{Jon's Trip to Mongolia}

jon's trip to Mongolia was incredible! i have been meaning to blog about it since he got home...but we've been busy enjoying the last of our summer days!

jon flew out june 26th & got home july 10th. it was a two week trip and luckily we were able to talk almost everyday (thanks to skype). here are some highlights of the trip.

this picture is of jon's dad (far right), Dr. Nara (cardiologist/medical school prof.) & other cardiologist from Mongolia. they held a week long cardiology conference while jon's dad was there. he taught advanced cardiac life support to the cardiologist. he also did many procedures, pace makers, & gave lectures during the week.

at the closing ceremonies of the cardiology conference, these women, who are traditional Mongolian singers performed. they can sing very loud! jon suggests listening to a clip on u-tube.

this is Ulaanbataar the captiol city in Mongolia. jed (an EMT from Orem) & Uyanga (translator for Jed & Jon at the Nursing University)

jon in Central Square. it's basically the parlement/capitol building. there were lots of kids playing there because they don't have any parks to play in.

jed & jon infront of the Nursing University. this is where they spent most of their time while in Mongolia.

jon teaching basic life support class. the first day there he taught the TEACHING staff of the university basic life support! he couldn't believe that many of them had never even heard of CPR! then the rest of the time he supervised as the teachers taught their nursing students.

Group photo: these are some country side nurses & university nursing staff.

a toast of Vodka, (which Mongolians drink more than water) at the end of the week long conference. they were all very confused why jon and jed wouldn't drink the vodka.

all the people in this big group picture wanted to take a picture with jed & jon. jon said it felt like a wedding reception, his face hurt after smiling for everyones pictures! they were given many gifts, poems, & thanks from the Mongolians.

after the week of teaching, they got to go out to the country side to go fishing & camping. they drove for 13 hours on dirt roads! that's a picture of the 'ger's where the nomadic mongolians live.

gas station. they really stopped to fill up here!

these structures where found on every mountain top in the country side. they believe that every mouintain has an owner and travelers should pay their respects by giving well wishes & gifts for safe travel. the Mongolians will place rocks, cigarettes, money or a scarf on the structure & walk around it three times. the blue scarfs are well wishes for everyone, yellow was for nature, red was for water, & white is for teachers and students. jon brought me home a white scarf.

Jon loved the beautiful country.

Fishing!

they drove through several rivers. jon said the water was covering the entire hood & up to the door handles through many of them! YiKeS!

A better look at a "ger" both inside & out.

this little "village" is run by one of the cardiologist. she milks horses,yes, horses! then ferments the milk for several days in the sun & has her patients drink it several times a day. people pay to come stay here for weeks to drink the horse milk. they believe that it heals all kinds of internal sickness. jon even drank some of the milk! YUCK!

here are some more pictures of the capitol city.

jon said most of the city looked like this.

the day before he left his translator Saruul, (who is an amazing woman) took jon to a few more tourist places.

She insisted he ride the camel!

this tourist camp had a women inside who was writing in ancient mongolian.

jon had her write frischknecht for us.

Saruul also made jon try on these mongolian warrior threads. she laughed at him and said he looked more like a viking than a mongolian!

Then he went an saw this HUGE Chinggis Khan statue! This is Saruul. she helped to translate a lot for jon while he was there. she is a mother of two. A cardiologist. A teacher at the university. she translated all of the Basic Life Support & Advanced Life Support books, DVD's, and Jon's dad's lectures. she would love to come to America some day to take part in a cardiology fellowship. she really wants to learn how to treat heart arythmias. most of the women in the country have good jobs and are very smart. Saruul says it is becasue the men only want to drink vadka...the good men leave Mongolia.

I'm so glad jon had such a great time & was able to make a difference in their lives. He said that he was amazed at how hard they work & believes that if they continue to get the support they need their health care can be improved tremedeously! He is still getting e-mails from many of the Dr.'s. They like to practice writing and reading English. (it's fun to read them)

Jon had a wonderful experience! He would love to go back again. I want to go too!