The First Week

I have now been here one week. It's been interesting, but it is definitely going to take me some time to adjust. I did finally get a bed, and a bookshelf, and a kitchen table with one chair (I guess you can't have everything). I have developed a few new problems in my apartment though. Any time I run water in my bathroom sink or tub it floods my bathroom. I first noticed that when I did laundry last week, but then it would only flood sometimes... Now I can't even brush my teeth without creating a minor flood. When I got to work this morning I told Hongoroo about it, so we walked over to my apartment so she could see for herself. Supposedly the plumber will come this afternoon (maybe, if he isn't busy). More likely it will be "margash." I was also unpleasantly surprised to find out that in the Summer Tsetserleg doesn't get any hot water. I was first told that I would have hot water on Saturdays and Sundays, then when I got here they told me Saturdays. I didn't have any hot water this weekend, so much for my weekly shower. This morning Hongoroo told me that hot water comes on Sunday mornings and evenings, but then later she said that hot water doesn't come until September. I do have a water heater attached to my shower, but it currently doesn't work. She said that we can get it fixed though. Without a hot shower there is no point in living in an apartment, I would rather live in a ger!
My first week of work was pretty boring. I spent a lot of time reading through reports and other stuff that the UB office emailed for me to read. Then I read all of the client business plans that have been translated into English. I have learned that RASP mainly does trainings and helps to facilitate loans. We do technical trainings as well as trainings about business principles. And RASP has an agreement with several banks and will put up a portion of the collateral needed for clients to get a loan. The banking/loan system in Mongolia is much different than at home. The interest rates here are ridiculously high, usually about 2.5%-3% per MONTH, and the loaner has to put up collateral equal to about 1.5 times the amount of the loan. You can imagine it is really difficult for a lot of people to get loans. So RASP will work with small business owners, help them develop a good business plan and then put up a percentage of the collateral. That way the client can get a lower interest rate (because RASP puts up cash collateral, so that part of the loan is guaranteed) and build up credit with the bank. Our clients are pretty much all part of the agriculture industry, from herder cooperatives, veterinary clinics, vegetable growers, as well as tourist ger camps. From what I understand, tourism is our big thing this year, we are supposed to do a value chain analysis. I'm excited to help work on that. Arkhangai has 13 tourist ger camps, and a lot of cool stuff for tourists to see. We have hot springs, a volcano, a canyon and a lake with really good fishing. There are also a lot of herders, with yak, horses and camels. One of the main problems I can see with the tourist industry in Arkhangai, though, is that it is really tough to get out here. There isn't a paved road, and it is a LONG drive from UB. There also isn't a railroad or a working airport.
Once I finished all the reading, I didn't really have much to do. I'm really not sure yet how I fit into the office, and what I am supposed to do all day. I have started giving English lessons to my coworkers. Uunee and Hongoroo have pretty good English, so they want me to teach them grammar (gulp!). I created a worksheet on simple past tense this morning, so we will see how that goes over during this evening's lesson.
Last weekend I had big plans to do some shopping for my apartment. So on Saturday I went to the bank, and after standing in line for close to an hour was told that my money was not there. That was a bit upsetting, as the PC had told me it should be there by Wednesday at the latest. There was nothing I could do about it then, because it was the weekend. So I decided to just walk around town and scope it out. This morning I called the Cashier at PC, and it turns out the bank had made a mistake and sent my money to the wrong bank or something weird like that. I'm not sure how that is possible, since they had my account number, but oh well. Supposedly my money will be there this afternoon, and I will probably take an afternoon off work this week so I can buy some things that I need. The electric burners that were provided to me in my apartment are really crappy. One burner doesn't work, and the other will only come on high, but then randomly turns itself off and then back on after several minutes. It took me 3 hours to boil soup, so I'm probably going to just buy myself a new burner. I already feel bad about all the complaining I've had to do about my apartment.
Tsetserleg is really beautiful, and I'm really happy that I was placed here. I can't wait to do some traveling out in the country in Arkhangai! I'm hoping I will have a chance to ride a horse in the very near future!

Update:
It seems that all the problems in my bathroom are now solved. My landlord and Hongoroo came over after lunch, and my landlord showed me how to use the hotwater heater (apparently it's a bit tricky, and you have to do it just right or it doesn't work). Then the "plummer" showed up, with only a wrench. He sort of pulled apart my sink, and basically just stuffed a piece of one of my towels that he cut up down around the drain or something, and no more leaking! We'll see if that holds up tonight when I take a shower. And they even fixed my toilet! It didn't really flush before, I had to pour water down it while I flushed it. It took all three of them, some scissors and some string that we borrowed from my neighbor, and it's fixed!