The Big City

The day before we left for UB we had our host family appreciation day. It was fun, Jim Carl (our Country Director) gave a speech, and then one representative from each training community gave a speech in Mongolian, and some people did performances. Then we had a dance competition and a volleyball game. My family didn’t show up. I was kind of sad, but expecting it. My host Dad had told me that he and my host Mom were going to come, but the day I left Sukhbaatar my Dad told me that my Mom had gone to the hospital the night before because she was throwing up. I’m pretty sure it was from the weird Chinese diet pills she had been taking… but nevertheless, apparently she was still in the hospital on Sunday. Tuya said that my Dad called and said that he had gone to UB and my Mom was still in the hospital so they were not going to come. I think it pissed my LCFs off more than it upset me. I hung out with Cady’s family, which feels more like my family than my actual host family did. I think I will probably go back and visit Cady’s family, but I definitely will not go back and visit my own. I’m kind of sad that I don’t have that relationship though, because most PCVs are really close to their host families and it’s nice to have at least a pseudo-family while you are half way across the world from your real one.
For the final days before Swearing in and dispersing to the far corners of Mongolia we are all in UB. During the bus ride here we had an experience that I feel has allowed us to truly say we have "experienced Mongolia." We had a breakdown. We had a big bus and then a smaller bus to fit everyone, I was on the smaller bus because it had AC (a delightful thing, I was actually cold for a little while). But about an hour or so into our trip we had a tire blow out. And, of course, the spare tire was lost. So we all stood around on the side of the road for awhile while PC in UB tried to decide what to do. It's funny that they hired a vehicle with no spare tire, because I'm pretty sure in one of our safety and security sessions they made a point to tell us to check for things like that BEFORE getting in a car for a long journey. Maybe they were just testing us, and we failed. In the end the decision was made for all the Americans to pile on the big bus, and the Mongolians who were with us (some LCFs and other staff) would get on the small bus and "drive slowly" until they crossed paths with the PC Jeep that was being sent from UB.
We did eventually arrive in one piece. UB is an interesting place. It's sort of a big city, but not. The outskirts are all ger district, which pretty much means slum. There has been a huge influx of people to UB for the past several years, and a lot of people just load up their ger and put it up on the outskirts of town. PCVs aren't really allowed to go out there much because it's dangerous. There isn't much of a skyline here, the tallest building I've seen is maybe 16 stories, which is big for Mongolia. But there are a lot of stores and cafes and other such amazing amenities.
We have all been anticipating UB for several weeks now. Mostly because of the food. There are hamburgers, pizza, chicken, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Korean, the list goes on. After a summer of rice or pasta with slivers of meat/fat and vegetables if you are lucky, this is like heaven!
Once we finally got to UB we arrived at the dorms where we are staying and had to wait for the truck with our bags to show up. I think the PC felt bad that we had the tire issue on the way here, because they brought us mutton burgers. We were all really tired and grumpy, we hadn’t eaten since breakfast and it was around 3:30 pm. It was really nice that we got free food, because it meant we had an extra 2,700 Tugriks for lunch that we didn’t have to buy! We’re staying in student dorms, which are really terrible. It’s pretty far away from the PC office and pretty much all of the restaurants and stores that we want. The beds (if you can call them that) are wood frames with a thin, lumpy bed matt sorely failing to act as a mattress. And there is only one shower for the whole floor. Although I have to say that at least we don’t have to hold the shower head in one hand while trying to wash ourselves with the other. That is a nice change. It’s a lot easier to shower with two free hands!
After we all dragged our ridiculously heavy bags and all the random crap we have been issued by the Peace Corps up the stairs to our rooms we piled back on the bus to go to the PC office and get our meal allowance for the 6 days we are in UB. After that Cady, Peter and I went in search of this place called “Coke & Kabob” that one of the PCVs had told us about that sells really cheap gyro-like things. We got really horrible directions and sort of got lost, but eventually we found it, and the Kabobs were, in fact, delicious. But practically impossible to eat with any sort of grace. They are GIANT pita pocket things absolutely stuffed with shaved lamb, tomatoes, onions and lettuce, as well as a sort of 1,000 Island dressing. But they don’t give you plates, or a fork or a knife; just a flimsy plastic wrapping. Somehow we managed.
We ran into a bunch of the other Sukhbaatar trainees at Coke & Kabob, and after we all ate we went to a bar called Tse, where they have beer and wine for 50 cents. They also charge a 50 cent fee to sit, but if you have a couple beers, it is definitely worth it. The normal price for a beer is anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 Tugriks, while 50 cents is roughly 600 Tugs. Cady and I left earlier than everyone else, because I had my room key, and I was worried that Amanda, my roommate, would be locked out. Thank god we did leave while it was still light out, because it was a little difficult to find our dorms, and the rest of the group didn’t leave until after dark and got completely lost. After wandering around for about an hour and a half they finally had to call one of the PCVs who lives in UB and figure out where they were. In UB there are women who sit on the street with phones that look like normal land-line phones, but are actually cell phones, which is nice. Since we don’t yet have our Peace Corps issued cell phones, it’s nice to be able to use a phone in a pinch.
On Tuesday the CED group visited CHF headquarters and the Enterprise Mongolia Project Headquarters in the morning, and then in the afternoon we went to the US Embassy. The Embassy was nice. It was nice to step on a little piece of America. The building had AC, and there were beautiful flowers everywhere. I saw snapdragons, which made me miss home. The security was pretty intense, it was more elaborate than the Brussels Embassy I visited last summer, but at the same time the guards were not nearly as serious. They were Mongolians, but had very good English, and while we were standing in line handing over our PC ID cards he was joking about which ones of us had guns. I’m pretty sure there would never be jokes like that in America! After the Embassy we took a walking tour of some of UB. We went to the State Department Store, which is where you can get pretty much anything. The first floor has cosmetics and jewelry and then a big grocery store. The second floor is clothes, then appliances and then the 4th floor is house wares. It was an amazing store, but pretty expensive. It was incredible to walk into one store and be able to find anything you could ever want, including giant Chinggis rugs like the one that hung on my wall in my host family’s house. In a country where you have to walk into 6 different Delguurs to find one cold soda, I can see why all Mongolians love UB for having stores which such variety.
After the State Department Store we walked to Sukhbaatar square, which was pretty impressive. We saw the Parliament building, which is currently under construction. The Kuwaiti government is funding a project to add an elaborate façade. It’s really pretty, it’s right at the top of the square, and there is a giant statue of Chinggis Khan. Sort of reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial. Before we came to UB we had a safety and security session about UB. Pick pocketing is a serious issue here, everything from slashing the bottom of bags to the three man “delay, distract and snatch” gig. After that session I was really worried about being pick pocketed, but so far so good. I haven’t really even been in a shady situation. We did have street children come up to us and ask us for money. They are really annoying, they are horribly dirty and probably have scabies, and they get up really close to you (personal space is nonexistent in Mongolia) and sing or just say “money, money money money.” I tried saying “hoosh” to them, which is a word that pretty much means “get away” but that just made them get closer and start touching me and talking louder. Obviously not an effective word with street children.
Cady and I had pizza for dinner that night, which was incredible. It was actually real pizza, and a place called Pizza Broadway. I think that I will be able to get good western style food in Tsetserleg though, which is exciting. According to the Lonely Planet guide there is a restaurant there owned by a British Ex-Pat couple that serves pizza and burgers and other such delicacies.
Wednesday we got to visit the Mercy Corps headquarters. That was really interesting for me, because RASP (Rural Agribusiness Support Program), where I will be working, is run through Mercy Corps. It was really interesting to learn how RASP is funded. It’s funded by USDA, but what actually happens is that surplus wheat from the US is shipped over to Mongolia and sold "in a way that doesn’t interfere with the local market", and the proceeds are used to fund RASP. That is the only source of funding. RASP runs on a budget of just over 8 million USD per year, and there are offices in 4 Aimeg centers. I’m really excited to start work. I think that I will get to travel a lot out into the countryside, because nearly all of the clients are herders. I think I will also get to travel to other Aimegs. About a week after I start work we will have a big trade fair, so I will get to meet a lot of our clients. I think my job is going to be really awesome.
After lunch on Wednesday we had a tour of the Peace Corps office, and then we had the rest of the afternoon free. Altaa took Cady, Melissa and I to this place called Mercury Market and Good Price Store. We were supposed to go there in the morning, because they are stores that have a lot of food that you can’t find out in the country, but they decided against taking us then because it may or may not be open in the morning, so instead the CEDs got to sleep in! I bought some stuff that I won’t be able to find in Tsetserleg, like brown rice, cinnamon, granola cereal and vanilla. Good Price Store is even more amazing, but unfortunately, as Peter says; “it’s the store called Good Price, that has bad prices.” They have hot chocolate mix, some spices, peanut butter, frosted flakes, saltine crackers and even Doritos! You can’t even imagine the excitement that is involved in seeing such things in Mongolia. They even had Charmin toilet paper!!! Most of the TP here is more like sand paper. But after the initial excitement, you realize that you are poor and can’t afford to buy very many things. That is a sad realization. A large jar of peanut butter is 12,000 Tugriks, well beyond what I can afford for such luxury.
Wednesday was a bit of a splurge day for me. I went to dinner at a restaurant called “California” with a bunch of other trainees. It is an amazing place that feels like a little bit of America. It’s all American food and the waiters all speak English. We even tried to speak Mongolian to them, but they responded in English. A lot of people in UB are like that, a lot of them know some English (it was just recently declared the second official language of Mongolia) and seem to prefer it if you speak to them in English. Cady and I shared a Caesar salad appetizer, which was delicious. And then I had a cheeseburger. We also had Long Island Iced Teas, which were HUGE! I spent way too much money on my dinner, but it was definitely worth it. After we all ate, everybody else left to go to a bar, but Cady and I stayed to have another Long Island and split a piece of chocolate cake with ice cream. They were, sadly, out of chocolate cake. But we spoke to the bartender in Mongolian, so he added an extra shot of top shelf liquor to out Long Island, which was pretty sweet. We were sitting next to a guy from Germany who is here on vacation, and we talked to him a little bit. He was commenting on how cheap Mongolia is. He’s definitely right, if you are here on vacation, but when you are paid $126 per month to live here, it’s not so cheap. And volunteers can’t afford to eat at good restaurants. We are given 9,000 Tugriks per day for our meals while we are in UB. I spent 15,000 on my dinner and drinks. When we were doing our tour of the PC office, we were talking to Jim Carl (our country director) and kind of complaining about how we can’t really afford to eat anywhere good on our budget, and his response was “yes, well those restaurants are not for Peace Corps volunteers.” They really do mean for us to live poor. But, at the same time, we aren’t in UB very often, so if we save up for when we come, we can afford it. And it’s not like there are very many places to spend our money out in the hudoo anyway! Aimeg Centers are a little different, but nothing like UB. As long as you don’t go out drinking every night, $126 out to be more than enough.
It’s amazing how many foreigners there are in UB. They are everywhere! A lot of them are “Jesus people,” as the Mongolians call them. When we were in Mercury Market today there were a lot of Jesus people there, talking about how they were praying for a 3rd floor apartment, but got one on the 5th floor, so maybe God is telling them they need more exercise. Mongolians are really sensitive to the missionaries here. A lot of times PCVs get asked accusingly if we are “Jesus people.” There are some Mongolians who have converted to Christianity, but I would say the vast majority resent that the “Jesus people” are here.
When Cady and I left California and began our 45 minute walk back to the dorms, we discussed the fact that we had two of the three “A’s” that are almost always involved in incidents for PCVs around the world (alone, at night and alcohol involved). So we decided to get a cab. Cady also made the point that taking a taxi was something we should experience to familiarize ourselves with UB. As we were discussing this, we were crossing a street and there was an empty taxi right in front of us. So we jumped in. The problem with us getting a taxi is that we don’t know the name of the dorm we are staying in. They told us to say the name of the Monastery that is right down the street, but of course we forgot the name. So we told the driver to take us to a restaurant that is really close by. And we spoke to him in Mongolian, as much as we could. We said things like "Mongolia is very beautiful" and "I like fruit" (we’ve been told that if you speak to the drivers in Mongolian they may cut you a break on price, or at least won’t over charge you). We successfully arrived, and it was only 800 tugriks! Even better, it took about 5 minutes to get back, rather than the 45 it would have taken to walk.
Today was the first day of our supervisors conference. Everyone's supervisor came and the Peace Corps talked to them about American work norms and other stuff to make the cultural adjustment easier, while we had a Medical Session with the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer). Right before lunch we all went into the conference room and they called out the Aimeg, Soum and organization that we will each be working for one-by-one and we went up to meet our supervisor. After that we went to lunch at a restaurant near by and got to talk to our supervisors for awhile. Mine is really nice. His name is Dashzegve, and he has worked at RASP in Tsetserleg for 6 years. He speaks fairly decent English, which was nice. A lot of other trainee's supervisors speak no English, so they had to have one of the PC staff translate for them. He told me that I will get to travel out in the countryside a lot to meet with herders who are our clients, and we will be having a big trade fair on September 24th and 25th. It will be nice to get to meed a lot of our clients right off the bat, and get familiar with what they are producing.
I'm so excited to swear in on Saturday! I will finally be a PCV! And then on Sunday I'm off to Tsetserleg. It's a 12 hour drive, which is going to be rough. I think part of the road is paved, but not very well, so it might be even worse than a dirt road. I have no idea when we are going to leave, so I may not get there until the middle of the night and then my supervisor will probably want me to be at work on Monday... Yahnaa! The Peace Corps is kind of making things more difficult too... they are giving us our winter bags, our cell phones, our traveling money and a bunch of other random stuff on Sunday morning. And not until 10 at the earliest. It's ridiculous, because I need to pack strategically to get all the extra stuff I've acquired into a bag, and I only have extra room in my winter bag, so I need that to pack! The Peace Corps is not always the most organized... We are trying to get them to open up the office on Saturday after swearing in, so we'll see.