Mongolia

This is my last China blog, although it is about our trip in Mongolia. I have been home for a week now, and I am readjusting to life in St. Paul. Currently I am in northern Minnesota at my cabin enjoying the fresh clean air, and trying to organize some of my photos.

It has been fun sharing something of my life in China with you. I am glad that my daughters and two friends were able to come to China to see Xi’an and other places.

Generally, my seven months there was a good experience. I enjoyed my students and got to know teachers and other staff at the college. I have made new friends and hope to return sometime to visit them. I have visited many places in China, but China is so big that there will always be new places to explore. I met many kind and friendly people while traveling. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blogs and have learned more about China. Once I get the rest of my photos organized I will let you know. Thanks to all of you that have kept in touch through email.

In Mongolia, Paula and I spent a day with Sam, a Peace Corps volunteer, who was working for an NGO (non governmental agency) that helps small businesses with loans and business advice. We visited seven of the entrepreneurs, all women, who live on the outskirts of the city in the shantytown areas. Two Mongolians with the organization were also along. We went into their homes or workshops and saw the items that they were selling. Several were seamstresses, one made steel pails and other items, another was a cook and made Mongolian mutton dumplings, and another made beautifully decorated leather-covered bottles.

Paula is a donor for the Global Fund for Women, and she arranged for us to visit three NGOs that have received grants from them. One was the National Center Against Violence that deals not only with women’s issues, but all forms of violence. They operate five shelters in the country, and we visited the one in Ulaanbaatar with a social worker. Another day we met with women in the Gender Center for Sustainable Development. They gather educational and other data about women, and also operate a center where they offer programs to help women and children. The third organization is called Princess Center and it helps teenage single mothers with counseling, housing, and sex education. All of the organizations are involved in vocational training and employment, and all seek to empower women.

We were very impressed with the women who ran these organizations, all very strong outspoken Mongolian women, and all very dedicated. Paula will be writing about these organizations for the Global Fund for Women, which was pleased that we were visiting the organizations. They all receive other funding, but the Global Fund is different because it allows the organizations themselves to decide how the money will be spent.

As Macalester alumni, we spent a delightful afternoon visiting a retired Macalester professor, Dr. Jack Weatherford and his wife, Walker Pearce. Dr. Weatherford wrote the history, Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. They spend half the year in Mongolia.

Our hostess, Tuul, took us to the summerhouse of her parents on the outskirts of town to visit them and her five-year old daughter. Lots of people were living there in wooden houses and gers. We ate homegrown lettuce and cucumbers, and homemade bread for lunch. Later we watched yogurt being made and traditional cookies that are deep-fried in lard – delicious while warm. We took a long walk in the green hills above the settlement.

We flew back to Beijing for three days, and then took an overnight train to Xi’an where I got to show Paula something of my life there. We visited historical places and met with a few of my former students.