Funny Little Surprise 1: Beauty Disasters
One of the most beautiful people I have seen are the Mongolians. They have an amazing taste in fashion, an almost perfect skin, height that I would die for and impressive mastery of make-up. I think beauty disasters have a minimal probability to occur among these people and it is so funny to have found this salon.
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If you're too perfect and want to have your hair and face destroyed instead, this is the best place!
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It was also surprising to have seen this cosmetic shop
Sisi is a Tagalog term for "to repent or to regret something". Would beauty be something you should regret?
Funny Little Surprise 2: The safest place on my way to work is...
at the middle of the road
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| Walking on Taft Avenue, Manila |
But I tell you, it is one million times more dangerous to cross any Mongolian road than all the roads in the Philippines combined. Now that can be a topic for future posts.
Funny Little Surprise 3: Millionaire in a day
Most of the recruited health volunteers have their own jobs and just so to keep them attending our trainings even during the weekdays, our project is giving out lunch money of 3,500 tugrugs and just recently I get a hold of having a lot ( and I mean bundles and bundles) of money.
Funny Little Surprise 4: Doing health destruction
As part of our training in developing health promotion materials, one group of community health volunteers had this in their flipchart for alcoholism and smoking.
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| Promoting "drinking" to alcoholics. Enough said. |
Goofing around kids is not new to me and since play (alongside with laughter and crying) is a universal language I found it enjoyable to play with Mongolian kids even without speaking to them.
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| With our "mini" community health volunteer trying to be as good as her Grandma |
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| A sneaky and "gossipy" 2 year old kid |
Funny little surprise 6: "Avarga"
Avarga is Kara's counterpart and the Training Manager of Bayanzurkh District Health Unit. She has this stern and firm look that makes you pee your pants. Among our counterparts, she is the most caring and gentle person that I am working with.
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| Avarga being interviewed by media |
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| Avarga being interviewed by media in her dream land. |
Funny little surprise 7: A night that was
And yes, I received an award during VSO Mongolia Summer Conference when I showed off my hidden talent as a Videoke Princess singing Britney Spears " Baby, one more time" and Madonna's "Like a Virgin". There's nothing as surprising to show off my diva talents being that Magic Sing ( Karaoke Mic) is the second most essential equipment in any Filipino household ( after rice cooker, of course) but it was indeed a memorable award to be recognized that way.
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| This picture is not flattering so I made this small! |
And finally my last funny little surprise: Learning to laugh boisterously again
When I quit my job in PGH, I was morphed into a kind of person who had forgotten how to laugh at the simplest circumstance. I was always tired and complaining how hard my job was. I was the kind of person that most of my junior nurses avoided because they knew that I would be hard on them during endorsements. Friends of mine have known me as someone who always laugh in a nonsensical manner and who finds enjoyment in the simplest things.
People say that in order to enjoy the simplest things, one should live out of the things that we often take for granted. I admit that it is difficult to live away from home, "Bie" and friends but it seems like I am learning how to laugh again and looking forward to see them and laugh with them.
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| "Laughing" during our trainings |
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| And laughing again |
