June E-mails

Since we can't regularly update, we decided to post some emails so you can read what's been happening this month!

June 20, 2007

Hello again!

Thank you all for your emails. It's really nice to come to the computer and read what is all going on. Things here are really busy. And besides that it takes me about an hour and a quarter to get to the nearest email access point (the Sukhbataar Post Office (SB is in the very northern part of Mongolia directly above UB and above Darkhan. We are about 20 km from Russia.)). I'm sorry that I cannot really personalize individual emails. There's just so little time. I want to tell you all, though, that I love you very much and miss you.

Everything here is still great. Cady and I see each other about twice a week. We've both been very healthy (knock on wood). The language is still quite challenging, but it is coming along. I've been taking lots of pictures and have been writing in my journal every few days. I hope to share those with you soon. We both have great families and are making good friends. I don't think that we could have a better situation. I hear about some of the comforts that other PC posts have and how Mongolia is the butt of most PC placement jokes ("at least you're not in Mongolia"), but I am more than pleased with what we have and how we are are considered one of the toughest of all PC locations.

Well, it's difficult to write these emails because there is just so much to say and I don't know where to begin. It's all been so exciting. I even made my first Mongolia summit about 12 miles from Russia!!! That's one of those milestones definitley worth mentioning. But really every day is packed full and we feel like we've been here for at least a month -- it's only been a week and a half. I guess the best for me is if you ask questions. Lol. I don't know what to say otherwise. Lol.

Please send this email on to anyone you think would like to hear about our adventures. I'm really hoping that once we get placed in a couple months we will have a little more steady email (well, at least I hope I will -- Cady lives about 15 minutes away). We'll get it figured out.

I miss you all!
Love,
Peter



June 24, 2007

Hello to all!

I just arrived in the Sukbaatar City town square Post Office, basically the only reliably quick internet...(in the Selenge province, farthest north, about 10 miles from the Russian border), fresh off a taxi from Peter's "bagh" in the city. His is living with his host family in Bagh 5, the furthest "bagh/district" in the city. It's probably 10 minutes by taxi into the city, but 1.5 hours by walking. It's quaint, with cows mooing, sheep braying, and well, not going to lie, it smells like animal dung. They have a couple of stores "delgors," a school, a small clinic, and I spent last night in his family's hashaa --it is a beautiful setting. His ejj (mom) is a sweet woman, who grows the most wonderful vegetables and makes delicious tsoivan (the only thing I can even relate this to is pad thai maybe? except it's without the spice!) She is a stereotypical Mongolian ejj and forces food down our throats and sits across from us at the tiny table and says eat, eat, eat in Mongolian and drills Peter on language, spelling, and pronunciation (seriously, Peter's knees when sitting come up to the edge of the table... for me, it's a perfect fit!!). She's a teacher at the local school and cooks with the fastest hands I have ever seen. He has two pretty stoicly quiet brothers who love the computer games that they play incessantly in the room next to Peter's, and his dad, who has the cutest gap teeth-- and by gap, I mean his is missing the front four-- and smiles when we try to speak anything to him. There are grandkids from older kids running around the house saying in English, "HELLO! HOW ARE YOU! I AM FINE THANK YOU!" and they run in and out between hashaas. All in all, his bagh is a small, quiet place, lots of animals, and a great place to integrate into the Mongolian culture and lifestyle. He'll have to tell you more specifics.

In a bit, I will head out for my bagh, Bagh 3 to go back to my family's hashaa. I live in Sukbaatar City proper (population 20K, one of the larger cities in Mongolia, the Selenge Aimag capital, and where Bagh 1, 2, 3, and 4 are located. I live right across the dirt road from my school, which is one of the largest, and "best" in the country by Mongolian standards. This means they pay their teachers reliably and have access to somewhat better learning materials. Since I live in the "big city" we don't have all of the quaintness that Peter's bagh has, but we do have more services, more stores, a large market, restaurants, the best hospital in the area, and the large police station. It looks a lot like I imagine the wild west looking like in the 1880s. Sukbaatar has a couple of old soviet block apartments, but mostly families livein small hashaas that resemble Peter's families hashaa. There are cows on the loose by my house, many hashaa dogs, and the ocassional goat. My bagh smells like the flour factory that is nearby, not animal dung. :)



Sukhbaatar Town (Cady's school)

My family is an average Mongolian family. My ejj, Chimgee, is a doctor in town, and she works from 10am until 10pm everyday. We discussed money one night, the standard how much for milk, coffee, bread, etc. in America versus Mongolia, and she was flabergasted. She makes 3000 tugriks per day as a doctor. that is the equivalent in US dollars of $2.90 per day. She is college educated, and as a "doctor" her focus is in the pharmacy, where she prescribes antibiotics, and other "home remedies" to treat disease, ie drinking urine for infection, or deer blood for flu. Doctors in Mongolia were described by our PC medical officers as havin gthe same training as medical assistants in the United States, so we are to refuse ANY treatment that they offer. :) My ejj is sweet though, very hardworking, and brings home Zairmag (ice cream) every night. She and I sit at the table and we eat ice cream, and I teach her body parts in English and she teaches my in Mongolian. I definitely have the best "medical" vocabulary of the trainees!

My father, or awv, is named Ganbold. He was an old rock and roll drummer in the 70s and 80s, and now is a driver. Although, we don't have a car, and he generally never is gone anywhere, so I think drivers, while the most "lucrative" of Mongolian jobs, might also be code word for unemployed. He is one the best awvs in my bagh I think (i might be a bit biased). He does all of the cooking in our house, and he makes the best "buuz" (steamed mutton or beef dumplings) in the city. He is a bright and sparkling personality, making jokes all of the time, and laughing constantly. The reason I think he might be the best host dad, is that he is really working hard with me on my Mongolian language and culture. We sit at the table and he drills me on pronunciation, vocabulary, and phrases, and because of him, out of the 15 people in Sukbaatar city, I have some of the better pronunciation and vocabulary in my training class. other trainees come to visit and always comment on "i wish my family was like that!" He loves music, and has taught me Mongolian songs (our "duo" performed for Peter when he came to visit last weekend) and he plays Abba songs on his guitar and my whole family sings along. They love "mamma mia" and "money, money, money" and they even have the Abba music videos on DVD and the whole family eats ice cream and we watch and sing along. Good thing I love(d) Abba. :)

I have two younger siblings, Enknaran (11 yr old girl) and Naba (19 year old boy). Naba i have only met once, he is in Darkhan working for the summer, saving money for university in UB in the fall, and I will probably only see him a couple of other times. His english is VERY good, and he loves UNO, and was VERY excited that I brought the game. :)

Enknaran is a sweet 6th grader, and is pretty quiet. I have given her many of the small gifts I brought, and she is so thankful. She put together the USA puzzle in no time flat and has left it up. She points at the states and asks me what each one is like. She likes the Hawaii picture the best, always breaking into a hula whenever possible. She had a kitten when I first arrived, a small orange cat, names Kiss kiss. (I am living it up being able to have a kitten/cat since Peter doesn't live with us!! ) She is very mature and responsible, doing all of the cleaning in the house and taking care of the Hashaa dog Baguay (means Bear) and kiss kiss. Last week was a really heard week for Enknaran because Kiss kiss was becoming more adventurous outside and walked along the hashaa fence, where the neighbor dog came out of no where and snatched the tiny cat with his teeth, crushing him. It's hard enough to handle and talk about losing an animal, but when you can't speak the language very well, it's hard to express sadness for her. She spent many days drawing pictures of the cat, she hiked into the mountains and buried him with a buddhist ritual, and was very quiet for 2 days. On Thursday, my business training class when down to Darkhan to visit clients we will be working with through the Ger Initiative (CHF) and Mercy Corps. One woman was a vegetable farmer, and while we were discussing her crops and how expensive the market stalls were, her kittens came out of no where and she started offering them to us. I thought that I would like to take one for Enknaran (if the ejj would allow it!!), so I picked the cutest one, we put it in a cake box and I brought it all the way back to Sukbaatar in a taxi. The driver was NOT amused with the meowing cake box. This kitten is gray, with a black nose, and about half the size of kiss kiss (maybe closer to the size of a softball?) I brought it to the pharmacy and asked my ejj if I could give it to Enknaran, and she was SO happy that she rushed home with me to see enknaran's face. I handed the cake box to Enknaran and said, "Do you like cake?" and she said, Of course! and then the box started meowing. She was SO excited I thought she was going to pee her pants. She let me name the cat, and I called it Hamar Har (Black nose) and everyone thinks that is hysterical. I still hear her call it kissy, though. I 'm just so glad she is able to have a companion!

We are both really happy with where we are. It's intnese, 4 hours of lanugage and 4 hours of teaching or business training per day. Not hearing ANY english at home, and trying to speak in MOngolian is a little challenging, but we're doing it! (Heck, if I can bring a kitten home and ask my host mother if Enknaran can have it, then I think I am doing okay!!)

We have a mid=-break for the 4th of July where we get 4 more shots in Darkhan and then have a day or to of PC training and then we'll be back here. I hope to keep sending longer notes when I can. We just got paid, so that's probably why I was able to spend the money on this email! (We have $30 US dollars to use to live on until July 8, so not TOO bad, although, I think that in DC would have bought us both breakfast and a coffee!!)



Cady's Training Class with Language Teachers

So far I think the mail has been reliable. I recieved a card from my mom and Peter's grandparents, and i think more is in UB waiting to come to us the next time the PC officers come up. Once we get to our site, we'll have more control of everything from mail, to diet, etc. We're excited. We have no idea where we'll be placed, although that have told us it is in an Aimag center, so that narrows it down to 21. :) We'll find out on August 9 or 10 in UB and if all goes well with the language classes we'll swear in as volunteers on August 11!

I better head home soon. I'll have a 30 minute walk back to my hashaa and I have to pee. That's another story: OUTHOUSES. (Next time....)

Love to you all! it's hard to be out of communication, but, again, like everything else, I think it will get better after our site placement in terms of us recieving our phone number, and more reliable control over things.

Love,
Cady