Hello again from the, aptly-named, Land of Big Sky. Jim here to report that our first three weeks have been filled with language training, laughing at ourselves and with loving, hospitable host families. Our first week of orientation was spent in Darkhan, one of the bigger Mongolian cities north of the capital, Ulaanbaatar. Our first day featured an official welcoming ceremony when we were each presented with blue silk “khadags,” a gift of thanks and respect. We were treated to a marvelous performance of traditional music and dance. We had been wondering when, exactly, the realization would hit us that we really are taking this journey. For me, this ceremony was that time as it marked the literal beginning of our service here and the epiphanal moment when the surreal transformed into the very real. It was the “This is really happening” jolt and my eyes welled up with feelings of satisfaction and pride.
In our host city of Sukhbaatar, the training throughout, be it on language, culture, safety and our program areas, has been terrific. The language training has been pretty intense and exhausting. The language trainers do not use English in class and we rely on each other as classmates to do interpretation. Often we find ourselves staring within inches into the mouths of our trainers in attempts to answer the frequent question “how are they making that sound?” For some sounds, there are no English equivalents. We must sound very funny to people here and our mispronunciation can lead to many laughs. For example, if you don’t say the phrase “It doesn’t matter” just right, you might actually be claiming to have “no nose.” This training period is flying by. We can’t believe we have only 5 weeks of language training until final testing. We have to be capable enough to survive here on our own before we are released to our assigned homes at the end of August.
Our host families have been wonderful to us. The living conditions are not like you’d expect in the States, but we are comfortable and all our needs are being met. The food has been really good. The meals for many families here in Sukhbaatar typically consist of some combination of meat (often beef), potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, garlic, rice and noodles. It’s amazing how many yummy dishes can be created. Our favorites have been something called tsuivan, which consists of the main ingredients above, along with boodz and hoeshuurs, forms of meat dumplings that are steamed or fried. Delicious!!! We’ve had a few opportunities to try organ meats, which we’ve passed on thus far. We can’t truly predict what ingredients will normally be available to us when we’re “at-site,” but we should be okay.
In our host city of Sukhbaatar, the training throughout, be it on language, culture, safety and our program areas, has been terrific. The language training has been pretty intense and exhausting. The language trainers do not use English in class and we rely on each other as classmates to do interpretation. Often we find ourselves staring within inches into the mouths of our trainers in attempts to answer the frequent question “how are they making that sound?” For some sounds, there are no English equivalents. We must sound very funny to people here and our mispronunciation can lead to many laughs. For example, if you don’t say the phrase “It doesn’t matter” just right, you might actually be claiming to have “no nose.” This training period is flying by. We can’t believe we have only 5 weeks of language training until final testing. We have to be capable enough to survive here on our own before we are released to our assigned homes at the end of August.
Our host families have been wonderful to us. The living conditions are not like you’d expect in the States, but we are comfortable and all our needs are being met. The food has been really good. The meals for many families here in Sukhbaatar typically consist of some combination of meat (often beef), potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, garlic, rice and noodles. It’s amazing how many yummy dishes can be created. Our favorites have been something called tsuivan, which consists of the main ingredients above, along with boodz and hoeshuurs, forms of meat dumplings that are steamed or fried. Delicious!!! We’ve had a few opportunities to try organ meats, which we’ve passed on thus far. We can’t truly predict what ingredients will normally be available to us when we’re “at-site,” but we should be okay.
Next time we post, we to have family photos to share and we'll tell you about these fantastic people.
Our internet access is limited and we are often moving at sub-dialup speed. We’re finding that during this summer with the intense schedule that this is the most efficient way to communicate. We are very thankful for the emails we receive via our hotmail address and for the letters and packages we get. A couple notes about communications, though: the comments you write on the blog here (which we love to get) are for the world’s eyes, so if you want to be more personal, email is the way to go. Also, please let us know by email if you’ve sent us anything via the postal service. While we’ve gratefully received some mailings we can’t know if your delivery made it here okay, otherwise.
Our internet access is limited and we are often moving at sub-dialup speed. We’re finding that during this summer with the intense schedule that this is the most efficient way to communicate. We are very thankful for the emails we receive via our hotmail address and for the letters and packages we get. A couple notes about communications, though: the comments you write on the blog here (which we love to get) are for the world’s eyes, so if you want to be more personal, email is the way to go. Also, please let us know by email if you’ve sent us anything via the postal service. While we’ve gratefully received some mailings we can’t know if your delivery made it here okay, otherwise.
Please know that we finding our experiences to be demanding and exhilarating. Generally, we can find comfort and there’s awesomeness all around us. While we know we can’t change the world, we can help satisfy some basic desires of the wonderful people here and that’s so very rewarding.
2 comments:
Jimmy,
You should have become a writter. You give us all such vivid descriptions that it is way easier to imagine your surroundings.
Thanks for the photos! They really are awesome! But what else would we get from you anywho. Love to you and Jules Vern.
T
Oi, achei teu blog pelo google tá bem interessante gostei desse post. Quando der dá uma passada pelo meu blog, é sobre camisetas personalizadas, mostra passo a passo como criar uma camiseta personalizada bem maneira.(If you speak English can see the version in English of the Camiseta Personalizada. Thanks for the attention, bye). Até mais.
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