So it looks like I will be a city volunteer. I’m not sure how to feel as I write that.  Today after technical training, they asked anyone willing possibly to serve in UB to stay and talk with the training manager.  Half of us stayed and were informed that there is ONE post in UB, working [...]

Too much to do… too tired… turned out the light only to remember I have to write… …Big day today.  Realized why Gunjidmaa-duu was saying (well, pantomiming) the other day that I should cut my fingernails when I found myself picking up semi-dried dung cakes with bare hands.  Then I milked my first cow (my host [...]

I promised I’d write every day, so here it is – Too much homework!  Too tired! Too much of a headache (and armaches) from shots! Going to sleep now!

…And then there were six.  One of our group decided to go home today.  I didn’t really see it coming, though by late morning we knew there was something going on with her; just had no idea it was that serious.  She said everything was fine, nothing had gone wrong, it just didn’t feel right [...]

Other things I’d like, if possible, to be included in the care package my mom is sending: Travel Febreze, memory foam mattress (ha! but Alice was smart enough to bring one with her), Camelbak water bottle, NYU sweatshirt. I know there have been several other things that’ve popped into my head since I talked to her, [...]

Just got back from a lovely afternoon at Alice’s with Jocelyn, Julie and Ashlee.  Haven’t seen Zach at all this weekend, but he knows where I live so I assume that means he’s okay by himself up there on the hill… We went there to study but mostly ended up hanging out and chatting; I hope [...]

I realized I hadn’t asked her to send sweaters as well, so I called back and said “Don’t make me cry like that!”  Asked for the sweaters and said maybe I’d call every day.  While Jocelyn’s concept definitely has merit, I think for me it might be more important to feel that my mom and [...]

Just called my mom.  Jocelyn might be right, it may be better not to call at all — I should have known I would cry!  I guess I did know, hence my waiting and wanting privacy.  I was fine until the card started to run out and I told her I love her, then the [...]

I’m learning so much today!  Who knew that there could be circumstances under which, at thirty-two years old, I could be so very pround to have bathed myself? I was, incidentally, filthy — the amount of dust and dirt in the tumpun from my hair alone was a bit shocking. [...]

Good lesson learned just now.  Just as I was settling in to write that the anxiety has lifted and I feel more comfortable, I knocked my flashlight off of the shelf and couldn’t find it.  I was not too panicked, but was reminded to be careful — had I lost that flashlight I would have [...]

Long day again — and it’s Saturday!  Each day seems to be a roller coaster, but I’ll get into that later (if I don’t fall asleep first). Even though I was asleep by 8:30 last night, 7:45 AM felt too early for a knock on my door, Gunjidmaa asking if I wanted a fire.  It was [...]

Had I written yet today?  No, dammit.  I wanted to be able to get away with not writing right now, but no such luck. I’m so tired; not exactly sleepy but made almost so by intensity of emotion, like the exhaustion after a good cry.  Except I haven’t had a good cry.  Maybe that is what [...]

I’m in my ger within my host family xashaa, lying in/under my -20 degree sleeping, bag, listening to dogs barking and cows lowing.  Crazy!  Exactly one week ago, to the minute, I was about to check out of a hotel in Los Angeles, California.  Now I’ve moved into a Mongolian ger in which I’ll live [...]

Our last night in Zuunmod.  We had a dance in the room of the school where we’ve had all of our full group classes, and it was surprisingly fun.  I knew almost none of the music, though (I’m old!), and was a wallflower for much of it.  While that was a bit awkward, I did [...]

Yesterday the Healthies voted me our group’s “j’juur,” a sort of on-duty person or group leader.  I was going to volunteer but didn’t even get the chance; several people just started calling out my name.  It’s not a huge deal but I was honored.  I guess it just means being the contact person between PC [...]

Managed to sleep half an hour later today, after going to bed at the same time, 10 PM.  Perhaps by the time we leave on Thursday I’ll have worked up to a full night’s sleep (though I doubt it, since others don’t generally need the nine hours I do and it’s their activities that wake [...]

Breakfast yesterday was toast with butter (margarine?) and jelly, scrambled eggs, boiled potatoes and carrots.  They even had coffee!  Instant packets which somehow reminded me of what I drank at home in Paris. Lunch was at a restaurant (don’t know the name because I can’t read yet) and was apparently Russian.  Also apparently expensive; it was [...]

Stuff I’d like to pick up (if they have it and when I have the chance): -baby wipes -hand sanitizer -soap with travel container

Some notes: From my window I see and hear cows (this is noteworthy because I’m in a high school dorm in a major city).  Not very many cows, but cows nonetheless. While I didn’t ferret out traditional Korean food in the Seoul airport (sorry, Nick!), I did get to eat bibimbap (my favorite!) on the plane. There are [...]

I’m looking out the window and seeing Mongolia for the first time.  There’s an aspen tree outside whose leaves are fluttering in the wind.  In addition to echoes of voices and footsteps and doors creaking open and closed, I can hear birds chirping.  My first glimpse of the Mongolian sky!  Roommates Alice, Jocelyn, Julie, Christina [...]

The wheels of the plane left the ground at 12:52:14 PM today.  I promised myself (and friends) that I would write every day, so I don’t want to miss the first one – –but, I’m not quite ready to write yet.  I’m on a deliciously comfortable Korean Air flight bound for Seoul, losing myself in American [...]