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.