July 8. UB, Chinggis Khaan airport

There was a man who hung around the center of town selling postcards. He had a piece of paper supposedly explaining his sad story that his ger had burned down and his wife and 4 children were killed. Of course everyone knew it was all a lie, but I bought a postcard anyway. He said it was his birthday (ha!). I saw him several days in a row and it was always his birthday. So, I'm sitting here in the airport and guess what birthday boy shows up?

Friday July 8

And I'm off....or will be in a few hours. The spa yesterday was incredible, as I knew it would be. I was scrubbed for half an hour. It was amazing, yet disgusting to see the dirt that was scrubbed off me. Then off to the massage for an hour. My original plans for a Thai massage were nixed by the masseuse who apparently found too much tension or stiffness in my right shoulder. I had been trying my best to keep my embarrassing groans, moans and grunts to myself, but apparently my best wasn't good enough. So she changed the massage to another kind and she kept pummeling me. Marta and I had dinner after the spa and said goodbye. Bedtime and then the rush to get organized this morning and get out the door. My taxi should be here in about 15 minutes, so I'm on schedule. After a very long day I'll be home tomorrow. Can't wait!

Thursday, July 7. Happy Birthday, Peter!

After yesterday's adventure at the accountant's office I have little to add except to wish a very happy birthday to Peter. Can't quite believe he's 28 today. How is that possible? Today Marta and I have plans to go to the Gobi Hotel spa and get scrubbed and massaged into oblivion. Can't wait. Haly is also going to stop by to say goodbye, which will be hard. Then one last dinner with Marta and it's off to the airport for an 11:50 am flight to Beijing tomorrow. I don't know when I'll be back on the blog, but I'll do my best.

Wednesday, July 6 UB

Now that my saga has ended, I will try to fill in the story of trying to get paid by the university. I cannot give a blow-by-blow account of what happened, but I will hit all the high (and low) spots and fill in the colorful details as I proceed. The story begins approximately 1 month after I arrived. I received word from SDC (Swiss Development Cooperative), the source of my funding, that they had transferred money to the school's bank account and that I could receive part of the money due me. I went to the accountant's office with Haly and was told to sign a document. I refused, saying that I didn't understand the figures or the total that appeared there, and I wasn't going to sign anything until I understood it. This prompted a visit the next day from someone at SDC (Ganchimeg), who worked through the calculations with me. In the course of that explanation, I discovered that 1) they were trying to charge me a service fee for the bank transfer; 2) I was being charged a "project fee"; 3) I was being charged a currency exchange fee and 4) the amount that was being withheld from the first payment I was to receive was subtracted from the amount of the first payment. (In other words, the total had been split into 2 payments and the amount of the 2nd payment was subtracted from the first again, not from the total). I said that I felt as though I was being charged for the privilege of being paid. At this point, SDC agreed to pay all related charges, so I agreed to the totals we arrived at. We went back to the accountant the next day I was told I needed to have a bank card. Of course I have an American bank card, but that's not what she meant. I needed a Mongolian bank card. Haly offered to let me use her card and withdraw my money from it, but no one could tell me 1) how much I could withdraw at one time, or 2) what the ATM charge would be for each withdrawal. So I rejected that idea. I asked about receiving cash from the school, and was told there was a 300,000 T daily limit for cash. Could they increase the amount? No, there was a rule. Could I receive 300,000 T a day until I had received all my money? No, there was a rule. (Inside I'm murmuring to myself that rules were made to be broken.)

We returned the next day to find that the accountant was out because her child was ill and would be out the rest of the week. So, I wait until Monday. I can't remember what happened Monday, but when we went back Tuesday, her child was sick again. At this point, the frustration and lack of sensible rules and procedures got to me and I started to cry. Suddenly everything that I had been told was not possible became possible. Someone came over to the school from some unknown office and went with me and Haly to the bank and withdrew some money and I was paid in cash on the spot.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago: I asked the departmental director about the end of the term, what to do about my dorm room, etc., and how I would be paid the last installment of my money. She said I needed to write a report for SDC and that I would be paid June 29 or 30th. I wrote my report and emailed it to her and on the 29th, I went to her office. I was told she was out of town. When would she be back? Oh, maybe tomorrow, maybe not. Could someone call her and find out? Her phone was turned off. So, I came back the next day - same story. July 1st, still no director. Tsegii and I went to see the accountant and she said that I had received all my money. I said that I hadn't and showed her the place on my receipt that clearly said "first installment". If there's a first, then there MUST be at least a second, right? I called Ganchimeg and reported the situation and she said she would talk to the school on Monday. Tsegii and I had retreated from the office of the accountant and were sitting in the hallway making these phonecalls when the accountant came out of her office, locked the door and left. It was 4 o'clock and the school offices were still open, but the accountant left and didn't say a word to Tsegii or me. Just left. She knew we were still trying to get this business settled and get an answer for her that was other than "you've received all your money" and she just walked out. Marta and I depart for Darkhan. When I returned to UB I emailed Ganchimeg to find out what she had accomplished and where I might find my money. At this point I'm just hoping that SHE has it and I can get it from the Swiss, but no. I have to talk to the director's secretary. So, this morning Haly and I went to the accountant's office and presented my email from Ganchimeg that assures me that SDC has made the transfer and that tells me the amount of the payment. We show it to the accountant but she has a different total in mind. I call Ganchimeg and ask for an explanation of the difference between what she said and what the accountant says. Turns out her email was wrong and the accountant was, too, and the real amount is between the two. I agree, but we are told we need to have a document signed by the director, but she is on vacation! I am flabbergasted at this news. What to do? The director will come to school at 2pm. I have 2 days until I leave and I don't want to sit around the school waiting for her to sign something that she should have taken care of weeks ago. So, they decide to send someone to the director's home with the document and get her signature. We sit and wait. Two hours later the person with the document returns and then Haly and I and the person from the first installment go to the bank where I get my money in cash. So, in spite of her having told me when she would pay me, the director went on vacation (and probably knew all along she would be on vacation) and made no provisions for me. Amazing!

The End.

Back in UB

Arrived back in UB this afternoon. Only 2 more days before I fly home! Our trip to the monastery yesterday was wonderful. The monastery was built from 1727-1737 and was only partially damaged by the Soviets and it is beautiful. We hired a driver to take us there (3 hours by car, the last 35 km on a dirt road). Saw dozens of marmots - very cute, a cross between prairie dogs, meerkats and chipmunks. They build their holes near the road, so we'd see one scamper across the dirt and disappear down a hole less than 12" from the side of the track. Of course, the roads keep getting wider as one track gets rockier as the dirt is worn down to the boulders underneath, or the gullies make driving too difficult, so maybe the marmots were there first and the road has come to meet them. I was fascinated to see that the poles carrying electricity to these remote villages and settlements still have glass insulators on them. The poles themselves, although made from trees, stop about a meter above the ground and are lashed to a concrete post coming out of the ground. This is because of the severe freezing half of the year. At the monastery, Marta and I happened by a temple room where the monks were chanting. One of them was even throatsinging. While we we eating our lunches at a small restaurant near the monastery, it rained briefly, but we didn't think too much about it. It was a different story as we made our way back on the dirt road. There were parts of the road flooded and the driver often had to get out and walk ahead to find the best way to proceed. He had a Toyota, and not a Toyota SUV, either. It was still raining on this section of the road as we were driving. I think if we had left an hour later, we might have had trouble getting away. In some places we saw hail.

That night we went back to our favorite Texas Pub and I ordered a quesadilla. The description on the menu said "chiken cheese and vegetables", so I was surprised when it arrived and, although it was good, it didn't have any cheese on it. I usually let things like that go, but this time I decided to ask, especially because it was difficult to eat without the cheese binding all the veggies together. Pointing to the menu, I asked the waitress about the cheese and she went to the back to inquire. When she returned, she pointed with vague gestures to her torso and said that that was the chicken cheese. I looked at Marta and said "So chicken cheese is chicken breast?" Marta shrugged and I said OK. I kept thinking about it, wondering how "breast" became "cheese" and decided that someone had looked in a dictionary for "chest" and had mistakenly written down "cheese" instead. We had a good laugh over that.

sunday, july 3 Darkhan

Having a great time here in Darkhan. It's a city, but much smaller than UB. We had a 7 hour train ride from UB that only cost us 16,000 T, less than $15. After we arrived and rested at our hotel for a bit, we went to a restaurant, Texas Pub, that had really good food, free WiFi, Texan decor and a continuous loop of a Backstreet Boys video, but no soundtrack. Strange. This morning we got up and walked an hour to the local market, did a little shopping and walked back to the Texas Pub for lunch. We saw a small group of camels crossing the road while we were walking back. Took a bunch of pics. We ran into a large group of Peace Corps volunteers here at the pub. There's maybe 25-30 of them. They're all in training and stationed in small towns and villages around Darkhan. They're in town for the weekend for a workshop and for rabies shots. What a combo. The pub really has a good thing going: good western food and free internet. What a magnet to draw people like us and the Peace Corps. Darkhan seems to be in better shape than UB. The roads are nicer, the sidewalks are cleaner and there's a nice breeze blowing the heat away. Our hotel is really nice, too, and they have real foam pillows! Not buckwheat grain pillows! Hot clear (not orange) water! What luxuries.
This afternoon we will try to make arrangements for our trip to the monastery.

Thursday, June 30, 12:05 pm

Marta moved into my room this morning. She needed to move out of her guesthouse room and since we are taking off together on Saturday and I have an extra bed, it made great sense. We are busy making plans for the weekend. Not much else to report. I read a lot last night and was lazy getting up this morning since I had to be in my room to meet Marta at 11 am. I usually leave for school between 9 and 10.

Wednesday, June 29, 11:15 am

I met with Marta yesterday afternoon after class and then we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. I had paneer, a solid cottage cheese curd, that had been breaded and fried. Really good, although I am completely unfamiliar with Indian food. My only other encounter with the cuisine did not rate as highly. As I recall the food was heavily flavored with rose water and I didn't care for it at all. We've made plans to travel to a monastery this weekend on the train together. Should be fun. She just got back from a 16 day trip to central Mongolia and the Gobi and is eager to go exploring again. She's also moving into my dorm room for a couple of days, until we take off on Saturday. It will be nice to have company, although I hope I can keep the insomnia that has plagued me for the past 2 weeks under control. I've had trouble falling asleep, in spite of the 1-2 hour walks I take most days.
There isn't a lot to report. I get 4-5 students per class, just enough to keep it worthwhile to keep coming to school. These loyal students have invited me to a Korean restaurant on the day of the last class, so I think that I've made at least a small impact on their lives.

Monday, June 27; 11:10 am

Saw the strangest thing this morning: a little girl about 1-2, wearing cuffs that buckled around her ankles, with a 12" strap between the cuffs. Looked like something you would hobble a horse with. I assume it was to keep her from running, but I found it as reprehensible as I do leashes on kids. Very strange.

Lessons learned about Mongolian motorists:
The person quickest on the horn gets the right of way.
There is always room for another car, whether between lanes of traffic or while turning the corner.
Just because there is only one turn lane painted on the road, that doesn't mean that 2 or 3 cars in parallel can't make the turn. It's more fun to do things with friends!
If I want to park here, I can.

Sunday, June 26; 2:45 pm

Not much to report today. I'm at my favorite weekend place, Cafe Amsterdam, finishing my tomato and cheese panini, enjoying the free WiFi and watching the people from the lovely covered patio here. I expect to talk to Marta sometime this week. She called on Friday, saying she would be back in UB on Sunday, so I hope to see her soon. Only 2 weeks left and I have to say I'm ready to come home. This has been a very interesting time, full of ups and downs, but all-in-all, I've enjoyed it. High on my list is my friendship with Haly, who has been such a help to me and has become a very good friend. She says she feels as though we were destined to meet and become close. I've been so lucky to know her.

Friday, June 24: Happy Birthday, Bill!

Yesterday was actually fun. As a result of my asking about leaving early, the director of the department sent around word that anyone in the building was to attend class, so I actually had people show up! I did a lesson on the subjunctive and had a blast. Then, Haly asked for my help with a paper she has to turn in today, Friday, at noon. So, we were here until 7pm working on rewriting her research into real English, which you all know I LOVE to do. We were back here at school at 8am finishing up. It's now 11am and we are basically done. She's just finishing up tables and figures and then should be able to send it off. It concerns a project done in western Mongolia regarding veterinary inoculations and subsequent increases in animal weights, chest circumferences and a decrease in neonatal mortality. At least I could understand her thesis, conclusions and recommendations!

The other news is that this morning the water came out of my shower visibly ORANGE. I showered and washed my hair anyway since I didn't have enough bottled water in the room to revert to my former method of showering, but when I emerged I had orange streaks down my calves and thighs like a badly-applied layer of self-tanning lotion. My hair feels kind of stiff, too. At least I know I'm getting my RDA of iron today.

Wednesday, June 22

The bathroom at the school is kept locked, although I can't figure out why, for the life of me. You have to supply your own toilet paper, so there's nothing to steal, not even any soap. The keyhole on the outer door goes completely through the door and when you insert the key, you have to fool around with it to figure out how far in to stick it. You could, conceivably, push the key all the way into the room. It's an old-fashioned skeleton key, so you have to find the exact spot where the "works" of the lock are inside the door.

No students again yesterday. This is becoming boring.

Tuesday, June 21

I picked up a new kind of juice yesterday at the grocery store. It is Korean and has a drawing of an ear of corn on it, so I was intrigued and had to try it. Well, I opened the bottle and got a whiff of the scent of corn (yeah, what did I expect?) and the taste, but not strong, of roasted corn. Strange, not awful, but that's hardly a good advertising slogan.
My days are long and boring. Yesterday no teachers were in the building for class. Today is another quiet day, and it remains to be seen if anyone shows up.

Burberry plaid

I have never seen so much Burberry plaid as I do here. I had noticed it last year but never commented on it then. Burberry is everywhere: in men's shirts, umbrellas, purses, raincoats, etc. I saw a plaid shirt yesterday at the Black Market but since it had the words "BRURBER PLAID" plastered across it, I suspect that it is not authentic. Whattya think?

Monday, June 20

On Friday one class had a lesson about food and restaurants, etc. The book had photos of various American foods, including a sandwich with alfalfa sprouts on it. (The book is intended for ESOL students living in the US). We spent time discussing the food and examining the photos, talking about the ingredients of each item. One of my students pointed to the sprouts and exclaimed "plants?!". As I've discussed earlier, there is very little green in the Mongolian diet.

Sunday, June 19: Father's Day

Hot day again, today. Finished my gift shopping today with the purchase of 3 cheap watches for Bill's dad; cheap because they get stolen so often in the nursing home.

My dormitory is right on the border of where the buildings stop and the ger district begins. There's a gravel road on my side of the building that leads to the gers and to a construction site in the next valley where several apartment buildings are being built. The strange thing about this situation is that trucks and heavy machinery goes down this road at all times of the day and night, especially in the dark hours between 9 and midnight. I can't imagine what they are doing in the dark and there are no bright lights on at the site like you sometimes see at road construction sites at home.

I caught a taxi to take me to the Black Market this morning and the woman driver was very happy to practice her English with me. At one point she asked me if I liked Jesus. I assured her that I did and she said she did, too.

Saturday, June 18

I walked into the city center today and stopped at Cafe Amsterdam. They have an outdoor patio on the top floor and I sat there under an awning and ate my sandwich. Got caught on reading my emails and just enjoyed sitting and relaxing. Things are winding down around here and a lot of the teachers are taking off on vacation, so attendance at my classes is dwindling. I'd like to just cancel things because it's just too hard to teach 1 or 2 students at a time, but don't feel I have the authority. Just a few weeks left, but I'm ready to come home now.

Marta

Anita contacted me several weeks ago about a Swiss woman who was coming to UB in June and would be in and out of the capital for several weeks before returning home. Marta contacted me last week and we met on Saturday and immediately hit it off together. She is a big-hearted person with a tremendous laugh and we had such a wonderful time together. We started together with a coke at Cafe Amsterdam and then went to the State Department Store for her to do a little shopping in preparation for the tour she was to begin on Sunday. After that we were having such a good time talking that we decided to go to dinner. She introduced me to a restaurant across Peace Avenue from the department store called the Geneva Club where we both had wonderful salads with lettuce, chicken and raisins. The salad was so delicious and so welcome after weeks without much green in my diet. Marta is 66 and takes off every year for 4-6 weeks on an adventure such as this one. We made plans to get together after she is back from the Gobi. Can't wait! Everyone Anita has introduced me to has been an exceptional person with whom I would like to stay in contact for the rest of my life. She is from Canton Turgau in Switzerland and says she knows several Hiestands there.

Chinggis Monument, continued

After seeing the sights from the horse's neck, we got back into the car and drove to a restaurant nearby where we got out of the car and TOOK OUR PIZZAS INTO THE RESTAURANT!! Unbelievable! This, of course, was about 3 hours after we picked them up, but they were still good. I have no problem eating cold leftover pizza so there was no problem eating cold untouched pizza, either. The pizza here is strictly un-Italian (carrots, corn, cheddar cheese and I have no idea what the meat was and don't want to ask), but if you give up your expectations and just take it for itself it is pretty good.

Yesterday I went with Altansukh and a new Japanese friend of his to the Intellectual/Puzzle Museum. It was wonderful. They have 4000 3d wooden puzzles, the biggest of which has 673 pieces and requires 56,831 moves to disassemble. (No, I didn't try it). It is a privately owned museum and the founder joined us and did some magic tricks for those of us in the tour. The museum also includes his collection of chess sets from around the world, including some ancient ones that had boards that are 10x10 and 11x11 squares instead of the 8x8 boards in use now. I wonder what kinds of moves the extra pieces made and why they dropped out of use.

I had had some plans for the day yesterday which went completely changed as the day progressed. Altansukh had texted me about the museum on Tuesday and I replied that, yes, I wanted to go and could we go in the morning? He always texts because he doesn't trust being able to understand me over the phone, I think. Anyway, it turns out that he left his phone in his car and didn't get back to me until late Wednesday am suggesting a 3pm meeting.. OK, so I took off for the central city, deciding to walk and do an errand and then head over to Cafe Amsterdam, a favorite place for ex-pats that has WiFi, thinking I'd get up-to-date with my email and this blog. Last week two of the teachers took me to a jeweler because I had the idea to have a necklace made with my name in the ancient vertical Mongolian script, not the Cyrillic script in use since 1940. He had indicated the necklace would be ready on Monday, so I thought everything would be copacetic by Wednesday. Hah! I got there at 1:30 pm and he showed me the piece of brass with the name on it....but absolutely no progress had been made on it. Not having any way to communicate with him, I decided to sit and wait. He took out his jeweler's saw and proceeded to begin
sawing. He finished cutting out the figure at 2:30 when his shop was visited by two guys carrying some sort of tripod with a strange object attached on top. He turned his attention to them and started working on a bolt that apparently had had its head broken off. About that time Altansukh called and put off our meeting until 4. At 3 the jeweler finished with the 2 guys and began polishing my name. He was done by 3:30, so that's when I started walking to meet Altansukh. So, there went my plans for lunch, emailing and blogging. Luckily I really love the necklace and it was incredibly cheap, so I guess I paid for it with time and inconvenience as much as with anything else.

When the teachers took me to the jeweler and we were negotiating the style and price, etc., the fees were itemized for me. One of the items listed was "human salary".

I saw a man yesterday wearing a bright red t-shirt that read "I'm a Gleek.".

A billboard on the street for a new gym advertised "Diet Dance".

I'm baaack

These have been crazy, frustrating days since the Internet here has gone south. So much to tell that has happened in the last two weeks. I'll start off with my day off, June 1. Two of the teachers here who are best friends invited me to go with them to the Chinggis Khan monument that is about 50 km out of the city. The teachers, Tsegi and Zolaa and Zolaa's husband, Bataar, and their 2 year old son, Dimbe, picked me up in Bataar's car and we went to buy a couple of pizzas. We drove for two hours until we reached the monument, which is a 40 meter aluminum statue of Chinggis on horseback, really quite attractive. You can walk up inside the statue and come out onto the horse's neck as an observation deck. The crowds inside the statue on the stairs were crushing and everyone had a small baby or toddler with them. In some cases people even had scooters or crutches with them. I could scarcely breathe and of course there was no order or orderly line getting up the stairs. People just pushed and shoved and eventually someone just popped through the crowd out onto the observation platform.

Friday, 8:10 am

I keep having the strangest dreams in which I don't know where I am. Recently I had one where I was asking people what state I was in. (I'll beat you to the punchline: the State of Confusion). Mary Swift told me I was in Ohio and Nancy Brown said I was in Connecticut. I decided I was in Kentucky and wondered why I hadn't done any work in the kitchen (my next project is redecorating - not remodeling - the kitchen).

During my most recent trip to the grocery store I saw a package of cupcake mix that looked decidedly American, not imported from Europe, as so much of the packaged food is here, so I picked it up to look at it. To my surprise the box said it was made by Brand Castle in Beachwood, Ohio, with our old zip code: 44122! So, if anyone in Cleveland knows someone who works at Brand Castle, you can tell them that their products were spotted in Ulan Bataar, of all places.

There was a light sprinkling of rain last night, which helped green up the trees and also allowed me to keep the window open all night. On regular nights the dust blown in is visible the next morning, so the dampening effect of the rain cut the dust and sand considerably. I remember reading something years ago about how sand from the Gobi is deposited in houses around the globe every day, but here I can guarantee that I'm sweeping up the Gobi every morning.

Oh, yes, my news: the hot water is BACK! Thought I'd save the good news for the end. In spite of the dire predictions I was told, the hot water is back and plentiful. I took two showers last night and another this morning. Now I just have to wait until Monday when the accountant should, by all indications, be back at her desk and I can get some money. Things are looking up for our intrepid girl in UB.

Just take me out and shoot me NOW

I found out this morning that the hot water won't be back until the beginning of JULY!! I don't know how I will last until then. If I had the money to go to the spa I could probably make it week to week, but the money situation is far from being solved. Yesterday I had a meeting with the school's director, Bolormaa, and 2 reps from SDC and my questions about the salary were cleared up. After that it should have been a simple procedure to turn in my papers and collect my money. So today Haly and I went to the Accounting Office of the university and discovered that the woman in charge of (me? Foreigners? The money from outside sources?) has taken the rest of the week off. She will be back Monday. I would normally ask about getting an advance on the money due me, but that's a bit sticky in this situation because of Haly. Haly hasn't been paid by the university in two months and she keeps offering to loan me money, but how can I take money from her in her situation? Since Haly acts as my translator any questions I might have asked of the accounting officials go unasked because I don't want to take her money.

I can't tell you how many offices I went into this morning or how many people I saw in the quest for payment, but suffice it to say that the trip took more than two hours and I still have to go back this afternoon.

As for my Windows situation, well, that story's a bit funnier. I told Haly how my Windows got messed up after the electricity went off over the weekend and I was told to meet someone from the school at my room this morning and it would be fixed. I went back to the dorm after Skyping with Peter this morning, took the people into my room and proceeded to show them what happens when I turn the computer on. It turns out that Haly got the idea that my windows (the glass ones in my room) were damaged, not my Microsoft Windows. Sooooo, we went back to the administration building to talk to someone in a different office, probably to wait another few days before that problem is solved.

Tea kettle shower details

In case you're interested in the details of my tea kettle showers, here they are. I have found that 3 liters of water is sufficient for a decent hair-washing. I heat up 2 liters in the kettle and then throw in another of cool water to regulate the temperature. One cup of water over the top so that I can lather up and then the rest straight down to rinse. Voila. Then over to my tray-mirror to dry my hair and I'm good-to-go.

Tuesday, 9:22 am.

Yesterday morning, as I was getting ready to leave for school, I got a knock on my door. I called out "hello", but couldn't hear a reply. I opened the door and found 2 women with buckets and mops indicating that we supposed to come in and clean my room. Surprised, but pleased, I let them in and they mopped the floor, cleaned the window sill and bathroom. I've seen the thing they used as a mop before: it is a long pole with a short piece of wood "T-ed" at the end. Then they throw a towel partially over the top of that end with the rest of it on the flloor and scrub away. It's just like washing with a rag without having to get on your knees. I've never seen an American style mop here.

At home I had bought four DK animal sticker books before leaving, thinking they might be interesting to a group of veterinarians. Yesterday I only had a small group in class, so I brought them out. I was surprised at how big a hit they were. I've never seen a group of women in their 30's and 40's get so caught up in putting stickers in books. To keep it semi-educational, I had them read out loud the paragraph about each animal when they put the stickers in place.

Monday 5/23, 11 am No hot water, Day 172, I mean Day 6

My electricity went off yesterday while I was checking my email and after it came back on Windows was messed up and I couldn't use the computer. I called a friend from last year (computer expert) and he said that Windows would have to be reinstalled, so I'm confined to using the computer at school until that happens. So, here's a quick summary of my weekend.

1). No hot water. Did I mention that? I may have.

2). My high school friend-hoping to become a freshman at Dickinson State U came by after class on Saturday. As we were talking about our plans for the rest of the weekend I mentioned my planned museum trip and he asked if he could join us. I said he could, and he offered to drive me to Sukhbataar Square where I was scheduled to meet Ragchaa. We got there at 10 on Sunday, met up with Ragchaa, and for some reason that was never explained to me, we walked over to the Natural History Museum instead of the Intellectual Museum. The museum was interesting, full of stuffed animals and dinosaur bones, but I still don't know how we ended up there. One of the most interesting things I saw was the femur and hands from a dinosaur called " terrible hands". The femur was taller than a 6 foot man and the sign said the whole dinosaur would have been three times taller than the skeleton that was in the room, which was about 15 feet tall.

3). The guides/guards in each of the exhibit rooms had tea kettles and cell phones plugged into the electric outlets and made themselves at home there. I can't imagine this happening at any museums I've been to elsewhere.

4). There were a large amount of exhibit signs in English, in addition to the Mongolian, but when they only gave scientific names for the birds and animals I didn't help me very much. Of course I realize that often there may not be a common English name for an animal that doesn't exist outside of Mongolia, but the name helps peg the animal in my brain so that I have an idea of what I'm looking at. One exhibit compared different geological features from different continents: highest point, largest lake, etc. On the sign for North America the lowest point was mentioned as being "Deathly Valley".

Saturday, 5/21, 11:50 am. At school

I'm at school now, getting ready for the 2nd class of the day. Not much to say that's new. My thoughts are completely filled with dreams of hot water, clean hair, clean laundry and money flowing from ATM machines, none of which I'm going to have in the near future. Haly is back with me for the moment, so that is good news. I should have much more to relate after tomorrow's visit to the museum, so come back then. Things are still quite chilly here, not what I expected this near to the end of May, but luckily my dorm room is still comfortable. It's only the school rooms that are cold. Tomorrow will be my first attempt at taking a bus in the city. Should be interesting. I've heard that the buses don't slow down, regardless of the condition of the roads, which generally are not good, so looks like we're in for a bumpy ride. (Thank you, Bette Davis).

Friday, 6:02 pm No good news on the horizon

A later conversation with Bolormaa today elicited the opinion from her that 7 days is probably a bit hopeful and the radiator repair will probably take longer. Sigh! On top of that we were unable to finish up our negotiations to get me paid, so I don't have the money to go to the Gobi Hotel to clean up. Double sigh!

Even the news I got is not good news

Finally got to talk to the school director, Bolormaa. It turns out that the hot water is systematically cut to different parts of the city while they do repair work on the radiators. This will last for a total of 7 days, which means I haven't passed the halfway point yet. I may have to make a return trip to the spa that Christina and I visited on my last night here last year. I never described that trip in this blog because I took the train to Moscow the next morning and was out of communication via the Internet for the next two weeks. So, I will tell you about that last evening now.

Christina called me that evening and suggested we go to the Gobi Hotel spa. She had already been there and said it was wonderful. We got there around 8pm, I believe, and went into the changing room. We had paid for a scrubbing and when they say "scrubbing" they mean it. You lie down on these benches and girls in swim suits take a loofa pad and go to work on you - every square inch of you. After the scrubbing you can soak in either a cold or hot water pool, or take a shower. Then there are these mineral rooms you can enter. There are several different rooms with various crystals mounted in the walls. I know there were amethyst and salt, but I can't remember the others. I'm not sure what these were supposed to do for you and basically I'm not very "woo-woo" anyway, so I didn't stay very long. After visiting the mineral rooms we went to have a massage. There were three different types of massages available, but we both chose a Thai massage. I can't remember what the other two types were, but the Thai massage was magnificent! These tiny girls climb all over you and twist and contort you in ways you didn't know you could bend. They twist and stretch you for an hour and you come out of there feeling like a lump of Silly Putty. I'd be afraid to go to any massage parlor at home and sign up for a Thai massage, but at the Gobi Hotel it's like going to the Red Door or its equivalent and of course, the price was incredible. My memory is shaky on this point after a year, but I'm sure the whole experience was less than $20. So, yes, I'm very tempted to return this weekend and have them scrub some of the city grime off me.

I got back to my apartment around 11:30, tired and limp, but very clean and relaxed!

Friday, 5/20, 10:40 am. No news. This does not mean good news

Day 3 of No Hot Water: this blogger is getting restless. She considered calling in "dirty" this morning, but thought better of it and sacrificed 3 bottles of drinking water to the kettle in the name of clean hair and marginally cleaner smelly body bits. It was a race between getting the soap out of her hair and the supply of water at the bottom of the kettle, but luckily the water held out until all traces of shampoo were eliminated.

Now, onto other subjects. On Sunday I am meeting one of last year's teachers and we are going to the Intellectual Museum. I wanted to go last year, but hadn't heard about it until too late in my stay. It sounds very interesting. Apparently it is full of puzzles and the like and there is even a cash prize given if you can completely take apart and reassemble a puzzle within a specified time. I believe these are predominately the wooden 3-d style puzzles that we would usually call Chinese puzzles. Sounds like fun. I'll tell you all about it Sunday night. Haly is out sick today; she went home early with a cold. I miss her. She's really delightful and very funny. Great company.

Thursday, 6:21 pm Things are getting desperate

Day #2 of no hot water: Things are not looking good for our plucky girl in UB. This morning she heated water in her tea kettle and did the best she could at washing her hair and taking a sponge bath. The director of the school said she would try to find out why there is no hot water and when it would return, but left during the 2nd English class of the day and left no clue as to what she may have found out.

On the brighter side, I may be getting some company soon. Anita wrote me about a Swiss woman who is coming to Mongolia for a few weeks and will be in the city on and off during that time. I told her that Marta would be welcome to stay anytime, especially since I have the extra twin bed and would be glad of the company. She arrives sometime in early June and I'm looking forward to meeting her.

Wednesday, 8pm

I had no hot water today, which means I couldn't take a shower or wash my hair - both major calamities to me. I sure hope it's back on tomorrow or I'm going to be very grumpy and unpresentable. Everything is so dusty here. There is little to no grass anywhere and the wind blows constantly, stirring up dust that whips through your hair the moment you step outside. In addition, it is so dry here that lips and hands feel chapped and flaky all the time. The Mongolian women all look so beautiful with their long black hair - I don't know how they stay looking so nice and untouched all the time. It's something I never learned.

Wednesday, 6:06 pm, Fun & Tiring Day Off

I had a great day today. Anita Fahrni, who is responsible for getting me these assignments in Mongolia, had been in Mongolia recently and left a bag of goodies for me at the Swiss Consulate, so I went over there this morning to pick it up and then decided to enjoy myself downtown for the day. Anita's bag is full of treasures: Swiss chocolates, a couple of Swiss baseball hats (no, not from Swiss baseball teams), various snacks, but the most interesting and surprising thing is a pen from the Swiss campus of Webster University - the school my sister graduated from, although not the Swiss campus, the home campus in St. Louis. I'm sure Anita has no idea that I come from St. Louis or that there is any connection between me, my family, my hometown and this school, but there you have it.

After the Swiss Consulate, I walked into the center of town and had lunch at the German bakery and coffee house where Jasmin and I went together so many times. I had a wonderful carrot soup, a lovely roll and a chocolate Berliner (filled doughnut). It was so nice just to sit and relax and read. They keep all kinds of foreign newspapers and the international edition of Newsweek there, so I had a lovely time and kept the lemonade flowing.

After that I walked over to the State Department Store because I decided to buy a small thermos so I could take some tea to school with me every morning. I also stopped by the grocery store on the first floor of the building and picked up a small container of my favorite Mongolian salad. It's made from small strips of beef, strips of dill pickle, shredded carrots and sliced onions (yes, don't faint, onions), mixed with sour cream or mayonnaise or maybe both of them. Anyway, it's really good and I've already eaten the whole container for dinner this evening.

I started walking home because my cash was getting low and my lack of language skills means that I can't tell a taxi driver to take me 4950 togrok's worth of the ride home to Zaisan. I thought I'd walk as far as I could and then find someone when I was sure I could cover the fare. Well, I walked and I walked and I walked and finally decided that I had enough money to get me home, so I put my hand out for a taxi and waited and waited and waited. So, I decided to walk some more and after about a half hour I tried again for a taxi. It took a while, but someone finally stopped and I said "Zaisan", the neighborhood the school is in. He nodded, so I said "university" and either he didn't understand or he didn't want to go there because he shook his head and left. I walked on. After another half hour I was close to the school, but at the bottom of the mountain the school is on, so I tried again. I figured anyone coming this way would be likely to be passing the school, or wouldn't mind taking a weary foreigner a little out of his way for a couple of thousand togrok. Thankfully someone stopped this time and was willing to take me to the campus. Hoorah! It took me 2 1/2 hours to get home from the Department store and this doesn't begin to take into account all the walking I did from the Swiss Consulate to the bakery to the department store before my journey home began. I sure was glad to see my mountain and dorm building at last.

Tuesday, 8:34 pm

The weather is trying to warm up, bit by bit. It's often warmer in the morning than it is when I finally leave school around 6pm. I've found that classes, although easier to teach now that we're following a book, are a lot less fun. I do take every opportunity to clarify a point of grammar or explain an uncommon phrase, but I feel as though the creativity has been taken from me and I'm just there as a train conductor, making sure all students get to the end of the paragraph at the same time. Oh well, can't have it all, I guess.

My new "friend" stopped by after classes today, although I'm not quite sure why. He accompanied me to the grocery store and then I went home. I asked him if he had any questions about the US, but he said he didn't and he left.

Yesterday the water was off in my room when I got home; later the electricity shut off, too. The whole neighborhood was pitch dark and I was grateful that I was already home and ready for bed when it happened. All I could see from the window were the fires in the gers that are tucked into various corners of the neighborhood: little round lights glowing in the darkness. They looked so cozy out there.

Monday, 5/16, continued

A couple of days ago I played a game in my beginning class called "I'm Going on a Picnic". No, it's not the usual game where you name something to take on the picnic and the next person adds something and then has to repeat your item, etc., and on to the next person. This game requires the leader to name things they'll bring that starts with their initials, but in this case I used only the "B", since the others don't have last names. The trick is then to see if the other players catch on and offer to bring things that begin with the same letter as their names. Well, my students kept guessing things and I kept saying "no", so eventually I thought I'd try to help them out and after someone asked if he could bring a knife, I said no, but that Khanda could. Khanda looked at me with this expression of disbelief and she and Haly burst out laughing. I looked at Haly for an explanation and here's what had happened. Khanda is a Buryat, one of the ethnic groups present in Mongolia, originally from the area around Lake Baikal. Apparently, Buryats are known as being fierce tribesmen, fond of their long knives (which Haly demonstrated with a flourish, drawing an imaginary blade out from under an equally imaginary robe and brandishing it in the air). Khanda thought I was making a reference to her being a Buryat, which I, of course, knew nothing about, nor did I know anything about the group's reputation. But everyone had a great laugh about it and I learned something. Luckily she didn't take any offense at my comment!

Monday, 5/16, 7:00 pm

Happenings galore today! First of all, my students have decided they want to follow a textbook, so they chose one and voila! my lesson plan troubles are over. All I have to do each day is open the book and indicate which students are to read the conversation and my part is taken care of. Both classes are using the same book, too.
Then, at 5:30 a young Mongolian boy came into the office and started talking to me. Turns out that he will be going to Dickinson State University in Dickinson, ND, this fall and wants to practice his English. His English is actually pretty good and he apparently could understand me well, but that's still quite a step from taking classes at a university, understanding the material and passing the courses. Still, I agreed to talk with him on a regular basis, and luckily he's not shy about talking to me in English, so we'll see how this goes. Like all Mongolians he has only one name, so I'd like to see how the registrar deals with THAT in their computerized records.
The other big happening is that I have internet access in my dorm room, finally! I'm using it right now, yes RIGHT NOW, and I'm thrilled. I won't know what to do with all my free time now that 1) I won't have any lessons to plan; and 2) I can write my blog and emails in the evening and won't have to fit it in in the mornings before classes start.

Saturday, 8:20 am, Blogger has returned

No posts yesterday because "Blogger" was unavailable, but I find that he (she, it?) is back at the job, so I am, too. Here's what you missed: Thursday after class I went to a new-to-me grocery store that is much nicer than the ones I've frequented so far. I bought digestive biscuits made in Oman, sweetened dill pickles from Poland, strawberry jam from Poland, and applesauce among too many other things. I completely neglected to think about the fact that I'd have to carry all these cans and jars back to my dorm room, so I was beat by the time I made it to the front door of the building. I had stopped to catch my breath after the first flight of stairs when this young, tall Mongolian guy came and took both of my bags from me and carried them to my door. I was so thankful, but of course all I could say was "thank you" a couple of times before he put down the bags and went away.

While I was in the store I heard some English being spoken behind me, so I went over to say hi. There was an older woman with 4 younger girls and the woman was obviously showing them the ropes about shopping in UB. The woman and 2 of the girls are from Canada. She's a teacher at the American School near here. The other girls are from South Carolina and all 4 girls are here on a short term study program.

All the books tell you not to drink the tap water here, although I frequently did at my other apartment, but I would never do that here. The water last year was clear and tasted fine, but the water at the dorm is discolored and leaves a ring of residue around the pot when I cook eggs. The eggs come out as lightly-dyed Easter eggs and there's no way anyone would put that water in a glass and drink it. The one saving grace this place has over last year is that we have a water filter on the ground floor and everyone fills up bottles to lug upstairs to their rooms. I carry an empty bottle with me at all times so that I can fill it on my way to school and fill it again on my way back to my room. It's a hassle, but at least the water is free and I don't have to buy drinking water all the time.

Thursday, 11 am

I had a very relaxing day yesterday. That was not how I originally planned to spend the day, but when I woke up I found the ground covered with snow (again!) and just didn't feel like trudging through it to do a couple errands that could wait until the better weather that will surely come this weekend, right? Monday they were selling ice cream at the graduation ceremony and it snows on Wednesday! So I stayed put and relaxed for most of the day (read, took a long nap).

I helped Haly write a letter of recommendation for a friend's job application and am glad that I can help her in even the smallest way because she has been such a big help to me. She attends every one of my classes: the beginning level to translate for anyone who doesn't understand what I'm trying to get across, and the second level because even she has a little trouble with prepositions and the like, and she is eager to improve her English.

Graduation ceremony

Yesterday was graduation day for the undergraduates in the school of agriculture's veterinary medicine department. I walked over to the main building and watched for a while. The girls all had on beautiful and elaborate brocade dresses and the boys either had on suits or deels, the national Mongolian costume, with cowboy hats. They were striking. I couldn't get any good pictures, however, as the room was too dark. The families of the graduates all milled around, talking on cell phones while the graduation was going on. Seems to be customary for the grads to get huge bouquets of flowers and even larger stuffed animals. The boys got large ribbon bows with elaborate chains like watch chains pinned to their chests. It was all quite interesting, although I couldn't understand a word, of course. I asked one of the professors what someone can do with a bachelor's degree in veterinary medicine and was told that he/she could be a veterinary inspector.

Yesterdays classes were the best ones so far. Maybe I'll figure out this teaching thing sometime before I leave in July(!).

Time differences

Keep in mind that although the blog may say Sunday, I'm really writing it on Monday morning, at least 12 hours later. Now why it says I'm writing this at 6:38 pm on Sunday which should mean it's 6:38 am on Monday (it's not, it's 10:05 am right now) I can't begin to answer. Guess I'll start putting a real date stamp on each entry to avoid confusion.

Monday morning routine

I had considered going to the Black Market yesterday, but decided not to and to just take it easy at home. So I stayed in and read a lot, did some laundry and cooked my dinner. It was a relief not to have to go over to the school and teach even though it meant that I didn't have Internet access. This morning was a bright blue, cloudless day, like most of them in Mongolia. It is such a nice contrast to the dreary, smoggy skies of Beijing. I never saw the sun or even any blue patch of sky there.

For those wondering what my usual routine looks like on a teaching day, here it is. I wake up early, take a shower and rinse out yesterday's clothes, dry my hair and fix a small breakfast. I get dressed and look over my notes and plans for what I'm going to do with each class that day. I walk over to the classroom building about 8:00 am and open up my computer and go straight to my email. Then I fill out the next blog entry and then begin planning the lessons in earnest, writing sample sentences, questions, etc. My first class begins at 1:00 pm and runs until 3 pm. I have half an hour off and then the second class starts at 3:30, and lasts until 5:30. At this point I might do a little more research about topics to discuss the following day, or I might just go home, cook my supper, read or knit a little and go to bed. It might not sound like much, but the schedule is full and I am exhausted by bedtime. Although I would love to have a real two day weekend so that I could get out into the countryside and see something other than Ulan Bataar I do look forward to that break I'll have every Wednesday so that I can recuperate and rest up for the remainder of the week ahead.

Teaching is tiring

I teach two classes a day, two hours each class and then I scour the Internet for ideas for lessons for the next day. I am exhausted when I finally get home, but these classes sure burn through my materials quickly. On top of that, one group speaks very basic English only and the other students understand fairly well but have the usual problems with pronunciation, leaving out articles and the verb "to be", which is missing in Mongolian, so I cannot simply recycle one lesson plan for the next group. Wish I could.

Hot boiled yogurt

I went to the school's cafeteria in the basement today at lunch and had a most delicious drink. It's called aarts, in Mongolian, and that translates, more or less, as hot boiled yogurt. It really is delicious and very filling. By contrast I wasn't very fond of the salted milk tea that you get every time you visit a ger, but this (the aarts) has a unique taste, not sour, but not terribly sweet, either. I've asked my officemate, Haly, to teach me how to say "It was delicious", so I can tell the cafeteria workers when I take my cup back.

I've been pleasantly surprised by how quickly I've learned the names of my students this time around, even the names I hadn't heard before. I already know everyone's names and that small thing took me WEEKS to learn last year.

Cattle in my neighborhood

I forgot to mention in the previous posting that yesterday when I came home from the school there was a small herd of cattle in my neighborhood. Now mind you, this is a university campus with numerous dorms and apartment buildings and everything is paved, but there they were just standing on the corner. I vowed at that moment I would not go anywhere without my camera. Can't believe that I didn't get a picture of them.

This is spring?

The rain we had yesterday was just a prelude for the snow that arrived later in the afternoon. By the time I left the school, the ground was completely covered in white. This being Mongolia, heat in the buildings has been turned off citywide according to the calendar date, with no regard to the actual weather outside the windows. Still my room was quite cozy last night; I have plenty of blankets and the heated towel rack is still working, so there are no complaints from me.

I "timed" my walk to school this morning. Last year my trek to Aptech took exactly as long as two run-throughs of Mary J. Blige's version of "One". Today's walk lasted through 3 repetitions. I've been told that my internet situation at the dorm will be resolved this afternoon. We'll see. I'm not optimistic nor pessimistic about it. I just know that some things take a little longer than others and the communication barrier is a complication. I've also noticed that people seem to be reluctant to explicitly give me disappointing news like there will be a delay in getting something done. It seems to be easier just to let the situation drag out. Eventually things get done, but no one wants to be the bearer of bad news. So I wait and busy myself with other things and hurry to school in the mornings so that I can log on to my email and scour this blog's comments for news from all of you.

My first day off.

I have Wednesdays off from teaching because the teachers who are my students here at the school of vet med have meetings that day. As a result I will be teaching 2 levels of classes on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Because I was free today I traveled back to my former school to visit the teachers I knew there and to leave some presents for the baby born last year to 2 of the teachers, and one for the little girl I knitted the sweater for. It was fun to surprise them all by showing up and I already have several invitations for dinner.

Before climbing the stairs to Aptech, I stopped by to see the family of dogs who live behind the school. I was surprised to see that the junk yard in which they live has changed and there is more construction back there than before. There are only 3 dogs back there now: the papa dog, mama dog and the fluffy puppy. No signs of the other mother dog, the one who was being ostracized last April just before I left, nor any sign of the smallest puppy born in January 2010. I'm not sure if they recognized me (although I made sure to wear the same color coat as I did before), but by the end of my visit they were much friendlier than when I arrived. I am certainly surprised that there isn't a new litter of puppies this year.

I started out early this morning from my room and caught a free-lance taxi to get to the northern part of the city where Aptech is. We got ensnarled in a traffic jam and when the things came to a standstill, the driver motioned for me to get out! I did make much better time walking and ended up walking all the way to Baga Toiruu, the street I lived on and where the school is, but I wonder why he wanted me to get out. He wasn't going to make any money sitting in the traffic jam and at least I was willing to pay him. Maybe he just wanted to cut his losses and turn around and hope for a fare going in a different direction. That's one of the delights of being here: without the ability to communicate so many things end up simply as guesses.

It rained last night and on and off during the day today. First time I've seen rain in UB, although it rarely amounted to much more than a drizzle.

Back in UB

I'm back in UB, for 2 months this time. I'm teaching English to a group of professors at the Mongolia State University of Agriculture, School of Veterinary Medicine. The total number of students I'll have is unknown at this time. Yesterday I met a group of them and tried to make a determination of whether they were beginner or more advanced students by asking questions and seeing how well they understood me or could answer the questions. Then I had to divide the names into 2 classes and present the rosters to the director. I wasn't sure if I needed to be political in this decision or not (should I put the department head of surgery in the beginner's group?), but in the end I decided to just go with my gut instinct and divide them as I saw them. Today will be my first day of really teaching and I'm a bit nervous.

As for my accommodations - they're a big improvement over last year's apartment. I have a room in the dormitory for the "better students." It's one room, with a bathroom, and has 2 twin beds, a fridge, hot plate, desk, chair and TV. The bathroom is nice (no exposed pipes!) and has a handheld shower in the corner without shower walls or door. The floor is slightly depressed in that area to let the water drain out there. The building is only 2 years old and is in very good condition. The stairs are stone, not concrete, and more regular in terms of the height of the risers, although not always quite standard. I'm on the 5th floor this time, so I'm still getting plenty of exercise up and down the stairs. I have a splendid view of mountains out my window. If you look at a map of UB, I'm in the southern part of the city, near the Golden Buddha statue and the Bogd Khan mountain, which is one of the peaks I see from my window. The electricity situation is slightly improved over last year. This time I have a long florescent bulb in the middle of the ceiling (not the single suspended incandescent bulb I had last year). There still is only one outlet, but I do have a power strip, however. Unfortunately the outlet is not near the mirror, so drying my hair took some improvising. There is an aluminum tray in the kitchen area, so I propped the tray up on top of the fridge, using a ladle to keep it from sliding down, and I dry my hair looking at my reflection in the shiny tray. You do what you have to with what you have!

How I happened to return to UB is a story I will share soon, as well as the saga (and it IS an epic story) of my trip here. I know, too, that the ending of my 2010 trip is missing from this blog, and I will fill that in in later posts. For now I'll say that I'm pleased to be back in Mongolia and looking forward to more adventures. I feel like an old hand in many ways. I was able to tell the director of the department how to register my passport, and I already knew that I had to get a new SIM card for my cell phone since they use a different technology here.