Age: 22
Citizenship: United States of America
Living duration in Mongolia: 2 years
Current position: English Faculty Lecturer & Research Liaison at the Mongolian University of Life Sciences
Rachel Ewanyk was invited as the guest of the our interview section "Mongols through the eyes of outsiders...". She has been in Mongolia for a half of year and shared her thought about living and working in Mongolia.
"LIVING IN MONGOLIA— HOW DIFFERENT AND INTERESTING EVERYTHING IS. IT'S VERY NEW"
Let’s start with your first impression after you just came in here.
It's very, very different than my hometown. When we first landed and I stepped off of the plane, my first impression was “oh, my god, there are no trees!. There are no trees anywhere!” I came at the end of August, so it was just, I guess, starting to turn into fall. It looked like Mars in my opinion, like the planet. There were no trees and grass, and it had already begun turning kind of brownish by then. All I saw were big empty fields of rolling hills, which is very different from my house.
I grew up on Long Island which is right next to New York City and it's, of course, an island, so I have the ocean 5 minutes away and there are trees everywhere. It's humid and hilly, where your view is obscured by buildings, trees, houses, and hills. But here I can see for miles. There are no trees, no buildings, just kind of nothing. It's just empty steppe. And I've never been somewhere like this where it literally looked like another planet to me. I guess that's my first impression, geographically. It was crazy. I asked the lady who picked me up from the airport "Where is everyone?, Where is the city?, Where are the trees and plants?, Where are the buildings?" Crazily enough, she told me that we're not in the city yet, so there’s currently just nothing. There aren’t even suburbs or smaller residential areas. That was my first impression.
Everything in America is very on time, very structured and very rigid. Here, Mongolians are more laid back, more fluid and flexible, which I kind of like.
What do you like the most about Mongolia and Mongolians?
It's interesting for me since Mongolians lead such different lives than we do in America in terms of cultural lifestyle, and especially the nomadic lifestyle. It's something I had never even heard of until I came here. It’s fascinating to see how Mongolians interact, how the country operates based on the long cultural history of being nomads and traveling a lot. I think that's one of my favorite parts of living in Mongolia— how different and interesting everything is. It's very new. It forces me to change as a person, change my perspective, change my ideas, and change how I think of the world because it's so different than what my last 22 years of life have been out. In terms of people, I think everyone here has been nothing but nice to me.
Everyone treats me with warmth and hospitality. Even if I don't know someone very well, they'll invite me to their home for tea or buuz or something, which I think may be related to the nomadic culture. Also, everyone is very laid back, which is very different than America. Everything in America is very on time, very structured and very rigid. Here, Mongolians are more laid back, more fluid and flexible, which I kind of like. It can have its difficulties, like when I show up for meetings on time only to find things starts an hour late, or people just not showing up to things al all. Of course there are also positives, as it's just an interesting way of life that I never would have thought about since it's so different from my way of life.
You mentioned some of the difficulties. Could you share with us your opinion of any obstacles or hard things when you live here?
I think moving to a new whole culture, to a whole new place halfway across the world for me, is eye-opening and exciting. But of course, it comes with lots of challenges and lots of obstacles. There are days when I wake up with the thought of "Why am I here? I should just go home, I can't do this”. Of course, there are lot of difficulties. For me, I think one of the biggest ones recently when I had just gotten here, I would say was the food. I'm very used to eating fruit and vegetables at home. I was kind of a vegetarian. I wouldn’t eat meat very often.
How do people afford to eat here? It’s crazy and I still don’t understand it.
When I got here, I was given one little hot plate from my university and they were like “Okay, good luck”. And all the ingredients are different. All the food is different. There is not a lot of fruits and vegetables, since Mongolians are so reliant on meat. That was very difficult for me. I don’t know how to cook. Everything I normally cooked at home is gone. Because there is no food that I know here and I just didn’t know what to eat, and then when I went out to eat I found that I didn’t particular like Mongolian food. Mongolian food is not my first choice due to the very oily and meaty consistencies, which are two things I don’t normally eat at home, so that was really difficult.
And the other thing, especially lately, is the climate. In winter, it’s very cold. I think it’s more so that it’s so long instead of being so cold.
Last winter has lasted so long even for me as a Mongolian.
Yes, it’s half the year. I can deal with the cold. That’s okay. But for that long, I was like “When does it end?”. And then something else I didn’t think about was the dryness. I grew up right next to the ocean, so everything is wet, humid, hot and green. And everything here is a literal desert which I didn’t think about until I lived here. When I wake up every morning, my throat hurts, and the air is dry, which makes me sick. I never normally get sick. So that’s also been a struggle to adapt to. But I think those are the first two that come to mind. But of course, there is a long list of positives and a long list of negatives.
So, what do you eat often?
Yeah, honestly, I mostly just cook at home, and I eat not very tasty food. Mostly, I make the same thing every day because I’m not a good cook in the first place. Then add on coming here where there’s limited ingredients, at least with respect to what I’m used to cooking with, which I guess is more western style ingredients. Most of the time I just cook tofu, rice and some sort of broccoli and mushrooms every day. I’m very sick of it. I honestly don’t know what else to cook or how else to cook. In terms of eating out, I don’t even know if I eat out that often just because I don’t really know where to go. I haven’t really been somewhere in the city yet where I really wanted to go back. Nothing has been bad but nothing has blown my mind either.
I really like buying Western things like peanut butter for example, but it’s kind of expensive. At home, I eat a lot of peanut butter and cheese. I would say certain things in America are actually cheaper than here which makes no sense to me because the living standard and salary difference is really big. I go to buy a block of cheese from the store and it's around $5-$6. My reaction was “Really?”. How do people afford to eat here? It’s crazy and I still don’t understand it.
Is it your first time living abroad by yourself?
No, it isn’t. I studied in Wales, in Cardiff which is in the UK for six months. I guess it was a long time, but it’s also very different than Mongolia. I would say the UK is pretty similar culturally, food, and people wise to America as opposed to comparing Mongolia and America.
Have you been to the countryside in Mongolia?
Yeah, I’ve been to a few places, but I don’t know what you consider the countryside—areas that are super far or the closer areas. Anyway, I’ve been in Darkhan, Terelj, and Khustai National Park. We went on a tour called ‘The Semi Gobi’ which is located 5 hours south of UB, but if you asked me to pinpoint where we were on a map, I have no idea where it is. It was like the middle of nowhere. I recently went to Sainshand, too. I think that’s the most of my experience traveling Mongolia so far.
How many countries have you travelled?
I think maybe between 15 and 20.
How do you spend your free time in here?
I really like to run. I run pretty often before or after work. I actually signed up for the Ulaanbaatar Half Marathon. I’m so excited about that. Also hiking is nice. I live near Bogd Khan, and I know Mongolians really like to hike. Sometimes I go hiking or if there are a lot of people there, I prefer sitting and enjoying the nice weather. There is also a dog shelter which is an hour to the northwest of the city. This super nice guy takes care of all the strays. I really love dogs. So I go there on the weekends and volunteer to help out.
You are also kindergarten English teacher. How is it working with kids?
Yeah, I'm working with 2–5-year-olds. They're lovely! Very cute, very energetic, very happy. There is a bit of a language barrier sometimes, though surprisingly some are pretty prolific in English, and even help me translate for other kids! I really enjoy working with them.
What kind of services or culture do you want to implement in here?
I think the first one that comes to my mind is that bike lanes would be a good idea, because there are a lot of people who ride scooters and bikes here in Ulaanbaatar to get around, which is fair. But it’s very difficult to get around with the traffic, so they either drive in the middle of the road which is very dangerous, or they drive on the sidewalk which is also very dangerous. So, I think bike lanes would be really great way to solve traffic problems and increase the safety of people walking on the sidewalk not getting hit by scooters, and people scootering in the middle of the road not hitting by cars. It would be a good idea for scooters, bikes, mopeds, electric bikes etc.
What kind of transportation do you use mostly in UB?
Most of the time I walk or take the bus. I have a boyfriend who has lived here for 3-4 years and he has a car, so I’m very lucky and grateful that he can drive me places, especially on the weekends if we want to go somewhere else.
What did you learn the most after you came to Mongolia?
I think perhaps I’ve learned more adaptability and flexibility in my personal and work life. The work culture is so different than America, and regarding the climate and the people, my expectations of just what’s going on around me and everything has really shifted. When you move to somewhere else that’s so different than your home, I think that’s something that you have to learn very fast. Being able to adapt and accept change really fast and not getting frustrated or upset. It’s still something I’m working on and learning. It’s difficult, but I think it’s a really valuable life skill, too.
Thank you for your time with us.
Age: 22
Citizenship: United States of America
Living duration in Mongolia: 2 years
Current position: English Faculty Lecturer & Research Liaison at the Mongolian University of Life Sciences
Rachel Ewanyk was invited as the guest of the our interview section "Mongols through the eyes of outsiders...". She has been in Mongolia for a half of year and shared her thought about living and working in Mongolia.
"LIVING IN MONGOLIA— HOW DIFFERENT AND INTERESTING EVERYTHING IS. IT'S VERY NEW"
Let’s start with your first impression after you just came in here.
It's very, very different than my hometown. When we first landed and I stepped off of the plane, my first impression was “oh, my god, there are no trees!. There are no trees anywhere!” I came at the end of August, so it was just, I guess, starting to turn into fall. It looked like Mars in my opinion, like the planet. There were no trees and grass, and it had already begun turning kind of brownish by then. All I saw were big empty fields of rolling hills, which is very different from my house.
I grew up on Long Island which is right next to New York City and it's, of course, an island, so I have the ocean 5 minutes away and there are trees everywhere. It's humid and hilly, where your view is obscured by buildings, trees, houses, and hills. But here I can see for miles. There are no trees, no buildings, just kind of nothing. It's just empty steppe. And I've never been somewhere like this where it literally looked like another planet to me. I guess that's my first impression, geographically. It was crazy. I asked the lady who picked me up from the airport "Where is everyone?, Where is the city?, Where are the trees and plants?, Where are the buildings?" Crazily enough, she told me that we're not in the city yet, so there’s currently just nothing. There aren’t even suburbs or smaller residential areas. That was my first impression.
Everything in America is very on time, very structured and very rigid. Here, Mongolians are more laid back, more fluid and flexible, which I kind of like.
What do you like the most about Mongolia and Mongolians?
It's interesting for me since Mongolians lead such different lives than we do in America in terms of cultural lifestyle, and especially the nomadic lifestyle. It's something I had never even heard of until I came here. It’s fascinating to see how Mongolians interact, how the country operates based on the long cultural history of being nomads and traveling a lot. I think that's one of my favorite parts of living in Mongolia— how different and interesting everything is. It's very new. It forces me to change as a person, change my perspective, change my ideas, and change how I think of the world because it's so different than what my last 22 years of life have been out. In terms of people, I think everyone here has been nothing but nice to me.
Everyone treats me with warmth and hospitality. Even if I don't know someone very well, they'll invite me to their home for tea or buuz or something, which I think may be related to the nomadic culture. Also, everyone is very laid back, which is very different than America. Everything in America is very on time, very structured and very rigid. Here, Mongolians are more laid back, more fluid and flexible, which I kind of like. It can have its difficulties, like when I show up for meetings on time only to find things starts an hour late, or people just not showing up to things al all. Of course there are also positives, as it's just an interesting way of life that I never would have thought about since it's so different from my way of life.
You mentioned some of the difficulties. Could you share with us your opinion of any obstacles or hard things when you live here?
I think moving to a new whole culture, to a whole new place halfway across the world for me, is eye-opening and exciting. But of course, it comes with lots of challenges and lots of obstacles. There are days when I wake up with the thought of "Why am I here? I should just go home, I can't do this”. Of course, there are lot of difficulties. For me, I think one of the biggest ones recently when I had just gotten here, I would say was the food. I'm very used to eating fruit and vegetables at home. I was kind of a vegetarian. I wouldn’t eat meat very often.
How do people afford to eat here? It’s crazy and I still don’t understand it.
When I got here, I was given one little hot plate from my university and they were like “Okay, good luck”. And all the ingredients are different. All the food is different. There is not a lot of fruits and vegetables, since Mongolians are so reliant on meat. That was very difficult for me. I don’t know how to cook. Everything I normally cooked at home is gone. Because there is no food that I know here and I just didn’t know what to eat, and then when I went out to eat I found that I didn’t particular like Mongolian food. Mongolian food is not my first choice due to the very oily and meaty consistencies, which are two things I don’t normally eat at home, so that was really difficult.
And the other thing, especially lately, is the climate. In winter, it’s very cold. I think it’s more so that it’s so long instead of being so cold.
Last winter has lasted so long even for me as a Mongolian.
Yes, it’s half the year. I can deal with the cold. That’s okay. But for that long, I was like “When does it end?”. And then something else I didn’t think about was the dryness. I grew up right next to the ocean, so everything is wet, humid, hot and green. And everything here is a literal desert which I didn’t think about until I lived here. When I wake up every morning, my throat hurts, and the air is dry, which makes me sick. I never normally get sick. So that’s also been a struggle to adapt to. But I think those are the first two that come to mind. But of course, there is a long list of positives and a long list of negatives.
So, what do you eat often?
Yeah, honestly, I mostly just cook at home, and I eat not very tasty food. Mostly, I make the same thing every day because I’m not a good cook in the first place. Then add on coming here where there’s limited ingredients, at least with respect to what I’m used to cooking with, which I guess is more western style ingredients. Most of the time I just cook tofu, rice and some sort of broccoli and mushrooms every day. I’m very sick of it. I honestly don’t know what else to cook or how else to cook. In terms of eating out, I don’t even know if I eat out that often just because I don’t really know where to go. I haven’t really been somewhere in the city yet where I really wanted to go back. Nothing has been bad but nothing has blown my mind either.
I really like buying Western things like peanut butter for example, but it’s kind of expensive. At home, I eat a lot of peanut butter and cheese. I would say certain things in America are actually cheaper than here which makes no sense to me because the living standard and salary difference is really big. I go to buy a block of cheese from the store and it's around $5-$6. My reaction was “Really?”. How do people afford to eat here? It’s crazy and I still don’t understand it.
Is it your first time living abroad by yourself?
No, it isn’t. I studied in Wales, in Cardiff which is in the UK for six months. I guess it was a long time, but it’s also very different than Mongolia. I would say the UK is pretty similar culturally, food, and people wise to America as opposed to comparing Mongolia and America.
Have you been to the countryside in Mongolia?
Yeah, I’ve been to a few places, but I don’t know what you consider the countryside—areas that are super far or the closer areas. Anyway, I’ve been in Darkhan, Terelj, and Khustai National Park. We went on a tour called ‘The Semi Gobi’ which is located 5 hours south of UB, but if you asked me to pinpoint where we were on a map, I have no idea where it is. It was like the middle of nowhere. I recently went to Sainshand, too. I think that’s the most of my experience traveling Mongolia so far.
How many countries have you travelled?
I think maybe between 15 and 20.
How do you spend your free time in here?
I really like to run. I run pretty often before or after work. I actually signed up for the Ulaanbaatar Half Marathon. I’m so excited about that. Also hiking is nice. I live near Bogd Khan, and I know Mongolians really like to hike. Sometimes I go hiking or if there are a lot of people there, I prefer sitting and enjoying the nice weather. There is also a dog shelter which is an hour to the northwest of the city. This super nice guy takes care of all the strays. I really love dogs. So I go there on the weekends and volunteer to help out.
You are also kindergarten English teacher. How is it working with kids?
Yeah, I'm working with 2–5-year-olds. They're lovely! Very cute, very energetic, very happy. There is a bit of a language barrier sometimes, though surprisingly some are pretty prolific in English, and even help me translate for other kids! I really enjoy working with them.
What kind of services or culture do you want to implement in here?
I think the first one that comes to my mind is that bike lanes would be a good idea, because there are a lot of people who ride scooters and bikes here in Ulaanbaatar to get around, which is fair. But it’s very difficult to get around with the traffic, so they either drive in the middle of the road which is very dangerous, or they drive on the sidewalk which is also very dangerous. So, I think bike lanes would be really great way to solve traffic problems and increase the safety of people walking on the sidewalk not getting hit by scooters, and people scootering in the middle of the road not hitting by cars. It would be a good idea for scooters, bikes, mopeds, electric bikes etc.
What kind of transportation do you use mostly in UB?
Most of the time I walk or take the bus. I have a boyfriend who has lived here for 3-4 years and he has a car, so I’m very lucky and grateful that he can drive me places, especially on the weekends if we want to go somewhere else.
What did you learn the most after you came to Mongolia?
I think perhaps I’ve learned more adaptability and flexibility in my personal and work life. The work culture is so different than America, and regarding the climate and the people, my expectations of just what’s going on around me and everything has really shifted. When you move to somewhere else that’s so different than your home, I think that’s something that you have to learn very fast. Being able to adapt and accept change really fast and not getting frustrated or upset. It’s still something I’m working on and learning. It’s difficult, but I think it’s a really valuable life skill, too.
Thank you for your time with us.