Ploofle

So, finally, a bit more on the budget issues here in Mongolia-land.

I’ve mentioned the shortfall before, and it’s shaping up to about $18 million.  I believe every post has been asked to make across-the-board 10-15% cuts in their finances, and this is making things interesting, given how expensive it is to get people together here - and prices are only getting worse.  I heard yesterday that the taxi ride from the airport to the center of UB is up to like 15,000 tugriks - over the summer I could get as low as 7,000.

Our support office has had to lay off 2 people, postal mailings have been generally discontinued and replaced with a small communications allowance, the 2 inservice trainings have been cut down to one with fewer days to cover all the same topics.  I have heard anecdotally that this year office staff won’t get a cost-of-living salary increase unless the budget improves - the money was instead used to give volunteers who needed it a bit of a living allowance increase.  Due to medical decisions, it looks like there will be no volunteers being able to get in for a regular visit - or whatever - to the capital until Close of Service.  I hope the training schedule gets changed for the next batch, as keeping it the same means that for your last 20 (or so, out of 27) months of service you never get to come in to UB for until Close of Service on PC’s dime.  For a site like mine, that means having about $100 to take the bus roundtrip or an exorbitant $450 to fly roundtrip.  I do like being out at site though, as long as I can occasionally get some brown sugar or oats.

Next year’s training will be moved to be closer to the capital to save money, and it’s likely its mid-training gathering for training will be eliminated and the training itself will be shortened by about 10%.  I’m sure we’ll make do, but I wonder about language teachers and whether the veterans will make the move elsewhere temporarily.  Mongolian is considered a pretty difficult language - for reference, among non-Latin languages, it’s less difficult than Mandarin Chinese or Arabic, but more difficult than Russian, Greek, or Swahili.  As it is when we come out we have a grasp of survival language and continue to learn throughout service.  So I’m a bit worried about how cutting out a decently sized chunk of full-immersion will pan out.

Anywho, this isn’t my post’s fault, or PC’s even.  It a general lack of funding and everyone, both in DC and abroad, has to cut corners.  Too bad there aren’t really corners to cut…

Some volunteers have been discussing how the next administration may change things, even with the economy being as it is.  For comparison, something like 200 times this is being spent on the War on Terror extra funding this year (doesn’t include other Dept. of Defense allocations).  So, maybe you all can help.

We’ve set up this website to generate letters to mail to their representatives.  For the simplest case all you have to do is enter your zip, then at the end copy and paste a bit.  Or you can get fancier…I’m not going to complain.  It looks up info on the representatives and adds references to their Peace Corps service (if they served) or their ability to change the budget (if they’re on the Appropriations Committee).  So please check it out.  The site is Fund Peace Corps.

Tags: budget, mongolia, peace corps

You’ll probably hear more about this from me individually in the nearish future…as it’s not just cutting new volunteers (as you’ll read in the article):  Budget-crunched Peace Corps cuts volunteer positions

Tags: peace corps

Just got back from my Peace Corps training. I left it slightly saddened, as it’s the last time my group will be all together in one coordinated body before our close of service conference…in about a year or so. It was an extremely helpful event, and while it focused on a lot of things I knew about already (primarily project management and development), it was a good refresher and extremely important in that it made me work closely with my supervisor for 3 days. It’s pretty much the longest I’ve ever worked with her, and I think we both left feeling more comfortable working with one another despite the language barriers and with increased respect for each others’ abilities. Or so I like to think

At the same time, I was pretty out of it the entire time I was in the capital. My bad cold from last month evolved into a sinus infection that made me super unsocial and generally available to only do things that had to be done. Thus I didn’t get to hang out with many people, or drink, or play games, or anything. It still comes and goes, the pressure and all, but I’m on day 5 of my antibiotics…

I also got to watch Michael Moore’s “Sicko” which was quite good - made me angry and want to change things, so I should prolly watch it every few months or so to keep myself agitated to do good work. Or some such.

During PDM, I managed to somehow pack two sets of long underwear and no changes of clothes, so the tshirt I wore into town almost two weeks ago is pretty disgusting. I’m not sure how I managed that…but coming back to Khovd has been very nice from a rest and time-alone standpoint; staying in a guesthouse where you sleep six to a room in bunkbeds is super not fun when you’re not feeling well, and especially so after being in town for about two weeks. And it’s “warm” here - as in, a bit above freezing during the daytime. And I’m down to one layer - no long underwear! - and my medium weight wool socks. It’s strange…but you know, it wasn’t all that bad, really. For a couple months you really have to bundle and then it’s back to reasonable temperatures…

Also it seems that whenever I leave town that’s when all my packages appear. Nicole’s and Melissa’s came in - amazingly, it took about 2 months, and I have no clue why - but hey you all, it’s here, no worries. And Bonnie’s came in too. Super sadly, the banana nut bread she made for me did not survive the trip - I almost cried as I threw it away, as I could see the wonderful pecans beneath the mint green mold… But she sent me wonderful notes and t-shirts which you will soon see on here.

Oh, finally, I think there may need to be an “Angry Non-Vegetarian Club” based on conversations at PDM. The slogan, which will make us immediately angry? “Ovo-lacto-pescatarian”

Tags: angry angry angry, cold, packages, peace corps, sick, vegetarians

I’ve closed out my second week of work and it’s been pretty interesting. Right now, as I’m cooling my heels a bit, I’ve been getting familiar with what the UNFPA does here by doing english language editing on their latest technical reports and project things. They’re doing a lot of neat things, and I’ve been jotting ideas down as I progress (in Freemind, no less) for when I meet with people next week about my impressions and ideas about future work.

I’m also working on a brochure for the general public about UNFPA, and I’ve done some looking at the website about suggested things to update. Overall getting my feet wet. I also got to go to a nice party/dinner with UN that had some cuban-style food (mmm…pork stuffed with zillions of cloves of garlic…). We have an all-staff meeting next week, and I expect I’ll need to say something, so I’ll likely work on a bit of dazzling Mongolian. Or at least say I like fruit…

The potluck with other PCVs last weekend was also entertaining and with great food - including an awesome somtam using virtually none of the traditional ingredients but tasted very similar to it. A few pictures from the potluck have been uploaded to my pictures online.

I seem to have overcome my biscuit curse too - my sister and maybe Melissa (and certainly Bonnie) know about it - the despair I endure from biscuits that come out of the oven with the taste and consistency of hockey pucks. So far here I’m 3 for 3 in successful, moderately fluffy biscuits.

It’s starting to get vaguely cooler here - according to Google weather, on Monday this week it was snowing in Khovd. My main project this weekend is to drink lots of coffee, maybe procure a jelly donut or two, and buy a frying pan at the black market. Oh, and find my cell phone charger. That really perplexes me…but I’ve been losing all sorts of things lately despite having only about 2 places to put things (which is fine! really!).

Other than that, not much news - next week may be more exciting - maybe I’ll get in a fight or something, or save children from a burning building…

Tags: food, mongolia, peace corps

So today has been a very nice day thus far - I woke up and cleaned a bit, spoke a bit of Mongolian with my current roommate Suzie’s tutor, got to talk on the phone for a long time with Bonnie, chatted with Rongrong and some PCVs who wandered into this cafe - speaking of which, I am in a *coffeeshop*. With *wifi*. And I’m rocking the wifi (as people say here), not to mention the windows update (15 patches), virus scan updates, and collecting a few podcasts. There is a potluck tonight for those in UB, so that’ll be fun too I suspect. But I’m in a very happy place, with iced coffee, wifi, and a sunny window seat. Other than lingering cold and stomach issues (I’m taking it now that every time I make a major move I’ll have stomach issues) and the lack of a Bonnie, I’m good.

Maybe it’s the two (I splurged) iced coffees talking.

Next week I get to meet formally the UB officepeople at dinner, so I should prolly prepare to speak in Mongolian, sing, dance, or something. That’s common apparently for intro things - dance, monkey! I’m considering wearing my nice suit too, but we’ll see about that. Further info on Mongolian life…at least in the reality-bending area (read: aberration) that is Ulaanbaatar. For example, many many people that I encounter here in everyday situations speak English. Thus, I’m going to have to work pretty hard on keeping up my Mongolian. They also sell cheese here, as well as stuff like coconut milk, and they have actual flush toilets. Oh, and hot running water Living it up with the bathing and everything…

Here you have to be a bit careful about crossing the streets. It reminds me of Thailand, but they’re less likely to stop for you, even. It’s rather a bit of staredown during high-traffic times. I’m glad I had practice doing that from bike-riding, as eye contact is a good way to prevent squishing.

Speaking of bikes, I’m thinking of getting one when I get to site in a couple weeks. I may be able to only use it for about a third of the year, but I miss movement like that…though last night I got from another PCV video files of, erm, exercise tapes and yoga. To pass on to other Khovd people, of course…I also think I’ll get a basketball out there.

The day before yesterday was quite cold - by the early evening it was in the mid-40s I think, but now it’s back up to 70s or 80s. I have on my google homepage the forecasts for Khovd, UB, and Atlanta in Fahrenheit and it’s interesting to compare - as it’s near 100 in Atlanta right now. Man…how will I survive the cold?

Concerning clarification of what’s available here and not - we definitely have meat, most root vegetables, and dairy products (except nice cheese). We also definitely have vodka and beer. And ice cream. It’s hard to say what’s available in Khovd and not in the prime harvest time, where more than usual is available between the season and the relatively passable roads, but for now many things can be obtained here in some form or fashion. Instant foods in general are not available in any form excepting fairly iffy instant ramen, but staples are ok. Spices are iffy too. Concerning packages, don’t worry too much about contents - as long as you pack ok, it’ll be all good.

Oh, and I have a cell phone number and address now. I will be posting it shortly on Facebook and perhaps here - I’m not so sure about security, but I suspect it would be common knowledge where the office is located at least, so it’s not really a compromising disclosure. And people who want to drunk dial Mongolia? I’ll take that risk Updated photos from final training wrap-ups are coming along too…miss you all and hope I see you around online sometime…

Tags: food, mongolia, peace corps