Summer reflection

Ppffftttt, I just looked at my last blog post and “parched after a 5 mile run” shocked me…5 miles is nothing in my book anymore. Especially right after I cruised through the Hovsgol Lake marathon with my friend Brittany like this:

Summer has practically come and gone now, and it wasn’t much of a summer here, in fact there were two flash floods in Erdenet, so a couple of our roads are in disarray with chunks of pavement missing. I was happy to see that they’re going to put in storm drains, eventually, the pipes have been sitting on the side of the road for over month now.

To recap, in June I focused on Nutrition at my hospital, and my most memorable class was when I taught healthy cooking to the head nurses. Basically, I wrote up some healthy salad recipes that are easy and affordable to make, but not the norm for Mongolians. We chatted about why those recipes are healthier than some of the traditional salads Mongolians make, and then I passed out the recipe directions (in Mongolian). As I started talking about the ingredients 17 pairs of hands took over. It’s rare to find a Mongolian woman who can’t cook, and I was thrilled with how enthusiastically they got right to business. I basically just stayed back and watched, but answered questions as needed. The results were delicious and the nurses still chat about it, so I plan to do another class soon; apparently they all want to learn how to make pizza. It’s a good thing I’m an expert on making homemade pizza dough now.

Then in July, my parents came to visit. On arrival to Erdenet we started celebrating Naadam festival (the three manly sports). First, we dressed the part, then we at the traditional food and drink and then celebrated with the locals.

Wearing traditional Deels

Eating Huushar

Drinkin Airag (Fermented Mare’s milk)

A Naadam racehorse and two jockey finishers

 Then we took what I thought would be a relaxing cross-country adventure, where the road looked like this most of the time:

It was so bumpy that we couldn’t do anything but sit and hold on.

We saw quite a few things, but highlights included the Tsenger hot springs in Arhangai, riding a Yak, yak, yak, and hanging out by the pristine Hovsgol Lake, where we went horseback riding, canoeing, and where I ran my first marathon.

I was quite surprised about the trail; apparently I missed the memo that what I actually signed up for is what’s called an ultra marathon. That meaning, this is not a road race, so don’t expect to come close to your goal time, and yes, you must carry a backpack full of emergency medical supplies and at least a liter and a half of water.

The race started at 4:30am sharp in pitch black and we immediately headed into the forest on a root-infested trail. (Good thing I had my required torch, for without a light you would have been screwed) After emerging out of the woods, surprisingly ankle twist free, phew, we took what was initially a road that climbed up 2,400 ft to about the top of a 7,500 ft mountain. I didn’t run this. I attempted a power walk and madly ate cliff energy blocks and sucked down water. My calves screamed at me. I also may have stopped to take some photos: (Who does that in a marathon race? Weird, but seriously, the view was amazing.)

After those few switchbacks, the trail, now only accessible by horseback and foot lead to a 45-degree downhill where at several points I almost dove into a summersault. It would have been the most effective way to descend, and I’m pretty sure that's what the 100km runners were doing, for their paths in the grass were much larger than a foot.

We emerged into a lush mystical mossy forest, which was magical until I tripped on a root that face planted me, and then we started another 1,000 ft climb. This time with fallen trees as obstacles. There was another summersault worthy downhill and then the trail finally merged to a windy dirt road for the last 7 miles.

Looking back, I had a blast, it was quite an adventure and I was glad to have a running buddy to share it with. I may have caught the marathon bug as well, and have started training for the Gobi half-marathon that's at the end of the month.

In August, Eric came to visit and we visited Amarbaysalant Monastery (which is one of the few working Monasteries that wasn’t completely destroyed during the soviet occupation) and hung out in Erdenet where we picked strawberries in the woods, and went out to karaoke. It was a lovely, relaxing visit, but much too short.

Right after Eric left I had my Mid-Service training, which marked the halfway point of my service. It was mostly a group discussion and a sharing time for all us to reflect back on our experiences thus far. In many ways it was refreshing to think about project we want to work on and to look back at our accomplishments, but it was tough to look at our failures, which in most cases, outnumbered the successes.

Most everyone came here with a multitude of goals and ideas to add to the spark of growth of this country, but now having worked in this environment, where motivated counterparts and resources are limited, and change, on the whole, undesirable. Many of us, me included, have reached a point of realization that the major goals and ideas we once had about what our service would be like are unattainable.

Coming to that conclusion has absolutely been hard to grasp, and it’s exhaustingly disappointing as well. My work in community development is still raw. I only have experience working in community development and behavior change in this one country, this one culture, with quite a bit of history and tradition, that to this day is constantly remembered and respected. I still want to make a difference and help my community solve its problems and improve its health, but my expectations of what that success looks like are more realistic. It’s all about the individual; it’s about making a positive impact on one person that starts the change.

Now, how to do that. I’m back to stage one; getting the individual to see the real needs that need to be addressed, not the needs that are just an acquisition of a product.

So, here’s to year two