So!

In my soum: End of June and July

Lot's of Khorkhogs (meat steamed with hot rocks).

Spent a lot of time with my friends and family.

Packed most of my stuff.

Took lot's of walks.

Uvs!July and August

Saw the Mongolian President at the airport!

The camp was ok. Not as much fun as last year, but I made a lot of new friends.

Took a road trip back with Kelsey and Irina. Ugg. Not fun. But we did get to watch the solar eclipse and swim/give ourselves pedicures by the lake.

Site again! August

I won't lie. I was drunk for 4 days straight with all the going away parties. My last morning at site, my mom made me milk tea and commented that it would be the last milk tea I would drink with her and I started bawling....oh man.... leaving sucked....

UB! August

Running around. Getting stuff done. Trying to do all my favorite UB things....like sitting at Nyara's and reading gossip rags, eating breakfast at Michelle's, going to my favorite art gallery, loitering at my favorite bookstore, and chillin' late night at Sukhbaatar Square.

I met my UB friends and family. Did karoke with Emma...my host sister....hilarious....

Craziness.

Mongolian won it's first Olympic gold medal in Judo! Woot! The streets were crazy! It was cool to be in the city for that.

Final Thoughts!

I don't have enough time to really do this justice. This will be edited. Fo sho.

Advice:

Everyone wants this and I still feel totally unqualified to give it. :) This advice is good for any country.

Travel whenever you have the opportunity....even if is just to another soum or aimag or just a friends house across the street.

Learn the language as best you can.

Make good friends.

Smile a lot.

I'm going to Beijing in less than 7 hours. Holy crap.

Za!

Happy Birthday Emily!

So!

Went back to site after COS and then came back to UB a week later so I could head out to Khuvsgul for Elizabeth's summer camp.

Khuvsgul

The bus ride there was awful. It took 28 hours....ugg.

But once we were there it was awesome. Had a fantastic time. We (Liz, Byron, Joe, Brendan, James, and Kelsey) worked with the nursing home in town and with disabled and non-traditional students for 2 weeks.

Then Mike and Ashley came and almost all of us went to the lake. So beautiful. SO much fun. I updated tons of pics.

I'm heading back to site for a few weeks and then I'm going out west again to teach a teacher's training camp! I'm really excited....perhaps another cross country road trip is in the works.....

Man....they just keep getting shorter and shorter....

So!

Last time I was in UB, I played hackey sack with Craig, Mike, and Ryan Then went to a hip-hop concert with the boys in Sukhbaatar Square.

Twas awesome.

I hurt my counterparts's boobs! Mongolians believe that if a pregnant woman thinks you are giving her a present and you don't...her boobs will hurts. Otgoo came to my ger and I gave her pictures that I had developed for her, but she thought I was giving her candy. So her boobs hurt. To fix this, you must go to her house and give her a bad gift...like goat poop or something....make her think it's a good gift...then give her a nice present. Peace Corps told us about this during training....but I never saw it happen before... Hilarious.

Lost and found my cat.

A famous monk came to my soum and both Nyamaa and I went to see him. There was a group prayer session and when it was finished, he came around and blessed everyone....including yours truly. He kinda whacks you on the head with something hard....odd....I thought they were peaceful people! :) But hey, the Catholic bishop slaps you in the face when you get confirmed....true story!

Lot's of power problems in May!

I learned how to sew. I seriously renewed the life of 3 pairs of pants!

To celebrate the birthday of a famous military person from our soum, our school held a military competition. Those poor kids! They had to run like 20 kilometers in hot uniforms, and on the run they have to crawl under fences, throw things, and jump over hurdles. Those poor poor kids!

COS!

So!

We just finished our Close of Service Conference. Surreal. I can't even describe it. I won't even try!

Plans!

I wanted to put off it off until I knew for sure what I was doing...but now I know and I'm totally excited!

I'm going to the Olympics! With a PC friend. Then I will travel to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. I have absolutely no idea when I will come home. I'm guessing either October or November. Woo! I miss everyone, but I'm totally stoked for my vacaton. :)

Za!

Just wanted to let peeps know that I updated pictures in March and April. April only has 2. Sorry....my batteries in my camera died..... I'll be better in May!

News! Completely unrelated to Peace Corps or Mongolia.

The Dresden Dolls (my favorite band) are releasing their new album 'No, Virginia' on May 20th!! I'm not leaving until August....hint hint...nudge nudge....care package.....

Little things! I found real cream cheese in the German store.... A taxi driver offered me 20,000 dollars to marry him and take him to America. I found blueberry muffin top cereal, bought it, and promptly consumed it. I found a cool bookstore with comfy chairs..... The Japanese guy staying in the same room as me at the hostel can play Bon Jovi on his guitar....totally awesome.... Jim! Thanks for reading! COS means Close of Service and the packet contains all the things I have to do before I leave Mongolia and go home!

Za!

So!

When I came back from vacation, I was pleasantly suprised to find wine in a box, olive oil, cheese, and car air fresheners in my del gors! I promptly bought the wine in a box.....not bad....

Let me see....

I went to birthdays, celebrated Soldier's Day, scared my friends with my cat, and became addicted to Lost, Heroes, and CSI.

Pig Roast!

Lot's of pictures, inside jokes, hilarity. See pics....

My counterpart Otgoo had a baby! A girl. So cute. She invited me over for the baby's first bath....which is kinda of a ceremony.... The baby is bathed in soup and tea..... I asked why and they said it was a tradtion....

I feel totally culturally integrated! My friend Tumee had a dream about me. She said I went to England and I didn't say 'bye' to her and she said she cried. Man. I feel bad I made her cry in the dream....but I'm totally psysched she dreamed about me... :)

Got my COS packet in the mail.

Holy crap.

This is happening way too quickly!

In the capital doing project work....finally...man....I'm lazy.....

Hi Elizabeth's parents! Thanks for reading! :)

Za!

I'm sorry my blog posts keep getting shorter....comment and let me know what you want to hear about!

So, I could not afford to travel out of country for my vacation. So I did the next best thing…..I went to Khuvsgul, Erdenet, and Darkhan!

The ride to Muron (Khuvsgul’s aimag center) was long and rough. Thank god Liz was with me!

Stayed with Liz (who is an amazing and gracious hostess) in her house.

Went to the Ice Festival!

We actually had to drive on the lake to get there. We did a full donut on the ice….hilarious, but scary. There are ships that are frozen in the ice! I didn’t get a picture of that and I really regret it! You can see the bottom of the lake through the ice….totally crazy.

I took a sleigh ride with Joe, sumo-ed Liz’s friend Bosco (and lost!), watched speed skating, and fell on the ice….many times….

Then I went back to Liz’s house and just…..did nothing but watch Grey’s Anatomy and Sex and the City and eat ice cream…it was amazing

The ride from Muron to Erdenet really really sucked for many different reasons.

At Rachel’s (another fantastic hostess), I watched more Sex and the City and ate Rachel’s ridiculously delicious croissants. Melinda also came to town!

Then I went to Darkhan with Melinda and Rachel. Saw Matt (awesome host). Hung out, had fun. Alice in Wonderland=Francis and the Dryer. How’s your news?=Amazingly hilarious. Watched Juno….which I absolutely loved!

Then I came to UB! And I have been living it up!

All in all….

It was really nice to have a break.

It was good to see friends.

It was really good to eat a metric ton of Russian ice cream.

It was really nice to shake the winter off.

So now I have the stressful English Olympics! But it’s ok, because right after the Olympics, it’s the 3rd annual PC Pig Roast!! Time is flying!

P.S--I updated pics.

Za!

Since my last entry, I have….

Moved from my ger to the school dormitory. Two words. Central heat. Woot! I really miss my family, but it’s nice to wake up warm and right next to the school. Why did I move? Because cows ate holes all around my ger. When the cows leave my hashaa, they said I could move back.

I got really sick! Strep throat. Ugg. Not fun.

My birthday was on the same day as the first day of Tsagaan Sar (the lunar new year)! Cool birthday, interesting memories. :)

I was visiting someone’s house and eating buuz, when I suddenly bit into something really hard. I looked in the buuz and I found an old Mongol coin! They told me I would be lucky all year. Woot! I need some good luck!

I got 3 packages on the same day! It was awesome! Thanks Aunt Nancy and Mom!

For Valentine’s Day, I had my 5th graders make Valentine’s Day cards. One of my students gave their card to me….it was so cute! Lot’s of warm fuzzies. :)

Mike and Chris taught me how to play chess.....I think just so they could beat me all the time and raise their respective self esteems...... But I did beat my friend Shagai once! I consider it a triumph.

I’m going on vacation soon and I am ridiculously excited!

That's it.

Good times.

Yeah, so the Peace Corps Christmas party was awesome. I have some good videos of everyone sitting around the fire and singing. When I go back to UB, I'll post the videos and pics. The aimag internet is just too slow for videos.

Thanks to my old cooking partner in crime (Matt), I am now addicted to seasons 1-3 of Grey's Anatomy. Another show to add to the list. It actually kind of made me homesick. Random things in the show will remind me of stuff I used to do, things I used to like, etc. Weird.

New Years!

The school had a new year's party.....complete with across-dressing competition! I have to say....I held up my team's end pretty well. I swapped deels with a guy and they drew a very handsome mustache on my face. Awesome. Pics are on the way!

I made pizza with Nyamaa on New Years Day, then we went to the cultural center, danced, watched the band, got a cake and wine from the soum as a present, then went home to celebrate the new year!

My sister gave me one of the awesomest early birthday gifts I have ever received the other day. So, my favorite band....the Dresden Dolls....were playing in the city where my sister lives. She doesn't really care for their music, but she went to the concert, then called me and held the phone up so I could hear the concert! Ahhhh!!! :) She also got me a t-shirt signed by Amanda and Brian! Double Ahhhhh!!!! I was dancing around for a really long time. It's a good thing the people of my soum are used to it now. :) I can't wait to come home and see concerts!

New Years Resolutions!

1. Make more mistakes.

2. Learn more.

3. Do more things I love.

4. Be a better person than last year!

Yeah.

This is going to be another awesome year.

:)

I’m thankful two of my students got 3rd place and one student got 2nd place in the English Olympics! They won some moolah! Woot!

I’m thankful I went to UB for Thanksgiving and ate way too much turkey!

I’m thankful when I came back from UB, my hasha mom had made a fire so my ger was warm when I came home. Felt lots of warm fuzzies…

I’m thankful the cultural center’s floor finally got fixed! We had a ‘new floor’ ceremony and once again…the best dancer in the soum asked me to dance…..score!

I’m thankful my Aunt Nancy sent me a care package with food. I ate from the care package for two weeks!

I’m thankful Enkh fixed my dvd player! I’m now addicted to the TV shows 6 feet under, deadwood, the job, entourage, and my name is earl.

I’m thankful for the new well in my soum! It’s at the hospital, which is like 2 feet from my ger!

I’m thankful one of our del gors got cheese and my friends and I had a completely random pizza making party.

I’m thankful we got another TV channel in my soum! It’s an education channel. Now we have 4 channels! Woot!

I’m thankful I came to UB for Christmas! The party was totally awesome and mellow. :) I'm glad I got a chance to meet and get to know the M18’s better.

Yeah.

Awesome year.

October!

So! Here are the highlights for the rest of October!

Lot’s of foreigners have been coming through my soum lately! It’s nice to meet new people and speak in English! I traded deels with a Fulbright Scholar!

Had my friends Tumee and Shagai come over to my ger for dinner. I made spaghetti with ground beef. They didn’t like it! Oh well. I made carrot cake for dessert and they loved it.

My counterpart Otgoo got married and I went to both of her weddings. She had one in the aimag center and one in our soum. Lot’s of potato salad was eaten. Up to two metric tons now. :)

Nyamaa and I invaded the school kitchen and made 2 huge pizzas using the school’s oven. Had friends come and we devoured the pizzas like crazed animals.

As I mentioned earlier, I met some cool Mercy Corps volunteers and I got them addicted to Veronica Mars. So when they drove through my soum on the way to the aimag, they brought me ‘Knocked Up’ to trade for Veronica Mars for the week. So awesome. Loving the sense of community out east lately! :)

Had a girls movie marathon night so we could all watch ‘Knocked up’ and other new movies I acquired. When we were watching ‘An Inconvient Truth’ and Nyamaa saw that Florida would be completely underwater if Greenland melted, she said that it was ok because I would always have a home in land-locked Mongolia. Awww… Lot’s of warm fuzzies. :)

I taught my students ‘eeny, meeny, miiny, mo’. They remember the whole thing! They can’t tell my how old they are….but they got ‘catch a tiger by it’s toe’ down!

Had a HUGE Halloween party for all the 8th-11th graders. It was awesome. They decorations were…..creative and the costumes were awesome/hilarious. I will update pictures soon! I promise!

November!

Went to Dornod for the annual Peace Corps Volunteer Halloween party. ‘Twas awesome. A little more mellow than last year, but then again….Sukhbaatar rules and it’s hard to top the party we had last year! :)

Spent our school vacation working with students to prepare them for the English Olympics.

I just finished a seminar for the English teachers of our aimag. Feeling very productive.

We find out the results of the English Olympics today! The winners get to go to America! 3 of our students were in the top 30 before the Speaking portion of the test....so keep your fingers crossed!

Yeah.

So.

I think that’s it for now! Will updated photos soon!

September!

So!

After a fabulous summer I finally returned to my ger. I must admit, having traveled and seen a good portion of Mongolia smushed in a Russian van, I can now safely say that my soum is the most beautiful in Mongolia! It really is! I’m not biased whatsoever! J It’s was raining a lot so the hills surrounding my soum were emerald green. Gorgeous.

When I returned, things outside my ger were beautiful, but inside my ger was a complete disaster area. The adorable kittens that I left behind had grown into huge, curious monsters with a penchant for pooping in odd places. The claws and teeth of these monsters had no limits! The scratched and chewed absolutely everything in my ger, including my DVD player wires, which demoted my DVD player from ‘sanity saver’ to ‘huge paperweight’. In my anger, I shouted at my cat calling her a feline of ill repute and a strumpet and various other unflattering things.

To happier things!

A new monument was built in my soum while I was away! When I first saw it from far away, it looked like the rock dude from the ‘Fantastic Four’. It’s really a statue of a famous wrestler carrying a horse. Our soum had a ceremony to celebrate it. There was a horse race, and yes, I got to ride in a jeep and ride alongside the horses again. Once again, awesome.

Scary moment!

After the horse race, I went and hung out with friends. I left pretty late and when I was walking home, I was suddenly surrounded by a gang of barking, snarling, pissed off dogs. Wow. I learned a lot about myself and how I deal with fear that night! Apparently, when properly inspired, I can throw rocks at the speed of light and scream like a little girl. Good to know! I’m still convinced that it was my high frequency shrieking that eventually made them go away. J

School started!

The opening ceremony was fun. I am now teaching all the 4th and 5th grade students. Wow. Quite a handful, but fun nonetheless!

Other changes!

The stores in my soum are getting more and more diverse and awesome stuff. I can now get canned peas, Pringles, Pantene Pro-V, and aloe juice in my soum. Woot!

Random Things!

Lot’s of secret loves in my soum! My goodness!

Lot’s of new houses were built this summer and consequently-lot’s of new house parties have been happening this fall! I went to 4 new house parties in 2 days. Wow. That was intense. I have seriously eaten a metric ton of potato salad in the last few weeks. Seriously.

Desperate Housewives is being aired in Mongolian and my hasha Mom absolutely loves it. ‘ Tis hilarious!

Since the demise of my DVD player, I have been keeping myself busy with freewriting, reading, playing with my hasha brother, private English lessons, dancing, walking, and trying to learn how to play the piano. *Note to self* Trying to teach myself piano using ridiculously complicated Ben Folds sheet music is….well…. A+ for being ambitious, but F- for being practical!

Went to the aimag center in September and met some cool Mercy Corps volunteers. Went to the zinc mine again and introduced Chris and Mike to Jenny and the other mine workers I know. Had lot’s of fun! Got Chris hooked on Veronica Mars and Freaks and Geeks….Woot!

My hasha Mom and little brother have been coming and going a lot recently. Been a little lonely! :( I miss going into my family’s house and finding my brother butt naked and consequently practicing my Mongolian compound sentences such as ‘Tamra you need to wear pants because it is cold and you will become sick’! I also miss Tamra knocking incessantly at my door at ungodly hours shouting “Kim big sister!” until I open the door and give him attention/candy.

Been listening to John Mayer’s Continuum and Wilco’s Being There a lot lately! The full albums! Not just the songs I like. I was talking to another volunteer about this—how we’ve kinda become products of our generation in the sense that we listen to music a la carte, only the songs we like and not the whole album. I’ve been missing out! I have definitely gained a new appreciation for full albums now! But old habits die hard! ‘On the Radio’ by Regina Spektor is officially one of my new favorite songs. Gotta find some of her records and take a listen. :)

Hook was aired in Mongolian and I had a hardcore stab of homesickness. I really really miss hanging out with nerds and having some good old fashioned fun. Mongolia is ‘Bangarang’, but I miss you guys. Hardcore.

October!

There was a sports competition for all teachers and I am proud to say that I was part of the first place tug of war team! Also a proud member of the 3rd place volleyball team. :)

The weather was awesome all through September and then the 2nd week of October…a huge freakin’ blizzard came and it was like January weather….it was ridiculous!

2nd year thoughts!

I have 3 goals/objectives for my second year.

1. The first goal is to not become one of those jaded 2nd year volunteers who thinks he/she has seen it all just because they have been here one year. I want to remember that there is always something new to learn.

2. My second goal is to keep my sense of wonder and curiosity. I want to keep the same attitude and perspective that I had when I first got here. The attitude that everything is interesting and awesome, because….it still is!

3. My third goad is that I don’t want to take anything for granted! I get frustrated and disillusioned, but I want to remember to take a step back and see that I have the best site ever and fabulous friends. :)

Everyone always asks what I miss the most—I’ve always hesitated answering because it changes all the time! Fall is my favorite time of year, so this is what I’ve been missin’ lately.

Apple cider, rugby, marshmallows, driving, swimming, teaching swimming lessons, being anonymous, reading in bookstores, Lake Ella, pumpkins, nerds and Taco Bell chicken quesadillas. Friends and family, of course, go without saying. :)

So!

I went to Bayan-Ulgii for a teacher training camp at the end of July until early August. It was awesome! The teachers were great! Here are highlights from the camp and my trip....

-There was a dance in the 'disco' every night....crazy!

-Held eagle

-My ears were re-pierced by a crazy Kazakh! :)

-Climbed a mountain

-Gave myself a pedicure by the river

-Museum had a ridiculous amount of stuffed things

-Waking up in a Kazakh ger by the river

-Dancing at a Kazakh wedding

-Going to the Bayan-Ulgii hudo and drinking goat milk tea

-picnic by the river with a dude who had 5 gold teeth in a row and has to start his car with a screwdriver

-Meeting guys who drove from England to Mongolia

-Girl who used an electrical cord as a leash for her dog

-Playing frisbee in the river with the Bayankhongor crew

-Camping by the river in Bayankhongor

-Karaoke

-Watching 'Family Guy' with Mo and her sister in Arviheer

-Climbing mountain in Arviheer and getting soaked on the way back

Awesome.

Yesterday was the M18 Swearing In Ceremony! I met my new aimag mate! He's totally cool....woot!

Heading back to site tomorrow....thank goodness! I'm seriously homesick.

Yeah....life is good.

1] What was the highlight of your week? Going to Dulaankhan and seeing my family!

2] Who's car were you in last? A random taxi

3] When is the next time you will kiss someone? In 13 minutes….I don't know!

4] what color shirt are you wearing?Black

5] How long is your hair? medium length

9] Last thing you ate? A kebab

10] Last thing you drank? Water…I’m addicted…

10] Who is your crush? I’m totally smitten with one of the new trainees….let’s hope my higher power sends him out to Sukhbataar! :)

11] Where did you sleep last night? At Jeff’s apartment

13] Are you happy right now? Nope….Matt left for America and I’m totally bummed….

14] What did you say last? ‘Hey, what did I just say outloud’?

15] where is your phone? In my pocket

17] What color are your eyes? blue

19] Who came over last night? Maureen and Steph

20] When was the last time you had your heart broken? When I found out the kebab place ran out of meat…..

21] Who/what do you hate/dislike currently? The blister on my foot.

22] What are you listening to? The theme song of Pete and Pete…..Hey Sandy by Polaris

23] If you could have one thing right now what would it be? Peace on earth….goodwill toward men (and women)

24] What is your favorite scent? The smell of the air after it rains.

25] Who makes you happiest right now? Peace Corps Volunteers

26] What were you doing at 11 last night? Watching ‘Amazing Videos’ at Jeff’s apartment

30] Are you left-handed? Nope

31] Spell your name without vowels: KMBRLY or KM

34] What's for dinner tonight? I already ate….it was a kebab….and it was good….

38] Last time you went swimming in a pool? Does the spa in my village count? :) Wow….I actually have no idea…..May 2006?

39] Where was the last place you went shopping? The del gor.

40] How is your hair right now? Messy

42] AIM or MSN? Neither

! 46] Where does most of your family live? Florida and Wisconsin

47] Are you an only child or do you have siblings? I have 1 older sister. She sends the best care packages....

48] Would you consider yourself to be spoiled? Yep….my soum has 24 hour electricity and cell phone access…..booya!

49] What was the first thing you thought when you woke up? Why do I have the weirdest dreams ever?

50] Do you drink beer? Is the Pope a Catholic?

52] Myspace or Facebook? Both

53] Do you have T-Mobile? No, but I have MobiCom!

54] What is your favorite subject in school? Drama

57] Do you have any talents? I have an amazing ability to both create and diffuse awkward situations…

58] Have you ever been IN a wedding? Nope

59] When was the last time you went to the beach? I live in a land-locked country….next question!

60] Did you take a nap today? I wish

62] Ever met anyone famous before? Band members and politicians

63] Would you rather be famous or marry someone famous? Neither!

64] Ever snuck out? Didn't have to.

65] Are you a multitasker? Yep. I’m doing this survey and wasting time all at the same time….

66] Could you handle being in the military? Nope….

69] Do you have a job? In a manner of speaking….

70] Last place you drove your car? Home….then I sold my car to a punk who said he was going to ‘trick out’ my baby!

72] Ever been to Las Vegas? Lived there!

73] What are you doing today? Well…the day is over. I worked and played.

74] What's the stupidest thing you ever did with your cell? Dropped it in the outhouse on my birthday

75] Last time you were sick? I’m constantly sick….

So I spent my second Nadaam in Mongolia at a Chinese zinc mine!

I went into the aimag center for Matt's birthday, intending to return to my site to celebrate Nadaam, but the buses stopped running and so I was stranded in the aimag center. The three of us went out to the mine and were cooked awesome Chinese food....twas awesome...made some new friends!

I had to move to a new ger! My family knocked on my door early one morning and told me I had to move! It was just across the hashaa, but I still had to face the fact that I have accumulated way too much stuff here in Mongolia... :)

I got to fly to UB! Woot! The downside.... I had to step over a body bag to get to my seat! I would try and explain this....but it's just too much fun to let this speak for itself and say 'only in Mongolia'..... :)

I went to visit my host family the other day....it was fantastic.... The car ride to Darkhan is beautiful...windows down...cool breeze...awesome... Got a free ride to Dulaahkhan, visited (almost) all the host families, met the new trainees, and went back to UB the same day.

Heading out west soon and I am ridiculously excited for my road trip back to UB!

Za!

So, I've been in Mongolia for one year.

Wow.

There are so many words and thoughts....but alas....I have found that other people can always express my own thoughts and feelings better than I can... :)

Here's a quote from a random peace corps volunteer that sums up what I want to say about my time here thus far....

"Joining the Peace Corps was the single most complicated thing I’ve done in my life, to date. Wonderful, horrible, insightful, empty, hilarious, ridiculous, sad, trying, rewarding, delicious, infuriating, exasperating, encouraging, normal, boring, bizarre, one in a million, experience." ~RPCVB13

I love it

This next year is going to be awesome! Quite possibly awesomer than last year...only because I can now say funny things in Mongolian... :)

Happy birthday to all my friends back home who have summer birthdays!!

So, I totally forgot to mention that Keri, the old volunteer from my site, took her mongol hubby and left for America in early June! I'm really happy for her, but I lost a good friend! It was awesome having someone to talk to about my soum who actually knew the people and places I was talking about. I'm going to miss her a lot.

End of June!

My parents came! We were in UB for a couple days and then they braved the dreaded bus to come visit my soum! They are troopers! My hasha family pulled out all the stops for them....built them a ger, took them to a horse race, then to an old historical site of my soum, and then....khorkhog....which is meat that has been cooked by hot rocks. Showed them the sites of my soum and my favorite places to walk to....so now they know what the heck I'm talking about when I call home...

July and August are going to be really really awesome....lot's of travelling will be done.... :)

As requested by numerous friends and family, I have posted more landscape pictures in my photo gallery....more will come....

Gotta go!

Last part of May

So, the last part of May I got to travel to UB on Peace Corps' dime for my medical check-up. Woot! I'm still healthy! Went to Darkhan to see friends, then came back to UB to see the new volunteers arrive! It was nice not to have so many things to do and people to see. The best things I did in UB were 1) Buying a pint of pistachio ice cream and watching a random traveler's favorite movie. 2) Sitting on the balcony of the guesthouse and people watching. 3) Getting my wallet stolen. There's nothing like a minor tragedy to humble you and keep your life in perspective. :)

June!

The new volunteers came! Went back to site. I found out my cat is pregnant! Then like a week later....she had five kittens! Went to the aimag center to hang with my boys...I'm really going to miss Matt..... hardcore.... Craig's staying in Mongolia, so I'll still get to see him! I rode a camel and another horse! It's so weird. I rode more horses in the states than I have in Mongolia....go figure.... My parents are coming! Woot! They're here for a week!

Random things totally unrelated to Peace Corps....

I have recently discovered that Amanda Palmer.... lead singer of the Dresden Dolls... is currently working on a solo album with Ben Folds.... When I found this out....I literally freaked out and started dancing around the Peace Corps office....This is going to be an awesome record.... (Amanda Palmer and Ben Folds are my musical soulmates...that's why I'm really excited)

Also! The Dresden Dolls are finally putting out another DVD! It comes out July 10 and if anyone sends me it....I will marry them....I mean....if you're a dude....if you're a girl....I will be your hetero-life mate.....like Jay and Silent Bob....except...we'd be chicks....

There's so much more I want to say and write about....but I gotta go!

So since my last post about May, two very exciting things happened....

1. Jahvlan...a very famous pop singer in Mongolia....came to my aimag center to do a concert! Woot! My Nyamaa, Naraa, Craig, and myself all went to the concert. It was amazing! He sounded just like he does on his cd! Awesome. I took some good pictures...check them out...

2. My hasha brother had his haircutting ceremony! So they shaved his head and boy....he was not a happy camper! See the pictures! The celebration lasted all day and it was so much fun....my family is awesome.

I did massive amounts of picture updates for March, April, and May....check them out!

Once again, Congrats to all the people graduating! Now join Peace Corps! :)

March

I seriously take the beauty of my site for granted. Everytime I leave my site to go to UB and come back...I'm always like 'I can't believe I live here'. This is nuts. There's more to it than that...but I'm really inarticulate. There are so many things I want to say....like profound philosophical things about humanity, the lightness of being, and all that crap but everytime I try to express it (via spoken words or written) it always comes out like... 'I like ponies'. Oh well. C'est la vie! :)

At the end of March I went to Khentii for the 2nd annual pig roast! I had such a blast! There were like 20 volunteers there...pretty sweet. See the pics!

April

After the pig roast, the Sukhbataar crew went back to the aimag and judged the English Olympics. Man. The Mongolians take the olympics really really seriously. Crazy. Went back to site....the weather has been fantastic! I haven't made a fire in quite a while. :) Kerri, the old volunteer from my site came to visit and I totally had a blast with her. She's trying to play matchmaker for me....maybe a herdsman is in my future? :) I found out that my hasha family's computer has Grand Theft Auto on it. Oh my god. Awesome. My hasha dog had puppies! She had 4 puppies....3 white and 1 black. My brothers let me have the black one because they know black is my favorite color... I named him Bob. :)

May

Beautiful weather still. I rode my first horse on May 3rd! Woot! I was walking with my counterpart and I saw a horse and I told her I wanted to ride one. So she asked who's horse it was and if I could ride it. The guy said yes and voila! It was awesome. My school is letting me keep the extra keyboard in my ger, so now I'm learning to play! I want to rock out and learn some Ben Folds songs. :) Been taking a lot of walks lately....my soum is beautiful.

Parties!

Za, so whether its birthday parties, a new house ceremony, a hair cutting ceremony, or a wedding....most Mongolian parties are the same. You go to the persons house. There's usually a raw sheep in the center of the table. The give you potato salad, ham, pickles, candy, and juice. The serve you a meal (in my experience it's always been soup). They pass around vodka and sing....a lot....there's a lot of singing. At the end, they usually give you a candy bar. Awesome. Lot's and lot's of fun.

Za! What else do you want to know?

P.S-- Congrats to all my friends who are graduating!!! Woohoo!!!!

So March is the month in which I celebrate 9 months of living in Mongolia! Woot!

The end of Feb. went by pretty quickly...I had to get a lot of stuff done before coming to UB for M17's PDM seminar. PDM stands for Project Design and Management.

PDM was shorter than the in-service training we had in December so not as much time to chill, but it's still nice to hang out with my training site peeps again.

I have no idea what else to write.....you guys tell me! Give me a topic you would like me to write about and I totally will. Everyone post a comment with your suggestion. It'll be awesome. I promise.

So I've been on vacation since Feb. 9th and this is what I've done!

Went to UB, hung out, then went to the Amarbayasgalant Khiid monastary with my training site friends and other peeps who live close/in Darkhan.

Went sledding....awesome.

Visited the monastary.....awesome.

Ate awesome food cooked by cool people....awesome.

Then my friends and I traveled back to our old stomping grounds to visit our host families for Tsagaan Sar.

Lot's of buuz were eaten.

Lot's of vodka was drunk.

Lot's of presents were given.

Lot's of fun was had.

Train ride back to UB on a hard seat? Not so much fun. But I slept most of the way....so it wasn't too bad.

Za.

Life is good.

I've updated a ton of pictures in the December, January, and February sections of my photo gallery. Lot's of hilarity.

Za.

That's it!

P.S

Thanks to the people who gave me love for my birthday!

So! According to the M16s, the worst part of the winter is over! Woot! It really wasn't that bad! I was so stressed out for nothing!

January

New year's was fun. Lot's of dances and parties. I got my waltz on. It was tough not having movies (my dvd player broke!) but my buddies kept me occupied. The country director was doing site visits and came to my soum in the middle of the month. He brought cheese! Awesome! I had a poetry competition for my students. Lot's of poems about their families, very cute. End of the month dragged on

Feb

Oh goodness. Had my mongol birthday party on the 6th because a bunch of my friends are going to China. Cool. They gave me an awesome shirt! Woot! My actual birthday was....interesting.... In the morning, I dropped my phone in the outhouse....ugg. That's all I have to say! Lot's of american disinfecting wipes were lost during the cleaning process! All of the cars in my soum broke down....so I had to take the bus. The bus made a half-hour stop at a disinfecting place where I had to wash my hands and then have something sprayed in my mouth. Crazy. There's sheep pox in our aimag...so you can't be too careful! :) My boys in the aimag really stepped it up and made tacos! Totally awesome. Chilled. Watch Chappelle show. Pretty mellow. Pretty awesome. Man, I miss comedy central. And live music. But I live in Mongolia! So it's a fair trade off. :)

Due to circumstances beyond my control....my internet is leaving me until spring!

Ugg. That's all I have to say about that.

But I'll be checking my e-mail at the beginning of Feb. so if you need anything just give me a holla!

I can't believe I just said 'holla'.

Mongolia's changed me my friends.

FYI

Mongolians believe the winter can be characterized as the 9 9's.

They think the winter is 81 days long, so 9 sets of 9 days.

Each week stands for something.

1st 9 days--- They believe that 'airag' the vodka made from milk.... will freeze.

2nd 9 days-- They believe that the vodka from 'airag' will freeze. (I don't get it either).

3rd 9 days-- They believe that a 3 year old bull's horns will freeze.

4th 9 days-- They believe that a 4 year old bull's horns will freeze.

5th 9 days-- They believe that rice that is left out will not freeze.

6th 9 days-- They believe that the ground will start to melt.

7th 9 days--They believe that the snow will melt and the head of the mountain will be brown.

8th 9 days-- They believe that the snow will melt and it will be really slushy and make a lot of noise.

9th 9 days-- They believe that it will be warm!!

We are currently in the 4th 9....the coldest of the winter! It's not that bad! It's doable. Maybe it's just where I live. Everyone else I talk to says they're freakin' cold.

Za!

Alright! Here’s a long entry describing my misadventures!

November

So I stared off the month of November with a Trafficking in Persons/AIDS/Life Skills seminar. I brought the social worker from my school. I got really into TIP and I hope I can do a secondary project involving it somehow. With so many volunteers in one place….it was inevitable that a party would follow. We had an awesome Halloween party….lot’s of good costumes….See my photo gallery for proof! When I got back from the seminar…I found that my water had frozen for the first time. Holy crap….I was scared. November was also the month in which we had our first school vacation! It was totally awesome, I just hung out and watched tons of movies. November was also what I refer to now as my ‘social’ month. I visited tons of people and pinched tons of buuz. I still suck at pinching them; at least the Mongolians get a good laugh at that. J One buuz making time in particular holds a special place in my memory. I was at a primary teacher’s ger and we had just finished pinching buuz and were waiting for them to finish steaming. I’m sitting with my back to the bed because there was no room on the bed. I suddenly hear a strange suctioning sound. Worrying I might fall into a black hole; I turn around to see where the noise is coming from. I turn around to find the primary teacher using a breast pump right above my right shoulder. I give her my ‘I am so uncomfortable right now’ smile and she just laughs. Mongolians don’t think nudity or breast pumping is a big deal, they do it in front of company all the time. Hey, who am I to judge? People would argue that Americans are freakin’ crazy when it comes to things like that. Anywho, I went to UB for Thanksgiving which was so awesome. I took the longest shower ever at my friend Jeff’s apartment. I left like a ‘hudo’ scum ring around his tub. Awesome. Don’t worry….I cleaned it up! At the Thanksgiving dinner, there were 4 (count em’) 4 turkeys! I was so thrilled that I pushed my way past a distinguished looking man to get a piece. I later found out that he is the new American ambassador to Mongolia. Awesome. I can’t wait to formally meet him…that’s going to go really well. Hello Ambassador, I believe we already met….I believe I knocked you over to get to the turkey. What can I say? You were in the way! I came back and was immediately invited to a friend of a friend’s birthday party. We ate at her house and then went to the bar. And by bar…I mean a room with alcohol in it. I came back slightly tipsy and (since it’s freakin’ cold!) I lit a fire. While sitting in front of my fire, my cat came over wanting food and her tail went inside of my stove and caught on fire. I quickly put her out, but the damage was done. Her poor tail was singed and my ger smelled like burnt hair for a day. Gross.

December

Early December was a blur, except that on Dec. 5th I had a little party to celebrate my being in Mongolia for 6 months! I made hosher with my friends and had a good time. On Dec. 14th, I went into UB for IST! I came so quickly! The ride in sucked worse than usual, because there was raw meat in bags all up and down the aisles of the bus. Pieces of bone sticking out everywhere. Gross. But IST was awesome. Hot showers. Heaven. Lot’s of sessions, a dance, a talent show, lot’s of good stuff. Check out the photo gallery. Christmas! There was a PC party, which was a lot of fun. There was a band and a fun gift exchange. Got some good videos that night which I’m trying to post. On Christmas day, I didn’t do anything special. I tried to go to church…but it turned out there was no service on Christmas! What the heck!? Went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch….nothing says Christmas like burritos! Went to Jeff’s apartment and Elizabeth made some killer sugar cookies…. Then we went to a club….strange I know….but it really didn’t feel like Christmas. All in all….it was a good day. Went back to site. Boy, in some ways that was tougher than going to site in August. I got to hang out with my buddies for so long! Then I was ripped away from them! Oh the agony! J I was in a slump for a couple of days, but then the New Year’s festivities got me up and out of the ger. I went to 3 town dances in ³ days! I waltzed like crazy! 3 dudes asked me to dance and they never ask me to dance! Perhaps it was all the liquid courage being passed around.

January

It’s cold! But not as bad as I thought it would be! Then again, it’s still the beginning of January!

My latest language blunder. A man came into the internet center and saw me sitting at a computer. He introduced himself and I did the same. Then I thought he asked me if I missed my parents. To which I responded ‘sometimes’. Everyone in the room started cracking up. My counterpart was there and I was like…why is everyone laughing? She said that he didn’t ask me if I missed my parents…he asked if my parents were Korean. Awesome.