Overnight Trains

I rode the overnight train to Erdenet last night which is about a 12 hour ride. I was expecting an uneventful trip and a half decent night sleep. But as the sun went down I heard this accordion music start up down the hall. About 5 sleeper cars down from mine there were these two older guys in semi-eccentric outfits, one playing accordion, and the other singing with the confidence, volume, and theatrics of someone who had preformed for a long time. (guy on the left)

Several more Mongolians packed into there cabin, and before I knew it, I was stomping and clapping along with these Russian and Mongolian folk songs. The lady next to me spoke a little english and she whispered in my ear, "you are very lucky, these two guys are old Mongolian movie stars and also famous singers. They were traveling with a huge group helping to promote this "Election Campaign TV show" (the national elections are at the end of the month). As the singing went on into the night more people joined in and a cameraman for the TV show started filming. But these two guys (I unfortunately cant remember their names) kind of had this back and forth thing going, trying to one up each other with funny songs and various antics.

At one point one of these singing movie stars offered me Vodka from a flask he was nursing. I tried to good naturedly wave it off, but he was persistent. The girl next to me translated for him what I was trying to say "thanks but he dosnt drink vodka". This is where meaning kind of breaks down, but I think he couldnt really understand that someone wouldnt drink a little vodka, so he thought I was messing with him. He looked at my funny, and then with a more knowing look, shook my hand and was like "hahahaha- good one". As if I had really gotten him with my unexpected joke. I started laughing so hard at this misunderstanding, but it only played further into him thinking I was joking. But he didnt offer me any more so I guess it worked out.

I ended up being given a free t-shirt for this promotional "election tv show", and then they drove me free of charge into the city the next morning in a caravan of like 10-15 micro-buses and landcrusiers with huge flags on them advertising the election events. We kind of did a victory lap through town, and then got out and there was this massive group picture. I had not eaten for awhile so I said my goodbyes and set off to try and find some food before I had to visit the local hospital that afternoon. It was an unexpected but welcome turn of events.

Hello/Post 1

This is my first effort at blogging. This blog will serve two purposes. One is that I want to let people know what Ive been up to here in Asia, and also to convince those that speak Farsi to come here immediately.
I am currently living in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Called a "frontier city" in an Australian news article I read today it is city of just over a million people and a bizarre mix of run down monasteries, Soviet era block housing, and a few new glass plated high rises.
Mongolia was a center of Buddhism before the soviets took over and killed the vast majority of monks. Today only a few buildings remain of the formerly grand Buddhist tradition here. Although since the country became a democracy in the early 90's Buddhism is making a comeback and I see monks walking around town. I would really liked to have seen Buddhism here pre-1900's.
I am staying with a Mongolian family in one of the previously mentioned Russian-era apartment buildings. They are great hosts and very generous with what they have. Communication is ok, but sometimes breaks down into hand gestures if the vocab is too complex. Particularly with my "Mom", who often just smiles at me in a "I have no idea what you are trying to say" sort of way.
So far I have been spending the majority of my time here researching for a group of doctors and dentists in the states that is hoping to set up a foundation here in Mongolia, specifically to improve health care in a province called Bulgan.
What I do every day-so far is interview/gather information from people involved with health care and development here in Ulaanbaatar. For instance on Thursday I spent the morning at one of the state hospitals, met with the hospital director and talked with him about opportunities for collaboration with U.S. docs, as well as general health issues that they are facing in Mongolia and at his hospital specifically. Then I went to a ex-pat clinic and then talked with some people at the U.S. embassy. Then I had dinner with the head of a french NGO and she explained her work in Bayan-Olgii- a province in eastern Mongolia- and the results she has has seen from her programs. I was really impressed with this little NGO's dedication and the results they have with limited funding and a lot of ingenuity. (not every day has gone this well, but I wanted to give a positive example)
I walk everywhere, which is good exercise, and I sleep really well at night. I have spent a little time with a couple of U.S. students that are on Fulbright's over here. They are mostly working on or done with a Masters or Phds, which makes me kind of the kid in the group, some are late 20's or older.
It is both enjoyable and frustrating to kind of just be thrown in here and try to do what I can to help this group in the States get off the ground. But it is also nice to be traveling with more direction then usual. In a week or two I am leaving the capital and going to spend time in the provinces.
One other thing that is interesting/unexpected, I went to Church today and there were no kids. I also realized I had seen very few kids around the city since I had been here. The reason for this is that their has been an outbreak of Ev-71 (Enterovirus), also known as hand/foot/mouth disease. It primarily effects young children and causes flu/cold like symptoms along with sores and boils on the hands, feet, and mouth. I found out there is a general quarantine in Mongolia and kids are all out of school early for summer and cannot be in public areas. Some people say think its an over reaction by the Ministry of Health. Difficult to say, since they are reporting 100 new cases a day, and if they a more severe they can lead to fluid in the brain that causes polio-like paralysis and death. Thankfully none of the cases here have been that severe.

Overall things are going well. I think I will try to post to this blog fairly often and include pictures in the future.