Alive and well in Thailand

The fact that I'm in Thailand may be news to some of you and for that I apologize. My last week in UB was a bit nuts and there were many emails and posts that I had planned to write and just never got to.

I'm here with the rest of my team from UB and our other teammates who live up north in a town called Sukhbaatar. We are in Bangkok for the next week attending a conference with other Asia-area teammates. It has been a great relief to leave the cold behind and to enjoy wearing short sleeves and flip-flops. It's also been especially impactful for me to be able to experience this through the eyes and hearts of my teammates -- to be able to understand in part why these conferences are so essential to their health and sanity. It is exhausting to live in another culture. Exhausting! And I've only been doing it for 6 weeks! I can't imagine how much it must wear on you to do it for years and years on end.

It's been fun to meet our other long-distance teammates -- to hear about the countries they live in and the work they do -- to watch them greet long-time friends and enjoy meals together as they try to catch up as quickly and thoroughly as possible. I'm eager to share some pictures and thoughts on the conference with you over the next few days. [I also have some catching up to do from our last week in UB -- the Christmas program (which was AWESOME), Christmas itself, my first solo taxi ride and some new friends!]

little red head christmas

little red head, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

Tastes Like Horse (ed. 6): Korean doughnuts

a little something sweet, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

They were making doughnuts fresh in the supermarket on a Saturday a few weeks ago. The smell was haunting me all the way to the checkout stand, so Heather ran back and grabbed a bag for me. They were warm and sweet and melty and gooey and almost impossible to describe. The inside had the consistency and taste of the pastry cream that fills most eclairs and the outside had the texture of freshly made crispy creme doughnuts. You can see that they're made in little corn molds, so I have to assume that has something to do with the ingredients, but who knows really. I kept the leftovers in my freezer and took one out to munch on anytime I needed a sugar fix (which is often these days). I'll definitely be grabbing a bag next time I'm in Sky on a Saturday. And maybe this time I'll be brave enough to go ask for one myself.

a third birthday in Mongolia

Holly mosaic, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

You know those people who just love a good surprise? And you know how great it feels to be able to surprise that person? Picture that person now. See and feel the joy on that person's face and that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you know you're part of the reason for the joy. Our birthday girl Holly was the source of that warm and fuzzy feeling today.

Holly LOVES birthdays and all that goes into them. She also loves Christmas and Christmas decorations so last night, after she was banished to her room (and after I had banished myself to bed), the rest of the fam stayed up and decorated the apartment. They hung tinsel and snowflakes in the dining room/living room. They hunt Christmas ornaments from doorways and silvery garlands along the walls. And when they were sure Holly was asleep, they crept into the girls' room and hung Christmas lights along the wall opposite her bed.

winter wonderland, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

The entire family was awakened by Holly's joyous squeals and oohs and aahs this morning as she woke up to the lights and then made her way throughout the rest of the apartment. And it just got better. Mike took her out for lunch just the two of them. While they were gone, a bunch of girls from the school came over to surprise her and decorate Christmas ornaments and eat one of the two amazing cakes Laurel made. Then, after a rehearsal at school, some other friends came over to play and have dinner with the fam and eat Laurel's other cake. Through it all Holly was grinning and glowing and occasionally even squealing.

Cake #1, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

surprisers, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

Cake #2, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

Holly is a light in every room she enters. She is kind-hearted and sensitive and intentional. She loves music and dance and moves to them both with an awareness that is rare in one so young. She's also fun, dramatic, silly, and can often be found standing on a stool singing under the kitchen lights when she's supposed to be on dish duty. She always seems to find the bright side of things and moves past disappointments with grace. I love spending time with this girl. And I love her laughter.

birthday girl, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

Tastes Like Horse (ed. 5): Sandwiches

sandwiches II, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

That is not horse meat. I swear. It is simply a tasty sandwich I had this past weekend at Best'Spresso with my friend C. I find it oddly comforting that you can find a good sandwich and crispy fries here in Mongolia. Nevermind that I rarely eat either of those things in the States. Here, they are a comfort.

Smoky Skies

smoky skies, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

The dropping temperatures of the past few days means the smoky skies are finally here. Did you know that Ulaanbaatar is the most polluted capital in the world? Did you also know that the vast majority of this smoke comes from the gers that have set up camp around the outskirts of the city? The air smells of wood and coal smoke all the time now and so does my hair after walking home from the store. I usually love that smell -- it reminds me of campfires and backpacking trips and s'mores -- but those things also usually mean fresh mountain breezes and clean mountain air. Now that smell means smoky skies and a burning throat when you wake up every morning.

For the sake of comparison...

This was taken a few days after my arrival in mid-November

sunrise, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

This was taken a week or so ago, just after the first snow

snowy skies, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

I WENT OUT FOR COFFEE THIS WEEKEND!!!

Best'Presso, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

Never mind the fact that my hat is crooked ... I got to go out for coffee this weekend! It's the most normal thing I've done in a month and it felt great. C -- a new friend -- picked me up around 11 and we headed over to one of her favorite coffee shops -- Best'Presso. (Nice name, huh? Never heard that one before.) It's a favorite of hers because it actually has a non-smoking area and when you come in off the smoke-filled streets of UB, you like to be able to breath clean air while you drink your coffee. We grabbed a table and a couple couches while her girls settled down at another table behind us. We ordered coffee and lunch and talked. Then we did some grocery shopping and picked up some decorations for the girls' Christmas tree. And that was that. A pretty simple day when it's all typed out like that, but it was exactly what I've been needing.

Is this your grave?

I had my first language faux pas today. Woohoo!!!

As I was leaving my lesson, I thought I'd show off something of what I'd learned today. I walked over to where my language teacher's purse was sitting on a chair and asked, "Энэ таны булш уу?"

Her eyes went wide with shock and she drew in her breath sharply. "You just said a very bad thing!"

I thought maybe I'd sworn at her or something and I insisted she tell me what I said.

Turns out I'd asked, "Is this your grave?" instead of "Is this your bag?" Doesn't sound that bad, huh? But since Mongolians are extremely superstitious, something like this is more of a faux pas than accidentally cursing. Yikes!

So remember, class:

Энэ таны булш уу? = Is this your grave?
Энэ таны цүнх үү? = Is this your bag?

Chess at the Black Market

chess at the Zax, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

And I thought I wouldn't have anything green to eat!

washing produce, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

Things have changed quite a bit since the fam first came to Mongolia. Now, thanks to enterprising farmers, their greenhouses, and increased importing, we have access to a pretty wide variety of fruits and veggies throughout the winter. Although cabbage, carrots, and potatoes are the most plentiful (and economic) options, we can find good quality lettuce, broccoli, and even bell peppers! YUM!!!

Washing produce here is a little more essential than it was in the States. There -- a simple rinse before cooking was good enough for most items. Here, where potatoes and carrots are set out still caked in dirt (because it keeps them fresh longer), washing is a bit more important.

It's a pretty simple process, of course. Fill a clean sink with warm water and some dish soap. Dunk and wash all the produce. Rinse with cold water and lay out to dry. Except for apples and cabbage and maybe a few other items, we don't really buy produce until the day we're using it. There just isn't space for a week's worth of produce when you're buying for 10.

Even though it means more work (and is sometimes sort of disgusting ... like seeing someone pull a sheep carcass out of his hatchback), I like that you can see in food the traces of its origins: the eggs still have tiny bits of down on them, the carrots are still covered in the soil in which they were grown, meat may not be covered in plastic wrap and kept in a refrigerated case because it was just butchered a few hours before. There's no attempt made to hide where food came from and dirt isn't seen as something someone else should have removed for you. Something to think about next time you recoil from the site of a dirty potato in the supermarket, huh?

Tastes Like Horse (ed. 4): Aаруул (Aaruul) -- dried milk curds

Aaruul, originally uploaded by Tom de Gay.

I borrowed this picture from a fellow Flickr user to give you a visual for my latest culinary mini-adventure. I say "mini" because it only took one very small taste to assure me that this wasn't an item to stock in my cupboard. Although in the days since trying it, I've found myself thinking, "Maybe I should try it again. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I remember."

One of the moms brought a bag of this stuff to the parents' meeting at the school last Friday. It kind of looked like something you'd dump in the bottom of a fish tank. So far as I could tell, she and one other mom were the only ones present who actually like aaruul. I think the rest only took some to be polite. If you glance at the picture, the kind I had were like those very small pieces in the bottom right of the bowl.

I've been struggling to figure out how exactly to describe this particular food item for the uninitiated at home. "Hard as a rock" is the phrase that keeps coming to mind, although rocks can't be bitten into and these (sort of) can. It has the weight and texture of coral, I guess, and is very, very hard. You don't really chew it so much as grind it into very small bits with your teeth before swallowing. It is bland in flavor with only the slightest hint of salt and a subtle dairy-like aftertaste.

You couldn't call it disgusting -- it doesn't have enough flavor to qualify as disgusting -- but I'm not really sure why you'd go through the trouble of chewing it all up when there are so many other tasty foods to choose as a snack.

So that you don't consider me completely biased, here's another point of view from the "traditional food" section of the Mongolian travel information website:

Aaruul: specialist believe that aaruul is one of the factors responsible for the Mongol's strong and healthy teeth. Aaruul is curdled milk, dehydrated and thoroughly dried in the air and sun. The remarkable thing is that there is practically no limit to it's slowly life.

Did you catch that last part?! This would've been the perfect item for the Y2K-ready pantry!

All joking aside, that actually provides an insight into the nature of Mongolian food: a nomadic lifestyle and a harsh, cold winter meant that Mongolians needed to use the most accessible foods in as many ways as possible with prolonged shelf life being top priority. Hence fermented mare's milk, yogurt, camel/horse meat jerky, and dried curds. I can't help but admire the creativity and resourcefulness of these early Mongol nomads.

What I'm doing

I've been getting a lot of questions these past few days...

Are you teaching, yet?
What do your days look like?
How much time do you spend at the school?
When do you have language lessons?
Do you do anything besides blog?

Okay, so I haven't really been asked that last one. But the first four have been asked more than once by multiple people so I thought I'd give you a window into my daily life.

Monday

I have language classes fist thing in the morning on the top floor of the Bubbling Springs building. (Side note: I am really enjoying my language teacher Bayarmaa. She is wonderful. The language may be killing me, but she rocks.)

Then I head down two floors to the co-op (which is on the bottom floor/basement level). I haven't had a typical Monday, yet, but it'll probably look something like hanging around the school studying Mongolian until lunch. (More on how this qualifies as work later.)

I'll most likely be eating lunch at the school and then will stay around during the afternoon to help out with the younger kids art class as needed.

Tuesday

I'm really excited about Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I get to help homeschool Linden! CB works with the older kids on these days while Kyle takes Holly and Casey. So I'm going to step in and start working with Linden. Right now we're working on lowercase letters, science, and visual comprehension. Pretty impressive for a 4-year-old, huh?

After lunch I head to the co-op and will be working in the library with one of the moms.

Wednesday -- the longest day

Head to the school in the morning to supervise in one of the older students rooms. The older kids are all doing some form of online or computer-based schooling and so they are divided into two rooms. They bring in their laptops and, except for a break from 10:15-10:45, they pretty much do school all morning until lunch (12:00). The mom who usually supervises this room is out of the country, so I've stepped in to fill that space. The kids are pretty well behaved, so I'll be able to use that time studying and preparing for lessons.

Lunch at the school.

Christmas Program prep in the afternoon (1-3pm). This could look like anything. My first week, I talked with all the kids who didn't know how they were going to contribute to the program. My second week, I helped two groups of kids who needed some extra direction. This past week I wandered around making sure people were staying on task and then helped Heather and her friend Naomi with the song they'll be performing. Who knows that this week will look like?!

Language lessons from 3:15-4:45.

Thursday

Mornings with Linden. Yay!

Afternoons at the school. I had the opportunity to share some ideas with the parents at a meeting on Friday. I'm hoping to start a creative writing class for kids ages 7-12 on Thursday afternoons from 1 or 1:30 to 3. I'm really excited about this, but with all the Christmas stuff going on, it may not get started until after break.

Friday

Morning: hanging out at the school.

Afternoon: (Hopefully) a readers' circle with students aged 10-12years. This is another idea I presented to the parents. The school closes early on Fridays, so that last hour of the day often gets lost. I'm hoping this will be a good time to do some intentional work with kids who already love to read.

Language lessons from 3:15-4:45.

Next semester I'll be starting a book club with a few of the high school girls. I might also be doing one with some of the high school boys since a lot of them like to read and sound like they'd be interested. I'll keep you posted on what happens there.

Now about hanging out at the school. One of the things Mike has asked me to do is simply to be present and available at the school. This means that between the hours of 9am and 3pm when I'm not at language lessons or helping CB homeschool her kids, I'll be at the school. I'll bring stuff of my own to work on and will be available to help out kids who have questions or need individual tutoring, to cover for parents if something comes up, to be an extra pair of hands, or to get some work done in the library. As Mike says, I'm here to serve in whatever ways I'm needed.

Hope that answers a lot of your questions about what my life is looking like on a day-to-day basis. Feel free to ask more. It helps me know what to blog about.

Oops!

Holly endured a small tragedy this past week.


Can you see it? Can you see the tragedy? (You have to look past the smile. Or at the smile, actually.)


I was sitting in the hallway emailing, CB was in the main room with the Heather, Caleb, Cameron, and Laurel, and out of nowhere comes one of those screams that you really don't want to hear from the room in which Holly and Casey are doing school with Kyle. Everyone rushes in to find Holly in tears and Casey apologizing profusely. A chair they were playing on had smacked Holly in the mouth and chipped one of her front teeth.

After the initial shock had worn off and she'd been told that she'd be able to go to the dentist that very afternoon to get it fixed, Holly was willing to show it off for the camera. Later that day, she even gave me permission to post the episode on my blog.

Although most medical care here leaves much to be desired, we do have access to quality dental care. The clinic that Holly went to is owned by a Korean dentist who employs Mongolian dentists, all of whom have been trained out-of-the-country. (The only way to receive quality training in any medical profession is to attend school in another country.)

As proof, I offer this shot taken only a few hours after the previous two shots.


And I was so looking forward to calling her "Fang".

Need something to do on a cold winter's night?

Imagine this ...


Except imagine it

at night (in the dark)
in sub-zero temperatures
with half the people

Not only is that a terribly crafted haiku, it's also a description of what 6 of the clan and I did tonight along with our teammates, their kids, a couple guys from the co-op, and 10 or 12 Mongolians. It was cooooold! I can't complain, though. Last year's winter shipment came in on one of the coldest nights in recorded history. We were fortunate to be moving around in a balmy -5ºF.

But all that work means pop-tarts for breakfast, cherry pies for Christmas, and Vernor's for whenever. It's treats for Americans and jobs for Mongolians. Pretty sweet set-up, huh?

After the snow ...

sunrise/sunset from my apartment (before the snow)

it's Christmas time!

Last Friday night, the family decorated for Christmas. It was fun to see how excited all of the kids were to put ornaments and lights on the tree, set up a little Christmas town in the TV room, and put up other decorations throughout the house.

Heather and Linden unwrapping ornaments


Casey taking a break from the madness

Caleb, Cam, and Mike hanging lights


Laurel showing Mike one of her ornaments


Holly and I goofing around


Kyle and CB setting up another tree


The finished product


Casey took the following pictures with my camera. I thought they were kinda neat and wanted to include them here.

Tastes Like Horse (ed. 3): Mongolian Hot Cocoa

hot cocoa, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

Okay, so there's actually no such thing as Mongolian Hot Cocoa. But when you've caught your first Mongolian cold and it also happens to be very, very cold outside and all you want to do is lie in bed watching a movie and drinking hot cocoa, you might just make something up.

Plus, I'm apparently bent on sharing every tiny big of my life with you via this blog, so I figured, "Why not this, too?"

It's a pretty simple recipe:
1. Borrow some Mongolian (cow) milk from CB. Heat on your stove over medium heat until steam is rising from the surface of the milk.
2. Grab the bag of dark chocolate chips you've been saving from the yummy goodie bag your friend gave you for the trip. (Thanks, M!) Stir in as many chocolate chips as it takes to reach desired chocolate:milk ratio. (I used about a palmful.)
3. Take down your precious supply of Peppermint Vanilla Bean Sugar from the Savory Spice Shop. Add a few teaspoons to the milk/chocolate mixture and stir.
4. Pour into your favorite mug (or whatever you have at hand if all of your favorite mugs are in a different country).
5. Sip slowly and enjoy.

If any of you want to stop by on one of these chilly winter nights, I promise to make you a cup (or two). :)

it's that cold

it's that cold, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

Yesterday when I went outside it was -8ºF. I had to pull my scarf up over my mouth and nose so that I could breathe without coughing. Good grief!

As you can see, we've also had a little snow, which is pretty unusual.

Tastes Like Horse (ed. 2): Breakfast

egg sandwich, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

So I tried the "cream yogurt" and it was pretty much exactly what I wanted: plain, tart yogurt. Now the problem is that I'm not in the mood for my staple breakfast. I'm in the mood for eggs* and bacon with cheese on toast. Coffee is nice, too. And since I'm trying to delay culture shock for as long as possible, I've been indulging myself.

This is the first thing I've cooked in my apartment, so it feels sort of momentous. I also made coffee for myself this morning, which I've only done a handful of times in my life because I've always had roommates who (a) get up earlier than I do and (b) make coffee in the morning. While I do like coffee (a lot), I'm more of an afternoon-soy-latte-at-Starbucks drinker than a must-have-coffee-or-people-will-die person. Still ... it's good to be able to make your own coffee.

Interesting, Jen. Fascinating. Really. Umm ... why did you feel the need to create another post about what you eat for breakfast?

Well, it's because every time I do something homey in this place, I feel more settled. Now that I'm unpacked, am sleeping in the main bedroom, and am cooking in my kitchen, the only major thing left to do is laundry and then this apartment should finally feel like home (or as close as I can hope to get when I'm in a foreign country and already have a return plane ticket).

AND I thought you'd be glad to know that it's possible to make a classic American breakfast (or one of its variations) in Mongolia. YUM!

*They don't wash eggs before selling them here, so oftentimes you'll find bits of feather still stuck to the shell. Now before you freak out about that, listen to this: Carol Beth was telling me that they do this because washing the eggs removes some sort of substance that actually helps eggs stay fresh longer (especially if they're unrefrigerated). Since a lot of ger-dwelling Mongolians don't have refrigerators, this is how they preserve eggs. Interesting, huh?

roomies

Until Tuesday morning at around 10, I was sharing my apartment with these ladies -- Trina and her daughter Jessie. They and the rest of their family live and work up in one of the more northern cities. They are long-time friends of the clan and folks I've heard a lot about, so it was great to put some faces with the names. Since they left, I've been in the process of moving my stuff into the main bedroom and generally getting settled. I'll post pictures soon. It's nice to finally get unpacked, but it also feels a little quiet and empty now that they're gone.

This isn't your mom's JoAnn Fabrics store

Today five us headed over to the Zax (pronounced zahh) to do some shopping. Heather needed to get someone a birthday present and CB and one of the other moms at the co-op needed to find some fabric to outfit the younger girls for a dance they'll be performing in the Christmas program.

Zax translates as "Black Market" bit is basically an old airline hanger that functions as a sort of farmer's-market-meets-mall-meets-street-hawker's-dream. Every morning (except Tuesdays), people roll in here with their carts and containers and set up shop at their preassigned stall.

One of the great things about the Zax is that it seems to have everything and, since all business is conducted street-vendor-style, you can haggle for prices and usually come away with a pretty good deal.

It helps to have someone with you who speaks Mongolian because things aren't always easy to find and you could spend all day wandering around in that hanger. To buy ribbon for the dresses, we had to walk out of the fabric area, all the way through the clothing section, and past the hats and shoes until we reached the area that had shops selling del ornaments. (A del is the traditional Mongolian garment.)

A few hours after we began, we walked out of there a bit colder than we had been walking in, but with our arms laden with fabric and ribbon and even a birthday present for one of Heather's friends. That is what we call a successful day at the Zax.

helping with the "cake"

Happy Thanksgiving!

corn sauteed in brown butter and thyme
Originally uploaded by naftels

I apparently did not charge my camera battery the other day (or didn't charge it long enough -- everything takes longer here because of the voltage difference) and so a flickr search for "brown-buttered corn" was the best I could come up with to show you what I brought to our Thanksgiving feast today. It's a tasty dish that I first discovered here and has become a staple of sorts at holiday meals. If you've never had browned butter anything, you must try this recipe. Aside from on-the-cob, corn has never tasted so good.

I celebrated Thanksgiving today with 31 other people at the house of our teammates. The kitchen was full of food, the house was full of people and chairs and tables, there were kids everywhere. It was the closest thing to Thanksgiving at my aunt's house in California that I've experienced since we left there in '93 and it was actually a little overwhelming at first. :)

I have a lot to be thankful for this year (all of the people who helped get me here, for one, and all of you who are keeping up with my adventure via email and this blog, for another), but today I was struck by how blessed I am to be working alongside these specific families. They have made this transition much less difficult than it could have been. They've been so welcoming and today when I started crying (yes, I cried -- it was an emotional day for me), they heard with understanding and responded with encouragement.

I am already humbled by the great faith they show living in this broken-down country. And I'm so thankful that I have not been called to do this on my own.

I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving and that you are surrounded today by people who love you and whom you love.

Юу гэнэ ээ? (What did you say?)

I started Mongolian lessons this week. Yikes! I really wish I'd taken a few more linguistics classes in college because I'm pretty sure they would've helped. (Jon and Kelly, I need you!) I've never had to pay so much attention to the shape of my mouth and where I'm placing my tongue while I speak. The vowels alone are killing me. There are 13 of them (а о у э ϒ θ и е ё ю я й ы)!

Mongolian will be the 5th language I've studied. (Don't be too impressed -- I can't really remember a thing about the rest of them.) I do remember the Cyrillic alphabet from my Russian classes, which will help a lot. One less thing to memorize.

My language teacher -- Bayarmaa -- is great. I don't feel too humiliated trying to speak her language to her and she's paid a lot of attention to the technical aspects of pronunciation (how to hold the lips, where the tongue goes, where the sound is coming from), which is hugely helpful. This week I'm supposed to be studying (and practicing) the basic conversational statements you see to the right. I'm already recognizing some of the words. Now if only I could remember how they're supposed to sound...

a second birthday in Mongolia

mom & daughter, originally uploaded by Wanderings.

Yep. Less than a week after celebrating Heather's birthday, we're celebrating Carol Beth's.

So. How do I even begin to tell you about Carol Beth?! She's amazing! I could do an entire post just listing adjectives that describe how wonderful she is. I am in awe every day as I observe how gracefully she moves about her work as woman, wife, mother. I look at her and think, "I will never be like this! If I put my entire mind to the task of becoming like this woman, I would never accomplish it!" She possesses a contentment and a gentleness of spirit that is at once soothing and encouraging and inspiring. I am so blessed to be able to spend time with her and to get to know her better. Aren't you all jealous? (You should be.)

I've gathered that it's fairly difficult for the family to plan for this birthday every year because Carol Beth really is so very content with what she has. There are no wish-lists to be found in her planner and even when you ask her, she can't think of much. It is up to Mike and the kids to find gifts and treats for her that she can both enjoy and use. This year, I got to be a part of the experience while shopping with Heather yesterday. It was fun to stroll through the kitchen section of Sky together and pick out some things we thought her mom would like, but wouldn't buy for herself.

Heather also allowed me to participate in the planning and preparation of the birthday dinner. (I think she must usually do that on her own.) We settled on a menu of asian (oriental?) salad, stir-fried beef with broccoli (from the America's Test Kitchen cookbook -- yum!), steamed rice, and an apple crisp.

It was a great day and we had so much fun celebrating this amazing woman.

Happy Birthday, CB!

I'm ashamed to admit that I have very few pictures of CB and none that truly capture her spirit. I guess I'm going to have to break out the camera more often when we're hanging out. I snapped this one today as we were on our way to get some groceries for her birthday dinner.

Saturday shopping

me and heather
Originally uploaded by Wanderings

Today, Heather and I went out to run some errands and do some shopping by ourselves!!! I don't think this was a big deal for Heather, but it was a big deal for me. My first time out in UB without a grown-up to hold my hand!

It went a little something like this:

-- head out of the apartment. stop by a supermarket (which is really more of an indoor farmer's market) to look for broccoli. try to avoid the people pulling recently skinned animal carcasses out of the trunk of their compact car. especially avoid the blood dripping from said carcasses.

-- navigate through windy back streets, cross the busy Peace Avenue (see picture), and make our way to the Chinggis Khan hotel.

-- wait nearly an hour to pay for plane tickets. watch Mongolian man step in front of us to pay for his tickets first. sigh.

-- head to the other side of the building to find the Sky supermarket (which is really more like a very small mall).

-- once inside, deliberate gift options (for CB -- birthday tomorrow!) and veggies, make decisions and purchase.

-- visit three different cell phone kiosks in search of minutes only to return to the first and discover that he does indeed have what we were looking for, but mistook the word "minutes" on our list for the mobile phone company "unitel". easy mistake, right?

-- wander back down to peace avenue. hail a cab (go Heather!). direct the cab towards are next destination (again, go Heather!). arrive at destination. get overcharged by seemingly nice cabbie.

-- finish shopping and hail another cab. arrive home. not overcharged. huzzah!

-- head out again to finish shopping at two neighborhood stores: the supermarket down the street and the American Food Shop around the corner at the Bubbling Springs building.

-- arrive home again and to stay. pat ourselves on the backs. mission(s) accomplished.

He's back!

Mike the Russian
Originally uploaded by Wanderings

Yesterday afternoon, the family welcomed Mike back after a 10-day absence. Mike had gone to Korea at the advice of a number of medical professionals to have back surgery. Yikes, right? He was blessed to receive the attention of one of the top spinal surgeons in the world and now, less than a week after going under the knife, he's back in Mongolia. He's still got quite a road ahead of him -- a month without heavy lifting or strenuous activity -- and then a number of months of self-directed therapy and exercise. But the surgery went well and (hopefully) the recovery will be steady and effective.

It's been a bit surreal to observe the family over the past few days -- to see how their entire rhythm is thrown by the absence of their dad/husband -- and so it was especially encouraging for me to be there for dinner last night and to see and feel everyone relax into the familiar.

Dad's home. Everything's gonna be alright.

Tastes Like Horse (ed.1): Adventures in Eating

As many of you know (or could guess), some of the food choices over here are a bit ... different. Mongolian food is centered around their livestock and consists mainly of meat and dairy. (Farming doesn't really work out for nomadic people ... all that getting up and finding new land, I guess.) You already know that fermented mare's milk is a favorite drink among the Mongolians, but they don't stop with the horse's milk. They also consume horse meat. I've had it and it's not bad -- the flavor is something of a cross between beef and elk.

When I was trying to come up with a name for my blog, I received two suggestions from friends. One became the title of the blog. The other -- Tastes Like Horse -- became the title for my soon-to-be regular food posts.

And so, without further ado, I give you: my breakfast.


It's a fairly simple meal, really. It's the one thing I don't get tired of when it comes to food (and I think this is only because it takes me so long to wake up in the morning that my taste buds aren't at their most discerning and my stomach just wants to be filled). Granola and plain yogurt. That's all I need. And it's exceptionally easy to find in the States. Things are a bit more difficult here. CB (mother of the clan) makes her own granola and will be teaching me to make my own in the next few weeks. So that's covered. The yogurt, however, is a bit more complicated.


What you see above is actually our second attempt since my arrival to find a good yogurt. The first, I'm sorry to say, was a disaster so unfortunate that I won't go into the details here. Suffice it to say that it looked like plain yogurt, but it sure didn't smell like plain yogurt and it really didn't taste like plain yogurt. *shudder* The second attempt shows a bit more promise in that it is produced by the same company whose milk CB buys. If you look closely, you will see that it is "flavoired yogurt" and I am hoping to find plain, but for now I'm just happy to have something to eat for breakfast.


Mmmm. We are on the right track. Next experiment: "cream yogurt" by the same company.