"Last Christmas and Merry, HO HO!"

CHRISTMAS BAYAR MENDE XURGI!

Its hard to believe that it is really and truly Christmas as I sit here in the PC office at 7am having spent all night on a train after a most hectically interesting 2 weeks ... confused? Well lets take a little trip back to yesteryear.....

Saturday 15-
Meet up with all my fellow M18 volunteers and our Mongolian Counterparts (CPs) at the PC Office and caught a bus to Terelge, the ger camp where our IST was held...had a few training sessions...caught up with old friends...tripped and sat on the ger stove (thank goodness for thick jeans and long johns or my butt would be fried) 2nd degree burning my arm on the stove pipe...huddle shivering under blankets next to Dwan, attempting to keep warm in sub-zero temperatures

Sunday 16-
Woke up late and got "toast" (aka bread that may once have layed on a stove for 2.6 seconds) for breakfast, it seems as if most people have forgotten the sitting on the stove incident, until they see my arm. Have around 10 hours of training sessions...took my Language Proficiency Interview...died from the stress of it...came back to life to watch Indian Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark with my CP and remembered why I was in love with Harrison Ford as a child...hung out with my Sukhbaatar boys and helped Fahd to win big at poker

Monday 17-
Woke up late, again, had "toast", again, and had about 10 hours of sessions, again...realized that it takes 2 days for burns to really start to hurt...took a hot shower!!!!...hung out with my CP for a while...wandered around to the various gers attempting to find people to hang out with, but kept walking into awkward situations...accidentally walked into the Trainers poker game, stuttered confusedly, blinked 7.9 times, turned and left...decided to call it a night, went to my frigidly cold home for the week, and gossiped with the girls for a bit...had a random 10 minuet freak out during which I said "I have 2 brains and the little one is eating the big one" and also "Why am I such a young, stupid, white girl?"...that passed and we all laughed about it and went to sleep together in the big bed in an attempt to keep warm...it worked!

Tuesday 18-
Woke up not late only to realize that breakfast only included "toast" and slabs of fat that were trying their best to be bacon...10ish hours of sessions...Talent Show!!!!!! I helped in 2 skits, one on the proper method of cuddling to keep warm in winter, the other called A Day in the Life...of Sarah (wonder who came up with that idea hmmm ^_~)...was once again amazed by how talented Mongolians are...DANCE PARTY! and Video Games...back to the ger for some 13 (this awesome card game I play with my SB boys) and major winnings on my part...hung out with some of the CPs for a bit...stole Yoomie's sleeping bag and slept warmly

Wednesday 19-
woke up late and didn't even bother with breakfast...the CPs left...10ish hours of sessions...Kim's Bachlorette Party!!! which included a horrifyingly hilarious parody of a striptease by James, Chris, and Kevin...escaped the massive gathering of women to go play cards with the guys (and take more of their money!!!)...stole Fahd's bed as the party was still going on at my place and was warm thanks to Sharsons amazing fire making abilities!

Thursday 20-
Woke up late (surprise, surprise)...learned that sessions were cut short!!!!!...took too long to pack and was the last one on the bus...drove back to UB...checked into the guesthouse...had amazing Indian food...went to sleep early

Friday 21-
Decided that since I had a few free days I would go up to Sukhbaatar (SB) to visit the Mongolian Family...caught a car to Darkhan with Jacob, Fahd, Dwan, Peter, Jason, and Robin...3ish hours in a speeding car (horrify on Mongolian roads)...in Darkhan caught a meeker (van type thing) to SB...2ish hours later...Jacob, Peter, Dwan, and I visited our families, ate ALOT of food, drank ALOT of suutai tsai ("milk tea") and airg ("vodka" true Mongolian style)...crashed at Jacob's families house

Saturday 22-
work up earlyish...Jacob, Peter, Fahd, and I took a hike in the SB mountains...went to Jason's families house to hang out with the SB city folk and our Mongolian teachers...went back to Heraldo to hang out with our teachers there...realized that I don't know nearly enough Mongolian songs

Sunday 23-
woke up and had breakfast with Jacob's family...visited with Charlene's family...decided to skip the walk to the river to help teach my family how to use the computer they got...went to the store with the family to get marogen ("ice cream") as was our tradition...said our goodbyes...Jacob, Peter, and I caught a late night meeker back to Darkhan...took a hot shower at Peter's place...watched the end of Small Soldiers on his cable tv...feel asleep warm and comfortable

Monday 24-
was awoken at 7am by, wait, could this be real, am I dreaming, that's right it was Jacob watching, LIVE FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!! and a Patriots game too!(sorry Miami)...exhaustion took over and I fell back asleep...got up later, ran some errands for Cady (Peter's wife who was making us Christmas dinner)...chilled with my dvv ("little sister") who is studying in Darkhan...then went back to Peter and Cady's to have amazingly delicious Christmas dinner with the two of them, Yoomie, Dylan, Jess, Kevin, and Jacob...caught the 12:40am train to UB with Jacob

Tuesday 25-
was awoken upon arrival at UB...caught a taxi to the PC office...and here I am now...maybe I will go watch Rush Hour 3 later, or go for sushi with Sharson and Fahd...don't quite know...but tomorrow morning my plane leaves boku early...Merry Christmas!

Bright Lights Big City

I'm writing to you all from the Peace Corps office in Ulaanbaatar!!!! I will have 4 wonderful zawtai ("free") days until our In Service Training (IST) Conference at a nearby Ger Camp! I am staying with Shuree's brother's Mother-in-Law, so I save money because I don't have to pay for a room at the guest house, and I also get free delicious Mongolian food! (I offered to pay but she told me "You are like my daughter, now eat another piece of candy." ... I love Mongolians). Also, she has a real live photograph of her granddaughter with Steven Segal. It was so wierd looking through her album. "This is my son by the camel. This is our car in the desert. This is my classmates at the river. This is Steven Segal. This is from Naadam." Totally blew my mind!

My upper respiratory system is entirely healthy, hooray antibiotics! I have just gotten my very first flu shot ever O_o. I will be getting more booster shots next week. I also have Costalcondolitis which means that the cartilage connecting my ribs and my sternum is inflamed making things like moving and breathing very painful. Unfortunately nothing can really be done to "cure" it except wait, but I am taking a mild anti-inflammatory for the pain. Hopefully I will be all better by next week. This being sick/in pain thing is getting old ^_~.

I'm excited about IST and getting to see all my fellow M18s again! There is totally a heated, indoor pool in the place where we will be staying!!!!!! Maybe if I win enough money from Jacob, Fahd, and Chris in our 13 (a card game) tournament, I will be able to afford to go swimming (though I don't have a suit, oh well I can work it out some how).

UB is a real city. I miss little Cho, and my apartment, and my students, and my Mongolian friends. I'm glad to have a break, but it will be nice to go back when the time comes!

Older Students are Fun

I am soooo hungry. This is probably due to the fact that all I have really eaten in the past 3 days is bread, butter, and xiam. You see it has been most snowy and when it takes 10 minuets to get dressed, another 10 to go to the store (20 if I want to go to the market), then I buy food and walk another 10 (or 20) home … and then it takes an hour to cook the food… and I’ve just been far too lazy of late, not to mention busy.

In addition to my teaching at school I am volunteering to help this amazing Mongolian woman, Shuree. She is a teacher for the Global Leadership Foundation, and is one of my best friends here. Here English is better than mine! She is teaching a class to the engineers at the local Power Station, and I agreed to teach the speaking class. It’s a once a week deal, and is tons of fun. All the Power Station workers are older than me of course, and very excited to be learning English. This week after class they took me out for a drink and pig tongue (its very delicious, you should try it some time). It was sooo fun getting to talk mostly in Mongolian, with random English thrown in (because they are still at the beginners level). They sang Mongolian songs, I sang English songs, and it was funny because Togtox (a 37 year old mechanical engineer) kept calling me Bagshaa (“teacher”) and I kept telling him Ugui, odoo bi bagsh bish. Bi zugair Cass, tanii naiz! (“No, now I’m not a teacher. I’m just your friend Cass!”) The others found this hilarious.

In other news I go to UB in about 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait to see everyone again!!!!!!!!

yes i am alive

So I have been sick...again. I'm not talking about the Ferris Buller kind of sick where you somehow convince your mother to let you stay home from school. Then you spend the day watching Gargoyles and wondering just why Lexington's wings were different from the rest and eating Pop-Tarts (man I miss Pop-Tarts). No, I'm talking about the kind of sick where all you want to do is die but you can't even do that because Death won't come near you for fear of catching what you have. But then the antibiotics finally kicked in and I can do stuff again, like breath, and eat. Its awesome!

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Here is part of Sarah (S) and My (C) radio show from this week (we dedicated the show to My Dad because it was his birthday, and to 50 Cent because we knew how to talk about him in Mongolian!) ZA!

S: Bagshnar babes.
C: Wake up with the king. (*note* we always follow our name with a random slogan)
S: What the hell?
C: You know, the king. The burger king king? It’s their slogan. “Wake up with the king.”
S: ohhh, okay cass. I get it.
C: Although I friggin hate the Burger King King.
S: Why?
C: Because he’s so freaky. I mean okay what would you do if, I mean like, okay... first of all people wake up and he’s in their bed. And then he gives them a crossaintwich and then it’s cool. There’s nothing cool about that.
S: I don’t like crossaintwiches. But if he just gave me a croissant, I would take it. Like a chocolate croissant? Oh man.
C: First of all, how can you not like croissantwiches, that’s just wrong, on so many levels. Second of all, if I woke up next to the King, I would scream, grab my beast of a flashlight and beat the burger out of him. And if he offered me a stupid breakfast sandwich, I’m not eating that. No matter how good that smells.
S: But I really like chocolate croissants.
C: Sarah, you’re the kind of person that gets killed first in horror films. But chocolate croissants are good.

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Thanksgiving was baixgvi in the Cho. I won some money in a teachers sports competition and went out to eat with my teachers.

Yesterday was Mongolian Revolutionary (Independence) Holiday. I went out to the club with Sarah and her school's teachers. I love dancing in Mongolia! I get to be cool by default. On the way home I managed to slam my face into a bar and have a lovely bruise on the bridge of my nose, but it is not broken. I suppose that I will fall down an open man hole next!

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I own exactly 26 pairs of underware, all of which I washed yesterday. It took 2 hours. O_o I've got blisters on me fingers!

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It is still cold frigid freezing arctic piercingly polar

-13°C makes you think funny

Ones language and manner of speaking perpetually evolve. New words are added to our lexicon, a regional relocation may adjust an accent, we assimilate the speaking mannerisms of those with who with constantly associate, and our general perception of our surroundings effects how we convey our thoughts. Its like David Eddings wrote, “Words are the essence of thought, without words there is no thought.” Being my anthropologically minded self, its only natural that I would have an interest in linguistics. I’m now finding myself applying my academic knowledge to the real world as it assists me in learning Mongolian and teaching English. It’s utterly fascinating! However, the most intriguing thing for me has been the greater understanding and analysis of my own personal Cassandrized English.

Imagine living in a setting were your every word was scrutinized with the utmost caution. Slang cannot be utilized as it is a moot point (isn’t taught, isn’t needed). Your rate of delivery must be studied and deliberate. Enunciation is a must. Vocabulary is specific (and British O_o). Writing must also be immaculate. Signs such as #, &, @, simply cannot be used. SPELLING! (Again the British method is preferred). Anything you write, anything you say will be memorized verbatim.
“Teacher, what is divter in English?”
“Uuum…notebook.”
“Za, umnotebook.”
“No, no, no, just notebook.”
“Oo, za. Jusnotebook.”
“Bish, bish. Divter anglar notebook baidag.”
“OK, notebook?”
“YES! Very good, ikh sain!” :::dies:::

As I child I used to use the interjection “um” continuously, until my father got tired of it and told me I would have to give him a quarter for every “um” uttered. I can’t recall if he ever collected, but the “um” stage of my life was over. The timing worked out nicely as we moved to southern California, and I was now in that awkward preteen stage. “Like” was so totally the new “um!” The “like” stage of my life was extensive, and monstrous. I was unaware that I even used the word; let alone how frequently I used it. Again my father intervened, yelling at me, in the middle of some story or tirade of mine, about how he couldn’t stand it, I sounded like an idiot and used “like” almost every other word. I was a junior in HS. It was then that I realized “I like truly did like sound like a ditz.” 6 or so years later, while like has not been completely eradicated (and may never be for those of us 90s generational youth), it is vastly diminished. For the first time in my life my speech actually reflects the fact that I have some intelligence. (Though some would complain that I am to verbose and put on Hermione-esq know-it-all airs :::coughMeredithcough::: ^_~). However, “so” has become my new interjection word of choice in the English classroom. I don’t know why. I don’t know how. But I finally looked up the Mongolian word for “interjection” just to explain that it is unnecessary to repeat my “so.”

The Cho also boasts a varied international community thanks to the European VSO volunteers. This has also been a most depressing blow to my English, as apparently I have an accent, and a moderately confusing one at that (if I am talking in my normal conversational manner, when in official or foreigner mode, I’m completely comprehensible, thank goodness!). I can only assume my “strange” accent is a piecemeal adulteration of the various regions I’ve lived in over the years. I pronounce the words “killed” and “kilt” the same. Words with a long “O” (or is it a short “O”…I’ve forgotten) are also pronounced oddly. Vocabulary such as “wicked” (very/cool), “cream rinse” (conditioner), “dude” (if you don’t know what that means, stop reading this blog, leave the cave you have been living in and go watch Dude, Where’s My Car…you will be okay), also throws people off. I’ve now added various Mongolian words that I will unconsciously sprinkle into conversation, not an issue now as everyone here who speaks English knows these words. But upon my return to the States…yanna! Who knows how altered my personal version will have become.

Also, I finally understand what Mongolians are saying out in the streets as they go about their lives......the same things Americans say when they are going about their lives. The talk about work, what they are going to buy, whats new with their families, which resturant makes the best buuz. I feel cheated somehow, not that I was expecting to discover the meaning of life but still..."hey stop, lets take a taxi its too cold to walk.".......turns out Mongolia and American aren't that compleately different after all.

Transcript from our First Show

Theme song – Wild Honey Pie
Bagshnar babes, bringing you love from America.
Sarah: Sain baitsganuu! Dornodchuudaa
Cass: Tiim, sain baitsganuu
S: Namaig Sarah gedeg
C: Minii ner Cass.
S: Tegeed
C: Bid ner
S & C: Bagshnar Babes!
Aw!
Tiim shdee.
S & C:Welcome to Bagshnar Babes English Hour
C: Yagaad Bagshnar?
S: Yagaad gevel bid hoer Enkhtaivnii korpusiin Angli helnii bagsh.
C: Yagaad Babes?
S: Babe bol angli ug. Babe bol “hip hop” ug. Babe bol mongoloor hoorhon ineedtei busgui gesen ug.
C: Yagaad gevel bid hoer yamar hoorhon yum be!
S: Za, saikhan amarts gan uu, I am Sarah Gustafson. u can call me Saraa! I am 24 years old. I come from California in America. Hollywood! I like to dance. Bi soliotai bujiglih durtai. My favorite places are Vostok Club, Winners Café, and the Dornod Boohing Orgoo. My favorite radio station is zuuun hoerig fm!
(Bi ch bas!)
C: What’s up Choibalsan? My name is Cassandra Elizabeth Weiner. But please call me Cass. I am 22 years old. I also like to dance. I come from Virginia Beach in America. I have nice teeth. And I like fruit. Bi bukh jimsend durtai, gevch bananand durgui, yagaad gevel banan sarmugchini huns.
Sarah: Today we will play our favorite English
C: (and Mongolian!)
S: songs. Onoodor bid ner manai hamgin durtai Angli helnii
C: (bas Mongol helnii!)
S: duu toglono. Za yu! Ehleed Cass. What is your favorite English song?
C: My favorite song is Baby Got Back
S: Who sings it?
C: Sir Mix-A-Lot
S: What kind of song?
C: It is a hip-hop song! Sir Mix-a-lot bol neg zaluu eregtei. Ter tom bokstei emegteichuudend hairtai. Here it is Dornod… sir mix a lot’s Baby Got Back.
(play song)
(Sarah: Bagshnar Babes? Cass: “The sound of vitality”)
C: So, Sarah. What is your favorite song?
S: My favorite song is called Bongo Bong. It’s about a monkey who plays the drums. Ter duu Neg sarmugchinii tuhai. ter sarmugchin bombor toglodog.
C: Sarmucghin bombor toglodog?
S: Tiim… hoodooni sarmugchin baisan, olon naiztai baisan. gevch hot ruu nuuj irsen. odoo naiz baikhgui, tegeed hugzhim gantsaaraa togloh durtai.
C: Here we go dornodchuudaa. Manu Chao’s Bongo Bong!
Play song
Cass: Bagshnar babes? Sarah: Taste the rainbow.
C: So Sarah, how is Mongolia?
Sarah: Mongolia is very beautiful.
Cass: Harin tiim!
Sarah: And Mongolian people?
Cass: They are very nice.
Sarah: How about Mongolian men?
Cass: Ohhhh they are very handsome.
Sarah: Yag tiim! I like bx, I think he’s very handsome, ih saikhan hun.
Cass: I met him this summer!
Sarah: Tiim uu
C: Tiim
S: Bx uu?
C: Tiim
S: Ene zuun uu?
C: Tiiim
S: Chi yu?!
C: Tiim
S: Yak shdee!
C: Unen. Ene zuun bx taniltsan. kontsert deer. He was very nice. He was an awesome singer.
S: What about flash?
C: I like Baba. He is good at hip hop singing. He’s a great rapper.
S: But what about Miigaa? he is so romantic!
C: Migaa is cute.
S: Oh there are just too many cool Mongolian stars. How can you choose?
C: Easy. Let’s just choose our five favorite stars.
S: Ah za, 5 eregtei odod duu sonsoh hoshin shog uzeh hamgin durtai.
C: Ter hen be?
S: BX, Baba, Migaa, Javkhlan, Bayarmagnai.
Cass: Number 1. BX. (sound bite -> then fade)
Sarah: Why? Bx?
Cass: Because he is an awesome dancer. I like how he always wears a white suit and a white hat. It’s very handsome. Do you know Justin timberlake?
Sarah: Of course. Duuh!
Cass: Well, BX is the Justin Timberlake of Mongolia.
Sarah: BX shig Justin Timberlake. ashgui, ashgui.
Cass: And, BX has nice teeth.
Sarah: BX goe shudtei yuu?
Cass: Tiim
Sarah: Okay, Number 2: Baba.
Cass: So why baba.
Sarah: Everyone knows Baba. He does the hip hop singing in Flash. Baba ugeldeg. He has a wonderful, low, voice.
Cass: low voice?
Sarah: Baba’s real name is Bilguun. He was born on January 25, 1987. Baba likes to play basketball.
Cass: Okay, number 3. Migaa from Flash.
Sarah: Oh! Why Migaa?
Cass: Because he reminds me of my little brother. He is the same age. They are both 17 years old. They both like football and music. And they are both smart.
Sarah: Really?
Cass: Yes. Now Migaa is studying in Korea. He left Flash to study in Korea.
Sarah: Didn’t he leave his girlfriend too?
Cass: Yes, now he has no girlfriend. Harin zugeer. Bi ch bas. Nadad naiz zaluu baikhgui.
Sarah: Migaa is cute. But Migaa is very young. He was born on January 15, 1990. I like Javkhlan.
(play Hairiin gegeen boroo sound bite)
Cass: 4. Javkhlan. Why?
Sarah: Oh… Javkhlan is the most famous singer in Mongolia. He comes from Uvs aimag. In 2005, Javkhlan recorded a disc. The disc had many popular songs. Mongolia gave Javkhlan the Golden Rose Award in 2005.
Cass: Altni sarnai shagnal uu?
Sarah: Tiim. Some of Javkhlan’s songs are: Hairiin Gegeen boroo (sing), Setgelees ersen hair (sing), and Minii naiz.
Cass: Ooh! Yes, I know Javkhlan. What does he look like?
Sarah: Javhklan is tall with dark hair. He has nice eyes and a great smile. Javkhlan likes to wear fashionable and colorful clothes.
Cass: Wait. Is he married?
Sarah: No… he’s single. Javkhlan doesn’t have a wife. And he doesn’t have a girlfriend. (dreamy) Hoorhii amhtan.
Cass: Wait. Sarah, do you have a boyfriend?
Sarah: Bish, bish, baikhgui.
Cass: Hooh. Now I know why you like Javkhlan.
Sarah: Yuu genee. So Cass, who else do you like?
Cass: Well, finally number 5. Magsarjalam Bayarmagnai. The comedian. The funny actor.
Sarah: Do I know Bayarmagnai?
Cass: Yes, we saw him at the Boohing Orgoo on Friday. He is in the comedy group Mask. His friends are Erdenezaan and Monkhsaikhan.
Sarah: Oh, I remember. Which one was Bayarmagnai?
Cass: He was the lion, the arslan. (arr arrr oh yanaa)
Sarah: Oh tiim. Aiimaair tom ondor yum be!
Cass: Yes, Bayarmagnai was very big and tall. He was a very funny actor. And an awesome singer. Bayarmagnai played the lion, the soldier, Andrei Pavlovich, and the woman teacher. I really liked the show.
Sarah: Bi ch bas, nadad hoshin shogind durtai.
Cass: Dude, sarah. All this talking about Mongolian singers makes me want to listen to a Mongolian song.
Sarah: Yeah dude! What song?
Cass: I like “Buhniig durs” by Flash. In English, Buhniig Durs means “Remember everything.”
Sarah: Well why don’t we listen?
Cass: Okay then
Sarah: Okay yeah
Cass: Yeah
Sarah; yeah so hurry up
(go off in English)
Uuchlarai choibalsan neg minute
(go off in English)
Sarah: za, tegie, ok, where’s the button? here we go.
(sing over the song, chamd hair dulii)
S: Bagshnar babes red. Cass: the color of passion.
Sarah: oh man, that felt good. Love that song.
Cass; yeah mee too. So what is your favorite mongolian song?
Sarah: guess.
Cass: gantsaaraa by tatar?
Sarah: ugui
Cass: cham ruu l gene de bi by Bayasgalan?
sarah: ugui
Cass: Hotline Baby! (starts to sing)
Sarah: Cass, cass. zogsorroi, zogs, hoy zogs.
Cass: hey, I like that song.
Sarah: yostoi ugui shuu! Cass, I’ll give you a hint. Jargal minh Jargal minh
together: chi minii hair shu dee. Nuden, nuden, nuden hair shu dee.
C: Ah Nuden hair? Mon uu?
S: Yes, nuden hair. In English – the eyes of love.
C: Well, let’s give it a listen. Shall we?
S: I think we shall.
(play song)
Cass: chi minii hair shu dee. Shuden shuden shuden hair shu dee.
Sarah: Cass – shuuden hair shu dee?
Cass: Tiim bi shuuden durtai. I like teeth.
Sarah: Yamar sonin yum be.
Cass (in Korean iraq girl voice): Ohh yamar sonin yum be
Sarah: Yu husej baina?
Sarah: Yakh gesen yum be?
Sarah: Yakh ged baigaa yum be?
Cass: [mimics sarah]
(mimic the Korean iraq girl… opa! kamsa hamida!)
(30 minutes)
Sarah: Cass, you need help.
Cass: Help?
Sarah: We need somebody.
Cass: But not just anybody.
Sarah: We need our listeners.
Cass: So listeners, now we need your help.
Sarah: Tiim, ta nar bidend tuslaj boloh uu? What songs do you like? What do you want to listen to?
Cass: Ta nar yamar duu sonsmoor baina ve?
Sarah: Message now at (radio station # - say in English and Mongolian… twice.)
(play Help/beatles song)
(C: Bagshnar babes. S: It’s different.)
C: And now for our listeners’ favorite songs.
S: Our first song goes to our Mongolian mother. Here’s a song for manai mongol eej, Tomorgan and manai mongol duu Monkhtulga. Gan loves Chamaigaa Sanana by Bayasgalan.
C: What does chamaigaa sanana mean?
S: Chamaigaa sanana means “I will miss you.” Aoooowwww.
(play Chamaigaa sanana song)
(S: Bagshnar babes. C: Skywoppas!)
C: Now a song for Shuree. Shur-Erdene is the teacher at the Global Leadership Foundation. Ter Global udidarchin saniin bagsh bas menejer.
This song is called “Larger than Life.” It’s by an American group called Backstreet Boys. The song talks about a singer who is very busy and has a lot of friends. Ter duu neg ajiltai duuchinii tuxai yum.
Sarah: Manai Shuree is not a singer, but she is a very hard worker. And she is our friend. So… Shuree, this one’s for you.
(play Larger than Life…
C: bagshnar babes. S: just do it.
(43 minutes)
(3 listener songs… Bagshnar babes… 10 minutes for listener songs.
S: Bagshnar Babes. C: It’s what’s for dinner.
C: Bagshnar babes. S: The other white meat.
S: Bagshnar babes. C: You’re in good hands.
C: So Sarah, do you know what time it is now?
S: It’s 12: 45.
C: No, Sarah. It’s time for the…Mongol Minute.
(play song – like 20 seconds)
Mongolia is very different from America.
And lots of funny things happen to us Americans because we just don’t know.
C: Remember when we first learned Mongolian? And we would always mix up words?
S: Like suu and svv?
C: Tiiim.
S: Like vs and us?
C: (Mongolian throat sound) Oh, Sarah, do you remember Noxoi and Nogoo?
S: Oh yeah. That was stupid. That was when I first ate dinner with my Mongolian friends.
C: Did they know English?
S: No, they didn’t know English. I talked with them in Mongolian.
C: What happened?
S: My friends gave me a lot of vegetables. Carrots, tomatoes, and cabbage. Mmm, tasty. I like to eat vegetables.
C: Did you tell them that you like to eat vegetables?
S: Yes. I said, “Bi noxoind ideh durtai.”
C: Noxoi? Ahhhh ahhahahahaaa. Noxoind ideh durtai uu?
S: Noxoi, noxoi? Bish bish bish bish. Bi nogoond ideh durtai.
C: Gevch chi noxoi gej helsen? Dog?
S: Yes. Noxoind ideh durtai? Nogoond ideh durtai? I didn’t know. I was silly. Bi jaahan teneg amerik hun.
Cass: That’s ok, Sarah. The same thing happened to me. So you know I have a cat.
Sarah: Oh yes, miaw miaw. Your cat, what’s her name?
Cass: Oh, my cat’s name is Omxeezaya.
Sarah: Yamar sonin yum be.
Cass: Hheee hee that’s how I like it. So, I was talking with my friend. I told him that I have a cat in my house. Nadad gertee muur baigaa. My friend looked very confused. He didn’t understand. He asked me, “Muur uu?” Bi Tiim gej helsen. “Tiim, muur, jijigin muur.” He still looked confused. He said, “Chinii gert…jinkin muur?” “Tiim!”
Finally I realized I was saying horse.
Sarah: Ahh… muur. mor, muur, mor.
Cass: Muur bish. Mor. Nadad gertee mor baigaa. He finally understood. But I felt very silly.
Sarah: very silly.
(over the music) And that’s the end of the Mongol minute.
Cass: Our show is almost finished. To finish our show, we’d like to give you A Spoonful of English.
(play Mandoline concerto – 5 seconds)
S: Erhem hundet, ladies and gentlemen.. welcome to a spoonful of English
C: Today’s spoonful is a favorite English phrase of mine. “Peace Out.” Now all you listeners at home, say it with us. Peace Out.
Sarah: Peace Out.
(pause)
Sarah: Peace Out. What does that mean?
Cass: Well, Sarah, Peace Out is a great phrase. It’s a cool phrase. It’s an awesome “Hip hop” phrase. It means “Bayarteh.” or Good bye.
Sarah: Aahh, peace out dornodchuudaa!
Cass: Yep, just like that. Peace Out.
S: I’m Sarah
C: And I’m Cass
S & C: Bagshnar Babes. bringing you love from America. Peace Out!
(play wild honey pie. stop at :56).

The Bagshnar Babes

Sarah and I have a radio show!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its called the Bagshnar Babes (bagshnar=teachers). WE get to do whatever we want!!!!!!!!1

suggestions are welcome and needed!

and if you have sound effects send them to me!



yes i'm alive, albiet cold, sick, and broke (stupid pickpocket...at least i still have my phone, and passport so i can bank it up when it opens on monday? tuesday?)


PS for Uncle Mark--my cat doesn't eat socks just chews holes in them

cold

My New Favorite Person....

ALISON HEZEKIAL PILORZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (okay thats not really her middle name but i like to pretend it is ^_^)

She totally called me the other day! It was my first phone call from out of country!!!!! Goe youmaa!!!!

Bi tend xairtai! (I love her!)

Za... now to go give my students their first quiz! On a Saturday none the less, muahahahaha, I'm such an evil teacher!

Be jealous Bullet...be very jealous...

now an even more annoying creature than you is wearing your old collar ^_^

Halloween Cho Style

Halloween has come and gone and it was ... interesting. My attempt at a Halloween party at my school was a mini-flop, in that it didn't end up anything like I have planned, but I think that the students still had fun.I shocked everyone by coming into school Wed. morning dressed in my gruesome Zombie get up! Most people had forgotten it was Halloween. Yes I wore it all day...even going to the store to get supplies for the party.

as the internet is being evil pictures are baixgvi ("not here" -- most common word heard in Mongolia O_o)...But you can check them out HERE!

My english club students, carved a Jack-O-Lantern. They did really well, especially as most of them hadn't seen a pumpkin before!

Then the party started, and we had some great costumes. One of my students was in charge of taking pictures, and when I got my camera back at the end of the night there were some interesting non-Halloween ones.

(i think this is a poster from her room...maybe???)

Then Bavaasan and I went to Stars Night Club for the Halloween party there. I gave my camera to Yann (or resident french man) since we then went to Vostok for dancing with some mongolian friends. He too took some interesting pictures of his apartment:

Then a few days passed and the folks from Sukhbattar Aimag (the region to the South of us) came in for a Halloween Party (I was once again a zombie).

(Pirate LP, Zombie Me, Julie Tree, Lightning Strike Jasmine, Sarah "Potter", and Yann the Frenchman as himself ^_~)

It was really great getting to see LP again (his pirate costume was the greatest ever, with a coat he actually got in E-Bore City in Tampa, FL), and to meet the M-17s. I even got to lose 6,ooo Tugrigs to Jim during a fierce late night poker match! LOL! Then after the party LP worked me over in a chess match. Man, I need to get some games that I can actually win going on.

Now life is back to normal. I am trying to make it into UB for Thanksgiving. Right now its a 50/50 chance.

My hero is...

Jasmine ... she is a PCV M-18 who is living out in Choibalsan Soum (the countryside). She is the coolest person ever. Whoever gave birth to this gem of an individual should be given an award ^_^. Also I wish that I had her hair, its amazing!

First Shakespear, now Seuss...what other other literary will I out shine next ^_~

Having some pretensions of being moderately above average in the writing department…and having a plethora of free time I have been trying my had at poetry of late (:::groan::: I know, I know but hey its essentially winter in Mongolia, what else is there to do but waste time indoors once it gets dark, at 6:30 O_o) Za, so hear we go…

Warning
Oh, I like to rhyme,
At this point in time,
For it presents a challenge to write thoughts of mine…
In this flowy prose,
Where anything goes,
It will cause all my readers to go into throes…
Of passion so great,
They will emulate,
The sum of my actions till they up and faint!

Volunteering In:
More than I had ever thought
Or had ever dreamed,
Nothing ever felt as right as
Giving aide to those in need.
Others may have money,
Living life in style;
I am “poor” but happy,
And that makes it all worthwhile!

To my dear Chinggi Kuu,
I’ve become three things,
Or so it seems;
Each one more strange than the last.
Teacher is first,
But hardly the worst;
Molding young minds is a blast!
The seconds a mom…
Which is just wrong,
Omkhees a pain in my ass!
Then it’s hazy,
As thirds crazy…
Writing to Khans from the past.
But all is zugeer*,
I love it here!
Times passing by oh so fast.
Two years goes quick
And when I’m homesick,
Your letters are my heart’s cast!

*Zugeer=okay
~Note~ Yes, I really do write letters to the late Chinggis Khan…. No I don’t know why…. But that’s okay!

Mongol khel medegui*
All around me the world scurries about, while I sit apart.
As noise and motion merge together
I observe the tapestry of sound and color.
I feel empty and long to be apart of it,
Yet I remain alone with the shadows of my mind.
Hoping, waiting, forever anxious for the day…
The day I finally understand and they invite me in.

*Mongol khel medegui=I don’t know Mongolian.

Bedtimes in my Bashin*
There’s a cat on my head where she’s fallen asleep.
I can tell she is dreaming by the twitch in her feet.
And for some random reason she smells of raw meat.
But because of my cat, I can’t get to sleep.

*Bashin=house

Dust storm induced Daydreams
The hustle and bustle just couldn’t compare,
To the vision of leaves dancing on air.
Completely entranced I sat unaware,
Like the wind caught the leaves, I’d caught your stare.
And so we spent out whole day sitting there…
Me watching the leaves, you watching my hair.

~Note~ this is utter fiction, except for the dust storm…that was real, as was attempting to remove the sand from EVERWHERE O_o

Meeting Mongolians
Sainuu? I’m Cassandra.
You can call me Cass.
I am from America.
Vodka? Think I’ll pass.

I’m an English Bagshaa,
I live in the Cho.
I’ll be here for two years,
Then I gotta go!

I am 2 and 20,
Bi jimsnd durtai,
Yes I enjoy Mongol buuz,
Just please not every day.

No, I don’t have children.
No, I’m not a wife.
Don’t have a boyfriend either.
Za…I have a life.

It was nice to meet you,
But now I have to say…
“Peace out!” as I teach my class,
And that means bayartai!


Sainuu=Hello!
Bagshaa=Teacher
Bi jimsnd durtai=I like fruit (PCM inside joke)
Buuz=Mongolian traditional food (sort of like a steamed dumpling)
Za=like “um” Mongolians always say this…. ALWAYS!
Bayartai=good-bye!

A Whole lot of Xairtai!

Xairtai=Love…and I’ve had a ton of it of late ^_^

Family Love
The first and most appreciated was a package from my family. In it was a variety of goods my 2 favorite being the photos, old and new, of my family and friends back home and the new iPod to replace my stolen one (a million thanks to Granny and Grandpa Coll, Aunt Vicki, Uncle Raymond, and any other relatives who aided in the purchase). I sat on the floor with everything around me, listening to The Beatles (of course) and cried. I was shocked at how much I missed everyone and everything that was familiar to me. But it was a quick and stress relieving cry. I now show all my students the pictures and they all comment on how beautiful my family and friends are. Also, upon learning that Gregory is 17 (“he very beautiful”), a number of my female students want to know if he will be visiting.

Putrid Love
Omkhee is a pain in the butt. I don’t like cats, as many of you have commented. But I dislike living alone more so what can you do. However little affection I may feel for the cute but highly annoying fuzz ball, she is obsessed with me. She comes when I call. If I stand still for a moment, she will quickly climb up me and perch on my shoulder. She will mewl pitifully if I lock her out of a room I am in so I can work (or bathe) in peace. At night she sleeps on my pillow, her paws wrapped in my hair, purring ecstatically until she falls asleep or I get uber-frustrated and throw her off the bed. But, it can be charming at times, and since I have put Bullet’s old dog tag on her, I can hear her coming and avoid her violent love attacks. Pat Benatar was right when she sang, “Love is a Battlefield!”

“Yesus” Love
Gansukh, my fellow English teacher, invited me to his home to meet his family and eat buuz the other day. Suddenly while the buuz were being pinched and steamed, Gansukh comes out with 3 books: A Mongolian Bible, An English/German/French Bible, An English/Mongolian Hymn book. I then had the interesting experience of reading the bible in French and German (despite protests that I knew neither language); translating the archaic, formalized, biblical English into laymen’s terms; and singing “Jesus Loves Me” in Mongolian. It was most surreal especially since the last time I had heard the song “Jesus Loves Me” was when my college roommate Lauren was singing it in the harsh, screaming, death metal style. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Student Love
After my sad attempts at understanding the advanced Mongolian being spoken to me, my student stopped for a moment and said simply, “I love you.” (When we later found the dictionary it turned out that she was trying to say that she felt akin to me, that even though I was American I could have been like her older sister). Her name is Odonzaya (Something “Destiny”…I forget what Odon means) and she is one of my favorites. She always comes on time to class, and attends every English Club meeting. It was such a rewarding moment to feel appreciated. Sometimes teaching is ridiculously hard and I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing. But students like her make me realize that I can last these 2 years in a job that I would never have chosen for myself.

Choi Love
Everyday, I love this place more and more. Outwardly it is a dull, semi ruin of an ugly ex-Soviet city…but in its people and the life they bring to this place it is beautiful. The other day I went to the river and it was glorious! I can already tell that I will miss this place when I leave, but while I love it here, America still holds my heart.

Halloween Love
All-hallows-eve is almost upon us!!!!!!! Don’t have a costume yet, but zugair, I will figure it out. There is to be a small thing at my school on the 31st, a party for people of all ages at Stars on the 31st, and the PCV Halloween party on the 2nd!!!!! Goe youmaa!

CAT FIGHT

am in the internet center (my schools service is out)

two women just busted in fighting ... and yelling at each other like crazy!!!!!!!!!!! it was insane, frightening, and just a bit hilair

the only word i can discern is "che"=you

but now i must go buy food for the cat or she will insist on inflicting more damage on my already scratched up hands O_o

and here is a picture for the road ^_^

water in mongolia ... glorious!

Brass Grommets aka NJ finally did something right ^_~

Residential Quality!! Rust-Proof Brass Grommets in Canvas!!! Proudly Made in USA!!!! (Roseland, NJ to be exact) … that’s right ladies and gents, I now have good ole’ stars and stripes to hang in the class (compliments of the Lalalala Lovely Linda)! Today I am feeling even more patriotic than ever, and I am a rather patriotic individual (blame it on being a navy brat). Yet I find that I don’t really miss home, rather I am even surer that Mongolia is the place that I should now be. I enjoy teaching about American culture in addition to English (American English … none of this “has got” British babble ^_~). For example…Halloween! More on that after our Halloween celebration on well, Halloween!!!

I am finally 100% happy to be living in an apartment. This is due to the fact that I get a horrific case of the “gedis moe” (bad stomach) about once every fortnight or so O_o. Like yesterday, which I spent in bed, alternately sleeping and reading about the Allied forces breaking the German enigma code during WWII (Station X, good book). Thus, midnight/frequent trips to the bathroom are not conducted in sub-zero temperatures!

Things have fallen into a schedule, a normal routine, with the inevitable Mongolian wrench thrown in about once a week. But even the unpredictable has become anticipated and no longer causes stress (or too much stress). And tomorrow my very own class begins!!!! It is the waiter/waitress class. They have basic English so I will be teaching special food service terminology! I am sooooo excited and yet so nervous. The age range for this class is 17-22. 15 students. Mostly girls. I really want them to like my class, have fun, but most importantly I want them to actually learn something! Tomorrow will be a basic review type class to see where they are at. I could go on forever about lesson plans and such, but it would be most boring for you and would send me into a panic attack!

First Snow!

It snowed on Friday night! Mongolians say the the first snow of the year is Medicine while the last snow is poison. That made Saturday a very auspicious if very very cold day!

(the view from my window)

Pictures Posted!

Beautiful Mongol Sky

Greetings from Mongolia

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Omkhee-Zaya my kitty

Some of my Students!

and many more here and here ^_^

Shakespeare would be jealous

PROLOGUE

On Friday I went out to dinner with Bavaasan and Ariuntuya, my fellow English teachers. I got to eat some delish Mongolian gulash, and practice my Mongolian, and chill with my counterparts which was best of all! After dinner Ariuntuya returned home to her husband and little baby, and Bavaasan and I decided that the time was ripe to hit up the STARS! Nightclub. On our way over we ran into Sarah and persuaded her to join us in a night of dance!

Setting: Warehouse sized building, with giant larger than life sized poster of Keanu Reeves on the outside and sign advertising STARS! Disco. Medium sized dance floor under a plethora of disco and strobe lights (Mongolians love their strobe lights). Tables ring the dance floor and extend to a second floor loft, where the DJ is located. A bar is in the left corner just as you enter.

Soundtrack: Bass so loud it vibrates your entire being!!! An eclectically enjoyable mix of Mongolian hip-hop, Russian dance, Turkish techno, and the most popular songs from America (or at least they were quite popular at some point in time ^_^). Favorite song of the night: a techno remix of San Fransisco or possibly Torson Odor (the Mongolian Birthday song).

Characters: Mongolian youth. Ages ranging from I would guess 18-35. Alot of students from the local Dornod college. All dancing is done in circles. Some of the more daring (or drunk) couples actually dance in a style similar to American clubs, but it is only a few, and only for brief moments. Oh yes and how could I forget the two white girls. Sarah in jeans and a nice top, me in jeans and a tee-shirt.

ACT ONE

We sit at a table, Bavaasan buys us drinks. We sip for a bit, check out the scene, and when a song by Flash (a popular Mongolian hip-hop singer) comes on we get up and dance! (At least Sarah and I do, Bavaasan has more fun watching the dancing that actually dancing).

ACT TWO

Our mini circle of two is soon joined by 3 Mongolian women. They look to be in their late 20s. One is very tipsy, but very friendly and we all take turns dancing in the center of the circle. A bit later some boys (we later find out they are 20 and go to Dornod college) join our circle. They too dance in the center. Sometimes 2 people will dance in the center together! Girl-boy, girl-girl, boy-boy ... hamagui ("it doesn't matter"). I love this about Mongolia. Security of gender. At one point tipsy woman's dancing gets a bit crazy and I get punched in the face (I will later find out that my glasses have been broken, as it is I spend the rest of the night half thinking I've been concussed as my vision is now blurry). Sarah and I take a break and join Bavaasan back at our table.

ACT THREE

Rested and ready for more dancing. We boogie back onto the dance floor and dance like the crazy fools that we are. It is the best feeling in the world. If I were to dance like this in the States I would get the strangest looks, instead I find I get curious sidelong glances as the Mongolians attempt to imitate the Americans dancing. For the first time in my life I am cool! Suddenly the DJ says something and next thing I know all the woman have cleared the dance floor. Bavaasan rushes up to tell me that there was a dance contest and I won. Now I had to dance with all of the men and choose the best dancer. I laugh, this is hilarious, but I go along with it. I end up choosing the boy in the Green Sweater simply because I recognized him and he seemed nice enough. We danced to a techno remix of a traditional Mongolian song, and I was then presented with my congratulatory bottle of vodka O_o.

ACT FOUR

We share the bottle of vodka with Green Sweater and his friends following proper Mongolian protocol. I only had to cringe down 2 shots thankfully. Then the boys disappear and Sarah and I are back on the dance floor with a new group. At one point Sarah gets licked by a very drunk Mongol. The rest of the evening is spent changing circles to avoid him.

ACT FIVE

Midnight has arrived and the time for final dances is now. Slow and sappy Mongolian love songs come on. A Mongolian comes up to our table and starts taking to me. I can't understand sadly and direct him to Bavaasan. Sarah and I decide that who cares if we don't have boy friends to dance with this is Mongolia. We bounce up and begin a twirly waltzy dance. It is silly but fun. Bavaasan and the Mongol come to the dance floor. He would like to dance with me she tells me. I give him a quick look to make sure he's not drunk and consent to the dance. It was very middle school dance like but nice. He talked with me in Mongolian, I didn't understand a word of it, and then slipped a bracelet on my wrist (I have an admirer, how cute). The lights came on it was time to go home, tired but happy.

EPILOGUE

Sarah, Bavaasan and I walk home arm in arm to ward off the chill. A large group of Mongolian college boys follows us. About half way to Bavaasan's home we part ways, she goes home, and I decide to stay at Sarah's. We double back across the soccer field in an attempt to lose the crowd of boys. 2 break off and follow us O_o. But it is only Green Sweater (or Munkhgo ="Money/Silver") and his friend. They want to make sure we get home safe. We talk about college with the two boys, and say goodbye outside of a different building, saying we have to send a message before we go in. Once they are gone, we go to Sarah's, certain that we are not followed. It was a great night!

Pirates and Putrid Destiny aka My entrance into Motherhood

*note* this post is very late, and since I've yet to go to the bank and am using the slow but FREE! school computer, pictures will be in a later post! ... yes there are most certainly pictures :::evil grin:::

PIRATES!
As you may or may not have know September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Now being ever the fan of Pirates since I was a wee lass and took a field trip to the jail cell/beheading site of none other than the infamous Blackbeard!!!! However, as Mongolia is a landlocked country there obviously are no pirates now, or ever (in fact the Mongolian word for pirate literally translates to "water bandit"). I thought about that fact for oh, maybe a nano second and decided that I would celebrate anyway!

So Wednesday rolled around and I found myself the victim of many a strange look as I came to school dressed as a Pirate wench! I even managed to cause piratical mayhem as far away as the Gobi by sending a few of my close friends texts using my extensive pirate lexicon, which they had the mistake of reading during class. Well tis a jolly day when ye own teach be laughin fer naught a reason ye know!

That afternoon I had English club and I taught them all a Pirate song that I pseudo made up from Disney's and George Harrison's Pirate songs (will include in later post w/ pictures). They love it! We now practice every week so they can perform it at the Halloween competition!

The rest of the week was rather uneventful until Saturday brought...

PUTRID DESTINY
Jasmine had made her monthly trip into town and we though it would be grand to get together and belatedly celebrate her birthday. So it was that Sarah, Jasmine, and I found ourselves at Winner's Cafe, waiting for the arrival of Angus, Yann, Mai, and Kenny. It was then that I got the text from Kenny. He was at the Annai Home for Street children with Mai. There was a wee one being "played" with by the older kids in a fashion that worried my two friends. The two of them knew that I was lonely in my apartment, did I want to take in the poor thing. She was tiny and simply beautiful they told me. I pondered a moment and then in a rash decision that would change the rest of my life here in Mongolia I said yes. I was now a Mom O_o. When they brought her to Winners and she sat in my lap sharing my plate, it wasn't love, but rather "I think we shall get along well enough" (and I suppose if we don't I can always take her back to the Home). Later on as she slept at Sarah's place, we named her .... Omkhee-Zaya, or "Putrid Destiny." Later as I was carrying her to her new home, she looked up at me with her big blue eyes, let out a happy sigh, and viciously clawed me....stupid cat.

Sainuu Namar!

"Hello Autumn!"

A chill has come to the Cho, and I personally love it! The time for long johns is quickly approaching! In addition to the delightful chill is the gentle autumn breeze. And by gentle I mean slightly less than gale force, whipping the sand into a frenzy, coating everything with dust, and eroding your hope of ever being truly clean O_o. Oh well, at least I get to wear cute hats.

I am currently writing a text book for work did I mention that? It is for hairstylists/make-up artists/massage therapists. It is an interesting endeavor, full of temptation. I can model conversations in my text however I would desire. How I would love to riddle the text with insane Cassandra slang. Thus far I have been able to resist, however I am only on unit 1 of 15. I did give in and use names of friends and family back home when construction conversations and exercises!

I have gained a rather global community of friends since coming to the Cho, which currently contains a French Farmer; a Scottish Health worker; a white South African born in Zimbabwe, spent the last 12 years in London but has an Irish passport; two from the Netherlands; my 6 fellow Peace Corpsers; and of course the Mongolians! As Kenny says, "I'm sure there is a joke in there somewhere!"

My sister Meredith leaves for England today. I'm a bit envious. But then I think to myself if I were in England, I wouldn't be in Mongolia, and this is the perfect country for me.... Why?

1.

Mongolians collect bags, just like I do. You never know when a plastic bag will come in handy.
2.

You can wear whatever you want here and its okay, in fact its cool as you are the foreigner (even my old lady BlueBlocker sunglasses are a hit)!
3.

Hot water and electricity are somewhat sporadic. Real showers are a thing of the past, and somehow I really enjoy the heating water on a hotplate then essentially sponge bathing.
4.

The weather is just gorgy!!!!! Sure it gets you wicked dirty walking through a cyclone of dust, but man alive is it ever invigorating.
5.

Mullets. They are everywhere and I've grown to love them as they always make me smile.

Time to go home and vacuum (yes I bought a vacuum, how adult of me I know!), Jasmine is in from the countryside and we are having her birthday party at my place. And instead of cake....deep fried mars bars! Oh Mongolia, Bi chamd khairstai!

Blast From the Past

Me, Meredith, Erin

not only is this picture hilair, it is also very Mongolian, as it is common for Mongolian children to nap in a simmilar fashion to puppies ^_^

Chocolate is soooo last season

I have discovered the perfect manner in which to uplift my mood. Go to one of the numerous playgrounds. Sit on a bench. Wait. Within in minuets you will find yourself surrounded by tiny, adorable, albeit runny nosed Mongolian children. Actually surrounded is not a strong enough of a word ….. hmmm ….. ah yes, I know, engulfed. A living breathing blanket of Mongolian children will engulf you and for the moment erase any negative thoughts or feelings. This is also an excellent manner in which to practice your Mongolian, as the children are excited to hear you speak their language and will not hesitate to correct your horrific accent, all with out judging you. You become a super star for a moment, but what to do with that power??? I use it to explain to the kids what “HELLO!” means (a word they say endlessly upon seeing a white person, yet don’t realize what they are saying.) I also use my power to teach them three new English words: “AWESOME!” and “Peace Out!” (Because, really, who needs to know how to say “goodbye”????)

Summer Home Sick

Yamar goe youm bay!!!!!

"How nice it is!"

I got a package from Momapalooza today!!!

There was:
soft TP!
and chocolate!
and soft TP!!!!
and Baby wipes!!!!
and other goodies!
and did I mention soft TP?!?!?!?!?!

I love my Majikio (even more that I love soft TP ^_~)

Hiechelt Baghkgo!!!!! aka TGIF

Heichelt Baghkgo! ("lesson not there" --> school is over!)

Week One is over! Man alive, it started out exciting and then got slow and then got slower and frustrating and then my counter part when to UB today and it went awesome if just a bit busy!

Today I taught for 6hours straight! I taught all of my classes the ABC's, 123's, and then Jobs (using the I do, You do, He/She does grammar as well as the differance between a/an). After that I got to go home for a whole 30 minuets before coming back to school and teaching 23 of the teachers english for 1.5 hours O_o. My throat is killing me, but it was a really great day. Also as this week was mad irksome at point I mentally compiled a pet peeve list to share with you all.

1. Variety packs that don't have variety. If I wanted one type of cookie I would buy one type.
2. Cursive. They teach it to you in the States and you don't use it. They didn't teach it to in Mongolia and that is all they use. Hence spending all week trying to learn Mongolian cursive.
3. Mother Goose. So what if I was born on a Wednesday, that doesn't mean that I have to be full of woe. Just what makes her think she can predict something like that anyway.
4. Dependency on plumming. My director forgot to pay my water bill and thus I have had no water for 2 days and will not get it until Monday. I'm trying to find a friends place to stay at.
5. Being single. Every new Mongolian I meet asks me if I am married. "No." Do I have a boyfriend. "No." Do I have children. "No." And how old am I again. "22" ..... YAAGAD???!?!? ("WHY?"). I feel a bit like a freak everytime this comes up. I swear I'm going to make up a husband just to stop the hassling.
6. Being 22. This is young for a teacher. I have students older than me. They say I should get married and have children. They don't want to play my learning games. I think I am slowly warming up to them though. One older woman even pushed a young boy aside today to get to the board first during the fly slapper game!
7. Being called Cass. Cass is a Beer name, not a person name. Sure they can't say Cassandra, and I tell them to call me Cass, but in Mongolia its just a silly name.

Oh this was a great week!!!!!! Now that its over, all those little bothersome things hardly seem bothersome anymore ^_^. And I am off for Chinese food.

More pictures up!

Me, "Dad", and Davaa in our Dells!

Yes that's the Bear, Yes its eating my hand

Mongolian on bike, Mishka the "Bambrosh", Me, Bimba, Jacob, Baada

more pics up!!!!!
go check them out!!!

Finally Some Photos!!!!!

Yey!!!!!!!!!! Finally figured out how to upload!!!!!!!

Here are a few teasers ... for more go check out my album:
HERE!!!



I love the Mongol Sky!


My name is Cass! Yes like the beer O_o


Sheep Butts!


My Duus ("little siblings")

more to come later!!!!

Hello Real World aka "I love boots!"

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So today was my first day of real work ever!!! It was nervwrekingly exciting. I team taught the whole day and then had an extensive lesson planning/scheduling session after my 20min lunch break (10 mins of which was spent in commute to and from my house) O_o.

I absolutely love all of my students! The are all very enthusiastic about having me as a teacher even if they don't speak a lick of English. I even gave a little speech in Mongolian to all of my classes that basically equated to "I know a little Mongolian, but I always to speak Mongolian. We to speak English must always to do. If to speak not correct, it is okay. Always speak then one year later you can speak well maybe." I think it encouraged them to hear my horrifically broken Mongolian and see that I really care about them learning.

I will be working 30+ hrs a week. Much of it will be tutoring and lesson planning with the 3 other English teachers. I will also be in charge of English Club where I get to do whatever I want so long as it relates to English!!!!!!!! Feel free to shoot me any ideas you have regarding that!

As a reward for doing such a good job on my first day I was given 1/2 a kilo of green peppers!

Then on my way to the MobiCom (my phone store) to buy more phone units I found this awesome shoe store ... It was wall to wall boots!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to get my calves slimmed up a bit and then save up for a few weeks and I am so going to buy me a gorgeous pair of real leather Mongolian boots!!!!!!!!!!

Also I am giving my students "English" names. I wrote two names from each letter of the alphabet (one male one female) and they will get to choose. No repeats in a class. Here are the names:
Boy -- Girl
Albert -- Alena
Bart -- Barbie
Chuck -- Cher
Desmond -- Dwan
Eugene -- Eileen
Finn -- Francine
George -- Ginny
Homer -- Hermione
Ira -- Iris
Johnny -- Jade
Keanu -- Kendra
Ludwig -- Layla
Maxwell -- Michelle
Nelson -- Natalie
Oscar -- Olivia
Paul -- Penny
Quinn -- Queenie
Ringo -- Rita
Seymour -- Sadie
Teddy -- Tori
Ulric -- Ulga
Victor -- Vera
Willie -- Wendy
Xavier -- Xena
Yancy -- Yolanda
Zalan -- Zarina

hahahahahahahaha, I love it! This job is gonna be real fun!

Familiar Faces

Got another picture from one of my site mates:
will eventually upload my own pictures

Jacob, Kim, Me, Peter, Jim

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While perusing the textbook that I will be using in the next to years here in the Cho, I was pleasantly surprised to come across some familiar faces. That's right! No longer does an appearance on Sesame Street signify your superior celebrity status. Mongolian English Textbooks are the new measure of success. Some of my personal favorites were there: Jackie Chan, Yoko Ono, Bob Dylan, Mozart. There were some reminders of famous folks in their prime: Black Michael Jackson, Michael J. Fox, Sylvester Stallone. There was my old roomie Lauren's favorite: David Bowie. There was the family's pet dog Bullet's favorite: Lassie. There were even my sister Meredith's favorites: ET (^_~), and Mary-Kate & Ashley Olson (called the world's most famous teenagers).

In addition to having a veritable cornucopia of characters, the language used is also rather hilarious.

The nerves I had about teaching are currently gone in light of the fact that I get to teach from this textbook, and hear my students compare Dolly Parton and Eddie Murphy.

Stalin, Cellphones, Soup, and "Sain Naidz"

So the other day Sarah, Kenny and I went to visit the remains of the old Russian communist military base. The day was perfect. Blue sky, amazing clouds, cool breeze. The 5k walk passed quickly as we talked about why we joined the peace corps, marveled at the various monuments along the way and finally arrived at the one time center of Commie Russian Cho. It was something else. Most notable was the giant statue of Stalin, in his typical Stalin pose, across the square from another giant statue, this one of an unidentifiable solider hoisting an AK47. Surrounding this square was the ruins of the bases many buildings. We went our separate ways for a bit, like children, scavenging the remains for lost treasures. I found a button from a soviet uniform. Sarah found some glass bottles. While leaping from a deteriorating wall in what we guessed to be the mess hall, I managed to dislodge a slab resulting in the most glorious bruise on my left palm! Then it was time to go home.

We had made it a little over 2/3 of the way home when suddenly the 5 cups of tea I had drank with breakfast hit me. Luckily there was a gas station with a jorlon ("outhouse") strategically placed across the street. So I entered the jorlon and as I was doing my "I REALLY REALLY HAVE TO PEE!" dance what should happen to fall out of my pocket and into the dark abyss ... that's right my cell phone O_o. I suppose it was bound to happen to me at some point (losing my cell phone that is), and I guess mine is a more entertaining story than that of one who was pick pocketed. All the same it was not pleasant. Luckily I was able to purchase a new phone the very next day (for only 35,000 tugriks!) and able to keep not only my number but all of my minuets! My new phone now has a wonderful bungee chord accessory that allows me to hook it to my belt loops insuring no further jorlon incidents.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've come down with a bit of a cold (although in true PC rumor mill fashion its been passed along that I have the flu). So yesterday I took it upon myself to make some soup. 2 hours later I had what was quite possibly one of the most delicious soups I've ever eaten. I'm really surprised with just how well all of my various culinary experiments are turning out. The fact that they take so long is not very fun, but the eating is most fun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dwan, Me, Yoomie, Carina

Sain Naidz = good friends

I really miss them. Yesterday Jim and Julie invited me over for some spaghetti, and we had great conversation, and reminisced a bit about our host site mates. That in conjecture with various emails and the fact that my duu (little sister) and Jacob's duu sent me texts today just to say "CASS I LOVE YOU" has made me a bit lonesome. Although I did get to go to lunch with my fellow teachers today and it was nice.

Speaking of teachers, today I was put in charge of making the test for hiring my school's new English teacher. Then I was responsible for grading it and interviewing the top candidates O_o. It was nerve wrecking, but exciting all the same. I'm glad that regardless of my young age and little/no experience my school values my opinion. This bodes well!

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*NOTE*
I have been repeatedly asked 2 things by multiple individuals, so let me answer them for everyone!

1. What can I send you?
-letters (i love them most of all)
-American flag
-American map
-coco powder
-toothpaste
-photos
-sensitive skin face lotion w/ sunscreen
-books
-movies
-most anything else I can get here, but anything sent is greatly appreciate

2. My friend is interested in PC/Mongolia/what your doing, can I give them your information?
-Yes! Part of the PC mission is to inform others, plus I love babbling on as you can probably tell. Just give them the link to my blog (which has my email address on it) and the can read about it or email me (though it may take a while to respond).

AIM in the Cho!!!!!!!

Have just discovered that AIM works out here in the Cho!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have aim and want to chat send me your sn, and I will try to get word out to when I will be on.

I also have a phone if anyone wants to call me you can get an international phone card cheep and I will give you my number.

Okay thats is all!

Living Alone aka Hyam the Bologna of Mongolia

Having just recently entered into the world of solitary living, I have come to the conclusion that I don't like it. It is very disconcerting especially for one accustomed to a full house (man that Uncle Jesse was dreamy, with that hair and that voice :::sigh:::, but I digress). I think it would be more tolerable if my place was smaller. As it is, there is too much room for one person, leaving plenty of space for the Armas ("monsters") to hide O_o. This fear is only perpetuated by the placement of my hall mirror in conjecture with the bathroom's glass door, resulting in seeing my reflection in a reflection....creepy to the max.

Even more disturbing than the space however is the silence. Sure I get the street sounds, and the random muffled movements of my neighbors but its not enough. Where is the singing roomie? The fighting siblings? Even the bark of a certain annoying German Shepard would be welcome at this point.

But Cassandra, don't you have a t.v.? Why yes, if I wanted to watch static (which would let in more Armas... I've seen the horror movies...I know @_@). However, my world band radio does work, though its a choice between the Mongolian FM station that plays the same 7 songs all day, or spending tens of minuets scanning the short waves freaking myself out with the extraterrestrialesq static interspersed with harsh sounding Russian or Chinese. I usually resort to the prior as the latter tends to make me paranoid, which in turn brings on a desire to search for bugging devices under the guise of cleaning. I currently posses the most dust free dwelling in Dornod.

Don't get me wrong, there are upsides to living alone. I can spend all day lounging in my jim jams reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with out interruption or having to explain why I was crying hysterically about a mere book. (Pshhhht, mere book... more like redunkulously awesome book!!!! Kudos to Ms. Rowling. It was well worth the 8 or so year wait since book 1 came out!!!) I can leave the bathroom door open, walk around in limited clothing, sing at the top of my lungs and dance like a fool with out fear of reprimand or ridicule.

Despite the perks, living the solo life has driving me slightly mad. The other day I developed an uncontrollable desire for tsuvian (a Mongolian noodle dish), and proceeded to spend almost 2 hours making it. It didn't taste good. It didn't taste bad, but it didn't taste good. More frightening may be the fact that I enjoy, even crave hyam, something my fellow PCVs would shudder to hear. We don't really know what hyam is other than the fact that its some meat, but into a log form and riddled with fat. It can also be eaten without having to cook it first. I find it delish! It is to Mongolia what bologna is to America. Needless to say I love bologna.

I have also started talking to the giant wall hanging of Chinggis Khan that's over my bed. He is very opinionated, but has giving me great tips in my quest for global domination, as he once achieved that very thing. Although his fondness for Korean soap operas is moderately offsetting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Needless to say, this is all a bit exaggerated (except the hyam bit, I really do enjoy hyam). It will take some getting used to, but I think I will really like it here. Work has yet to start my Counter Part is still in UB. I miss everyone.

Bi Tinig ("I'm Stupid)

Sorry Every on I totally forgot to add Mongolia to the end of my address. I also translated it into English, but don't know if it will actually get to me if you use the English part alone.

Cassandra Weiner, PCV
Ангал хэлий Багш
Дорнод Aймаг
Чойбалсан Xот
Шаталсан Сургалттай Техник Технологийн Коллеж
Mонгол улс

Cassandra Weiner, PCV
English Teacher
Dornod Aimag
Choibalsan City
Shatalsan Technical College
MONGOLIA (via China)


*NOTE*
You can still send things to the old address, I just wont get them until I make a trip into UB (my next of which will maybe be around Thanksgiving, but most definitely I will be there for Christmas).

Chome sweet Chome

Greetings from The Cho. I'm here!!!

Moved into my apartment yesterday. It is rather large. I have a kitchen with a full sized fridge, a bathroom with shower and washing machine, a living room with a tv, and a bedroom with a double bed. Also my favorite is the seashell hanging in my living room, I almost cried when I saw it, as it reminded me of home so much. I don't know where they found shells in this landlocked country but I'm glad they did. I'm still getting the hang of opening my door (its a bit tricky and sticks somewhat), but all in all its really nice.

A large part of me still wishes that I lived in a ger, but I don't dwell on it as this is where I am meant to be and who know what craziness is yet to come.

I already love The Cho, or what I've seen of it all ready. Its a little, depressing, highly soviet influenced, flat, windy place. I can easily see how people wouldn't like it, but it just feels right to me. I cant wait to get out and explore. Today I get to go to the market and buy groceries so I can start cooking for myself again. And hopefully at 5 Kenny and Mai (the M-17 PCVs who've been here a year) will give me and my fellow Chobieans a quick tour.

I'm at the school right now, I got to seem my class room. Its a nice size, used to be a math room if the geometry decor is any indication. The internet here is quick, and free. Its hard to believe that this is my PC service right now, but once my 26+ hr work weeks start up, I know that I will be way busy.

I got to speak with my Mom on the phone yesterday morning before I got to site, it was nice. My dad got on and I only got to say a few words before my phone card ran out. Its really nice having a phone again, if just to keep in touch with everyone as we are now spread out to all corners of Mongolia. I miss everyone, back home and here in Mongolia. But the excitement is overwhelming, and I cant wait to really start.

Meeting the Boss Man

Today I got to meet my supervisor. His name is Enkhjargal (Peace and Happiness ... the same as my little sister ^_^). He knows about as much English as I know Mongolia and we were able to have a nice little chat. He seemed very proud that his English teacher could speak Mongolian. I also got to speak on the phone with my counterpart Gansukh, he seems very cool and his English is great! So I will be the 4th English teacher at the college. Oh my college seems soooooooo cool. It is a technical college that teaches: cooking, hairstyling, shoe making, auto mechanics, jewelry making, and much more!

I also got to hear about my apartment. I have a bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom. It is also apparently near the school which is nice. Also as my city has pretty much everything except spices and mustard I don't have to worry about buying supplies here in UB and lugging them all the way to Dornod. (Though I did buy this red watch from the black market that matches both my glasses and my goy pilach "pretty dress").

I am getting soooooooo excited to get to site and begin work, though as Jacob had to remind me yesterday we will soon all be leaving each other. :::tear::: My Heraldo sitemates are all so awesome and far far away (except for Jim and Julie who are also in The Cho as we call it). I'm probably going to cry worse then I did when I left my host family. But its okay, visiting wont be as hard so Kenny tells me (he currently lives in The Cho), as the paved road goes farther east each month and the bus ride is down to about 12 hours!!!!!!!!!

Also I have Halloween to look forward to as this year The Cho is hosting the Western Region Halloween Party!

I have my new address:

Cassandra Weiner, PCV
Ангал хэлий Багш
Дорнод Aймаг
Чойбалсан Xот
Шаталсан Сургалттай Техник Технологийн Коллеж


Okay got to get back to school ... love to all!

MY NEW HOME!!!!!!

So folks ... the old address is no good ... don't have the new one yet but I do know where I will be living and working for the next 2 years .....

:::drum roll:::

Choibalsan aimag center in the far east of Mongolia (it is a fly site or 20 hrs by car/bus)

I will be living in a 2 room apartment

I will be teaching English at a College in addition to helping the Mongolian English teachers improve their teaching skills.

Crazy huh???? I was really dissapointed at first, but now I am sooo excited.

This is a great opportunity and I got "promoted" because they were impressed with my practice teaching.

Well I got to dash ... I am in Darkhan for 2 more days and then I go to UB!!!!!!!!

Longer update later!

One Week Left

Roy-G-Biv ... host family time is almost up, about one week left ... I'm getting oddly sentimental about it. I'm gonna really miss my sister Enkjargal ("Peace and Happiness" --talk about a great name), she has been my anchor through all of this and the biggest help in my Mongolian language acquisition. At the tender age of 12 she is more of an adult than I am at times.

Practice teaching has been a trip, not overly horrid. I now know that I can do it, I will just have to work at it, but its fun. And I love all my students they are totally worth it.

In just about 2 weeks I will know where I will be living for the next two years and with whom. I'm really gonna miss all of my site mates. I'm attempting to memorize every moment with them. It's silly really. This parting aches me more than my leaving America. I think its the Mongolia factor. Everything here feels so familiar yet is utterly different than anything I know.

I've not been homesick yet, but at times I really wish that the people I love back in the states could be here experiencing this with me. It been only 2 months or so and I've changed so much. I can't even begin to imagine what type of person I will be come two years from now. Its exciting and frightening at the same time. When you live in a world where "real" showers are a distant memory, and a slightly cold drink is heaven its hard to believe that a place like America is real.

My life before Mongolia seems like a dream, or a minor preface that leads up to now. For all that I have a lot of new and frightening insecurities one thing I don't doubt is that I am right where I belong. I absolutely love it here.

Although I could do without the CBE (chronic baas explosions) O_o, hahahah, oh the glory indoor plumming would be.

Letters from Home

I got a letter from home finally. It was so nice. Both my dad and my sister Meredith wrote me letters. I wrote one to Meredith but am too poor to send it via snail mail right now, and as it has the update of my life I will just type it up for everyone so enjoy!

21 July 2007

Dear Meredith,

Today I did laundry... for about 4 hours ... then I helped to cook lunch over a dung fire ... then I took a 5 hour nap. It was a slow day, until my uber drunk neighbor/uncle showed up. We had to call the ambulance. They gave him some injection and then left. I hung out with him for a bit and learned some interesting facts about myself, mainly that my eyes are blue, my hair is yellow, and I am most certainly NOT from America.

The other day Jacob and I were walking in the dinge and met a baby bear from the visiting circus. It suckled my fingers, pseudo clawed my arm, bit Jacob in the thigh and tried to eat my little sister. Its name was Mishka. It was really cute.

I have stared practice teaching. There are 60 or so kids in my class, including my little bro. They were all given English names. My brother's is Busta. There is also a Snoop, Shakira, Bubba, Mary-Kate, and my personal favorite: a girl named Bean. The are all painfully cute especially when they leave class with their accented "Peace Out"s.

My group elected me to give a speech at our family day/swearing in. I t will be 2 mins long and in Mongolian. My Mongolian is only decent, but apparently my eratically awkward gestures and need to say odd things qualified me to represent the Heraldo bunch. Oh I also learned how to say "I saw Blue, It was glorious." Which is made even funnier by the fact that the Mongolian word for blue and boob is the same (hoohk) as well as the word for this certain type of pastry and genitalia (boov). Mongolian is fun like that, especially when and extra "a" can turn the word "and" (bas) in to the word "poop" (baas).

Also, Jurassic Park island does exist. It is about a 30 min walk to the west...just wade across the river, walk about 50 years and it looks just like JP O_o. I would have been more freaked out if I wasn't being consumed by mosquitoes, or attempting to contain my hysterics at the site of Chris walking in front of me with his boxer briefs converted into a banana hammock and his long sleeve, button up shirt tucked into them. I kid you not.

It is now the next morning. Last night I was awoken by a blood curddling scream and shrieking in Mongolian. So I do what anyone would do, I go investigate (and if life were a horror film I would be totally dead by now). It was my aunt... a bug had crawled into her ear and was eating her brain or something. The doctors were called again, but this time relayed instruction to my mostly naked eej (mom). A bit of veggie oil and 3 matchsticks later and things were fine. Thank goodness I had janked Jacob's sweatshirt earlier in the week as I slept with the hood up and tied. I still need what little I have left of my brain.

I will most likely type this up instead of mailing it to you as I permanently lost my purse (on Friday the 13th O_o), and subsequently all my money, peace corps identification, flash drive, i-Pod, Lonely Plant Book, and a roll of soft tp. Talk about suck city USA (or Mongol rather, which you are right to call it as it is infact the Mongolian word for Mongolia). Thank goodness my camera was in my school bag. Pictures of me and Mishka will eventually be sent.

Well now I must learn all of the body pats for tomorrows class, then Allie is coming over at 2 so we can lesson plan for the week. Catch you on the flip side!

Haiir,
Cassandra

P.S. When do you go to England?

quick update

this will be in list for as i only have 5 mins since the line was so long and i have to be home for dinner in an hour

cool things ive done:
took a shower!!!!!!!!!!!! in a real shower!!!!!!
ate blow torched goat
ate sheep tongue, nose, and an eyeball
learned a mongolian dance and poem
meet BX (mongolia's equivilant of justin timberlake)

things im worried about:
site placement in a month
learning enough mongolian to survive on my own
teaching (which starts on monday for me O_o)

things i really miss:
english
family and friends
slurpees
being really clean
drinks other than water, tea, or milk

things i absolutly love about mongolia:
the sky
the people (so nice and accepting)
the food
how everyone (except me) manages to look like they stepped from the pages of a magazine
how novel and exciting everything is
how the sun sets at 10:30pm

things i would love to have if you want to send me:
bathroom supplies (lotion, shampoos, tampons, soap, etc)
school supplies (any and all as we wont get any for teaching O_o)
baby wipes
hand sanitizer
soft tp
pictures
books
dvds (as i have access to players here but no shower, crazy huh)
bug repellant
a pillow
recipies (that involve basic food stuffs)
spices/luxury food goods
any thing else

NOTE
I will be in UB in about a month and will be able to buy and send things then if anyone wants me to get them anything (within reason) let me know what and where to send it to and i will see what i can do

okay all ... time to catch a machine back to Heraldo (my town ^_^) before the fam gets worried

peace! ^_^v
Cassandra

I'M CLEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whew .... it took me an hour and a half to walk to the post office to use the internet, and then there was the wait for the computer to free up so I'm sorry if I don't update or talk more.

Mongolia is amazing, it is so unlike anything I've ever know that I can't even put into words the whole experience. After 10 days I'm an outhouse expert, I can wash my own clothes, and I even got to take my first real shower in 10days ... I love it!

My family is amazing, I love them tons and only wish my Mongolian were better so that I could communicate better. My mom makes the best food that hasnt made me sick in the slightest. I've even lost some weight, but that could be because of the long walks I take with my little sibs after dinner each night.

The other day I hiked a mountain with some of my fellow PCTs ... it was glorious. I got to shimmy through rock crevasses and jump frightening distances and then on the way down the rains came (which at the time was miserable, but looking back really made the experience all the better).

Language aquisition is a long hard process, I almost cried in class today when I couldnt grasp the grammer concepts, but I'm so glad that everyone here is so great and supporting. I'm the youngest in my group so its like having a whole bunch of older sibs. I love it ^_^.

I play with sheep ankle bones, drink milk tea nonstop, wake with the sun and our roosters crowing, miss chocolate but enjoy the icecream and yogert ... its more than I could ever have imagined.

I really miss home, but this is sooooo worth it.

Also I hear Boston has the best record in baseball!!! GO SOX!!!

Sainuu from Mongolia ^_^

Roy-G-Biv … I am in Mongolia. It still hasn’t sunk in for me yet. I will be hanging out with my other PCTs, talking about normal “American” things when BAM I look out the window and just see this gorgy landscape. I’m really here.

Where to begin, there is sooooo much to tell but every minute means more Tugriks (Mongolian currency with a conversion ratio of ~ 1600 to 1 Usdollar) that I really don’t have to spare, especially since I need to do a tp run … yes that’s right, public restrooms do not have toilet paper. Its amazing how adept I have become at maximizing as little as a single square of tp. But let’s see, what are the highlights????

We stayed in a ger camp outside of UB our first night, and the next day I awoke to see a herd of goats grazing outside, which I excitedly pointed out to my roomies only to have them inform me that they were horses O_o. Yeah, I didn’t have my glasses on, it was rather embarrassing. I then proceeded to hike up a mountain with another PCT (pictures to come eventually). Then it was on to the training site in Darkhan, which is where I am now for one more day at least until I leave to go join my host family up in Suukbaatar.

I’ve been wicked busy with everything that we need to get done and learn before going to our host families. I’ve had 7 shots already with another 6 to come O_o … that was the worst part of this whole thing, I really hate shots, but I’m sure I would hate getting rabies more. Man, there is so much to say, I feel like we have been here forever. I’ve hiked 2 different mountains and plan on fitting another one in before I leave. All in all its been uneventful, but fun. Oh wait, I almost forgot …. Zoo soup!

So yesterday I went out with some PCTs to a Mongolian restaurant for dinner, which unfortunately had no English or pictures, so we all did the pick something random. Mine ended up being this soup … and it tasted exactly like a petting zoo smells, I kid you not. It was hiliar!!!!!! I ate about a good 10 bites of it, and everyone tried it (none of us are sick, and I’ve eaten worse in college, so it really wasn’t that bad, just unbelievable).

Also, just a bit ago as I was walking to the internet store this little boy ran up to me. “Uus, uus!” Oh wait I know that word … water! And indeed I was carrying my water, which he proceeded to take from my hands and speak Mongolian as he tried to open it. I showed him how and he just helped himself, leaving behind this huge spit trail. It was so surreal and cute and needless to say I will be disinfecting my bottle before I use it again. I love kids, and hope my host family has them.

Well that’s about it, I got to bounce and get back to the hotel. Internet here is mad slow so it takes forever to do anything. Hopefully I will have time when I come back to the city in about 2 weeks to provide another update all about my Mongolian family ^_^.

Bayartai!

Korea!!!!

I am officially in Korea. First off Korean Airlines was AMAZING. We were served 2 whole and delish meals. We all had our own interactive tv type things (I watched 4 movies and listened to all sorts of music). The bathrooms were kept clean. I even managed to sleep for about 3 of the 15 hours! With the exception of my feet swelling up like a pregnant ladies, the flight was awesome and did not seem like 15 hours.

Then we went to the hotel, where I got my own room ^_^. 9 of us PCTs went out to dinner with the one girls Korean friend. Man alive, was it delish. We had a sea food smorgasbord that was sooo fresh, it was literally in the sea that morning. I will most def miss sea food when I get to Mongolia. Back at the hotel, I had a message waiting for me from my good friend Sungho. So I called him back only to find that he was waiting outside the hotel!!!!!! It was sooooooooooo nice to see a familiar and friendly face. We hung outside the hotel for about and hour, just talking, it was great. Then we said our goodbyes and I went to sleep.

:::KNOCK,KNOCK,KNOCK::: random Korean probably asking to clean

O_o ?!?!??!?!?/1!?!??aea9ehfq ehr :::spaz::: That's right. I obviously didn't set my alarm correctly and thus woke up at 1:34pm missing any chance I would have had to see more of Korea. Thankfully, they let my check out without having to pay any charges (we had a noon check out time, though I was later told it was actually a 2pm one). And the woman behind the counter gave me a little souvenir. It was so nice, especially since she had been helping me out all along (my key would never work O_o).

For food I just grabbed something from a nearby minimart, where I amused the cashier by informing him that my name was the same as the name of a Korean beer (Cass). I took some pictures that I will eventually have to figure out how to upload, so for the moment there are no visuals.

Now, I'm at the airport waiting to fly to Mongolia!!! I'm nervous for real now :::gulp:::