Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools and new YouTube Channel

Hey guys!

I've recently launched a new Youtube channel, where I plan to upload videos of my life here in Mongolia as a PCV. I also participate in the Paul D.Coverdell World Wise School Correspondence Program, which brings the Peace Corps experience to American class rooms. I've been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to partner with a former high school history teacher. This amazing teacher was the first to introduce me to Mongolia, so it only made sense for me to share my experience with her and her students. I highly recommend this program if you're an educator working in the US, its been rewarding in so many ways. For more information about how you and your students can connect with a PCV visit the link below.

Paul D. Coverdell World Wise Schools

http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/about/

Youtube Channel Trailer

Peace Corps Mongolia Youth Life Skills Development

The Govi-Altai Health Department conducts an annual provincial wide monitoring and evaluation campaign every November. Our director, UNFPA project officer, structure engineer and maternal

Govi-Altai Province

childhood health specialist and myself participated in this years trip. We visited a total of 8 soums (villages) covering over 500 kilometers. Working alongside UNFPA project officer Bayanjargal and secondary school teachers we facilitated youth life skills.

Life skills are the psychological and social abilities that enable a person to adapt to and deal effectively with the demands and challenges of daily life. There are many life skills, but two main areas of life skills are personal management skills and social skills. Peace Corps in partnerships with UNFPA develop a series of manuals to build and strengthen the life skills capacity of youth age 13-18.

Peace Corps Mongolia Life Skills Books

Young people in Mongolia are growing up in a society that is undergoing a major transition even as they, themselves, are in a period of transition to adulthood. As part of an increasingly globalized world, they have to deal with an ever-widening number of influences and difficulties. As part of an economic system that is undergoing dramatic change, their families and communities are also confronting greater challenges and facing increased pressure, stress, and insecurity. These factors can lead people to start smoking, to abuse alcohol, and to resort to violence within their own families and in society, among other things.

Our trainings primarily focused on HIV/AIDS, STI/STD prevention, Self Esteem, and Stress Management. The students and teachers were a joy to work with and I look forward to returning back to the soums for future trainings.

Bayan-Uul Soum (pop. 2,943) Secondary School

Bayan Uul Soum Hospital

Tsogt Soum (pop. 3,697) Secondary School

Tseel Soum (pop. 2,038) Secondary School (One of my favorite Soum's!!)

Chandmani Soum (pop. 2,053)

I was unable to take pictures at every soum (technical difficulties, my camera died and there was no electricity).

More Pics from our trip...

Ger Stop at Sharag Soum

Fall Update 2013

Hey guys!! I can honestly say I love this blog! Its been such an amazing platform for me to share my experiences thus far with friends, family and who ever else is interested in reading about them. So what have I been up to lately??

Oyuna's Birthday Luncheon

Approximately two weeks before we departed for our epic expedition to mother mountain, we celebrated Oyuna's 58th birthday. Oyuna is pharmacist here in Altai and she recently retired from teaching at the Health Sciences University of Mongolia. She manages her own pharmacy right next to the general hospital, so what better place to celebrate her birthday than in her office during lunch! We had an awesome time, my site mates Jerome and Love were there along with Jargal and other teachers from the college. We sang songs and had our fair share of lunch meats, candy and cake.

Muhkbaatars Last Day

 I have the unfortunate displeasure to tell you all that my friend and main counterpart Muhkbaatar has resigned from the GAA Health Department. He has decided to pursue his master's degree in Ulan Bator and we wish him all the best! Good luck Muugii!

I made him a going away card and chocolate chuck muffins on his last day :( Miss you Muggii!

 

Thanksgiving 2013

We celebrated Thanksgiving a week earlier here in Altai this year at my home, nevertheless it was still an awesome time. I prepared lemon rosemary chicken, baked macaroni and cheese, a house salad, garlic mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, quiche tarts and chocolate chuck cupcakes for dessert. My site mates Max brought  Tzatziki and veggies while Jerome made hot chocolate and Love made mashed yams. Byron and Sondra made a wonderful apple pie crumble with whipped cream (a real treat out here in the our isolated soum) and Magda brought snacks for us to munch on afterwards. Dinner was amazing and we played Phase 10 afterwards. Once again good times! Now you would never know we celebrated Thanksgiving, given the photo we all took together has Christmas decorations hanging up in the background (I couldn't resist waiting until after Thanksgiving to decorate this year). I also forgot to take pictures of our wonderful meal :( All I have is whats posted below.

Yes I know who takes a Thanksgiving photo with Christmas decorations as the backdrop…we do! lol

So heres the salad...

Heres the quiche crust before I added the filling and….

Heres a chicken salad I made with the left overs lol I'm really regretting not taking more pics this just doesn't do any justice

Christmas Decorations 2013

Cue Toni Braxton's Christmas Time is Here, deck the halls with boughs of holly, break out that tinsel and tree because the most wonderful time of year is here folks!! Christmas is my favorite holiday, for one its Jesus' birthday and secondly its a time of giving and joy. What do you do when you're thousands of kilometers from home?? You go decorate every inch of your Mongolian apartment turning it into a winter wonderland. Merry Christmas, Enjoy :)

One Village

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following.  There would be:

57 Asians

21 Europeans

14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south

8 would be Africans

52 would be female

48 would be male

70 would be non-white

30 would be white

70 would be non-Christian

30 would be Christian

89 would be heterosexual

11 would be homosexual

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.

80 would live in substandard housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition

(ONE)1 would be near death;

(ONE)1 would be near birth;

(ONE)1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education;

(ONE)1 (yes, only 1) would own a computer.

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.

And, therefore . . .

• If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
• If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.  
• If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
• If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
• If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.
• If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.
• As you read this and are reminded how life is in the rest of the world, remember just how blessed you really are!

Super Typhoon Haiyan

My thoughts and prayers are with the thousands of victims of super typhoon Haiyan that wreaked havoc on the Philippines this past week. My heart also goes out to the 190 Peace Corps Philippines Volunteer and Staff, who thankfully were able to evacuate their sites and are now safe. Thousands are without food, water and basic sanitation, if you are looking to make a contribution towards relief efforts please click on the link below. 

Quote of the Week November 18-24

"More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost...."

-Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator (1940)

Quote of the Week November 4-10

Ээж Хайрхан Уул (Eej Khairkhan Uul) "Mother Mountain"

From Left to right: Me, Jerome (Site Mate), Saraa, Oyuna, Jargal and Saraa's Husband/Driver Enkeh

Mother Mountain was by far one of the most breathtaking places I've visited during my time here in Mongolia. Situated 11 hours south of my site (Altai City) in the Gobi-Dessert, Mother Mountain is one of the most famous mountain peaks in the Altai range.  Eej Khairkhan,  the Dearest or Sacred Mother derrives its name from an old legend. Eej Khairkhan was married to Aj Bogd Mountain far off to the southwest. But Aj Bogd was old, his head was topped with white year round, and his wife was not happy. Far off to the northeast she could see Burkhan Buudai Mountain. Burkhan Buudai was so handsome, standing tall and proud against the torquoise sky. Aj Bogd’s wife could not take her eyes off of him. With each passing day she liked Aj Bogd less and felt more and more desire for Burkhan Buudai. Finally she decided she must flee to Burkhan Buudai. But Aj Bogd became suspicious of his wife. Every night after she went to sleep he would hide her deel so she would have nothing to wear if she decided to run away. One night his wife woke and decided the time had come to run off to her heart’s desire. But she could not find her deel. In her haste she put on Aj Bogd Uul’s deel and ran off to Burkhan Buudai. Her husband woke up and saw her fleeing across the desert. In his anger he grabbed a big handful of sand and threw it at her. His deel was much too large for his wife and the hem was dragging on the ground behind her. The sand landed on the tail of the deel and held her down. She could not move. She has remained to this day in her present location halfway between Aj Bogd Uul and Burkhan Buudai Uul. The sand which fell on the tail of her deel can still be seen as the big dunes to the southwest of the mountain. But fate was not entirely unkind. Her past was forgotten and she is no longer remembered as an unfaithful wife. Her beautiful form standing alone in the desert brought succor to countless lonely caravan men who could see her from far off and eventually she became known as Eej Khairkhan (“Mother Dearest”) Mountain.

Eej means mother and Khairkhan is an honorific which translates as dearest. This peak is also noted for its beautiful waterfall which flows into nine pools, called the Nine Pots, each situated like stepping stones down the slope. There was a Buddhist monk who lived in a cave here about one hundred years ago which led to this mountain becoming a popular pilgrimage destination.

Our caravan of seven hopped in our land cruiser around 9 am Friday morning. After a few pit stops for lunch, bathroom breaks and camel sitings we arrived at our destination 11 hours later. This wasn't your typical weekend trip, there were no paved roads or rest stops/stores to refresh and buy food. We were the only people for hundreds of kilometers and to be honest I actually didn't mind it. The serenity of being that far from civilization was tranquil and unique. At one point I could have sworn we were on Mars, the shape of the rock formations and rugged terrain was like nothing I had ever seen before. 

We settled into our cabin around 9pm the evening, loading it with our luggage, sleeping bags, equipment and food. The following morning my site mates and I decided to take a sun rise hike.  After our hike we ventured back to the cabin for breakfast were we indulged in milk tea, bread, various cuts of meat, spreads and fruit. Immediately after breakfast we were back on the trail to explore the mountain. We spent the entire morning and afternoon visiting the former monks cave, napping by the waterfalls and having lunch on a boulder overseeing our camp. That evening we played Monopoly deal , and were invited to dinner by a group of Mongolians from another soum (village). We were blessed with amazing weather and clear skies, so kilometers away from any light pollution we gazed into the sky to watch the constellations. The following morning we ate breakfast piled everything back into our truck and headed back to Altai. I should also mention that Mother Mountain is a national park and is sits on a protected area of approximately 22,475 hectares. I hope I have the opportunity to visit this magnificent ancient wonder again. As always I've posted some pictures from our journey below. Enjoy :) 

Waiting for the sun to rise

There it is :)

We had an awesome view

Site mate Love and I

Our Cabin

Sunrise on the mountains

One of the first gers we stopped at. They had just slaughtered a goat and were cleaning it.

Dog and Horse

On the road again

"Bod" the man to my left happen to be the uncle of one of my counterparts at the health department. Small world huh (more like big Mongolia small population)

Goats and sheep

Bactrian Camels 

Afternoon Hike through Mother Mountain

Our Cabin again at dusk

The cave were a former buddhist monk use to live some 100 years ago

Afternoon Hike

The Cave again

A group from a neighboring soum (village) visiting Mother Mountain as well.

Cabin at Sunrise

Breakfast

Afternoon Hike

One of my good friends Jargal and I

The park rangers dog that followed us around all day. He was sooo cute and friendly :)

Wolf Rock

Bear Rock

Bird Rock

Rock Rock

If you look closely the yellow bag in the rock is Oyuna taking a nap in her sleeping bag :)

Crocodile Rock

One of the nine pots

Buddhist Ovoo

Camp grounds

Mother Mountain- Apparently its suppose to resemble a woman laying down. 

Leaving Mother Moutain

Paved road, shamaved road!! 

Wild Horses

Moon

Venus

Another pit stop on our way back at Jargal's niece's Ger. Who needs indoor plumbing when you have a flat screen t.v.

Snow on our way back.

Image: Park ticket. The one time entry fee was 300 tugriks ($0.18 USD).