Greetings from Mongolia!

Sain bainuu! 

I'm finally here!  AND, I finally have some time to give a brief update!

Staging in San Francisco went well.  It was basically a full day of information and preparation for the upcoming two-year commitment.  We were divided into two groups by last name, and I was able to meet just about everyone with a last name beginning with H on.  (And I'm still working on the rest.)  We were placed into groups for travel from SF to Seoul to Mongolia, and I was elected as my group's leader. 

The night before staging I was able to meet up with my dear friends Dan and Monica one last time for one last Mexican meal and drinks before the spending the night with them and heading to staging at a hotel two blocks from their apartment.  After Staging, I went out to Thai food and drinks with two fellow volunteers and new friends Sara and Elliott.

The next morning, we checked out very early (5:30am) and headed to SFO for our 11:00am flight to Seoul.  We got there plenty early.  After getting through security, we inaugurated our trip with mimosas in a cafe near our gate.

The 12-hour flight to Seoul was gruelling and included no working reading lights in our section of the plane, extreme temperature changes, and a cranky flight staff who had to deal with 66 mostly twenty-somethings roaming around the cabin to socialize with each other (and not sit for 12 hours straight) and taking advantage of the free alcohol served aboard.

We arrived at our hotel by Incheon Airport much later than expected and exhausted.  Only a few souls ventured into Seoul (no pun intended), which was an hour away by bus both ways.  Most of us were tired and wanting to rest before arriving in Mongolia.

The next day, we finally made it!  After a three-hour plane ride, we made it to Ulaanbaatar (UB), Mongolia.  After clearing immigration and customs, we exited to the airport to the cheers of our very own paparazzi, otherwise known as the current Peace Corps volunteers who come to welcome us.  We stood around outside of the airport chatting with the current volunteers and finally loaded up our bags into a large truck.  We were rounded up into vans and driven to an immigration office for further documentation.  Then, we were taken by vans over a dirt road to a nearby ger camp.  The crazy 20-minute-or-so drive over the dirt was hilariously fun as we hit large divits in the road at high speed.

The ger camp we stayed at outside of UB was nestled in a little valley with hills and some forests surrounding.  It was a beautiful introduction to the country that will become home.  The camp itself was clearly designed for tourists and were not true gers (traditional Mongolian round felt tent dwellings).  They were more akin to cabins in the shape of gers and included indoor plumming.  We went through some more administrative work and then had dinner.  Our first meal in Mongolia featured an apparently typical dumpling dish filled with what we believed to be mutton.  It was quite good.  After dinner, we were free for the evening.  A large number of us hiked to the top of one of the nearby hills and got a view of the distant mountains. 

The next day after breakfast, we were loaded onto buses and once again spent some time in transit.  This time, we drove to a city in the north, which is where we are now.  We are staying at a large secondary school in dorms and are going through a week-long orientation before being sent in smaller groups to small villages for training and to live with host families.  We've even started our Mongolian language classes, which so far are really fun.  The language is definitely challenging, but I'm enjoying it for sure.

The whole experience so far feels a little like summer camp, with planned activities all day long and lots of cool new people.  I think that the true, full reality of living in this country for two more years has really set in, but it will come.  I know it will be hard at times, but I am happy to have a new set of friends who are going through the same experience and can support each other.  I'm looking forward to the challenge, despite the worries and anxieties. 

Right now, I'm writing from an Internet cafe across from the school.  Internet access for us has been spotty, so I'll so what I can to write.  I do miss people back home, but so far, I'm having a wonderful time.  The real challenges are yet to come, but I feel more and more ready to meet them.