My Peace Corps Mongolia Experience

Local trade fair + English olympics extravaganza

asb353 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:43:17 +0000

The weekend of September 26, Arvaikheer hosted two big events: the Chamber of Commerce and Mercy Corps trade fair and the World Vision English Olympics. The city had a lot of visitors from nearby soums and aimags. The trade fair was organized between my office, Mercy Corps, and the government. Over 100 vendors from around Mongolia [...]

Yak Festival in Bat Ulzii Soum

asb353 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:23:41 +0000

In July, just after the Nadaam festival, I attended a Yak Festival in a neighboring city. Bat Ulzii Soum is a three hour drive northwest of Arvaikheer in Ovorkhangai Aimag. The Yak Festival was paired with the opening ceremony of Sun Dalai, a milk product production company. Sun Dalai produces traditional Mongolian dairy products like ariul, [...]

Mongolia in the news: NPR special series

asb353 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 15:39:08 +0000

Mongolia has been in the news recently, thanks to NPR. Listen or read the articles: NPR Special Series: Mongolia in Transition. Mongolians Seek Fortune in Gold, But at a Cost This article talks about “ninja” gold miners, based in Ugunga Soum, Ovorkhangai Aimag. Ugunga is just a two hour drive northwest of my city, Arvaikheer. Global Financial [...]

Mid-Service Training (MST) at Terelj National Park

asb353 — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:46:07 +0000

The last week of August, the M19 Peace Corps Volunteers had a mid-service training (MST). The training was scheduled around the beginning of our second year at our work site. The purpose of this MST training was to review the first year and to prepare for our second year in service. Also, it was a [...]

Traveling through the Gobi Desert

asb353 — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:19:51 +0000

At the very beginning of July, my mother came to visit me from America. For the first couple of days, we were in Ulaanbaatar. She was able to meet some of my friends and the Peace Corps staff. We also went to some Mongolian museums and restaurants. Then, we traveled through the Gobi Desert for five [...]

A year of service reflection

asb353 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:15:45 +0000

June 2nd was my one year anniversary living in Mongolia. I’ll try to give a reflection of my first year working in the Peace Corps. Lately, I’ve been traveling into Ulaanbaatar for various business activities. The summertime is the high tourist season in Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar has been packed with foreign tourists. Just walking around the city [...]

M19 swearing-in ceremony Mongolian cultural performances

asb353 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 05:39:23 +0000

Here are some long-overdue videos from the M19 swearing-in performances in Darkhan, Mongolia on August 16, 2008. I finally have fast enough Internet to upload the videos. This is just a sample of three performances, check out my YouTube channel to view the other five performances, and also three speeches in Mongolian by PCVs. The cultural [...]

Weekend spa retreat to Hujirt with my co-workers

asb353 — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:59:25 +0000

I just returned to Arvaikheer from a weekend spa retreat with my co-workers. The Uvurkhangai Chamber of Commerce received some money from the National CCI because we won the best Chamber for 2008, based upon our annual report. My director announced on Monday, that this Valentine’s Day weekend we would be going on an all-paid [...]

Introduction to my Mongolian friends

asb353 — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:50:05 +0000

I will introduce you to my Mongolian friends. Most of my friends are related to my work or to the other PCVs’ work. In Mongolia, most peoples’ closest friends are their co-workers. There is no separation between private life and work life. Therefore, I am good friends with my co-workers. I am also good friends [...]

How to clean a ger stove

asb353 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:16:38 +0000

Living in a ger requires me to do many chores that I wouldn’t normally do in America. I have everyday tasks, like making a fire with wood and coal. And weekly tasks, like fetching water, dumping out dirty water, washing dishes, and cleaning my stove. Now, I will tell you how I clean my stove. I [...]