whole lot from the Americana store, but at least it’s there if we need or want it.
Mostly for today we are going to be around the apartment waiting for internet. We’re supposed to get internet again today, but we’ll see. Tonight we’ve got more schmoozing with the old expat community. We’re supposed to be going to the North Korea restaurant in town. It’s actually owned by North Koreans with NK décor and NK video propaganda. It should be interesting.
TiM: akin to TIA (This is Africa). This is Mongolia. A phrase expressing the fact that things are done differently here and there's not much you can do about it.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Mn
Mn.
I’m here!
I left Las Vegas around 8 on Saturday night entrusted my 120lbs worth of luggage to the luggage fairies and boarded my first of three flights with another 30lbs of carry-on luggage. Fortunately, I was able to whisk through all three boardings without having to surrender my larger carry-on to gate-check. I spent four hours in LAX, three hours in Beijing, and finally landing in UB (Ulaanbaatar) around 10am Monday morning. My flights and transfers went very well. On the first flight, I ended up talking to the Hungarian woman next to me who ended up invited me to stay with her at her home in Australia if I’m ever in Sydney. The flight to Beijing was pretty uneventful. The upside was that the meals were surprisingly tasty. But on the downside was that there were no seat-back TVs like, only overhead TVs, which made the flight sort of drag by. When we landed in Beijing it was 6 am and the airport was empty. It was a little tricksy finding the international transfer area, but once it did it was a breeze to get to my gate and plane. The flight to UB lasted about two hours. At Chinngis Khan International Airport I zipped through immigration, picked up all 120+ lbs of luggage, carted it out and was met by Gina, Roman, and Ganzukh. We wheeled my luggage to the farthest end of the parking lot before unloading it to continue dragging it toward a bus stop. After catching a city bus we rode the half hour or 45 minutes back into the city from the airport. When we finally made it to the flat dropped off my stuff and went back out into the city. The rest of the day included dodging traffic, changing money, awkward meetings with the new President of NUM (National University of Mongolia) and our new boss at VoW (Voice of the World), adventures in ordering Mongolian food, following Roman around mildly sketchy back roads to various places around the city, and falling asleep during the Cameroon/Japan match.
On Tuesday we went into Roman’s office to catch up on internet time, had a meeting between Roman, Gina, and I about the Mongolian AIESECers, what they’ve been doing, who has been responsible for what, and did a little bit of preparation for the GMM (general member meeting) that night. We then had lunch with one of our BOA members, an American named Jim Dwyer who is on the Business Council of Mongolia. It went really well, which was a nice change from the meetings the day before which were both awkward and unproductive. Jim also showed us the local art gallery that is a part of the same building that Saffron (the place we had lunch) and Khan Bank are in. He made suggestions about other art galleries to check out in the city as well as another restaurant run by the same chef, and Millie’s Café which is run by a Kenyan expat for part of the year and her Cuban chef and his Mongolian wife for the other part of the year. Millie’s is supposed to be a well known expat lunch spot. Even if it is supposed to be a hangout for stuff y old expats, I still really want to try Kenyan/Cuban/Mongolian cuisine. After lunch we went to drop off invitations to a ceremony next Tuesday for the previous term to some of the people and businesses that have supported @Mn for the last year, ordered business cards, and went to our first GMM with AIESEC Mongolia. The GMM went pretty well, we dance and introduced ourselves, and then split the kids up into their groups so Gina and I could start to get to know them. Trying to pronounce their names was a flustercluck. I only had 6 kids in my group (Gina had 9), and I can still only remember 3 of their names. (Oyunbold, Tuvshu, and Odnoo.) I’m still working on the rest. After GMM we went to the Grand Khan for drinks. Gina and I stayed for the beginning of the Slovakia/New Zealand match before going back to the flat to make dinner.
Wednesday we did a lot of walking according to Roman, as opposed to the last two days when we only did sort of a lot of walking. Started off the day with another meeting with Roman and Gina about the planning and scheduling for June-August. The three of us then went to lunch with another BOA member, Luvsan who is a Mongolian alumn from AIESEC Australia. Both lunches were paid for by the BOA guys and were at ritzy business restaurants (holla). After lunch we dropped off more invitations, picked up our business cards, and went back to VoW for a follow up meeting about working for them. We finally got our schedule and salary settled with Altaa. After VoW, Roman, Gina, and I went to visit Andrew (Gina and my third roommate for now) at the radio station he does a show for. We ended up be sucked into being guests on one of their shows while we were there. Then Andrew shared some of his extensive knowledge about orcas with us. For example, did you know that orcas are dolphins, not whales? They are called killer whales because they kill whales. And, that orcas around the world kill differently based on what they are eating. Some stun fish by smacking then with their tails then scoop them up in their mouths, where others will beach themselves trying to get seals and such? Yeah, I didn’t know that either. Go fig. After the radio show R, G and I went to a weekly drink rendezvous with a bunch of expats in the area. It was okay. But, a combination of aching feet, sweaty B, and general exhaustion makes B antisocial. We’ll probably be back throughout the year especially after Pago gets here. It’ll be good for business contacts. Then we escaped that by going to dinner at another AIESEC supporter’s house. He is an Italian expat entrepreneur who has been in UB for 6 years. It was nice, I was still tired and not very good company. G and I finally went home after dinner and crashed.
It’s nice to be meeting so many people in the expat community. For one thing, I never expected it to be so big in UB. But there are a lot of western expats in the area – especially Aussies. But, I’m more excited about spending time with local Mongolians than the expats. I can be around westerners anytime. Bring on the Mongolian. G, maybe P, and I are eventually supposed to start taking Mongolian lessons from a lady that some Brit knows that R knows. It’ll be nice to be able to do more than just point and grunt and look like an idiot.
I finally was able to sleep past 7 o’clock this morning. I was awake at 6 on Tuesday and 5:30 yesterday. Ick. I got up, heated up some water in our electric kettle so I could shower. We don’t have hot water yet. They are working on the pipes in the area so they are deeper in the ground and less likely to freeze this winter. This makes for interesting “showers”. After splashing a bit of kettle water on myself and sort of washing my hair I finally called it quits in the shower. Hopefully things will be less awkward and inefficient soon. I got dressed and since I was the only one awake and we didn’t have bread, I decided to take a walk. I’ve been eating mostly toast for breakfast because G and I haven’t really had a chance and guide to get us to a market yet, and without bread there is no toast. So, I went in search of bread. I was just going to stop at the store in our courtyard area, but she was closed. I discovered how to get around our block, and found an open store on the way. I got yogurt and bread for breakfast today. The yogurt was super delicious so we definitely need to get more of that going on. I’ll probably try to get eggs and preserves in the next few days just to spice up b-fast a little bit more. Other than that we have other meetings planned for today and should be getting internet in the apartment this morning! Fingers crossed. At this point, I agree with G – I’d rather have internet right now than hot water. I still want both, but the no internet thing is getting old.
We were supposed to get internet on Thursday in the apt. But, it didn't happen. Then we were supposed to get internet today at 10am. Didn't happen. Now, they are supposed to come at 4pm today. We'll see.
Anyway. Today's acronym is not actually an acronym but an abbreviation for Mongolia. UB is Ulaanbaatar.
I’m here!
I left Las Vegas around 8 on Saturday night entrusted my 120lbs worth of luggage to the luggage fairies and boarded my first of three flights with another 30lbs of carry-on luggage. Fortunately, I was able to whisk through all three boardings without having to surrender my larger carry-on to gate-check. I spent four hours in LAX, three hours in Beijing, and finally landing in UB (Ulaanbaatar) around 10am Monday morning. My flights and transfers went very well. On the first flight, I ended up talking to the Hungarian woman next to me who ended up invited me to stay with her at her home in Australia if I’m ever in Sydney. The flight to Beijing was pretty uneventful. The upside was that the meals were surprisingly tasty. But on the downside was that there were no seat-back TVs like, only overhead TVs, which made the flight sort of drag by. When we landed in Beijing it was 6 am and the airport was empty. It was a little tricksy finding the international transfer area, but once it did it was a breeze to get to my gate and plane. The flight to UB lasted about two hours. At Chinngis Khan International Airport I zipped through immigration, picked up all 120+ lbs of luggage, carted it out and was met by Gina, Roman, and Ganzukh. We wheeled my luggage to the farthest end of the parking lot before unloading it to continue dragging it toward a bus stop. After catching a city bus we rode the half hour or 45 minutes back into the city from the airport. When we finally made it to the flat dropped off my stuff and went back out into the city. The rest of the day included dodging traffic, changing money, awkward meetings with the new President of NUM (National University of Mongolia) and our new boss at VoW (Voice of the World), adventures in ordering Mongolian food, following Roman around mildly sketchy back roads to various places around the city, and falling asleep during the Cameroon/Japan match.
On Tuesday we went into Roman’s office to catch up on internet time, had a meeting between Roman, Gina, and I about the Mongolian AIESECers, what they’ve been doing, who has been responsible for what, and did a little bit of preparation for the GMM (general member meeting) that night. We then had lunch with one of our BOA members, an American named Jim Dwyer who is on the Business Council of Mongolia. It went really well, which was a nice change from the meetings the day before which were both awkward and unproductive. Jim also showed us the local art gallery that is a part of the same building that Saffron (the place we had lunch) and Khan Bank are in. He made suggestions about other art galleries to check out in the city as well as another restaurant run by the same chef, and Millie’s Café which is run by a Kenyan expat for part of the year and her Cuban chef and his Mongolian wife for the other part of the year. Millie’s is supposed to be a well known expat lunch spot. Even if it is supposed to be a hangout for stuff y old expats, I still really want to try Kenyan/Cuban/Mongolian cuisine. After lunch we went to drop off invitations to a ceremony next Tuesday for the previous term to some of the people and businesses that have supported @Mn for the last year, ordered business cards, and went to our first GMM with AIESEC Mongolia. The GMM went pretty well, we dance and introduced ourselves, and then split the kids up into their groups so Gina and I could start to get to know them. Trying to pronounce their names was a flustercluck. I only had 6 kids in my group (Gina had 9), and I can still only remember 3 of their names. (Oyunbold, Tuvshu, and Odnoo.) I’m still working on the rest. After GMM we went to the Grand Khan for drinks. Gina and I stayed for the beginning of the Slovakia/New Zealand match before going back to the flat to make dinner.
Wednesday we did a lot of walking according to Roman, as opposed to the last two days when we only did sort of a lot of walking. Started off the day with another meeting with Roman and Gina about the planning and scheduling for June-August. The three of us then went to lunch with another BOA member, Luvsan who is a Mongolian alumn from AIESEC Australia. Both lunches were paid for by the BOA guys and were at ritzy business restaurants (holla). After lunch we dropped off more invitations, picked up our business cards, and went back to VoW for a follow up meeting about working for them. We finally got our schedule and salary settled with Altaa. After VoW, Roman, Gina, and I went to visit Andrew (Gina and my third roommate for now) at the radio station he does a show for. We ended up be sucked into being guests on one of their shows while we were there. Then Andrew shared some of his extensive knowledge about orcas with us. For example, did you know that orcas are dolphins, not whales? They are called killer whales because they kill whales. And, that orcas around the world kill differently based on what they are eating. Some stun fish by smacking then with their tails then scoop them up in their mouths, where others will beach themselves trying to get seals and such? Yeah, I didn’t know that either. Go fig. After the radio show R, G and I went to a weekly drink rendezvous with a bunch of expats in the area. It was okay. But, a combination of aching feet, sweaty B, and general exhaustion makes B antisocial. We’ll probably be back throughout the year especially after Pago gets here. It’ll be good for business contacts. Then we escaped that by going to dinner at another AIESEC supporter’s house. He is an Italian expat entrepreneur who has been in UB for 6 years. It was nice, I was still tired and not very good company. G and I finally went home after dinner and crashed.
It’s nice to be meeting so many people in the expat community. For one thing, I never expected it to be so big in UB. But there are a lot of western expats in the area – especially Aussies. But, I’m more excited about spending time with local Mongolians than the expats. I can be around westerners anytime. Bring on the Mongolian. G, maybe P, and I are eventually supposed to start taking Mongolian lessons from a lady that some Brit knows that R knows. It’ll be nice to be able to do more than just point and grunt and look like an idiot.
I finally was able to sleep past 7 o’clock this morning. I was awake at 6 on Tuesday and 5:30 yesterday. Ick. I got up, heated up some water in our electric kettle so I could shower. We don’t have hot water yet. They are working on the pipes in the area so they are deeper in the ground and less likely to freeze this winter. This makes for interesting “showers”. After splashing a bit of kettle water on myself and sort of washing my hair I finally called it quits in the shower. Hopefully things will be less awkward and inefficient soon. I got dressed and since I was the only one awake and we didn’t have bread, I decided to take a walk. I’ve been eating mostly toast for breakfast because G and I haven’t really had a chance and guide to get us to a market yet, and without bread there is no toast. So, I went in search of bread. I was just going to stop at the store in our courtyard area, but she was closed. I discovered how to get around our block, and found an open store on the way. I got yogurt and bread for breakfast today. The yogurt was super delicious so we definitely need to get more of that going on. I’ll probably try to get eggs and preserves in the next few days just to spice up b-fast a little bit more. Other than that we have other meetings planned for today and should be getting internet in the apartment this morning! Fingers crossed. At this point, I agree with G – I’d rather have internet right now than hot water. I still want both, but the no internet thing is getting old.
We were supposed to get internet on Thursday in the apt. But, it didn't happen. Then we were supposed to get internet today at 10am. Didn't happen. Now, they are supposed to come at 4pm today. We'll see.
Anyway. Today's acronym is not actually an acronym but an abbreviation for Mongolia. UB is Ulaanbaatar.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
XP
So, in about 92 hours I will be leaving the country for at least a year. The plan is to be gone about a year. But, who knows, plans can change. But, for the sake of the argument, let's say a year. One whole year. I think I should be more worried than I am. It's not that I'm not worried or excited or anxious. I just haven't really thought about it at all since I left Georgia. The anxiety and excitement will hit soon enough. I'm pretty sure they will follow shortly after I pull out my suitcases and start loading. Which is just one of the reasons I am reluctant to start packing. (Not one of my better ideas I assure you. To wait to pack that is.)
Anyways, that's all I have for now. Short, sweet, pointless. I shall start regaling the masses of my exotic adventure next week, I'm sure.
XP: Experience as in the @XP or AIESEC Experience. A set of benchmarks by which AIESECers and Exchange Participants may measure their time and adventures in AIESEC. There is the I2A: Introduction to AIESEC, where you get to learn all about our ways. TR or Taking Responsibility where a member may take on smaller responsibilities. There is also LR or Leadership Role and X or Exchange both of which are pretty self explanatory. H4TF or Heading for the future, in which now-AIESEC alums decide how to apply AIESEC to their lives...
Don't you feel educated. :)
Anyways, that's all I have for now. Short, sweet, pointless. I shall start regaling the masses of my exotic adventure next week, I'm sure.
XP: Experience as in the @XP or AIESEC Experience. A set of benchmarks by which AIESECers and Exchange Participants may measure their time and adventures in AIESEC. There is the I2A: Introduction to AIESEC, where you get to learn all about our ways. TR or Taking Responsibility where a member may take on smaller responsibilities. There is also LR or Leadership Role and X or Exchange both of which are pretty self explanatory. H4TF or Heading for the future, in which now-AIESEC alums decide how to apply AIESEC to their lives...
Don't you feel educated. :)
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
EP and TN
So, here goes post number two. This is a clear sign that I am totally and utterly lost on the semi-research project I have due tomorrow at 11:15 am. Ick-city.
*Warning: I am about to complain. Probably a lot. I apologize.*
I am supposed to be researching the international intervention into the Bosnian conflict in the early 1990s. First of all, the Balkans were a mess in the early 90s. Everyone was fighting everyone else and they all called themselves the same damn thing. I know that I only have to research and understand a tiny bit of it. But, I can't even wrap my head around the thing that I am supposed to be researching. Everyone that was not already fighting in the conflict due to geographical proximity had their interventionist spoon dipped in from afar. For better or worse there was a lot of intervening going on. So far, I'm not impressed by their efforts. (Although I am mildly confused). When will international actors/organizations get it right? How many humanitarian messes do they have to fuck up before they get a clue. Apparently a lot.
Anyways. Next on the list. My respect for the handicapable has soared in the last two weeks. I would be the biggest whiner if I was a born and true cripple. Fuck that shit about what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It might make me stronger (at least on the right side), but it also makes me crabby. There is not a scrap of ground on UGA's campus that is a straight level line. And, I never realized what a ridiculous fiasco doors can cause. And stairs. And carpet. And driving. And walking... Told you being cripple would make me a whiner. Even more so than I already am. Power to the folks that can put up with this shit with more grace than I can manage.
*I think I'm done complaining... You're welcome.*
On a positive note, I am pretty excited about my paper for my Religion in Literature class. (How weird is that?) The Road + Serenity = awesome. I had to re-watch Serenity last week to take notes and copy quotes and the like. Probably the best paper preparation I've ever had to do. I've had a killer Firefly craving for the last month, but I want new material. I love the stuff that is available, but I want more. And, there is no more to be had.
In other, rather older, news. I went to The Grit for dinner about three weeks ago with Lauren and her friend whose name I always forget. It was a decent wait for a table and of course, the bench you sit on to wait is located directly in front of the ungodly perfect looking baked goods. Shame on you Grit for your capitalist placement of something I would not otherwise want to eat. Damn you for putting that grasshopper cake right in front of me and taunting me with the last piece. Now, in general I find that cake in restaurants is seldom as delicious as it looks. Normally it is pretty and colorful and tastes like cardboard. Even knowing this I made sure to reserve the last piece of grasshopper cake as soon as the waitress showed up to take our drink orders. Oh My God. It was amazing. Perfectly moist and chocolaty. With not too sweet mint frosting. Amazing. Now, I must purchase The Grit cookbook so I can not bake grasshopper cake for the next year because Mongolia doesn't sell vegetarian friendly ingredients... Oh well, it will be worth the wait.
Well, that's about the extent of the excitement for now.
And today's acronyms are:
EP or Exchange Participant. This may refer to one who is not a part of AIESEC but is still going on exchange with AIESEC or an AIESECer who is a part of the exchange process.
and
TN or Traineeship. These are essentially the same things as internships. They are the jobs that local communities (LCs) create for international students (EPs) to fill.
So, now we know EP, TN, and LC (you even got an extra acronym for your nickle...)
*Warning: I am about to complain. Probably a lot. I apologize.*
I am supposed to be researching the international intervention into the Bosnian conflict in the early 1990s. First of all, the Balkans were a mess in the early 90s. Everyone was fighting everyone else and they all called themselves the same damn thing. I know that I only have to research and understand a tiny bit of it. But, I can't even wrap my head around the thing that I am supposed to be researching. Everyone that was not already fighting in the conflict due to geographical proximity had their interventionist spoon dipped in from afar. For better or worse there was a lot of intervening going on. So far, I'm not impressed by their efforts. (Although I am mildly confused). When will international actors/organizations get it right? How many humanitarian messes do they have to fuck up before they get a clue. Apparently a lot.
Anyways. Next on the list. My respect for the handicapable has soared in the last two weeks. I would be the biggest whiner if I was a born and true cripple. Fuck that shit about what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It might make me stronger (at least on the right side), but it also makes me crabby. There is not a scrap of ground on UGA's campus that is a straight level line. And, I never realized what a ridiculous fiasco doors can cause. And stairs. And carpet. And driving. And walking... Told you being cripple would make me a whiner. Even more so than I already am. Power to the folks that can put up with this shit with more grace than I can manage.
*I think I'm done complaining... You're welcome.*
On a positive note, I am pretty excited about my paper for my Religion in Literature class. (How weird is that?) The Road + Serenity = awesome. I had to re-watch Serenity last week to take notes and copy quotes and the like. Probably the best paper preparation I've ever had to do. I've had a killer Firefly craving for the last month, but I want new material. I love the stuff that is available, but I want more. And, there is no more to be had.
In other, rather older, news. I went to The Grit for dinner about three weeks ago with Lauren and her friend whose name I always forget. It was a decent wait for a table and of course, the bench you sit on to wait is located directly in front of the ungodly perfect looking baked goods. Shame on you Grit for your capitalist placement of something I would not otherwise want to eat. Damn you for putting that grasshopper cake right in front of me and taunting me with the last piece. Now, in general I find that cake in restaurants is seldom as delicious as it looks. Normally it is pretty and colorful and tastes like cardboard. Even knowing this I made sure to reserve the last piece of grasshopper cake as soon as the waitress showed up to take our drink orders. Oh My God. It was amazing. Perfectly moist and chocolaty. With not too sweet mint frosting. Amazing. Now, I must purchase The Grit cookbook so I can not bake grasshopper cake for the next year because Mongolia doesn't sell vegetarian friendly ingredients... Oh well, it will be worth the wait.
Well, that's about the extent of the excitement for now.
And today's acronyms are:
EP or Exchange Participant. This may refer to one who is not a part of AIESEC but is still going on exchange with AIESEC or an AIESECer who is a part of the exchange process.
and
TN or Traineeship. These are essentially the same things as internships. They are the jobs that local communities (LCs) create for international students (EPs) to fill.
So, now we know EP, TN, and LC (you even got an extra acronym for your nickle...)
Monday, March 8, 2010
MC VP TM @Mongolia
So, I suppose I'll try this blogging thing.
Tales of a Female Nomad was taken, so instead I bring you Cryptic Acronyms. A lesson in the language of AIESEC as well as a super exciting update of my super exciting life. I probably will not be blogging super often especially since I am still in the States and still have real life contact with most of the people that could read this.
Anyways, the cryptic acronym of the day is MC VP TM @ Mongolia.
MC = Member Committee (read: National Staff)
VP = Vice President
TM = Talent Management
@ = AIESEC
And, Mongolia is pretty self explanatory. If it's not, please see Google Maps.
As of July I will be the MC VP TM of @ Mongolia. I will be leaving Athens in the beginning/middle of May, and leaving the states mid-June. Which is actually the whole point of creating this blog. So I can alert the world of my doings without spending millions of dollars calling and updating you in person.
Well, that's it for now.
Tales of a Female Nomad was taken, so instead I bring you Cryptic Acronyms. A lesson in the language of AIESEC as well as a super exciting update of my super exciting life. I probably will not be blogging super often especially since I am still in the States and still have real life contact with most of the people that could read this.
Anyways, the cryptic acronym of the day is MC VP TM @ Mongolia.
MC = Member Committee (read: National Staff)
VP = Vice President
TM = Talent Management
@ = AIESEC
And, Mongolia is pretty self explanatory. If it's not, please see Google Maps.
As of July I will be the MC VP TM of @ Mongolia. I will be leaving Athens in the beginning/middle of May, and leaving the states mid-June. Which is actually the whole point of creating this blog. So I can alert the world of my doings without spending millions of dollars calling and updating you in person.
Well, that's it for now.
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