at my Site

August 19, 2008

It’s been a few days since I’ve had time to sit down and write. Let’s see if I can catch you up on what I’ve been doing.

Friday night, there was all kinds of partying going on. Everyone was excited to be officially done with Pre-Service Training. I got in the bed late and woke up early on Saturday. We all met at the theatre to be ready for swearing-in. Everyone wore their traditional Mongolian clothes. It was really cool. After the usual obligatory speeches, the U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia, Mark Minton, swore us in as official Peace Corps Volunteers. After we walked across the stage and received our certificates, we began our performances. I was the second of three to give a speech. I think I had mentioned that I would be doing it before. When I first wrote it and gave it to my teacher, she gave it back and said to change it. She said it sounded like a speech that a boss would give to his employees and that I should make it funny; and use simple language. Okay. That was harder to do than the first version I’d written. When I write formally, I’m used to writing a certain way, and it was hard to change that. When I gave my speech, I was glad that I was behind a podium. I think that is the most nervous I have ever been when in front of a group of people. At one point, I noticed my hand shaking. But, I got lots of laughs. That helped a lot. I was really surprised they thought it was that funny. I thought it would get giggles, but not guffaws. Other people sang songs, played instruments, and did dances; all Mongolian. There was a reception, at a different hotel, and we got to talk with the ambassador (he seems cool) and Robert Reid, the guy who is the Mongolian Country Director for the Millennium Challenge Corporation. I was sure to get his card since that is what I will be implementing in my job. He told me he would give me all the help I need. I will be in touch with him, I’m sure.

We had the rest of the day to ourselves. I walked around with a couple of others as they did some shopping. They aren’t as lucky as I am: they can’t get into the city and get anything they might want or need with so little ease. I’m glad that I’m as close as I am so I didn’t have to carry even more stuff with me. My roommate was one of the few who left that night. Their sites are in the north of the country, so there was no sense in them going to the south, to UB. That night, there was even more partying. During training, the trainers weren’t allowed to drink with us. It was all good once we swore in, though. They, plus a lot of other, older Volunteers joined in our partying. Somehow, I was able to stay away from the alcohol. I was still worn out from the night before, and I had plans to go to bed early. It didn’t work, though. I ended up hanging out with other non-partiers and exchanging all kinds of computer files. I think I have enough entertainment for a little while. I got in the bed late and was up early again.

On Sunday, there were only a few of us at breakfast at the normal time. I’m sure the others were getting every extra minute of sleep they could. After packing all my stuff, I was downstairs and waiting with everyone else. The bus was to get there so we could leave by 10:30. It finally showed up at 11. I don’t know who the logistical coordinator was, but they obviously didn’t think far enough ahead. The luggage area of the bus was filled way before the parking lot was emptied of bags. After everyone was on the bus, we rode Mongolian and filled the aisle with bags, too. We were told that we could expect the aisles to be packed as high as our head sometimes, often with some animal carcasses. I’m not looking forward to that. I can’t imagine that to be a comfortable ride at all.

The bus driver seemed to be on a leisure trip. He drove as slow as he could the entire way. The three hour trip took almost four and a half hours. Most people either put their headphones in their ears or went to sleep. The guy next to me had some speakers for his mp3 player, so we listened to music and goofed off the whole way. Yeah, clowns everywhere are drawn to me, and we always make sure we have our big red noses on.

In UB, we stayed at a dorm for foreign university students. Later in the day, a couple of trucks brought all the bags that didn’t fit in the bus, then we went to the Peace Corps office and picked up our winter bags, a fire-extinguisher, smoke detector, water filter, electrical power strip, space heater, cell phone, Peace Corps passport, and traveling money. As soon as everyone got their phones, they took them out of the box and started figuring out how to work them. For the rest of the day, you could see brand new Peace Corps Volunteers all over the city, playing with their new phones. I exchanged a few texts with one of my favourite people in the whole world. I was told that it wouldn’t work, but I was glad to see that it did. I tried a few other numbers, but they didn’t work. I don’t know what the problem is.

Of course, we were set off on our own and we had to find our way back to the dorms. One good thing about the city is that the taxis charge per car, not per person, like in the countryside. After spending the summer in the countryside, it was like being in another country altogether when we were in the city. UB is big: over 1 million people; a third of the population. It’s as bustling as any other capital city in the world. After the spiel on how dangerous it is there, we were all practicing our safety training. That afternoon, we all dispersed throughout the city in search of some non-Mongolian food. We found an awesome Italian place called Green Olive. I got the Thai chicken and loved it. It was three chicken legs in a bowl of vegetables, filled with gravy. Yum! That night, I was sure to get in the bed early. I tried to hang out with some friends, but I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open.

On Monday, I was up early again and went with some people for coffee. I really don’t like coffee, but I thought I could find some breakfast, too. We went to a neat place called Café Amsterdam that is owned by some Dutch expatriates. As nice as it was, it is no Starbucks, though. At Starbucks, the only coffee I ever get is the White Chocolate Mocha. They didn’t have the stuff to make that, but they were able to put enough sweet stuff in there to mask the coffee flavour. While I was eating the panini I’d ordered, my tooth chipped. I don’t have any idea what made that happen. It is the inside, back of my bottom front tooth. I think the impetus is from the last time I went to the dentist – for my Peace Corps application, no less. She has some kind of new machine that she uses, instead of the usual plaque-scrapers. It’s felt weird ever since then. It had me distressed for the rest of the day. I called the PC Medical Officer and was told that I’ll have to find some day in the next couple of weeks to get it checked on.

I’d talked to my director in the morning and she told me she would pick me up in 2+ hours. We went to lunch at French Bakery and she called me to say she was waiting on me. Doh! She was way early. To make it worse, the place didn’t have any power, so we had to go somewhere else. We found another café, where I had a chicken burrito and a strawberry milkshake. Man, oh-man-oh-man. It was freaking A awesome. Three of us had tried to order the same kind of milkshake the night before, but the server told us that there was only enough for one. I wasn’t the lucky one.

Back at the dorm, my director had a taxi for us. I was glad of that. I was afraid that I was going to have to take all my stuff to the microbus stand, and then figure out which one would take me to my site, all by myself. I could have done it, but it would have been a tremendous hassle. When we left, we made several stops on the way. She must have paid the driver a set fee, cause she didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry. One of the stops was at her little brother’s place. He wasn’t there, but his wife was. She let us in and served us the ever-present tea and candy; then my director brought out a bottle of scotch. I saw it and cringed. I was afraid of what was about to happen as she passed me a small glass of it. I was worried that she was going to be shooting it, like my host-dad did. I was glad to see her sip it, like you’re supposed to. It took me a long time to get through that little bit. I was sure to tell her I didn’t want anymore when I finished. Our last stop was at a grocery store. She bought me some few things to get me started: meat, bread, kimchi, flour, and salt.

It took us almost an hour and a half to get to my apartment. The driver and a handyman helped me carry my bags up to the second floor. I am glad that I’m not on the top floor. Surprised, too. The apartment isn’t bad, according to Mongolian standards. Of course, I wouldn’t pay more than $150 a month if this apartment was in Huntsville. That is, if I would even live in it at all. There is a decent sized kitchen, with all kinds of stuff left by the last Volunteer; a bathroom; a foyer area, with my “closet;” a living room that doubles as my bedroom; and a balcony that looks across an empty lot, at an empty building. The handyman that helped with my bags was working on the plumbing in the bathroom. I got to talk to the previous Volunteer, and he’d told me it was sketchy. I don’t know what the handyman fixed, but it can’t be any better than it was before. Even though it only drizzles out, I have running water, and that’s all that matters. None of it is hot.

The first thing I did once everyone was gone was to strip down to my shorts, turn on some music, and dance in the living room. Yeah, as I’ve said before, I’m an idiot. I took my time unpacking. During that, I put some beans to soaking: I was going to make some chili. My first meal consisted of a can of black bean soup that was in one of my packages. It was good. By 9, I had things in their semi-permanent spot, so I stopped for the night. I took a bath in my tumpin, but it wasn’t as bad as before. I put it in my tub, which has no stopper, and splashed around everywhere. I was glad I didn’t have to worry about getting water all over the place.

Before bed, I watched some Olympics. Have you been watching any this year? The five Mongolian channels that I get only show so much, but what I’ve seen has been good. About a week ago, I saw Michael Phelps win a couple of gold medals in swimming. A few days ago, I saw a Mongolian win the gold in judo. I didn’t know it, but up until that point, Mongolia had the most Olympic medals in the world, but no gold medals. I’m sure you can imagine that the country is going wild over him. His picture is everywhere and he’s been on the news every night. There is a Mongolian that is one of the best ever Sumo wrestlers that people love, but I predict this guy will be even bigger. I saw a woman from Great Britain win the gold and break the world record in a swimming event. Last night, I saw a female Russian pole-vaulter break her own Olympic record, then go on to set a new world record. Ha, of course, that was after the American lady had been doing some trash-talking. That’s what you get, I guess.

This morning, I woke up before my alarm and couldn’t get back to sleep. No big deal: I had plenty of sleep and I still had a few things in my apartment to take care of. My director told me she would be here at 10 to take me around and show me stuff. I finished putting things to rights and made that chili. It turned out good. At 10, I was ready to go. By 11:30, she still wasn’t here, so I decided to get out and walk around. This place is much smaller than where I was for training. It doesn’t help that it’s split in two, either. In my half, there are lots of abandoned buildings in a state of disrepair. From what I understand, this part used to be the Russian side of town and was better, at one time. Since the Russians were kicked out back in 1990, the other side has slowly been getting better. That is partly because the train station is over there. This place was founded as part of a Russian air-strip. I can’t imagine why they didn’t put it over there by the train station. That’s only one of the many enigmas left over from the Russian era.

My director finally showed up at 2. Mongol-time at it’s best. She said that she’d been in lots of meetings and was too busy earlier. No big deal. That gave me time for a nap, and you know how I love naps. She showed me where several stores and the post office are. She took me to show me my office, too. I ended up sitting through a meeting in her office, and then we went to another meeting. I “introduced” myself, and then she talked about me for 10 minutes or so. I understood very little of what she said. The meeting was about their Naadam. Did I already write that they are going to have theirs on Aug. 29 and 30? Our department is head of the Culture and Sporting Events Committee. I have to help come up with a schedule of events. That will be neat. My director asked me if I would wrestle, too. I had just decided yesterday that I think I would rather just sit and watch, but I agreed to anyway. It’s not like I won’t enjoy it, even if I do lose. My director keeps joking that the next Mongolian gold medal will come from a wrestler from our district, now that I’m here to coach them. Ha, we’ll see. One day, I’ll give you the link to my friend’s blog that has a video of my first attempt at Mongolian wrestling. I have internet at work, but it’s really slow. I will be able to check emails and update my blog, but I think I will have to wait until I get into the city before I can upload pictures and videos.