Aug 23 2007
settling in and first few days of work
I’m continuing to virtually live out of a bag (and a large laundry tub of from-America food) here in UB. I’m staying with a PCV though, and her apartment is quite nice and close to my office, plus she’s nice too and is an excellent baker. I’ve mostly been going through the usual administrative hoops one goes through in starting a new job – orientations, trainings, briefings, meetings, etc.
The security components of the briefings have been comprehensive and successful in making me appreciatively paranoid(er) about just about everything 
They take such matters very seriously here, and it makes me want to compare it to my experiences in the US. I don’t remember being too alarmed about walking alone at night, or taking shortcuts, or climbing dark stairwells. Maybe I was being a bit complacent in the US, as that doesn’t sound too unreasonable nowadays.
I’ve been given a lot of readings and information about Mongolia that is specifically UN or UNFPA-published to catch up and help decide what areas I’d be most interested in. I have some ideas already, but it’d be best to find areas that are already supported by my organization for a springboard. I’ve also been helping with editing of English translation of Mongolia technical reports.
Sometimes it’s weird to think of what I’m doing now – it’s so different from where I was before, and it’s unexpected even based on what I’d be doing only a few weeks ago. Wow, I’m (sorta) working for the UN. I’m (sorta) working for one of the largest international NGOs out there.
Overall, though, I’m as well as can be reasonably expected, though for the past few days I’ve had a head cold. Plenty of fruits and veggies here in UB, which is probably exaggerated by it being actually summerish. Not sure about winter, but I won’t be here for much of that anyway…
