Modern Art

This was the "art" hanging on the wall in one of my hotel rooms while I was on site visits.  Not exactly Picasso, but it has a certain je ne sais quoi.

This mural was in the lobby of the hotel.  It shows some traditional Mongolian wrestlers.  Mongolians are very proud of their wrestling tradition.  The reason the jackets don't cover their chests has to do with a story that once a female dressed up as a man, entered the contest and won.  Can't have that.    

Let's Get Caught up

I decided that I needed to get back out in the world again and so through a series of interviews, doctor's visits, paperwork, and red tape I once again found myself in the Peace Corps serving as a response volunteer in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.  Peace Corps Response is a little different than normal Peace Corps as you don't get any training you just get to work.  Typically Response volunteers are partnered up with some sort of organization who is already working in the country. (More on where I work later.)  I've been here 3 weeks so far and I haven't starved yet so I guess I'm doing OK.  Although tonight I am making some kind of a stew mix that I found in the grocery store and it has meat, but I don't know what kind of meat.  While I was shopping I almost grabbed a big package of horse meat, but luckily that one had pictures so I am not eating horse.  Not tonight anyway.

    

My apartment here is way nicer than any Peace Corps volunteer should have.  It came fully furnished with a round bed that I think they must've bought from a hotel that charges by the hour.  But there is a Winnie the Pooh blanket which makes me feel right at home.

I think at some point I'm going to have to find a better blanket. I'm not sure even Pooh Bear can keep me warm in the winters they have around here.  I do have WIFI in my apartment along with a nice washing machine so I can do my own laundry.  

I am right in the middle of what I guess could be called the downtown area so I am surrounded by a lot of really great restaurants that I can't afford to go to on a Peace Corps stipend.  I found a Cuban place, a Mexican place (called MexiKhan), a breakfast type place with pancakes and all that, and a variety of places that sell just regular things like burgers and steaks.  Maybe one day I'll decide that I will just be broke for a month and spoil myself.  The food I do have access to is pretty good though so I really have no room to complain.  A lot of noodles and rice along with meat of some kind.  A lot of meat here.  And milk.  

Ulaanbaatar from my window

I live next door to a maternity hospital so there are always a bunch of people hanging around outside and fairly often I can look out my window and see a bunch of preggos walking around.  I guess since the population is so low here that if you have 4 kids they government gives you some kind of plaque or award or something.  There is a lady at my office who has 4 kids so I think she has one.  I'll have to ask her to see it someday.
The place I'm working is right around the corner from my apartment so its a short commute.  I've been partnered with Global Communities and right now we are working on analyzing the dairy and vegetable value chains to help create linkages between the different market actors involved in these products.  I'm mainly focusing on the vegetable side of things right now.  At the end of the Soviet era a lot of things fell apart and so it feels like any structure they had established in these markets are gone.  A lot of people are just kind of growing them and then finding a way to sell them, but there are very few official outlets for these products and there are a lot of things getting imported from China.  So if we can create a reliable source for growers to get inputs like quality seeds that are meant to grow in the climates and conditions Mongolia has I think they will see big improvements in the yields they have.  The market and demand for these things is definitely growing as people have more disposable income.  In a nutshell that is what I am working on everyday.
My first weekend here I hopped in a car and headed up North to do some site visits with a few of the co-ops that work with my NGO.  I can honestly say it really is a breathtaking country.  And very empty.  You can go miles without seeing anybody.

I was very impressed with a lot of the farms we saw.  They were all very productive with the resources they had.  Most are small by American standards, only 1.5 to 2 hectares.  Some were larger, but not many.

A lot of them are growing weed too, but I don't think they know it.

This will be a very different experience from my time in Mali.  UB is an interesting place that really feels like its coming up.  Although it makes the whole place feels like one big construction site, you literally see the old soviet era being replaced with newer modern buildings.  There aren't many opportunities to pick up intestinal parasites and I don't have to worry about malaria so I think I will stay fairly healthy here (knock on wood).  I might actually gain weight since the food is a lot more edible.  I don't have garibous following me around and the kids don't beg for money.  So far people have mostly left me alone.  Even in the countryside.
I miss Mali and hope to get back there soon, but for now I'm going to enjoy my time in Mongolia.  Hopefully I'll have some good stories for you guys.  

Work To Be Done.

The other day I saw a kid playing around the ground floor of my apartment building.  He had what appeared to be a large dry cleaning bag over his head.  It seems I have plenty to do in the "Don't Play With Plastic Bags On Your Head" sector.  After that I will move on to the "Don't Play Around Abandon Refrigerators" sector.  Development work...