June 2009 Archives

Another week has passed here in Ulaanbaatar.  I'm still feeling weak and tired.  My teacher said that she had an American student stay at her house for 4 months and for the first month she was really tired.

I keep taking the Univera Ageless Extra, Regenicare and Aloe Vera gel that my sister gave me.  My digestive system feels pretty good most of the time, which is great.  And the more I drink the juice, the lighter my bags get. Two pounds down, twenty-five to go.

There's the 15 hour time difference, the pollution, the severe climate changes and the high altitude. Apparently, at high altitudes the air contains less oxygen; therefore, the body needs to create greater amounts of hemoglobin in order to process the oxygen-thin air.  I guess that's why athletes do blood doping with red blood cells.  That must also be why mountain climbers who go to K2 or Mount Everest have to wait at the lower base camps for weeks in order to acclimatize.  

Weather. The weather has been erratic, to say the least.  Monday was a hot day, around 30˚C, then Tuesday the temperature dropped to below freezing to about 30˚ F and it snowed.  We couldn't believe it when we saw the large flakes start coming down when we were at the VSO office in the afternoon.  So I told Navamani, who's never been in the snow, that we should go outside.  So we ran out there and starting playing around.  Then the "Filipino contingent," as I call them, three fun and crazy volunteers, came out to dance around in the snow.  We took photos and videos of ourselves.  Then, after about 15 minutes of folly, we all ran back inside and continued what we were doing.   It's been warm then freezing cold.  It snowed three days last week.

Language. We have been progressing well with the language, mainly because the teachers, Otonaa and Biamba, are excellent instructors with wonderful personalities.  They both speak English and can really explain grammar well.  Of course, knowing other languages helps me because I can find similarities at times, which helps me to learn.  The Survival Course is more about learning the essentials and not about grammar but Navamani and I ask a lot of questions so the teachers give us plenty of extra information.  Of course, we'd made a lot of funny mistakes.  I have mixed up dog with vegetables and husband, which could cause some really weird looks on people's faces.  Fortunately for me, Mongolians don't eat dog. When I lived in Cambodia, the Cambodians would say that they were more civilized than the Vietnamese because they didn't eat dog.  

Our teachers both enjoyed the course as much as we did.  Yesterday we were all so sad to end the course.  I think the other volunteers who arrived a few months ago might be a little envious, given the fact that we've had much better teachers and learned so much more.  I think Navamani will probably continue Mongolian classes at the school on weekends but I'll have to find another instructor out in the countryside in Ovorhangai.  There's probably a school teacher out there who could use some extra money.

Lucky for us, Bridge International School had arranged for us to take a tour of Parliament House on Friday so we all hopped on the bus and went there.  There are so many Korean students at the school that we had a Korean translator.  One of the teachers translated into approximate English, as well.   I felt very privileged to see Parliament.  We even were allowed to see a session in progress.

Telephone. I finally bought a new cell phone.  It's a really strange looking Nokia phone that looks like a child's toy.  I'm not sure if this model exists in the US.  I was contemplating bringing the cell phone I had in the US but I thought it would be a hassle, given that the electrical outlets and voltage are different here, so I left it.  Then I saw the outlets here, which are universal or have universal outlet extension cords attached to them. If I had brought my phone, I would have only needed to buy a new SIM card.  They only cost about four dollars and come with free minutes. 

The Little Things. There have been some really funny moments this week.  On Wednesday night, one of the Aussie Quartet, a group of 4 Australian women staying at our guesthouse, came into the living room very slowly with a look of concern on her face.  Her belt was undone and she was holding a roll of toilet paper in her hand.  With hesitance, she said to the manager, Aki, a Dutch volunteer, that she wasn't sure if it was the appropriate time to bring up the matter but, "this toilet paper is... rough."  I immediately added, "It'll cut you up. When folded it's got some sharp edges."  Then everyone made comments, like their skin was already chafed from the cold, dry weather and that they didn't need to get chafed "down there."  Someone complained about the internal injuries suffered and that litigation might be in order.  Then we started talking about how stretchy the paper was, despite it being so thick and rough.  You could keep pulling and pulling at it then it would just snap apart.  Whenever anyone entered a toilet stall, they'd see the stretched out roll of paper with finger indentations caused by the force required to pull off a piece.   One person commented that she thought she'd have to call for help because she couldn't manage to pull off a piece.   Needless to say, we all laughed hysterically all night long and even the next day, making extra comments here and there.  Aki got the hint and bought better quality toilet paper the next day. 

Before three of the four Australian ladies returned home the next day, we all agreed that they should buy some of the toilet paper to place in their homes when guests come over just to see their reaction.  We also thought that they could sneak the toilet paper into their children's bathrooms so that they could share in the Mongolian experience.

Food. During our In Country Training we are able to eat lunch for free, courtesy of VSO, at the Ananda Café, which is a vegetarian restaurant very close to the guesthouse. On Monday we ate there then I didn't go on Tuesday because I'd eaten something at school. So Navamani went alone.  She said that as soon as she entered, one of the waitresses said something to her in Mongolian that she didn't understand.  So someone came to interpret and said very loudly to Navamani, in front of all the customers, that when she came to the restaurant with me on Monday, we left without paying. Navamani was so embarrassed!  There was another staff member - absent that day - who understood that our meals were paid by VSO but the waitress wasn't told!  Navamani explained the situation and was eventually allowed to eat.  I'm so glad I wasn't there that day! 

The next day I went to look at cell phones with a school acquaintance, a Catholic missionary, so I didn't go to Ananda Café.  Apparently, everything was okay.  Then Friday we went together to eat.  Navamani told the waitress we both wanted the set menu as usual then waited a long time for our food to arrive.  Twice Navamani went to ask what was happening with our lunch and was told not to worry as the waitress rubbed and scratched her back.  After the second time of being inappropriately handled, Navamani asked me to go see what was up because she didn't want that woman to touch her again.  I was a little scared of receiving the same treatment.  Then the waitress showed up and told us that the set menu food was all gone.  So she said that they were preparing some noodles.  Navamani wanted to leave but I was starving, not having eaten breakfast, and said that I would wait a few more minutes.  10 minutes later, the waitress showed up again to say that even the noodles had all been eaten up.  We were furious.   Some people who were served had arrived after we did. 

We had to get to the office for some meetings at 2 o'clock so we bought some drinks and cookies along the way. A very nutritious lunch, indeed.  Of course, we kept laughing about the "scratchy" lady.  As we were walking down the street, just as I had taken a large gulp of my juice, Navamani said something hilarious about the restaurant, which caused me to laugh really hard and spit out my juice.  The juice also sprayed out my nose and whatever I spat out landed back on my face, hair and clothes due to the high winds that day!  

Finally, that night we got home and bought some instant noodles at the corner market, after much discussion with the shop staff whether the noodles were vegetarian.  We came back to the tiny guesthouse kitchen and joined some others there.  Jorgi, a German acupuncturist who has lived in Mongolia for 9 years, was preparing some vegetarian food. The day before, he had so kindly prepared us a whole list of vegetarian foods, written in both English and Mongolian. So we took it to the Mercury Market when we went shopping, which was very helpful.  Jorgi had some vegetarian soy meat there and told me that he'd let me taste it. He even gave me the package so that I could take it with me when I went shopping. Very helpful guy. Then he made up a whole batch of his food for the entire guesthouse.  Navamani wanted to run away, then she tried to pass off her bowl of food to everyone else with no success.  She was a crazed woman. The food was very weird tasting but we were all gracious to Jorgi and ate as much of it as we could.  I was glad to learn how to cook the soy meat for the future

Moving out.   

At 5 pm on Friday, while we were out touring the various medical facilities we're allowed to use - SOS Medical Mongolia and the UN Dispensary, we received a call and told that we were scheduled to move on Saturday morning.  Apparently, the owners of the apartment we were moving to would come to pick us up at around 2 pm.  So much for advance warning.

When told that we would stay at the apartment for 2 weeks, I mentioned that I was scheduled to go to Ovorhangai Province at the end of next week. I was told that those plans were changed too.  So I may stay in Ulaanbaatar for another 2 weeks, minus the 4-day Summer Conference we're going to somewhere out in the countryside.  We have to take sleeping bags and sheets because we'll be roughing it out there with open pit outhouses and one cold water shower for all 40 people.  Looks like I'll be giving myself a few "wet wipe baths."   I should buy wet wipes in bulk like my sister does for her kids.

Saturday morning we packed and waited for the owners of the mystery apartment to arrive.  Finally, a Mongolian lady we've never met shows up at the guesthouse with her husband and whisks us away to an undisclosed location.  I'm learning to trust just about anyone and everyone here.  I had to wait for the second trip because I had too many bags.  Navamani went ahead and got first choice of the rooms.  Hers has a double bed and a closet.  Mine has a child's bed and no closet or hooks of any kind to hang my clothes.

The owners dropped us off and left us with only one key to share and a really stinky apartment where almost nothing worked.  Only one of the stove's burners works, the wobbly fridge wouldn't stay upright, and the very old washing machine (designed for the developing world) didn't work.  The bathroom stank so badly that I gagged twice and nearly vomited. 

That night I slept on the bed but didn't get under the blanket that looked like a thin mattress so I froze.  I had to get up, find my wool coat and use it as a blanket.  Navamani's double bed has only a twin-size extra-thin mat on top of it.  The other side of the bed is wood.  No room for guests.  She has been so uncomfortable.  But she has the closet.

Sunday we went to eat breakfast at the "luxury apartment" of two VSO volunteers then we all went shopping at the Purple Market (it's a purple building) and the Green Market (a green building) with a Dutch lady who arrived on Saturday to volunteer at the Lotus Children's Center.  Then we went to eat and relax at the Stupa Café.  Their vegetarian bootz are so delicious.  When we brought the others back to our place, we went into a building, got confused, kept changing entrances to find our door then finally realized that we were in the wrong building altogether.  We eventually made it back to Building N.4.  I'll remember it now because the word "WoW" is graffitied in red on the side of the building.  

On Monday Navamani went to celebrate Children's Day with the children of Lotus Children's Center and I stayed home.  I was planning to go to the VSO volunteer room so that I could use the internet but the landlord's mother-in-law showed up with a clothes drying rack and an extension cord for the washing machine.  Then she showed me how to use it.  I stayed home and washed several loads of clothes in one of those semi-automatic washers.  You have to pour the water in yourself on one side to wash then take the clothes out and put them in the spinner to rinse and spin dry.  I was happy until I pulled my pants off the drying rack and they practically stood straight up.  I hope my underwear aren't crunchy too.