I can not stress enough of how great a person Julia Clark is in allowing me to stay at her place while visiting Mongolia. I knew she would be working while I was there and I knew I would not be adventuring everyday - taking time to relax was kind of the point - so it was fantastic to have a home base in which I could read, write, and watch all the HBO I could handle. I'm pretty sure HBO just came for free with every basic television plan but I didn't feel that piece of cultural information was worth any further research so it remains a mystery to this day.
This allowed me to budget my time so that I would still experience a traditional two or three week packed vacation, but not with all the stress and anxiety that can accompany such getaways. This is very important while traveling. As much as I love an exciting new adventure, I also know the heartbreak of defeat when your body just can't appreciate something when it is too tired to care. While living in Hawaii I witnessed this phenomenon with a fury. I watched individuals and families alike fly into Kahului airport on Maui with the enthusiasm of a baby human playing peek-a-boo, and leave with the disorientation of a baby giraffe just being born - a six foot drop to the ground, covered in afterbirth, and not a penny to your name. I think this may speak closer to home for traveling families but the concept can reign true for any individual.
What I'm trying to say is one of my favorite reasons for longer travel experiences is the cup of coffee you can drink the day following a planned excursion without feeling like you're "wasting a day." Taking the time to reflect, relax, and not too mention save some money while traveling rebuilds the soul in a way I can't describe. It also allows you another opportunity to meet people and discover activities that may not have been possible if you had planned every second of your trip ahead of time. It's quite amazing the endeavors that can happen if you allow yourself the time to discover them, such as a professional wrestling event, a North Korean dining experience, and being asked to attend and critique a local public speaking group, to name a few. (Or my trip to Lake Khovsgul, check it out on my post A Great Big Lake).
A Three Day Binge
Remember all that stuff I just said about taking time to relax while traveling? Well sometimes that doesn't always happen! Sometimes the activities that become a possibility while drinking that cup of coffee just have to be done on certain days, and my final three days in the country became very busy real quick. After meeting with my friend Ninj to talk about her company and her experiences working for the Mongolian education system, I was invited to a New Years/Holiday party held on my last Friday in the country. As much as Mongolia may seem like a country behind the times in some regards, it is right on par when it comes to parting like Prince assumed 1999 would be like.
This classy party, during which I would wear the second tailored suit I bought in the country, would be happening after one of the most interesting and rewarding days I have ever experienced. Teaching English is the quintessential job an expat can do in another country, so when I was thinking of looking for work abroad this is usually what others would suggest I look into doing, however, most of these positions are through American companies, and thus you fly into the country knowing you have a job - apparently I didn't get that memo. When I arrived I began reaching out to a few job postings but nothing seemed to make sense, and once I decided to fly back to the States my job searching efforts stopped - that would be a hell of a commute. So, naturally, that's exactly when opportunities began to present themselves.
Mongolian Background Check
While celebrating the holidays one evening drinking gluhwein and baking cookies with a group of Germans I met while horseback riding, my freunde Roberta asked if I would help a friend who was looking for an English speaker to talk with a group of students. But after a phone conversation with her friend Saran, it became clear this was not going to be just an English speaking group, but a longer day inside of a school speaking with students...at least that's what I thought.
Imagine this: A German woman who I had only known for a few days, gave me a number to a Mongolian woman I have never met, who asked to meet me in freezing cold weather at seven in the morning in front of a shopping mall. From there we would walk to a bustling school filled with high school and middle school aged students and meet with the principal. The only thing I could interpret from this brief meeting was he asked if I spoke Mongolian and Saran's response was "no." However, after he offered me a treat from the snack bowl on the table, I touched the side of the bowl first before taking a snack - a local custom for which I am still not sure what it represents - and this must have been enough for him to think that I was completely safe to spend an entire day with his students. Meanwhile in America, while performing a background check for my current position which involves zero interaction with children, I was asked to recall any traffic infractions, including speeding tickets, for the past ten years...
After the principal gave his approval of me I was then led out of the room, up the stairs, and into a classroom. Even at this point I was still not exactly sure what was happening, but I would soon learn that I had agree to teach fourteen classes over the next ten hours...
As I walked into the first classroom I placed my jacket on a chair, Saran introduced me, and everyone sat down and began to stare in my direction. I had been given zero information about which topics or subjects to teach, nor did I speak the students' native language. However, having spent two years as an educator in Colorado, I am actually very comfortable with groups of students, even if I don't have much information to go on (management is key to an effective classroom). Also, I discovered my purpose for being there was to merely speak with students to help with their English, so it didn't matter what I talked about. Throughout the day my improvised lesson plans were a range of topics including American Christmas, singing and dancing styles, and, of course, a few lessons on basic geologic principals of Planet Earth. Plate tectonics and volcanoes are exciting in any language!
After ten hours my energy was drained but my spirits couldn't have been higher. I really enjoy kids, both working as an educator or playing with my nieces and nephews, and I had been on a kid hiatus while traveling so this day, however draining, gave me a renewed sense of purpose. Also, watching a 5th grade girl copy my drawing of the Earth showing the inner and outer cores, the mantle, and the outer crust is just special. As I left my final classes the students all wished me well and I them. One of them even gave me a note expressing her satisfaction with me, which is the like the equivalent of your heart winning an Olympic gold medal.
Even though I was completely exhausted (my teaching style is very animated), there was no time to relax. I only had thirty minutes to shower, suit up, and make a great appearance at a Mongolian holiday party which included dancing, shots of vodka, late night karaoke, and new friends. It was a great day.
Saran met with me a day later and offered me a full time teaching position if I wanted it but unfortunately I had plans to leave a few days later. The offer still stands for next school year, however, I have no idea what my life will look like then. And that was how I worked one day as a teacher in Mongolia.
Boyhood Dreams
Tom Koch is a living expat legend in Mongolia. He seems to pop up almost everywhere you look and you're never disappointed when he does. I first met Tom when he was the senior Marine at the annual Marine Corp Ball I discussed in a my post Patriotism from Across the Pond. As tradition goes, the senior Marine always eats a piece of cake and then passes it to the youngest Marine. If you look through the photos on that post Tom is the one in the awesome vintage red military garb. He has been living abroad for almost thirty years. After leaving the States, he moved to Japan and began his teaching career and also started a family. He now lives in Mongolia and continues to teach. At 67 years old he has amazing life stories and "inspiring" would be an understatement to see someone of his age continuing to do things with the type of energy he exudes. So when he arrived at the empty parking lot where I had arranged for a shuttle to take me dog sledding on my final day, I was more than happy.
We arrived at an area deep in Terelj National Park and the sound we heard when we exited the vehicle put an ear to ear smile on my face: Barking. Just barking. There is nothing quite like the audio of hundreds of Siberian huskies all trying to get your attention for what I can only imagine is to rub their bellies - and I was happy to oblige! Although we missed getting on the first ride of the day, it was actually a blessing in disguise as it gave us more time to play with the remaining dogs at camp. We even got to go into the area where all the dog houses were kept and see two sets of new future sledding puppies. Just adorable. Whereas other stories of dog sledding adventures I have heard forbid contact with the dogs, here we were more than encourage to indulge in some puppy playtime.
Tom and I were paired together in one sled and we would switch who was driving half way through the run. I drove first. Needless to say they assumed way too much in terms of "how much I knew about dog sledding" because they gave me two or three quick instructions and then, almost without notice, we were off. As we glided down the path it quickly became clear this would be a challenge to maintain myself, and Tom for that matter, in an upright position. Within minutes the biggest concern I had was Tom's safety, but it didn't take long before I got the hang of it and I was all smiles. Hell, I was practically laughing.
There are some things we have all wanted to do since we were little and, with ten dogs in front of me, my hands gripping the handles, and my right foot ready to stomp on the brake if needed, I was living one of those dreams. In fact, a few weeks later while I was waiting in a dentist office in Chicago, an article in a travel magazine discussed dog sledding in Siberia as a must do life adventure and it was pretty cool thinking "yeah, it was."
In high school, my driver's education instructor was Mr. Grabe, a man well into his 70's and would sometimes fall asleep while we did our longer highway drives. It was okay, because at this point, with forty dog paws controlling my faint, nothing he could have said would have prepared me for when we veered the sled into an open area and the back end began to fishtail away from me. I did my best to control the skid and whatever I did must have worked as we straightened out, but that victory was short lived as our guide then headed his sled towards a very thin single track hiking trail and my confidence in my ability to maneuver us in there was not much.
As we reached the aperture of the trail I realized we would have to make a sharp left turn. When we hit the turn, I instinctively hopped off and began running along the right side of the sled as I held on with my left hand to avoid tipping over. With a Marine veteran zipped in the front carriage I felt an extra sense of responsibility to keep us upright. Our sled finally caught the grooves of the trail, so I loosened the grip of my left hand, jumped back to the left, grabbed both handles, and with the precision of Marty McFly landing the hover board on Doc Brown's foot while hanging off the side of a train, my feet miraculously landed on the two planks of wood that served as my base while the dogs rushed down the path.
My turn driving the sled ended after we raced across a frozen river, parts of which were not completely frozen, and we came up on the midway checkpoint. Here I would switch my role with Tom and now my life would be in his hands. I don't know too many almost 70 year old people who can drive a car safely (remember my driving instructor?), let alone control a group of ten feisty dogs on an icy path, but hey, what could go wrong? Absolutely nothing is the answer. Tom handled those dogs like a champ, including one intense moment when our guide took us around a bend at an alarmingly fast rate and Tom kept us upright, and I was very thankful for that!
We finished the day exploring more of the national park including another stop at the giant Chinggis Khaan statue I discussed in my post The Opposite Side of the Fence. Except this time it was open and we were able to explore the museum inside and spend a few minutes on the outside platform on top of his horse just below Chinggis himself, providing a panoramic view of the countryside. I felt this was a very fitting end for my last day in this beautiful country.
A Final Reflection (Written while I was still in the country)
As I sit in Peaberry, a small coffee shop overlooking Peace Avenue, I'm staring at the cluster that is Ulaanbaatar city traffic at quarter to six. I am trying to muster the energy to put on my jacket - my fifth layer of clothing - and venture back to Julia's apartment. Although there was a chance I may stay here and look for work, this has ultimately turned into a little longer than usual vacation. Although I was only in the country for just under a few months, I feel I have had a great opportunity to learn about and experience the very unique and diverse culture that is Mongolia, both in and out of the city. Although it may be tempting to write off the Mongolians as a classic tale of an ancient culture slowly losing its heritage in the face of an ever evolving world, it is very clear there is something special about the people who live here.
Although there are similar traits among people of all countries (I'm pretty sure we all love Taylor Swift), there are very fascinating cultural differences that make this place unique. At the beginning of my visit a Mongolian woman was jokingly referring to the Mongolians as the "Mexicans of Asia", which admittedly drew some laughs notwithstanding the somewhat racy nature of the comment. Whether or not she was referring to similarities in fashion trends or that the Mongols are also a country where their neighbor felt the need to build a wall, I don't know. However, what I can tell you is that in my short time here I feel that grouping the people of Mongolia with any other country or culture would be a mistake.
Thank you for following my time spent in the coldest national capital in the world! I hope I described my experiences over the last four posts in ways that not only entertained but also inspired some adventures of your own. This short series has been fun to write and please let me know if you have any questions! If you're interested in some past hiking experiences you can check out my other blog Dee Dubs Appalachian Adventure. I'll hopefully be back here soon with more stories. Thank you for reading!
-Dustin
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