I am so sorry this is so late but it has been crazy here! Mid-Center days were a blast! It was great seeing everyone, but I am very happy to get back to teaching. We went over a lot of safety and security information, which was helpful, but I am glad to be back in the real world and away from our peace corps bubble.

Naadam was amazing! My family had their own ger where we sold hoosher, a fried meat hot pocket type food, and soda. And man did they make bank! On the second day they even let me inside to help a bit when it was really busy! Naadam flew by too. We were able to see the ending of the horse races, wrestling, and archery. Not going to lie though it was a bit anticlimactic. Don’t get me wrong it was a blast, but I should have known that it would have been more Mongolian time zone than the fair-like atmosphere I was expecting. We even had a concert in the square where I sang my heart out without knowing any of the words. It was interesting to see the aftermath of Naadam as well. Even though the holiday technically ended on Friday stores were closed for most of the next week. Naadam ended with a bang too! We went to a concert in the middle of the town square where I danced and sang with Khatnaa, making up the words as I went along of course. We even created a dance circle at the end of it made up of a mixture of Mongolians and Americans.

Over the weekend we decided to go on an adventurous hike with CYD as well as TEFL. It turned out to be less adventure and more swimming, but it was a blast. We found the perfect tanning spot, but two Mongolian government workers told us we could not be up there. At first we thought we were in trouble because they were leading us somewhere unknown, but it turned out they were taking us to an epic swimming spot! I even jumped in with them! They were very surprised that we could all swim too, which was amusing. The water was skeptical but extremely refreshing. After a full day of tanning, swimming, and socializing I was happy to be home with my family. Sunday turned into one of those stay at home and never get out of bed except to pee days. I was a little down in the dumps just because the past couple of days had been so eventful. I have noticed too that I get homesick whenever I watch American movies, so I am consciously trying to listen to music as an alternative.

Last week went crazy fast as well. We began team teaching and not going to lie it turned out to be a lot more difficult than I imagined. For micro-teaching I had the more advanced students and it was fun, easy, and successful. This time around I have the lowest level students, ages 8-11. They are adorable and eager, but I never imagined it would be this hard to teach young students. I have been having trouble thinking of new and creative activities that they would understand how to do. The first week we focused on family. I found that the most successful lessons were the ones centered around vocabulary, which is great because it is the best to teach in my opinion because there are so many different things you can do. Overall it went fairly well and one of my students even gave me a lollipop! Friday came just in time. We even learned the Mongolian waltz, and I cannot wait to actually use it when I go to site.

It seems as though it is just a waiting game now for our site placement. Everything we are working on goes toward what we will be doing for the next two years, but the ironic part is that we have no idea what our circumstances will be. Everyday I get more and more excited, and more and more anxious. It is strange to know your future but nothing about what it will entail.

This weekend flew by as well. Everyday keeps going faster and faster. But I will never get tired of the beauty of this country. On Saturday I was able to go across the river with my sister and mom to visit my aunts ger. It was amazing. I don’t think I have seen anything so open and beautiful. There is simply no other way to explain it. Vastness is not the right word, but it is the first one that comes to mind. My sister and I wander the grounds and she even goes swimming for a bit. After we head back so I have enough time to shower before my interview with Darlene, the country director. The interview goes great! She is so relaxed and it was like I was speaking to a friend. This alone just brightens my day. Darlene is the type of person who could inspire anyone with two sentences. She is the type of person I aspire to be. If I could have just one quality of Darlene I would be happy. She has such a good outlook, a mix of positivity with realism and so much more.

Sunday was rough because my family’s grandfather passed away. It was hard to understand the way they deal with loss here, especially because I do not have the language to communicate that kind of sympathy yet. I ended up going into town for most of the day just to not be a burden on their family in such a difficult time. This definitely made me think of my grandfather and thankful that he is with my everyday in spirit. I know that I am blessed to have had such an influential grandfather and I hope that he is looking down on me with joy and pride. I miss him everyday, but know that he is smiling and waiting for me with a big bowl of ice cream he used to sneak me as a child. Love you Pop-pop.

The next couple of days have been interesting. Teaching has still been rough, harder actually because I have been more ambitious than usual. The ironic thing is that my lesson plans will probably be great for site, but are just too complex for my current younger students. A ger and tent popped up in my grandparents haasha, or yard, and my whole family is there cooking, crying, and reminiscing. Many people come and go throughout the day paying their respects to my grandmother and eating. I have definitely noticed that most events here revolve around food, and brings people together like nothing I have ever seen. I have tried to be as helpful as possible, but there is only so much I can do. It is amazing how strong my host mom is. She still goes about all of her daily activities as well as cooking for hundreds of people.

But the adventure continues on. I am now called RoJo in class, even my teachers have started to call me that too. I guess I will never outgrow nicknames, even in Mongolia. Life is good and beautiful and precious. I know I sound corny but when I am living simply, I tend to think simply as well. I could not be happier with my choices and my place in life. I wish you all the same. 

 

beautiful view from my haasha

 

Hike Dancing Adventures

 My city 

 

My hike dancing partner in crime

 

Tanning is a legitimate sport here

 Still can't get over this view

 

Carnivals Somewhat Exist here

 Naadam

 

Opening Ceremony

 My sister and I

 

My friends :)

 

Wrestling 

 

More dance hiking

 

I can row a boat. Be Jealous

 FROG!

 My sister, Khatnaa

 

Dead dog we found on our hike

If last week was my best week, this must have been my worst or at least in the eyes of a foreigner. To put things into perspective, what may be depicted is not necessarily bad events, but rather bad timing. Don’t get me wrong, because for me a bad week here is still as good as a great week in the states.

It all started when I watched Goodfellas for the first time on my hard-drive. I got to the end, but unfortunately I had not scanned the whole movie and only had half of it, which was really too bad because I was starting to really get into it, you know booty on the edge of your chair and all. I should have seen this as a bad omen.

I wake up on Thursday completely fine, except for my weird muppet dream where we all sing about felt… Anyway, I go to school, play jeopardy, which I am the best at of course (thanks G-Ma! If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t know the rules!), and even plan our teaching strategy lesson with Jesse. The downfall started right before dinner. *If you are prone to queasiness do not read any further* The past couple of days I had been strangely hungry, and I mean thinking about food all the time, even when eating. But I began to have the gurgles (for those of you who do not know my vocabulary the gurgles are when your stomach makes noises for no apparent reason and you sit there awkwardly and super self-conscious about it). I tried to eat dinner, what was rice and meat mixed together, but after two bites I couldn’t. Then it hit me at around 10:30 pm. I was super nauseous and thought maybe if I puke once I will feel better, which I actually did! But then I puked again, and again, and again. This process of me puking in my tumpin (the bucket in which I wash my clothes and my hair/body in) and then dumping it out in the outhouse continued for another 2 hours. My host mom would come in and push on my back to get it all out. It was the sweetest thing and I would have cried if not for my excessive vomiting. By round 5 I thought I should call my emergency medical number. Linnea was super nice and supportive. She told me to try and get as much fluid in me as possible and rest and to call me in the morning. Well I took her advice, but to no avail did the storm in my body dwindle. Having multiple aunts and a doctor in the family I wrote down the time of each episode and what it entailed. Throughout the night I was dry heaving due to the fact that there was nothing left inside of me almost every hour on the dot. Finally at 7:30 am I called Linnea back and told her my situation. She said not to worry and was on her way. By 9:45 she was in my room taking my temperature, pulse, and heart-rate. She said I was extremely dehydrated, which I already knew, and was surprised I wasn’t dizzy at all, but I have tuff skin or at least like to think I do. She pulled down the picture hanging right above my bed and hung up the IV right there in my room! Trying to find a vein was tricky because she said they were all flat, whatever that means. But she finally found one, and it must have been a good one because there was blood everywhere. She even gave me chemo nausea medication through my IV as well. Not going to lie, I kind of felt like a badass for not fainting when I got pricked like the last time.

After I had my fluids I felt 110% better. I slept most of the day and my host sister even went out and got me apple juice! I watched a few episodes of friends that I started from the beginning, courtesy of Christie! My family thought it was the strangest thing that I wasn’t eating but you wouldn’t have either after an illness like that. The host family coordinator even stopped by to check to see if I was ok! Sarah is the sweetest and has basically the same output on this job as I do. It wasn’t until later that I found out she came to everyone’s house, but it doesn’t make it any less special that she came to chat.

The next day my group was able to make Hoosher, a traditional Naadam food, with our language teachers. It was really fun being in a different setting than all of our classes. We even got to play with Emily’s puppy! Afterwards we all went down to the river, or more like a swamp, for Melissa’s birthday! All of our host siblings came and it was really fun. The summary was a group of Americans watching William’s host brother take off his pants to go fishing and then proceed to take off his shirt and dive on in, collecting little swamp fish along the way.

Sunday we ventured back to School 4, a 40 minute walk from our school, to get our 3^rd and final rabies shot! I don’t know about you but I never thought I would be this happy to have all 3 rabies shots. This day had to be put in the books because I was able to wash, rinse, and hang all of my clothes within an hour and a half! I had cut my time in half! I then conquered my tumpin yet again, after thoroughly cleaning it, to take my weekly bath/shower/washcloth rinse.

After dinner Khatnaa and I ventured over to my cousins house, or my moms sisters sons house as they would say in Mongolia, to deliver some yogurt (Tarak). I met her cousin, who is one of the twins, and his brother’s wife and 2 month old baby who was the cutest little baby I have ever seen! We spent some time there, chitchatted and whatnot, but when we left he told Khatnaa that I was a cutie American and I don’t know why but I could not stop blushing. Maybe it is due to the lack of romantic or sexual connotations here but I felt like that came out of left field and caught me way off guard.

Anyway the past two days have been somewhat of a blur getting ready to go back to Darkhan for the week and whatnot. We have mid-center days for medical and safety training yet again but get to see all my friends from before! We are down to 89 volunteers with 2 people have gone back to the states already. Can’t wait to tell you all about our mini reunion next week!

 The gang at the "swamp"

 Melissa the B-Day girl!

 "Fishing"

 Senior Pic

I have come to the realization that I will burn my tongue at least once a day. I have also succumbed to the fact that I will eat fried eggs everyday, if not twice a day. These are just some of the little things that make me feel like I am starting to get a routine. I get up around 8, get ready for school, eat my breakfast of fried eggs and cucumbers, which my host family must believe is the only breakfast food and I am loving it, and head off to school. I meet Christie on the way to walk the last part, which has been a real comfort and delight to my mornings. We begin the day with language class, the first 3^rd mainly consisting of conversation. Our class is then split up into groups, mine of course the smallest which I strategically picked, and learn vocabulary and grammar. So far we have gone through the topics of greetings, family, and food. Many of you may think that is nothing, but trust me that is no small feat! We have language for 4 hours, 5 days a week and I have learned more Mongolian in the 2 weeks I have been here than the 4 years of Spanish in high school.

I then venture the dusty road home for lunch, and I mean my shoes are full of dirt and my feet are consistently caked with sand dusty. Another realization: I will never be clean, and I am embracing it. Sometimes I even forget to put on deodorant and I don’t panic like I used to in the states because lets face it, foreigners are the only ones who use it here anyway. I go home for some scolding hot milk tea in the 70-80 degree weather usually accompanied by some even hotter soup, which varies in type. It is an ongoing joke with my other site-mates what kind of soup we will have at lunch everyday. It’s the little things that count.

After we venture back to school to teach. Now this is the best part of my day. I get to see their little faces light up when I teach. So far we have been using a bunch of games and it is honestly fun to do! Granted we haven’t gotten to the hard elements of teaching yet but we are only a third of the way into training. My host sister is in my class and everyday she asks what we will learn today. They are very eager to learn and on top of that they love competitions and get very into games and whatnot.

When we finally finish up I usually run some errands with friends or study, head back home, eat dinner, do my homework, play go fish or crazy 8’s, and head off to bed. Another realization is that I will play Go Fish, Crazy 8’s, or the matching game for at least 1 hour every night.

Of course every routine is not concrete. Many of my site-mates have caught a virus or fever, which is something we cannot avoid (although I have been as healthy as can be since arriving, knock on wood!). Today I even got news that one of our fellow volunteers has decided to go back to the states, or early termination as they call it here. I don’t know if it is just me, but I have worked so hard to get here and to at least try to make a difference I couldn’t see myself giving up so soon. I understand if it isn’t for you and I do think it admirable to admit to yourself as well as others that this isn’t the right fit before it is too late. Just to make everything clear, I am in it for the long haul baby! BO and all I love everything about my experience and more.

            This past week was the third weekend with our host family and it definitely did not follow my normal routine. I was originally planning to go on a long adventurous hike with my other site-mates to find the perfect tanning spot, which they did by the way, but my host family had other plans. We ventured up to what I believe to be a national park. There were monuments everywhere! Definitely different from what we would think of as a monument, but a sight to see never the less. We followed the trail filled with other families and friends to a spot where we could picnic. It was adorable and beautiful and astounding all at the same time. To be in a beautiful place with magnificent people just fills your heart and makes your all warm inside. Come to think of it, I had a similar feeling as to when I saw the Grand Canyon with my mom. There is no other feeling than being happy with people you know care.

            After about an hour or so of wandering and taking pictures like no tomorrow, most of which Khatnaa took (She loves to use my camera and I am more than happy to teach her!) we drove back home. Casually in the car they ask if I am tired and like always I reply a little but not really, mainly because I don’t want to miss anything. Now my family asks me if I am tired all the time so I usually think nothing of it, which I did in this situation. Little did I know we were just stopping for supplies to continue on to mother tree. In Mongolia there are many shrines so to speak where you offer something (money, rocks, food, matches, really anything at hand) walk around it three times, and then make a wish. It is quite a surreal thing to see. Because we went on a Saturday it was packed. But it was also beautiful to see so many people come together. I am pretty sure this is not religious but I don’t have the language to ask that yet. Maybe next week, but who knows. We all walked around our 3 times and made a wish, even Tsilmoon!

            After we went over to my father’s sisters house who I met for the first time. We drove her into town and finally made it back home. I downloaded all the pictures and the family eagerly awaited to see how they turned out. After sifting through all of them and getting their fill my host mom gave me the most beautiful vest. I wore it today and received countless compliments from Americans as well as Mongolians. My language teacher Naraa, who is very close with my family, was very pleased and I could tell proud that I was wearing and embracing her culture.

            I also spoke to a volunteer who is switching into a city for her 3^rd year here. I portrayed that I really want to live in a ger (pronounced like pear with a g). She said her site was looking for a woman to replace her, so who know I may end up in the South Gobi! She lives 5 hours away from any other volunteer and loved it. Now that is definitely what I want to do!

            I can’t wait to share my next adventures with you all but for now goodbye (pronounced Bai-yar-tai) or see you soon (dara ultzi)!

 Rain in Mongolia

 Tsilmoon!

 Milking a cow for the first time!

 Jijge

 Khatnaa and Jijge at the National Monument near Russia

 my host mom Byimba

 Beautiful view with random Mongolians

 My host family! 

 My host family round 2

 Contemplating life

 My lovely host parents Byimba and Byimba (yes they do have the same name)

 My sister-in-law Jijge and me!

 My attempt to look like a reindeer

 Khatnaa and Jijge

 Khatnaa's Boyfriend

 They love each other :)

 Tsilmoon

 

 Mother Tree 

 Mother Tree Part 2

 Mother Daughter :)

 Beautiful clouds :)