Life in Mongolia as described by Tara Munch who decided to teach in Mongolia.

I decided that teaching abroad would be a good idea. See the world, experience another culture and get paid while you do it! Is there a downside? Who knows!? 100 applications, tons of interviews and more than one panic attack later here I am in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

So here I am in Mongolia. I have been here exactly four weeks and have decided that it is high time I share my adventures with the rest of the world. Or whatever population of the world is willing to read this blog. Either way I plan on over sharing…

I was really nervous about coming. It is a really big deal and something that is totally going to change the course of my life. The closer to the end of summer it got the more the panic set in!

However, actually getting here went very smoothly, all my stuff is here and the culture shock hasn't set in yet. It is sort of like living in the bush.

Things that seem weird when you are outside make perfect sense here and you just sort of have to calm down and go with it. There is a lot to do. For some reason it never really sunk into my head that I would be in a city!

To read about my life in Mongolia you have to scroll down this page and click separate entries. They are placed in reverse chronological order and will make sense if you follow them from bottom up.

This form is solely preserved for Tara Munch

What Tara Is saying about her adventures in Mongolia

Click below to see her contributions and comments from other visitors to this page...

New apartment in Ulaanbaatar
I am in a new apartment 0in Ulaanbaatar this year. This is cause for celebration. Actually I moved at the end of last school year. It is much nicer than ...

Downside in Mongolia
Downside in Mongolia... Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhh! That is the sound of Tara banging her head on a wall Charlie Brown style. It hasn’t been a very good couple ...

Mongolian traditional costume
Mongolian traditional costume...It is international week here at ISU. You may be wondering why I bring this up. I will answer. 200 kids from 29 countries?...

Traffic in Ulaanbaatar
Traffic in Ulaanbaatar...I am going to rant. I am sorry but there is just no way around it? The traffic here sucks . Badly. And not in the mild in ?we ...

Mongolia Visa
Mongolia Visa... The main drama this week was applying for my VISA at the Chinese embassy I am going to Hong Kong September 12th for professional development....

Living in Ulaanbaatar
Ten great things about living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
1. How cool is living abroad?
2. It is a city dotted with gers (yerts), trippy and fascinating!...

People in Mongolia Not rated yet
I wonder about the people in Mongolia that I meet or walk by or attempt to talk to in the course of a day. The edges of their lives just barely touching ...

Buddhism in Mongolia Not rated yet
Javsung, my housekeeper is very worried about me and has been since I went to her home for Tsaggan Sar. Why is she so worried? Well, I was born in the ...

Hair cutting ceremony in Mongolia Not rated yet
Hair cutting ceremony in Mongolia. I was invited to a hair cutting ceremony today. You may ask how did that come about? I honestly couldnt tell you. There ...

Tsagaan Sar Not rated yet
Hey! It Tsagaan Sar and I am so excited! And not just because I get a five day weekend! My housekeeper invited me to her house for Tsagaan Sar. I am pretty ...

Banking in Mongolia Not rated yet
I have no money. Well, I have money, I just can ' t get any of the money that I have. This has been the week of banking difficulties. It didnt start out ...

Winter in Mongolia Not rated yet
I just want to start this by assuring you that this is not a whiny blog. At least it shouldn’t be. Sometimes these things get away from me. That’s the ...

Gers in Mongolia Not rated yet
Gers were brought to my attention again today. I was riding home from school and noticed a few of them on the route. Now they have been there the whole ...

ESL in Mongolia Not rated yet
My biggest accomplishment recently is learning to count to five in Mongolian. Neg, khoier, corro, gorro, tao. See I can do it! Now to get to ten. Unfortunately ...

Mongolian Independence Day Not rated yet
Mongolian Independence Day. It celebrates them gaining independence from China in 1921. The biggest thing going on today? Wrestling! More specifically ...

Traditional Mongolian food Not rated yet
I went out to dinner with some friends last night. After two years of living in a small village in Alaska without a restaurant I am always find the ability ...

Laundry in Mongolia Not rated yet
You would think that laundry would be fairly simple around the world and that there wouldn’t be all that many strange new things to get used to mishaps ...

Mongolian Cashmere Not rated yet
So I accidentally went on a tour of a cashmere factory today. Yes, accidentally. I thought that it was a Mongolian cashmere shopping trip. This is what ...

Shopping in Mongolia Not rated yet
Shopping in Mongolia takes a whole lot of energy. A whole lot of energy. Finding anything means lots of walking, three or four taxi rides, 10 stores and ...

Mongolian party Not rated yet
It is late Friday night and I have just gotten back from my first Mongolian party. The party was given by the deputy director of the school. Tuul, who ...

Living in Mongolia Not rated yet
Living in Mongolia… I have decided that constant writing about the trials of living in a country where you don’t speak the language will get old very quickly....

Teaching in Mongolia Not rated yet
Ulaanbaatar isn't an attractive city but interesting nonetheless. There are gers everywhere. There are several that I can see from my apartment and the ...