I promise, this is the last post I will mention my trip to Mongolia as the topic. It’s true, I have already discussed my flights and my itinerary, what more could possibly be mined from this trip? Well, me being me, this is now where I’m going to tell you what I learned. Not helpful travel tips, mind you, rather life lessons. Because that’s how I roll.

Lesson #1: Sometimes you can’t blend in

Every place I’ve been to prior to this trip I have fancied the notion that if need be, I could blend in to the crowd. Sure there are cultural differences such as attire and demeanor and there is no possible way to hide this Wyoming drawl but overall, I could fit into the society’s mix. If worst case scenario happened, I could keep my head down, not speak and it would not be so easy to pick out the American. In Mongolia, there was no such safety net. Anytime we went outside and walked down the street it was obvious I am not Mongolian. Not that I felt in danger, I just knew that everyone knew I was a foreigner. Standing out like that felt a little unnerving. My lesson is to help others feel welcome when it is obvious they are strangers.

Lesson #2: It is isolating when you can’t join the conversation

I have been in foreign countries where I don’t understand the language. But in the other countries, there have been snippets that are similar to English that I have been able to pick up bits. Plus, on my other trips I have traveled with a group of Americans. We could at least have conversations with each other. In Mongolia, there were only a couple of people I could have a conversation with. There were chunks of time when I didn’t understand what was being said at all. Case in point, there was one woman who smiled and took me by the arm to show me around. A completely lovely gesture. Unbeknownst to me, the whole time she was serving as my hospitable guide, she was complaining to my friend in Mongolian about bringing me over at such a late time in the evening. My lesson is to be aware when others are not included in the conversation due to a language or physiological (such as hearing) difference and help them understand.

Lesson #3: Our culture may make us rude

While on a road trip with a family, we stopped at a store to get some road trip food (that seems to be a universal thing). I didn’t want to go in because I didn’t want anything but was told to go in. Several things were offered to me but I declined. I wasn’t planning on stopping in a store that day, I was planning on going on a picnic. Since I didn’t understand the language, I didn’t know the plans had changed from the picnic. Finally, I was informed that me not accepting the hospitality of any of the snacks offered to me was considered rude. I explained that where I come from, mooching off other people’s niceness is considered rude. In the end, I got an ice-cream bar so that I wouldn’t offend anyone. The lesson is to be more tolerant when offended. Find out the whole story before jumping to the conclusion that someone is just being rude. There are plenty of rude people to complain about, don’t lump the unknowing in the mix.

I am the type of person that believes every day holds lessons we can learn from. So yes, there were more things I took away from this trip but I figured three is a nice number to share. What are the three biggest lessons you learned while traveling?