Happy Holidays!

right now we are in shanghai. we are having a great vacation so far! the first few days we both admitted to feelings of anxiety - coming here from mongolia is a little overwhelming - there are endless options for food, shopping, things to do, and there are tons of people everywhere! the typical amount of people walking around (or riding bikes) is equivalent to the crowd you wade through leaving a stadium after a big football game. And its everywhere, all of the time! Surprisingly, despite the fact that there a loads more people here than in Ulaanbaatar, they somehow manage to not to push us, touch us, or ram into us with their shoulders.

we've done a bit of sightseeing, but i have to say our main activity so far has been eating. we've eaten at pizza hut twice, and had something from mcdonalds every day. i've also had sushi twice! We have enjoyed having hot water in the bath whenever we want, and most days have taken 2 showers! The beds are comfy, and the electricity doesn't go out. one of the best things is the weather. we wear jackets, but don't need the longjohns, mittens, scarves and hats.

so here is a list of some of the things we have enjoyed since arriving that we haven't had in over a year:
- a swimming pool
- reading lamps
- riding the subway
- parmasean cheese
- pizza hut
- cheesecake
- potato chips
- oreos
- fish fry
- shopping malls

Photos will come later, probably after we get back home. We are here until Sunday, and then we will take the train up to Beijing. We are excited to see the great wall of china. We will fly from beijing to ulaanbaatar on the following Saturday.

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season at home. Our Christmas day activities included visiting the aquarium, some shopping, going to dinner at a pub (fish fry!) enjoying some live music and then going to a nightclub (really busy for a tuesday night) for some dancing. Nothing like christmases past, but unforgettable all the same.

I get no respect

CM - So, I have wonderful students. See below the report some of my students turned in about a music survey they did of teachers. Don't laugh. It is not funny.

Grade8 - REPORT
Made by Heechan, Hosoo, Batzorig
WARNING:  This report is hardly made by grade 8.  You are not allowed to copy it for your own profit.

From now on, here’s our report that we interviewed from many people.[Thank you for your help principle Ally(x) ,Ali(o)]

We interview about what types of music does the different teachers likes. We worked really hard. You sure you don’t sneer at us. Even though there is lot of mistakes in our report.

Let’s talk about our main issue now.

Interesting thing was that Clayton teacher and Jessica teacher answered exactly same when I asked ‘Which kind of music do you like?’ Both of them answered ‘All types! It was quiet interesting. I sure that they have same hobbies also. Our ugly Clayton teacher said he’s favorite singer is ‘Rage against the machine’ what a long name. Actually I don’t know who ! the heck they are.

Jessica teacher said her favorite singer is ‘Javhlan, Christina Aguilera. They have different idol! Kkkk that’s interesting.

Now it is time to talk about interview with Principle Ali. He likes classical music for a best. And he’s favorite singer was ‘javhlan’ I also know him because I could hear he’s song everywhere in Mongolia. He’s song is quiet famous, right?

Next is our ICT teacher. He’s favorite type of music was POP and folk. Actually I don’t know what is folk music. Ugly Clayton teacher, do you know much thing about them? He’s favorite singer was POP singer.
He didn’t tell us exact name.

And our last is Music teacher. Her favorite type of music was Jazz. Even though I don’t know what is Jazz I like it. Its name has dignity. And her favorite singer is Dian. I don’t know even that is man or woman.

Well! These things were about different types of muse that different teachers like.
Our report ends here! Bye!
1.December1,2007 Fin…

So, if you don't know who Javhlan is, check out his video below. He is THE MAN here in Mongolia. Jessica and I saw him live, and Jessica almost cried. I threw my panties onstage.

Another box of gifts from Friends back Home!

Wednesday we received a box from our friends Wyatt and Laura. Along with some great things for us, they sent medicine, crayons, hats and gloves for the kids at my volunteer job. I added them to the items my students collected, and I am sure they will all get used very soon. A big thank you to both of them for their help!!! They also sent me the Rudolph movie, which my second and third grade students LOVED. Thanks for helping us spread a little Christmas cheer here, in more ways than one.

A Meaningful Way to End the Semester

About halfway through the first semester I talked with my 10th grade English class about the living conditions for people in Mongolia. Over 36% of the population here live below the poverty line. I suggested the idea of raising money for a charitable organization, and they were interested. I set our goal at $300 and 200 items. They brought things from home, and gave money from their wallets. We also had a very successful raffle, the first in our school, and raised a good amount of money from that. Today was the deadline, and we took a field trip to hand over the items and monetary gift.

We decided to give our gifts to the Christina Nobel's Children Foundation, as I already know the people there and could make logistics of a visit easier. Today we got to visit their main office and learn about what they do, and then took a trip to their Ger Village, to see some of the kids and see where gifts like ours are put to use.

Here are the grade 10 students in their classroom, surrounding the chart I made to keep track of our progress. On half was for money, the other side was for items. At the top it says "PARTY" as I promised them if we met the goals by the deadline, we would have a party to celebrate. We'll have a pizza party next thursday.


Here's the class president handing over our $300 to the Director of CNCF.


Here are some of the kindergarten students decorating their classroom for New Year's/Christmas. They all have sad histories. The little one in the white shirt was being forced to eat poison tablets by her mother. The grandmother brought her to CNCF.


Here is the whole class with Ozkan, their homeroom teacher, and Mr. Thornton outside the visitor's ger. Hopefully our fundraising project and our visit to the Ger Village will have an effect on some of the students and they will continue to try to help their fellow Mongolians in the future.

Christmas and Beyond

On December 22 we will be heading to China for our 2 week christmas break. We are going to Shanghai for the first half, and then to Beijing. They don't really celebrate Christmas there either, but at least the weather will be warmer. Right now here its minus 13 degrees and in Shanghai its 55 degrees! That sounds just right to me. We can't wait. It will be great to do some sightseeing and eat western food for a while. And sleep in a comfy hotel bed, and have hot water whenever we want it (for the past 2 or 3 weeks here our hot water has become a scarce resource).

So, many of you are on our christmas list. We weren't able to find a cheap way to send things home from here, so we are bringing your gifts to china with us and will ship them from there, where it will be much faster and cheaper. This means you should be expecting something in January.

Our one year anniversary for living in Mongolia has come and gone, and now we have only 6 months left until our new contracts expire. We are now in the exciting process of planning out where we head to next. There is an internship possibility for Clayt at Mercy Corps which would keep us here through most of the summer, but we have no idea whether or not that will happen. We have been contacting people we know to help find us some work in Central or South America. One of Clayt's contacts (a man who was the translator for his group when he was doing research in the Dominican Republic) works at a school there now and said if we sent my resume to him he would pass it along with a high recommendation. So we did that, and hopefully we will hear something soon. It would be great to get things squared away early so we can plan out everything else. We are hoping to be home for a few months to visit everyone, regardless of which jobs we end up taking.

Now people here (our bosses and coworkers) have been asking whether we will be staying here, and when we say no, they want to know why. Oh, the list of reasons is very VERY long, but we tell them just the main reason. Clayton doesn't want to be a teacher. He has enjoyed it, but its time to move on to a place where he can continue working toward a career he is interested in. This means getting international experience working for an NGO or other development organization, and becoming fluent in a second language. He has to get his hands dirty in his field of work before he can be sure of getting a good job back home. And who knows? If we find a place we really love, we may become expats indefinitely!

Happy Thanksgiving, and other stuff!

J- Our Thanksgiving this year was in no way traditional, although we did try to include some elements from home. We had our celebration at our friend's house, Meghan and Chris, two americans who work at MercyCorps with Clayton. We had mashed potatoes, green beans, onion salad, biscuits (which turned out badly thanks to our 500 year old russian oven), stuffing (clayt made from scratch!) and mutton. No turkey here in Mongolia, so we settled for a giant leg (and they threw in a neck piece for free, yum) of mutton, and had mutton gravy too. Everything was good, but you know its just not the same as being home with everyone. Then for dessert we had apple pie - square apple pie, since I didn't have a round pie tin. Here's a photo of the work in progress.

Also, the other night the power went out just as we were about to make dinner. It was out for about half an hour or more, in which time we got really bored sitting in the silent darkness. This is just one of many photos that were a product of this boredom.

Last night one of the teachers from our school was over to borrow our dvd player. The box with the speakers inside was way in the back of a cupboard where we couldn't quite reach. Just then our little neighbors came up to visit, and the littlest one was a big help.

So this is the newest teacher at our school. He is a science teacher from Zimbabwe. He has a wife and baby at home, and is pretty lonely and bored here so far. So we took him to dinner last night, then showed him how to use our dvd player and let him take it home with him. Clayton enjoyed the chance to talk about life and politics in Zimbabwe with someone who has experienced things firsthand.

Here is Munkhtuul, showing me her contortionist skills. I wonder if they learn this stuff in gym class?

And here is Munkhtsetseg and Munkhtuul. They are such sweet, helpful girls. I love goofing around with them when they visit.

And, here I am trying to get in on the contortionist act. I don't think I'm cut out for the Mongolian circus just yet.

So, what's up with you?

C - Hello. I have been letting Jess handle most of the heavy lifting on the blog lately. I make no excuses or apologies... but I know you missed me. I know that my prose gently lulls you into fond remembrances of the mellifluous tones of my voice, and the wonderful times we've had together.

So, lately I have been busy. I am teaching from 8:30 until 12:40, then making a quick run home for a 10-minute lunch and off to Mercy Corps until 5:30. Then Jess and I are off to the gym (or, as Steven corrected, the fitness studio) - that's why my muscles be all big. In the evening I am often studying about something that has me boggled at Mercy Corps (such as finance in the 3rd world, the finer points of InDesign, value chains, etc.). Somewhere in there I try (stress try) to read some books, do some writing (currently talking with Steve Yahn once a week about this), and pay some mind to my beautiful wife, see some folks, and think about the future.

Some people have asked what I do at Mercy Corps. Mostly, I am put in situations where I feel pressure to learn in a hurry. There are a lot of great people around who know a lot more than I do, and that helps. I recently completed a report on business development services (BDS) in rural mongolia with the BDS officer. That involved going to the countryside over the summer and collected data, then analyzing it. Right now I am helping a team develop an assessment of gaps in financial service provision in the Mongolian countryside to inform the services of a forthcoming NGO that will be spun off our organization (thanks to Dave Petro at ICBA, who was kind enough to chat with me about the subject the other day). I also write content for the website and produce print and web publications, and edit a bunch of reports. That is that.

On a related note, for anyone who doesn't already know: Jessica and I have forgone our current opportunity to join the peace corps. We got an offer for a placement as teachers in Asia (kinda big isn't it?), but I don't really want to put another few years into being a teacher. I got this internship at Mercy Corps, and Jessica is already teaching, so we decided to stay here a bit longer - its already kinda like peace corps.

So, on to more interesting brain fodder:

Today, winter became real for me. It was the first day that my face was stung by the morning air. It was the first day the cold ate through my pants and bit at my thighs. It was also, incidentally, the first day I put down my earflaps on my hat. And a fine hat it is. Another surefire sign that it is winter? When we came home this evening some people were hauling a frozen, skinned sheep onto the elevator. It is now cold enough outside that the animal will remain frozen out on the porch. We'll be seeing a number of carcasses going up the elevator now.

[changing gears abruptly] So, there are some wonderful things about Mongolia. I got off the bus today with a man that looked like he just stepped off the silk road. Jessica and I encountered a gentleman the other night who looked like a Mongolian buddhist deity - he had a long white beard, full traditional mongolian outfit, big white eyebrows, and a look of complete surprise, or possibly enlightenment... or possibly drunkenness. These states can be surprisingly hard to distinguish in elderly Mongolians, with faces like an old baseball mitt.

Some things, however, can be perplexing. For example, when you go to the grocery store the clerk always piles all of your groceries into one bag. If the bag is too heavy, they double bag it. I have commented to Jessica on many occasions that they could make this easier (and easier on my arm) by just splitting the groceries into two bags in the first place, but they NEVER do. I don't know. A small inconvenience. I guess it only bugs me because of my extremely efficient, Taylorist bagging training at Quality Markets. Maybe that's how I can make a difference here. hmm.....

On a side note, I forgot it was veterans day the other day. I hope that doesn't make me a bad person. I celebrated the hell out of soldiers day here. Does that count? You know that during WWII, Mongolia sent 35,000 horses to the Soviet Union to fight fascism? There is a monument in Russia of the Mongolian horse - the same horse that served Chinggis Khan so well...

Fire Fighting, Mongolian Style

Yesterday while we were putting away groceries I looked out the kitchen window and saw a pretty big fire down the street. We couldn't tell what exactly was on fire, but it had happened pretty recently (or maybe not) as there were no firefighters on the scene yet. So, naturally we grabbed the camera and quickly made our way towards the fire to see what was going on and snap a few photos. When we were almost there, the firemen showed up, and in the time it took us to cross the street, the fire had been put out and all that was left when we arrived were giant billowing clouds of white smoke. Notice the firemen here aren't as lucky as the ones back home: no special wardrobe (unless you count the little cape that says FIRE on it) and no masks or oxygen tanks to help them breathe. These poor guys were just in there, in all that smoke wearing what looked like costumes of canvas. There were more spectators earlier on, but after getting sprayed with the hose accidentally (in 20 degree weather!) they dispersed.





Graffiti in Mongolia is fairly tame compared to back home. We have seen these various messages: "Pussy Cat Dolls" "Bone Thug (singular) and Harmony" "Sega" and the mind puzzler on our own building, "Life is a death, death is a..." I have to say however this little guy might be my favorite. We get to see his bellybutton, nipples and silly smile every morning on the way to the bus stop. We feel so lucky. Imagine if someone sprayed a picture like this on a building with your name and an arrow pointing to it - Whoever "Todoo" is, I wonder if this picture does him justice.

Wears you down sometimes...

So, we really don't like to complain on our blog here. But sometimes it just builds up and we feel like sharing our frustrations with you, so you can feel happy about where you are and happy that you aren't where we are...

Clayt went to get on the elevator the other day. The doors open and there is a woman and her kid standing right inside the doors. Clayt waits for them to move back or move over so he can get in, but they don't move at all. So, he had to just push through them to get in. Elevator etiquette is non-existent here in more ways than one.

This little story goes back to when we were out in Bayan-Olgii. We had lost our cell phone and needed to call our boss about our schedule and so went to the central post office/communications place. You had to go up to the teller desk and tell the lady the number you wanted to call and she would dial it on the computer and hand you the headset. Well, I went to the window and told the lady I wanted to make a phone call (with caveman speaking and gestures, but understandable). I tried to hand her the phone number, but she just looked at me and then shooed me away with a gesture and turned her back to me. Didn't say one word. (I didn't leave, and just bugged her until she gave in, but boy it was irritating to be shooed like that!) :)

2 weeks ago I saw a semi-violent fight out in a lot behind our school. It involved grown men attacking each other - one guy had blood all over his face and was barely able to stand and 2 men showed up and began to kick him and punch him. A third guy showed up with something he had grabbed out of his car and hit the guy in the face with it. Then the fight moved over to next to the car, where a man stood outside the driver's side talking to the guy inside the car. One of the men came up behind the guy with a big rock and hit him over the head with it. Then the fight moved out of my line of vision from the school window, who knows what happened next...

So the very next day on the way to school we saw a dead man lying in the road. The police were there, but hadn't moved the guy, just had a shirt over his face, lots of blood along the whole side of the torso. We got a clear view as he was still in the middle of the road and we drove right past him. My third graders (who had all seen the same sight) informed me he was hit by a bus.

We got on the bus this past Saturday night to go to dinner. The bus system is strange here - if someone doesn't pay the bus fare, it's the job of the bus fare collector to either shame them into getting off the bus or physically remove them. Unfortunately, more than a few really drunk guys like to try to ride the bus for free, and the fare collector is usually a woman. Well on this evening the woman was rather young, and small. She was trying to yank this guy out of his seat, but he wouldn't budge. Not only would he not budge, but he continued to smack at the lady's arms. So, Clayt just got out of his seat, picked the guy up by the collar of his coat, tossed him out the door, and sat back down. The men sitting around us just kept staring at Clayt with not-so-friendly looks on their faces. We were surprised that with so many men on the bus none of them would try to stop someone from hitting a woman. And even if not for moral reasons, didn't anyone care that this guy got to ride for free while they all had to pay?

After that dinner we went to see some live music at a nightclub and saw 2 fights within the few hours we were there. Surprisingly, after being removed, everyone involved in the fight was allowed to reenter. In fact, one of the girls that was in one of the fights came in the bathroom after I did - I was waiting for a stall to open and when one did she just stepped in front of me and went in. She looked right at me and said, "Sorry!"

On a lighter note, I taught at my volunteer job 5 nights last week. On the last evening, I was trying to teach the young ones fruits and veggie vocab out of my picture dictionary. It didn't go so well, since they basically didn't know what most of the items were, and have no word for them in Mongolian. Avocado? never seen. Broccoli? What's that? Blueberries? Don't know! raspberries? asparagus? eggplant? They were all mysteries to them. I know a shop where you can get some of these things, so I think we might need to have a food party one of these days and let them check some of this stuff out!

alright, enough complaining for now......(the weather is now below zero at night)......

A nice start to Autumn Break

Friday was the last day of school for the first term. Now we have a week of vacation before the start of the second term. Friday during lunch we had a Halloween party for the little kids, and had fun. We played "Pin the pumpkin head on the headless horseman", listened to halloween music, ate lots of candy and played a game that involved popping lots of balloons. Here is clayt in his costume.


Then on saturday we had a teachers' picnic. We went to a really nice location in a valley with an old monastery up the hill. It was really cold however, and even snowed a little. Here are some of the photos from the day.




In the picture below you can see the ruins of where the old monastery once stood. The guide told us it was one of the many monasteries destroyed when the communist regime began.

A Big Thank You!

We just wanted to write a quick post to tell you about what a great week we had. Within 2 days we received 3 packages from home! They were full of medicine, treats and supplies for the children at Christina Nobel's Children Foundation. I took the gifts into their office on Wednesday afternoon, and the director was really appreciative. He said gifts like the ones our friends were sending were always welcome and always put to good use. So thank you so much!

Thank you Kristi Miller for almost 40 children's story books and kids winter attire, among other things!
Thank you John and Vicki Kotlar for a wide variety of kids medicines, fever reducers, and school supplies!
Thank you Kim Hayes and Dave Pollard for the Stickers, food, fun halloween stuff and other various items!

The things you sent will help some homeless children have a healthier winter (physically and mentally)!

A good thing to know also is that things now arrive here more quickly. At least one of the packages sent took less than 2 weeks!

Getting back to Winter Time

So now its cold here. Not extremely cold, but cold enough for the coat, hat, gloves and scarf. Only 2 weeks left until Fall Break, a week of no classes.

So things haven't been so exciting here lately, but we've snapped a few photos here and there, and thought we show you some of the more ordinary (?) things we see.


This is a building that is being built right behind our apartment. We were so excited that it didn't come any higher, but were rather disappointed when we saw the color they chose to paint it...


And speaking of paint... the whole building is being painted by these two guys with their little roller brushes! Notice one false step and there is nothing to stop them from falling all the way down...


This is one of the more famous buildings in the city here. This is The Wrestling Palace. Its where big concerts take place as well as of course wrestling tournaments. We don't really think its looks live up to its grand title.


Read the fine print inside the bubble. They don't want to held accountable for false claims.


We like their choice of words for this ad. "Inevitable." You can't avoid it. Just hand over your money, its going to happen sooner or later apparently.


This is the oh so pretty view we see as we walk to the grocery store. Notice you can see 4 construction cranes in the shot. This city is growing and springing up new buildings all around us at an amazing pace.


This is my third grade class this year. Aren't they cute? Please admire the nice way I decorated their board with the colorful paper Josh and Char Maring sent us...


And this is the second grade class this year - just as much little devils as they were last year...

Count Your Blessings

You know, sometimes we forget to mention all the nice things about living here in Mongolia. Some perks of living here?
-- hardly ever being stuck in traffic - we walk everywhere!
-- no junk mail, ever
-- no tele-marketer phone calls, ever
-- a city apartment with a clear view of the mountains
-- interacting with real live nomadic herders - some of the last in the world!
-- never getting asked for ID at the store or bar
-- getting almost anywhere in the city by taxi for under 2 dollars
-- very cheap meat (ground beef at the fancy store costs 3 dollars for 2 pounds)
-- DVDs for $2.50 (new releases!)
-- several grocery stores nearby - no need to get in the car and drive at all.
-- not seeing or hearing anything about the political campaigns back home.
-- a new appreciation for the small comforts in life.
-- learning how to live simply and within our means (the meaning of "need" has changed a lot for us I think).

Only 3 weeks left in the term before fall break. We are counting down the days. Sometimes its really difficult to teach at our school - imagine teaching a bunch of really rich spoiled teenagers at a school where there are no discipline procedures and none of them can fail. It's not easy. :)

Back to the Grind

And so summer is over and we are in the middle of the first term of the school year. I'm teaching grades 2, 3 10 and TOEFL. Clayt has grades 7,8,9 and 11. He's teaching 24 hours a week, and I'm teaching 32. Things seem to be going well so far. Last weekend we had a picnic with the younger students. It was a good time in general. Here's some pictures of the kids.

This is Mandy and Delgerchimeg, playing house.


Some of my wild 3rd grade boys. One of them later put a sharp stick into a hole at the bottom of the slide so it would stick into whoever came down the slide next.


A close up of one of my third graders, Munkhkhuslen.

On a different note, thanks so much to all of you who sent packages, called or sent emails for my birthday. It really helped make the day special. Clayt and I went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant, and then got harassed by a taxi driver yet again. He wanted 3 times the fair amount, and when clayt offered a compromise, he tried to drive away with Clayt still in the car. So, clayt had to get out while the car was trying to peel out of the parking area.

For those we unintentionally left in the dark - we are no longer pursuing service with the Peace Corps. We received a nomination a while back, and were told it would be for spring of 2008, somewhere in Asia. We would both be English teachers. Clayt had been offered an internship at Mercy Corps here at around the same time. He figured that the opportunities offered working for Mercy Corps were more related to his career goals than teaching english for 2 years (after already teaching here for a year and a half). As for me, I can teach English practically anywhere, so I'm easy to please. So, after we finish up here in June of next year, the sky is the limit!

Here's another photo. This one is of 2 of the people that live in the little room downstairs. They are the sisters of the mother of the kids that come up and play with us sometimes. The one on the left is 17 and the one on the right is 24. And both look incredibly short when standing next to Clayt or me. They were really happy about having their photos taken.



and by the way - its getting really cold now. we're wearing winter coats and scarves already. aren't you jealous?

Marmot Plague! Say It Ain't So!

Well I am sorry to inform you, boys and girls, but the vicious marmot of doom has again reared his ugly head in Mongolia. That cunning creature has sprung bubonic plague upon three unsuspecting Mongolians in Gobi-Sumber Aimag (yep, we went there, but missed the plague. Also barely missed anthrax in Arhangai - bovine bastards). I tried to get ahold of our illustrious President Bush - finally, the mystery is solved. Saddam gave his weapons to the wildlife of Mongolia... and they are trying to take the land back. Really. Send the troops. Mongolia is a proud member of the coalition of the willing. You can't turn your backs on us.

But really, there has been an outbreak. There is a quarantine in effect. If it hits the news, I'll post it.

Garbage Post

Here are some quick notes that maybe didn't all deserve their own post:

1. That Russian jeep ride was way more surreal than we had described it. Take a look at this picture again. We load into this Russian Jeep that we happened to find in the middle of nowhere after our jeep broke down. Believe it or not, the first thing I noticed was not the lipstick on my fellow passenger; it was the van interior. It had been fitted with sky blue leather with black studs. Also notice what I can only guess is cheetah print on the seats and the blue curtains that filtered all light coming in an eery, dull blue daylight, palpable in the dust blowing everywhere (like one of those movies shot with a filter - think Traffic. So, we are sitting backwards, watching the rocky and desolate landscape of Western Mongolia fly by at 120 km/hr with the car radio cracked in and out (traditional Mongolian warbling) as it bounced on the floor between the driver and front passenger, complete with its own car battery. Add to this the Bowie-esque character, sitting quietly in flannel and ravishing red lipstick, exchanging furtive glances with us. If that all weren't enough, the driver stopped the van, opened the console serving as an armrest between him and the passenger to expose the running engine sputtering inside the cabin. He added some oil as it ran, then shut the lid and hit the gas. I don't know when I've felt more out of touch with reality while actually being present and lucent in it.


2. ANTHRAX. One of our first stops was in the ancient capital of Mongolia - Kharkhorin. We were supposed to go see the veterinarian here, but he had been called to a nearby soum because of an anthrax outbreak. A quarantine was soon established, but we were already on the road. I haven't been that close to a verified anthrax threat since we lived in Capital Hill.

3. Our milk is better than your milk! Here is one of the additions some bold young chinese exec in the marketing department decided to add to our carton. If it is good enough for the chinese cosmonauts, I guess it is good enough for us...


4. Real Business Challenges. When interviewing businesses and herders in rural Mongolia, I asked each participant what are the biggest challenges they face in operating their businesses. One herder said, as if it were perfectly natural, "wolves, eagles, and thieves."

Info From Our Perspective

Recently my sister asked to interview me for a paper she is writing for a college course. She had to interview someone that has lived in a foreign country. After Clayt and I answered her questions, we thought maybe all of you might also be interested in the information we gave her. I didn't include her questions, as I think they are self explanatory from the answers below.

1. I am spending time in MG to teach English. Also to work a volunteer job (teaching english also). Basically I wanted to improve my teaching skills in various settings and get overseas experience (good for the resume!), along with helping people who might otherwise not get help.

2. There are so many differences between home and MG, where do i begin???
a. greetings: people here greet each other with a "how are you", "how are your cattle doing", or "how is your summer" (etc.)
b. courtesies: there is a mentality of serve yourself here, people will cut you in line, or push you to get on the bus. However, if anyone bumps or steps on your foot, they will immediately shake you hand, even if its during a basketball game!
c. Religion and morals are mostly from Buddhism and Shamanism, also the Soviet period has influenced their opinions about many issues.
d. Family is very important here. One of the interesting things we see is family members often smell each other instead of kiss (I mean, it looks like a kiss by the cheek or ear, but they don't give a kiss, they just inhale deeply). Scent is something special to them. Also, its the most important social unit here. Most of their relationships are based on family or who someone in the family knows. Outsiders are not easily trusted.
e. Entertainment: This varies alot depending on if you are in the country or in the city. For city folks, there are bars (drinking Vodka is a real problem here), nightclubs, a movie theatre, and Karaoke. People here really love Karaoke. In the country where there is seldom even electricity, the traditional Mongolian sports are the most popular form of entertainment - Wrestling, Archery and Horseracing (but drinking is a big problem there too).
f. Dress: you see a good mix of western clothing and traditional MG clothing in both the city and country. Traditional clothing is called a Deel (but pronounced like Dell) and its a robe type garment worn with a very long sash around the middle. In the winter they are lined with sheep wool for warmth. The sash is worn to prevent motion sickness and bruising from horseback riding. The clothing they wear today is in the same style that it has been worn for the past 800 years.
g. Attitudes toward work: this one can be frustrating for westerners. Mongolia was under Soviet control for most of the 20th century, and therefore some (or lots) of people in the city do not yet have an entrepreneurial attitude. There isn't really a concept of "the customer is always right" which we enjoy at home. However in the country I would say that life and work are not separate - you work to live, to survive. People in the countryside live off of what they can produce from their livestock.

3. The climate here is first of all really arid. In the winter it can get down to minus 40, and in this past summer we had some days up in the 90s. The summers are great, low humidity which keeps it cool in the shade and hot in the sun. Winter is by far the longest season, from October to about March. Spring, Summer and Fall are crammed into the other few months. Also, Mongolia is really sunny, with well over 300 days of sunshine a year.

4. Topography: Lots and lots of mountains! Biggest mountains in the west, flat grasslands called Steppe in the east, and the Gobi in the south. Mountains in the northern part (Khenti Mountains) are some of the oldest on the planet. Only .76% of the land is arable. There are also less than 2 people per square mile (its has the lowest population density in the world).

5. Political Ideology: (i copied this from the cia factbook since i can't say much) blend of Soviet, German, and US systems that combine "continental" or "civil" code and case-precedent; constitution ambiguous on judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction. Basically I know its a kind of democracy, but has a lot of corruption on many levels.

6. Live Here?: I have enjoyed my time here so far, but I would not like to move here long term. There are a few reasons for this, but mainly because it is a third world country. The health care is bad, the pollution is bad, the public services are bad. Life expectancy is low, infant mortality is high. The food is NOT good! :)

7. Other Countries Visited: I have visited Guatemala, Canada, Turkey, Thailand and China. I would say MG is the least developed country I have been to. Turkey had the best food. :) China is similar in several ways to MG, but they are definitely more developed - western chains of food and products, sky scrapers, comforts of modern life. Thailand is also really developed thanks to their tourism industry. You know about canada. :) Guatemala also had some severe poverty, but it just didn't seem as bad as in MG. At least they had the sea nearby and a tropical climate suitable for farming.

8. How Many Foreigners: I'm not sure how many other foreign visitors are here. In the summertime we see a good amount of foreigners, all tourists. Mongolia is a popular destination for folks who love nature, hiking, fly fishing and other outdoorsy activities, as long as they don't mind roughing it. The rest of the year however, there are hardly any foreigners. Those we see are other teachers or businessmen, investors (there are mining companies here), etc.

9. The mongolian home: The typical mongolian home is called a Ger (rhymes with hair), which is like a sturdy and cozy tent. It is circular with a wooden floor (only dirt in the summer), lattice wall, and 2 posts in the center for support. The outside covering is made of layers of felt, animal skins, and canvas. Beds line the inside wall along with traditional furniture (chests and shelves for holding everything), and the stove is in the middle with a pipe going up and out a hole in the top of the ger. The stove is heated with either dried animal dung, coal, or wood of any kind (bark, shrub branches, etc.). There is no indoor plumbing, and water for drinking, cooking and bathing has to be fetched either from a river or (if no river is nearby) the closest well (which is sometimes miles away). There is usually a small buddhist shrine on one of the pieces of furniture. They like to decorate the walls with many photos of family members, along with pictures of horses, famous mongolian singers, sumo wrestlers, Korean actors, etc. Their Ger is their living room, bedroom kitchen and washroom all in one. There is not the luxury of privacy, and many times people live with their extended family, grouping their Gers close to one another, like neighbors. ( think like our week up at the islands, where we all run in and out of all the cabins) Many of the Mongolian customs come from living in this type of home.

10. Wealthy or Poor?: On the UN Human Development Index, MG rates 116 out of 177 countries (thats not so good, as 1 is best). Mongolia is a very poor country. I'm probably not the best person to answer why. From what I can see (and getting clayt's opinion): the biggest reason is the harsh climate. So much of life here depends on herding and the nomadic lifestyle, yet the climate really hurts their efforts. They have a word here "ZUD" which basically means a dry summer followed by a harsh winter, resulting in the death of most of their livestock. If you experience a ZUD, then your food and income vanishes literally overnight. With no food, no money and no livestock, people are forced to move into the city to look for work. Also because of the long soviet rule, MG was a late entry to the market economy system. There is no market for or investments in industry, with China so close where everything is cheaper. There is poor infrastructure and few natural resources. The few natural resources they have are extracted by foreign companies with little money staying in MG due to greed of foreign investors and corruption in the MG government.

A Blast from the Past

Here is a short video shot on the last day of the All Good Festival, which we went to last summer with Paul and Tia. Marvel at Clayt's brute strength as he wows the crowd.

Who says a payment services professionals don't have hearts?

C&J- We recently received a package from our friends at ICBA Bancard (my former employer) containing things to help out in the kids here (as well as a few goodies for Jessica and I, which we very much appreciate). There were school supplies, toys, pain killers, vitamins, craft supplies, and other things I am probably forgetting. It took us some time to get it from the post office. The conversation went something like this:

me: "here is all the information, can you look to see if this package is here?"
lethargic mongolian postal slacker: [barely looking up] "no"
me: "can you look?"
lmps: "we don't have it"
me: "it has been three months. it should be here."
lmps: [still not moving a muscle to look through the antiquated log book] "we don't have it"
[at this point an english speaking mongolian woman intervened on our behalf]
lmps: "no"

At this point we are about to leave when, lo and behold, the package appears out of the back room. As usual, the postal slacker offered no explanation, apology, or friendly banter about our previous exchange. He just sent us over to customs.

We decided to take the items to Mongolian office of Christina Noble Children's Foundation, where Jessica volunteers. You can get more information from the website, but, in a nutshell, this is one of the most respected organizations here helping orphans, street kids, incarcerated kids, and poor families. The director already had a lot of ideas for the items all of you at ICBA donated. The organization goes out at night with a van to provide food, medical attention, and a warm place to stay to street kids - if only for a night. Apparently a lot of these kids have been complaining of headaches but the organization hasn't had any pain killers. Now they do. Also, they have kids that are awaiting surgery and will really benefit from those vitamins before and after their operations. The foundation serves about 5,000 kids here, so even with the generous number of toys sent, it isn't enough to stretch. However, in a few weeks the foundation will hold a week-long event for the kids, including recitals and singing as well as sports, art, and writing competitions. The toys sent will be used as prizes to reward the kids for their hard work and preparation.

This organization really does good work here and does everything they can to provide quality services to the kids here. Take a look at the website and see how your generosity is paying dividends half-way around the world. Again, thank you to everyone at ICBA. We'll take some pictures at the children's event and put them up here for everyone to see. Also, thank you to everyone else who has sent things for us, and for others here in Mongolia. We appreciate it, and we're lucky to have friends and family like all of you (or friends of friends, or just random readers, I guess).

Bayan Ooooooolgi...

Clayton and I should have T-shirts made. They would say, "We went to Bayan Olgi and all we got was a stomach virus." We arrived in Olgi on Saturday night. We decided to check out the town on Sunday, and then we would head out for some hiking and camping on Monday. On Sunday evening though, Clayton made the terrible mistake of taking the invitation of a group of little kids to play some basketball. Next thing you know we're inside their home drinking airag and eating homemade soup. Actually, all of it was really fun and interesting, except the Airag. Clayton had to take a time out on the way home to purge, and then couldn't stop for the next 4 hours and felt ill the whole next day. Unfortunately, that evening I got sick also and then we were in trouble. With both of us feeling not so up to speed, our plans of camping were close to impossible.

We decided to take just a day trip, so that our entire time there wasn't wasted. We knew we wouldn't get another chance to visit this place, and it had been one we had wanted to see since we came to Mongolia.

So in our short time in Olgi we saw a few interesting things. We visited 2 families that hunt with birds - eagle and falcon. We also got to check out some old turkik carved stones from the 6-10th centuries way out in the middle of nowhere. We did some sightseeing around town as well.


Out in these parts you're more likely to see hawks than pigeons. This is a gaggle of them we saw hanging around a garbage dumpster that apparently had something fresh in it.


Now I can say I've actually seen people riding things like this around. I think four out of 5 we saw had "facial flair" - crazy mustaches of some sort seem to be a prerequisite for driving this kind of automobile.


This is a view from a little island in the middle of the river just outside of town. We had to take off our shoes and walk through the FREEZING cold river to get here.


We went to the town market on the day it was closed. It was a labyrinth of metal and wood stalls boarded up, but down one aisle we saw some people sorting through their goods - lots and lots of bright yarn.


This is a man we met that is a traditional Khazakh hunter - they hunt for food with trained eagles. They take them from the nest when they are babies and begin training them when they are one year old.


This is my favorite photo from the trip, a close up of the man and the bird - both looking impressive!


Here is part of the group of kids that came out to see us as we looked at the bird. They stared a lot, smiled a little, and each one shook our hands!


Here's Clayt with one of the Turkik stones. We hired a driver who took us out to see this. Its amazing to see something so old and historic just out in the open with nothing around for miles. Actually, one little boy did ride by on his horse, but he only stuck around for a few minutes.


We stopped outside another family's home and people literally came running out to see us. They had 2 falcons, and everyone gathered around to watch us take photos of them. Its strange to feel like such a spectacle. We couldn't talk to them as we don't speak Khazakh, so all we could do is smile at them as they stared.


These two enjoyed our reaction as they perched the falcons on their bare hands, and even posed for a photo for us.


Seeing that we enjoyed his falcons, this guy went behind the wall and popped back up with a big eagle on his arm! I wonder if that made the falcons nervous...


And here is our last view of Bayan Olgi from the airplane - these snow capped mountains are some of the tallest mountains in Mongolia.

2 little random notes - It was interesting (more like a little scary) to take off from a dirt runway in a prop-jet airplane. It was also interesting (more like actually interesting) to hear the muslim call to prayers while we were in Olgi.