My heart is forever moved…Bayarlaa…Thank you!

6/28/09

Despite its complexity, Mongolia is a special, sweet place. Chimge, my wonderful supervisor, co-worker and interpreter and I completed a 2-day training on grant writing, logic models, project planning and sustainability planning. The Center for Social Work Excellence, where I work had made up nice certificates for the people completing the training. Of course, they were in Mongolian and Chimge and I both signed them. Individual names were put on each one at the end of the training. I asked to have my name put on one, even though I signed all of them for me to have as a memento. Well, when I made that request our participants went to work to make it as nice for me a possible. They spent about 15 minutes figuring out how to write my name in Cyrillic script, and then went even further to write my name in Old Traditional Mongolian Script. They collaborated and worked very hard on it. Then when they gave it to me, they all clapped and were so grateful and joyful. My eyes were full of tears. It was such a gift and such an effort of appreciation and respect. I bowed to the group and many bowed back. It was a very special moment that I will never forget; and I will frame the certificate for my office. This was a precious moment in my journey of life.

About the training, it went very well. Chimge and I work really well together. We build on one another and have fun. Though I know this material very, very well and have taught it many times this training was a bit harder. We had set it up to have activities, where people develop and write plans, outcomes etc. Normally, I would move between groups and assist. Due to the language barrier I was not able to do this. Chimge did it very well and filled me in or gave me tips, though. Due to me not knowing the language I was limited in the activity part, but overall we still got an A evaluation from all but 2 of the participants who gave us a B.

My supervising professor arrived yesterday. He was coming from Beijing though he was diverted to Russia for several hours due to the intense wind in UB. He made it and Chimge, her son and daughter and another Brown School trained social worker Tuya (spelling?) and I had a delightful Indian dinner, compliments of Gautam Yadama. It was a real treat for me.

Today Chimge’s son, Tsengel, Gautam and I went to the large outdoor market here where things are cheap. I have wanted to go there, but have been told not to go alone or without a Mongolian. It was great fun. It is a lot of cheap stuff from China, but there are also traditional Mongolian items. I bought a great jacket. I love to explore and this is a great place to explore. I hope to go back again. I have posted a few pictures of the Mongolian clothing, though after these few shots it became clear they did not want me to take pictures, so I stopped.

Next onto another great Indian meal. Gautam is from India and has been working here for years. He found a great Indian restaurant in the hotel he stays at where we ate last night. We learned that the chef, who GY has known for years, opened a second location, so we ate there for lunch. Both times the food was great. Having a person from India, who knows the chef, and they can both speak Hindi is a guarantee for great food!

Tsengel is a delightful, bright engaging 18 year old who speaks English, due to living in St. Louis while his Mom, Chimge got her MSW at Brown School. He oriented me to UB on my second day here and we have done a couple things together. Being with him is really fun and I so appreciate all he does to help me out here.

Gautam and I spent time talking about my work, my schooling, future work together, etc. I so appreciate his counsel and advise. Not only does he help me with schooling, career directions etc, but also he has helped me learn about communicating across cultures more effectively. I respect him, enjoy him and am very grateful for all his help and support.

Over the next few days while he is here, we will be meeting with some of the many social workers and professionals he knows here to gather more information and data and to formulate the next steps in our work here in Mongolia. I know I will learn a lot and it will be great fun.

My life is very full here and I am tired. So off to an early night for me. I have more stories and photos to share, so I will add more soon. Thank you for taking the time to read this.