Sunday, 17 January 2010
So having complained I have had nothing to do, I have suddenly 6 thousand things to do! I have 2 proposals due in in the next 2 weeks, another one that is being sent to Mongolian companies and meetings with embassies and funding organisations. I am also doing work with VSO on fundraising and child protection, as well as getting involved with Amnesty International and Scouts of Mongolia.
with all the work I have had going out hasnt been on the radar this week. I managed dinner out on Tuesday and Friday after the volunteer committee meeting but by Saturday I was very ready for a break. It was Sarah's birthday so we decided to do a spa day and dinner out in the evening. I thought it was a clothing optional spa so I had my swimsuit all ready to go, only to be told it was a no clothing allowed spa!! Once I got over the initial shock it was absolutely fine. It was so relaxing to be in a warm room, with warm baths, steam rooms and saunas - no cold and lots of moisture - my skin feels so much better than it did yesterday. I also had a foot massage (clothed!), the first massage I have had from a male masseuse, and it was pretty painful! He started on my back and shoulders, and today I still am sore where he pummelled my back! THankfully the foot massage was much more relaxing. It didnt quite compare to the Slieve Donard - no nice music, lots of screaming children running around and no individual rooms.But it was relaxing and a really nice way to spend a day.
In the evening we went to The Bull restaurant for dinner. It is an asian hotpot restaurant and most of us hadnt been there before. Basically everyone gets a pot of soup/broth and you have a heater in front of you and you order lots of different meat and veg - they have everything from Mongolian mutton to bulls penis!! We ordered the meat and veg in groups of 4/5 and then each person adds the bits they want to their soup and you cook it whatever way you want. We had chicken, pork and beef along with veg, Buuz and noodles. It was a really fun way too cook, although we were slightly worried about putting volunteers alcohol and flames together! Noone got burnt too seriously and it was pretty cheap so all was good! We also had cake for Sarah and the staff looked a little concerned when we had the sparkler type candle shooting sparks into the air. It was quite funny - they then produced the most enormous knife we had ever seen - not quite sure what they were expecting us to cut with it, but one small cake was no challenge to it!
We then headed for cocktails, in a non-VSO budget pub, but apparently the cocktails were pretty good, but I dont think we will be back regularly! It was a fun day in total and I enjoyed it.
Today there are a few of us headed to see Avatar on the big screen now it is out. We are trying to save our money for our trip to Khuvsgul in February which will be a big undertaking but hopefully well worth the money!
with all the work I have had going out hasnt been on the radar this week. I managed dinner out on Tuesday and Friday after the volunteer committee meeting but by Saturday I was very ready for a break. It was Sarah's birthday so we decided to do a spa day and dinner out in the evening. I thought it was a clothing optional spa so I had my swimsuit all ready to go, only to be told it was a no clothing allowed spa!! Once I got over the initial shock it was absolutely fine. It was so relaxing to be in a warm room, with warm baths, steam rooms and saunas - no cold and lots of moisture - my skin feels so much better than it did yesterday. I also had a foot massage (clothed!), the first massage I have had from a male masseuse, and it was pretty painful! He started on my back and shoulders, and today I still am sore where he pummelled my back! THankfully the foot massage was much more relaxing. It didnt quite compare to the Slieve Donard - no nice music, lots of screaming children running around and no individual rooms.But it was relaxing and a really nice way to spend a day.
In the evening we went to The Bull restaurant for dinner. It is an asian hotpot restaurant and most of us hadnt been there before. Basically everyone gets a pot of soup/broth and you have a heater in front of you and you order lots of different meat and veg - they have everything from Mongolian mutton to bulls penis!! We ordered the meat and veg in groups of 4/5 and then each person adds the bits they want to their soup and you cook it whatever way you want. We had chicken, pork and beef along with veg, Buuz and noodles. It was a really fun way too cook, although we were slightly worried about putting volunteers alcohol and flames together! Noone got burnt too seriously and it was pretty cheap so all was good! We also had cake for Sarah and the staff looked a little concerned when we had the sparkler type candle shooting sparks into the air. It was quite funny - they then produced the most enormous knife we had ever seen - not quite sure what they were expecting us to cut with it, but one small cake was no challenge to it!
We then headed for cocktails, in a non-VSO budget pub, but apparently the cocktails were pretty good, but I dont think we will be back regularly! It was a fun day in total and I enjoyed it.
Today there are a few of us headed to see Avatar on the big screen now it is out. We are trying to save our money for our trip to Khuvsgul in February which will be a big undertaking but hopefully well worth the money!
Monday, 11 January 2010
Baking cakes and earthquakes!
I have hit the 2 months at placement mark and I am finally feeling like I know what is going on and I am able to get things done. A lot of this has probably hinged on me taking lots of initiative because my boss has not been in work this week.
One of the big things I did this week was work with one of the other VSO volunteers and organise for them to shoot a program on my organisation. He organises and runs the Voicebox English childrens TV show in Ulaanbaatar and they needed some show ideas and I suggested they come and see our projects. It was really good fun touring the projects with the Voice box guys and it was a crazy day! We started with the financial education for girls program which I hadn't seen before or had much input in. It is a program MEA runs in high schools around Ulaanbaatar that teaches 15-18 year old girls about saving, bank accounts and other money matters. It seems like they really enjoy the program and that it is a skill most Mongolians are lacking.
From there we headed to school 29, the only school for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, where we recorded the ECO classroom - an environmental educaton environment which is interactive and tactile. They have plants, animals and a curriculum created specifically for these children. The kids there are great as well and really enjoy having visitors. Of course the saying never work with children or animals really played out here. As we were wrapping up the guinea pig was chewing on the birds perch and somehow managed to release the two parrots! You can imagine the absolute insanity of 3 foreigners who speak no Mongolian/mongolian sign language, 8 children who are deaf and 4 Mongolian teachers running round the corridors chasing two birds! Eventually one of the guys coralled the birds with a scarf and we were able to head out.
Our final stop of the day was the Book Ger project, one of my favourite projects we do. The women who runs it is an absolute sweetheart and I have done a lot of work on this project, and I am getting further involved in this project in the next few months. Basically we set up reading rooms in outlying Khoroos (areas of Ulaanbaatar) usually in ger districts, where the kids have no room or place to play or do homework or read. They also have no chance to get to libraries due to the cost of using the library and the cost of travelling to the city. The kids absolutely love these rooms and there must have been around 15 kids there when we arrived.
It was a fun day filming with the guys, but it is also always great for me to get out to the projects and meet the kids. They have promised to take me to the countryside to see some more projects and to see the rural schools.
I am also working on a load of proposals for different projects and English classes all keeping me occupied. We have been asked to submit a proposal to the US embassy to improve women's leadership and economic opportunities. I am really excited to get to come up with a project on women's rights and leadership as it is something I am passionate about. Fingers crossed we can get the funding and I can be involved in planning and implementing this project as well.
Although I may not be getting much law or advocacy work here, I am learning lots about education, human resources, project management and team work so it is definitely a useful thing to be doing.
Aside from work our ex-pat pizza partys have started again on Friday nights and we had a leaving party on Saturday night for another volunteer which is always a sad event. It is so cold outside right now (around -40) so I avoided going out at the weekend during the day and just did laundry and worked on my baking. I have now worked out how to make chocolate cake, although I still have to work on the icing. Between altitude, different ingredients and a dodgy oven it is a little bit of luck and a whole lot of determination to work out how to cook things here. I have worked out cake, Irish stew, spag bol and Sunday roast. I am also working on banoffee right now but it is not right just yet!
There was great excitement on Saturday however as at about 3pm an earthquake hit Ulaanbaatar! It wasnt reported on any news channels anywhere, but lots of volunteers and Mongolians felt the ground shaking for 2-3 seconds. It was very exciting for my geeky geology brain, but unfortunately I missed it! We have also just received a VSO warning that there is a cyclone expected next week from Siberia, woohoo! what a crazy winter!
I have been drafted in to a couple of VSO things including giving fundraising training for VSO volunteers and the child protection committee so that will be interesting and keep me busy. Along with that Amnesty International want me to do some training on debating and communications skills, so that will be very interesting as well.
One of the big things I did this week was work with one of the other VSO volunteers and organise for them to shoot a program on my organisation. He organises and runs the Voicebox English childrens TV show in Ulaanbaatar and they needed some show ideas and I suggested they come and see our projects. It was really good fun touring the projects with the Voice box guys and it was a crazy day! We started with the financial education for girls program which I hadn't seen before or had much input in. It is a program MEA runs in high schools around Ulaanbaatar that teaches 15-18 year old girls about saving, bank accounts and other money matters. It seems like they really enjoy the program and that it is a skill most Mongolians are lacking.
From there we headed to school 29, the only school for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, where we recorded the ECO classroom - an environmental educaton environment which is interactive and tactile. They have plants, animals and a curriculum created specifically for these children. The kids there are great as well and really enjoy having visitors. Of course the saying never work with children or animals really played out here. As we were wrapping up the guinea pig was chewing on the birds perch and somehow managed to release the two parrots! You can imagine the absolute insanity of 3 foreigners who speak no Mongolian/mongolian sign language, 8 children who are deaf and 4 Mongolian teachers running round the corridors chasing two birds! Eventually one of the guys coralled the birds with a scarf and we were able to head out.
Our final stop of the day was the Book Ger project, one of my favourite projects we do. The women who runs it is an absolute sweetheart and I have done a lot of work on this project, and I am getting further involved in this project in the next few months. Basically we set up reading rooms in outlying Khoroos (areas of Ulaanbaatar) usually in ger districts, where the kids have no room or place to play or do homework or read. They also have no chance to get to libraries due to the cost of using the library and the cost of travelling to the city. The kids absolutely love these rooms and there must have been around 15 kids there when we arrived.
It was a fun day filming with the guys, but it is also always great for me to get out to the projects and meet the kids. They have promised to take me to the countryside to see some more projects and to see the rural schools.
I am also working on a load of proposals for different projects and English classes all keeping me occupied. We have been asked to submit a proposal to the US embassy to improve women's leadership and economic opportunities. I am really excited to get to come up with a project on women's rights and leadership as it is something I am passionate about. Fingers crossed we can get the funding and I can be involved in planning and implementing this project as well.
Although I may not be getting much law or advocacy work here, I am learning lots about education, human resources, project management and team work so it is definitely a useful thing to be doing.
Aside from work our ex-pat pizza partys have started again on Friday nights and we had a leaving party on Saturday night for another volunteer which is always a sad event. It is so cold outside right now (around -40) so I avoided going out at the weekend during the day and just did laundry and worked on my baking. I have now worked out how to make chocolate cake, although I still have to work on the icing. Between altitude, different ingredients and a dodgy oven it is a little bit of luck and a whole lot of determination to work out how to cook things here. I have worked out cake, Irish stew, spag bol and Sunday roast. I am also working on banoffee right now but it is not right just yet!
There was great excitement on Saturday however as at about 3pm an earthquake hit Ulaanbaatar! It wasnt reported on any news channels anywhere, but lots of volunteers and Mongolians felt the ground shaking for 2-3 seconds. It was very exciting for my geeky geology brain, but unfortunately I missed it! We have also just received a VSO warning that there is a cyclone expected next week from Siberia, woohoo! what a crazy winter!
I have been drafted in to a couple of VSO things including giving fundraising training for VSO volunteers and the child protection committee so that will be interesting and keep me busy. Along with that Amnesty International want me to do some training on debating and communications skills, so that will be very interesting as well.
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
It has been an interesting two weeks since my last post and a very cold two weeks as the temperature has now dropped to proper Mongolian temperatures meaning it has been -30 during the day and -40 at night. So it is a little chilly. Dressing and undressing now takes even longer with layers upon layers having to be put on and taken off every time you want to leave the house and I can no longer imagine wearing clothes without at least one layer of thermals underneath!
So what have I been up to in the last two weeks?
Well the fundraising party was a huge success according to my colleagues which is a relief. We had a big meeting the following week to discuss the plans for my year here and it was a very informative meeting which allowed me to discuss the reservations I had about the placement, to have them tell me why they wanted a volunteer and to set out activities and goals for the next few months. So I now have things to do for the next few months with another review in May. It is certainly nice to have some structure to my work.
Because the party had gone so well and everyone had worked so hard work took us out for dinner to Los Bandidos, a local Indian Mexican restaurant which was really nice. It was a really nice evening and gave me another chance to get to know my colleagues and my boss better which is good.
We have been planning Christmas for the last few months and a group of us decided to head to Darkhan where there were 4 other VSO volunteers to get out of UB, get some fresh air and clear our heads. Sarah headed up early as she organised some work up there and the rest of us headed out on Christmas eve, the coldest day of the year so far. Unfortunately it was an unmitigated disaster. We taxied to the bus station only to learn that the busses were all cancelled til Monday due to a massive snow storm in the north and a dust storm in the south. So we repacked all our bags into another taxi and headed for the taxi rank where the taxi's to Darkhan leave from. We got there, negotiated a reasonable fare to get us to Darkhan and all 5 of us piled into one taxi. Getting going was slow as we had to stop to get petrol and put air in the tyres. As we were sitting around a police car passed us and we thought nothing of it. As we drove on we hit a toll bridge and the police car had stopped and was stopping all the cars as they had closed the road to Darkhan. After a number of conversations through the help of the very kind VSO staff translating via mobile, we decided it was safest to turn around and head back to UB. Although this was communicated to the taxi man he then tried to take us the back roads to Darkhan, we refused assuming that if the main road wasnt safe the back ones would be much worse. We eventually got back to VSO but the taxi man had put all the money we had paid him into petrol money and so we were not able to get any money back.
It was a real shame we couldnt make it to Darkhan but there were some advantages. I was able to attend midnight service on Christmas eve which was a lovely small service with carols by candlelight. On Christmas day we cooked the food we had planed to take to Darkhan and took it over to another vols apartment and shared with everyone. There were the 5 of us who had tried to get to Darkhan, a couple of others who were too sick to go to Darkhan, a couple of guys who were trying to get home to Arvaikheer the day before and who got stuck in UB and those who had planned to stay in UB originally - so it gave us a pretty big group. It was a difficult day to be away from the family but we made the most of it and had a nice day. I was also able to skype home and open presents with the family via webcam and talk to my cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents which made the day much easier. Along with that my Mum had spoilt me and send me a rather large box of presents and a stocking which was great.
After skyping home I headed over to work via VSO becuase a parcel had arrived on Christmas morning. In fact when I arrived Santa must have been because there was a table full of parcels from home! It was great! I picked up all the presents for the UB people and headed to work where they had Mongolian secret santa also known as monitor. Basically everyone buys a present for the person whose name they pulled out of a hat and they are all put on a table so you do not know who bought your present. You then open presents and guess who bought you your present. You have 3 guesses and if you dont get it right you have to do a forfeit. Luckily I knew who had bought mine, but the person I bought for didnt guess me so she had to do a forfeit. I managed to escape after eating chocolates, drinking champagne and getting a present and headed back to the VSO party. The evening was spent playing party games and charades! It was a pretty good day and I didnt get too homesick.
Unfortunately I came down with the nasty cold everyone in VSO has had in the last few weeks and spent the weekend after Christmas in bed. Luckily I had the following week off work so I spent the start of the week sleeping and watching Jane Austen.
On Wednesday one of the other vols convinced me to go skiing at the new Mongolian ski resort. It was a great afternoon but it was so cold we had to go inside to warm up fairly regularly. But there were 2 intermediate and one advanced run along with quite a few beginner runs so it kept us busy for the afternoon. As most Mongolians have never skied before it is probably a good standard for beginners, but for those of us who have skied before the runs were a little boring - no moguls etc, but I figure I will have a couple of goes and practice technique. Might as well make use of the cold! It was a good day and I was glad I was well enough to head out.
Thursday was New Years Eve which is the major celebration at this time of year in Mongolia so everywhere was crazy! We went to a great house party full of VSO's AYADs, Peace Corp and other young ex pats. Sarah made some amazing mulled wine and we had music, dancing and games. I managed to convince everyone to head to Sukhbaatar square for midnight even though the official fireworks were cancelled because of swine flu and it was a really fun place to be. It was pretty scary too as there were lots of unofficial fireworks going off, most of them held by small children. It showed how conditioned we are in the UK about firework safety that all of us were horrified at the lack of safety measures in place. But we got our fireworks in Sukhbaatar square and we brought champagne with us which froze in or glasses! A crazy and cold way to bring in the new year!
Friday was pretty much a write off of a day but as one of the vols had a birthday we headed out that evening for dinner at Los Bandidos - the birthday restaurant! It was a nice crowd and a good way to spend the evening.
Today Sarah and I tried to head to Narantuul for some shopping but apparently a lot of places are closed this weekend so we headed out for lunch and then had a wander round the National Museum of Mongolia. It is apparently the best museum in Mongolia and it was of a good standard and there were some really interesting items like the costumes and the recent political history section, but it didnt have much description of the events and their effects on the people here. I think I shall have to find a Mongolian history book to fill in the many gaps.
It is hard to believe that it is now 2010, and I never could have imagined that I would be in Mongolia, standing in a freezing cold square welcoming in the new year! What will this year bring! I hope that 2010 is good to you and great things happen!
So what have I been up to in the last two weeks?
Well the fundraising party was a huge success according to my colleagues which is a relief. We had a big meeting the following week to discuss the plans for my year here and it was a very informative meeting which allowed me to discuss the reservations I had about the placement, to have them tell me why they wanted a volunteer and to set out activities and goals for the next few months. So I now have things to do for the next few months with another review in May. It is certainly nice to have some structure to my work.
Because the party had gone so well and everyone had worked so hard work took us out for dinner to Los Bandidos, a local Indian Mexican restaurant which was really nice. It was a really nice evening and gave me another chance to get to know my colleagues and my boss better which is good.
We have been planning Christmas for the last few months and a group of us decided to head to Darkhan where there were 4 other VSO volunteers to get out of UB, get some fresh air and clear our heads. Sarah headed up early as she organised some work up there and the rest of us headed out on Christmas eve, the coldest day of the year so far. Unfortunately it was an unmitigated disaster. We taxied to the bus station only to learn that the busses were all cancelled til Monday due to a massive snow storm in the north and a dust storm in the south. So we repacked all our bags into another taxi and headed for the taxi rank where the taxi's to Darkhan leave from. We got there, negotiated a reasonable fare to get us to Darkhan and all 5 of us piled into one taxi. Getting going was slow as we had to stop to get petrol and put air in the tyres. As we were sitting around a police car passed us and we thought nothing of it. As we drove on we hit a toll bridge and the police car had stopped and was stopping all the cars as they had closed the road to Darkhan. After a number of conversations through the help of the very kind VSO staff translating via mobile, we decided it was safest to turn around and head back to UB. Although this was communicated to the taxi man he then tried to take us the back roads to Darkhan, we refused assuming that if the main road wasnt safe the back ones would be much worse. We eventually got back to VSO but the taxi man had put all the money we had paid him into petrol money and so we were not able to get any money back.
It was a real shame we couldnt make it to Darkhan but there were some advantages. I was able to attend midnight service on Christmas eve which was a lovely small service with carols by candlelight. On Christmas day we cooked the food we had planed to take to Darkhan and took it over to another vols apartment and shared with everyone. There were the 5 of us who had tried to get to Darkhan, a couple of others who were too sick to go to Darkhan, a couple of guys who were trying to get home to Arvaikheer the day before and who got stuck in UB and those who had planned to stay in UB originally - so it gave us a pretty big group. It was a difficult day to be away from the family but we made the most of it and had a nice day. I was also able to skype home and open presents with the family via webcam and talk to my cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents which made the day much easier. Along with that my Mum had spoilt me and send me a rather large box of presents and a stocking which was great.
After skyping home I headed over to work via VSO becuase a parcel had arrived on Christmas morning. In fact when I arrived Santa must have been because there was a table full of parcels from home! It was great! I picked up all the presents for the UB people and headed to work where they had Mongolian secret santa also known as monitor. Basically everyone buys a present for the person whose name they pulled out of a hat and they are all put on a table so you do not know who bought your present. You then open presents and guess who bought you your present. You have 3 guesses and if you dont get it right you have to do a forfeit. Luckily I knew who had bought mine, but the person I bought for didnt guess me so she had to do a forfeit. I managed to escape after eating chocolates, drinking champagne and getting a present and headed back to the VSO party. The evening was spent playing party games and charades! It was a pretty good day and I didnt get too homesick.
Unfortunately I came down with the nasty cold everyone in VSO has had in the last few weeks and spent the weekend after Christmas in bed. Luckily I had the following week off work so I spent the start of the week sleeping and watching Jane Austen.
On Wednesday one of the other vols convinced me to go skiing at the new Mongolian ski resort. It was a great afternoon but it was so cold we had to go inside to warm up fairly regularly. But there were 2 intermediate and one advanced run along with quite a few beginner runs so it kept us busy for the afternoon. As most Mongolians have never skied before it is probably a good standard for beginners, but for those of us who have skied before the runs were a little boring - no moguls etc, but I figure I will have a couple of goes and practice technique. Might as well make use of the cold! It was a good day and I was glad I was well enough to head out.
Thursday was New Years Eve which is the major celebration at this time of year in Mongolia so everywhere was crazy! We went to a great house party full of VSO's AYADs, Peace Corp and other young ex pats. Sarah made some amazing mulled wine and we had music, dancing and games. I managed to convince everyone to head to Sukhbaatar square for midnight even though the official fireworks were cancelled because of swine flu and it was a really fun place to be. It was pretty scary too as there were lots of unofficial fireworks going off, most of them held by small children. It showed how conditioned we are in the UK about firework safety that all of us were horrified at the lack of safety measures in place. But we got our fireworks in Sukhbaatar square and we brought champagne with us which froze in or glasses! A crazy and cold way to bring in the new year!
Friday was pretty much a write off of a day but as one of the vols had a birthday we headed out that evening for dinner at Los Bandidos - the birthday restaurant! It was a nice crowd and a good way to spend the evening.
Today Sarah and I tried to head to Narantuul for some shopping but apparently a lot of places are closed this weekend so we headed out for lunch and then had a wander round the National Museum of Mongolia. It is apparently the best museum in Mongolia and it was of a good standard and there were some really interesting items like the costumes and the recent political history section, but it didnt have much description of the events and their effects on the people here. I think I shall have to find a Mongolian history book to fill in the many gaps.
It is hard to believe that it is now 2010, and I never could have imagined that I would be in Mongolia, standing in a freezing cold square welcoming in the new year! What will this year bring! I hope that 2010 is good to you and great things happen!
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