From half a world away

ELDRED, NY — “It was always my dream to come to America,” says 16-year-old Oyuna Myagmar, an exchange student from Ulaan Baatar, the capital of Mongolia.

She traveled thousands of miles this past summer with 17-year-old Suvd Gambold, another exchange student, and the pair came to stay for a year at the home of Carol and Robert Bliefernich of Eldred.

Robert teaches business and computer applications at the high school and serves as adviser for the National Honor Society. The Bliefernichs have led youth groups from Sullivan and Orange counties abroad as part of their involvement with the Student Ambassador Program.

When Carol received an invitation to travel to China on a global educational initiative through People to People, she jumped at the chance. Subsequently, the organization asked her to take a couple of exchange students from Mongolia. After some initial hesitancy, the Bliefernichs agreed. A prior hosting of a student from Brazil many years ago wasn’t all that positive, but they decided that since their three sons, Matthew, 27; Andrew, 25; and Daniel, 20, were living on their own, they could fill the empty nest with these two young women.

Myagmar’s mother is a retired pharmacist and her father is a mathematics professor. She is bright, charming and in many ways like American teenagers. She studied English for five years and communicates remarkably well, given the vast differences between her native Mongolian language and English.

Standing in the chilly wind at the Section Nine cross-country meet on November 5, as she got ready to race along with the Eldred girls, Myagmar seemed happy, adjusted and right at home. This experience was new. Schools in Mongolia don’t have after-school activities such as sports. But she wasn’t cold.

“The weather in Ulaan Baatar in the winter is very cold,” she said. So this fall, weather didn’t bother her. “I love it here in Sullivan County,” she said with a wide smile. “Nature is so pretty here. It’s very different from living in a city.”

Coach Frank Schorling said he wished he had Myagmar for a longer time. “She could be a really good runner,” he said.

Prior to her trip to the U.S., Myagmar had never been out of Mongolia. It’s been a great learning experience for her, Gambold, the Bliefernichs and the Eldred High School kids.

“People are very friendly here,” Myagmar said. “The teachers are nice. The teachers at home are very strict.” Her classmates have been warm and welcoming.

Myagmar, advanced in mathematics, earned a 98 on her first report card. Other subjects such as American History are perplexing. “So many hard names. They are difficult to pronounce,” she said.

The girls are taking Eldred’s hardest courses. Friends such as Snyder, Jessica Cherry and Catlan Sardina are helping them learn. Before they came to the U.S., they rarely spoke to boys. In Mongolia it is not something young women would do. When the Bliefernichs introduced the two exchange students to some of the senior boys, the girls seemed flustered. That changed quickly. Myagmar has even been to a school dance.

“I love hip-hop,” she said. Back home they dress like Americans or Koreans and watch Russian MTV and American movies with subtitles. Another cultural difference surfaced around meals. In Mongolia, people are silent at the table. Besides, since school is in session there only in the morning, they couldn’t understand why they needed to pack a lunch here. Used to the staples of rice and spicy Mongolian food, the girls have developed a taste for the variety of fruits and vegetables available here.

Ulaan Bataar has nearly one million people and is located closer to Russia than it is to China. That explains the Russian rock and roll connection. Asked why she dreamed of coming to America, Myagmar replied, “American people are good at everything. I want to be like Americans.”

Her first English teacher was an American and told the students much about the U.S. Myagmar hopes to apply to an American college and come back to the U.S. to study. “I want to be an economist,” she said. She has five sisters and is the youngest child in her family. Her sister Enkhtsetseg, 23, is currently in Los Angeles on a government scholarship.

This week’s youth in focus is learning a great deal about America while helping those around her to better understand how people live on the other side of the world.

What a great exchange.