Career decisions and other not so important things

I finally went up to see the Zaisan monument. It’s a Russian monument for something or other, and looks over the city. It’s where the super rich of Mongolia live. Some apartments go for around one million US dollars, which is just crazy for UB. My friends and I had dinner at iloft, usually a nightclub venue. They have a wonderful menu so we went to test it out. I splurged on a steak – a decent fillet. It’s the first steak I’ve bought here and the first meal over $10 that I’ve bought. When you don’t earn money you have to be careful what you eat! I had a fantastic day. I thought – why not celebrate. And the meal was totally worth it. Yum! The mashed potato left a bit to be desired but you can’t ask for everything.

We drove up to Zaisan monument to check it out. I took my camera and again took some lacklustre photographs. I’m beginning to blame my equipment and I really don’t think it’s too far from the truth. I may have outgrown my Canon EOS450D but I’m not complaining. It’s still fantastic and can’t afford another one anyway.

		Zaisan VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I met with the founder and director of a Mongolian tour company called Ger to Ger. If you’re ever considering being a tourist in Mongolia (highly recommended), be sure to check them out. Their website is www.gertoger.org. It’s an amazing company. They’re not-for-profit and they’re 138% passionate about their work. The project I’m working on looks at diversifying the income for herder groups (nomadic farmers) in Mongolia. Currently they rely on the weather to be nice so their animals don’t die. Their livestock is even used as their bond/collateral if they want to borrow money for something as it’s all they’ve got. Most banks don’t accept animals as they’re likely to die and be worthless.

So Ger to Ger have been diversifying income for some specific areas in Mongolia since 2005. They work extremely hard to ensure that ‘geotourism’ is the main purpose. Nomads get the money they deserve, tourists get an amazing experience of working nomadism and communities can develop as they become more developed with a various source of income. It’s a long story, but in short I see no fault in what they’re doing and admire their achievements. I did some research on Mongolia before I moved here so when my boss mentioned she wanted to look in to tourism as a diversification for herder groups (her words: like Aboriginal communities in Cairns), I knew where to go. I just have to create a relationship between the two parties that sees benefit for both. There is every reason for them to symbiotically advance and no reason that they shouldn’t work together.

That’s my opinion, and as a foreigner who’s here to give a varied opinion, that’s what I’m forcing down the throat of my project. I took one of my friends from work with me because she knows about our project. As well she’d see what they’re doing first hand. And it worked a treat. She thinks it’s amazing and wants to work with them. We’ve got some work to do to spread the word, but I’m hoping a bilateral relationship (ger to ger’s words) will develop. This way the existing network of my project can form the basic network to start implementing Ger to Ger’s work nationwide. Ger to Ger get more tourists in to their organisation which means more money brought in to remote communities which means positive development because of the work my project is already doing to ensure this.

So my steak was a double whammy celebration. I opened an avenue for potential nationwide geotourism and I got offered another job.

I’ve been researching in to this job. The recruitment consultant job. I think it’s a wonderful step towards making an exciting career out of geology. Other people think it’s stupid to leave Origin and that recruiting is a sales role that is a waste of obtaining any qualifications (in this case geology).

I have nothing to lose if Origin’s looking at putting me in to a role similar to what I left. I just have to find out what they’ve got in stall for me (if anything).

So, either way, today my thoughts go along these lines: Leave my volunteer position on October 28 when I fly back to Australia. Stay in Australia for a few weeks to meet Mister Nate Edward Curry and then head to Croatia to start a two month long journey towards London for Christmas with my sisters. And once I’m done there, I’d come back to Australia and start work back with Origin or as a recruitment consultant.

My plans were different yesterday and I imagine they’ll change again tomorrow. It’s fun to dream and I may as well: my job isn’t going to get any better and I may as well make the most of my super-freaking-exciting tax return (thanks dad, you’re amazing) instead of spending it on a red Jeep Wrangler and starting work. Mind you, I’ve dreamt about owning a red Jeep Wrangler for as long as I can remember. There are two things I’ve actually desperately wanted and worked specifically towards in my life: owning a red Jeep Wrangler and becoming the first female Prime Minister. I’ll never forget how the audience laughed when I was strutting my stuff in 2000 on the ModelQuest catwalk. The compere read out things about you: name, favourite things to do, what you want to be. I wanted to be PM. I did, until I realised how much PM’s were generally hated even though you’d only ever become PM to help people. I didn’t want to be hated, plus I’d met some people who were much more worthy of the position than myself.

So it makes sense for me to stay home and buy a Jeep. But you can’t swim in the Adriatic Ocean or drink wine in Tuscany when you’ve spent your money on a Jeep.

Blah blah blah, I could go on all day.

Our house: the heating’s finally on but it’s still bloody cold inside. It keeps coming on and off. It’s just hot water that flows through pipes and drip drip drips all bloody night. We have no light in our bathroom – I have to use a camping lamp. Our friend was assaulted at our front door the other day. I caught a man pissing in to a chip packet just across from our front door. I’ve been sleeping with my doona and my sleeping bag because it’s cold. Our microwave still isn’t fixed and I don’t want to go food shopping because, courtesy of learning from my mother, I can’t shop for one person, nor can I shop for one week. I end up with enough food to last three people for one month. It’s stupid. And if I’m going to getthaf*ckouttahere very soon, there’s no point buying food I have to give away.

My 28 degrees mastercard didn’t work today. I tried 5 different ATMs as well as two different restaurants. You can never be too sure. I called the help guys and it turns out the credit card they sent me as a replacement to the one that got stolen was returned to sender FROM MONGOLIA and they marked that as weird so put a hold on my account. All well and good except I NEED that card and I NEED to get money from that account.

Anyway, we sorted it eventually and hopefully it’ll work by tomorrow. Else I’ll be eating the remains of my shopping trips for the next while.

Friday was no special day. I didn’t do my presentation again. It’s scheduled for Monday. Which is also the day we’re scheduled to meet my volunteer managers that I think are going to argue that I haven’t done any work which justifies my assignment being cut short. It’ll only add to that argument which I am secretly happy for. If someone else justifies me leaving earlier, it saves me feeling guilty.

Saturday: lazy day. I ate out for lunch and dinner. Pancakes for breakfast. Washed my hair.

Sunday: I’m going to Terelj with a guy I met at the mining conference. He’s checking out a conference venue and I’m going along for the drive. I’m hoping he has amazing career advice and can tell me a definitive answer. Hah. If only it were that easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xoxox

Option A

An early start today. 7am rise is entirely unusual. Not for expats who are in town for a short period of time. I had to meet with some people I met on Friday night, as I had made contact wanting to know what a recruitment consultant does, and if it sounds like the kind of career I’d like to get in to.  I arrived at 8am, before the restaurant had even opened. I was expecting to just be talking with one person I met; his boss (the owner/director) came too. I had a list of questions I wanted to ask about the industry and what the work is like. It turned in to much more of an interview situation. They need a geologist, based in Brisbane. They have a big contract with a mine I used to work with as well as a large part of the company looking towards setting up in Mongolia. All of which I can do.

They were both so lovely. We laughed and they answered my often very direct questions honestly. They will match my wage at Origin plus I’d get commissions on top of that, providing I don’t suck balls at it. Their office is located in the airport precinct of Brisbane which just so happens to be very close to where I want to live (or move back in to anyway). All I keep seeing in a Jeep Wrangler. A red one. It scoots across when I close my eyes and it lingers in the car park when I imagine parking it at work.

The idea of being a recruitment consultant isn’t a new one. I’ve thought about it for a while. Mostly when I’m writing resumes for other people and finding them jobs. I like people and I like geology. But I don’t like geology enough to be really good at technical geology. But I like people enough to want to get them jobs. And that I can do.

It all sounds great. There are a lot of things to consider. It would be another risk to my job at Origin – it would mean leaving it completely. And I like it there. It would mean I’d be in an industry I know nothing about, working with people who do know things. I’d be completely out of my depth for a little while. Perhaps for a long while. It might be the worst thing I ever do. It might also be the best. I’m scared and anxious because I don’t know if I’d be good at it or not. And I hate not being good at things. I’d be on three months probation where I can leave if I want to. And then I could apply for a position back at Origin if they’ll take me (unlikely as I don’t have honours).

I don’t know when I could start. When should I leave this AYAD position? Today was actually the best day I’ve had so far at work. I didn’t do my presentation, which wasn’t a surprise. I did meet with an NGO doing amazing things with nomadic tourism, who we might be able to piggy back. I was thinking I’d leave in December. Now things have changed. The way things are planned, I would want to start with them in Feb 2012. That’s 6months away. I have plane tickets booked though. Lots of them. Okay, I have two return tickets booked – both return to UB. But that’s mean to them – having to wait 6 months for me to start. They probably wouldn’t even want to.

Baby steps. Baby baby steps. I’ll find out what they have to offer. I’ll contact Origin and find out what position they’re thinking of slotting me into if I return.

I don’t like the idea of telling people I’m a recruitment consultant. Do you think I could still get away with saying I’m a geologist? Probably not.

Left: the pretty little park in the middle of town being officially opened. Right: 7:30am this morning a bride and her family having the obligatory photos in front of Chinggis in Sukhbaatar Square. Wedding dates/times are all auspicious (I think that’s what you say?) – someone tells them when the best time for them to get married is. Sometimes it’s at 3am. Or whenever. You can see the family all wearing deels, and the bride in her dress with a black jacket on. It was probably about zero degrees this morning. Maybe colder.

Heating is central in all apartments. It’s hot water running through pipes in your house. The heating gets turned on at the same time each year, and off at the same time. Others have theirs on now. Ours is definitely off.

What would I wear as a recruitment consultant? There would be no beetle dresses, and I would have to wear heels. And now cowboy boots. I would have to shop at Cue a lot which would not be a deduction for tax but would cost me a fortune!

If I hadn’t have contacted this guy to find out what he does for a living, I wouldn’t be in this position. It’s a good one. It’s nice to be wanted but it throws spanners in the works. What would you do? Quit volunteering to pursue a career that might be terrible or stay in a boring volunteer job and go back to a stable but probably boring job at Origin? I like option A.

Hold on to your hats!

So today has been busy. I went to the gym and got followed around by some freaky guy. It's not unusual for me to have a few 'admirers' (i.e. someone staring at me while I work out) because I'm a girl and I do weights (which is highly unusual in Mongolia. Actually, I haven't seen one other female regularly at the gym at all). This guy was freaky deaky though. Anyway, I did my thing and left.

Work was work - standard, not much happening. I had lunch with another volunteer friend which was lovely and then took some quick snaps on the way back to work for this database of photos I'm trying to develop.

Lunch time, autumn weather, UB city

Excursion Day! School kids on the main street in UB

More excursion day - such cute uniforms!

I'm trying to write this bloody presentation for tomorrow. I have absolutely no scope so I'm trying to be broad. *idea* I might get groups to brainstorm and tell me what they want to know about in Australia. Could be good. Could be disastrous. So I've got some basic stuff about ME. Communication is terrible here and I am hoping by adding a high level of personality in to the mix I will provoke some thoughts and increase my approachability. As well as make them think about how un-open things are at work. So I've got baby photos, family photos, farm photos (because I don't want to rely on English as my main communication media). I've got the schools I went to - what happens, what time you go to school, how far people travel etc. And then I move on to uni - the costs, the subjects etc. It's all about what I did but I'm just using me as a subject because it's more familiar and therefore more engaging.

This doesn't meant I'm ready. I'm fast running out of time because other things are happening. For example, I just received and email AND a follow up phone call about meeting a Mongolian based geotourism (I don't know what that means yet) organisation called 'ger to ger' that has successfully implemented ecotourism in to the nomadic lifestyle to diversify income.

I contacted them as we're looking at using tourism as a diversification strategy to help herders make money, without having to rely on weather. It has the opportunity to be very successful as there are very few reputable, cultural tour companies in Mongolia. So these people at Ger to Ger were so excited that I actually contacted them that the boss called and spoke so fast that I couldn't understand him (he's American). He is super keen to work with our project and believes there's a lot we could do to help each other. He's tried before and has always had a keen interest in making it happen between the two projects so was really happy that I made initial contact as it means he might actually succeed this time. I told him not to get too excited as we still have to talk my boss in to working with another group as opposed to making an independent tourism company (read: Mongolians are VERY independent and when you can do things yourself, you do. You don't join other people).

So anyway, we're meeting tomorrow and I'm excited as it could work and be an amazing step forward in tourism AND rural development in Mongolia.

In conclusion, hold on to your hats Ladies and Gents, it looks like I might actually contribute something to my workplace!!!!

To Jupiter and beyond!

Job interviews are fun. I can talk about myself for hours, and at least in job interviews it’s what you’re suppose to do. I am also making a presentation on myself on Thursday and it’s not so easy.

Presentations are good. Sally is good at presentations. I’m mediocre at a lot of things, but good at presentations. So when I thought – well, I’ll make weekly presentations at work about Australian farming techniques, I’ll ease my colleagues in to it. As we’re from different cultures, I’ll start at the beginning – me – and work my way up. So I left it to the last few days as I was sick and/or busy doing other things. And now I’m stuck. It’s really hard to write a presentation about something you’re doing for no purpose other than to maybe share culture with other people. It’s really hard when their english ranges from zero to conversational. It’s really hard when you’ve got no scope of what you’ll do next. And it’s really hard when you’re suppose to speak for an hour when you know no ones english is good enough to care to listen to me for an entire hour.

shitballs. I’m thinking lots of pictures. But without words, that’s a LOT of pictures. And then I was thinking videos. But videos of me? Nope: they’ve got me 5 days a week, they don’t need me on a computer as well. And then I was thinking group activities to get some thoughts provoked. But you’ve got to be able to address the audience in English and then be able to correspond in order to work together.

So I left work to go to an interview and I’m hoping I’ll have some inspirational dreams tonight. I went straight to an interview with a guy I met on Friday. He’s trawled through my resume, which is good I guess. He interrogated me on my experience working as a rig jockey (geologist) in a Hunter Valley coal mine, and failed to take any notice of my – forgive my modesty – freaking awesome operations geologist role at Origin. I kept trying to point out what I did at Origin was more of the experience he’s after, blah blah blah. Turns out he doesn’t know what CSG is, which explains a lot. The job means nothing if you don’t know what CSG is.

Anyway, we chatted for about 1.5 hours on my academic transcript, my previous coal roles, and what kind of role he was looking to fill. It’s a report writing role that I’d be based in UB for. It’s a diverse position that would see me focusing on coal but helping out with other contracts as well (like fluorite, gold, iron ore). It would involve some QC’ing of core logging in the field, and some field visits. But ultimately I’d be playing with data, hassling clients for data and then transforming the data in  to a format useful to clients and governments. It sounds terribly boring. Most geology roles sound terribly boring to me at the moment. I want to play and talk to people and make presentations and learn off people and take photos. But I also want to make money, which means I will probably have to stick with geology for now. Or, I want to do CSG work – I love CSG. It’s a lot of fun and it’s very interesting and very contentious and there is still so much to learn and so many people that need to understand the science of the whole thing.

He said he’d get back to me with what he’s got to offer. After an email this morning I received re: my AYAD position (they’re thinking of cutting it short, YAY), I’m more interested in leaving Mongolia (winter’s a bitch. It’s f-ing cold already) and just playing around. I’m thinking: go home in October, come back to Mongolia, work for 5 weeks, go to England for Christmas and then go back to Australia either with Ebony (my wonderful little sister) for her 18th birthday (p.s. what the hell – she only just turned 8?!) OR hang around in the UK and work in Ireland (ohhhhhhhhhhhh what a dream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and then go back to Australia in time to go back to work at Origin.

So many options, and perhaps my AYAD position will come to a natural end instead of me having to push for it, which will make my life SO much easier! Or, at least would make my decision making SO much easier!!!

On the other hand, I have a delicious career set out for me if I hang around in Mongolia. If I learn Mongolian and stay here, I’m guaranteed some amazing opportunities that would skyrocket my career into something that should only orbit around Jupiter, or maybe right in to the depths of the Milky Way. It’s something I’m 10% considering but really, I don’t want to live in Mongolia. I want to live in Australia.

All dressed up and no place to go

All very uneventful. Yesterday I left the house once to go downstairs to eat lunch. I bumped in to a guy I met on Friday night – a gold geo – and we chatted about stuff, he gave me some advice and then he paid for my lunch, which was very nice of him.

The rest of the day was a lazy one. So many lazy days lately – I think I’m trying to make up that epic June/July/August schedule.

The homeless people have picked up bags of rubbish from the tip and rifled through them out the front of the door that leads to our apartment – including a very obviously toilet paper bag. Loo paper doesn’t go down the loo here, so bags of toilet paper are taken to the big bin outside. I don’t understand what you could possibly think would be hidden in a bag of dirty toilet paper. So this paper was strewn all around outside our door. It was pretty gross. On my way home I saw a guy pissing in to a chip bag in front of our house too. And then there were two crazy guys yesterday at lunch that came into the restaurant specifically to yell at us. Great place.

I make my own cereal here – some decent muesli. This morning I CHOMPED in to a rock. It’s a pebble about 5mm in diameter. It’s black and angular. The angular bits chomped directly in to the soft part of my back molar. It was excruciating. Now I can’t eat on the right side of my mouth. I’m hoping that after cleaning my teeth tonight and resting it tomorrow, something will grow back and it’ll stop hurting. Otherwise it’s going to be a very very long two months waiting to go home to the dentist.

I also went to the gym this morning. I postponed my membership in June just before Dad arrived because I knew I wouldn’t be around to go. And now it’s the first week I’m home and not sick – so off I went. Maybe once I get in to it again it’ll be a bit more exciting.

At lunchtime today I was called in to my boss’ office. She wanted to tell me that I have to go home to put nice clothes on because she was taking me to an important meeting. So off I toddled home, got changed, straightened my hair, put some pearls on and prepared myself in general. I got back to work and waited. And waited. She told me we’d walk together at 2pm. It was 2:15pm before she called me and yelled at me, asking where I was – and then why I was still at work because I was suppose to be at the State Palace. I didn’t even get angry – I just said to her that I’m sorry, but I was under the impression we were walking together and I was still waiting for her. She kind of apologised, which I was not expecting. And then promptly hung up. So I got dressed and ready but had no where to go.

Which was lucky because I needed to follow up people from Friday night. I had to send off contacts of CSG experts, thank some people, send butcher’s price lists, send resumes and ask questions about particular jobs. You know what – they all replied! I just got the last one now. Impressive! I didn’t expect to hear from most of them. But cool!

So I have a meeting planned this week with the guy that offered me a job. Problems with this: I’d risk losing my job at Origin, which I love; I’d have to leave my volunteer position which is what I came here to do; If I do that, I may as well go home and be home instead of in Mongolia. (although you know – I’m not ready to move back to Australia. I’m desperate to get home for a while but I’m not ready to go back to full time work as a boring geo)

I also have a meeting planned with a recruitment consultant. I’ve written other people’s resumes for ages, and helped a lot of people get jobs. I get a real kick out of it. So I met this guy on Friday and I asked him what it’s like. He gave me a wishy washy answer via email but is going to ‘try to fit me in to his schedule’ this week, so we can chat. Which is really nice of him.

A lot has happened lately. Mum’s birthday, Nate was born, Father’s Day, Brendo’s birthday, Grandma’s birthday, Zoe got engaged, another friend is pregnant, I’ve been really sick, I met lots of people at the Mining conference, my work’s not got any better………………………………. Lots to think about.

Soccer

I got to sleep at about half past twelve last night. It’s always hard to go to sleep when you’re so excited. I had to get up at 5:30am so I could make it to work by 6:30am as we were meeting to leave for this soccer tournament. Of course I didn’t leave the house til 6:30 and I was still the first one there. It would have been well below zero this morning which made it suck even more. We didn’t leave work until about 8am. You can calculate how much extra sleep I could have got. Just don’t tell me.

We stopped only about 3 times within the 20km it took to get us to the soccer field. It was a small field – fake grass, looked lovely. 12 teams altogether. We played Russia and USA. We lost and drew which meant we didn’t progress any further. I’m no good at soccer. I’m sure I could be useful if I had a bit of training and knew the rules. Not today. The photos prove I am quite awkward looking. They also confirm how much weight I’ve managed to put on in 4 months. It’s so hard to eat decently here. The only fun thing to do is go out for meals and there are no healthy options, ever. There are better options and worse options, but no good options. And cooking for yourself means really time consuming trips to the markets every week where I feel so unsafe I have to take an anti-stress tablet before I go. It’s all a good excuse but I’m going to have to seriously start doing something about it. It makes me feel so yukky. Gym would help, if I ever end up rejoining. Gah.

So this soccer thing – I didn’t enjoy it. It’s just like going to a tournament for your sport for a day but not speaking the language and not knowing the sport. And not having a car to leave when you’re finished. I didn’t have a bad day – I just have always hated soccer and I am beginning to despise my lack of independence and say in any matters, big or small.

The opening ceremony was at the end of the competition and we all had to file in to the field in our teams like we were at the Olympics. Only there was NO ONE watching. It was so weird.

And then I baled. One guy was heading back in to the city. The rest were going to someone’s house to drink and chat. That means they’ll spend all night there getting pissed on vodka and talking in Mongolian. No thank you. They were all pissed that I left but really – I just don’t want to do that any more. When I have an option, I choose no.

So I got home at 4 and I’ve done nothing since. Tomorrow I’ll likely do nothing again.

As you can see, there’s a lot of Sally in the background. There’s one photo of me with the ball. That was one of the two times I touched the ball.

Below are some photos of the cutest little girl. She’s recently had her hair chopped off as per the Mongolian tradition for little girls at her age.

Pink dresses and short hair VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL