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".
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I wonder if there were any dinosaur bones or eggs discovered by my childhood idol Roy Chapman Andrews? You probably weren't looking for "discovered by" names. He discovered many "firsts" in the Mongolian desert. That would've been great to look for if I'd been there. Actually, I like Deathly Valley a lot! Wonder if I could use that some where.... Sorry about your computer and the water. Geez, what a time you're having!
ReplyDeleteYes, his name appears a lot in the museum. I'd venture that he is second only to Genghis Khan in fame in Mongolia. Mongolians are very proud of the discoveries he made in the Gobi.
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