Die gedanken sind frei…

Current Location: Chicago outskirts
Lift-off: 3 weeks

This is my first “blog” posting, even though I vowed never to write one. Leviticus 5:4…swearing is not a good idea. This is for myself and the handful of people who know (or don’t know) me and are interested in the “Mongoli-Hrv Experience.” I figure this the easiest method with which to stay in contact with folks. Updates will be as consistent as is Internet access and “free” time not spent harassing the locals.

That being said, I will be posted as a Peace Corps TEFL Volunteer in Mongolia until mid-2008. Usually, the plan is to have no plan, for the tides of life shift far too often. You meet a girl, kingdoms call, ideas spark…whatever. The plot includes teaching ESL to Mongolians as it is now their official second language. I will also try to make a positive impact on the local community. This may include working with technology (setting up computers or teaching folks how to run them), evening ESL classes, culture workshops or exchange ala Project Quebec Mongolie. I'm open to ideas. There are also problems in the education sector regarding resources and such things as discrimination towards poor children both by their peers and teachers!

I failed to mention how I felt about moving from the familiar to the foreign. I am leaving behind big "cash money" opportunities, bills, fast cars, credit cards, traffic, pollution, concrete, a diabolical and apocalyptic administration, consumer culture and the trappings of the mechanical American lifestyle. It’s not all bad. Still, I trade it in for altruism, a curious mind and liberation. Liberation from the capitalist “matrix”, the illusion of living a good life and not realizing what life is really all about. What is out there? It's good to weigh in the options and it's good to slow down sometimes. You really DON'T miss that much these days if you stop to think.

Hopefully, the Mongols get as much from me as I from them. It looks to be such an amazing land, where roam the last of the wild horses. I see my journey as a return to the essence of existence. Below freezing weather? No running water? Sporadic electricity? That's the life. To see what you're made of and stop living this cozy, sheltered American lifestyle, to learn, to reinvent myself...and to "go away and dream it all up again." A bit romantic, but aren't we all at a young age (or shouldn't we be)? I couldn’t be happier...with life on the road, or in a ger.

"We've been too long American dreaming, I think we've all lost the way..."