After a grueling 30 hours in transit I'm back at 13 Homeplace. Phew.
On my way out of UB I was detained, for lack of better words, in Mongolian immigration. They fined me about $70 but were totally Mongolian about the situation. They are immigration officers, serious people with serious jobs, but they were more than friendly. I offered some food, we broke bread together. The woman in charge gave me her personal number in case I ever had trouble again and the man gave me his email to be in contact about ESL in the US or a beer when I'm back in UB. Mongolians are the nicest bunch in the world.
When I got to O'Hare or course my flight was delayed. I teared up a bit when I saw it at first but jetlag quickly set in and 9pm felt like the time to wake up. My mood went from sour and dying to excited to share my experiences with the other Mainers waiting at C8.
I intend on keeping this blog going to share any memories that I left out- expect a thought tomorrow on the Wild West of the desert and a drunken fight that got out of hand. I'm also going to continue the blog through the process of writing the unit I now owe Fund for Teachers, the awesome organization that made this trip happen. By then I'll probably be back in Mongolia...
You can reapply in five years and return! Welcome home...
ReplyDeleteBonnie: you have alot of fun, hope to see you soon. Email me Miss!
ReplyDeleteHi Erika,
ReplyDeleteI hope it's not too weird to be receiving an email from a total stranger on your blog from a year ago... I stumbled across your blog a couple months ago while preparing for my own Mongolia trip (I'm here for a month researching women's craft organizations/enterprises) and I think I read almost all of it because your writing was just so funny and engaging.
So now I'm in Ulaanbaatar, and imagine my surprise when I roll up to a bookstore and buy a used Mongolia guidebook and I see your name and blog address written in the front. Your guidebook?? It's a small world. Anyway, just wanted to say I appreciated your writing and am now appreciating your guidebook... if you have any recommendations, let me know!
All the best,
Madeline Kreider Carlson (from St. Paul, Minnesota)