Сайн байна уу? (Sain baina uu?)

I've been in Mongolia for almost 1 week now, and I love it.  Of course I miss my family and friends, but  I can definitely see myself spending 2 years (maybe more?) here.  Although the weather is quite unpredictable (rotating between spring, summer, and winter...all in one day),  I think an AWESOME country picked me.

First, we traveled for what seemed like FOREVER to get here.  We left DC at about 4 am on Thursday morning and arrived in Ulaanbaatar (UB) at about 11 pm on Friday night (Keep in mind that we traveled across a 12 hour time difference).  From DC we went to Detroit, then to Seoul, then finally to UB.  When we got to UB, we were greeted by warm welcomes from current volunteers followed by a rather chilly spring night.  We packed our luggage into the trucks and got into our bus and drove to our ger camp.  We got settled into our gers (I had 4 AWESOME ger mates) and went to bed to wake up the next morning.

SN:  Our gers were tourists gers, so we didn't get the full experience.  Also, for those wondering what a ger is, see here:

Outside:

Inside:

For the next couple days, we woke up for breakfast followed by various intro sessions.  We got to know the Peace Corps Mongolia staff (both American and Host Country staff) in the sessions.  We learned about security, a little about the language, and some of our expectations.  On one of the days, we went to the PC Office in the city to get shots and get a tour of the city.  Our tour guide (who is finishing up his 3rd year as a volunteer) gave us some great insight into what to expect during our service along with taking us to some cool places around the city.

On the day we left UB, we went to immigration to do our fingerprints and pictures for our official ID (Alien Registration Card).  Then we took a 4 hour drive to Darkhan (which is where we are now).  We arrived in Darkhan at around 4 in the afternoon then we went out to dinner with some of our PST trainers.  After dinner, we all took a walk to see a Buddha statue in the city.  It was beautiful!  It was big and it felt like an honor to be able to witness it.  Since that day we have mainly been going to training sessions in a school close to our hotel.  The sessions have been very informative and just adds to my excitement to get started on my service.

I bet you're wondering about the food.  So far I've been doing well!  Most of the meat here is red meats (lots of mutton, beef, etc) and sometimes chicken.  The vegetables I've had so far have ranged from salads to plates of potato, squash, and other heavier veggies.  I have had something to eat everyday and that makes me so grateful (can't say I had the same luck in college!).

That is but a short synopsis of my first week in Mongolia.  It's been SOO great and I can't wait to get to the rest.  At the end of this week, we will move in with our host families (next BIG, exciting step!).  I'm so ready to get started on more intensive language and cross cultural training and also ready for the experiences I'll have with my host family!  Can't wait to tell you guys about the next step!

P.S.--We've received our water filters, sleeping bags, medical kits, and Mongolian/English dictionaries...I can't wait to get all our stuff and be able to use it when we finish training.