Sainbaino!

Sain Baino! That's "how are you" in Mongolian...sorry, we've only had three language lessons.

We made it safe and sound to Mongolia. We're currently staying in Zuumod, a small town just outside the capital city. We're staying in a dormitory with all 68 volunteers plus our trainers. We've got classes and meetings all day long -- things are going extremely well.

We leave tomorrow for our actual training sites. Ashlee and I will be about 100 miles apart, but the Peace Corps will allow us to visit each other every other weeked. All told, we'll be apart for about 7 weeks. I'll be in the town of Gachuurt and Ashlee will be in Ulzitt. I've heard that Gachuurt is the vacation destination for those who live in UB -- it's supposed to be beautiful. We'll see how that goes.

So far the weather has been great -- plenty of sunshine and maybe low 70s during the day. It has gotten quite windy at times, but still enjoyable.

The food has actually been excellent. I think the Peace Corps does a good job breaking you into things so they are slowly upping the ante with each meal. The food we have eaten has been mostly fried and meat at every meal. We've also had lots of bread, rice, and tea cookies. Not very many desserts, though...

So yeah, we'll learn tonight what our living situation will be like for the next 9 weeks. Approximately half the volunteers will be living in their personal gers in the compound of another family. The others will be in apartments or houses with their own lockable rooms.

For the next 9 weeks, we'll have language lessons 4 hours every weekday and another 5 hours or so of "technical" training. In my case, I'll learn how to be a teacher here in Mongolia.

I've got to get back to class for now -- the Peace Corps Medical Officer is giving a talk on diarrhea. Wonderful.

We love you all and hope to talk again soon. Take care!