A Week Full of Firsts

We have been in Mongolia for a full week so far and it has been an enlighten experience full of firsts. Starting with just arriving in Mongolia. This is my first time traveling outside of North America. And my first time traveling without my mom to look after me. This by itself is exciting.

For our first weekend in the city we got to do a bit of exploring. We saw the parliament building that has a giant monument dedicated to Chenggis Khan. We rode our first four person bike. This experience was both fun and exciting but also very exhausting. We biked for what seemed like forever while listening to some tunes to pump us up. We went to our first few amazing stores and made some purchases. I was overwhelmed with all the amazing handmade gifts there was to purchase. One this first day I found a small coin style wallet made of leather that said made in Mongolia. I also found a beautiful ring from a jewelry store we went to. It was difficult asking the sales people questions so luckily we have an amazing country handler (fancy way of saying guide, translator, cultural expert and much more). Chimka, our country handler, is amazing, funny and full of amazing information. She helped us pick out items to buy, price them, and pay in Tughrik. Tughrik are an interesting to try and use. There are many bills that translate into like small pieces of a penny and are hard to get rid of. Which leaves us with a crazy stack of bills for no reason.

Another first for me was a squat toilet. This was an experience I was not ready for. For starters, at the National park we had to pay to use the toilet. It was only about 25 cents. Then the toilet looks like a urinal that is on the ground and you squat over it to use the bathroom, which is not at all easy.

This week we also had our first interviews, seven in total this week. It is truly amazing how awesome these women are and how inspirational they are. I wish I could say who they are but since it is for research I cannot. This women are truly leaders in their fields. They are doing amazing things. I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to meet with such incredible women.

Another cultural thing that I have tried on this trip so far is food. Mostly the food around the area is easily recognizable and you could find it in the states. One thing that is more unique for Mongolia is the khuushuur. It is similar to a fried dumpling with meat inside. It is very tasty and may be one of my new favorite foods. In Mongolia they eat a lot of horse meat but because they know others may not like the idea of eating horse they often call it beef. So I cannot say for sure at this point if I tried it, I can just say it did not seem like beef. Also, in Mongolia the Sea buckthron is a berry native to Mongolia. It is one of the few berries that grows in Mongolia. We tried sea buckthorn juice. It was good and supposed to be healthy. And because we are Americans mixed it with redbull which was extra delicious. We also ate at an outdoor grill. I tried beef, chicken, and lamb and they were all amazing.

There is much more first that I am likely forgetting but it has been an unbelievable first week and I am excited to continue to learn and adventure in Mongolia.

#Krista