Sunday

I took it easy today - just did some washing and knitting and then walked up to the State Department store for a little grocery shopping. On the way home I stopped at the German bakery to buy some of their homemade dog biscuits. I was talking to the German woman who owns the shop about the sad situation for dogs here in Mongolia, and she told me that people have kicked and thrown rocks at her dog while she was walking her on a leash! Can you imagine someone doing that to your dog right in front of you? She never lets Bella, her golden retriever, off the leash. It would be insane to do that here. You'd probably be risking your dog's life.

Christina

Yesterday, while Skyping with Peter, I got a call from Christina, a teacher recruited by Anita, who arrived in UB recently and is starting work at the Goethe Institute. We had talked while she was still in Ann Arbor and made promises to get together as soon as she was available. She is still in those early days of confusion, adjustment and doubt, and needed to be able to talk English to someone and to get out of her apartment for a while, and I was happy to oblige. She didn't know where her apartment was, in the layout of the city, so she had to call another teacher and try to figure out where we could conveniently arrange to meet. That done, I offered to take her to the Black Market and show her what I know about UB.

I had my taxi meet her at the Chinggis Hotel and then we proceeded to the Black Market where delights and surprises awaited us. For me, the biggest surprise was that I found myself bargaining with one of the merchants without having the slightest intent to do so. What happened was that he had written the price of the item I was looking at on a piece of cardboard and I couldn't tell if the first digit was a "1" or a "7" so I was pointing at the number and sticking fingers in the air, asking "is this a one or a seven?" Well, it so happened that the price was 18,000 togrog, so he thought I was bargaining the price down to 17,000. He apparently agreed and wrote 17,000 on the cardboard and was giving me 3,000 togrog change back from my 20,000 togrog bill when I realized what had happened. I laughed to myself, but refused the third 1,000 togrog bill from him. He must have been bewildered at the transaction, but I wasn't going to try to make 66 cents from someone who works as hard as he does and stands on ice-packed ground outside in the cold all day long.

We went into the food market building, the only part of the Black Market that is under a roof and marveled at the array of food (dried kiwi, anyone?) and also how it was displayed. Salads, dried fruit, meat and candies are all displayed out in the open: unsealed, unprotected, and uncovered. I was dying to try the dried kiwi, but my FDA-precautioned self told me not to. I did buy some of the dried yogurt that comes in attractive decorated disks, but those are for my doggies. I thought they might enjoy the dairy product and the hard disks ought to be good for their teeth. They have enjoyed all the cheese I have given them so far. And speaking of the dogs, I have found a tiny bit of hope for them. I have happened to arrive at school a couple of times just as the garbage truck has arrived there and found the garbage collectors going through the bags and picking out bones and other goodies for the dogs to enjoy. Lucky for them the garbage truck comes by every day. Now compare this to the people I have seen who deliberately pick up a rock when approaching the corner of the parking lot where the dogs congregate.

After our shopping and sightseeing was done, the taxi dropped Christina back off at the Chinggis Hotel and I went home. We made tentative plans to meet at the German bakery soon and I could show her my neighborhood. It was a good day.

New experience

I had a new experience yesterday. The teacher at the school who is pregnant, Enkhmaa, will be gone for a year's maternity leave and the director, Enkhjargal, is interviewing people for her replacement. He asked me to interview a candidate to determine how good her English is. If someone had taped the interview, it could be shown in business schools as a perfect example of what NOT to do. Her husband was in the room with us (why? I couldn't say) and when I asked her a question she couldn't understand, he translated it for her. Sometimes he had to repeat her answers to me so that I could understand them. Needless to say, she didn't get an approval rating from me. She must have thought it was the strangest interview she had ever been on, though, because I asked her questions that I ask my classes to get them to talk. These questions include: "If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?" and "If you could make one law that people would have to obey, what would it be?" Certainly not your usual interview questions, but I assumed Enkhjargal had covered that aspect of the process and it was up to me to get her to talk.

Self Indulgence

I saw a sign on a business nearby advertising foot reflexology and massages and figuring the price would be reasonable here, I decided to treat myself today after classes. After pointing to "foot massage" on the price list, I was led to a room in the back to change into an outfit provided for me. The masseuse brought in a wooden bucket filled with warm water and some herbs that I soaked my feet in. Then she proceeded to massage my back, arms, hands, legs, neck, scalp, toes and feet. I have never had such a massage. She did some very interesting things crossing my arms over my chest and pulling me up, twisting me to each side, or bending me forward & pressing on my vertebrae. At the end, when I was lying on my back in the recliner, she leaned forward, put all her weight on her hands and pressed on my pelvic bones. It felt soooo good. This went on for an HOUR and only cost me 15,000 togrog, or about $10. Unbelievable. And this was for a foot massage! I wonder what would have happened if I had requested a back or a body massage (which were both more expensive than the foot massage). I kept thinking of Peter and how he would absolutely love this. I am trying to remember some of the things that she did so that I can treat him to a back massage approximately like this one.

Packages & Mail

My sincere and continuing thanks to those who have sent me packages in Mongolia. My sister, Jo, has been responsible for relieving me from the monotony of my admittedly-self-imposed restricted menu by sending me noodle mixes, tuna and other goodies. The package was brought to me at work, so I felt compelled to open it there, but when I saw the array of treats inside, I was careful to cover the Oreos and chocolate with the noodles so I wouldn't have to share them. There were things I was willing to share, but not my Oreos!
Mary sent me a box with a stash of treats, 2 travel books that I somehow missed reading when they came out, and a couple of other surprises, all gratefully received and appreciated. Bill sent me a Valentine's package of dried fruit.
The continuing mystery is why some things are delivered here to the school and some are not. It doesn't seem to matter whether things are sent by the post office or by another carrier. The pick-up spot for the packages has differed, also. Sometimes it's one post office, sometimes its another.
This morning when I got to school, I was given 2 package delivery slips and told I needed to pick up the packages before noon. No explanation was given, just that that was what the postal carrier said. I looked at the slips and recognized one as the package I was expecting from Bill, but I wasn't expecting anything else, so I examined the 2nd slip more carefully. My name wasn't on the slip, but the strange thing was that the package was sent from a company in Chesterfield, MO, just a few miles from where my mom lived until recently. This led some credence to the possibility that it really was for me, but closer inspection revealed the name of the intended recipient, who isn't me, although the destination address of the school was correct. Strange coincidence, but true.

Possible copyright violation?

I've been intrigued by the number of 2009 movies I've been able to watch on TV, including Julie and Julia, and An American Affair (starring Deep River, CT's favorite daughter, Gretchen Mol), but the ultimate show occurred today. I was flipping through the channels and recognized the Robert Downey Jr. version of Sherlock Holmes that came out around Christmas. The surprise was the message that was shown during the broadcast: "YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS DISC AND ITS CONTENTS. This disc is digitally watermarked to identify you. Do not loan, copy, rent, sell, give away or otherwise transfer to any third party for any reason."

Grocery shopping

I stopped at the Minii today to pick up just a few things. Of course you know how that goes. After I found the things I came in for, I took a look in the beverage aisle. I'm always thirsty here because of the dryness. So here's the selection of things I brought home: Orange-carrot-lemon juice, sea buckthorn juice, Aloe vera juice, hawthorn juice, apple-lemon-coconut juice, and one additional bottle that I haven't been able to translate yet. I'll take it to school and find out what it is. I'll report in with my reviews of my taste testing.

The view across the valley toward the outhouse

Oh, give me a home where the cattle can roam.

Chimgee's kitchen; the ceiling of our ger

Me on the camel; our valley

Chimgee inside her ger; the sheep & goats

1. 
   

Ayuna and the 3-yr old; Feeding Mongolian horses

The camel, the cattle

Home Sweet Ger; the school building

Did you catch the name of the beauty salon in the photo on the left?
Remember the photo of the outside of my bldg. showing the balcony of the apt. manager? Well, this is her space from the inside. You can see through to her outside window.

Odds & ends

Our driver to and from UB wore a Mizzou sweatshirt. Small world...

The radio station he had on in the car played "Cotton-eyed Joe" at every station break.

On Tuesday, I walked over to the Minii to buy some hot dogs for my puppies. As I was coming out of the building, one of the older dogs was across the street and saw me. He/she recognized me and crossed the street to greet me. We crossed back over and went around to the back of the parking lot where I usually feed my 5 dogs.

At Beree's parents' house on White Moon, there were large chunks of very fatty cooked mutton in a large bowl on the table. You are supposed to take a knife and shave off slivers of the meat. I didn't.

Beree's uncle ate some salad directly from the serving bowl. I was glad I got there before he did.

The Mongolian word for "giddyap" is "tchoo".

The reason I bought sunglass clip-ons was in anticipation of being outside in a blindingly-white snowy atmosphere, like the one at the park. So why did I forget to bring the clip-ons to the park?

Ayuna is from the Buryat republic in the Russian Federation. Buryat is where Lake Baikal is located. Ulan Ude is the capital of Buryat. The Buryat people are very similar to Mongolians, and she says she has a lot of problems in Mongolia because people expect her to speak Mongolian. When it's revealed that she doesn't, they then expect her to be able to speak Buryat, but she doesn't speak that language either. It is very similar to Mongolian; in fact the 2 languages are mutually understandable, for the most part. Unfortunately she speaks only Russian.

I bought something recently at the State Department Store. The price was 5 togrog less than the bills that I gave to the cashier. The trouble is that there is no 5 togrog bill, so no change! The store is getting richer .035 cents with every similar transaction!

I found out that one of my students used to play professional basketball in Viet Nam.

On horseback, at last

When we last saw Babette, she was enjoying her week off from school, although her computer problems had her frustrated. On Tuesday, while at the internet place, she learned that an overnight trip to Terelj National Park was available, leaving Wednesday at 9 am, so she eagerly called the tour operator and signed up. For only $45 the tour provided transportation to the park, 2 hours of riding, 3 meals, and an overnight stay in a ger. What a bargain!

On Wednesday, I met the 2 girls who were also going, Karolina from Poland, and Ayuna from Russia. I packed everything warm that I had, and wore my merino long underwear for the first time this trip. We got to the park and were shown our ger - a cozy place with 3 beds and the woodstove already lit. It was a fascinating place. Our hostess, Chimgee, lives in a ger with her 3 sons, ages approximately 17, 10 and 3. We had approximately 3 hours until lunch would be served, so Karolina, Ayuna and I took a long walk around the area. I wore almost everything I brought: 3 pairs of long underwear, 3 pairs of socks, a shirt, my jeans, a down vest and my down coat. The park is in a valley and I have no idea how ownership or use of the land is handled, but they are in a large area in the valley along with all of their livestock. The cattle all roam free, as do the sheep, goats and horses. Only the camel is tied or confined all of the time. Lunch, consisting of buuz, pickles and tea, was served in our ger at 2pm. The riding began at 3pm. We got on our horses, but for some unexplained reason, we were LED down the valley and up the hills and around until we returned to the area where our ger was. This was very disappointing and would have spoiled the whole trip except for one small detail. The horses Karolina and I were on were led by the 10 year old, but Ayuna's horse was led by the 3 YEAR OLD!! He was absolutely amazing. (He is the small detail.) We were on horseback for an hour, and he walked the whole way, leading Ayuna's horse, up and down the hills, singing and talking the whole time. I don't know a single 3 year old in the US who could or would do that, but he was very capable AND agreeable. Later in the evening, he walked across the valley to bring home a cow who had gone astray. Again, he did it by himself, happily and very capably. What an amazing childhood (if you can call it that) he is having. Such freedom, yet such responsibility and confidence in knowing that he is a vital part of the family business. I imagine that the ger hosting is just a small sideline business for them, and probably brings in some decent money (especially when the weather is better), and is really not a lot of trouble for them. We were basically on our own, except for the riding time and the meals. Camel rides, which we all had, cost 3000 extra togrog, about 2 dollars. The camel (2-humped kind) was very comfortable and warm. It was like having a teddy bear in front of you to hug and an overstuffed chair behind you to lean against. The only trouble with riding a camel is getting on and off. There are no stirrups on the camel, just a blanket between the humps and this camel didn't kneel to let people on or off. The 17 year old came to give us each a leg up, but still you have to scramble to get situated and a leg over to the other side. The hump is so high that it's not like swinging a leg over a horse or a bike.
I brought apples and carrots for the horses, but the horses DIDN'T LIKE THEM! I've never met a horse that would refuse a carrot or an apple. Luckily the camel was most appreciative of the apples, and I was fascinated by the way the camel, a cud-chewing animal, would swallow the apple whole, bring it back up and continue chewing. He knew how to get the most out of the apples I fed him. The cows enjoyed the carrots. One cow kept following me around after the snack - even to the point of hanging around our ger later that night.
Dinner was served at 6pm: buuz soup, bread and tea. By 6:30 the sun was setting behind the mountains, although the people on the other side would have had 1-2 hours more sun that evening. I had hoped to be able to see a sunrise in the morning, but the rocks and the mountains in the east prevented that. There is little chance of seeing a sunrise in UB because of the smog in the city. The evening was very peaceful - just the occasional dog barking, the sound of someone chopping wood, the crackling fire in our woodburning stove, and the sheep brushing by the ger. I heard rustling outside at one point and thought it was the wind, but it turned out to be my reddish brown and black cow, who had followed me home, probably hoping for some more carrots.
Breakfast in the morning was bread and tea, although I will admit that the 10 year old boy brought us some jam and the bread knife 45 minutes after he had delivered breakfast. This time my Swiss Army knife came to the rescue. Three things I will never travel without: 1) Swiss Army knife, 2) rubber sink plug, and 3) moist towelettes. There was no place to wash up in the ger, and no sink or water source available, except for the bottled water we brought. There was an outhouse, but I never saw a place for the guests to wash - hence the desirability of the towelettes. The girls were most appreciative, and couldn't believe how well prepared I was. One interesting thing about the meal delivery system. This boy was the one who brought us our meals, helped stoke the fire, lit our candle, etc., but never knocked or announced his arrival to us - just came in on his errand. Luckily he never caught us undressing (after all, there were 2 girls in their 20's in there and me, ahem, a bit older), but maybe he knows that no one ever really undresses or changes clothes in this weather.
After he stoked the fire for the night, it became so hot that I was forced to strip down to my underwear - and I don't mean the long kind, either - and lie on top of my sleeping bag. I woke up later when the fire had burned down and began to put clothes back on. By 6 am I was driven to hop over to the stove, still in my sleeping bag, and build the fire back up. Ten years of Girl Scouting paid off big time! The 10 year old came in about 30 minutes later to do that very thing, but the ger was already warm. I was very proud.
Our ride came soon after breakfast to take us back to UB. I have rarely been so happy to take a shower in my life. The hot water and the chance to get clean were wonderful.

P.S.

Also could not Skype. Bummer!

Computer problems

Major crisis: I can't log onto yahoo or this blog on my netbook. The internet connection is fine but doesn't connect. I'm at a cafe now sending out this message. It may not be fixed until I return to work. In addition I couldn't text Bill on my phone last night. Don't know what's going on but it began immediately after I wrote the White Moon blog yesterday. Hope to be back on line sometime soon.

Happy White Moon, Everyone!

The day started especially nicely with the sounds of 2 people playing stringed instruments in the apartment next door. I left the apartment about 12:00 in order to give me plenty of time to walk to the place where I was scheduled to meet Beree for the visit to her parents' home for the New Year's celebration. The streets were so empty! I couldn't believe it was the same city. There were very few people around, but those that were out were dressed primarily in dels and traditional clothing. Everyone looked so striking. I met up with Beree, and we walked to her apartment where I met her family and ate some dumplings (buuz) and potato salad and drank some milk tea. Bill, I'm convinced I can eat just about anything now. Her uncle, aunt and 2 cousins joined us, but of course I couldn't follow any of the conversation. Luckily her father had the Olympics on the TV, so I could glance over there occasionally and keep my mind going. I saw the Finnish women's hockey team beat the Russians. Beree and I talked a bit, mostly about her trips to Germany and the difficulties of learning Mongolian as an adult. She speaks beautiful German (she works for the Goethe Institute) and lovely English, and it was very kind of her to invite me to her home for this holiday. I was wondering what the polite length of time to stay was when her uncle et al. began to leave, so I decided that was my cue to go, too. I had a nice walk home and that's where we are now.

HVAC Mongolian style, without the VAC

Heat, as in from a furnace, is centrally controlled. There are no thermostats in any of the buildings to set your own temperature choices. The heat is turned on and off on pre-determined dates, regardless of what the actual weather is outside. Heated pipes run through the sewers, going to each building from the central plant that supplies the whole city. This is a holdover from Soviet days, when you received your utilities with your citizenship. It is rumored that homeless kids live in the sewers because it's warm down there. Steam vents rise from the earth here and there around town and the dogs congregate on top of them.

A story about lunch our day at the park

When Jasmin & I went to Hustai, we had a very nice lunch at the visitor's center that Zachnaa ordered in advance for us. As we were eating, I was wondering about paying for it, figuring that Zachnaa's and Jasmin's lunches might be covered by the organization they work for, since it could be considered a working lunch for them. I figured I'd wait until the bill came and then offer to pay my third. Well, the bill came and Zachnaa read the total to us and Jasmin and I each reached for our wallets. I muttered under my breath to her, "Are we splitting this 2 ways or 3 ways?" As we searched through our piles of togrogs for the right denominations it became apparent we were splitting the bill 2 ways: Zachnaa sat back and waited for us to produce the money. We didn't mind; in fact, we were happy to treat him to lunch after all he had done for us, but it was amusing to witness how he arranged the situation so that we did. The other thing that was so funny to us was that we were still so unused to the money, trying to find the right bills while counting to 64,000 togrog. We were both laughing and I kept saying "I can't count that high!"

The 3 year old

One of the teachers brought his 3 year old to the school on Friday for a little while. She seemed fascinated with me, whether because I looked strange to her or just because she didn't know me, I couldn't tell. She played a bunch of little games with me, like taking the stuff off my desk and handing it to me and I'd hand it back to her. I made a few noncommittal noises, like "oh" and "ah" and "hmmm" since I knew she couldn't understand me, but a few times I asked other teachers what she was saying and that's when she commented to them that I couldn't speak very clearly!

New Year's Eve

Last night was New Year's Eve and the TV stations went all out showing traditional music and Mongolian wrestling. In fact, 5 of my 14 channels showed the same wrestling competition. Two channels had the same group of musicians on, but from different concerts. This group was really interesting. They were playing some traditional Mongolian music, but with a contemporary influence. The woman in the group was playing 2 instruments that I'd describe as Chinese zithers simultaneously. Maybe someone out there knows what they're called. One guy was playing an electric guitar; there were 2 drummers and one person with something that looked like a very large tambourine, but he wasn't slapping it, just slowly moving it in a circle horizontally. Someone else was playing a horsehead Mongolian cello (that's the only way to describe it) like the one played in Story of the Weeping Camel. There was someone playing a 2-string mandolin with a very long neck, but the most interesting instrument was something that looked like a clarinet on the top (and sounded like a clarinet), but curved clockwise to the right just like a French horn or a ram's horn. I've never seen anything like it before. Some of the singers were throat singers, but some sang in the customary way. I watched them for quite a long while.
Shortly after I went to bed and fell asleep I woke up to the sounds of fireworks at midnight.

Nothing much new

There's nothing much new to report at the moment. Yesterday was the last day of classes before the vacation, but most people acted as though the vacation had already begun. Out of the 3 classes, I only had students show up for the 3rd class, and even that one was touch-and-go for a while. I had 1 student show up 15 minutes late, and as we were discussing what to do, 2 more showed up 10 minutes later. So, I went ahead and gave my lesson about forming questions, but the real question will be what to do on the Monday classes resume. Two classes will not have had the benefit of my erudite and thought-provoking wisdom on the subject, while the 3rd class will be ready to move ahead to ever more challenging issues.
I took it easy today, knitting and hoping to finish the baby blanket so that I can get back to the sweater I'm making for myself. I'm almost done and should be able to finish up tomorrow (Sunday). Then Monday I've been invited to someone's home for White Moon and that's the day that Christine arrives from Ann Arbor. We're planning to get together sometime this week and I'm hoping to do some shopping, too, maybe with her in tow.
So, that's it for the Saturday report. Bye for now.

Beautiful downtown UB

Mongol TV

No, I won't bore you with another account of the Spanish Amazing Race. I want to report that the anchor of one of the city's news programs is one of my students. The way it happened is that his wife is an employee at the school, and thus is in my class full of teachers. She brings him to the Saturday class when he is off. I didn't realize who he was until after several classes when I saw him on TV. I was really surprised.
Commercial breaks here are interminable. Last time I counted there were 18 commercials in one break, and the absolute worst thing about it is the repetition of the same commercials over & over in the same break. I've seen as many as 6 repetitions of the same commercial in a break. I start to groan when I hear the same music begin again...and again...and again.
News standards also differ a bit from back home. They have no qualms about showing blood and tragedy, as exemplified by the views of the body of the Georgian luger that I've been priviledged to see.

Menu specialties

Seen on restaurant menus:
Beef hole
Fried horse ribs

Although I haven't seen a McDonald's here, I have the perfect sandwich name for them when they do get around to opening something in UB: the McMutton.

Traffic, revisited

I've seen buses cut around to the left to get past cars stopped at an intersection. They will actually pass a car or 2 and divert into the on-coming lane to make a left turn. I've seen cars from the left lane pass the car ahead of them on the right and then make a left turn. Jasmin and I joked that this was a holdover from Soviet days, when the individual didn't matter. I told her that if I got hit, it wouldn't matter: my coat is red and the blood wouldn't show!
I saw another episode of the Spanish Amazing Race last night and figured out that the teams are responsible for finding their own accommodations each night. It's been interesting trying to figure out the rules when I can't understand the conversation or the commentary. The teams travel as a group from town to town, none of the racing to get ahead of the pack, as in our version. The first team to check in at a designated place in the morning gets "immunity" for the next leg of the race, and they receive a special meal. One team had to race carrying a live chicken and a dozen eggs (no egg carton) to the next check-in point. I couldn't tell why they had to do so, or what the point of that was, except perhaps as a penalty?

TV

Last night while I was waiting for the time of my Skype appointment to arrive, I was surfing the channels and found a Mexican soap opera dubbed into Mongolian. The title is "Al Diablo con Los Guapos", something like "To The Devil with the Handsome Ones". Right, Bill? I also found a Spanish version of "The Amazing Race", but in this version the teams are making their way across Russia to Beijing and apparently know their destination for each night. A big difference from the US version is the fact that every evening they stay with a local family, but I can't tell is the teams must find someone to host them, or if the show has arranged the accommodations. They are hitchhiking across Russia and don't appear to have the budget that the US teams receive.

Also fun to see: Mongolian gansta rappers on TV; 30 Rock dubbed into Mongolian.

more from the Black Market

"My" puppy, again. Could anyone resist that face?

An ovoo, on the way to the park. Buddhist tradition requires you to walk around the cairn 3x clockwise, and then add a stone to the pile.

My apartment, revisited

Notice the pipes behind the toilet. Nothing is put inside the walls. On the right is my front door, with the heating pipes running along the floor. You have to step up about 6" over the pipes & the threshhold to enter the apartment. Vatti and Poppo would have a fit!

Angelina Jolie?; Selling phone calls at the Black Market

Do you think Angelina Jolie knows she is being used on a billboard in UB? Photo #2 didn't turn out very well, but the woman on the right has a phone contraption on a box hanging around her neck & was selling phone calls. I was trying to be sneaky & not be obvious about taking their photos, hence the half image of Jasmin, my decoy in pretending to take her picture.

The Black Market; The road to Hustai National Park

The New Christine

Last night I received a call from another of Anita's contacts who arrives in UB on Monday, preparing to teach English to primary-school age kids at the Goethe Institute. She just wanted some assurance from someone who was here, or had been here recently, that things were good and that she could survive. Her name is Christine; she lives in Ann Arbor, MI. She asked what she needed to bring and I assured her that she could find everything she needed here. I've been pleasantly surprised by the variety of things available, so if she isn't dependent upon a particular brand of shampoo, or whatever, she'll do just fine. I only brought 3 shirts, 3 pairs of socks and underwear, and I wash them out every night, so you don't need a lot of clothes. Prices are good, here, too. For example, the taxi ride to the Black Market last weekend was only 3,000 togrog - about $2. (I did give him a 500 togrog tip because of the waiting he had to do for me while I was in the bank getting my dollar bills rejected. Otherwise, there is no tipping in Mongolia.)

I got adventurous at the Minii the other day and bought a couple of things just to try them. One was a brand of soda called Selenge, advertised as a mixture of "medicinal plants, herbal grass, wild oats, and pine needles." It was better than it sounds - and certainly better than the maple syrup soda I bought in Maine once. (Peter and Christopher will remember that experiment.) I also bought sliced kiwi in a jar (no fresh kiwi in the market), and some marinated carrot salad in a jar. I thought I'd branch out a little from my usual cheese, bread, eggs and fruit.

P.S. I haven't seen the original (male) cashier back at the Minii since he left. The (female) cashier gives me change right away. Bummer!

The ger we visited; Jasmin, Zachnaa & our guide

Note the dish next to the ger.

Note the takhi behind Jasmin et al.

The bank and the post office

I had to stop at the bank on the way to the Black Market on Saturday and had a strange experience. I had a couple of bills that I had folded to fit into my money belt, so I took out 2 to change into togrog. The teller at the bank would not accept them because they had been folded! Smoothing them out was useless. They had been folded and that was that. So, I had to use my debit card.

Bill had sent me something by a package delivery service which arrived last week. I had to go to the main post office to pick it up (in spite of the fact that it was not sent by mail). Then, the clerk had me open the package in the office before I paid the customs tax on it- I suppose to prove that it contained what the contents slip said it did. Funny!

The Ger

When we were at Hustai National Park, Jasmin and I got to visit a ger (yurt) that is the home of one of the park employees. The ger was fascinating. There was a satellite dish outside and a power line running to the ger. Immediately upon entering you go to the left. The guest/entertaining area is there and we were served traditional Mongolian salty tea. It tastes rather like you might think it does: like water you'd gargle with. There was a small table next to the chairs in that area that had some meat on it, just sitting there in a plastic bag, and when I say meat, I mean like a whole sheep. There was a TV in this area. Moving clockwise around the ger, next is the sleeping area. There were two futons; someone was sleeping on one of them. Next was the kitchen area, including a couple of cabinets and an ice chest freezer. The woodstove was in the center of the ger, with the stovepipe extending straight up through the center of the roof. It was quite warm and comfortable in there, and a lot roomier than it looked from the outside. The walls are felt on the outside with a waterproof lining inside that, and then there were rugs hung on the walls, probably for both warmth and decoration. The roof is supported by a concave wagonwheel structure and they cleverly store things (money, a comb, clothing) stashed up above the spokes of the wheel, under the roof of the ger. We were unsure if it would be impolite to take picture, so we didn't. I'll ask if I get to visit another one sometime.

Some signs we saw while traveling to the park:
New Kansas Night Club
Nice Hotel (yes, that was the name of the hotel)
Toyato Auto Service (obviously they don't want to have to deal with the Toyota recalls)
Cola and Kebab Restaurant, serving Donner Kebabs (now we know what happened to the rest of the Donner party)

Also seen on the road there:
a hitchhiker with 2 tires
trucks loaded with animal skins (cattle and sheep) It has been a harsh winter and the herders skin the animals that have died.
many, many railroad cars and oil tanks that have been surrounded with concrete or bricks, (except for the doors) and turned into garages

Jasmin, the incomparable; Takhi; Jasmin, Zachnaa & our park guide

Zachnaa is the manager of the UB office branch of the International Takhi Group. He wrote his master's thesis about the Takhi. Our park guide is the resident biologist at the park. Zachnaa is wearing a del that his mother made for him. The lining of the coat is made of curly sheepskin.

Saturday - Jasmin's last day

Today is Jasmin's last day here with me, so we decided to have an adventure and head for the Black Market. It's not as dangerous or illegal as it sounds. I don't know why it's called the Black Market - it's more like an outside wholesale market. From my reading (UB03) I had envisioned it to be like a flea market. You can probably find just about anything you need there: hardware, solar panels, clothing, carpeting, furniture, shoes, rope, housewares, plastics, etc. The list goes on. We started down an aisle and found, to our relief, that the whole thing is very organized. We knew when we were in the shoe department, and when we were in the food department. When I say "department" I really mean area. There are dozens of booths in each area with what is for sale. A typical booth is about 5' wide and up to 10' tall. Most of the stuff seems to be brought in from China. The most interesting things were to be found in the antiques department. There was even a horse equipment area. In the food area there were big bowls of raisins or unwrapped candies just sitting out uncovered in the open. The inability to ask any questions was frustrating, at times. I hope I can go back with a Mongolian speaker. It was very crowded, in spite of the weather, and the snow that arrived overnight. I can't imagine how busy it would be in good weather. We had fun just browsing the aisles, but it isn't the easiest place to go to shop if you are looking for something specific. There was one seller who seemed determined to get me to buy some traditional Mongolian clothing. We exchanged brief comments about a cute child's coat I was admiring, and after I turned away, she called after me "Woman! Nice Mongolian National Boot." So after that, when I wanted to get Jasmin's attention, I just called out "Woman!"

After the Black Market we headed back to the center of town to a store where Jasmin wanted to do some last minute gift buying. This time we were able to find a taxi and even communicate where we wanted to go. We felt so successful. After shopping, we walked back toward the apt. and stopped in at a German bakery (backerei) that Jasmin had noticed earlier. The shop was adorable, with natural pine panelling and furniture, embroidered tablecloths and (most importantly) beautiful German pastries and bread. We sat down, had tea and strudel, and I saw an obviously western girl sitting at another table. I went over and introduced myself and found out that she is from N. Ireland, working for VSO (Volunteer Service Organization) here in UB. I pumped her for information about making connections with other ex-pats and she was very helpful, as well as friendly. We exchanged phone numbers, and I expect to meet up with her soon. Jasmin talked with the store owner, who was originally from Munich, but has lived in Asia for 40 years. Next we stopped in at the Minii and headed home.

Later in the evening, we went out for pizza - an official goodbye meal - and then we headed home.

math update

Lest you all start thinking that my math skills have frozen with my toes, I'll acknowledge that my calculations about the value of the togrog was an inadvertant shortcut. One togrog is not worth $1.46; 1000 togrog is worth $1.46, but I had done my trick of cutting off the 3 right-hand digits in my mental calculations and forgot to put them back on in my discussion of prices and shopping.

WOW! What a day!

Yesterday was an incredible, wonderful, amazing day. We did & saw so much that it will probably take several posts before I tell the whole story. The park is 347 square miles of wildlife preserve, situated in a valley bordered by mountains and the Tuul river. We saw gazelles, red deer, Altai sheep, vultures, magpies, domestic Mongolian horses and the Takhi. Zachnaa, the manager of the UB office of the International Takhi Group that Jasmin works for, took us to the park and drove us around. A quick word about Zachnaa: he is multilingual and a very friendly man. He had to learn Russian in school, lived in Germany for 2 years in connection with his job with ITG, and speaks English, as well as Mongolian, of course. The park is beautifully preserved - there are no paved roads, and of course, no hunting is allowed, so the animals live as naturally as possible within its borders. The animals are not spoiled by human contact, nor are they obviously scared of us, so it was easy to get somewhat close to them, but if you come too close for their comfort, they flee.
Because there are no fences or barriers to the park, domestic herds sometimes stray into the area, especially because there is such good grazing there. So, in addition to the list of park residents above, we also saw domestic sheep and goats.
We were fortunate enough to be able to meet the director of the park, Bandi, who spoke to us at length. I asked him what his goals for the park were and he mentioned several, including ecotourism and continued cooperation with the neighboring herders. They are doing a lot to win the support of the people in the community, including educating them about traditional crafts they can develop for sale (felting is big here) and showing them how to plant potatoes and other vegetables. I asked him if the people collected the manure for use on their gardens, but neither he nor Zachnaa knew the word. I looked to Jasmin for help in explaining it, ran through a couple of synonyms in my head - quickly discarding "excrement" and "poo" - and the only word I could come up with was "scheiss", which luckily everyone understood. Naughty words get the message across when traditional learning fails!

bathroom plumbing

One of my puppies!! Stairs in my bldg

Yesterday afternoon with Jasmin

Yesterday Jasmin and I walked to Sukhbataar Square, which is right in front of the government building. The square is named in honor of Sukhbataar (or Sukhbaatar, the spelling differs), who was a military hero from the 1921 revolution against China. For a while Mongolia was part of Manchuria, and then broke away before it was incorporated as part of the USSR. Sukhbataar means "axe hero" in Mongolian. From there we walked to the State Department Store, since those 2 are the only places I can find in UB. She did a little souvenir shopping and I bought yet another electric cord. I'm still trying to get my netbook charged: there are so many connections and plug types to consider - but I think I've finally got the problem solved.

We also did some grocery shopping at the dept. store. There is a large food dept. on the first floor of the dept. store, much bigger than my Minii, so we had fun looking at things and seeing how different things are packaged. For example, you can buy mayonnaise in a jar, just like at home, but you can also purchase it in a bag, in a squeeze tube, or in something like a juice box.

By the way, there are no coins in Mongolia. There are bills for everything, even down to a 10 togrog note, which would be worth about .7 cents. Not 7 cents, mind you, .7 cents. Prices can be scary here, although on closer inspection, they are quite reasonable. It's just that seeing something with a price tag of 12,000 togrog takes a moment to absorb. Generally I lop off the 3 right-hand digits, and then work on the premise that one dollar is about 1.5 togrog (actually, it's 1.46 togrog). If $12 doesn't scare me for the 12,000 togrog item, then I know that the price is actually much less than that.

After our shopping trip, we tried to catch a taxi home, but were unsuccessful. I don't know if the traffic was just too busy, and all the cabs were taken, or if we were standing in the wrong spot (although we were shown where to stand), or if there were just no cabs in the area. It is very difficult to identify taxis here. None of them seems to have the triangular sign on top that we are used to, so we aren't sure what went wrong. Anyway, we had to walk all the way back to the apt., carrying our precious cargo with us, and of course, we had bought bottles of water and juice and soda. We were exhausted by the time we got home and in spite of our original idea to fix a proper meal at home, we just ate some salad and rolls and went to bed.

The big news: We are taking off tomorrow for Khustain Nuruu National Park where some of the Takhi are located. I'm hoping to get some good photos. I won't be posting to the blog in the morning (my morning), but may be able to do it at night, although I don't know exactly when we'll be returning. So it may be Friday morning (your Thursday night) before I can deliver my Takhi Update report. Khustain Nuruu park is about 100 km from UB; I've been told it takes about 2 hrs to get there by jeep.

Garbage dump; outside apt.; living room

Jasmin

Jasmin arrived yesterday afternoon and she is GREAT! She was brought to the school before my day ended, but she was very happy to be able to sit down at my desk and check her email & facebook and wait until I was through for the day. We walked down the street and stopped in at the landmark restaurant BBQ Chicken and had dinner. We arrived at the apt. and I gave her the 30-second tour, including the bathroom pipes, the heating pipes that you have to step over to enter the apartment and the lightbulbs dangling from the ceiling. We talked about her project with the Takhi, her grandmother from Portland, ME, now living in Germany (with her German grandfather), my great-grandfather's military service in Hannover, our dogs, music and anything else you can imagine. She's so friendly and easy to talk to. She's trying to arrange a daytrip out to see the Takhi this week, so we'll see if that happens. We also have plans to get together this afternoon for a little sightseeing and then I've promised to take her to the Minii to go shopping for dinner. I also showed off my puppies to her this morning.
Having a great time!

Asking questions

One of the teachers here is pregnant, and since I brought a lot of yarn with me, I thought I'd knit something for the baby. I asked one of the other teachers if there were any superstitions regarding baby gifts (I was thinking specifically that it might be considered bad luck to buy things for the baby or to give a gift before the birth) and was assured by 2 teachers that "no, there are no superstitions about baby gifts." I said "great" and turned back to my blog-writing, only to be told next that there were no superstitions EXCEPT that you don't give baby gifts before the baby is born. Good to know, I said to myself. In case you're wondering, I had given a lesson on superstitions in class the previous week, and had elicited examples of Mongolian superstitions from the teachers' class during it, so I knew they knew what superstitions were.

I also gave a lesson about idioms last week, and gave many common examples, but the one example that consistently brought a smile to every face was "birthday suit". The first guess on the meaning of it was always a nice outfit, or one's best clothing, so when I asked them to think about what they were wearing on the day they were born, huge smiles came out across their faces.