Internet Musings

This post is not about my experience in Mongolia, it is my experience using the internet while in Mongolia. Maybe because my social life dramatically shrunk or maybe because I'm sitting at a desk for 40+ hours a week, but I seem to be randomly on the internet A LOT. (That's not to say I don't get work done too, but the standard pattern seems to be: work for 30 minutes, check internet for 10 minutes, work for 20 minutes, check internet for 20 minutes, work for 60 minutes, check internet for.....etc.)

So here are a few insights I have made after lots of internet time:

• Pinterest - I love it and hate it. Never has a website made me feel so conflicted. People post all kinds of fitness inspirations and exercise routines right next to a million recipes for delicious and decadent foods. I feel motivated and hungry every time I'm on there. Still, it is awesome and I'm realizing that there are some really awesome/nerdy people out there. That said....
• Fans are weird - I've always considered myself a pretty dedicated fan to certain things (Harry Potter, Star Wars, LOTR, etc) but I am nothing compared to people on the internet. I just learned the term 'shipper' (or something like that) about people who imagine relationships between different characters of books or movies. People, stop imagining different relationship combinations between Harry Potter characters, it creeps me out. Get a life!
• Fashion blogs - these provide hours of fun when you look up the back posts for 2 years on a certain person. I feel very well informed of Michelle Obama's fashion evolution over the past 2 years and I feel like I could be a pretty good stylist at this point.
• TV show blogs - I really only read the Downtown Abbey blogs, but boy were they fun. I never feel quite so informed until after one episode of one show has been picked apart by several people and discussed until someone's ears are bleeding.
• I'm getting to be really good at stiffling my laughter and hiding my smiling face in my office when I come across something funny on the internet. Of course maybe I just think I'm good at it and really my coworkers think I'm having a mini stroke every hour or so.

Well that's about all that comes to mind right now. Sorry for the lack of pictures, it will make this post very boring, but this is my blog and I felt the need to express the above thoughts.

Хоол (translation: Food)

For the most part I have really enjoyed the food here, though I admit I’m not too adventurous. Last week during Tsagaan Sar is when I was most adventurous because I was at the mercy of my hosts and what they were serving. Luckily the worst thing I ate was milk curds and a lot of fat to go along with the sheep meat. I like to take pictures of food when I eat something interesting (good or bad), so here are some things I remembered to take pictures of.

This is take out from the restaurant right next to my office. I don’t get food from there very often, only when someone else from the office is going because I don’t know how to order. I really love their food though; everything is delicious.

This dish is apparently very typical Mongolian. It’s basically thick fried noodles and was very tasty. I went out to eat with a girl from the other Habitat office and we just went to a kind of fast food-type place. 

This is a beet salad that the receptionist force-fed me a couple of weeks ago. She told me she had made it earlier in the day and so after I had eaten lunch she had me come into the conference/break room to try some. I thought she was just going to give me a spoonful but she ended up giving me an entire bowl. I did NOT enjoy it. I choked down a few spoonfuls with the help of the bread she gave me to eat with it and the water I had brought in anticipation of the new dish. When she left the room for a few minutes I quickly spooned most of it into a tissue and then into the garbage, leaving only two bites left for when she returned. Once again I feel bad that I threw it away and did not like it at all, but I think that was better than being rude.

This is a beverage that I have had to endure several times so far. It is hot milk and water, that’s it, just boiled watery milk. I’ve had it at church activities and at member’s homes. I’m assuming it is kind of the Mormon substitute for tea around here. It’s not that hard to choke down and I’m getting kind of used to it, but I still think it is a little funny.

 Here is what I had at the German bakery last week. It was a delicious sausage with bread and potato salad. It is in no way Mongolian food. I asked the proprietor of the establishment if she imported her sausage from Europe and she said actually there was an Austrian guy who moved to Mongolia and set up a butcher/sausage shop, so they weren't even imported, which I found impressive.

Mongolians, Mormons, and Missionaries: Celebrating Tsagaan Sar

Tsagaan Sar is one of the two biggest holidays in Mongolia. It is the Mongolian New Year. People celebrate by visiting family, giving gifts, and eating  (a lot). People here have compared it to Christmas in the western world because of the emphasis on family, gift giving, and preparation that goes into it. I admit that I don’t know the symbolism of any of the traditions or why everyone eats exactly the same thing. I thought about researching it for this blog post, but since I would just be regurgitating Wikipedia anyway, here is a link to the Wikipedia page for anyone who is interested: Tsagaan Sar

From my own experience with it, during Tsagaan Sar, people go visit family and friends; they sit around the table and eat mutton, potato salad, milk curds, candy, and most importantly buuz (pronounced boatz). Buuz are basically meat dumplings. One of the preparations for this holiday are making all the buuz; some families make as few as 400, others make several thousands, depending on how many people they expect to come by. Typically younger relatives go visit older relatives, so the older relatives have to make more buuz. Other traditions that I experienced included some specific greetings you give to people as you enter each house, starting with the oldest person and working your way down. At some point there was a bottle of some drug that we all passed around that we sniffed (being Mormons we all only pretended to sniff it). And the host family gives gifts to everyone when they leave.

The whole sheep that is on every family's table.

This bread tower is also an essential part of the holiday traditions. On top are dairy products and sometimes candy. 

This year Tsagaan Sar started on Wednesday (something to do with the lunar calendar) so pretty much everyone in Mongolia had Tuesday afternoon through Sunday off. On Wednesday I didn’t do anything; I stayed at home and vegged all day, which was really nice. On Thursday I had a couple of invitations from people from church. My first invite was at 2pm at an older woman in my ward’s house. I was meeting some missionaries so they could show me where to go. When we arrived there were lots of people there: 10 missionaries, the bishop and his wife, and a few other people. It was really fun. I’m super glad that the missionaries were there because not only are they able to translate, 4 of them were American and so could explain things to me in a context I would understand. All the missionaries and a few of the Mongolians were wearing traditional clothes which was fun. So I stayed there for a couple of hours eating and chatting away. It was a really nice and festive atmosphere. Apparently the missionaries all count how many buuz they eat to keep score. At this house Elder Haas was in the lead with 130 total over the past day and a half (I only ate about 12 at this house because I am not a 19 year old boy and therefore not a garbage disposal). I was able to get to know the bishop a little better and found he actually understands a lot more English than he lets on. His daughter is also at BYU right now.

Me with the host and some of the guests. The host is the 4th from the left and is an incredibly nice woman.

Some of the missionaries.

Other random guests.

Me with the bishop and his wife.

The whole group while I was there. Notice the missionaries in their full traditional clothing, you could tell that they were loving it.

After I left this house I went home for about an hour to lay down (eating takes a lot of energy) and then headed to Flower and Gerelee’s house. They are sisters who I’m getting to know from church. They both served their missions in the US and so speak great English. Flower is the one in charge of the music lessons that I help out with on Saturdays and Gerelee is the YW’s president, so I work with them both at church. The missionaries were coming to this house as well, but I knew they would be late so I opted for finding the house on my own instead of meeting them somewhere and going to together. This gathering was basically the same as the one before. We sat around a table and ate and talked. It was a little smaller and I really enjoy talking to our hosts so it was fun and relaxed. The missionaries by this point were looking at the buuz with more disgust (they having been to at least 6 houses just that day), it made it a lot funnier. I had a great time at this house and got to know the Mongolian missionaries a little better too.

The table of food at the second house.

Some of the elders dealing with the aftermath of eating so many buuz.

Group shot of second house (minus me and Flower).

On Friday I was invited to the 1st conselor in the bishipbric’s house. He doesn’t speak any English so he had a guy who served his mission in New York call me and invite me for him. I met the NY RM and his wife at the church and we drove over for lunch. It was much smaller just me, the couple, the 1st counselor, and his sister who I’ve talked with at church before and like very much. It was nice because it was causal and not a lot of pressure. Later that day I went to the German bakery and sat on my computer for a couple of hours (and got to talk to my mom).

The English speaking couple that I went with to the 1st counselor's house.

The sheep and the bread tower.

Me and Durelee, the first counselor's sister. She was the first person I met at church.

The first counselor and his guest. He has always reminded me of the cute hedgehog toy for Toy Story 3.

Saturday was another more relaxed day for me, though I met a girl from work at her office for a couple of hours to get a jumpstart on a grant proposal we’re writing this week. Then I headed to another café for the internet.  Sunday was good, I just went to church and taught my first Young Women’s lesson. I think the lesson went pretty well, the girls and leaders were pretty responsive to questions, which is always good.

Overall it was an excellent holiday. I felt so welcomed to every house I visited; Mongolians are really hospitable people. I didn’t go to all that many houses compared with normal Mongolians, but it was perfect for me. I’m so grateful that I know so many nice people through church. And it was really fun to spend some time with the missionaries, being that I am quite immature, me and the 19 year old boys had quite a bit to talk about. 

Catch Up

I feel like I have been neglecting this blog recently but that’s not totally my fault. The wireless internet has pretty much been out at my guesthouse for almost 2 weeks now, which is very annoying and cuts back on my random internet time; so I’m blaming my lack of internet access as the reason I’ve not put up any real posts lately. However, I’m currently sitting in a café, sipping some hot chocolate, downloading tv shows, and have the sufficient time to kill on the internet.

Life has been pretty normal the past couple of weeks. It is currently Friday afternoon and the reason I’m in a café and not at work is because it is a holiday in Mongolia, one of their biggest, so I’ve been off work since Tuesday (I’ll do a post about the holiday later after it’s finished).

Work is going alright. I’m getting busier and at the same time I don’t always have a lot to do. I’m working on setting up appointments with embassies, companies, and organizations to ask them to support our project. Last Thursday I had a meeting at the US Embassy, which was really fun. It was my first meeting here in Mongolia about pitching the Habitat project/getting support and it was great. I especially enjoyed getting to see some of the US Embassy. I’m also working on a Charity Dinner Fundraiser that we’re throwing in a couple of weeks. I’m not in charge but I’ve been asked to get invitations out to embassies, etc. so I’ve been working on that as well. Lastly there is a grant proposal that is due next week that I’m working on with a girl (Eenee) in the office. It is not very long and I feel like I could write it pretty easily but Eenee wants experience writing a grant proposal so it is going to take a lot longer. I’m actually meeting her tomorrow (Saturday) to work on it because we might not have time next week and this holiday schedule has derailed a few things. My boss will be back at work on Monday (I think), so I’m waiting to see if that will alter my workload at all.

In social updates I’ve been hanging out with the English girl Anna who lives at my guesthouse. Last Friday we met after work to go to a café to chat and sit on our computers for a few hours, which was nice. Then on Saturday afternoon I wanted to walk around some parts of the city that I’d never been to before and she came with me. We walked around for a few hours and stopped at an Indian restaurant that was recommended to me and got take out. 

Anna when we were walking around UB.

Saturday morning I helped out with music lessons at church for the second time. It went well although there weren’t many people there because of the upcoming holiday a lot of Mongolians had to work, it was still good and I was able to chat with the senior missionary couple quite a bit (and they’re the ones who recommended the Indian restaurant which ended up being fantastic).

The best update of all is that it is getting perceptively warmer!!!!! The temperature has been positive during the day most of the past week and even got up to 12F!!!! I was able to not wear a hat when I walked home from church on Sunday, it was THAT warm.

See, no hat!!!

Stay tuned in the next few days for my post about Tsagaan Sar, the Mongolian holiday where all we do is eat.

I also thought I would post this picture of a new billboard I saw a few days ago. In my opinion, any city that’s going to put Roger Federer on a billboard has got class.

My Humble Abode

This is the Lotus Guesthouse, my current accommodations. It is a hostel that is run by the Lotus Orphanage so they can have a place for their international volunteers to stay. The hostel consists of 2 apartments on the 2^nd and 3^rd floor of the building. I live in the one on the 3^rd floor and it is basically like an apartment. I have my own room with 2 beds in it and am very comfortable here. Right now 2 other people are living in the apartment: Alex from France and Anna from England, both are working for the orphanage for several months. We’ve had a few other visitors stay for a few days. The only downside is that I can’t lock my bedroom door which has made me a little paranoid, but I’m dealing with it.

View of the hostel from the street. You can see the sign in the upper left area.

The entrance. The blue door is where I go in.

The living room

This is the shower, it is like a pod type thing.

The kitchen

My bedroom, from a few different angles.

The view of the street from my bedroom.

What I’m Actually Doing Here

After catching up on several of my fellow international interns’ blogs the past few days, I realized that I should probably include a post about my actual internship and what I’m doing. So here goes.

I am working for Habitat for Humanity Mongolia as a Resource Development and Communications Associate.

Habitat for Humanity has been working in Mongolia for more than 10 years and has served to date 2063 Mongolian families through new homes and home repairs. There are four programs in Mongolia in four different cities: Ulaanbaatar, Erdenet, Darkhan, and Khangai. I am working in the National Office which is located in the capital of Ulaanbaatar.

My internship duties can be vague and general, but also very specific. I will be working on developing and strengthening relationships with local and international donors in order to make HFH Mongolia more sustainable and less dependent on HFH International. I will also be working on communications (read marketing) materials while I’m here. I’ve been asked to work with the staff to create 2-3 year strategic plans for Resource Development, Communications, and Advocacy for HFH Mongolia to carry out after I leave. One of the biggest things I’ll be working on is the Blue Sky Build 2012 (BSB). It is a week-long 20 house building blitz in the first week of July. Over 100 international volunteers and lots of national volunteers will be helping to build 20 homes in 6 days. Finding donors and assisting with promotion and marketing of this project is a lot of what I will do.

So far I’ve been familiarizing myself with past and current HFH Mongolia policies, communication materials, and everything else. I’ve met with the BSB team to discuss what they’ve done so far and what I can help with. I’ve researched potential donors that will need to be approached in the next few months, I’ve gone on a home visit to meet with potential home partners hoping to get a house through HFH, and I’ve put together the 2^nd quarter newsletter. I’ve liked my internship so far and I feel like I have a lot that I can do while I’m here, but that it is also up to me to get things done. The people I get to work with have been fantastic and I enjoy going to work most days.

I feel very grateful that my internship has worked out so well (so far).

If you would like more information about Habitat for Humanity Mongolia, please visit their website at: www.hfh.mn

Highs and Lows of the Weekend

Lows:

• I ate something Friday night that made me sick on Saturday morning. I'm not sure of what it was and unfortunately I had eaten something from my favorite Kebab place (although not an actual kebab) and something from the German bakery I like. I will be avoiding both for the next little while.

• The BYU Men’s Volleyball team lost both nights to Stanford, sacrificing their number 1 ranking dang it.

Highs:

• I bought a new mobile phone, replacing the one my internship gave me that is from 2004.

• I got to talk to my mom (twice), my sister, and one of my brothers on the phone.

• I got to talk to one of my really good friends for 2 hours 17 minutes but it only felt like half an hour.

• I was called to be a Young Women’s Teacher at church. (I didn’t actually know this was going to happen ahead of time. The first counselor in the bishopric came to ask me before church to write down my name on what looked like his agenda for conducting. I assumed my records had been received or something since I had not been asked to accept a specific calling yet. Well, when my name was read I quickly asked the Elder who was translating for me if I was supposed to stand up and he said yes. I was standing for what seemed like 5 minutes without knowing what was going on and finally they sustained me and I could sit down. The Elder said he didn’t bother to translate that because I already knew what I was being called to. When I told him actually I didn’t he told me YW teacher.) I’m not totally sure how my lessons will go just yet, but the YW President speaks English and will probably have to translate for me. Either way I’m kind of excited, I’ve never had a calling in YW before.

The highs definitely outweigh the lows so it was a good weekend.

Couldn't Resist

I normally wouldn't put up 2 blog posts in one day but I always post things with my mother as the intended audience and she likes to hear about anything exciting/frightening/completely normal that I do. I feel a little self-involved doing this, but whatever.

So this evening I made my first real friend (Mongolian or foreign) here in UB. As some of you may remember the receptionist seems to be very fond of me and so she pretty much set me and her daughter up on a friend date. Ochmaa is a 19 year old university student and she wants to practice her English. Not one to deny friends I was happy to oblige. So we met after work and went to a cafe to chat. We talked for more than an hour and then walked around the State Department Store (the big store with everything) and Ochmaa showed me the traditional Mongolian products section. It went really well and she and I already have plans to go to the movies next week.

I debated about whether to put this photo up because: a. I look terrible and b. because I'm wearing my green sweater that I seem to be wearing in EVERY picture (I'm not sure how this happens, I promise I only wear it once a week at the most, oh well). However, my desire to show off my new friend won out and so here it is.

Then as I was walking home from my outing, I saw a snowman which made me happy.

Lastly (and this is the best of all), I found this when I got home.

Alex, the french guy who lives at the same hostel as me had baked these lovely treats and left some out for me! I couldn't believe it. 

All in all an excellent day.

An Amazing Opportunity

Today I had the amazing experience of going to one of the ger districts surrounding Ulaanbaatar for some home visits. I went with Baagii (the Habitat for Humanity UB affiliate program director) and a social worker from her office. We were going to visit three families who will potentially be getting homes in the Blue Sky Build II (the big project I'm working on that is taking place in July - more info about that later).

It was humbling and exciting all at once. I was incredibly interested in visiting these neighborhoods, which are basically the slums of the city; but it was also very sad to see the living conditions and to hear the stories of these families who are in such desperate need. All of the families we visited were single mother headed households. The first family lived in a building (more like a shack) and will not know if they have been selected until March probably. The other two families lived in gers and are being sponsored by the LDS church (they are members) and so will be getting houses. (One of the reasons they let me come on this home visit was because they know I'm LDS too and thought it would be more interesting for me and for the families).

The best part of the experience was the fact that we were there for a good purpose. The families were happy and hopeful because we will potentially be helping them.

 

 Some of the walkways were really narrow and all made of whatever material was available from what they looked like.

 The first house we visited.

 Inside one of the gers.

One of the families with the district in the background.

This was my favorite photo of today. It shows 2 boys wheeling water jugs in front of a huge pile of trash with a cemetery in the distance.