My answers were mostly about Mongolia, so I'll include them on this site.1) Where did you begin 2007?In Mongolia. With my neighbors at Nyamtseveen's brother's apartment, drinking milk and champagne and watching the Mongolian equivalent of the NYC bash, with lots of music videos. I brought noise makers, which the kids loved, and we watched the town fireworks from the window. Then we all went to

Hair-cutting ceremonyOriginally uploaded by jemacole2 One great tradition they have in Mongolia is the hair-cutting ceremony. I may have mentioned it earlier on this blog. I was able to go to a handful of these celebrations, and I loved them. Mongolian children don't cut their hair until the lamas tell the families which day is best. Boy's usually get their hair cut at the age of 3, and girls

Everyone likes stories, and I have lots. Not all are interesting to read, but they'll be fun for me to remember. So while I have lots of time on my hands, I'm going to recount some of the memories I have from Mongolia. I'm also trying to sort through my pictures, so I'll post them for my and your enjoyment. Most of you have facebook and/or myspace pages, so I'm not going to bother updating you on

My poor neglected blog. Anyone reading this has nearly missed all of my second year of service. Unfortunate, because this has definitely been the easier and more rewarding of the two. Now the fourth quarter of school is beginning. For me, this means a lot more time, as the fourth quarter has no Olympics, no education center evaluations, and therefore really not a lot of work going on besides

So what is the worst part about teaching in Mongolia? Cheating. Cheating, of course, is a problem everywhere. Students will always cheat if they can get away with it. So is the strife of a teacher, right? But it's not the student cheating that's difficult to deal with. It's the teachers. Unfortunately in my town (I'm trying not to overgeneralize) "cheaters never prosper" is merely a theory that

Wow, has it been this long since we last spoke? And I don't even have a good excuse. Can I just say I was busy? Will you believe me? Would you forgive me? I won't make any more promises about writing on this blog. After each entry, just assume that I'll probably never write again. Then any additions will be a welcome surprise. But congratulations to me and the others in my group. We've survived a

Stay tuned for these exciting posts about my life, struggles, and accomplishments.- Volleyball tournaments- Christmas- New Year's- Mongolia's biggest national holiday- 40 inches of snow- Getting married in Mongolia - Surviving bird flu and saving the world with my antibodies(I know, you're starting to doubt the truth in my words. But I promise, this time soon means soon. ;-)

WeatherVery cold. When I wake up in the morning, most of my water is frozen, as well as any slobber that may have fallen onto my pillow. I spend a couple minutes urging myself out of bed and make fire as fast as my frozen hands can. Then I jump back in bed and wait for my ger to heat up a bit.What am I eating? Well, I’ll admit, I’ve become a bit lazy. It was fun for awhile attempting to make some

Happy Turkey day was celebrated with some excellent burritos made by my sitemate David, brownies I brought back from UB, followed by some karaoke. That’s right, I said karaoke. In my town, there is a karaoke bar called Casablanca. T-day was my second visit. But quite far from my last. And there is another “Karaoke Revolution” fan here in town. My friend Jess and I may soon become regulars. What

To fly from my site to the capital, it takes two hours by plane and about $200. By car, it takes an estimated 30 hours. So unlike other M-16 volunteers, most of whom live less than 5 hours away, my sitemates and I rarely make it to the big city. We have to make due with hearing about everyone else’s visits or thinking up medical reasons why PC should fly us in. Two of my sitemates, however, are

The first quarter of classes has come to an end. Three months of feeling completely lost and frustrated. Searching for some hint of a niche I could fill. Trying to build relationships and wishing it was as easy as building my fires. At least for now, i feel like I may have some sort of direction. I sat down with each teacher to ask specifically what they hope I can help them with. Part of my

My first great accomplishment: helping organize my school’s first student play. It was no easy feat. But with a grand total of 5 practices, 20 students performed a Halloween play in English and put together a decent little set. The finished product in no way resembled the grand productions most American high schools put on. But for these students, it was a great creative effort. I’ll admit, I

I guess I can mark international correspondent off my list of possible careers. Two months without reporting probably wouldn’t go over well. I’m alive and well. I think I successfully navigated through the hardest part of Peace Corps life (with a possible exception of the first Christmas). Now life here is becoming just that ... life. Building my fires, hauling in my water, schedules changing

Culture shock is a crazy thing. It’s one of those unexplainable phenomenons that happens completely in your mind. And maybe for this reason, it’s rarely taken for more than one of many catch-phrases travelers love to throw out.But this time, I definitely caught, came down with, developed ... experienced the shock.How to explain it? For women, I can simply tell you to think of the worst week of

... I'm back. It's been busy, so while I do finally have Internet close by, I have only managed to make it here 5 times since I've been here. But I'll be making a point to schedule a little Internet and up-date time.For now, though, I am only going to attempt to post my address. Thank you, Sharyn, for making a TIFF. Hopefully it will show up in my profile. And, I think, it should be at the top of

So I’ve been at site for two weeks now and I haven’t posted anything to this site, nor have I taken many pictures here. I think I’ve only taken two since moving to this new town. The reason, I think, is that the end of summer and training felt like the end of a vacation. Now, work and responsibility begin. And what fun is that to write and read about? But, yes, I know, that’s where the good stuff

I’m officially a Peace Corps volunteer. Today was our swearing-in ceremony, attended by the U.S. ambassador to Mongolia as well as the Mongolian president. We got word he was coming a couple days ago. It was quite an honor, but also a little nerve-wracking… since many of us were performing Mongolian songs and dances. But it turned out to be a beautiful ceremony. And my group’s dance was

Hello, all. Sorry it’s taken so long to post. The days went from super long and slow to super busy. I have four hours of Mongolian language study, walk home and eat lunch, then walk back to school to teach an hour of English. After my classes, I go to Mongolian dancing classes. Our group has decided to learn a dance for our swearing-in on Aug. 20. By the way, the word for "dancing" in Mongolian

Training is flying by. We only have a month left. Tomorrow begins practice teaching. I’ll teach my first lesson to 15 or so students from my town. It’s their summer vacation, so it’s a voluntary class. But in my tiny town there were more than 60 students who registered. And for the following two days, mothers and fathers randomly came into our classroom (while we were learning Mongolian) and

One month left of training. Then … prepared or not … I’ll be on my way to a village to teach some English and help develop the community. The days are flying by. Tomorrow I begin practice teaching. I’ll have 15 students, under the age of 15, who will be coming to my class during their summer vacation to learn English. More than 60 students signed up for mine and my sitemates’ classes. And even

This past weekend was a holiday here in Mongolia. The big summer event is Naadam, which is celebrated with the three manly sports -- archery, horse racing, and wrestling. The big celebration is in UB, but it’s celebrated all over the country on different days and in different ways. My town’s celebration isn’t until October, which I believe is because my town is full of farmers. During the summer

Here is a picture of the ger on wheels that I stayed in my first night in Mongolia. If you can see this picture then I've figured out half of the picture-posting business. Hopefully next weekend I'll put more on the site and set up an album you can link to.

Thank you, everyone, for the birthday wishes. They were much appreciated. My first birthday in Mongolia was a good one that extended over four days. I’ll give you a quick recap. On July 1, I was in UB with about 20 other volunteers, touring the capital. On this day we went to the PC office, and they passed out letters. I had three letters! A good day indeed. This was also the last night we were

Happy Fourth of July!!! And birthday to me! (Or happy pur-pur, as my Mongolian sister pronounces it).We've spent the past few days touring the capital, Ulaanbaatar. I ate at a Mexican restaurant, saw last year's Wimbledon on my dorm-room television, ate pizza and a cheeseburger and got a chance to dance a little in the clubs. It's been fun. We also met some important people and were given a lot