Peace Corps: Riding Camels & Living in Gers in Outer Mongolia: 16 months Later...Vacation, Finally!

History of the Peace Corps Program in Mongolia

Peace Corps began its program in Mongolia in 1991, the same year the US Embassy opened in Ulaanbaatar, the nation’s capital city. Since then, over 600 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Mongolia as English language teachers trainers, English teachers, community economic developers, environmental educators, and health educators. I will be a member of the 18th group of Volunteers to serve in Mongolia and the 3rd group of Community Youth Development Volunteers (the 1st CYD Trainees came to Mongolia in June of 2005).

Country Assignment

Country: Mongolia (Outter)
Program: Youth Development
Job Title: Life Skills Trainer (also: English teacher, Child Caretaker, Fund Raiser, Events Organizer, and IT Trainer)
Orientation (Staging in Atlanta, GA): May 31-June 2, 2007
Pre-Service Training (in Darkhan and Sukhbaatar, Mongolia): June 3-August 18, 2007
Dates of Service (in Darkhan at Sun Children formerly "Asian Child Foundation" - a non-profit, non-government Japanese funded orphanage of 37 Mongolian children opened since 8/25/2005): August 19, 2007- August 18, 2009

Location and Nature of the Job

CYD Volunteers are placed in provincial centers with population between 15,000 and 70,000. A few CYD Volunteers are placed in Ulaanbaatar, where the population is reaching 1 million. I will work with youth-focused NGOs, children’s centers, schools, and civil society organizations to address major challenges confronting Mongolian youth today, such as education, life skills, employability, and leadership. In addition, the work will involve workshops and presentations at schools and community agencies and will entail traveling to other outlying communities that have less access to information and training. Given the vast distances in Mongolia, these visits will often require overnight stays.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

16 months Later...Vacation, Finally!

I've be come shamefully terrible at responding to emails and have given up trying to maintain a regular blog. Never a place I've have known to suck in time as cold Mongolia. Maybe this is how it feels to refrigerated; all activity comes to a slow crawl, age, time, and productiveness. I know the latter rings true in Mongolians and, a year later, I find that it too has affected me so.

After the kids returned to school in beginning of Sept, my job has become fairly easy and much more relaxing. September went by without much work; the children and teachers were busy building a new haasha fence and remodeling one of the buildings on the orphanage compound in time for a week-long visit from our Japanese sponsor organization. Then it was preparing for a 3-week visit to 4 various parts of Japan to preform 4 concerts. 18 children, 4 teachers, and the Director will be in Japan Nov 3-20. The remaining children and teachers will make a trip in Mar. I'm crossing my fingers that I am included in the count. Wouldn't that be a wonderful peak of being a PCV? A free trip to Japan? I might be getting an upcoming free trip to Thailand too but that's more of medical reason which I won't concern you with. On with the update...

Since they are busy in preparation, it was prefect timing for my 3-week stint to the eastern provinces of China (in order: Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Suzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau). Another PCV and I leave via the UB-Beijing train this Fri morning; 4 person sleeper cabin, 30 hours. I always wanted to see the expansive Gobi but didn't want to trek there (it's not very pretty except for only selective areas); this was a great way to view it and Inner
Mongolia. Once we are in the country, its local trains and buses all the way to Hong Kong. From Hong Kong, we will fly back to Beijing and wait to take the train back to UB. I've planned an exciting itinerary (tombs, puppet theatre, Peking duck, monasteries, jade and pearl markets, gardens, teahouses, islands, beaches, seafood) - each city stop holds a particular reason to be there. I am hoping that the trip runs more smoothly then it was to get the Chinese visa. Visa requirements have been ridiculous a few months prior to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and haven't ceased.

Eastern China _10.10-11.2.2008">

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Contact Information/Time Difference

My number: 011-976-957-423-48. It is much
easier for you in the States to call me in Mongolia; the rates from US-Mongolia are cheaper, it is hard to find good calling cards from Mongolia-US. Also, it is free for me when you call and does not cost me additional minutes. Hope to hear from you soon.

See “International Calling Card” link under “Informational Links” for a calling card rate of $0.32 per minute to call from the US to Mongolia. Skype download is free and requires a DSL connection and a headset with a mic; the cost to call anywhere in the world is $0.02. My Skype account is: Yoomie.Huynh. Note: time in Mongolia is 12 hours later than Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Care Package: Wanted Items While in Mongolia

Mongolia Facts

Area: 1,566,000 sq km (610,740 sq mi) Population: 2.7 million Capital: Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator) 691,000 People: Khalkha Mongols (86%), Kazaks (6%), Chinese (2%), Russian (2%), about a dozen other ethnic groups. Languages: Mongolian, 90%; also Turkic, Russian, and Chinese Religions: Tibetan Buddhism, Muslim, Shamanism Government: Parliamentary with a president elected every 4 years President: Natsagiin Bagabandi Prime Minister: Nambariin Enkhbayar Economy: Traditionally based on agriculture, livestock breeding (camels, bovine, goats, horses and sheep); mining (coal, copper). Independence: 11 July 1921 (from China) Currency: Tugrik (1111 Tg= US$1) (March, 2003) Inflation: 11.8% (2000 est.). GDP per Capita: $1,770 (2001 est.) Unemployment: 20% (2000).