Weekend

June 27, 2010

This weekend has flown by!!! Friday my site mates and I got to go to Ulaanbaatar! That was a lot of fun! We took the bus into town, which was an adventure. First of all my friend Jo and I ran to my house after language class to drop off our books, so that we didn’t have to lug them around town. BUT when we got back to school our LCF (Language Teacher) told us the bus already had come and gone. Let’s just say I was frustrated. At that point I thought we weren’t going to be able to go but she quickly reassured us that the bus was just going to the other side of our town and then coming back to pick us up. That was a relief! Ten minutes passed and the bus was back for us! I think that might have been the first time since I have been here that I was worried. Anywho, we got on the bus and went to town!
When we got into UB we got off the bus to meet up with some other PC’s to get on a smaller bus to take us the remainder of the way to the restaurant. On the way we saw another PCT on the side of the road walking. That shocked us because none of us are suppose to be in UB and especially not alone. Caroline, our trainer quickly told us that that was our first ET. (Early Terminator) Three weeks in and someone is already going back to the states. Crazy to think that someone is already going home but I am sure there is a good explanation as to why. (We’ll just have to find out later!)
Finally we arrived at the lovely ABAF!!!!!!!! American Burgers & Fries might be my favorite place in UB. Ah that meal was amazing!!!!!!!! I had a coke, cheeseburger, fries, and real ketchup!!! (No mustard unfortunately but the meal made up for it) During the meal I don’t think we spoke a word because we were all so very much enjoying the food! The restaurant owner, who I forget his name, is Korean American and for what ever reason he had the genius idea of opening up this place. I am very grateful for him!
After our lunch we then had the opportunity to meet with three different agencies that we as CYD’s might be working with in the next two years. I was thrilled to be able to meet them all and I am really looking forward to getting to my site to begin working! One of the agencies was dealing with child labor and we got to meet some of the kids who they helped get off the streets. That was really moving to be able to see the accomplishments they have made in their work. I hope to be able to become apart of an organization similar to that one to help prevent further kids from resorting to child labor. A lot of my job will be working with children to help prevent a lot of the issues we have been told about since arriving. My hope is to try and make a difference in my Aimag (town) so that the children see their own potential in themselves.
After meeting with everyone we got on the bus to get back to our little old town. I think myself and site mates included were excited to go home after our long day. When we got back we went to the locale Karaoke café to wind down. We have yet to sing but it is really entertaining to watch the Mongolian’s sing. They get so into it and pretty much scream at the top of their lungs! Afterwards I headed home. When I got home my mom had dinner waiting for me. As I was eating my Mongolian sushi, which consisted of seaweed and rice, low and behold my brother comes on T.V.!!!!!!!!!! (Alicia Key’s latest music video came on) Chad you have made it to MONGOLIA! That was really cool to show my family who you were in the video! I think that they were impressed! LoL.
On to Saturday, in the morning I didn’t do anything too terribly exciting. I basically just relaxed. Then my mom asked me to make lunch. Those of you who know me know that I am not best of cooks but I was so excited to be able to cook something new for my family! I had no idea what I was going to make. She sat out a leg, thigh, winged piece of chicken for me to defrost. The first thing that came to mind was fried chicken! It took me an hour to defat the piece of meat and to cut it off the bones. After that process everything else was a piece of cake! I made fried chicken, French fries, and sweet tea!!! They loved it!
After lunch we had our first community meeting/youth group! It was great!!! I was so happy that people came out to hang out with us! I’d say we had about 15ish kids there. We played uno, poker, guitar, and basketball with the kids. It was a lot of fun. I was surprised there was two kids there that knew English fairly well. It really wasn’t too bad with the language barrier. I am excited to get to know these kids through out the summer, we are meeting every week!!
Saturday evening was fairly laid back. A couple friends came over and we chatted for a couple hours. Then I watched some world cup with my family. I have no idea who was playing. The TV screen was a little fuzzy but it was fun to watch it with them!
Last but not least Sunday, today. Today had been HOT! Seriously I don’t think I have ever been this hot before but I do not mind it one bit. I am taking in all the hot memories I can get! ( I am storing them up for winter time lol) This morning three of my site mates and myself went on our weekly hike. Whooo, what a hike!!!! We hiked for about four hours. The mountain that we hiked to today we could see an over look of UB. There are a ton of mountains around here and our goal is to a hike every weekend!
After we came down from the mountain we decided to continue our hike over to the town’s water hole. Haha it really is a water hole. It is so small yet the coldest water I have had in Mongolia. It was a lot of fun because there we so many animal around like goats, cows, horses. They were just hanging out. Then I got to hold my first goat!!!!!! It was a baby and the cutest little thing!!!!
When I got home I was exhausted! My dad made me lunch and I went to my ger for a nap. I also realized I got really sun burned today. I didn’t think about putting sun block on today. Oh well, after my nap I awoke to find prolly the biggest bug I have seen in Mongolia. I quickly got my dad and he took care of it for me. Thank goodness he was around.
Well that has been my weekend. Full of random and exciting things! I am going to go have dinner now.
Love,
b