Hello Everyone!

May really flew by and now we are well into June! Our Close of Service conference went great last month. It was awesome to see so many friends in one place, including a lot of Volunteers who will be staying for a third year here in Mongolia. My meeting with the World Health Organization went well, we will hopefully be meeting again in July to finalize my work plan for next year. Also the community fund is moving along great which is very exciting for all of us!

This month is definitely a month for the children. We have spent months preparing for Children's Camp this summer as leaders, teachers and organizers. We leave next week for camp, which is located in the south of our province on the edge of the Gobi Desert, and I won't be back until the first week in July. I'm sure there will be tons of wonderful pictures and stories to share, like there were last year. It's an amazing experience and the kids are incredible. I know many of us have been looking forward to it all year. Many Volunteers, including my wonderful fellow Volunteers Alex and Elaine, will be leaving Mongolia right after summer camp. It will be hard to see them go, but it's nice to have this last experience together. As schools wrap up and summer breaks begin, I hope you are all enjoying the wonderful warm weather. I look forward to talking to you soon!

 

Hello everyone!

A lot of fun things have happened this past month including my sister's birthday, my dad's wedding, doctor's day, visiting our fellow PCV Elaine in the countryside and the development of several awesome projects like the Sukhbaatar Social Business Community Fund. I am especially excited about the enthusiasm surrounding this project! It will be a wonderful fund that will help dozens of families in our community for years to come. We have already received a lot of donations and we are excited to receive more!

Also last month I officially received word that I will be PCVL next year here in Peace Corps Mongolia. I feel very honored to have this opportunity and I will be meeting with the World Health Organization in the capital city later this month to discuss details about partnering with them part-time as well. Our PCVL team has already started improving our country for the better and we are very excited about next year!

This month I will be attending our Close of Service (COS) conference in the capital city with my fellow Volunteers, eating some chicken and making wind-powered vehicles and also completing a final review of the Unofficial Handbook with our team of editors. I really look forward to having a proof copy of that printed by the end of the month! A lot of fun things will be happening this summer including the launching of that resource to Volunteers around the world, new Volunteers arriving here in Mongolia in just a few weeks for summer training, summer camp activities here in our province and wrapping up lots of projects before I move to the capital in August. Things move fast, but it's still lots of fun to sit back and enjoy it.

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful start to May!




P.S. The very cool new logo for the Advance Humanity Foundation was made by my fellow PCV Alex Yang, thanks Alex!

Hey Everyone!

March really flew by! The snow has melted in most places here in Mongolia and the winds have picked up with summer on its way. It's always windy here in the eastern steppe, but the other day we were walking along and literally got stopped in our tracks the wind was blowing so hard. It's funny to pause and turn around to keep having a conversation with someone until the wind dies down and you can keep walking again, but that's how we do it!

I just got back from an amazing conference where Tunga and I were teachers, and we've gotten a jump start on several projects for this summer. In addition to improving summer camps, I am also continuing to work with my Mongolian colleagues to develop several projects including the meditation center, sports complex and alcoholism reduction project. It's an exciting time. Also this month I am finishing up the final review of the Unofficial Peace Corps Volunteer Handbook, which is really exciting! I've received great feedback from Peace Corps Staff, Volunteers and friends and look forward to seeing it on Amazon.com soon! I hope you all have a wonderful Easter holiday, enjoy all those easter egg hunts and hidden baskets with toys and treasures!

Hi Everyone!

Here is the new approach to updates that I will be taking as we move away from Google Groups and integrate into something I am much more familiar with, Google Sites. I hope you like it! In addition to getting emails about once a month (as you have before) you can also view updates here on the website.

This way I can include photos, sidebars, formatting and things that are much more interactive and fun to see. Thanks for switching over and have a great week!