24 February 2009

Wknd in Terelj /Sarah's Bday (21-22/02/08)

Un ptt Weekend a la campagne pour feter les 30 ans de Sarah, de l'air frais le comfort de la ger (yurt), du tout bon!


A little wknd in the countryside to celebrate Sarah's 30th Bday, fresh air, the cosy ger, all good!



Sledging down the hill...

The ger camp







Walking on the snow with slippery shoes is not an easy task!

Work / Boulot

I think this will be my first post here about work...

For a long time I avoided the subject, for many reasons... maybe because I wanted to keep this blog something fun - not work related, maybe also because not much was happening on that front, I was yes, doing some stuff, but I was until recently a bit disappointed, it was all too random, without a main goal, sort of filling the gaps, filling the time. However since I came back from my trip in Europe (october) things have moved, things have changed. My whole life changed!

I'll try to be brief... I came to mongolia to work for a local NGO, that works with parents of disabled children. For a long time I did scattered training on disability, on everyday skills, independence... etc...

Before going to europe I wrote I quite big project, to train national volunteers to visit disadvantaged families that have children with disabilities. When I came back, I had a few meetings, one of them with a big organisation that works all around world with children. Presented the project, and it got accepted. Some modifications needed to be done, basically to make it smaller, a pilot project to be implemented in Ulan Bator to then implemented in other provinces to finally introduce it in the national system of health and social welfare.

So in a few words, what has been keeping me in the office until endless hours? I've been writing the training, 5 months of training (3 days a month), and managing the logistics of it all... for someone as maniac as i can be it's been tough! All the materials are going to be printed as a training manual under the name of the big children organisation, and they have also asked me to do a video. So for now we are filming the training and some more filming will be done soon to support the manual. The training will last until May, June will be the month to edit film and book, and July the month of traveling presenting the manual in different provinces, and I will be very lucky as they are sending me to Bayan-Olgii, the far far west of Mongolia, part I definitely wanted to go, and hadnt found time nor money. (Kazakh province, with amazing landscapes and glaciers) My contract in Mongolia finishes in August, mid-August to be exact, so is all perfect timing!

And what after? Yes I can hear you from here! Well I dont know! For now I decided I will travel a bit in SE Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) then head to Europe. Again for now, my rational - reasonable part is talking, and I'm thinking to go to Brussels, enjoy the crisis (someone has to make the most of it!) and buy a little flat, invest some money, find a job (hopefully working for this big org will open some doors for me) and do another master in Management & Development with the Open University (distance learning)... Planning a year ahead is enough for me, the rest we'll see!

As you can see all is good, all is busy. This year has been very very different from the first one. More focused on work than parties and trips. And I'm very happy I got to also see this side of the coin! Is true I'm exhausted, a bit stressed out, but it does worth it! Living here was until now an amazing experience on the personal side, and I'm glad is changing to the professional side as well!

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Je pense que ceci est mon premier post qui parle de travail...

Pendant très longtemps j'ai évitée le sujet pour plusieurs raisons, peut-etre parce que je voulais ce blog comme quelque chose de plus perso, pas a propos de boulot, aussi peut-etre parce que il ne se passait pas grande chose de ce cote la (boulot). Oui, je m'occupais bien, mais j'étais un peu decue, il n'y avait pas un but majeur, je faisait des ptt formation a droite et a gauche, quelque parts pour m'occuper. Pourtant, depuis mon ptt voyage en Europe en Octobre les choses ont pas mal changée, ma vie ici a pas mal changée!

Je vais essayer d'être briefe, je suis venue ici pour travailler dans une ONG local, qui supporte des parents d'enfant handicapes. Pendant longtemps j'ai fait des formations sur l'handicap, l'importance de l'indépendance des enfants/persones handicapées.

Avant de partir en Europe j'ai écris un projet pour former des bénévoles locaux, qui visiteraient les familles dans les banlieue et qui ont majoritairement un revenu très bas. A mon retour, après pas mal des réunion une organisation reconnue mondialement pour son travail avec des enfants a accepte le projet a condition de modifier l'empleur et le faire a plus petite escale, en faire un projet pilote, pour après l'implementer dans d'autres régions et une fois qu'il est en marche l'introduire dans le système de santé au niveau national.

Donc en quelques mots, ce qui me garde au bureau jusqu'à des heures pas possibles, est le fait que je suis en train d'écrire la formation, 5 mois a raison de 3 jours par mois, en plus de gérer le projet et les logistiques du tout. Pour qq1 comme moi qui peux être très maniaque a des moment ca n'a pas été facile! Tous les matériels utilisées pour la formation vont être imprimées ds un manuel sous le nom de la grande organisation pour enfants, en plus d'une vidéo qui supportera le manuel. La formation dure jusqu'en Mai, le mois de juin est prévu pour l'édition du matériels et le mois de juillet pour le voyage, présentation du manuel ds différentes provinces, j'ai bcp de chance car on m;envoie dans l'ouest région Kazakh que depuis mon arrivée je rêve de visiter!. Mon contrat en Mongolie se finit a la mi-Aout, donc le timing est parfait!

Et après?? oui! oui! je vous entends d'ici! Bon je ne sais pas trop! Pour le moment j;ai décidée de faire un ptt voyage en Asie du SE (Vietnam, Cambodge, Laos) et puis rentrer en Europe. Encore une fois, pour le moment mon cote raisonnable me guide, et je pense que je rentrerais en Belgique, profiter de la crise (quelqu'un dois bien le faire non?) acheter un petit apart, investir! trouver un job (avec un peu de chance travailler pour cette grande org va m'ouvrir des portes) et faire la maîtrise sur management & développement avec L'open university a Londres ( a distance). C'est deja toute une année prévue a l'avance e t je ne pense pas pouvoir faire plus!

Comme vous pouvez voir tout va bien, pas mal occupée! Cette année a été très différente de la précédente. Plus axée sur le boulot que les voyages et les fêtes. Je suis heureuse d'avoir eu l'occasion de voir l'autre cote de la monnaie. C'est vrai je suis crevée, un peu stressée mais ça en vaut la peine! Vivre ici a depuis le début été une expérience incroyable, mais je suis heureuse que ce cote incroyable est aussi maintenant professionnel.

19 February 2009

Mongolian gliding...

I was about to turn off the computer, when I heard a bit of shouting outside, couldn't stop my curiosity... what I saw made my night: a man running and a policeman running after him (did I mention I live right next to the police station of the district?), "amused" I payed a little more attention to the scene. Running on the icy pavement is not an easy task! Walking is hard enough! After a few seconds the policeman grabs him, both fall and slide for about 2 metres (probably exaggerating as usual!) A gliding catch! I can not stop the grin on my face... However it becomes a laugh when i see back another policeman, i guess the partner, "helping", hands in the pockets slowly nonchalantly walking towards the 2 men, while the first poor policeman is struggling to hold the running man on the floor. Who manages to get away; off he goes again! Both police men look at each other and for about 15 seconds they sort of argue who will run after him, look at each other, and hand in pockets both policemen and a third one that i didn't see coming, go back to the station...

That's it! a little bed time story... Nothing much amuses me lately i guess!

03 February 2009

Snooker Wizard?

I received this today! (thanks Chris) and had to post it, it looks good but have to point out I missed that shot...


Whoever makes a comment about my wrinckles will suffer consequences...

01 February 2009

Life is hard!

So here I am, getting ready to write a short post about the fact that I haven't had cold water, yes cold water for the past week... the pain and discomfort of it all, and they cut the electricity!!!

So yes! no cold water! i complained last summer about not having hot water, but realise now not having cold water is even worst... Can't wash clothes, dishes or anything, even brushing your teeth becomes painful when you only have boiling water coming out of the tap! for a week (it came back yesterday) I had to fill a bucket with boiling water before going to bed in order to be able to wash in the morning, and washing my now-far-too-long-hair was a hell of an experience!

But hey! as I said earlier you get used to everything, and now I'm writing in the dark and will have to skip a hot meal and the worst for a sunday night (I need to point out I spent the afternoon in the office, preparing the training that starts tomorrow) is that most probably the battery in my computer wont last until the end of the film!

Life is hard sometimes I tell you!