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.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
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?
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?
Friday, July 13, 2007
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
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
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
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!!!
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!!!
Friday, June 8, 2007
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!
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!
Monday, June 4, 2007
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:::
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:::
Friday, June 1, 2007
"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there"
Guess what?!?!?!?!?!? I am officially a Peace Corps Trainee!!!!!
The flights to Hotlanta weren't that bad. I accidentally sat in this man's seat on my first flight, and dude you would have thought it was the end of the world or something. But I think my severe exhaustion came across as moronic, so he let it drop and I passed out. Then on my second flight (in one of the tiniest seats ever) I wore my giant winter coat with the hood up and Gurgi tucked in as a pillow. The looks I got were hilair ... I could literally see the confusion. Why is she wearing such a heavy jacket in the middle of summer to Atlanta? Is that a monkey in her hood? ahahahahahahahhahaah, I would have freaked them out more, but I passed out before the plane was even fully loaded.
Then I took a shuttle to the hotel, and dude, what a hotel it is. Its most posh (by my cheepo fresh out of college standings anyway). I am rooming with another volunteer, a girl named Darlene, from Texas. We hit it off right away, she seems most chill. In fact everyone seems most chill, but then again they would have to be to be doing this whole peace corps thing. I can't remember anyones name though, maybe its the lack of sleep O_o ... oh well I have time yet to learn. I can already tell that I'm gonna make some lasting friendships among this group (that is if I can hide my craziness from them all, muahahahahahahaha ^_~)
Also, I learned that I will be staying in Korea for around 20hrs instead of the 3 that I had originally thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so super stoaked. I hope that I will be able to see my oppah Sungho and my unni JuRi. EEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Sa Rang Hey my chingus!!!!
I almost missed everyone today. I know that sooner or later all the goodbyes I said and didn't say will truly sink in and then ..... O_o. But, I will deal with that when it comes ... as for now I'm having a wicked good time ^_^. :::happy danccccccccczzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......
The flights to Hotlanta weren't that bad. I accidentally sat in this man's seat on my first flight, and dude you would have thought it was the end of the world or something. But I think my severe exhaustion came across as moronic, so he let it drop and I passed out. Then on my second flight (in one of the tiniest seats ever) I wore my giant winter coat with the hood up and Gurgi tucked in as a pillow. The looks I got were hilair ... I could literally see the confusion. Why is she wearing such a heavy jacket in the middle of summer to Atlanta? Is that a monkey in her hood? ahahahahahahahhahaah, I would have freaked them out more, but I passed out before the plane was even fully loaded.
Then I took a shuttle to the hotel, and dude, what a hotel it is. Its most posh (by my cheepo fresh out of college standings anyway). I am rooming with another volunteer, a girl named Darlene, from Texas. We hit it off right away, she seems most chill. In fact everyone seems most chill, but then again they would have to be to be doing this whole peace corps thing. I can't remember anyones name though, maybe its the lack of sleep O_o ... oh well I have time yet to learn. I can already tell that I'm gonna make some lasting friendships among this group (that is if I can hide my craziness from them all, muahahahahahahaha ^_~)
Also, I learned that I will be staying in Korea for around 20hrs instead of the 3 that I had originally thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so super stoaked. I hope that I will be able to see my oppah Sungho and my unni JuRi. EEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Sa Rang Hey my chingus!!!!
I almost missed everyone today. I know that sooner or later all the goodbyes I said and didn't say will truly sink in and then ..... O_o. But, I will deal with that when it comes ... as for now I'm having a wicked good time ^_^. :::happy danccccccccczzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......
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