Making a home made candle

My power has been out for a few days and the store by my house had a shady man standing outside it telling people it was closed. Also, all the blinds in the window of the bank were closed. . . hmmmm. The point is, I was unable to purchase candles the other day (meaning Friday). I went home to my dark tent, and decided to lite to 1/4 inch of candle I had left. Which lit perfectly. Then I thought to myself, I can add wood shavings to the candle to make it burn longer like in the stove. So I did, and it saved the candle from burning out. Hooray!!!

So, about 5 minutes later another thought popped into my head, if wood works for "candles", wouldn't the teeniest, tiniest bit of coal also work? So I put a teeny, tiny piece of coal on the wood shavings, and  . . . nothing happened. Oh well, I thought, back to sitting in my chair doing nothing.

About 7 minutes later I heard a 'pop' sound and saw my candle was a blazin'.

30 seconds after I took this picture, the plate under the candle shattered. This made me think the candle was a bit out of control. Time to put some water on it.

Have you ever put water on a tiny coal fire? Um . . . DON'T! I put two drops on it and a fire ball shot to the ceiling. Normally, this wouldn't be as scary, but when your house is made out of wood and cloth, . . . well, naughty words are said at a loud volume, as I lunged towards the cupboard where my fire extinguisher is.

Luckily it was just a tiny fire ball and nothing else caught on fire. Unfortunately there was still the problem of the 'out of control' home made candle who was, apparently, resistant to water.

I thought, Well, this all started because I was thinking about the stove fires, Oooo, I'll put it in the stove! I took the biggest plate piece and, ever so carefully, dumped it into the stove fire.

On Saturday morning, I went and bought actual candles.

The End

I.S.T.

What is Peace Corps’ idea of fun? That’s right, it’s In-Service Training!  

What is In-Service Training, a.k.a. IST? Well it’s a week-long training with someone who doesn’t speak the same language as you, and working on a possible project as we are taken through the steps of Project Design Management.  Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

No to the first part. Yes to the second part. It’s is difficult to communicate simple things, like ‘no, it’s not okay to look through my bag when I go to the bathroom because you want to know what medication I take.’  So Project Design, as awesome as it is, takes a few steps back when you spend most of your time looking up words and having translators ask basic questions to realize you are not on the same page, book, or even library.

Anyway, coming up with projects to do with our Mongolian counterparts is, in fact, what we do in Peace Corps. The trouble is staying within the Vision and Goals of, not only Peace Corps, the sector we are assigned to.  I am assigned to the Health Sector, so we have a goal to assist counterparts in acquiring health skills & knowledge; one to train the community with our counterparts; and one to assist our counterparts in acquiring non-health skills & knowledge. There are, of course, multiple objectives attached to each goal. If you are wondering what “non-health skills & knowledge” are, that would be category where English lessons and being the I.T. person fall. 

If you are not familiar with Project Design Management, then IST is like taking a drink out of a fire hose. This is what most of the counterparts experienced. They had to learn what it was, pick a subject, and then get their volunteer’s opinion on how to develop the project. It’s a lot to do in a week’s time. There are so many angles to consider, and resources to look at before you finalize a project, it’s a bit overwhelming.

Our project is interesting and I’m curious when, or if, it will be put into play. It would be very beneficial for the community, so I hope it isn’t forgotten about.

 

The Saturday after Thanksgiving

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Peace Corps puts on a Thanksgiving for the volunteers and any, and all, Americans in Mongolia. What “other Americans” are in Mongolia?  Embassy and Consulate people, and few religious groups and some English teachers (many ReturnPCVs). It was held in an apartment complex’s “group room”. Sorry, I’ve never lived in an apartment fancy enough to have one, so I don’t know the real name.  It was really nice. It was potluck style and some people have mastered cooking without all their favorite ingredients.  This one girl made a bacon-pasta salad, and then mixed it with a green salad. It sounds odd, but it was delicious. It was also the first time I’ve ever had bacon in mashed potatoes. It was awesome! I don’t love bacon, but wow. (Yes, I do realize both of my favorite dishes have bacon in them)There was also an amazing green bean casserole. I honestly couldn’t tell you what was in it besides green beans and cheese. Perhaps that is all you need.

Unfortunately, Mr. Turkey could not be found in Mongolia this year, so we had boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead. It was still a treat. There are only thighs and legs where I live and they don’t seem to have much meat on them. 

I was having so much fun, I forgot to take pictures!!!

M23 Healthies
(minus one; plus Ned's head)

Our Country Director giving a Thanksgiving speech.



These are articles that have been passed down through the years.
The Christmas sweater is from a M11;
the tiara is from a M20 (for girls);
and the bow tie, I don't seem to remember anything about.

 

Eating pizza in UB's DoDo Pizza. Best I've had in M ongolia.
P.S. the cheese and crust really does make the pizza.

Eating at the Garlic Corner in UB for Mari's B-day.

 

 

 

My First Virus in Mongolia . . .

It's been coming for days now. I'd been hoping that is was going away. I don't like being sick, like most normal people. It always start with that small tickle in the back of your throat and then slowly, ever slowly, makes the glands swell . . .

I'm kidding. I'm not going to do a whole post on the Common Cold.

This post doesn't have a theme though, sorry if you're disappointed. Upside, a few pictures!

With the cold weather in mild-force I have to dry my laundry inside. I've draped my clothes line on the roof poles around my stove.

 

 

 

A marvelous coal fire brewing in my stove. 

(No, I did not make this; a Mongolian did)

Um . . . Take 3 rings out before dumping in the bowl of coal 

This piece of coal that is bigger than my niece's face.

Is it a birthday party . . . balloons . . .  streamers ?!?!?

Nope. They're Christmas decorations!!! 'Tis the season, even in a Mongolian Hospital.

 

!!!!!!GRAPHIC PICTURE FOR MY ANIMAL LOVING FRIENDS!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last, but not least, my coworker's winter meat has arrived.

What kind is it?
There is a rather large hint in the picture.

 

 

Dreaming on the Train

I was sharing a cabin with 2 ladies (who had a lot to say from 4:30 pm-11:30 pm) and I dreamed the 2 ladies kidnapped me and took me to Disneyland in Beijing, China. While the 23 car train was roaming the parking lot looking for a parking space, I missed capturing the most AMAZING photo cause my camera was locked in my backpack. Then, to make it more disappointing, both of the ladies were extremely rude to the Pie Pizzeria delivery man, who apparently delivers pizzas on moving trains in Mongolia. I just feel that was uncalled for.

Naturally, I disliked both of them after I woke up for two completely sane reasons: 1) there is no reason in heaven or on earth to be rude to the man who brings you a pizza from the Pie Pizzeria, and 2) because we were not in Disneyland.

Flash Back to August ...

I was just told this video made it to YouTube, so I thought I'd share it with you. It is a clip of the song my group sang at our Swearing-In ceremony.

It is called 'A song for our Mongolian mother's' on YouTube if this doesn't work. VIDEO

Happy Halloween

 

Hello everyone!!!

 

I may get creative with my title someday.

The month of October had a few events.

First, I was able to go to the Preschool and watch one of the doctors teach the kids how to wash their hands. I made some visual aids, and they watched two videos from YouTube. Not my favorite way to do things, but at least I got to do something.

The preschool. It is huge.

Second, my small ger was exchanged for a regular size ger. I was waiting to write about the whole saga, but it’s not over yet.  On the 16^th, my counterpart told me that I was getting a new ger, in 10 minutes. I went with the hospital drivers to my ger and watch them take down my small ger. It took about 30 minutes.  The drivers started laying out the floor planks and after an hour they got them in the correct order. Then they put up the walls. After about 20 minutes, they realized they had brought the wrong walls and they couldn’t finish my ger that night. I stayed at a counterpart’s house.

The second day they were able to get the wall up and felt and canvas put on. On the third day my shed was moved to sit next to the ger. That is a Peace Corp requirement; I have not seen Mongolians do this.

On the 27^th the maintenance guys installed my linoleum; however there was only enough for half of the ger. Wednesday, of this past week, a roll of linoleum was dropped off to my ger. It has not been installed yet.

My Regular size ger and shed

My outhouse

My hashaa dog chillin' in the morning

The third event was at the secondary school. My fellow site mates work there and they were asked to put on a Halloween Party for the children. Halloween is not normally celebrated in Mongolia, but with 141 volunteers throughout the country it kind of is. There was costume contest, pin-the-tail-on-the-cat, 3 piñatas, and lots of dancing.

Here are a few pictures of my soum.

The store where I get my grape tomatoes

The Post Office

The secondary school where my site mates work

Gray building is my bank
Pink building is where I buy chicken

Where I buy vegetables

The hospital where I work.

My office is in the white building on the right.