A Quick Note

Sain baina uu everyone!

This is just a quick post before we load up the vans and head out to our four day horse trek!  I will not have internet access for the next few days.  When we return, we will move on to the next country: China.  While in China, I will not have access to Facebook or my blog so I will be off of the radar for a week or so.  I will still have access to email though so if you want to get a hold of me that is the place (wesgong@att.net)!  For China and our next country Vietnam, our communications may be monitored so please do not mention God, Jesus, or anything else religious as it may flag our group and hurt our mission.  Thanks for your understanding!  

Anyway, there are a few final things to wrap up before we take off so I had better get going!  Thank you to all who read my blog and to all of those who are praying for me and my group.  Your prayers are definitely felt!  I will try to update everyone on my adventure last weekend and my upcoming adventure this weekend when I get a chance.

Bayarstai, and I hope to talk to you all soon!

Birthdays Abroad

On this trip, many of us will be celebrating our birthdays in some exotic place.  This past week, Hayden, Karen, Sasha (Alex C), and I all celebrated ours!  This led to a high concentration of cake and festivities galore in a very short period of time.

Last weekend we were also able to go out exploring and see more of the city than just the airport, school, and dorms that we had been confined to the past week.  Some of the MIU students went along with us and served as our tour guides and translators.  We went to a couple museums that spanned ancient history to modern history.  We learned quite a bit about Mongolia! I was also able to find my first international geocache right outside one of the museums!  We also went to a Buddhist temple.  Here we saw a building built around a statue that was almost 100’ tall surrounded by Buddhist prayer wheels, a room of Buddhist priests chanting the prayers of the people, and many small children trying to sell us birdseed to feed the local pigeons.  I am very interested in further researching one of the common courtesy rules of always walking left to right in a clockwise fashion around the different rooms of the temples.  After seeing the museums and temples, we went to a monument that was built in commemoration of the Russian support in World War II.  The monument was huge and it overlooked the whole city!  To wrap up the day, we went to eat at a place called City Nomads.  We had quite the feast! Our meal started with some meat and potatoes (with miniscule amounts of peas and broccoli on the side) and was followed by huushuur (fried meat pockets) and botz (meat dumplings) along with lamb ribs and a lamb shank. 

After we stuffed ourselves full of meat products we waddled back to the dorms.  I was about to turn in early.  I already had my shoes and watch off and I was rolling myself back into bed.  Stuffed full of meat, I was nearly asleep on my feet.  My head was about to hit the pillow when Beard (Alex B., yet another Alex on the trip) storms into the room out of breath trying to say something about how I needed to get down to Agi’s ger immediately.  Now before I dive any deeper into this startling account, I should probably give a bit of backstory on Agi so that this actually makes sense.   I now take you back to a few days earlier….

After a day full of teaching and class, a group of us was hanging out on the balcony of the other dorm when two of the local girls Nicole and her cousin came in to play.  After them their father Agi came up as well.  He mentioned how his daughters had brought some of the girls in to see his home, a ger that is set up right in between the dorm buildings.  He said that all of us were welcome to come see it.  Many of us had been curious about what the gers looked like inside so we jumped at the chance to finally see one.

The ger is the Mongolian term for an easily movable residence that is similar to the Russian yurt.  The inside was fascinating.  The walls were adorned with various rugs and cloths as well as the floors.  To the left of the entrance there was a couch pushed all the way up against the way and mirroring it on the right was a bed.  Straight ahead was a television sandwiched between a fish tank and a book shelf that Agi told us was his library.  He invited us to sit on the couch and bed.  From there we engaged in riveting conversation with the topics ranging from the Mongolian Olympians to proper etiquette in various situations.  Agi expressed disappointment in the Mongolian archer who did not win this year.  He said that she did not practice enough because she was “nose up,” a term we gathers to mean stuck up or conceited.   We discussed sports for a while and Agi revealed that he is a Chicago Bulls fan.  He also enjoys watching a professional women’s volleyball team from Korea. 

The whole time Agi was extremely hospitable while he put up with a host of various questions from all of us.  He helped to better our pronunciation of many Mongolian phrases and told us about all the best local places to get traditional Mongolian cuisine.  He offered to show us around UB and even teach us how to cook traditional Mongolian dishes!  We learned about Agi’s family which consists of his daughter Nicole, his son Justin, and his wife.  Agi told us that his son’s English name is Justin because he liked Justin Bieber and wanted to be called that.  Justin’s Mongolian name is Temulin which is similar to the childhood name of Chinggis Khaan (the Mongolian name for Genghis Khan).  Sadly, Justin is in the hospital currently and his mother (who is pregnant and due to have her child in September) is there with him.  He is experiencing low blood flow to his brain and has to get many injections.  We were able to pray for Justin for a speedy recovery and wisdom for the doctors.  Agi has been a Christian for several years and is a graduate from MIU.  Now he works for them helping with housing.

[Side note: Justin is now back and home and it doing quite well! We have played frisbee with him and he has developed quite the forehand!]

So that is our friend Agi, a friendly employee of MIU who lives in his ger near our dorms.  Now back to the action.  Beard revealed that Agi’s wife had prepared us some meat and he was sent to round up the troops to help take it down.  After Beard’s startling entrance, I found myself torn between bloated lethargy and the exciting experience of spending more time with Agi and trying a traditional home-cooked Mongolian meal.  Lethargy lost this round.

I fumbled to get my shoes back on and waddled down the stairs to the courtyard in which Agi’s ger was set up.  When I arrived at the ger, there was already a battalion of brave warriors sitting around in a circle.  I was greeted with cheers and applause.  The reinforcements had come.  Little did they know that I was not my usual self, having prepared myself for small quantities of food on this trip.  Agi’s wife was sitting nearby carving a boiled cow’s leg. I took my place among the troops and prepared for the battle ahead.  With clear eyes and a full stomach, I joined my comrades in food challenge number one of our trip.

We began passing the plate of beef around, partaking in the chucks of meat as they passed.  We congratulated and thanked those among us who took larger chunks or multiple pieces.  The pile gradually diminished.  We washed the meat down our gullets with a swig of Coke or tea that Agi also provided for us.  It was then that I realized how tired I was.

I reached for the open two liter bottle to refill my glass with Coke.  Something wasn’t right in my brain though.  Either my depth perception was off or my dexterity was lacking; I still cannot exactly explain it to this day.  Well whatever the problem was, I managed to fumble the nearly full bottle of Coke, spilling it all over the laminate flooring of Agi’s well-kept ger.  I apologized profusely and the adrenaline kicked back in, maybe a little too much.  I swept up the spilling bottle and set it back up with a gusto, barely letting any spill.  However, in the process of righting the bottle, I must have shaken it significantly, resulting in a reaction akin to plopping a Mentos into the top of the bottle.  Coke Faithful erupted in the center of this kind, generous man’s beautiful, well-kept home which he so graciously opened to a large group of foreigners whom he had just met days before.  I sat there defeated, Coke streaming from the bottle I had just saved from spilling, unable to do anything to stop this geyser.  The apologies continued as my comrades guffawed in my general direction.  Agi insisted that it was not a problem and began to help clean up the mess.  The only positive that resulted from this incident was the fact that we no longer had to finish a whole two liter bottle of Coke along with the two plates of meat that were presented to us.

As the passing of the plate continued, I repeatedly tried to pass the plate to Agi and his wife.  At least we could share in this meal together and lighten the load of each individual soldier.  Each time Agi politely declined.  He had already had his dinner that night.  So it was just us.  Ten troopers, full of food, against two plates of wonderfully prepared meat, made with love.  The passing of the plate slowed as each of us pondered the next selection we would make.  A larger piece to lighten the load of our compatriots?  A smaller piece to preserve ourselves for later rounds of the battle?  Multiple pieces to become the hero of all?  Eventually, the beast was conquered.  The majority of the meat was gone.  Just enough was left to be respectful.  We thanked Agi for his great generosity and rolled ourselves back to our lodgings.

Food has again and again showed itself as a major theme on this trip.  My birthday was two days later (after an interesting message at church that Sunday from an overzealous Korean guest speaker who insisted that Mongolia reunite with Korea by the “POWER of the Gospel”).  The MIU cafeteria is closed on Mondays so we were sent forth with Lee’s blessing to find dinner with our travel groups.  After our recent experiences with meat, my group decided to explore other options.  We walked into the downtown and decided on a quaint Korean bakery where I ordered cheese noodles (which turned out to be basically fancy ramen with a slice of melted cheese on top in a type of curry broth) while others ordered forms of corn dogs or other similar baked goods. 

After finishing that, we began the trek home.  We picked up some food to serve the group for breakfast the next day (again with the food motif…) and decided to brave the taxi service back as we had walked quite a ways to get dinner.  The MIU students have told us that every car is a taxi.  We test this theory by breaking into two groups one with me, Robyn, and Matthia and one with Trent, Sasha, and Ben.  My group was the first to be picked up.  A younger man no older than any of the three of us in our group stopped in front of us and swung open his doors.  We stepped in and our Mongolian taxi adventure began.

The young man spoke little to no English.  We were able to tell him a hotel near our destination and armed with our basic knowledge of the words for left, right, and straight, we began our journey (words which we found out later were much more complicated based on the four directions and other unknown factors).  UB is not an extremely busy city unless of course you are on the road (which we were).  The main rule of traffic is that big yields to small.  Even though we were in a small Mazda of some sort, our driver acted like a big car, weaving in front of buses, shooting small gaps at higher than recommended speed, various other things of that nature.  We both attempted small talk for a while and I was able to decipher that he wanted to know our country of origin to which I responded “USA.” He nodded in approval and continued spewing Mongolian phrases at us with a speed that rendered them unintelligible.  We had only learned the most basic of conversation which did not suffice for the in depth conversation he was apparently trying to have with us.  After more weaving and bouncing through pot holes, we reached a destination that was close enough to continue to our dorms by foot.

 The rest of the evening was spent calmly reading or relaxing with the guys, ending a memorable birthday experience that I will be hard pressed to forget.

Beijing Layover and First Week of Teaching

Sain baina uu! Hello!

Day three of teaching at Mongolia International University finished.  It has only been a couple days and there has already been tons of adventure!  First off we had a 12 hour layover in Beijing before flying out to the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar and boy was it a layover!

We landed in Beijing at 5 PM local time.  Adam offered us the options to either stay in the airport and sleep or go explore Beijing.  The Preuss family opted to stay and sleep but everyone else decided to go adventuring.  We decided to get dinner at Tienanmen Square and then head back to the airport before they closed. While we were able to figure out the subway route with little to no trouble, the timing schedule was another beast entirely.  We made it to the square with out any problems and decided to split up into our travel groups to eat, though eventually we all ended up at the same place anyway!  After guessing what we might like by the pictures on the menu we ended out with a salad (which I don't think we intended to order), spicy tongue and tripe (which I don't think we intended to get either), and a chicken and mushroom dish with scrambled eggs (which we actually did try to order!).  After we had finished we moseyed over back to the subway to get the line that would take us back to the airport.  We arrived at the transfer point and had to purchase a ticket for the other line, all the time wondering why we were the only ones left at that ticket booth and why the attendant was pushing us up the line so quickly.  When we got down to the train we realized that it was because this was the last train headed to the airport before the line closed!  We made sure that they did not leave without anyone from the group, me standing in the doorway of the train while others waved the rest of our group down into the trains as fast as they could! Luckily we all made it back to the airport safe and sound.

Tienanmen Square

This leads us to our second exciting tale.  While waiting at our gate, one of the group members managed to drop their passport down a ventilation grate.  Dr. Preuss immediately went to find an attendant while the MacGyvers of the group put their heads together.  After various plans involving rope, a carabiner, chopsticks, moleskin, tweezers, and duct tape failed, a maintenance worker came by with his handy dandy tools to save the day (after deciding that the mop he came with the first time would not suffice).  We retrieved the passport just in the nick of time to board the plane and leave Beijing for the first time with many great stories.

The flight to Ulaanbaatar did not take long.  We touched down  after a couple hours and went through customs easily.  The only hitch was the loss of Alex B's pack (which we have since recovered!).  We rode the bus back to the dorms and unpacked.  We rested up and prepared for the next day, our first day of teaching.

Alex B using wifi outside of our dorm

During our first day teaching in Mongolia, we had quite the experience.  We were split into groups of three (mine had Trent and Alex C).  After that we were told nothing but our room number.  We walked into room 101 knowing only that we were too teach English.  From there we had to improvise.  Luckily we had the theater major himself, Trenton Semple.  With his quick thinking and the things in our pack, we developed a plan.  We would emulate the Dr. Shultz method.  We showed the students various objects from our packs and had them write descriptions.  The items included a multi-tool, a CPR mask, a SteriPen, and a headlamp.  The students reactions were priceless.  Many were baffled by the strange conglomeration of foreign objects. Many of the students were close in their guesses as to the use of the object.  Many others were very far off.   Their descriptions included fanciful words such as “laser knife” and “freaking mutant animal.”  We then explained the uses to them and the light bulbs went on.  The descriptions provided many laughs for us after reading them.

Sunrise- Day 2 (Out of our dorm window)

The next day we taught, we had the same students.  This time around, we had a bit more time to plan a lesson.  Our room was labeled “Writing/Grammar” so we decided that was our focus.  Trent came up with the idea to have them correct sentence we wrote.  With this and sentence creation, we were able to fill the first class.  The next class however was much quicker.  We finished the whole lesson with 15 minutes to spare out of 45!  We were scrambling.  Luckily Ben came to the rescue and offered an idea.  He suggested we have them write us letters.  We thought that the idea was wonderful and proceeded with confidence.  The students were to write to one of the three instructors.  One of the letters was especially moving. A girl in the class explained that she lived with her siblings. Her parents had died when she was six.  She acknowledged the difficulty of this but also supplied her source of strength.  She revealed that she found love in God.  This moved the three of us nearly to tears.  Just when we thought we would lose it we turned the note over.  On the back was a note addressed to “Darling Wesley,”.  It said how she thought that I was cute and hoped I had a good trip.  This resulted in guffawing from Trent and Alex and maybe a blush from me.  Over all the teaching experience was just as educational for us as instructors as it was for the students.

The Day Before

The day before.  It still hasn't hit me yet that tomorrow I will be leaving the country for 4.5 months.  Everything is packed and preped as much as it can be.  Here is the final packing list.

(But before that I just want to wish my Grandpa a happy 80th birthday! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you!)

Lets start with the clothing. All clothing that I am bringing on this trip is quick drying, making for easy hand washing and drying to wear for the next day if need be! (Brands in parentheses)



I am bringing a total of six shirts: one long sleeved collared shirt (Ex Officio), one short sleeved collared shirt (REI), three short sleeved t-shirts (2 REI, 1 C9), and one sleeveless t-shirt for working out (C9).
The collared shirts should suffice for any semi-formal occasion.  The t-shirts are quite nice because they feel more like cotton than the typical wicking jersey material but they still dry quickly unlike cotton.  The sleeveless is made of that wicking material but that will be fine for the activities I will use it for.





Next comes pants.  I have one pair of athletic shorts for running, sports, working out, etc.(Champion), one pair of cargo shorts (Kuhl),  one pair of convertible pants/shorts with zip off legs (REI), and one pair of khaki golf pants (C9).  These should cover the very diverse gamut of activities that will come up while on the trip from athletic to semiformal.

For miscellaneous other clothing items, I have the following:  one camouflage bandanna, one CUI President's Bowl beanie, two pairs of briefs (Ex Officio), one pair boxers (Ex Officio), two pairs of boxer briefs (Jockey),  five pairs of wool socks (REI), and one pair of long underwear (Patagonia).  The long underwear will probably only come in handy in Hungary but they were pretty small so I decided they would be nice to have.

Now for one of the most important pieces of my wardrobe:  good footwear.  I have narrowed the options down to two that should cover me for the trip.  Both happen to be Keens that I originally discovered at the REI Used Gear Sale.  On the left are the Keen Voyagers, a low top leather boot with a little mesh ventilation on the sides.  I originally got a pair of these for $15 at the Gear Sale but my dad brought me a brand new pair as my old ones were wearing down.  On the right are the Keen Newport H2's.  These are the classic Keen water shoes.  these will work for pretty much anything that the boots are not necessary for.

This is the very pared down toiletry kit I will bring.  It includes: one Dopp kit, one role of toilet paper (special kind with no role in the middle so as not to take up useless space), one small bottle of shaving cream, one bottle of Sea-to-Summit all purpose soap and a bottle to dilute it in, one bottle sunscreen and one chap stick (both SPF 30 from Rocky Mountain Sunscreen), one spray bottle and one squirt bottle of pure Deet (REI Jungle Juice), one stick of deodorant, two Bug Bands insect repellent wristbands, three pairs of disposable earplugs, one toothbrush with cover, one razor, one tube of toothpaste, and four travel tissue packs.

 Meds are another crucial thing to bring when travelling abroad.  I have ample doses of the following: anti-malaria pills, Cipro and Zithromax (in case I get some gnarly bacterial infection), Acetaminophen (for pain), Ibuprofen (for swelling and pain), Benadryl (for allergic reactions), Costco brand Zyrtec (for non-drowsy allergy relief), Imodium (antidiarrheal), Gold bond foot powered, Pepto (say it with me now: nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea! Yay Pepto!), hydrocortisone cream (itch relief), Neosporin, various bandages, moleskin, rubber gloves, alcohol swabs, burn gel, an emergency blanket, a first aid kit bag, and a mesh bag from REI to keep it all together.

Also packed are some goodies to get me through the trip:  Fruit Nuggets fruit snacks, bag of 100 Grand (thanks Dana!), my pipe with tobacco, tamper, matches, and pipe cleaners.










Technology will be an integral part of this trip, especially with the classes we are taking.  I am bringing a Gateway netbook, an international socket converter, extra batteries (AA, AAA, and 123's), ethernet cable, GPS, iPod, extra camera batteries and memory cards, Kindle, cell phone unlocked for international use, headphones, SteriPEN UV water purifier, flexible camera tripod, and respective cables and chargers for everything.



This is my sleep gear.  I may not have to use it everywhere, but when I do I think I will appreciate it greatly.  I have a sleep sack which is basically a sleeping bag made out of sheet material, an REI backpacking down pillow, and a Therm-a-rest sleep pad.  The pad is not self inflating but this allows it to pack down smaller which is critical for this kind of trip!

In addition to the Kindle, I will have some actual books along as well (old school, right?).  I will be bringing a hand out on dealing with common travel illnesses, courtesy of my father.  A guide book on Thailand from AAA, a Lonely Planet on Thai food, and the Lonely Planet Thai and Latin American Spanish phrasebooks.

For the fitness portion of our trip I have a simple jump rope, an elastic resistance band and a frisbee.  Later I will add a volleyball as well so that we will be able to play with the local kids and with those in our group!

This is all miscellaneous stuff that would not fit into another category: notebooks (both pocket and regular sized), 3 pens, 1 Sharpie, sticky notes, paracord, Nalgene bottle, REI microfiber towel, mosquito head net (courtesy of my sister Leah!), Ziplocks (both gallon and sandwich), swag to leave in geocaches, a geocoin that is trying to travel to Germany, zip ties, a family photo album (to show to locals), a sleeping pad patch kit, duct tape and athletic tape (rolled on to old gift cards for easy packing), a deck of cards, gum, my wallet (with cash, cards, id, etc), sunglasses, headlamp, my Leatherman Juice CS4, a Gerber Shard multi-tool, a head lamp, a hacky sack, a digital watch (with alarm and dual time setting so I can read local time and time at home in the US), a paracord bracelet, and a money belt (with passport, money, immunization card, extra passport photos for visas, and international drivers permit).

This just about sums up the total of what I am bringing!  I tried to pare down the list as much as I could and only bring the essentials.  That leaves one item that is not yet pictured: my trusty Canon Powershot camera!

And that does it! If you made it this far, I commend you for not losing interest in all the junk I am lugging around with me!  If you just scrolled to the end, tsk tsk, I am shaking my head in disappointment at you (though I probably would have done the same thing so don't feel too bad!).

This is my last post before I leave the country. Please keep me and my entire group in your thoughts and prayers! Your support is much appreciated!