There and Back and There Again: April 2011

...what's my name?...

Chillin' by the seaside in Hong Kong

Hey, all. My bad with the lack of updates. If you didn’t know, I was in AMERICA. It was pretty darn awesome. I hung out with my friends every day, I got to see lots of people, drink lots of good booze, and eat lots of good food. A completely awesome trip.

Since I’ve gotten back, I’ve gotten the same questions: “How was America?” “Was it weird being there?” “Was it weird coming back?” “What was the weirdest thing about being in America?”

A lot of ‘weird’ questions. America was good. It’s still there! It wasn’t weird being there, nor was it weird coming back. I was sorta indifferent, I think. Of course, it was sad saying goodbye again to my friends and family, but on the plus side, my mom, sister and brother booked tickets for July! Hopefully Ellen’s tickets to come soon after. :)

HARRY POTTER PARK!

The weirdest thing I noticed in America was not the clean bathrooms that had toilet paper, not the super awesome customer service, but the fact I tended to ignore people when I was shopping. I’m used to not understanding people around me, and I think that transferred to American stores. I felt quite dumb.

I also had a second leg of the trip, in Hong Kong to see my dear Janice. It was a really nice trip, full of equally awesome food and lots of shopping. :) We saw some of the usual tourist sights, and Janice took me to some local areas that were out of the way. It’s a super big city… much like London or New York I think (although I’ve never been to NY). Full of life, lights, and sounds.

My sister, Jack-Jack, and Lauren!

I finally arrived back in UB late last month. The next day my wallet was stolen (fun times), and the only reason I was sticking around was because people were coming into town who I hadn’t seen in a while. I was really happy to get back to the BU, back to home (and Mika!), and of course, work. I got a warm reception and I’ve been pretty darn busy since then. Children’s camp, seminars, case studies to write, projects to keep up on… I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I left America!

Mommy and Jack :)

Since I’ve been back we’ve had three visitors, if you can believe that. We’re not a well-traveled Aimag since we’re on the edge of Mongolia and there’s not much out here. Last week we had Peace Corps for a visit, this past week we had our dear friend Cassandra come from UB on HCA (host-country agency) business, and yesterday we had the UB embassy come for a talk about scholarship opportunities to study in America. It’s been really nice having people (read: other Americans) come by to chat. It was especially nice for me to hang out with Cass this past week- lots of girl talk. :) Dava and I were talking and we decided that we want at least one other girl site mate next year (her school might be getting a teacher-trainer, which would be really great), so we can have girl chats and hang out after work. In Mongolia, if a Mongolian woman is seen hanging out a lot with a man (foreign or otherwise), it can be construed as them being involved together… that’s why there’s a government official that had to be corrected by my supervisor since he thought I had three boyfriends. Sigh.

The usual crew! WTF Luke.

Sadly, it’s not all been good news in the BU. Nate’s supervisor had a really bad stroke and at this point, I believe he’s still in the hospital. He’s such a super nice guy, and I really hope he gets better. :/ Last week, Tumbee (who used to work at the children’s center as well), got into a bad car accident in UB. Thankfully, he’s ok, but his passengers aren’t doing as well. This is kind of a doubley bad thing since Tumbee’s wife is having a difficult pregnancy and the stress of the accident doesn’t help. And to top the week off, my coworker had a death in a family, so it’s been a little stressful around the work place as my coworkers are getting ready for the nursing competition in dornogobi (another aimag, south west of us). Actually, now I can’t remember if they said it was in dornogobi or dundgobi. They’re right next to each other.

At the club, partying it up like we're 20 again, ha.

But otherwise, things are good. My routines are back to normal, and I’ve even started running regularly since the weather has been SO NICE. 50’s, 60’s, even a low 70’s last week. And since it’s (literally) always sunny in Mongolia, it’s seemed even warmer. My apartment has been hot since it’s a bit too cold at night to have the heat shut off. I’m gonna be a little sad the day they turn the heat off… back to the tumpin bathing.

Mika’s been a little bugger lately. The weather has seemed to give him cabin fever, and he’s exploring any possibility to get out of the apartment. He already had attempted suicide when Sarah was taking care of him, and with me he’s gotten stuck in my neighbor’s balcony and nearly fell off. Stupid ass cat.

Lastly, if people are interested, these are my currents:

TV Show: I finished Parks and Rec in record time… finished 30 Rock, now onto Arrested Development.

Movie: None. I’m so ADD, and I love my TV shows. I usually flip on Oceans 11/13 if I just want background noise.

Music: Really mellow stuff at the moment… Aqualung and Jack Johnson on repeat, yeah!

Book: River Town, about a TEFL PCV in China. Neat story so far.