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.

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

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.

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.)

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.