Beach Corps

Here I am, last full day on the island. And I'm on the internet blogging and checking March Madness stats (SUCKS TO SUCK MICHIGAN ahahahahaha). I'm waiting for my family to wake up so I can make breakfast and go snorkeling one last time. We're on St. John, and we've pretty much not had to go anywhere else... full of freaking amazing beaches and even more amazing food and people. I adore it here, but my skin doesn't- I still think I'm slightly allergic to the sun, because I get those awful rashes if I'm out too long:

Ignore my haggardness of appearance and my pouty face- I've just woken up. Also, the rash doesn't look as bad in the camera. 

That's another reason I'm not in the Beach Corps (the oh-so-affectionate name for Peace Corps volunteers who live on islands/near water), or anywhere really hot. I talked with one of my old sitemates just before I left, and he said that Beach Corps volunteers complain incessantly about their situation. Which they shouldn't, we both agreed. I guess bugs wouldn't be fun, but we have those too. Grass is always greener though, right?

Anyway, apparently the temp doesn't get too high here in the summer, and year-round it's something like 70-90 because of the sea regulation. Crazy. It also hasn't rained at all since we've been here, despite a 50% chance of rain everyday (watch... downpour = tonight).

In honor of St. Patrick's Day (which we will be celebrating today at all the bars by the beach), here is some Caribbean fun:

That is truly the question, isn't it?

Rum rum rum... yum!

(Real pics to follow when I get back to the land of the blue sky...)

I run and run as the rains come...

Nursing competition! Complete with dancing.

Mumford and Sons... never leave my playlist, please.

Oh, shame on me. Not updating in over a month. Granted, it’s been a crazy busy one. We’re getting ready for camp, and most things are coming together. We still have a lot to do, but I figure slow and steady is best at least until the teachers finish school in June.

So I wrote this a couple days ago, but I’ve sadly gotten sick since then. Luckily this is only the 2^nd time food poisoning has been this bad, and I’m really thankful I have an indoor toilet right now. I went into work yesterday for a little bit, thinking we were going to have a meeting… of course people were busy/not at work, so I decided to leave since I was about to pass out at my desk. At least now I can sit at my home desk for longer periods of time without wanting to lay down.

Bad decision of the week = watching the rest of season 1 of Dexter before bed. That show is so freaky, yet I can’t stop watching. It give me REALLY wacked out dreams. Coupled with my fever/chills combo, it kind of made for a restless night.

Since my last update, I think I was in the middle of my month of straight work.  I didn’t mind, but it was nice to have a real day off after that. Between various Nursing competitions, camp meetings, and event organizing, I’ve been redonkulously busy (I know that’s not a word, but it’s my blog, darn it).

Snowing on May 21st. 

Since the start of May, it’s been COLD. Confusing to most of us, since April was so warm I had to keep my windows open most of the time. Now that the heat has shut off (back to tumpin bathing…) and the temperatures dropped again, my apartment hasn’t been so nice and warm. Sadly I cannot start fires in the apartment, so my little Peace Corps heater has been my best friend on the (now shortening) cold lonely nights. Today, however... it's 80 degrees. CHOOSE ONE, MONGOLIA. You're about as bad as Michigan!

Next came my birthday! I’m 25. Oi. My 3^rd b-day in a row outside of America (England, Japan, Mongolia!). I should take this moment to say happy anniversary to this blog, since I remember doing a birthday blog note when we were in Kyoto! Anyway, it was a nice low-key event. My birthday (May 12^th) is on the same day as nurse’s day (how appropriate?), but since we did nurse’s day activities beforehand, the teachers and Nema took me out to dinner, then my coworkers took me out for cake and karaoke. :) On Saturday, Alex brought over a cake and wine and we watched Glee with Nema.

My candle was on FIRE. And singing happy birthday!

Hospital peeps and some of the English teachers!

Cake cutting pose.

Karaoke and dancing!

Just last week I took a quick trip to the capital to do work for camp. I took my dear Mika along, so as to get his manhood surgically removed. He did VERY well and I was impressed with his ability to sleep for 10 hours. I don’t know the word for neuter in Mongolian, so my CPs and I had the code word “snip snip” with hand actions. Or “no make babies” (in Mongolian). He’s pretty chilled out now, which I’m happy about. Crazy cat. I wasn’t so excited to go to the capital (had another attempted pick-pocketing, ugh), but I got to see Tim, Ned, Justin and Ashley (actually, both of the J&A married couples!). The two former I hadn’t seen since December… although it really didn’t feel like I hadn’t seen them in that long since we talk a bunch. Tim and Ned are going to be the health trainers for the summer in Darkhan (north 3 hours from the capital). I’m hoping I’ll be able to pop by to visit, maybe in August.

And summer! Summer! Swimming, sun, car rides, camel rides, horse rides… the family is coming!!

Mom, Konrad and Monika are due to arrive in Mongolia on July 10^th! :) I have a whole itinerary planned, which may or may not actually go well (because… well, it’s Mongolia. I know this country by now). I know they’ll be great travelers and we’ll have a great time regardless, but I want things to go semi-smoothly, at least. I wish Dad could have been able to experience Mongolia too, but I bet he’ll be with us in spirit.

Other things of note:

-As much as I get frustrated in the capital city (pick-pocketers, cab drivers that rip you off, expensive everything, etc), I always know I can come back to my town and find the nicest, most caring people I’ve ever met. For example, when I pulled up on the bus, I had a bunch of stuff and right away a man with his daughter asked if I needed a ride. After taking me to my apartment, they offered to help me carry the stuff up to my place. The daughter was even brave enough to carry Mika’s carrier! (Mongolians are generally freaked out by cats) When I offered some more money because they had been so nice, the man refused but let his daughter take the money after I insisted.

-I learn something new about myself and Mongolia everyday.

-If there’s a new product on the store shelves, there’s a chance that you might not be able to buy it because the cashiers don’t know what it is.

-Community (the show) drinking games are the best. Troy and Abed in the moooorning!

-When I learn a new Mongolian song, I am guaranteed to sing it at least twice in a row on special occasions. This includes birthdays!

-Tuya is my official #2 Mongolian Mom.

-Empty milk cartons make perfectly acceptable barf bags.

-Those 10-hour bus rides are an oddly good meditation/self-reflection place.

 That's all for now. On to pictures!

Todd's going away party! 

After the bar... move to the club.

You know when it's getting warmer... out come the billiard tables! 

Nurse's Day Lunch! The doctors served us food and drink. :) That's Tsolmon pouring the tea. She's incredibly nice, and she was actually my first office-mate.

...tumbleweed? Tiemshte! (Of course!)

Sarah planning out her world adventures while Mika sleeps. D'aww :) Also, the painting in the background (right of Sarah's head), I got during the Nursing Day dinner, for my "hard work and dedication". :)

The site mates getting together for some drinking games and awesome Mexican food!

Bright Lights, Big City

Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo. Where do you start with this city? Um, in a word, amazing.

Or in a phrase:

Concrete jungle?
This was taken at the VERY top of the Tokyo Tower. It was quite amazing... you can see Mt. Fuji from there. If nothing else, the amusement of the Japanese people coming off the elevator was my favorite: "eeeEEEHHHH!!"

Although Tokyo and Kyoto, and actually, most of the cities, are a vast majority of concrete jungle, they always find ways to have wildlife smack in the middle of everything. And you know, it has the strangest smell. I can't really put my finger on it, but it's leaves but with a slight musty smell that is harsh to the nose. Back on the first day in Kyoto, going up that mountain was a major sensory experience with all the smells, bamboo, stone walkways, and crazy bullfrogs and ravens.

Saturday morning most of us headed off to Kyoto for the Aoi Matsuri (Hollylock Festival), which is a large procession (511 people!) full of traditional clothing. We tried catching it during the first leg of the procession, but we sadly couldn't see much due to the crowds. My group decided to split off for the day, and we had lunch at a wonderful soba/ramen restaurant (ok, really, all the food is wonderful here, and I haven't had a bad meal yet!). Just around the corner we found the place we wanted to stake out, which was to have the parade of people curve around towards us.

 After the Aoi Matsuri, we hopped an early shinkansen to Tokyo. I got the total New York sense when we stepped off of the subway onto the street. Now, I've never been to New York, but I can imagine it would have been the same feeling with the neon lights and myriad of taxis. We found our hotel not too far from the Tokyo station, and headed off to dinner.

Yeah, what a dinner.

It was next to the train station, on one of the top floors. We really wanted a sushi boat, but we settled on a spread of various sushi... and loud drunk business men. They were hilarious. The moment we sat down, the man closest to Bethany started talking to us about where we were from, etc (really good english!). Let's just say a couple of beers and sake shots later, we were feeling pretty good about being in Tokyo. ;)

We took our happiness to the streets, however, and set up our tripods for some night shots:

Even after we were pooped out from walking, train-riding, and photographing, we found the energy to do a quick trip to a karaoke bar. :D Imagine a HUGE 8 story building with nothing but private rooms for karaoke. The one in Ann Arbor is no match for this place! Of course, we did Domo Arigato Mr Roboto... yep, we're the gaijin in Japan alright. I did some Beatles and Lady Gaga (she is popular as all get-out here), and yeah, my voice is shaaaaarp. But I felt a lot better after hearing the drunk Japanese man in the hallway trying to sing... or wail, his song.

Sunday morning was spent that a temple on the east side of Tokyo, which according to one of the business men last night, there was another matsuri going on! We got there just in time to see the procession go by, which was much smaller and much more rowdy than the one in Kyoto. The path leading up to the temple was lined with shops and food stalls, and ended at a huge gate with statues on each side (not sure of what they were, however).

I decided to veer off of the group after the temple and spend some quality time with my Japan. I took the subway to Harujuku, one of the most fashionable streets in Tokyo. It's streets full of unusually dressed people, making their own fashion statements.

During my time on this street, I probably saw more Americans (and a few Australians!) there than any other place. Ooohhh and they had Starbucks. I caved in to my chai tea latte over ice. Mmm.

Tokyo Tower was next. Taller than the Eiffel Tower, but based off the same, the highest observation deck is 250m in the sky! Reaaally great views of all of Tokyo.

Got back to Hikone yesterday night. We're doing more of Hikone today, and Nara tomorrow! I WANT TO FEED THE DEER :D