Well, this is just a simple song...

HEY GUESS WHAT it's Nurse's Week! So here's a themed post because it's the little things in life that make me happy, like THEMES:

A couple weeks ago, we hosted the regional nursing competition among the eastern aimags. It was great fun, and of course I got to take lots and lots and lots of photos. Have you ever wanted to put on your own nursing competition? OF COURSE. So let me show you how:

Bright, sunny and in the 70s is exactly how you want to start your competition.

Line 'em up, listen to some opening remarks... 

This is one of our schizophrenic patients. This is actually the same woman from last year who would yell at me in Russian and follow me places. This year, however, she must have forgotten about it... because right after she caught me taking the picture, she came up to me and said (in Mongolian), "are we friends?" I said, of course. We shook hands and continued to watch the speeches. 

Next, you do a little presentation on your hospital (this is where I got shout-out #1)

Oh yes, you must remember to put up your hair to perfection....

See?

Last minute chatter/cramming...

NURSING TESTS!!

Next, have your nurses test out the skills... 

This is Ghanaa, one of the nurses on my hospital's team, and also my neighbor! 

Reminds me of skill checks in nursing school.... ugh.

Oh hey, remember that nice weather the day before? Scrap that shit because here comes SNOW for the second day of the competition!

Yeah, you know why I took this picture.

This game is called, "count how many people are photoshopped into the picture." Hint: it's way more than you think.

FINALLY back to the competition. Here comes the real fancy stuff.

First some kind of introduction. Which could include a song/poem...

Or some kind of ethnic dance bit... (that woman with the mic is supposed to be playing a Russian)

Or have a Florence Nightingale impersonator...

... complete with dancing military women!

Yeah, clearly the coolest intro.

Close up!

Next, lets show the judges what you've been up to this year! (This is where I got shout out #2!) 

Not pictured: large screen with power points on it. Oh yeah, the woman on the right has a picture of a healthy lung stuck to her middle. They were doing a bit about smoking.

Next, have one person from each team answer a complicated (?) medical question. (A lot of them were about med dosages). If you're wondering why three of them look so happy, its because we were like the only team to get their question right.

Next, each team needs to answer a joint question! (They sounded like case studies to me...) 

Next, have each team come up and make sure they have their nursing supplies in their pockets, such as a watch, a pen,  hair in a bun, a towel and soap. This was the only part that I went, "uhhhh what." 

Finally, end with a upbeat song from your aimag.

Awards!!

Because they're amazing, my nurses got 1st place.... for the second year in a row!!

Congrats! Now they're all in UB competing in the national competition (last year they came in 5th). Go go Sukhbaatar go!!

Happy Nurse's Week, everyone!

One More Year, With Feeling!

Hey hey!

Since it's the last day in April, I so desperately wanted to make a blog post. There has been so many happenings.

I've officially accepted/got approved for one more year in this wonderful country. I'll be working with a brand new hospital in UB as (basically... or literally?) a nursing training manager/consultant. I'll also be a PCVL (Peace Corps Volunteer Leader) so I'll be busy helping the youngins and learning how PC works from the inside.

Soooo... that means you'll be stuck with at least another year of my ramblings. Congrats!

I've been insanely busy as always. Seminars, COS (close-of-service) conference, more seminars, projects, etc. Basically I was in UB the whole of April. It has been some busy times, indeed. Pictures are coming, I swear. I was gonna do a whole blog post about my amazing wonderful-time vacation, but I'll spare you... for now.

Now for something awesome. I'm currently into Game of Thrones, and I find this meme to be particularly hilarious:



WINTER IS COMING!!

Hey! HEY YOU! Yeah, you, come here!

Dear everyone,

I know you're reading my blog. Oh, I know. There are hundreds of you, coming from all different sorts of countries and computer operating systems (blogger gives me a chart: are there still people using IE?).

Anyway, since you're here, please check this cool project out.

Please consider donating to my (and my counterparts) amazing project. If I didn't believe in it, I wouldn't have helped write it. DO IT!! I'll love you forever.

Yours,

Kate

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...)

Leap Frog / Leap Year

Really, I just thought it would be fun to post on February 29th. Happy leap year!

So because I'm distracted (and I shouldn't be- I have a ton to do), here's a picture of where I'm going next week:

St. John, US Virgin Islands

No worries, I'm sure I'll get better pictures when I'm there. POW!

(Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...)

You win again, Tsagaan Sar.

I'm going to just go straight to pictures. I'm tired, a little sick, and hung over in oh so many ways (mostly buuz and vodka). I didn't go to as many houses as last year, but still an exhausting amount (15). It was really nice seeing my friends and counterparts, but man, is this holiday tiring (and I didn't even host!). Also: LARGE PICTURE TIME. Yeah.

Check out the customs/play-by-play from last year's blog. 

Greeting the new year's sun!

Greetings :) amar bna yy?

More greetings...

Toasts.

A sampling of the doctors, nurses, and workers at my hospital!

My director and I!

Aldarmaa!

Smilie face boov tower.

BUUZ EAT EAT MORE BUUZ 

Come play with us...

Travis' expression is perfect.

The three amigos, together again :)

It's not Tsagaan Sar without spilt blood in your stairwell.

D'aww.

This picture sums up that night pretty well.

Family portrait. 

Happy Tsagaan Sar, everyone!

It's that time of year.

Imagine, if you can, Best Buy on Black Friday. Scary crowded room, full of people pushing to get the last $100 laptop? Right. Well, Mongolia has it's own mini-version, but instead of electronics, it's carts full of food stuffs.

What is the holiday?

It's TSAGAAN SAR time! :D

This was how I imagined most of the people I encountered today were thinking. People pushing past each other to get the last Super Kontiks off the shelf. It reminds me of a couple conversations I've had in the past year about the commercialization of Tsagaan Sar. I could see it getting to Christmas-sized proportions, easy. The ads on TV, the sales, all of it hints towards commercialism. Where it becomes less about celebrating the beginning of the end of winter and the new lunar year, and more about fancy things? Some Mongolians I've talked to agree.

I'm interested to see the differences between this year and last year. One of the traditions of Tsagaan Sar is giving a gift to every person who comes to your home. The more money the family has, the fancier the gift tends to be (candy, money, and phone units are common... things like clothing, decorations and American dollars are less common). Families can quite literally go broke preparing for this holiday. The trade-off is though, is that the families will probably be able to live off of whatever gifts they received during TS. Is it starting to get out of hand, though?

So, I had a fun time at the shops today. I went store to store, but everyone was out of (good) veggies. The last store I stopped in had a good pile of green peppers, so I went to town. I really love onions (for those who don't know me) but the pile was really quite sad. I asked the nice store lady if she had any more, and she went in the back to get some.

A couple of people came by to look at the onions, but were dismayed at the wilted-ness of them. Oh, but I waited there patiently. And waited. UNTIL. The lady came out with a crate with only like 30 onions in it. And they were all mine! I had my bag ready, and grabbed up a couple kilos right before the swarm of people in the back of me, who realized that there were new onions out, pushed me to the side.

But it was too late for them. I had the most glorious onions of the pile. 

And I realized at the moment, I'm more integrated into this culture than I thought.

Some of my beautiful, tasty, eye-watering onions.

(No worries, she brought out more after I went to pay. But after all the shopping, the pushing and shoving... it was my moment!) 

Until after Tsagaan Sar (which is Feb 22nd-24th)... peace!