On Location From Mongolia

Word up! Kalamazoo Voice.  I'm writing from Sukhbaatar in northern Mongolia,
a mere 25 km from Russia.  I'm officially a Peace Corps Trainee at the
moment.  I have to make it to August 20th to be sworn in as a Volunteer.

I'm living with a family here.  They are very nice, but the language barrier
can be tough sometimes.  They're feeding me well while I try to get a handle
on a very tough language.

I'm in a land of change.  This is a developing country that has some very
old traditions, but is embracing the new as well.  Some of the funniest
things that I've seen are t-shirts with English on them that makes no sense
at all.  It's really just gibberish.  They do have a lot of current items
here.  My host father wears a DC Shoe Co. shirt.  That caught me a little by
surprise.

The people here are great.  I've experienced no anti-Americanism at all.  I
know that this isn't much of a story, but I have to be cautious about how I
say things because I am a representative of the Peace Corps now.  This is
one of the few government organizations I am proud to say that I am
associated with.  It kind of amazes me that our government supports the work
we are doing.

If I make it through the summer, I'll be in an aimag (provincial center)
training teachers.  Hopefully I'll have more to pass on to you later.

Enjoy your summer and remember that there are some of us who look forward to
when we'll next be able to take a shower or use a 'real' toilet.  But trust
me, that's not a complaint.  This place is awesome.  I don't think I could
have asked for a better country in which to be placed.

Posted by: William Craft / 12:05 PM