Mongolia is in Asia: A Follow up to the Smashing Success of "Mongolia is in Asia"

Hello!

Well, it turns out that I am not all that great at updating a blog.  But its not exactly like I’m sitting around with wireless internet these days.  But before I go any further, I would just like to say that anything read on this blog represents only my views.  It does not express the views of the United States Government or the United States Peace Corps.  If you’ve got any questions on this...please respond in true blogging format in the blog section of this blog.  Or you could as the United States Government personally how they feel about things...then you could get their side of the story too.  But seriously, nothing I say has anything to do with them.

Anyways, in case you haven’t caught on yet I’m now in Mongolia.  I’ve been here since about the first of June...and will be here (according to my calculations) until August of 2010.  I hear that its a long time, but don’t worry, the Peace Corps is going to give me something to do all that time.

For the time being I am living in a small town north of the capital, Ulaanbataar.  I’m living with a host family for a little while since I’m in the process of learning the language and figuring out which of my habits actually mean that “I will put a curse on your entire family” (something that I’ve done at least a dozen times since I’ve been here...always by accident...and only once since I learned what I was doing) and which of my habits are completely harmless.  As for the language...I can now successfully give directions, ask for directions (though not understand the answer I get) describe my family, and say that my stomach hurts.  As it turns out...English and Mongolian are not the same thing.  Why didn’t someone tell me this?

Despite my lack of communication...I am having a great time here in Mongolia.  There a few other Americans around during this training period and its always good to have someone to bounce your perspective off of.  For instance, this past weekend all of our host families took us out the country side (affectionately known as the hudoo) to give us an “authentic” mongolian style outing.  An experience that includes a lot of sitting around...culminating in killing/cooking of a goat and ceremonially throwing vodka into the air as a sacrifice to the earth.  Its actually a pretty cool experience.  Did I mention there was a lot of sitting around?

I would write a few Mongolian words to prove that I’ve actually learned something but Mongolian uses an entirely different alphabet (one of the things that makes this language as difficult as it is)...but its not as if anyone would know what I was saying anyways so I suppose that its just as well that my keyboard doesn’t translate into Cyrillic.

Anyways, I hope this entry finds anyone who reads it well.  In case you are curious, I have drank the infamous “aireg” believed by some to be fermented yaks urine...or called “yak juice” in some circles  It is actually fermented mare’s milk.  And its actually really good.  But the damage that dairy and alcohol will do to one’s digestive system is something that can only be experienced.  Writing about it would only make you wish you  had never stumbled upon my blog. Talk to you later!

Until Then,

Kyle

P.S.  If you think that in your life you’ve ever seen an open space...you haven’t until you’ve been to Mongolia.  The amount of open space in the country is almost frightening and makes you feel incredibly insignificant to the earth.  Not that the earth has ever paid me much attention.