I am a contributor on another expat sub-forum on expat.com, may I post a question here?
My college student daughter will be a journalist intern in Ulaanbaatar this summer. She has a stipend to cover living expenses. She will be writing in English for the English language newspaper.
Sure I'm doing the Mom thing....she is preparing but very busy studying 3 languages and today on Face Time she showed me her notebook with a zillion Mongolian words and she tried out her Mongol. Her French and Japanese are good (double major) and her Chinese is fair. She was born in China.
What should we have in our starter kit? Recommendations about any/all, books, skills, haunts....she is into the scholarly and cultural stuff, not nightlife, but she IS 20...
Thank you! / Xie xie !
Summer Intern on her way!
I bet your daughter will do just fine here, especially if she learns a little Mongolian (English is getting a lot more common here but knowing a little Mongolian is still quite helpful). And most things she'll need are not that hard to find here. But anyway, here are some random things that come to mind:
- Physical books in English... there are some here but not a huge selection. If she's a big reader (and it sounds like she might be) she'll want to bring a Kindle or a tablet for reading e-books.
- She probably already has a Skype account, but if she doesn't she should create an account and load it with $25 or so of credit. With a decent internet connection, she can call any phone number in the US for something around 2 cents a minute. There are other similar apps and programs that work the same, Skype is just one of many.
- There are plenty of mobile providers here, and it's worth getting a local number for her mobile. Her employer might already handle this for her, but if not it's easy for her to get one herself.
- If she takes any OTC medications (like for allergies) or especially prescription medicine she may want to take enough with her for the whole trip. One can usually find something for most medical conditions, but some specific medications might be difficult to find here. And even when you can find it here, sometimes it's just more convenient to pick up all the basics at a store in the US. When I come back from the US I typically bring some generic Benadryl, generic Sudafed, anti-diarrhea pills, a small box of Tums, and some Tylenol/acetominephen. It doesn't take up much space.
- Foreigners who have a little 'grit' to them and take a little adversity in stride tend to do best here. People who are overly sensitive or complain a lot (or don't try at least SOME of the local food) will probably get a lot of eye-rolls from the locals.
- From your description (and how you said thank you in Mandarin) I'd guess your daughter is ethnically Chinese or partly so. Mongolians seem to generally be pretty tolerant and friendly towards foreigners, but there is a bit of anti-China sentiment that sometimes is expressed towards Chinese visitors. Once Mongolians realize your daughter is American they're likely to warm up to her, but until then she MIGHT be treated with some coldness or indifference.
- I'm not the best one to ask about nightlife (married with kids), but she should be fine in most places as long as she is with friends or coworkers. Safety is not a huge issue here, but having company just makes sense no matter where you are when out for the evening.
That's all that comes to mind right now. Hope that helps...
- Nick
