Hanhongor has a very special place in my heart.  It was where I was a Peace Corps volunteer and where many of my dearest friends live but it is also home.  Since some of you didn’t know me when I was a Peace Corps volunteer I thought I would describe it for you.

Hanhongor is the county seat of an area that includes Dalanzadgad (the provincial capital), the Gurvan Saikhan mountain range, and lots of Gobi desert.  There are about 2,500 people in the county but less that 500 in town.  The rest of the population are herders and are spread out over hundreds of miles of empty desert.

In town we can boast of a school with a little over 200 students in grades 1-11, a brand new 2 story school dormitory, government office, community center, 2 story kindergarten that is currently being renovated, two banks, a communications office that used to house the only phone in town and now acts as an internet cafe and post office, a community development office, a uniform sewing factory, a ger factory, and 4 stores of various size with business hours ranging from never open to infrequently open.  It is not much of a stretch to say that you can see everything in town from your home.

Living in such a small town leads to amusing interactions.  The store owner you buy bread from is also your sub-governor. The neighbor who does carpentry work for you is also the town electrician. And running into one of your students at 6 am in your pajamas on your way to the outhouse is a fact of life.  In fact I think seeing my students around town is something I will never get used to.  At school we are all dressed in our best (nice office clothes for me, and school uniforms for them), they call me Ms. Sadie, and I am the law.  Out about in town though we wear our dirty “collecting dung for the fire” clothes, we speak in Mongolian, and I revert to being called “bagsh” (teacher) in Mongolian.  And oddly enough they often are better behaved around me outside of the classroom.  Must be innate for kids to be punks in class…

Small towns are great for rumors because, aside from retelling the story about how that one guy rode his motorcycle into the outhouse hole last year, there is not much to talk about except gossip.  Rumors, both founded and unfounded this month, have revolved around when the electricity would come back on and why it was off this time, who is crazy enough to put up their ger in the middle of town so far from any outhouses, and what the mining companies are up to.  Hanhongor seems to have potential mineral resources that are enough to get several mining companies to fall all over themselves to win the town’s graces.  Last year one of the mines spent almost $50,000 renovating the English classroom into a learning lab complete with fancy computers (note-this is not the room I get to teach in) and last week another one gave out televisions and satellite dishes at a community meeting.  The newest rumor is that one of the mines which is connected to Tavan Tolgoi, one of the largest coal mines in the world located north east of here, is going to give every household 2 tons of coal for free.  As someone who burns coal and enjoys being warm this is one rumor I hope comes true.

Yesterday after a few hours of rest we caught a ride into Dalanzadgad, the nearest town of any size, which is about 30 kilometers south east of Hanhongor.  The city has changed in many ways since 2009 and in amazing ways since I first went there in 2002.  All of the main roads and many of the roads going to the ger districts are now paved and have street lights.  There are new fancy playgrounds all over town, there is a large Sukhbaatar like square near the Naadam stadium, and fancy statues sprinkled here and there.  There are at least 6 cranes working there now and several buildings 4-6 stories high have sprung up, including a hotel with rooms costing upwards of $600 a night.  The number of stores has increased dramatically and the selection is almost as good as Ulaanbaatar.  Living in the Gobi will be much easier than before in many ways.

My first trip to the aimag yesterday brought back memories of my absolutely first trip there in 2002.  I was met at the airport by my school director who put me in a van with my luggage, water filter, and Nigel.  I am sure that they told me that I should go buy food and household goods and that we would be in town until the late afternoon, but I didn’t understand them.  Instead, I sat in the van for hours wondering when we were leaving and if I would ever eat again.  That was definitely a stressful time.

Compare that time to yesterday.  Not only did I know what I wanted to buy, but I had friends to give me a ride to town and to show me where all the new stores were.  We bought food, ordered furniture for our ger, checked our bank balance, inquired about wireless internet services, and got a comfortable ride home in a friend’s land cruiser.  Totally stress free and highly productive.  I wish the 2002 Sadie could see the 2011 one.  I think she would be jealous of how easy things have gotten-and happy to see how many friends she has.