soupy says

From a May 3, 1998 Washington Post Article by Barton Gellman,“‘Impressed’ Albright Gets a Taste of the New Mongolia”

A country mad about horse racing, archery and wrestling turned out to be fertile ground for Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America” during the 1996 election here.

The International Republican Institute, an arm of the congressionally financed National Endowment for Democracy, brought the authors to Ulan Bator to help draft a “Contract With the Mongolian People” for the leaders of the Democratic Union, the governing coalition.

The contract called for private property rights, a free press and foreign investment, and its printing of 350,000 copies made it the most widely distributed document in Mongolian history.

The Democratic Party in Monoglia only held power between 1996 to 2000. The ex-communist party, Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, has controlled the government before 1996 (since the pull out by the Russians) and since 2000.

From a Winter 2002/2003 issue of The Mongolia Times

The rush by Mongolian democrats to embrace the free market has caused US conservatives to see this country of steppes, taiga and desert, as the bright shining light of developing-world capitalism. The International Republican Institute, the Republican wing of the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, has an office in Ulan Bator to train local politicians. With their encouragement, the young democratic reformers have launched a sweeping privatisation programme - though it has since stalled - and introduced a bill for a 30 per cent flat tax, the dream of US Republicans such as Steve Forbes.

Officials from the Soros Foundation, the International Monetary Fund, the Asia Foundation, the Asian Development Bank, USAID, the World Bank and other international organisations have descended on Mongolia to nurse it through shock therapy. The prognosis is mixed. A recent USAID report suggested that financial sector aid programmes might actually be hindering modernisation as they have helped bankrupt banks to find ways to stay afloat.

This past Thursday marked the 7th anniversary of the Columbine Massacre. As someone that was in her junior year of high school in the Denver metro area 7 years ago, the date brings back strong memories of vulnerability, fear, and a million other ineffable emotions.

This past Saturday was Prom a few local high schools. At work, I saved one high schooler’s night by finding a replacement dress when she and her mother discovered (an hour before prom) that the cleaners had messed up her original. When the mother called the store, she had moved into a realm beyond hysertics. If this woman had mowed down several pedestrians on her way to pick up the dress, I would have willingly testified on her behalf for her to be declared criminaly insane.

Prom also brings back strong memories. I didn’t go. I wasn’t one of those kids that thought it Prom was Dumb and wanted to say FU to student population. I was one of those kids that didn’t have a date, and I had 0 self-confidence on reserve to actually ask a boy myself. During high school many adults told me, “it’s not the best time of your life. There are better things to come.” But then I sat in on a conversations like one in my junior year AP English class in which students and the teacher talk about how they knew ___ didn’t go to HER (it’s always a female) Prom. Thanks, please just mash whatever is left of my self esteem into pulp.

But those people that said “better things to come” were right. And Prom, well, I don’t feel like I missed anything. I didn’t like high school dances I did go to. However, it is interesting to see people’s reactions when I say I didn’t go. Some say, “I didn’t have fun.” Most people get quiet and say, “Really?”

Columbine has no direct relation to Prom, but thanks to this horrible article (don’t read it), I did get to thinking how Prom polarizes high schoolers into 3 main groups

1. Prom = Major Life Event Kids
2. FU World Kids
3. No Date Kids

Those people that ask me “Really?” today were in group 1.
10 Things I Hate About You contrasts the last two groups quite nicely

Kat Stratford: Can you even imagine? Who the hell would go to that antiquated mating-ritual?
Mandella: Um, I would, but I don’t have a date.
Kat Stratford: Do you really want to get all dressed up, so some Drakkar Noir-wearing dexter with a boner can feel you up while you’re forced to listen to a band that, by definition, blows?

I wanted to be Kat, but I was totally Mandella. College turned me into Kat.

Instead of going to my junior and senior Proms, I hung out with some Baptists that thought God didn’t believe in dances. Or something. At least one of these Baptists thought Rock and Roll was the music of the devil. Her dad wrote a book about it.

Blogs. Some good ones can be found. Many are bad, and most are just ugly.

I’m a blog reader. Since applying to the Peace Corps, I have read many different accounts of many different experiences of volunteers all over the world. When I thought I was headed to East Timor (and then when it became Mongolia) I immediately searched for volunteer blogs from these regions.* Others have done the same with my blog. I know this because Kate contacted me. Thanks to my blog, Kate discovered we were nominated for the same program.

Since my Monoglia invite, I have read the fantastic neweurasia mongolia blog. Today, the author, Luke found my blog and left a comment on my previous post. Neat!

* Did you know that Ewan McGregor adopted a Mongolian child? Well, I do. A few days ago this topic came up many times in my search of the key word “Mongolia.” (If you were curious, many fans think this proves that Ewan is a wonderful person.)

“[Mongolia] is a beautiful land, with huge skies and vast horizons — kind of like Texas.”

– President George W. Bush, November 22, 2005

Great. I’ll have no problems adjusting.

I’ve tried to write this entry a few times now, but I just can’t seem to get it off the ground. However, I am thrilled about my assignment and Mongolia. Sure, it is going to be a cold like I have never experienced before, but what was my alternative? Sitting around sweating all day, everyday? According to RPCVs, the Mongolians help make the country a positive experience. Yay.

So, what now?

• I accepted the invite on Thursday.
• I told work that I won’t be there after April 30th.
• The June garage sale my mother and I planned moved to May.
• I need to decide if I want to sell some stuff on ebay.
• I am selling my car and putting the money in a mutal fund. I’ll use it to buy another car when I get back.
• I’m visiting Texas. I think towards the beginning of May. I had wanted to do some other US travel, but I don’t think that is possible with this new depature date.
• And other stuff I don’t want to think about right now.

Of course, that list doesn’t include the Peace Corps supplied to-do list.

My parents are pretty pleased about the country. There is already some talk about visiting me during the 2007 Naadam Festival. Since my invite did not say Africa, my mother is thrilled.

Oh, and what’s a ger? It’s the Mongolian name for yurt. I won’t know if I will actually get to live in one until training.

Thanks to my Powerbook’s dictionary, I accidentally stumbled upon this gem:

orgiastic
adjective
of or resembling an orgy
derivatives
orgiastically: adverb

Mongolia

more later…

For all Peace Corps applicants, the Peace Corps Online Toolkit holds all official communication from the Peace Corps to the applicant. Your toolkit updates itself at 5 AM if there were any changes to to your status (medical, dental etc) the previous day, and you are sent a notification email. Since I have sent in my medical paperwork, I have checked the status of my toolkit as soon as I woke up every morning.

At 5AM this morning, my toolkit has changed to invitee. The pages have changed from urging me to complete medical paperwork to tips on packing. I can even download forms to get a jump start on the paperwork to come.

It is starting to feel real.

Today marks two months since my Peace Corps medical clearance.

Yesterday, I called my Placement Officer to see what was going on with my assignment. He said that it was his last program he was sending invites for, and that the others were leaving before mine. He looked at my file and noted experiences with various feminist groups, “That’s fine in the US, but are your prepared to be in a situation with severe gender inequality and not being able to speak out against it?”
I said yes.
He asked me if I had any tutoring experience or any real work in agriculture.
I said no.
“How would you feel doing a health extension assignment?”
I told him that it was one of the programs that I was originally interested in.
“One of your preferred regions is Asia. Is there any specific region in Asia you are interested in?”
No.
“Would you be able to leave at the beginning of June?”
Uhm, what? I told him it would be possible, but I would prefer July.
“I might pass your file along to one of my colleagues. If I do, you will hear from them.”

I went to work. On my lunch break, I checked my voicemail.
I had a message from a new Placement Officer.
I called her back. Amazingly, she was still in the office at 6pm DC time. She told me more about the new assignment. It is a Health Extension Assignment involving HIV/AIDS and includes life skills teaching (sex ed etc). She and my original Placement Officer think it is a much better fit than my original assignment. I think so too. According to the Placement Officers, my original assignment had a strong agriculture focus. I don’t remember that fact from my interview.
“With your experience with the Rape Crisis Center and Planned Parenthood, we think you are better suited for this assignment. Technically, you are qualified for your original assignment, but you don’t have to skills to back it up.”
I like to eat vegetables, but that’s really all I know about them.
We decided that she should go ahead and send me the invitation. It is being sent my Fed-Ex, and I should receive it Thursday. I am receiving my invite via Fed-Ex because the assignment leaves June 3rd.

So. Yeah. This assignment sounds like me. Not only do I have work experience to back it up, it is a subject that I have been passionate about for a long time. My mom has been a gardener her whole life, and I still don’t know much about plants.

After I hung up, I walked to Best Buy and bought Matt Nathanson’s At the Point. I sat in my car and listened to “Church Clothes.” After that, I went back to work.

I am still in a state of shock.

Oh, and after a quick and dirty Internet search, my money is on Mongolia.

Cheney’s Aide Says President Approved Leak

Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff testified that he was authorized by President Bush, through Mr. Cheney, in July 2003 to disclose key parts of what until then was a classified prewar intelligence estimate on Iraq, according to a new court filing.

The testimony by the former official, I. Lewis Libby Jr., cited in a court filing by the government made late Wednesday, provides an indication that Mr. Bush, who has long criticized leaks of secret information as a threat to national security, may have played a direct role in authorizing disclosure of the intelligence report on Iraq.

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By Mr. Libby’s account to the grand jury, the presidential authorization to disclose selective parts of the intelligence estimate was made in advance of a meeting on July 8 between Mr. Libby and Ms. Miller. Mr. Libby brought a brief abstract of the N.I.E.’s key judgments to the meeting.

Mr. Libby testified, the prosecutors said, that he was “specifically authorized in advance of the meeting to disclose the key judgments of the classified N.I.E. to Miller on that occasion because it was thought that the N.I.E. was ‘pretty definitive’ against what Ambassador Wilson had said and that the vice president thought that it was ‘very important’ for the key judgments of the N.I.E. to come out.”

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that journalist Jill Carroll was released after almost three months of being held hostage.

Her release was announced during “Good Morning America” on March 30th. With the announcement, the video described in this article was shown. Charlie Gibson said it was an interview for a Bagdad Television station. There was no commentary on the fact that Jill said she was “not threatened.” Well, there was no commentary except exclamations of “She’s alive!”
Oops:

I also gave a TV interview to the Iraqi Islamic Party shortly after my release. The party had promised me the interview would never be aired on television, and broke their word. At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear I said I wasn’t threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times.

There is also another video that she made her last night in captivity, and as you can imagine, it wasn’t exactly praising the US. As far as I know, this video has only appeared online. The blog world had a field day with these videos. If you want to know some details, this Right-Wing Nutcase sums up the whole situation quite nicely.

Although applied to a slightly different context, Speak Up, a graphic design blog, dubs America “Culture of the Quick.” Later is too late, and thus ABC News doesn’t think before airing a suspicious video, the blogger world gives a knee-jerk reaction to this video, and when I used to buy ice cream from the the student center, I would start eating it during my five minute walk back to my room.

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I was about to hit send, but the Washington Post just sent me an email news alert: Rep. Tom DeLay isn’t seeking re-election. Hooray.

Note: I have mentioned my GMA viewing habits a couple of times. My mother watches this particular morning show. I usually catch some of it while chatting with her, drinking coffee, and making breakfast. You know, I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to think I actually watch it on my own.