Last month I went to Mongolia for work. Seriously, I went to Mongolia. It was the first time I have ever travelled internationally for work. Most people go to London or Beijing. I go to Mongolia. It was a great experience on many levels. I am pretty sure I would never make my way to Mongolia if it wasn’t for work and for that I am grateful for a job that takes me to places I would never have dreamed of going. Although Mongolia is a landlocked country, it seems to me like they are on island time. They don’t start work too early, meetings have an approximate start time, and it is just easier to walk where you are going. My ideal day follows island time too. I like to work hard and accomplish things but why are we always so rushed and stressed. I attended more than one meeting on that trip where I sat at the table where multiple organizations discussed the software I was there to implement for them and I didn’t understand a single word that was said for hours. I would get debriefed on all the decisions at the end. I found the meetings interesting because you could see who was respected, who was in charge, and who didn’t want to be there based on body language and tone. Thankfully the team was knowledgeable and committed so the decisions they made without my input were solid. Perhaps the most exciting part of the meetings to me was the tea service. When we were at the government offices, I could count on a nice woman coming in with a silver tray and serving each person a cup of tea. The entire room of people sipped on tea while making important software decisions. Since I had a lot of time to kill in a meeting where I understood nothing, I tried to figure out how to take a picture of my tea but I wasn’t able to come up with a way to take the picture without looking even weirder than I already did sitting quietly at the table. I absolutely love that tradition but I am not sure how that would go over in the US. Perhaps a silver tray of coffee but not tea. My entire week in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia was great from a tea perspective. Every meal I was served tea. Ahhh…. From a life perspective going to Mongolia was also very good because I got to learn about a different culture. The average monthly income there is $400 per month. Many people are so poor they live in yurts they call gers. They are little hut/tents with a pipe at the top to vent out the smoke from the burning coal they use for their ovens. Thousands and thousands of gers polluting the air with their inefficient coal fueled ovens. Needless to say the air quality is terrible. The people I met were all very nice and I felt very safe walking around. I get the opportunity to go back in a couple of months to release the software but I am nervous for the -20 degree weather in winter. Thankfully, Mongolia produces cashmere which is very affordable there. We have one short life to live. The world is a pretty big place so now is the time to go an explore it. You will never regret seeing the world but you will regret not venturing out enough.
Tea Recommendation: Adagio Tea’s Casablanca Twist. I found this tea when I was visiting Chicago with some girlfriends. The tea shop was across the street from my hotel and I went twice a day. Casablanca twist is a minty darjeeling tea and is perfect on a cold day.
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