Last day at work

Sally’s last day at work

This is a video I recorded of me, talking after my last day at work as a Mongolian volunteer. A rather uneventful, anticlimactic day to say the least.

Bayan Olgii

Open mic (as in, open microphone – anyone can get up and sing) was last night. After my disastrous last day at work I was a bit tipsy all afternoon – gorging on white wine. Open mic was fun but super stinky, the cool thing to do is to smoke in confined spaces and it really ruins my pleasant perfume-y smell (and destroys my lungs). Some people I know got up and did their thing. I had a bit of a dance, checked out the artwork on the wall etc etc. I got home late, maybe about 3am so today I am really really sleepy. I am fortunately not hungover as I didn’t drink terribly much.

It wasn’t a particularly early morning but it was a bit tough none the less. I was running late and ending up running around the house like a chook with its head cut off, trying to pack everything. I’d already done most things, I just didn’t want to forget anything. Nevertheless, we taxi’d to the airport and filed through all the standard procedures that just seem harder because we’re in Mongolia. Everything is slower and less functional, people are less considerate and friendly.

The plane was another Eznis flight (local Mongolian carrier), this time in a larger plane with three seats either side of the aisle. We were the only non-Mongolians on the plane. The flight was two hours and went very smoothly. I slept most of the way.

Olgii is very spectacular. With no clouds in the sky and a dusting of snow on the mountains it was very picturesque. The air is clean and cold and people smile and look at us very curiously. It’s a tourist town, people come through quite regularly but it’s not THAT common that we don’t get stared at.

The town had 40,000 people. It has a main central square and a couple of shops dotted around. There are markets that resemble a baby Narantuul (Black Market). We had dinner at the local Turkish joint. It was surprisingly edible with no hint of mutton.

The population is 92% Kazakh. They don’t speak Mongolian, although they all can. They speak Kazakh and live in permanent dwellings. They’re a culture different to Mongolian; as well they are very different to typical Kazakhstani’s as the country is much more Soviet than Mongolia. So far everyone is friendly and smiley which is a lovely change.

Tomorrow we’re driving a long way to a family stay and then we’ll drive further to the glacier. We’ll walk up to the glacier and then drive to another family stay. From there we’ll head South to Tsengel, a town I read a book about before I came. The book’s description of Tsengel doesn’t make it sound all that enticing but I’m sure it’ll be a great experience. From Tsengel we’ll head North East back to Olgii (it’s like the capital city/town of the state) for the night and then head out to hunt for foxes with an eagle hunter. Then it’s home time and it’s getting way too close and I don’t like to talk about that!

		Bayan Olgii, day one VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I won’t go into detail about the photos mainly because I’m tired. You can see for yourself. Xoxo

Birthdays and baggage

 

I know these photos are a bit mishmashed. Too bad. From top left: my super cool pink port; John on his birthday at the French Bisto; Hot Pot for my farewell last night; Hot pot again; John and the rest of the gang AND the hamburger balloon for John’s birthday.

I went to work for about an hour today. There’s no bloody reason to be there. It’s even more boring than usual. So I snuck home and started packing a bit more. I’ve started to get somewhere. Most of my things are in one corner, and it’s not as overwhelming as I first thought. There is a lot I’m leaving behind, which is annoying but it’s all stuff I was going to leave behind anyway. I have my baggage increased to 30kg, courtesy of a nice lady at the Singapore Airlines office in Seoul airport. I got 30kg on the way over so I was really hoping I got 30kg on the way home.

I’ve got no food left in the house. I almost have enough things to make me some cupcakes, but just not quite enough.

My last day at work tomorrow – I don’t know how to approach it. They’ll want to do some impromptu party, but I’ve got a bazillion other things on, including packing my bags for Ulgii the next day. I’m 99% packed but that’s beside the point. There’s a couple of things on Friday night too that I’m hoping to get to.

My motivation wanes as soon as the sun goes down – bugger! We’ve got a replacement housemate for my room, plus a spare housemate for the spare room. They’ll move in and organise themselves once I’m gone, which will save confusion. I don’t want any hassles mixing up my clothes with anyone else’s as it will be tricky enough packing/washing/organising/saying goodbye in one day!

Pizza night

I love my Kindle so much. It's got a few too many God books on it (once, I bought the book of proverbs, thinking it sounded like an ironic and interesting title for a book. Little did I know it was actually the Book of Proverbs. Which meant all the books I was recommended {and bought} on Amazon.com were all God fiction. None of the blurbs mention anything about being a Christian read). But I'm slowly weeding them out, and I love it. Amazon have just released a couple of new Kindles. One is called the Kindle Fire and it's like a mini iPad but with better functionality (for me, anyway). I really want one - but it's not going to be released in Australia yet! Boo!

There are 9 more days until I leave Mongolia for real. Maybe not forever, but I certainly don't see myself living in Mongolia again any time soon. It's the end of a chapter - that's kind of hard to close. I'm still in denial about it. There's lots of things that are too hard to articulate. I wanted this: I wanted to shorten my assignment, to go home and start working again. But I didn't expect it to be a big deal for me to leave - and it is. It's opened up a lot of options for myself and my career. It will be hard to incorporate Mongolia in to the naive life I know I'll lead back in Australia. But that's what I want - a life where I don't have to see homeless children sleeping on the street, where you can't bribe officials to change your visa, where police are respected, where fruit is readily available, where health care is world class......

Blah blah, I don't think I'll be able to articulate it until I'm back home and have had time to just reflect on everything.

In the mean time, the new volunteers arrived on Sunday. They're doing their orientation now which means we're busy doing stuff with them. My bag is slowly getting packed, and my free time this week is completely booked out. My cupboards still have 'stuff' in them, but there's nothing worth eating in them, which is lucky because I'm eating out for the remainder of my time here. It's getting colder and the pollution is getting thicker. I'm not doing anything at work and it is exceptionally boring.

I did do a presentation yesterday on diversification ideas from Australia for Mongolia. I went through a bunch of basic stuff that I didn't even research. The powerpoint was terrible, but the presentation went well. I introduced the idea of developing stud farms, using volunteer labour for busy times, using tourism to increase revenue based on farming activities, motorcross tracks as a niche diversification idea, farm forestry, tree nurseries, seed collection, honey, services like child minding and postal runs, niche value added products such as biodynamic, organic, halal meats........

The only thing anyone cared about was introducing motorcross tracks.

Pizza night last night to meet the new volunteers. The pizza was actually really yummy! It was a pretty special moment, being in a room of 23 Australian volunteers. Everyone was just talking and eating and having a lovely time finding things in common and talking about development stuff (I guess, that's what we usually talk about). I'll miss that - being a part of such a diverse, yet similar group of young people in a country that we'll have in common forever.

I can light a shit fire!

A day of driving – the lava flow was a LOT shorter than the drive there. Hours of driving later, and a fleeting visit to Kharkhorum and we were back on the road. Another fleeting stop at the fake Gobi (Mongol Els, it’s a real sand dune system but it’s much smaller than the Gobi: hence, fake Gobi) – to ride a shaggy camel.

The wind was bitey and the temperature was very cold. We approached a ger with two camels out the front. No sign, no road, just camels and a ger. Two people rode at a time while the rest waited in the ger. It was bloody freezing outside. I had a chat to the camel guy – well, as chatty one can get with no spoken language in common. The camels had big yellow ear tags, the size of cow ear tags – with his phone number on them, not a stock number in case they went walk about. Their wool was very very long – at least 20cm in places, and very very thick (I could hardly part it).

My turn on the camel and the camel guy did all he could to make sure I was safe as the camel stood up (it’s pretty rocky). Then he kept turning around to look at me every time I spoke to someone else – obviously enjoying something other than the words I was saying. He made a vast effort to hug me as he helped me off the camel, which was pretty cute. He had buttons missing from his dirty deel, khaki camoflage pants, broken front teeth that needed a good Monica-style clean. As we left, I said goodbye. Camel wrangler guy told our guide that I could stay the night in his ger if I wanted to. We politely declined.

At our ger for the night, with proper herders: 2 slept on the floor. We had a cow dung fire that was particularly hard to light and produced a buttload of ash, but was a lot more efficient at keeping us warm than pine chips. We ate meat soup for dinner (I had a can of tuna – judge all you like: YES, I am picky. NO, I do not have to things I don’t enjoy). Patience was tested. The coolest thing all day – I was blowing and blowing the dung fire to get some flame action going. It just wouldn’t set. There was lots of smoke. I did everything I knew to ignite the smouldering shit. THEN I set a match to the already light fire – all the gas in the shit ignited because it was already heated by the burning shit underneath it. The match lit the entire fire instantly. I watched the ring of fire go round the shit. It was so cool!

Below: at Kharkhorum – little monks just out of class, racing to catch up with their friends; our ger in the Fake Gobi; inside the ger – it was so cold!!

Waking in the morning to snow was amazing. So amazing. I had slept really really well, which is unusual in a ger. I woke at 6am as we’d gone to bed early. I lit the shit fire (!!!!), almost smoked out the ger in the process – and went outside for a pee. AND IT WAS ALL WHITE. It was amazing. The entire countryside, the motorbikes, the gers, the sheep and goats – were all covered in about 5cm of snow!

After a slow start we piled in to the van and set off back to UB. Another long journey but well worth it for the warmish shower I had when I got home. I made a batch of cupcakes and prepared some other things for my friend’s birthday party. We had a wonderful night at the French Bistro, with world class service (no, really, I was gobsmacked – it was meticulous!). We moved on to Marco Polo, the local strip club. I hadn’t been before. A 10,000t cover charge – contortion act and naked waitresses included. It was actually really fun. The naked ladies were only interested in the men, so we got the dancefloor to ourselves which is always fun!

Saturday was a bit worse for wear, but not too bad. I went to the Opera – the Barber of Seville. It was interesting, but not something I’d do on a regular basis. Today I went and bought MORE pairs of bloody slippers, shopped around with my friend and her parents and then went to the ballet. It was very good, but I was pretty tired and a bit over being cultured this weekend.

I was suppose to pack, but that didn’t happen. I don’t know when I’ll do it. It’s a BUSY week – it’s my last week in UB. People want to say goodbye. There are new people arriving today (new volunteers) that need to be shown around etc. I have to pack. I have to wrap up work. Blah Blah. I’m still in denial. It’s SO weird, committing to something and then reneging halfway through. SO weird. Nevermind, I’m going home soon! :)