Zaisan Part Two

The weather has been absolutely GORGEOUS here lately!  60s and sunny...Sorry Minnesota!  Okay, not really...  ;)  Last weekend we decided to take advantage and do some outdoor sight-seeing.  Cedell had never seen Zaisan, and though I went out there with my friend Bryce last year, I knew it would be good exercise (so many stairs!) and good company.

It turned out to be an awesome day: I got to hold a Golden Eagle, we successfully negotiated a lower price on souvenirs (by telling the seller, in Mongolian, that we were Peace Corps Volunteers and NOT tourists), and enjoyed the finally fresh air.

 Up at the top!

 Holding the Golden Eagle.  Apparently, that is my official giant bird holding shirt.

 In the memorial park across from Zaisan, with the Zaisan monument on the hill in the background.

At the big golden Buddha, I found my new pet kitty!

Site Visits

In an effort to be more transparent, as well as increase peer support, our post has decided to allow PCVLs and second year volunteers to go out on site visits and participate in site development.  I was unable to go in the fall (home leave) so I was super excited when Zorigoo, the Central Region and Health Program Manager, asked me to go with her this Spring. 

We departed from UB, went up to Darkhan, over to Orkhon Aimag (Erdenet City), then through Bulgan Aimag up to Khovsgol Aimag.  We spent 15 days and 14 nights on the road, visiting the volunteers who live in those aimags and developing sites for M23 extendees, M25s (the cohort coming this June) and even M26s/M27s!

For safety & security reasons (as well as confidentiality in case any of you M25s are reading this!), I won't post the exact locations we traveled to, but it was extensive.

It was awesome to spend time with the 13 volunteers who live in those areas, hear about the amazing work they're doing and, of course, socialize.  It was encouraging to see the first year volunteers flourishing and bittersweet to reflect on two years of service with the veteran volunteers.  But the really informative and enlightening part was to participate in site development.  When an agency submits an application for a volunteer, our Regional Managers have to interview them at least twice.  The first one is a preliminary visit in the spring to assess the agency, interview them (why do they REALLY want a volunteer?) and check out the community.  The second, after lots of meetings in the office and granting approval, is for housing checks in the summer.  Proximity to UB means some agencies can get another in-person visit, while the rest get follow-up calls.  While I couldn't do much but observe the Health and CYD potential agencies, Zorigoo let me take the lead on the standard line of questioning for the TEFL placements.  This way, we could informally assess their language abilities and gauge their interactions with a PCV.  There were two sites that especially stole my heart; I can't wait to hear if an M25 goes there!  After the "Why do you REALLY want a PCV?" line of questioning finishes, Zorigoo has to give each site a quick lesson on diversity (that they could get a PCV of any gender, color, religious background, etc) and our new Sexual Assault Policies.  She also goes over the housing requirements and safety & security.  If the agency agrees to it all and has a solid case for why they need a PCV, their application gets reviewed at the placement meetings that happen in the office in the late spring.  They are notified in early summer, and the second round of visits begin.  If housing passes muster, voila!  PCV placement.

I had a general idea of this process, but seeing just how in-depth the interviews are (hours and hours!) and just how many people are involved (not just potential CPs but directors, supervisors, key community members and even government officials) was very reassuring.  PC definitely does their homework before sending a volunteer to a site.  Sure, sh*t happens, but I truly believe PC does the very best they can, contextually, when selecting a site to receive a volunteer.

Below are some pictures, taken in the order we traveled back.  We drove straight to Khovsgol from UB, then did our visits on the way back Southeast.

 The horses in Murun, Khovsgol.

 Huh, thought I was in Murun, not on Lake Sturgeon!

 Driving to a soum (village).  Dang Mongolia, why you so beautiful!?

 Observing a volunteer's lesson.

 Coming back from a soum, the view of Murun.

 Some of the Khovsgol volunteers, and a visiting PCV from UB.

 A volunteer and her CP during a health seminar, demonstrating the Heimlich maneuver. 

 Mongolish (what we lovingly call English-Mongolian speaking clubs) in Murun.

 Sadly, this restaurant in Murun was closed.  I really wanted to see if they had chicken!

 No road? No problem!  Follow the power lines!  This is somewhere in...Khovsgol? Bulgan?

 Just such a beautiful country!

 The soum we stopped to spend a night in, in Bulgan.

 There were horses everywhere we drove!

VOLCANO!  In Bulgan.

 Observing a volunteer's lesson in Erdenet.

 Observing a volunteer's lesson in Erdenet.

 Observing the Film Club in Erdenet.

 The super gross waste "lake" just outside of Erdenet city in Orkhon aimag.  For more on the mine that causes this waste, check out this Wiki.

And the mine itself (taken when I visited Erdenet in June 2012).

 Loved seeing all the gers dottting the countryside; this was somewhere in Bulgan aimag.

 Ducks on a pond!  Spring has finally arrived!

 And because Spring had arrived, this was the muddy mess we drove though every time we would visit a soum.  (We slept in the aimag centers and drove out to the various soums every day.)  Thanks to our amazing driver Chuka, we never got stuck!

Even though I had been to many of these places before, it was still a trip of a lifetime, getting to see the wide open countryside and, of course, all the visits.  Grateful to PC for affording me yet another amazing opportunity!

Hittin' the slopes

Last Sunday (the 26th) we decided to try our luck on the slopes just outside UB.  In 2009, some very entrepreneurial people started a ski & golf resort about 30 minutes from the city.  While there are only 6 runs, it's DIRT CHEAP to spend a few hours on the hills...For a 3 hour lift ticket (and with 6 runs, 3 hours is long enough) AND ski rental, it cost approximately $25 ($31 for snowboard rental).  And it was about $3 to take the bus out, round-trip.  WHAT THE WHAT!?  Plus, if you go before 10am (which we did), there's an early bird 10% discount.  How could we NOT go!?  Needless to say, it was super fun, not because the runs were particularly challenging (in fact, the hardest run was closed the day we were there) or the conditions particularity good (in fact, they were kinda crappy; skiing on made snow as we've had none naturally this winter), but because of the novelty, the kitschy appeal: we went skiing in Mongolia! 

 In addition to the perk of 10% off, we also had the resort to ourselves.  No lines for ANYTHING!

 

  The resort; small but hey, it's in Mongolia so...

 I'm ready to go!

 Heading up.  It wasn't super cold and there was no wind; a great day for skiing!

 Looking back at UB and the super gross pollution; was nice to spend a day out of the grossness.

 Here I come!  Swuush!  Swuush!

We had a lot of fun and hope to hit the slopes again later this season.  For that price, how could we not!?

My 30th Birthday!

Not only did I celebrate a third birthday in Mongolia (Wait, what!?  Who saw that coming circa May 2011!?) but it was my 30th birthday.  THIRTY!  Dang, I'm 30.  Nah, not really, I'm ready for all that 30 means...Especially if it means a career circa August 2014.

My friend Daniel threw me a huge full moon beach-themed party on the 18th.  We crammed about 20 people into my apartment, donned neon clothes, painted ourselves with neon body paint and danced around with glow sticks...All before hitting our favorite club.  I was so overwhelmed with the turnout, with friends coming up from the Gobi and elsewhere across the country. 

 

Thanks Daniel!

  

Fun decorations and a place for birthday wishes.

  

I got two cakes!

On my actual birthday, a few friends took me out to a quiet dinner at the Cuban restaurant.  Yum!  It was a wonderful way to celebrate my third Mongol birthday and my third decade.

Third Mongol New Year

For my third New Year's in Mongolia, I also celebrated twice.  The first time I was invited to celebrate with the staff and volunteers of the Bayasgalan Day Care Centre.  My fellow PCV Katie works there and I had met her co-worker once (when we registered with the local governor's office, before I had my own co-workers to help with that sort of thing).  That meeting was all it took to get me an invite!  I am constantly amazed and humbled by the generosity and inclusiveness of Mongolians!  We went to a really great Mongolian BBQ-style restaurant (cheese factor = a million) but I was feeling a bit under the weather so I skipped out on the karaoke & dancing after.

For my second celebration, on Dec 31 & Jan 1, I traveled down to Omnogovi to visit the Ice Canyon (Ёлын Ам, pronounced "Yolyn Ahm").  It was my first time in the Gobi desert, so I was excited to say the least.  We left UB on Sunday, full of anticipation:

 

Selfie on the bus!

First stop: Mandalgovi, Dundgovi.

We got into Dalanzadgad, Omnogovi around dinnertime so we met up with our hosts Rose and Sam, went out to dinner then called it an early night.

The next day we played tourist all around DZ:

Dinosaurs everywhere!

 

Littlefoot!

This is my "tisk tisk" face at the historical inaccuracy of the mammoth's presence.

Camels everywhere (although we only saw one herd of live camels).

View of DZ from the restaurant we had lunch at.

Outside the government house.

Outside the Naadam Stadium.

Ice skating inside the Naadam Stadium!

Poppin' a pose at the hotel we ducked into to warm up.

There was a sign inside that struck me as aptly timed.

Then we went to the movie theater/rec center that had all this awesome natural science stuff in it...

We were having a deep conversation.

Then we called it a day and headed back to Rose's ger.


Chopping coal for the ger stove.


The coal dust goes right through the gloves and I was only chopping for a few minutes!

This is camel meat and fermented camels milk we picked up at the black market.


Chopping up the veggies and camel meat for dinner.

 This is stir-fried camel meat.  So delicious.  (The fermented milk was good too!)

Just hangin' in Rose's ger.

On Tuesday we kept a low profile until the Mandalgovi crew joined us and the NYE festivities started:

Then on Wednesday it was time for the main event, the Ice Canyon:

Leaving DZ

Driving through the foothills...

Finally made it to the parking spot.  Time to hike!

What up Gobi-Gobs!?

An ovoo with Ibex horns on it; ibex are super rare but we were still hoping to see one (we didn't).

Finally, the ice!

I wish Makade could have been here to help me find fossils in the craggy rocks!

 

A frozen waterfall.

Group shot!

We had lots of fun!

There was a lot of open water...

These little guys made very loud chirping noises.

In the narrows of the canyon.

The frozen water rings around the base of this ovoo were really cool!

Unfortunately for us, because it's been so warm, the Ice Canyon was more like the Slush Canyon and we only got about half-way back into it before we decided to turn around.  All of us had wet feet from the slush soaking through our boots.  :(  But it was still a very beautiful place; the ice formations were breathtaking, the color of the ice shining white then sparkling blue...We had a really great time.

Then on Thursday we got up before the sun to catch the bus back to UB.  It was an eventful ride to say the least:

These are our sad faces because we got a flat tire about an hour south of Mandalgovi.

Both tires were completely shredded off.

Sure was beautiful scenery though!

Can I get a ride to UB please?  Anyone?  Then we started singing "On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair..." because, well, what else could we do?

Theeeeeeen the bus got another flat, on the other side, about an hour north of Mandalgovi.

At this point, Laura and I had gone a little crazy.

It took us about 2.5 hours longer to get home than to get to the Gobi, not just because of the two stops to fix the tires but because there were only two spares...And three blown tires...So we had to drive painfully slow the last leg of the trip as the driver's side of the bus had only one tire/wheel instead of two.  Safety first, right!?  But if given the chance, I'd do it all over again...Maybe with galoshes this time though.