I've arrived!

Welcome to my blog! I'm writing this first edition from VSO Mongolia's headquarters in Ulaanbaatar. The time is 4pm (7 hours ahead of UK time) and it's a lovely day outside.

After what was a pretty tiring journey I arrived in Ulaanbaatar airport on Saturday the 18th and was very grateful to find a friendly Mongolian waiting with a big VSO sign. I and five other volunteers were then transported to Ulaanbaatar city centre, all of us glad to dump our luggage in the minibus. After meeting the other new volunteers (there are 11 of us), we went out for meal and then had a well deserved rest. I successfully managed to have a 12 hour sleep, so jetlag hasn't been too bad!

The following day we went on a trip to the Mongolian countryside, which was fantastic. A 30-minute drive from the city centre and we were in rural area where hardly anyone lives - what other capital city has that?! Upon arrival we made our base camp in a gir (a large tent which nomadic Mongolians use as their home). From here we went for a walk, going past traditional herdsmen and their cattle. Almost everyone I past was on horseback. It was fascinating to see the traditional, nomadic style of life still being followed in this region. Completely different to anything back in the UK!

After our first two relatively relaxed days us volunteers started our initial in-country training. Needless to say, it's been pretty hectic. Here are some of the highlights:

Language lessons - every weekday, from 9am to 12:30 all of us volunteers have been going to the Bridge Internation College to have introductory Mongolian lessons. The pace of the lessons have been pretty crazy (e.g. having an hour to learn the Cyrillic alphabet and then being expected to read out whole sentences in Cyrillic!), but I seem to be picking some things up. It's pretty tiring though. I've got 4 more weeks of language training before I start work, wish me luck...

Traditional dance and music festival - a really fantastic experience. We were taken out on Thursday evening to see a Mongolian dance and music ensemble perform at the National Recreation Centre. It was amazing. I saw contortionists, folk dancers and singers, people playing traditional Mongolian instruments and last but not least, Mongolian throat singers (these singers produce an absolutely amazing sound, very evocative). The whole evening was quite emotional - the culture of Mongolia seemed so beautiful. Although I've only been in the country for one week, it's pretty clear that Mongolians are very proud of their culture and heritage. I have to say that so far I agree with them!

Visit to the National Centre for Disability - all new volunteers are taken to the centre to help find out a bit more about the present-day situation of life for disabled people in Mongolia. We were lucky enough to be present at the centre on the same day as the Grand Opening of their brand-new access ramp (which will now allow wheelchair users to access the building). The fact that the ramp had only just been built, despite the organisation having used the building for many years previously was a shock to me. The VSO volunteers working in the field of disability will have a lot of work...

I'll try to update this blog at least once a week, so check back at this site regularly! For now though best wishes to everyone,

Robert