As one adventure begins, a new adventure is about to begin

I’ve taken a lot of time to myself recently, trying to decide the best way to explain my decision and let my friends and family know how or why I came to the conclusion that this is what’s best for me. I have always been the one who encouraged loved ones to make changes when they are no longer happy, to take risks or make big changes, most consequences be damned, to make themselves happy. I’ve always been one to be supportive of the idea of never compromising or accepting less. In reaching my decision, part of my thinking was that actions do indeed speak louder than words and what kind of person would I be if I refused to do what I constantly encourage others to do. In this post I will do my best to explain why I recently made the decision to end my service as a Peace Corps volunteer a few months earlier than planned and move on to work in Cambodia.

My experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia for the past 22 months have been up and down, often riding different waves of success and failure, small and large. Like most young idealists who make the decision to join the Peace Corps and devote two years of their life to helping those less fortunate and gaining invaluable experience in development and (depending on your work assignment) education in the developing world. From the moment I first typed in the words ‘Peace Corps’ on Google, I found myself fascinated by the idea of leaving the U.S. and giving up two years of my life to make the world a better place in some poor, exotic, developing country. As I went through the months long application process during my senior year as an undergraduate, I found my dreams and ideas of what Peace Corps service would be like were becoming even more grandiose and exciting. I was a little unsure of what to think when I received my invitation to Mongolia but I was excited nonetheless. Over the months after receiving my invitation, leading up until graduation, I became increasingly stir crazy and ready to leave. I had my country and my assignment and I was determined that I would make the best of my given situation, I’d positively affect the lives of students and all who I came across in my assignment as a community youth development volunteer and life skills trainer.

Training was an interesting and eye opening experience and the excitement of being in Mongolia, living with an amazing host family in a small village, far outweighed the fear that came with so many unknowns. Upon finishing training and learning of my permanent site in the Kazakh region of Bayan Olgii, I was still excited and still idealistic, optimistic, ready to work hard and make big changes.

It didn’t take long before frustrations in dealing with a host agency that wasn’t sure what to do with me, an inability to get any projects started other than putting together some English classes, and the downs that come with the harsh, cold, and depressing Mongolian winter had me wondering if I had made the right decision. My first year was made even more difficult by the facts that I am no linguist and I had nobody in my office who spoke or understood five words in English. My frustrations weren’t helped by seeing my site mate Laura’s almost immediate success in her workplace and hearing about the successes of other PCV’s in similar fields as mine with different agencies throughout the country. I came close to giving up and found myself looking for work in other parts of the world, feeling I could put my skills and work ethic to better use in somewhere like Afghanistan or Iraq. Eventually as the summer of 2009 approached, I managed to make some new friends and connections and found some moderate success in expanding my lessons, preparing the first English Olympiad with Agii, and managed to break through language and cultural barriers with some of my coworkers, finally brainstorming different project ideas. Summer came and along with it, my trip to the U.S. and a lot of time spent in UB, enjoying the good life with other volunteers and good friends. While in the U.S., I had a good time but it didn’t take long before I was anxious to get back to Mongolia. Mongolia had become my home, even if only temporarily and I felt more comfortable in Mongolia than in the U.S. I’m sure it didn’t help that I was only in the U.S. for three weeks and spent a lot of time running around trying to see a lot of people but the feelings were not something I took lightly. I spent a lot of time thinking about it and I became more optimistic about my second year, began thinking big again and finding my idealism again.

Then of course, the reality of work in Mongolia struck not too long after I returned to Olgii. Three weeks in the summer resulted in no work being done, as seemingly everything shuts down in the summer. I tried not to let that phase me and did my best to attend our group’s mid service training with a positive attitude. Positive encouragement from Hanna about my ability to do good things my second year was a big help, even with her being thousands of miles away in New York City. I found some new motivation and success in planning a project (the learning center) that I had wanted to begin from my first few weeks in Olgii. My work and the student council were very enthusiastic and open to the idea, offering suggestions and being very involved in the planning process. This kept me going and kept my hopes up about my ability to leave something good behind in Bayan Olgii, something that would positively affect the community, give children a great, new resource, and give the children’s center a better idea of the types of projects they could undertake to improve youth development and education in the community.

As many of you who have followed my blog regularly know, the waiting process on the grant funds was very long and frustrating and a project that was supposed to begin in early December before my trip, didn’t begin until late February, early March. Progress was quick at first and it surprised me, bringing me renewed motivation and determination once again. Despite some initial success and speedy progress with the project, I found myself becoming increasingly bitter and frustrated with the fact that I was the only one from my agency working on the project. One of my coworkers helped with the labor and some things here and there but after a while he was difficult to get a hold of and left for UB for other work. I appreciated his help very much but it was very frustrating trying to get a hold of him and meet with him. I don’t blame him because he has a newborn baby at home and a family but it's hard to stay motivated about working on a big project when those who are supposed to be working with you and supporting you don't show the same enthusiasm or work ethic. I appreciate everything he did for the project and to help me though. Nurbol, my good friend who has helped me out frequently in the past, helped whenever he could but he isn’t even an employee of the children’s center and was volunteering his time. These frustrations, on top of other personal, internal struggles I’ve been having, lead me to start wondering if I should look into other options. I was excited about the project but I began to wonder increasingly if it was becoming my project and not the community’s or children’s center’s project. In order for this project to be successful and truly sustainable, I needed to pass it on to the children’s center, the student council and the community.

From the time I returned to Mongolia from Thailand up until the past few weeks, I spent countless hours weighing my options, thinking things through, and trying to decide what is best for me in the short term, long term, personally, professionally, and in regards to my mental health. I spoke with my parents, my closest friends, Hanna, and my closest friends in Peace Corps and expressed my feelings, my doubts, my worries, my frustrations. My friends, family and loved ones were very supportive and understanding of course and I’ve received positive reactions and strong support from those who I’ve made aware of my decision. I notified Peace Corps of my decision to resign and I spoke with my work, Laura my site mate, and Nurbol, discussing our options as far as the continuation of the project after I leave. Laura will be taking over control of the remaining funds, as a Peace Corps volunteer has to be involved in that process for Peace Corps projects, but it will be my agencies’ responsibility to make sure the project is a success. If the project is going to fail, as so many similar projects in this country seem to do, all my staying will do is prevent the inevitable. If it’s going to succeed, my work, the student council, and the community need to make it succeed. I’ve done my best to help lay a foundation, however small it may be, and it’s now their job to see it either succeed or fail.

I am trying to leave the project as responsibly as possible, making sure that the children’s center, the student council and Laura have everything necessary to fix any problems that may arise. I’m leaving a guidebook and information on what I believe is the best way to utilize the new learning center and I’ve donated a number of resources from exercise equipment to art supplies, that I feel will best be used in the center. I really appreciate Laura’s willingness to help finish things up when I leave. I am hoping that she will have to do very little and that the children's center will take charge and make this project work, make it successful, but only time will tell.

There is a large part of me that feels some regret in that I’m leaving early and leaving the project unfinished but there is a larger part of me that says it’s time for me to move on with my life. I will still be in contact with friends, students and acquaintances from Olgii via email and Facebook and I am still interested in doing whatever I can from afar and helping in any way possible. I will be helping in grant writing and project preparation for some countryside water projects and will do whatever I can to help Agii with his dream of opening up a new private school in Olgii, so I don’t doubt that one day I will find myself here again.

My new adventure will bring me to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where I will begin working as a teacher in mid April. Teaching is not something I want to do for a career but I like the idea of teaching on the side or part time while doing other work and I am not opposed to teaching in places like Cambodia, which is very much in need of teachers. I have gained some great teaching experience in Mongolia and I feel like I can be a great teacher and I have a lot of experience and knowledge to provide to students in Cambodia. Cambodia is a place that I have been interested in for years and this is a great opportunity to live there, get some new work experience, and explore the country and culture. While I’m there I plan on doing some volunteering and working with whichever organizations can use my help. Ideally I’d love to find some work more related to human rights, international relations, political science, etc. but I will do whatever I can to help and gain experience. It’s very convenient that Hanna is working and living there now and it will be really nice to be with her and do as much as we can for Cambodia together. Of course I will continue my blog and make new posts about my work, adventures and life in Cambodia and I will take plenty of pictures.

It’s impossible for me to summarize everything that I’ve experienced as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia and everything that I’m thinking and feeling right now, especially in a blog post. In the not too distant future, when I've had more time to think about my experiences, I'd like to write them down in more detail and share them with friends and family. Also, I think at some point in the future, when I have a lot more experience in different fields, different countries, and I have more diverse, developed and mature insight, I’d like to possibly write some longer, more detailed and comprehensive essays or maybe even a book. Who knows? Time will tell where these new experiences and life take me. I'm open to trying new things in new places and I'm excited for what opportunities will arise.

Anyways, I feel like I’ll start going in circles if I continue with this post. I am finishing up some details on my project, getting ready to leave, and saying my goodbyes to everyone in Olgii this week. On Saturday I will fly to Ulaanbaatar, next week I’ll be doing all of the necessary out processing for Peace Corps and the following weekend, barring any problems, I will be flying to Cambodia. More to come. :)

Nauryz Photos

Nauryz (Kazakh New Year)

I forgot to make a post about Nauryz, the Kazakh new year, which we celebrated this past Monday, March 22nd. The holiday is celebrated on that one day every year, unlike the Mongolian new year celebration which lasts for up to a week. There is a big parade near the main square with gers set up, booths selling snacks and toys for the kids, and a number of interesting/funny photo backgrounds with props for people to take Nauryz photos with their friends and/or family. After the parade, people spend the rest of the day visiting friends and families at their homes, usually spending no more than 20-30 minutes visiting, catching up, eating whatever snacks and food are available, drinking tea, and having 'koje', the special soup made only for Nauryz.

Laura, myself and the other volunteers who were in Olgii visiting spent some hours wandering all over town, on a Nauryz day that unfortunately brought very cold and windy weather, visiting teachers and other friends of mine and Laura's. It was nice seeing a lot of our friends, introducing them to our Peace Corps friends who were visiting Olgii, and drinking enough koje that I thought I might fall over at one point. The day was exhausting but fun. I'm a little busy now so I will put some Nauryz pics up on my next post. :)

Bayan Olgii English Teachers' Seminar

The past two days (finishing today) we have been holding the Bayan Olgii English teacher's seminar at Laura's school, with over 80 teachers from around Bayan Olgii province in attendance. The seminar has been a bit hectic but it seems as though everything is going well and the teachers are enjoying themselves and learning a lot about new and alternative teaching methods.

I taught sessions on grammar teaching the first day, pronunciation the second day, did some ice breakers, and today I will be teaching a session on forming and running extra curricular English clubs. I have a lot of experience with this last session so I'm looking forward to giving the teachers new ideas on how they can run their own clubs and extra curricular (see fun) lessons for their students.

We have four other Peace Corps volunteers from different provinces teaching in the seminar as well. It's nice to see friends and see the teachers learning from new, interesting sources. I haven't taken any pictures but if I take some today or can get ahold of some of Laura's pics, I will post them up.

Making More Progress

So the last two days have been a bit frustrating but productive. The computers arrived from UB, intact and in a reasonable amount of time. The search for computer desks didn't go quite the way I wanted it to, as finding four matching computer desks in Olgii proved to be pretty much impossible.

A few stores had decent computer desks but none of the stores had more than one of the same kind of desk. I wanted to have four matching (or close to it), quality, affordable desks for the computers but after two days of trips to numerous stores, confusion over what was available and prices, and lots of haggling, we managed to find four desks, none of which match, but all seem to be decent quality and the prices weren't horrible.

Today we brought the desks to the center and managed to set up the computers for the most part. Three of the four computers seem to be working fine, with one appearing to be in need of reformatting. I'm hoping I can get my computer guru of a mother on messenger or a skype call to help me fix the fourth computer, so we'll see how that goes. The other computers I set up with antivirus software, antispyware, antimalware, 'Mario Teaches Typing' software and an English learning software program. Next week, when everything is (hopefully) set up correctly, Nurbol and I will be going over what I put on the computers and showing the children's center workers and student council members the best ways to handle the computers to avoid problems.

I also put a number of American movies and some music on the computers, so students can take those with a flash drive if they want. I have had a number of students ask for American movies and music so it will be nice to provide them with access to these. We picked up a couple of rugs and we went to a guy's house who specializes in custom wood furniture. He's making eight chairs for the computer desks and the table for us. We'll hopefully be picking those up tomorrow. At some point we need to pick up a printer and figure out prices for internet access. Other than that, I need to buy a few small things, bring in some supplies and resources from my apartment, and start cleaning up, making sure all the details are in order. If things go as planned the center should be open and available for kids to use by the end of next week or early the week after. As I won't be here much longer, I'm hoping this will be a great resource for the next Peace Corps volunteer to expand on and take advantage of when he or she gets here in August.

I will update more and add pics later when everything is finished and looking the way it should. :)

Kazakh Wedding Music

Laura and I made a brief appearance at a local wedding on Sunday, the groom being the brother of our friend Armana, who's in town for a few weeks with her husband Joe and daughter Leila. Joe lived in Ulaanbaatar for three years as a math teacher and Armana, who is from Olgii, also worked there, when they met. They were married in 2008 and lived in Olgii for half a year, where Laura and I became good friends with them. They went to the U.S. for Armana to have the baby and Joe has been a grad student at Harvard for the past year. It was really nice to see them again after over a year and we're hoping to spend some more time with them this week.

I recorded a short video of the wedding song, check it out. :)

Computers On The Way

Today I received a few text messages from Nurbol in UB, notifying me that he had purchased the four computers and they would be leaving on a van or bus from UB to Olgii today. Hopefully this means they should get here before the end of the week, barring any problems along the way. As soon as they get here, we can purchase computer desks, get everything set up and I can start installing necessary software. I'm excited because once we have the computers set up and ready to go, we can use the rest of the project money to purchase some more desks and chairs, a printer, and a few other miscellaneous items we need, and finish up cleaning and decorating before we open the center up. I need to work on the details of the guidebook/manual for my coworkers and give them to some friends to translate into Kazakh or Mongolian. If I can get this done as soon as possible, it should make the last couple weeks of the project go very smoothly.

Nurbol took the TOEFL test in UB yesterday and he said he feels good about how it went. He should hear back the results in two weeks and if he gets a passing score, there's a very good chance he will be going to study in Hungary. I'm hoping for the best for him, I know he'll do great as a student in Europe.

The English olympiad is over, things are moving forward on my learning center project, and coming up next is Nauryz, the Kazakh new year, and Laura's big English teacher's seminar. I have to finish preparing a few more details on my lesson plans for that but I'm confident about what I have planned so far and I'm excited to meet more teachers from around the aimag (province) and to see some of the Peace Corps volunteers that will be visiting Olgii for the seminar. Laura is kinda freaking out and stressing about the seminar because it's a pretty big deal and she's been working really hard on it for a while. I know that she's going to do fine and the seminar will be a success. She's a great teacher and I know she really cares about helping out Olgii's English teachers, providing them with new resources and an increased understanding of how to improve their teaching, lesson planning, classroom presence, and overall understanding of the English language and how to teach it.

My Students' Hip Hop/Dance Performance

Here's my newest video, it's the hip hop/dance performance my 11th grade students performed for their team introduction at the English and general knowledge olympiad last week. There's more details in the video description, hope you enjoy it. :)

English Olympiad

Laura and her 11th grade team.

Laura and Erkegul, the English teacher from Darin and a friend of mine. Erkegul was actually a French major in college but she's one of the best English teachers in Olgii.

My students, the 11th grade team from Darin.

Explaining something :)

Making new friends while preparing for the competition.

Yesterday and today we had the 2nd English and General Knowledge Olympiad, where 9th, 10th and 11th grade students from nine schools around Olgii competed in English usage, general knowledge, math, and computers. A lot of effort was put into the competition and without the help of Laura and Agii (English teacher and a good friend of mine), none of it would have been possible.

I was only part of the initial planning/brainstorming session for the math and computer sections of the competition but I was very involved in the planning for the English and general knowledge section. I also served as the host/announcer, which was fun. Ashlee, Lauren(Olgii Fulbright scholar and eagle hunter extraordinaire), Botagoz (Olgii's English methodologist) and Marjan (from World Vision) served as the competition judges. Each of Olgii's nine schools, six public and three private, sent teams of four students, one team for each grade, 9th, 10th and 11th grade. After giving a brief (many entertaining and creative) team introduction, the students were quizzed on general knowledge questions covering geography, science, history, and other topics. English usage sections included grammar, vocabulary, idioms, and proverbs. There was also a performance section, where teams and individuals sang songs, rapped hip hop lyrics, and some included dance routines.

Between sessions, students in the audience were given the opportunity to answer sample questions and were awarded books if they answered correctly. The students put a lot of effort into preparing for the competition and Laura and I were very proud to see teams of students, that we had taught and prepared, do very well. The students, especially the girls, are very competitive and there were emotions running high when the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners were announced. Quite a few of the students were in my classes last year and some are in this years' as well, so it was interesting seeing them all competing. I was very proud of them, especially my 11th grade girls, many of whom I met when I first started teaching in Olgii. :) I know that they have bright futures ahead of them if the continue to work hard and apply themselves.

After the competition was over, Agii and I were both pretty exhausted and drained. The power was on and off all day today, delaying the competition and making people restless. Despite the delays and two pretty long days, I feel like the competition was a success. The students really seemed to enjoy it, many students earned prizes, all of the students got free books, and certificates were raining from the sky (Mongolians/Kazakhs love cerfiticates). Agii and I went to dinner and had a beer, discussing the days' events, talking about what can be improved upon for next year, etc. Agii is a rare breed, a smart, hard work teacher who genuinely cares about his students, his community, and wants to make things better. Him and I have some long term plans that we feel will really help Olgii out, which I will elaborate on further in a future post.

Besides the English competition and preparing for Laura's upcoming English teachers' seminar, there wasn't much going on this past week for me. Nurbol is in UB and will hopefully be purchasing and shipping the computers for the learning center tomorrow. IF things go as planned, next week we'll be setting up computers and buying the rest of the furniture for the new center. I'd like to have it open and available for students to use before April if possible. I think with the current funds and resources available, it's going to be a great place for kids to spend time, study, use the computers, and feel comfortable and safe. I'll try to post some more pics from the competition up next and possibly a video. More to come. :)

Hahahahaha

I want to be as happy as this guy...all the time.

Pictures From Today

Check out the sweet green apple clock. Stylin'!

Altinbek and Nurbol trying out the new couch. Surprisingly comfortable. :)

Started decorating, gonna need quite a few more maps and posters to finish decorating the entire room, we'll see what we can come up with in the next few weeks.

Before I showed up with a broom and a bucket...

After :)Not perfect but it's looking better. We'll be putting down some rugs and rearranging things once we have everything we need, it will look great when it's complete.

Good News and Some More Progress

So after all the drama of finding out that World Vision apparently couldn't help us with the project, Agii went back and asked again, asking if they could give us SOME support or funding, even if it wasn't the amount we originally asked for. Surprisingly, they said yes and we now (apparently, keeping fingers crossed) have the money necessary to provide prizes and we're pulling together some books that Laura and Agii have to give as consolation prizes for the other students who participate. In addition, Lauren, the Fulbright scholar who lives in Olgii with us, is providing some extra funding. With the combinbed funds from these two sources, the books from Agii and Laura, and help with certificates (and maybe 'medals') from my work, we should have everything covered. It's a nice feeling knowing we can still go through with the project, just a day or two after thinking we might have to cancel it. :)

In other good news, I cleaned up the learning center today and Altinbek, Nurbol and myself made a trip to the market that ended up being more productive than I expected. We picked up a good sized rug, a nice sturdy table (still need chairs for it), a couch with two matching chairs, a clock, a trash can, and a dustpan and brush. Also, the wall is finished so I started hanging up some maps and posters to decorate. The wall outlets are finished and appear to be working with no problems. Nurbol leaves on Monday to go to Ulaanbaatar. He's going there to take the TOEFL test (good luck Nurbol!) and will also be purchasing the four computers that we will be putting in the center. We decided that purchasing them in UB is a smarter idea because it will save us a pretty good amount of money that we can put towards more resources for the center. Next week I will be looking for chairs, small tables and desks, and a few other miscellaneous things we'll need. Things are going well and hopefully everything will be set up and complete before April.

This weekend is going to be a busy one, as Laura and I have to finalize the details for the competition and I have to get my sessions and lesson plans ready for Laura's huge aimag (province) wide English teacher's seminar that's coming up. I am teaching a few sessions and Laura is putting outlines of each session on a resource cd that each participating teacher will receive. There are over 80 teachers coming, along with some more Peace Corps volunteers from across the country and Laura is putting a lot of work and effort into this, so it's a pretty big deal. It should be fun though, I'm looking forward to helping out and meeting some more teachers from around the aimag.

On top of all this, I am back to teaching again, taught most of my regular classes this past week. Erkegul, the English teacher at Darin school, asked me if I could pick up a new class and start teaching the 7th graders there next week. I said I might be able to (I'm sure I'll end up doing it) so we'll talk about the schedule this coming week. Thursday and Friday we have the olympiad and Nauryz, the Kazakh new year, is coming up, so I'm not sure what the school schedules will be like for the next couple weeks. The good thing is that many of the Darin 7th graders are my 6th grade students from last year at the children's center. I saw some of them a few times this week and they were pretty excited to see me. It should be fun to teach them a bit more before I leave.

I will put some pics in my next post, probably later tonight if I have time. I added all my pics from yesterday and today to my Facebook project album so take a look.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075189&id=72206395&l=9b738f88ad

As I said, this weekend and the next couple weeks will be very busy but I will try to post an update if anything exciting or interesting happens and I have some time. :)

Disappointment

Disappointment and frustration. These are the two words that best describe what I'm feeling right now. Marjan from World Vision messaged me and told me that our project budget wasn't approved and that they can't help us. We already gave the information to the schools and for the past week, teams have been preparing for the competition. I even helped my 11th grade studens in preparing for the competition a bit, yesterday for about forty minutes after class. World Vison told us they would help us but apparently the regional manager didn't approve. I'm going to be meeting with Laura tomorrow morning and later with Agii to brainstorm and see if there are any possibilities to receive alternate funding or if we can make some changes and still go through with the competition.

Anyways, I uploaded a few more pics to my Facebook album for the project, they can be seen here.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075189&id=72206395&l=9b738f88ad

Will update when I know more.

Pictures from the past couple days

The market, one shop opening up, while others remain locked with no workers in sight, at 11:00 AM on a Wednesday.

The wall, paint almost done.

Me in the room, in my shiny jacket. :)

The outlets and surge protectors. Chinese products, hopefully they will be good enough so that the center doesn't catch on fire. O_o

The eye in the sky. "Security" at the Olgii market.

The early bird gets the......nope, not here.

As someone who at times considers myself to be a bit of a 'dude', I can appreciate a laid back attitude, occasional laziness, sleeping in, relaxing, and 'taking it easy'. As someone who's from the U.S. and has been a hard worker since the age of 16, sometimes working two or three jobs at a time, if necessary, to pay my bills and be able to afford what I wanted, I also appreciate hard work. I appreciate the fact that when living in the U.S., if I had a lot to get done, I could wake up early, go out and run all my errands, get things done, and complete any number of tasks/errands in a few hours. Living and working in Mongolia, especially as an American idealist with big hopes and dreams of making sweeping, positive community changes, adjusting to a culture that has a very "relaxed" attitude towards work, can be frustrating, to say the least. Progress can be minimal at times in Peace Corps Mongolia, as I'm sure it can be in many other Peace Corps countries, so we learn to take pleasure in small victories.

Since my grant money arrived, I was surprised at how quickly the project moved forward. In one afternoon we purchased almost all of the supplies for construction and after about a week, the construction is almost complete. Today I went to the bank with Nurbol, Altinbek, and my director Doman, and we withdrew all of the funds. This was done under the impression that we'd be buying a lot of the furniture and the computers today. Nurbol, Altinbek and I went to the market, with high hopes (at least mine were) about making more progress and purchasing much of the necessary equipement for the project today. We arrived at the market area about quarter to eleven and discovered that almost none of the shops we needed to peruse for furniture were open. Keep in mind, this is on a Wednesday. Now, I know that days start later here, that's just the way it is. But when you go the market, it's almost lunch time, and almost none of the shops are open, it's a bit disheartening. This would make sense to me, I suppose, if the market was open until like 7:00 or 8:00 but no, the market typically starts closing down around 5:00. The lunch 'hour' for most businesses or organizations (like my work, the post office, etc.) usually (and I use the term loosely) runs from 12:00 to 2:00. This combination makes for a very small window of opportunity to get errands, work, or any tasks completed. As any Mongolian PCV will tell you, a small list of tasks or errands (even grocery shopping) will take you to multiple stores, across town, and something that would take you an hour or two in the U.S., can take a day or more in Mongolia.

After wandering all over town from 11:00 to 2:00, checking out prices on couches, computer desks, computers, and chairs, I came home with absolutely nothing to show for it. Nurbol and I discussed our options and now I am torn between buying overpriced computers in Olgii, which in theory will help the local economy, or buying better priced computers from Ulaanbaatar and saving a pretty good amount of money that could go towards other resources for the project. This afternoon I tried to contact Altinbek, went to work to find him and had no luck. I was hoping to get a few more things done today but wasn't able to.

To make my day more interesting (see frustrating), Agii called me and told me he had to meet with me asap. I met with him five minutes later to discover that World Vision is hesitating on giving us the money for the Olympiad, the money they said they'd give us. Apparently the regional manager thinks that the money we want to give the first, second, and third place teams is too much and that it's not necessary for us to give books (really good, practical books the students will put to good use) to all the students. I went and spoke to Marjan, a friend of mine and Laura's who works at World Vision, and she explained that Demid, the local manager, is meeting with the regional manager and they will have the answer for us later today. So now we wait on their decision.

Sigh...long day. I'm going to post a few pictures and then will update when I know more about what's going on with both projects.

In the meanwhile, here's a couple of cool songs/music videos by Canadian hip hop artist Classified. I really like Classified and I've been listening to one of his albums over and over again on my ipod.

Bonanza Bananas, Random Pics, and Short Update

It's a good feeling when I wander over to the market to do my grocery shopping and come across bananas, especially 'Bonanza!' bananas. :) I've been trying to be a lot more health conscious the past couple months and finding things like bananas, spinach, lettuce, etc. at the market really helps.

Often when I wander around Olgii, whether it's on a walk around town, by the river, or just the five minute trek to my work, I bring my camera. Often times in the past I'd see things that caught my eye, made me laugh and that I wanted to take a picture of, but I always seemed to forget my camera. Now I try to remember to bring my camera everywhere I go but it seems like whenever I have my camera, I don't see any of these exciting, funny or odd things. Strange how that works huh? So until something funny or exciting happens and I have my camera to catch it, you can just enjoy these random shots from around Olgii. :)

Today I met with Nurbol, Altinbek and my boss Doman, who just came back from Ulaanbaatar, and we discussed a few of the details on the project. The paint will be finished today, we'll be cleaning up the room a bit and hopefully, if things go as planned, we'll go to the market tomorrow and start buying furniture. I want to get the furniture and computers set up, make sure everything works with no problems (electrical basically) and then start getting the computers ready by installing language learning software and preparing them for the worst Mongolian children can throw at them by installing anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-malware software. The sooner I get all of this done, the sooner I can hold some meetings and training sessions with my coworkers and the student council about how the center can be used in the most effective and best possible ways. My biggest concern, when finishing this project is that it will fall victim to what the countless other resource room/library projects done by PCV's over the years; the infamous Mongolian locked door. Basically, different organizations and schools throughout the country are notorious for keeping resource rooms, gyms, libraries, etc. locked and they never get used for what they are meant for. Why this is, I have no idea. Hard to understand, hard to explain, and very frustrating to witness. Let's hope that with the proper training, information and explanations, the children's center will use this resource effectively and keep it open and available to children on a regular basis.

Oh yeah, also, the last pic above is a ger in the main square, across the street from the Bayan Olgii parliament building. It was set up, over a month ago, by the Mongolian democratic party to protest and call for the governor's resignation. They are accusing the governor of corruption (no surprise there) and have listed all of the positions in local government jobs which are filled by the governor's relatives. In talking with my local friends, I've learned that Bayan Olgii has a reputation as the most corrupt aimag (province) in Mongolia. It's very unfortunate and sad.

More updates to come. :)