Arrival into Mongolia

Sain uu!

I arrived in Ulaanbaatar (UB; the capital, translated as: Red Hero), Mongolia via a 27 hour layover in Seoul, Korea on June 4. The first night, our group of 48 Americans stayed in a tourist ger camp. The next morning was unreal: I woke up to blue skies, rolling hills, hawks, the smell of horses, and finally, the excited feeling of being in Mongolia. Lunch that day was with the US Ambassador to Mongolia, Ambassador Milton. Then we headed four hours via bus north to Darkhan (the 3rd largest city in the providence or aimag of Selenge, population 73,400), where we resided for a week for introductions and vaccination shots (16 in total;ouch) at a nearby school (pictures of the welcoming ceremony at the school are below). Afterwards, we were divided into three groups and headed off for our host communities (all located north of UB) till mid-August when we take our final LPIs (Language Proficiency Interviews), swear-in, and officially become PC (Peace Corps) volunteers. My host community is in Sukhbaatar (30 km from the Russian border). My host family are wonderful; they treat me like one of their own. Training is intense with 4 hours/5 days per week of Mongolian language classes and the other four hours per day is devoted to technical training. My biggest fear at this point is falling into the pit toilets...which I conveyed to the interim Country Director and she assures me that this has only happened once – but not in Mongolia. However, the girl survived unscathed. How this was suppose to comfort me, I don’t know.

Pre Service Training in Darkhan

27 Hour Layover in Seoul, South Korea

I write to you in Incheon, Korea – in route to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Staging introductions were made downtown Atlanta, GA for the past two days…a 27 hour layover in South Korea, two nights in a ger camp in Ulaanbaatar and a two hour van ride north later, I will arrive to the provincial center of Darkhan, where I will begin my 11 week
pre-service training.

My training group is a large group of 48: four set of married couples, two middle-age gentlemen, and 38 mid-twenties youngsters – all here for a variety of reasons. They are a great bunch and I'm excited about the prospect of getting to know them in the next two years.

I'm not in Mongolia yet but I miss you all already. Below are how I spent my layover time in Korea.

1. Korean barbecue, popular dish
2. Downtown Seoul, South Korea
3. Billiard advertisement in down Seoul
4. Gyeongbokgung, the main palace of the Joseon Dynasty; the Changing of the Guard
5. Buddhist temple, Seoul

When It Finally Hit Me

It started to hit me on the leg of my trip in Central America, three days before I had to fly back to Miami, five days before DC, 13 days before Atlanta and 16 days before Mongolia. The sadness hit hard like a smack in the face. There is no mix of emotions, no wave of a single feeling, just constant sadness; the kind that catches you off guard and overwhelms your senses and surroundings. This could not have come at a worse moment. In the middle of my island/tropics paradise, eating mangoes and dipping in natural hot springs - I have to deal with feelings of unexplained sadness.

"Are you excited?" "It hasn't hit me yet"

It will be five weeks come Monday till I arrive in the land of Genghis Khan. I am asked the same question when I inform others of my upcoming destination, “are you excited?” I give them the same answer I have been since I received my official country invitation to join the Peace Corps in Mongolia late February, “it hasn’t hit me yet.” And it still hasn’t. Not the increasing gap in time to departure, not when I was shopping at REI for winter sleeping bags, and not even when I knew I was saying “goodbye" for the next two and a half years to my love ones. I just hasn’t hit me yet.

Article: Peace Corps Director Visits Volunteers in Mongolia, April 9, 2007

Director Ron Tschetter Goes to Peace Corps Volunteers’ Sites and Meets with Mongolia’s President Nambaryn Enkhbayar During Visit.

ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, April 9, 2007
http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1197

Peace Corps Upate to Friends and Family

It certainly has been a long four months of medical examinations and paperwork, but it was all worth it. I received an official country invitation late February and will be departing for (Outer) Mongolia on June 2, 2007 to serve as a Life Skills Trainer for the Youth Development program until August 18, 2009 (a brief program description above). Aside from the concern of -40 degree Winters lasting eight months out of the year, I am excited at the prospect of riding camels, living in a ger (a 20-foot round tent with a wooden stove in the middle) and immersing in a whole new culture. Pre-service training will be in Darkhan for a week of orientation and Sukhbaatar for 10 weeks, living with a host family. After training, I will be placed in a provincial center population 15,000-70,000, (hopefully) living in my own ger.

Although I will have a cell phone (PC issues out a cell phone to their Mongolia volunteers – in the light of dust storms, frequent power surges, and frigid temperatures), my internet access will be very limited. Thus, I will be keeping a blog (http://yoomiehuynh-peacecorps.blogspot.com/). The blog also contains information regarding addition description of the PC program in Mongolia, Mongolian culture, travel to Mongolia/Asia and etc. You will be receiving an update email whenever there is a new blog post; please let me know if you wish not to receive update emails.

Although I don't depart until May 31, I will be traveling for a consecutive two months starting March 20 to: Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; Orange County/Los Angles, CA; New York, NY; Miami, FL; Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama. I'll be back in Washington, DC two weeks before my departure date. My travels before, during, and after my Service will be documented on a separate travel blog (http://yoomiehuynh-travels.blogspot.com/).

Here's to a new adventure, a new chapter, and memories to be shared over a campfire. Thank you for letting me share it with you.