Friday, July 20, 2012

Currently

I don't read anymore, no more inspiration.
I don't write anymore, no more creations.
I don't think anymore, no more independent thoughts.

All I do is sit infront of the idiot box and let both my biological eyes and its electric eyes burn out,
This makes me die a little bit each day.

I begin to fret about my future, anxiety takes control and I pase up and down, inside and outside, north and south,
Nothing here is helping me,
Where is the aid located?

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Things I've Learned in Peace Corps Mongolia


  1. A new language
  2. Mongolian cultural habits
  3. How to download movies and TV shows
  4. Making fire
  5. Chopping wood
  6. Cooking- omelets, french toast, pancakes, fried rice, tsuvan, hosher, chili, stew, 
  7. Cooking over a fire
  8. How to live without running water and/or indoor plumbing
  9. How to survive without electricity
  10. How to live without regular internet access
  11. Project Development: How to move from idea to reality (more development on this skill)
  12. Writing a project proposal and requesting grant money.
  13. A higher tolerance for Vodka
  14. How to eat all parts of an animal (guts, head, etc.)
  15. What Depression is (or S.A.D.)
  16. What COLD is (what -40 feels like)
  17. What Cabin fever is
  18. How to avoid annoying drunks
  19. What an annoying drunk really is
  20. Not having much privacy is normal
  21. Using an outhouse
  22. How to cut an animal carcass
  23. How to slaughter animals
  24. Beard grooming
  25. Entertaining myself for long amounts of time
  26. How to wear 2-3 pairs of pants at once
  27. Washing my clothes by hand
  28. Bathing without running water
  29. Mending clothes (stitching up holes)
  30. How to haggle
  31. Patience
  32. What Ambiguity is
  33. Teaching methods for TEFL
  34. Classroom management
  35. Basketball
  36. Volleyball
  37. Mongolians’ views on the Chinese and the Russians
  38. How to say family members in Russian
  39. Many words in Russian are the same in English (some examples: telephone, calculator, ).
  40. How to walk in snow & ice while keeping eggs from breaking
  41. How to cross a busy street in the city
  42. Mongolian women are gorgeous
  43. Famous countries for study abroad (Great Britain, Germany, Korea, Czech Republic, America,)
  44. Able to name the 21 aimags of Mongolia from memory
  45. Mongolian time is different than regular time
  46. How to swim in a river with a strong current
  47. How to fight angry territorial birds
  48. How to get high scores (95-100) on Karaoke machines
  49. Drinking at school or work is completely normal
  50. Planning parties and celebrations last minute
  51. Spending too much time on preparation for parties and celebrations
  52. How to co-lead a seminar
  53. How to make salt and pepper shakers out of hot sauce bottles (reusing/recycling)
  54. How to preform improv
  55. Pico’s cigarette strategy (for picking up women)
  56. How to live without proper working electronics or appliances
  57. How to survive a flood in a ger
  58. How to steal your friend’s blind date
  59. How to cool off during the summer (watch Community in your underwear)
  60. Blues music on harmonica
  61. How to (unintentionally) sexually harass a Mongolian co-worker
  62. What Inner Mongolia is
  63. How to unfreeze a water pump
  64. How to burn coal
  65. -40C = -40F
  66. Able to sing most parts of a few Mongolian songs
  67. formatting a flash drive doesn’t kill the virus that’s on it.
  68. how to inspect coal for burning
  69. How to use a french press
  70. How to use a swiss army knife's can opener properly
  71. How to break someone's heart.