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.