Their lives seem so different from mine.” But they care about their job, taking care of the animals and working the land, the same way I care about school, teaching and my other responsibilities. Though families move around depending on the season and what the animals need, they feel as attached to their gers and to the open grasses as I do to my home. The same values and ideals that I am familiar with still apply, they just look different in a different context.
When I first arrived in Mongolia, I was so excited to be in this exotic place that I sought out everything that was different – the different foods, clothing, landscapes and lifestyles. But through experiencing all these cool cultural aspects, I got to undergo the biggest realization of all: people are more similar than different and so we can form connections that do not depend on whether we live in a crowded, modern city or in the middle of the big grassy steppe.
