Today marks my 100th day in Mongolia. Wow!
How the days have flown by. I
thought it would be fun to post a list of 100 things I’ve done since being here
in Mongolia.
What I’ve Done Since
Being In Mongolia
1.
Lived with a Mongolian host family
2.
Took a hot shower in a South Korean airport
3.
Made new American and Mongolian friends
4.
Had three months of training in the Mongolian
language
5.
Walked to and from school an hour each day
6.
Always getting challenged by Mongolian drunk men
7.
Squatted to use the toilet (jorslung)
8.
Hand-washed my clothes
9.
Made a Mongolian meal
10. Made
an American meal for my host family
11. Had
my Mongolian brother try to hook me up with a Mongolian woman
12. Witnessed
Mongolian nursing at the dinner table
13. Went
to the Mother Tree
14. Walked
around Ulaanbaatar
15. Watched
a goat butchering
16. Witnessed
two Mongolian fights
17. Had
a photo-shoot one night with another volunteer’s host family
18. Had
a “Sunny in Philly” marathon with my site mates
19. Taught
English to Mongolian students
20. Crammed
many bodies into one taxi
21. Saw
a middle school student get punched in the face by another middle school
student
22. Partied
for a week straight in Darkhan
23. Got
the flu during Mid-Center Days
24. Played
basketball with Americans and Mongolians
25. Drank
airag, fermented horse milk
26. Ate
giddis, goat guts
27. Spectated
the Mongolian Annual Olympics (Naadam)
28. Let
my host brother borrow 20,000 tugriks, which I never saw again
29. Walked
in on that same host brother and his wife at their most intimate
30. Almost
got bit by a dog
31. Got
lots of shots
32. Almost
got charged by an angry calf
33. Saw
a goat running on top of the other goats to get towards the front of the herd
34. Played
soccer with Mongolian children
35. Played
guitar and sang for my school’s opening ceremony
36. Gave
a speech for my school’s opening ceremony
37. Wrote
two new songs
38. Read
two books
39. Had
a gossip night with…dudes
40. Helped
create and facilitate an English conference in Darkhan
41. Rode
on part of the Trans-Siberian railway
42. Drove
to the Mongolian-Russian border
43. Got
called a “Ruski”
44. Experimented
soaking cowberries in vodka to find out it was disgusting
45. Went
to a Mongolian dance club
46. Sang
karaoke
47. Learned
and sang four Mongolian songs
48. Stayed
out past three with my host brother to witness my host mom angry and hitting him
49. Found
Jamaican rum and drank it
50. Discovered
that my favorite pivo in Mongolia is “Khar Khorum”
51. Gave
a massage (and sort of got one back in return)
52. Held
a rabbit
53. Dug
a well
54. Fetched
water out of a well
55. Took
a bucket bath
56. Got
made fun of for saying “baas” (which means poop) instead of “bas” (which means
and).
57. Got
invited in by a Buddhist monk to his study
58. Got
cleansed by a Shaman
59. Drank
water from a natural spring
60. Jumped
off a giant sand dune
61. Sat
next to a pretty girl on the airplane
62. Stayed
in three different aimags
63. Won
a volunteer trivia night
64. Actually
won in site-vs.-site dodge ball
65. Dressed
in a Mongolian traditional dell
66. Held
a baby for the first time in 14 years
67. Ate
mutton cooked by hot rocks
68. Visited
a ger
69. Lived
in solitude in a Soviet apartment
70. Milked
a cow
71. Got
a piggy-back ride from my small Mongolian host dad, who ended up with a
strained lower back
72. Debated
Ron Paul and politics with fellow volunteers
73. Wrestled
Mongolian-style (sort of)
74. Hiked
a mountain
75. Woke
up out of a dream screaming
76. Had
a sleepless night caused by a rooster crowing
77. Had
weekly campfires with the other PCVs
78. Played
ping-pong against a Mongolian elder
79. Discovered
that Snickers and Twix are bomb-diggity
80. Found
a dead decomposing bird in the clean water source which I usually drank out of
81. Won
at beer pong and then lost the next match to two girls
82. Was
in the same room as two people getting it on
83. Lived
out a “King of the Hill” moment, drinking a pivo outside the delgur with my
friends
84. Ate
at an Irish-American pub, which was not so Irish
85. Shopped
at three different black markets
86. Flew
in a tiny airplane across the country
87. Watched
the Heat defeat the Spurs in the NBA Finals
88. Taught
Darkhan teachers about different ways to use the Internet as a resource
89. Discovered
that mustard is great with spaghetti
90. Learned
the Cyrillic alphabet
91. Joined a fantasy football league
92. Recorded
a song sung and played by a Mongolian family
93. Met
the American Ambassador to Mongolia
94. Experienced
the freezing cold of an early June night
95. Went
to Caikhan Uul
96. Ate
hosher at Naadam
97. Drank
gin with tang
98. Joined
the “Game of life”
99. Was part of an act at a Mongolian circus
100. Sat
next to the Mongolian version of Mac’s mom (Sunny in Philly) in the taxi
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