Ramblin' in Mongolia

The normal progression of a conversation when I’m talking to a girl in the countryside that I’m interested in. I’m thinking I might have to make some changes when I get back to the United States later this year.

1) What is your name?

2) How old are you?

3) Are you married? (I ask this regardless of age)

4) Do you have any children? (I ask this regardless of marital status)

5) Do you want me to teach you some English? (This is where she tells me she is interested back or not)

Followed by any number of questions about her interests that you would probably only ask a 1st grader because of how stupid they sound or extremely honest (borderline blunt) remarks on what I think of her. I have NO filter whatsoever anymore.

My return to the dating world in America might include a drink or two being poured on my head. Really looking forward to it.

The Windy Windy Gobi

I thought Chicago was windy. Then I moved to the Gobi. In Chicago if you walk down the wrong street you get nailed in the face with a cold wind you weren’t expecting and/or probably aren’t dressed for. However, in the Gobi, during the spring time, the wind is a constant and powerful force. No matter the day, it will be there. At night it calms down a bit but as soon as the sun is up it is howling across the steppe. 

It is approaching the middle of May so spring will be over at the beginning of June. I’m down to my last 3 months as a PCV in Mongolia. Sometimes time has inched along and other times it has flown by. I’m sad to see the end this close but I sure as hell glad spring/the gobi wind is leaving my life for good.

Take

• Keeping a cactus in the home and putting money in it. It just looks cool.
• Bring a tiny present every time you visit someone’s home. How sweet is that custom?
• Serving tea or a drink and a snack to every visitor in my home.
• Never shaking someone’s hand when wearing a glove. Kinda like one should always shake someone’s hand while standing.
• Peeing anywhere I feel like it at any moment of the day. This one might be tough.
• What I like to call “the developing world squat”. Squat down on the back of your heels and get to work on something or get to work on nothing at all and just loiter.
• Going off the squat… I prefer a squat toilet to a western toilet. This might be hard to take but it is simply more natural.
• Not get upset if someone is in my “personal space.” Who cares if someone random person is standing really close to me/touching me? We are all just trying to be comfortable. Let it be.
• Hanker-chiefs - There are few things more useful in winter.
• Addressing older strangers with some form of respect. Here I say akhaa and egchee (older brother/sister). From living in the South, I know that a little Sir and Ma’am can go a long way if it is genuine.
• Getting up every once and awhile to see the sunrise. It is an auspicious act here and make the whole day brighter.
• Eating lots of red meat and dairy products. I don’t think there are two better food groups out there.
• Vodka.

Leave

• Slurping when drinking tea or eating soup. This one will take some awareness. It it second nature now.
• Showing up announced at people’s homes with only a bar of chocolate and expecting to be fed dinner.
• Looking at how much people take out when they are at the ATM. Mongolians do it and I admit I do it too.
• Blowing snot rockets in the middle of the street.
• Peer pressuring everyone to drink more. It is a Mongolian custom between men and I’m terrible at it.
• Forming a big ring on the dance floor where one person at a time moves in and out of the center. I can’t wait to mingle.
• Yelling the Mongolian equivalent of “Hey!” at people to get their attention.
• All my pairs of long underwear.
• Washing my calves, ankles, and feet before bed because they are covered in summer Gobi dirt, dust, and sand.
• Requesting a restaurant to make my food without fat. Hopefully I won’t need to back in America.
• Yelling “hey waitress!” whenever I want something in a restaurant. 
• How incredibly cheap I am now because of my low PC salary.

Get Back

• Opening doors for people.
• Not walking around like I’m a bus with a dozen blind spots and being courteous to other people’s body movement and location.
• Wearing seat belts.
• Knocking on doors before I enter.
• Exercising in a gym and not on a playground.
• Western table manners.
• My old sense of hygiene for both personal matters and food. I won’t go into detail on this one so I don’t embarrass myself or any other PCVs.  

If some of these habits I’m I want to leave here sound ridiculous or rude to you, that is fine. Many of them seemed ridiculous or rude to me at first too. Something that always bugs me is when I notice foreigners freak out if a Mongolian nudges them out of the way. They often exclaim “excuse me!” or “watch it!” However, moving someone out of your way here without an “excuse me” isn’t rude here. There is nothing malicious about a Mongolian bumping into you to get on the bus, enter a door, etc. You simply happened to be in their way. It isn’t part of the culture to be tiptoeing around other’s personal space or saying please for everything. Part of my job over the past 2 years has been sharing my culture with Mongolians as well as learning theirs. It will be a choice to bring some of it back.

There are so many crazy and random things about Mongolia that I find fascinating. I wanted to share them. I got many of these facts from a Mongolia guidebook and soaked up other’s from personal experiences.

Group photo of the M22/M23 Mandalgobi PCV crew. I’m going to miss everyone here in a couple of months.

I addressed whether I would be taking my dog Gobi home in a roundabout way in a recent post but wanted to do it again. For various reasons, it is best that Gobi stays in Mongolia. She already has a family that looks after her and expressed interest in keeping Gobi before I asked them to. She will get less belly rubs but most of her life will go unchanged. I’ll miss her like crazy but I know this is the best decision for both of us. For now I’ll just enjoy my last few months with her. 

At the photoshop an old countryside man with no money just payed for his ID photos with a can of beer. The payment was accepted with only a small laugh. What an amazing country I’m living in.

Anonymous asked: Hi, I'm about to graduate college and have been contemplating joining the peace corps in a year or two. I know that ultimately the decision comes down to me, but I've been reading you blog for about a year (since I first got interested in the Peace Corps) and was wondering whether you (and your site mates) would join the Peace Corps again now that you are at the end of your service? Why or why not? Also are you going to get to take Gobi home with you?

Hello! Thank you for your message and thank you for following my blog. I think it is great that your are contemplating joining the PC in a year or two. I would love to answer all your questions.

As I approach the end of my service I can honestly say that I would most definitely join the Peace Corps again. In fact, I would very much like to do the Peace Corps again someday (possible). Overall, this whole Peace Corps thing is filled with insane high and lows for most people. Kind of like a roller-coaster of emotions. I have this lucky ability to always see the positive in things so most of my time here has been nothing but that… POSITIVE. I have grown into a more patient, loving, honest, hard working, appreciative, happy, confident, and peaceful person. The PC experience is going to make you a better person. Of that I am sure. Not everyone enjoys it, but I feel confident speaking for many others when I say most don’t regret it and come at a better individual. I would say the majority of people who join but don’t enjoy it or quit do so because it is HARD. It is hard to be away from the ones you love for 2+ years. It is hard to move to a foreign land where you don’t know the language, the food is strange (or worse bad in your eyes), you are often sick with strange bugs, everyone stares at you, you often feel like you an outsider and you are going crazy, etc etc etc. But is is beautiful and awesome in its own special way. I would not call those negative parts to service though. That is just part of the experience. There could be what I would consider negatives to joining the PC but it completely depends on your personal situation in life and your personality. It probably isn’t the best step in a business career or if you know exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life. It can be a stepping stone for many many things (so I have been told) but there are other ways to get international working experience and make money while you are doing it (as my ex-pat friends in UB unknowingly remind me of). Joining the PC needs to be a decision that you alone make.  It sounds like you know that.

It took me a long long time to decide what what best for both Gobi and I. After consulting shamans and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) alike, I have decided to leave Gobi here with the family that I live with in my hashaa/fenced compound. I came to this decision for a couple of reasons. When I got Gobi I hoped for the best but planned for the worst. I hoped she would come home with me but planned for her to stay. I didn’t spoil her, trained her to respect human’s personal space, fed her a normal hashaa dog’s diet, and kept her outside all year long. Doing so has prepared her very well to function and live very well like a Mongolian dog. However, that is exactly what she has become and a Mongolian dog would not do well in America. She is wary of strangers, fights other dogs that come near or inside our hashaa, is protective, barks all night with all the other dogs if she so chooses, and has never had a meal of something that isn’t some combination of rice, organs and meat (often raw), bones, or noodles. Basically, I think the transition to life in America will be very hard and not fair on her. I have no idea what my future in America will hold and I don’t think she is the kind of dog that would do well with frequent change or spending most of the day inside. I then looked at her situation now. She has a family that already feeds her, likes her, and values the role she has in my hashaa My landlord uses her to guard all of the car and truck equipment my he leaves out when he is working on his failing truck. Which is everyday. The little girls who run around my hashaa all summer don’t like her chasing them but they all play a wonderful (albeit confusing to Gobi) game of hide and seek/tag with her. She is also a wonderful garbage disposal for all of us. I’m sure she will miss me but I know she has a family that already looks after her and that makes me okay with the decision to leave her here.

Please let me know if you have any more questions about joining the PC. Feel free to email me at cbenov@gmail.com

Last night I had my second dream where I was speaking Mongolian (as far as I can remember) as opposed to the many I have had where people are speaking Mongolian me. In my first one I distinctly remember tell a smart ass boy to shut up and go away. In my second one last night I asked someone if I had used a certain suffix correctly in my last sentence. I’ll call that improvement.

Another satirical but often incredibly accurate blog that dives into the mindset and problems of Peace Corps Volunteers around the world.