Сайн байна уу? (How are you?) My name is Allan, and I am a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I am 26 years old and I spent my childhood in Northeastern China and grew up in Southern California. My parents and I are first-generation immigrants to America and became Americans by choice. I speak Mandarin Chinese and English fluently and I'm learning to speak Mongolian!
After high school, I moved to New Jersey and studied history at Princeton University. Knowing that I wanted to live and travel abroad in my youth while doing something meaningful for the world, I decided to join the Peace Corps right after graduation. This is partially inspired by my high school history teacher, Mr. Lyne, who served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco in the 1980s. I encourage you to become a Peace Corps volunteer yourself in the future!
I've spent my entire life in big countries, namely China and America, and I even wrote a senior thesis on U.S.-China relations, but I've never lived in a small country before, so I decided to come to Mongolia to know what it's like to live in a society surrounded by much larger neighbors.
Today, I live in Ulaanbaatar (meaning "red hero" in Mongolian), the capital city of Mongolia. Here, I teach English at a public school and mentor Mongolian students who want to study abroad at colleges and universities in the United States. In my free time, I love to explore this fascinating city and the rest of this wonderful and beautiful country. I'm excited to share all of that with you!
Peace Corps Volunteers like me live and work side by side with community members around the world, collaborating on locally prioritized projects, building relationships, exchanging cultures and knowledge, and helping transform lives for generations. Learn more by clicking here.
