Kimberlee in Mongolia: Sainshand – Part 2

June 6, 2014

Another great memory I have from Sainshand is visiting all of the amazing museums, monasteries, and historical sites. Sainshand was filled to the brim with exciting sites! And they were made much more dramatic thanks to the desert weather. The wind was always blowing excessive amounts of sand into our faces. Sometimes, you couldn’t even see the color of the sky or the ground a few feet in front of you.

We went to a couple of monasteries filled with beautiful artifacts and statues. We even visited a rare female monastery, and briefly stayed there for a service. At the end of one tour, a monk had us lay down on the ground to meditate for half an hour.

A view of a monastery museum and prayer flags.

A view of a monastery museum and prayer flags.

My favorite part was the offerings we gave to them at some of the sites. In total, we had the option of offering to four different sites. But the catch was that you needed to pay for all of it yourself, or else it didn’t count. Therefore, I decided to only offer at one. The four options I had to offer were: water, candy/cookies, milk, and vodka. At 2 sites, we were instructed to wish for something at the same time. To offer we simply tossed or placed the drinks or foods on a specific part of the site. This was often tricky because of the temperamental wind. We had to face a certain direction while offering, and it sometimes meant that a good amount of the offering ended up on us!

I ended up choosing the milk offering site, simply because I thought it was hilarious. The ovoo was in the middle of the desert, and was made of 2 sand breasts. “Ovoo” is a term used by Mongolians to refer to any holy site.

Our monk guide explained that this ovoo was a tribute to celebrate women and encourage fertility. I asked an SIT staff member if there was a deeper meaning and she said “no meaning- just boobs”. I think she was a bit confused as to why I was laughing so hard at that. I also thought it was funny how we were offering milk to 2 giant sand breasts. The men were instructed not to watch while we tried to avoid splashing ourselves with milk and overall enjoyed our time together as women. I would say that I’d prefer to offer milk to a breast ovoo than climb a mountain anyways!

The giant breast ovoo.

The giant breast ovoo.

There were two other memorable events that were unique to the desert environment. First, our monk showed us a dinosaur fossil! It was one of the most interesting things I’d ever seen. I knew that there were many dinosaur fossils in Mongolia, but I didn’t expect to actually see one in person. I even got to hold a piece of its spine! And who would have stopped us? It was just lying out in the open with no fences, guards, or any sort of monitoring device!

It was strange to see a precious dinosaur fossil with no protection. In fact, the monk told us that there used to be a baby dinosaur near it, but it was stolen less than a year beforehand! I can’t imagine a whole community knowing about a dinosaur fossil in the United States and not protecting it or giving it to a museum. It was a difficult concept to wrap my head around.

The other unique experience was the opportunity to visit a camel-herding family in the desert. I got to ride a camel for the first time in my life, and it was amazing. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I definitely wasn’t expecting the camels to be so tall. Or that I would ride them with a carpet saddle. Or that the humps were so soft and bouncy.

They even let us lead each other’s camels, so picture us running as fast as we could to make it fun for the other person. Lucky for me, Kit led my camel, and he ran for the whole time! Thankfully, there were two humps on either side of me that kept me nice and secure. Riding a camel had been on my bucket-list, and I was glad to have finally gotten to ride one.

This is me riding a camel with Kit leading me. To put the size of the camel into perspective, Kit is over 6 feet tall.

This is me riding a camel with Kit leading me. To put the size of the camel into perspective, Kit is over 6 feet tall.

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Austen in Ireland: End of the Year – Cork, Liverpool, Belfast, and Finals

June 3, 2014

Right after getting back from Germany, I took the oral exam in my Irish class.  The Irish language was very difficult, but it was a neat experience learning another language.

The next day, I took a train ride to southwest Ireland to Dublin’s smaller sister–the city of Cork (Ireland’s second largest city).  Cork had a very different feel to it than Dublin with a laid-back attitude and with no tourists.  It was set on a nice river and had some beautiful architecture.  I would have argued that there were more pubs in Cork per capita than Dublin, which I thought initially was impossible.

We explored the city of Cork and ended up going to Blarney Castle.  A must while there was  ‘kiss the Blarney Stone.’ Kissing the stone is said to endow the kisser with the gift of the gab (or eloquence and skill at flattery).  The poison garden was another neat attraction at the Blarney Castle, which featured many lethal plants.

The following day, we took a day tour of the Ring of Kerry, a gorgeous attraction in the countryside of Ireland.  There were so many great landscape sceneries and also quaint Irish villages.  Although the weather wasn’t the greatest (fog really hindered our vision), the trip more than made up for it.

Ring of Kerry scenery.

Ring of Kerry scenery.

After getting back from this trip, I had my finals to conquer.  I had three finals in psychology, economics, and Irish.  My first final was a couple days after getting back from the Cork trip.  The whole experience of having to go off campus to an exam hall that fits 3,000 exam takers was intimidating.  I took a shuttle bus that UCD was running to the exam site and it took about ten minutes.

Once I entered the building, there were seat numbers for each exam taker at that time slot.  Once I walked into the exam room, it was overwhelming to say the least.  About 3,000 desks with uncomfortable chairs all lined up in many rows.  A lot different from Richmond, where exams are taken in classrooms.  The exam was fine but there were proctors walking up and down the rows about every ten seconds, which could get distracting.

Since I had over a week in between my first exam and other exams, I had planned a last trip to Liverpool and Belfast with my friends.

The city of Liverpool really surprised me.  It had one of the largest shopping areas I had ever seen and the dock area was very nice.  My friend and I had a jam-packed day.  We went to the Beatles exhibition, since no trip to Liverpool is complete without learning more about the Beatles.  Then, we went to three of Liverpool’s free museums.  We first went to the Merseyside Maritime Museum, where we learned much information about the maritime industry in Liverpool.  We then went to the International Slavery Museum, which explained the history of slavery in Liverpool.

Albert Dock, Liverpool.

Albert Dock, Liverpool.

The third museum we went to was the Museum of Liverpool.  This was a very interesting museum as it really explained the importance of the city, from the city’s large Chinatown to the rivalry between Everton and Liverpool Football Club.  Our next stop of the day was Anfield, the home of Liverpool Football Club, one of the most legendary soccer clubs in the world.  Our tour was fantastic and so was our very passionate tour guide.

Anfield, home of Liverpool Football Club.

Anfield, home of Liverpool Football Club.

We went into the press room where the manager talks to media after the matches, the home dressing room where Liverpool suits up, and the visitor dressing room.  We also were able touch the ‘This is Anfield’ sign which was an iconic part of the stadium.  After this, we went into the stadium and saw the field.  It was amazing being able to see this stadium and also sit right where the manager sits during the games.  It was pouring when we were outside in the stadium, but it didn’t dampen our spirits.  The tour was quite interesting and I was able to really learn a lot more about the history of Liverpool Football Club.  We also went to the museum and saw some of the trophies Liverpool had won.

We got into Belfast early the next morning and learned that there was a bike race going on in the city that weekend (the Giro d’Italia).  We got to our hostel and started our sightseeing in the Queen’s Quarter, which is where Queen’s University, Belfast is located.  This was a very beautiful campus with many historic buildings and nice greens.

Our next stop was the Ulster Museum, a National Museum of Northern Ireland.  It was such a large museum and very expansive.  It covered pretty much everything that had to do with the province of Ulster, where Belfast is located.  We then saw the Botanic Gardens, which had some interesting plants and flowers.  This day was so exhausting and we ended up resting afterward.

The Titanic Belfast exhibition was our main sight of the next day.  The Titanic was built in Belfast and the exhibition was amazing.  The exhibition had many interesting parts, including a ride (to see what it was like to work on building the Titanic) and also a virtual tour of the interior.  It was overall an excellent attraction.  Walking through the port of Belfast, it is apparent that Belfast had and still has a very large industrial part to it.

On our final day of the trip, we went on a tour to Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and Giant’s Causeway.  Our first stop was the rope bridge and it was a somewhat frightening experience walking over a very shaky rope bridge, but the views of the sea from the island once you got across were really great. The main attraction was Giant’s Causeway though.  Giant’s Causeway is an area of about 40,000 basalt columns (mostly hexagonal), which are the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Walking all the way out to the tip on the coast was magnificent but also tough as the rocks were quite slippery.

I found a nice rock at Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland.

I found a nice rock at Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland.

This was really amazing and we walked back up top on the cliffs and were able to really appreciate the Giant’s Causeway Coast from up above.  When we got back to Belfast, we saw the Belfast City Hall, a marvelous building, before eating dinner and then heading back to our hostel since we were both leaving early the next morning.

Once I got back to Dublin, I studied pretty much the whole time before my last two finals.  It was a long day but I got through it and I soon realized that my time in Dublin would be coming to an end as I had to start packing.

I spent my last day sightseeing in Dublin.  I went to get my last fish and chips, to the Trinity Book of Kells exhibition and the Long Room, to the Science Gallery at Trinity College, to the Chester Beatty Library (religious history) and Dublin Castle.  I also just walked around the city, admiring the Irish atmosphere one last time.  I walked around O’Connell Street (I got souvenirs for many people), Grafton Street, and I ended up at pretty much where I started in Dublin, St. Stephens’ Green, a beautiful park right in the center of Dublin, and took some time to think of the great adventures and memories I will have from this semester.

I soon went back to the university and started packing.  Packing started off easy, but got more challenging when I slowly started running out of space. The next day (my last day in Dublin) was very much a relaxing day and I spent it packing and saying bye to friends I had made.  Although I had to get up early the next morning to leave, I figured I should spend one last night with the UCD Softball Club, as I made some of my closest friends in that group.  I ended up not getting to sleep until 4 a.m. that night and waking up at 6 a.m. but it was all worth it.

Saying my last farewells to the people, the campus, and the city of Dublin was challenging, but I know I will be back at some point in the future.  It was my most memorable semester so far and I would say the decision to study abroad (I decided last minute) was one of the best decisions of my college career.  It really opened up my eyes to another culture.  I am currently sitting at my home in the USA relishing the memories and wishing I were in Ireland.  I can’t believe I sometimes wished I were back in the USA when I was in Ireland.  I must have been crazy.

 

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Austen in Ireland: The Deutschland Expedition

May 29, 2014

After finishing up the last week of classes and final essays, I went to Germany for five days with a friend since we had a “revision week” between the final week of classes and final exams.  My friend and I decided to visit Berlin and Munich, the first and third largest cities in Germany.  Our trip began with my flight to Munich and meeting my friend at the Munich airport.  It was surreal that the airport had a tennis court and an outside area in between the two terminals.

From the airport, we decided to explore, marveling at the magnificent Bavarian architecture around the city of Munich.  We went in the Residenz, the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs.  It was a very regal.

Marienplatz, central Munich.

Marienplatz, central Munich.

We also saw the English gardens, a large park in the city center.  It was an amazing sight seeing everyone enjoying their time on a weekday and not worrying about work.  We also experienced a beer garden, one of the must-sees when going to Munich, which was a fantastic and truly authentic German experience, including the food and beverages.

The next day, we took a day trip outside of Munich to visit the Bavarian castles of Linderhof and Neuschwanstein.  We first visited Linderhof, which was modeled after the famous Versailles chateau.  It had a similar hall of mirrors and the gardens around it were fantastic.  The castle was in such a picturesque setting in the mountains.  Our second stop was the very Bavarian village of Oberammergau.

The main attraction was Neuschwanstein Castle, one of the most famous castles in the world. Ludwig II of Bavaria commissioned the palace as a retreat.  The setting of the castle is absolutely breathtaking.  The climb is thirty minutes up a steep hill, but it was very much worth it.  The castle was unlike anything I had seen before and the views of not only the castle but the landscape were magnificent.  The bridge overlooking the castle from above was such a great spot to see everything.

Breathtaking scenery of Neuschwanstein castle and the Bavarian landscape.

Breathtaking scenery of Neuschwanstein castle and the Bavarian landscape.

The next day we took a great tour through Munich and we were able to learn a lot more about the important history of the city.  We went up to the top of a church with terrific views of the city.

Our flight to Berlin was that night and we landed around 9 pm or so.  Berlin was a completely different city and the difference was apparent immediately.  Munich was a more historic and traditional city, while Berlin had more of a professional feel to it with its large business district.

We started our Berlin stay with a great tour of the city, which stopped at many of the famous sights such as the Brandenburg Gate (the former city gate), the Jewish Memorial, and the Berlin Wall to name a few.  Also, we explored Museum Island (a very nice area on the river with many museums) and the Berlin Cathedral.  The next day we decided to visit the concentration camp of Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp near Berlin used mainly for political prisoners.  It was a very eye-opening experience being able to see this camp, the living quarters, and even the extermination area.

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin.

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin.

On our last day in Berlin we decided to go to the top of the TV tower, which had a height of 368 meters.  The views were great out onto the city and a fitting way to end this epic expedition.  This journey was a neat adventure and also my farthest trip from Ireland.  It was great going to the homeland of my relatives as I have a large percentage of German ancestry.

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Kimberlee in Mongolia: Sainshand Part 1-Reflection of Our Last Excursion

May 27, 2014

This past week was strange because it was the beginning of the many “lasts” in Mongolia. Although it was exciting to go on an excursion to a desert area in southern Mongolia, I kept remembering that it was the last time that we’d travel as a group. It was in the back of my mind as we went to the countryside, but I had to keep shaking it off because how can I live life with such sadness in the back of my mind? For me, a large component of study abroad is remembering that it is temporary, but continuing to push myself to live in the moment. It was, and is still hard, but I keep telling myself that I need to present in every moment.

However, the great part about it being the last excursion was the fantastic group dynamic. As there were only 8 of us, we were predictably close at the beginning. But I felt that this particular excursion was different than the others. After the trip, many of us talked about how we liked our trip to Sainshand the best out of them all. When I look back in my memory, I remember lots of roadtrips, dumplings, and laughter in those few days.

A view of Sainshand town.

A view of Sainshand town.

Perhaps it was the relaxed, comfortable atmosphere that surrounded our group. Because there wasn’t anything to do in Sainshand at night, we spent our nights laughing at comedy skits on YouTube, watching movies, and just enjoying each other’s company. Just imagine the 8 of us piled on top of a bed watching movies!

I gave countless head massages every night. In general, we had more free time than ever before. We never had to get up that early, so we had breakfasts leisurely in a small restaurant across the street from the hotel. We had large chunks of time to explore the tiny town during the day, and even found a pizza place to order pizzas from later.

A giant dinosaur statue we found and climbed together.

A giant dinosaur statue we found and climbed together.

A big highlight of the trip for me was getting the chance to ride on the train during the day. We rode a train at night to Erdenet, but it was very different during the day. First of all, our program was quite determined to get us to be productive during the train ride. We had both individual presentations and Mongolian language classes, which I thought was hilarious.

With the 8 students and 2 program staff, we were stuffed inside that tiny train compartment. But it was a fond memory for me because we were able to bond even more. We were also looking forward to the “buffet” our program had promised us, but it just turned out to be a lady serving ramen and sandwiches from a cart. We had fun eating our cheap, unhealthy foods while wrapped up in our blankets on our cots. It’s funny how sometimes the journey can be just as fun as the destination itself.

My friend Mara on the train.

My friend Mara on the train.

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Austen in Ireland: Animals, Softball, and the Parents

May 6, 2014

After St. Patrick’s Day, I had a week to relax and attempt to start working on my copious amounts of assignments due in April.  Once school started again, it seemed apparent that the second half would be more intense with the large number of assignments, finals worth up to 70% of my grade in some classes, and on top of that, trips to see more of Europe.

The weekend following the break, a friend and I went to the Dublin Zoo.  I hadn’t been to a zoo in about eight or so years and Dublin had a great zoo supposedly so I figured I had to go.  I was amazed by the size of it, as you could easily spend a whole day there.  They had so many different types of animals, but I was disappointed that they didn’t have sloths as well.

After this, we went to a Gaelic football match in Croke Park where County Dublin took on County Mayo.  It was one of my favorite experiences of the semester so far because the sport was really fast-paced and entertaining.  It ended up being a draw with Dublin staging a come-back and also having a chance to win it at the end.  I wish I could see a hurling match (the other sport big here) but I don’t think I’ll get a chance to.

Croke Park

Croke Park

The first weekend in April the UCD Softball Club had their “Intervarsities.”  Intervarsities is a tournament where other softball clubs around Dublin and Ireland come for the weekend and we play.  It was overall some great fun.  I played seven games over the course of the two day tournament, so I was exhausted to say the least.  It was great being able to meet people from other clubs as well as getting to know people from the UCD Softball Club better.  My UCD team ended up losing the third place game, but the UCD 1 team ended up winning the tournament.

The next weekend my parents came to visit me in Dublin.  I really enjoyed taking them around and being able to show off my knowledge of the city was definitely rewarding.  I realized how much I had missed them.  I showed them some attractions in the city of Dublin, such as Temple Bar with all of the pubs.  My dad really enjoyed having traditional Irish food and Guinness while in Dublin.  We also went to the Jameson Distillery that Friday which was a fun experience.

Jameson

Jameson

I showed them the UCD campus and they were amazed at the facilities and the size of the campus.  I wanted to see a UCD soccer game before I left so my parents and I went to see them play Dundalk right on the UCD campus.  Unfortunately, UCD lost but the fans were definitely entertaining.  I showed them around the city and we saw the Dublin Castle. My mom and I also had a chance to go inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, a very impressive cathedral.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

The next day, we continued our tour of Dublin and I showed them around Trinity College in the city center of Dublin, the National Gallery of Ireland, and the Natural History Museum.  Needless to say, I had a very long weekend.  The last day before they left, they helped me prepare for the long trip back in less than a month and then we took a walk along the River Liffey and then up O’Connell Street.  I wish I had time to show them some of the Irish countryside but it was an overall fun weekend getting to see them.  It didn’t hurt that the weather was beautiful!

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Austen in Ireland: Newcastle

May 4, 2014

So a couple weekends ago I went to Newcastle with a few friends.  I know what most people think when I say this,“Why Newcastle?”  After researching the city and wanting to see an English Premier League football match before the end of the semester, I decided on Newcastle.

Waking up a little after 3 a.m. on Friday morning was how the weekend began–my  flight was at 6 a.m.  I was shocked when I got to the bus stop and saw about 15 people at the stop at 4 a.m.  It was Easter weekend so I assumed that everyone was going home.  It was so crowded on the bus that it wasn’t able to pick up people at the later stops.  The airport was also crowded and I got to the gate right when my flight was boarding.  I landed a little after 7 a.m. and took a metro in the city center and got in no later than 8 a.m.  It was absolutely sublime walking around the city without anyone else around.  I wandered down to the Quayside (Riverside) as Newcastle is on the River Tyne.

Newcastle Quayside

Newcastle Quayside

This area reminded me a little bit of Richmond and the area around the James River.  There were many unique bridges over the river which were quite amazing.  I saw a massive part of the city as I wandered around the historical parts, the Quayside, saw both universities (Northumbria University and Newcastle University), saw St. James’ Park (home of Newcastle United Football Club) and also a couple of parks.

Newcastle University

Newcastle University

My friends from the University of Edinburgh arrived in the afternoon and we went sightseeing around the city, including the Quayside and Newcastle University.  We then checked into our hotel, literally right across from St. James’ Park.  Newcastle had two very large universities, so there was never a shortage of entertainment options during the night time.  Needless to say, we had a good time both nights we were there.  The first night, the place we went to even had a bouncy castle.

Saturday mainly revolved around the football (soccer) match at 3 p.m.  We walked around the city in the morning, got some lunch, and then proceeded to go the football match.  I was amazed by the stadium’s size right when we walked in.  It was a 50,000 seat stadium but right in the center of Newcastle.

Newcastle United

Newcastle United

Newcastle United was playing Swansea (from Wales).  We had a great view of the game from one end of the pitch.  It was such a great experience and the crowd went crazy when Shola Amoebi for Newcastle scored first.  However, Wilfried Bony for Swansea City scored a header and then a penalty kick, thus declaring a win for Swansea.  After the match, we wandered around the stadium and it was just an amazing experience overall.  We then went to the park right behind the stadium and it was quite unique being able to see the stadium while in the park behind it.

The next day we decided to go out to the coast of England on the east side since Newcastle was very close.  We walked around the village of Tynemouth and had an excellent lunch consisting of turkey, beef, and ham.  We explored the castle there and even two of my friends went into the absolutely freezing water fully submerged.  I just felt it with my feet and it was so cold.  We then made the trek back to Newcastle where there was a bus back to Edinburgh in the afternoon.  My flight wasn’t until later that night, so I decided to take a train ride out to Sunderland, a city close to Newcastle.  It was really quiet around, probably because it was Easter.  I walked around a park there and saw a little bit of the city.

This was one of my most memorable weekends because it was off the beaten path.  It was fun making friends with the Geordies (nickname for a person from this region) and they definitely did have a unique accent.  All in all, a fun weekend and I would definitely return back to the city.

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Kimberlee in Mongolia: Nomadic Chores

May 1, 2014

In addition to herding, I had a lot of regular chores that I helped my host family with. In between herding, I would typically: sweep the ger, collect yak dung, cook lunch & dinner, milk the goats, and fetch water at the nearby river. I really liked doing the chores, mostly because they gave me something engaging to do.

Most of them were interesting chores that I could only do at my nomadic homestay. For example, I can’t tell you the next time that I’ll have to collect yak dung to heat a ger. I found this to be the most enjoyable chore. Unlike herding, collecting dung is very straightforward. I can’t imagine that anyone would actually be bad at it, and I was no exception. After sometimes feeling useless in bigger chores like herding, I strove to be the best dung collector in my family!

On short trips, I would usually use the flap of my Mongolian deel as a basket for the dung, but on long expeditions, I brought a large basket to carry on my back. I would use the small rake to scoop up the dung because it was impossible to bend over. That thing was heavy! By the end of a collecting session, I was sometimes worried about straining my back, and would slowly shuffle my way back to the ger entrance.

 

Me with a full dung basket

Me with a full dung basket

Another chore I did was filling containers of water at the nearby river. At first, it was kind of concerning to see how much debris was making it into our water. There was a lot of “seaweed”, 2-inch long plankton/bug-like creatures, and plain old dirt. Of course the buggy creatures freaked me out the most. I would peer inside our jugs and see at least two-dozen swimming around. I asked a staff member about it later, and he said that they would sometimes filter it out “if I was lucky”. He then proceeded to tell me that it was better to drink “live” Mongolian water than “dead” Western water. Fair enough.

My sister-in-law and host nephew with our jugs at the river

My sister-in-law and host nephew with our jugs at the river

And of course, there was general animal care that I helped out with. We would herd the goats and sheep in and out every morning and evening. And it wasn’t just “herding.” Depending on the day, it sometimes entailed: splitting male from female, adding or subtracting baby animals, dividing sheep from goats, guiding them into certain pens, or directing them to water sources. Of course, I could never figure out exactly what my family was doing until about halfway through! A couple of times, I made big mistakes with herding. For example, I once brought all of the sheep and goats home instead of just the female goats! I’m surprised I didn’t make more mistakes because of the language barrier. Thankfully, they forgave me.

Other everyday animal-related tasks included milking the goats and giving tick medicine to the baby animals. My family usually milked the goats that didn’t nurse kids because they had either died or had been rejected. However, they did milk the goats that had some milk left over after the kid had had its turn. It was always a big show to tackle a targeted goat and to restrain it during the milking.

However, we had this one goat that was named and would come when called! I still don’t know why it was named. Mongolians don’t even name their beloved horses, and only give names to their dogs. My theory is that this goat was given immunity from a local monk. We heard that some families ask monks to choose a sacred animal that is allowed to live and die a natural death as an offering. Either that, or it was just a really intelligent goat.

Some mornings, we would search through the baby animals and find ones with particularly awful tick infestations. Most of them would have large clumps of big ticks and also thousands of tiny, tiny newborn ticks. It was disgusting! But it was usually fine after spreading medicine onto their infested areas. At first, I thought they were injecting them with the giant needles, but they were only squirting it onto the surface of the skin. Thankfully, I only found a couple of ticks on me during the whole homestay.

Injecting medicine onto the skin

Injecting medicine onto the skin

 

 

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Kimberlee in Mongolia: Lessons from my Nomadic Homestay

April 21, 2014

It feels strange to be sitting here at my computer and trying to find a way to explain these past 2 weeks. Each of the over 800 pictures that I took have their own story to tell, and there are a million moments that I want to share. I have to admit that I’ve been putting off writing about my experience because explaining 2 weeks of my nomadic homestay is impossible to condense. How do I accurately describe how it felt to spend my days telling time by the sun? How it felt to sit in the grass and only hear the sound of hundreds of animals chewing? Or what it was like to watch a goat give birth on a mountain?

 

DSCN1374

How can I fully explain how it felt to see this view everyday?

 

I ended up surprising myself with the amount of unexpected lessons that I learned. If you had asked me at the beginning to outline my expected challenges, only half would have been accurate. I probably would have mentioned challenges like: not bathing for 2 weeks, having no internet connection, the Mongolian language barrier, and the food. However, I would say that out of these challenges, the only one that turned out to be true was the language barrier. But even this was not as challenging as I thought. I became an expert mime by the end.

 

The challenges that I ended up having were completely different than I anticipated, which I think is the beauty of this experience. During my lows, I tried to accept these difficulties and get something out of it. The biggest challenge that I dealt with was boredom. The chores were not always exciting. Learning to herd was a beautiful experience, but there were days when 10 hours of herding became less exciting. Sometimes I would make up poems in my head, which made me understand why storytelling and singing are important to Mongolian herding culture. Other times I thought about life and all of it’s complexities (as stereotypical as that sounds). I can’t imagine another time in the near future where I’ll nothing to do but simply think for 2 weeks straight. As our academic director said: “Boredom is starting to become a luxury”.

 

DSCN0988

At least I experienced boredom while looking at this beautiful scenery

Along with boredom, the extreme feeling of isolation was incredibly overwhelming and unexpected. I anticipated isolation in a different way. I thought that being disconnected from the internet would be isolating, but I mostly felt isolated from the group and people who speak the languages that I understand. I wanted to process with someone in words, and yet I had to deal with all of my emotions on my own. This was independence at its most extreme. It was difficult to deal with, but it was completely worth the struggle.

 

One thing I can say for certain is that this homestay was twice as difficult as my rural Ugandan homestay. In Uganda, I had a fellow student as a host sibling, my family spoke English, and our whole group lived in the same village. Here, the closest student to me was at least a 45-minute walk away. It was also only 5 days in Uganda, compared to almost 2 weeks in Mongolia. I didn’t experience any boredom or feelings of isolation, which was my biggest challenge here. But I will say that I think that I got more out of this experience partly because of the unexpected challenges I faced.

 

Once I was able to bond well with my family, I immediately found a great amount of joy. When I look back in my memory, I first think of my positive experiences: playing cards, brushing goats for cashmere, playing with the toddler, seeing the sunset while herding, and catching baby goats. Even though I had lots of lows, it was well worth my time and energy to work through them by myself. The whole time I lived there, I never felt like I’d made a better decision than coming here to Mongolia.

 

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When I look back at my time there, this is what I see in my mind

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Kimberlee in Mongolia: A Sunny Saturday

March 31, 2014

After almost a week separated from my host family, it was so nice to finally have the chance to spend time with them again. Who knew that after two weeks I’d be so attached to them? What an incredible feeling to have already formed strong bonds.

I began my day with a short trip to a conservation center/museum with Tuugi’s 7th grade class. We basically watched a 45-minute video on the deterioration of Mongolia’s environment and later wandered around many stuffed Mongolian animals. Although the tour was in Mongolian, most of the signs were also in English. That made it a lot easier for me to be engaged with the museum’s artifacts, and it was interesting to learn about the endangered species unique to Mongolia. The center was entirely funded by the Japanese government, so everything inside was covered in “From the People of Japan” stickers. Fun Fact: Japan is Mongolia’s biggest foreign aid provider

After lunch, my host family decided to visit some family members in the countryside. We drove about an hour outside of the city to a little village wedged between the mountains. It was absolutely stunning. We pulled up beside a giant herd of sheep and goats, and the kids immediately sprinted out to start chasing them.

 

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Temuujin chasing after the sheep

 

After the kids (both the human and the goat ones) became too exhausted to play anymore, we were invited into the ger for some tea and cookies. It was incredible to finally be inside of a ger. It was a lot larger, brighter, and sturdier than I imagined. There were lots of tapestries of horses and rams, and there was even a TV run by solar panels. All I could think about was what it must be like to wake up every morning in a ger to an amazing view outside your door. I guess I’ll be finding out what it’s like soon.

 

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The view from inside the ger.

 

It was also there that I finally figured out that we were visiting Grandma’s late husband’s sister. Because we had stopped by without calling (which seems to be a typical practice), we had just missed her driving into the city. Instead, we were hosted and shown around by her husband. I was able to introduce myself in Mongolian, but I missed hearing his name in his response. He was very hospitable, and gave us a mini-tour of their barn and animals.

Most of the animals were scared of humans, but there was this one goat in particular that kept following us around. He would always be nudging my arm while I was trying to pet another animal or take a picture. He was the only “billy” (male goat) of the herd, and was the father of all the baby goats running around, so I called him “Papa Goat”.

 

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Papa Goat and the traditional Mongolian ger

We started to drive home just as the sun was setting, and it was a beautiful backdrop to what was truly a wonderful day. Tuugi, Temuujin, and Tulga all passed out on top of me in the backseat of the car, and it was nice to have some quiet time for reflection after a busy day. Looking back, we technically hadn’t done a lot, but it was a fun and fulfilling day. I count myself very lucky to have a host family that is always looking out for me and introducing me to new things. Simply put, it was the kind of day where I knew that I had made the right choice in choosing Mongolia.

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Kimberlee in Mongolia: Excursion to Erdenet

March 28, 2014

Our group officially began our first long excursion outside of Ulaanbaatar to a small city called Erdenet. It’s the third largest city in Mongolia, and is located northwest of the capital. We mainly traveled here to study the copper mines, local factories, and the ecological issues facing the city.

 

Traveling to Erdenet was an adventure in itself. We took an overnight train from Ulaanbaatar to Erdenet, and I got to experience a sleeping cabin in a train for the first time. It was crazy that we were able to fit 4 people in that tiny cabin! I’d estimate that it was around 5-6 feet across. There were 4 cots and a top shelf for our backpacks. I slept on one of the top bunks, and I was terrified that I would roll off during a sharp turn. Thankfully, this didn’t happen.

 

We left Ulaanbaatar around 8pm, and arrived in Erdenet at 6:30am. After breakfast at the hotel, our program activities immediately started. It was difficult to not doze off with only a couple of solid hours of sleep, but somehow we managed. It was awesome to wake up in a whole new city. I noticed that there was a lot less pollution in Erdenet. Like Ulaanbaatar, I was struck by the dramatic contrast between the beautiful landscape and the rapid industrialization. Erdenet has a very interesting history because its existence is directly connected to the opening of its copper mine. Without the mine, there would be no Erdenet.

 

After a few lectures from local officials about the issues that Erdenet faces, we set off to the copper mine in the outskirts of the city. This mine is roughly the 10th largest producer of copper in the world, and has supported Erdenet’s (and even Mongolia’s) economy for decades. It was difficult to see the beautiful landscape destroyed, but in some ways the locals consider it a necessary evil. The existence of this mine supports the city’s economy, and gives many jobs to Mongolians. It’s a concept that I think I’ll grapple with for the entire semester. It’s even harder to have a solid opinion on it because many Mongolians we’ve met are also conflicted about the mining.

 

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The open pit copper mine in Erdenet.

 

Although learning about the copper mine was interesting, it was nice to have some other activities to get to know the city. Everyone talked about the mine, but the city had so much more to offer us! We hiked, visited a cashmere factory, and even met with local university students. We had our “drop-off” in Erdenet city, and were placed in the hands of the university students. My group had to research the theme of “transportation” for two hours, so we headed to the local train, bus, and taxi stations. It was awesome to explore the city with a few of its inhabitants! I can honestly say that Erdenet was both an interesting learning experience and a great opportunity to explore a different city.

 

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Our entire group of both SIT students and Mongolians after the drop-off.

 

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A horse skull that a student found looking over the city of Erdenet.

 

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