Now that I am through training, swearing in, and moved into my apartment, I feel like it is my duty to give some pointers for those of you packing and wondering what the heck to put in your bags for the next 27 months of your life. So, here it goes.

• #1 Bring your favorite clothes

The best advice I read as I was getting ready to leave for Mongolia was to pack all of my favorite clothes. If you wear it often at home, you’ll wear it often here. It is really true. Even if you think you know better… Here’s an example.

I live in sweatpants at home. I’d like to blame it on being an athlete, but really they’re just very comfortable and I dislike dressing up often… or at all. However, when I was packing, I figured I wouldn’t wear them much because I would either be in business casual or sleeping. Wrong.

There were plenty of times when I was hanging out at home with my host family and many of them were in sweatpants. I wished I brought them instead of just shorts and business casual. It is true that you’ll need business casual, but you can always rewear four or five outfits. Dedicate the rest of your space to what you like to wear! You’ll find time to wear it if you like it.

• #2 Footwear–particularly boots for A LOT of mud (and poop)

Mongolia gets a lot of rain around PST time when living in a small soum walking to school everyday. In my specific case, I walked through pastures (technically Mongolian roads) that got extremely muddy. Cars and trucks would even get stuck. Having just one pair of cheap rain boots instead of my nice hiking boots that weren’t high enough for the mud anyways would have been very helpful. Don’t worry about getting really nice ones, but I think all of us volunteers could have used a pair, especially during PST. You can just change into your business casual shoes once you get to school. I began leaving mine in a classroom. (A tidbit on business casual shoes: Make sure they are comfortable! You will be wearing them for at least 8 hours a day, five days a week.) You may get lucky and have a very short walk to school, or you may have a paved road to walk on (that’s pretty unlikely, though), OR Mongolia may have a dry August and you may not even need them! I can only use my experiences.

• #3 Don’t pack expecting you’ll be living in a ger in the middle of nowhere… It might not happen.

I will talk about this experience in more detail in my next post, but essentially, I was positive that I would be living in an isolated location with very few resources. To prepare, I packed a solar shower, a couple large portable batteries, and an inflatable bed (a nice one from Sea to Summit).

I was placed in one of Mongolia’s largest cities with a king size bed, running water (hot and cold), and electricity.

I don’t use any of the things I brought. At least not often. The batteries may be nice for electricity outages, the bed is nice for guests maybe, but the solar shower is just packed away somewhere under my bed (I didn’t find a ger dweller to give it to, otherwise I would!).

But, WHAT IF. Honestly, even if I was currently in a ger, ger dwellers still have electricity (not as reliable, but they still have it). They still have beds (cushioning varies, but you can get this from cities when you get a chance to go early on right after swearing in). As for the solar showers, I get a lot of mixed reports. Ger dwellers who have them sometimes say they’re fantastic and worth it, and some do not. But they are completely worthless if you get access to a shower (sometimes the school dorms will have showers and allow you to use them, too). So I guess my ultimate advice is to not bring the solar shower.

Besides sweatpants, I wouldn’t have wanted to use the space in my luggage for other things, but it would have definitely helped with space and weight if I left a few of these items behind.

• #4 Bring an extra empty duffel bag or two!

This was also great advice I got before I left. Peace Corps gives you a lot of things after orientation week and again after PST. It was really great to have a duffel bag for all of this. It takes up barely any space in your luggage when you leave home. You will most likely get a water filter, power strip, fire alarm, and a few other random things, just to help you visualize what size is best. I had a duffel bag from volleyball that is about 2.5 feet long that was perfect for it all.

Please keep in mind these are things that worked well for me! Your case may be different. Feel free to contact me with specific questions you may have. Packing was stressful, but, really, Mongolia has many of the things you’d like to pack, anyways!

Emilie, M30 TEFL