Mid-center day RefLECtIOnS In DarKhan, at the DARKHAN HotEl! ! 7/4/2013

MID CENTER DAYS! By the way the PCV’s were acting, you would think the hotel was a five star resort, not an old, funky hotel! Wireless internet, running water, REAL FLUSHING toilets! Everyone was stoked to get into their rooms and take a hot shower (not me so much, as I can have a hot shower daily, if I so choose). The only problem was….NO HOT WATER. Apparently the pipes were being worked on so, for the time we were in Darkhan we took freezing, ice cold showers. All in all however, Darkhan was a good time. I got to room with the ever so beautiful Kaitlynn! We of course had trainings during our days, but we made the best of our remaining time with shopped at the black market, playing games with PCV’s in room parties and dancing our bums off at a club. It was a nice to have so many things to entertain ourselves with! Now, the main purpose of mid center days is to check in on how the PCV’s are doing. The last day we were there we all had interviews to test our knowledge of the language and also to test our knowledge of our job field. Or so we thought! During our time in Darkhan, we all decided we would study. True to form, I waited until the last minute, surprisingly so did a great deal of people. The night before everyone decided to crack a cold one (PEV/Beer) and cram for our interviews. Many of the PCV’s met on the second floor to study for our dreaded tests. Tefl, CYD and Health mixed to study for Language and then broke off into their corresponding groups for the program specific interviews. In my study group, Jake, Tara, Tori, Angela, Shane and I focused on questions pertainent to CYD (Child and Youth Development), as well as security questions they could potentially ask. For example if there is an emergency, your Jijur (security officer) places you on Alert, then you get Stand Fast which means a higher alert and be ready, then consolidation (get your backpack together), evacuation (self explanatory), and finally all clear when the situation has rectified itself and you can go home again. CYD specific questions pertained to THe four D’s of development, which I still cannot remember, Design, Develop,, The meaning of Positive youth development, and other very specific, CYD information. While I was not a 100% sure I was ready for the testing sessions the following day, I eventually put down the books and joined in a game of crimes against humanity in one of the PCV’s rooms. It was a successful and still, very fun night! The next day, I woke up, got ready for my interviews and had a quick breakfast. The first interview was CYD specific. I got to the classroom I was supposed to interview in and had to wait a bit. I was extremely nervous but it became clear pretty quickly that this interview was more of a conversation then CYD specific. It went extremely well. The program director had a lot of positive things to say and didn’t state that I needed to work on anything specific. It was an almost euphoric feelings to have it go so well. My language proficiency test was next. The room was very noisy from construction that seemed to be going on outside the window and I found it very distracting. I also did not know some of the questions. I found out later that I am where I need to be with language however, so that made it better. Looking back, I wish I had studied more for the language and less for the CYD specific interview!