A Year in Relfection - To Find Oneself

Wow, this has been quite the experience...

I have found myself throughout the year trying to summarize my experience to people who may have or may have not been reading my blog and I have been telling them all sorts of things.

China is wonderful -
It has beautiful mountains, wonderful people, interesting food!

China is OK -
It has decent museums, people who always want to practice English with foreigners, and the food sometime seems repetitive.

China is terrible -
Some streets have smoldering garbage piles on their sidewalks, businessmen offer you morally gray job 'opportunities', and the food can make you sick.

I have even told some people 'I have found myself'... uh oh. Even I roll my eyes at that one.

But really, how does one not find themselves when they are traveling or teaching abroad - and what does it mean?

In the context I used it - late one night, chatting with a friend on gchat - I said that I found myself and it was nothing new. It was a refreshing change of something internal to something that was always there. Something supremely mundane. *sigh*

I believe the way it is commonly used, usually by travelers, involves a recognition of ones self that was concealed before an event, such as traveling to a different place.

At this moment I would like to reinterpret the word and say that I have found myself...in a different way.

I have found myself on this trip. But this statement is incomplete to what I truly mean to say.
I have found myself eating dumplings.
I have found myself surrounded by friends.
I have found myself ...ecstatic/confused/lost/full/wealthy/embarrassed/prideful/... on this trip.
I have found myself experiencing China.

I could have 'found myself' any where, and it would have been different (and yet similar). I can eat dumplings in New York, as I have with my brother in the past. I could have been surrounded by friends as I was in college. I could have been ...ecstatic / confused / lost / full / wealthy / embarrassed / prideful / ... as I have in various other times and places where I have found myself.

In this sense, I believe that 'finding myself in China' means I have found myself with a whole wealth of experiences I wouldn't have experienced, had anything been different.

Rain and breif summary

We headed down to the big market in UB to catch a bus/van to the countryside. All our information about catching a bus/van came from Eric's memory - sometimes outdated - and friends of Eric who didn't travel through Mongolian 'public transportation'.

We made it down to the market in the early morning after visiting the Chinese Embassy and sat in a van for 6 hours before we actually departed on the 26 hour ride out to a small town we couldn't find on the map... not where we wanted to end up. We got nervous and climbed out of the van and began walking. We left town following a river towards a lake and crossed a volcano. We camped a night, Eric got sick, and moved into a Ger on the lake shore.

We stayed a few days, fishing, swimming, and enjoying the beautiful lake (insert pictures here).

We hiked back to town, ran into the driver who took us out from UB, got ripped off by him again heading back east to Teserleg.

We spent the night, woke up, hiked to a monetary and caught a bus to the former, and potentially future, capitol of Mongolia -- Hahorken.

We arrived and visited a giant monastery before heading out to a giant valley filled with horses, goats, sheep, and yaks. We pitched our tent and read as animals milled about --- It was pretty surreal.
Storm clouds rolled in and Eric and I fled the valley to find a guest house, and ended up lost in the middle of a field as the rain began to fall. We ran into some Mongolians on the riverside who, when we asked for directions to the guesthouse, ended up being the owners. The offered to give us a ride and drove us to the complete opposite side of town (the map was completely off). We spent two nights in the guest house and today we headed back to UB

China's Embassy in Mongolia

Most frustrating experience of the trip.

Below is an account of my experiences with the Chinese Embassy in UB Mongolia. It may come off as a rant, but anyone who goes to Mongolia and has to work with this Embassy ought to be warned. Before heading over to get my visa I was somewhat worried about dealing with them as I read a user's post on Travel China Guide:

Stay away from this Embassy for getting Chinese visa if possible. People who work there are very unfriendly and non-cooperative.

I consider myself relatively patient and didn't think there would be much of a problem... maybe this was just a bad experience. Anyways...

We went to the Chinese Embassy in UB, Mongolia 3 times in 3 days. They are open every other day (Mon, Wed, Friday) from 9 - 12 am. There is one person who collects forms, and one person who gives the passports back with Chinese visas. Our first time in the office we stood in line for 20 minutes before seeing a post on the wall saying that in order to get a tourist visa for China you need three things (make sure you have them):
1) Ticket showing your departure
2) Place where you intend to stay while there
3) Proof of financial stability

We left the office and went to a nearby Internet cafe and printed off the first two, not bothering to consider the third one because no one could tell us what it was.

We returned to the office at 10:30, stood in line for half an hour. A few people furiously stomped away as the officials told them that they had 'insufficient information'. The person in front of me was turned down for 'insufficient information' and the employee behind the counter disappeared - not saying anything - for half and hour. As time drew closer to closing we became anxious. Eventually the official came back and we were helped being told we also needed to show our ticket into China. They would not accept "we're taking a jeep" which is how we crossed into Mongolia.

We left the embassy, having to spend two more days in UB rather than being able to head out to the countryside. We had to buy an expensive ticket through a travel agency which showed exactly how we would cross the boarder.

We returned to the embassy on Friday at opening with all the information hoping that we would be able to sort everything out at least by noon. While waiting in line the guy collecting forms left again unexpectedly, thankfully returning after only 10 minutes. We laboriously talked him into accepting our forms finally it sounds like things will work out... We go to pick it up this Friday.