This week has been nuts...like every other one.

September 20, 2008

The water finally came on last night around 8 o’ clock. I found out when I randomly flushed the toilet. The first thing I did was to fill my tumpin and all my containers with water. I had filled them a couple of times during the day at work, but I wanted to make sure that I had as much as possible since it could go out again at any time. Sure enough, when I woke up this morning, late, there was no water again. As I stood there cursing my luck, it came back, though. I was glad of that. I really need to get a much larger water container for times like that, but I’ve been clowning. I’d thought about walking over to the other part of town today, but I’ve been lazy; resting, trying to get rid of this cold. Man, I hate being sick. The worst part is that there is nothing to do about it but treat the symptoms. And I really dislike all the medicines (Nyquil, cough drops, lozenges, etc.) that are for colds. They taste like yuck, and even if I take the pill form, I don’t like the side-effects. I’ve been taking some Mucinex, to get rid of the snot in my head, but it’s making me as dry as a desert. Combined with the Mongolian aridity, my skin looks as scaly as a snakes’. I have lotion that I use, but it smells like a girl. I don’t care. It works, and it’s not like there is anyone around me to notice. Besides, I kind of like it. Yeah, I’m weird, I know.

I went to my office today, to check emails. While I was there, I started going through a lot of old ones and I ran across my subscription to a game called Chicken Invaders. Have you ever heard of it? I know at least one of you out there has heard me talk about the addictiveness of this game before. I love it. It’s kind of like the old school Space Invaders, but with chickens and much better graphics. I had almost forgotten about it, it’s been so long since I played it. It’s definitely one of those games that has replay value, so it won’t be long til I’m good again. I think there is a demo on Yahoo! Games, if you want to check it out. I warn you, though: if you don’t have the time to devote to it, don’t even click your mouse on the icon.

September 22, 2008

I just have to tell you this story.

I had left my office for my lunch break, stopping by the store to buy a few things. As I was hurrying through the cold on my way home (I could see my breath!) I noticed a couple of little girls playing. I don’t remember seeing either of them before, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t. One of them started running toward me, but I thought nothing of it, since most of the kids around here swarm to me to at least say hi. The little girl ran up, thrust a piece of candy at me and said, “Meh,” which means, “take this.” I smiled, and said thanks as she turned and ran away. I guess she just wanted to give me a piece of candy. I smiled all the way home.

Tonight, as I was about half-way through cooking my dinner, the power went out. Dang it! I attribute it to those guys who have been working on the water pipes for the last week or two. Today, they were digging in front of my apartment building. You know those markers that are everywhere in the U.S. that says, “Before digging, please call…?” Well, they don’t have anything like that here. Luckily, the pasta that I had on had just started to boil, so I let it set for a while longer to finish. I put some oil and spices on it and called it a meal. I guess the stuff I had in the skillet will have to wait until I get power again. It’s starting to get dark earlier now, so when I couldn’t see anything, I just got in the bed. It was much warmer there, too. For the last three weeks, I’ve had some kind of heater going 24 hours. I was glad to have the two sleeping bags that I do. One is rated for -15 degrees, the other for -20 degrees. I don’t know if that’s Fahrenheit or Celsius. Either way, being sandwiched between the two keeps me warm, until I have to get up. Brr!

September 23, 2008

I want to tell you about, and relieve you of some worries of, a world news story that is going on in Asia right now. In the last several days, it has been found that a lot of exported Chinese-made milk products are contaminated with the chemical melamine. In case none of you remember, this is the same chemical that was found in previous Chinese food products to boost protein measures so they can cheat the system. I think it is akin to plastic. When ingested, it can cause kidney stones and other kidney problems. It is especially dangerous for babies and small children. If you look on the internet, you can see all kinds of stories about it right now. Just to assure you, the Peace Corps sent us all warnings the other day to not ingest any milk products from China, and gave us the names of all the ones that are imported into Mongolia. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, I had some in my refrigerator, unopened; and I’ve already drank some since being at site. Doh! I’ll keep a check on everything, though, and at the first sign of problems, I’ll be sure to get any kind of medical attention I need. And, yes, Peace Corps pays for all that stuff. If any of you even knew about this and were worried about me, rest assured that I’m okay. I’ve even passed on the message to my boss, and she and the governor are having it translated into Mongolian and will pass it on to all the local residents.

When I got to work today, wouldn’t you know that they have electricity? Why is it that all the residential buildings lose water or electricity through the night, but the government buildings keep on running at full steam? Hmm. I took my computer to work to charge up, so I’ll have some entertainment at home.

This afternoon, I finally got to meet with my boss. I don’t know if I’ve written it before, but local elections are coming up, and she is helping out. Ergo, she is really busy right now and it’s hard for me to get some of her time. I had told one of my co-workers that my electricity was out, but she didn’t pass on the message. When I told my boss, she fussed at me for not telling her last night, as soon as it happened. I figured that everyone was out of power, so I thought she knew. Nope, it was just me. When I told her that it happened while I was in the middle of cooking, she had a lady in the office cook some food just for me. Yum! I guess one good thing came out of it. For some reason, she also let me go home early. When I got here, my power was back on. It wasn’t 10 minutes before it went out again. This time, I let my boss know right away. Turns out, I had too many appliances going at the same time. I don’t know why it’s a problem all on a sudden. For the last few weeks, I’ve been doing the exact same thing and not had the least bit of troubles. Oh well. At least I have heat now. I was beginning to really worry about that. It’s getting to where I can see my breath when I walk to work in the morning. I’ve even begun to wear my thick winter coat. And every day, people ask me if I’m cold. I always tell them that I am always cold. They get a kick out of that.

Oh, and I’m happy to report that I’m over my cold and all the residuals that goes along with it. Back in Alabama, I would have a head full of snot for up to three weeks after a cold. There, I attributed it to the humidity, and maybe the pollen. Here, it’s arid, and there are hardly any trees or other plants at all.

September 23, 2008

Today has been another one of those that has been full of the unexpected. Before I even got to my office, one of the handymen came to my apartment to take measurements for my broken windows. Here, most windows are double-paned, so as to be a little more protection against the cold in the winter time. By double-paned, I mean, you have to open one window to get to the other one, which you can also open. There is about 8 inches between the two. Anyway, one in the kitchen, and one in my living room was broken. Since it’s getting cold, I knew that they needed to be fixed. So that’s what he was doing. And like most everything else in Mongolia, they do window fixing different than to be expected, too. He brought a few large panes of glass to my apartment, measured them to the frame, and then cut them in my living room. To cut them, he had some kind of tool that he scraped across the glass, and then he tapped it until it broke along the scratch. Wouldn’t you know it, that caused little glass splinters to get all in my carpet. Ah, soog! (That’s Mongolian for, “Ah, crap!”) At the same time, my power and water went out again. This time, it was not my fault; it’s out all over town. So, though I can borrow a vacuum cleaner from someone, it won’t do me any good until the power comes back on.

As soon as he finished, I gave my first informal English lesson today. The kindergarten teacher that sought me out yesterday came to my place and we went over a few phrases. She speaks just enough English to confuse both of us. Basically, I went through a few pages of the workbook that we used when I was going through Mongolian classes and had her tell me what the English translations are. I told her like everyone keeps telling me about learning Mongolian, though: the best way to learn is to just listen to it and speak it as much as possible. We’ll see how her English and my teaching progresses.

This afternoon, I went to the school just to see what the kids do while there. When I got back to the office, I went with my boss to the other part of town. Over there is the only place where I can buy phone units at price, and it was time for more. In this part of town, there aren’t any “official” dealers, so they jack up the prices. I needed a few other things, too, so about five of us loaded up and went over there. One of the things I got was bread. In my part of town, all the stores had been out for a few days – and so had I. After a quick trip to the store, we went to my boss’s friend’s house. We sat there for tea and some soup. While there, she found a tick on her curtain. When I asked what it was, she showed me and I involuntarily jerked back. She giggled and told me that it means good luck. They said is blew in on the wind. It’s very very windy here. I don’t know why she thinks that’s good luck. That’s some luck I don’t want any part of. When we left there, we went to another friend’s house. Over there, we had more tea, Chinese vodka (which tastes much different than “regular” vodka), and dinner. I’m liking this whole thing of being fed dinner when the power is out. I don’t like it that there is no heat. Oh, and I noticed that in the other part of town, there heat is already on. As I’ve written before, ours won’t be turned on until October 1. One more week. I think I can make it. Wish me luck.

September 25, 2008

Today at work, my boss called me into her office and we had a meeting with all the social workers in this part of town and the other. We went over exactly what my schedule will be like, beginning on Monday. On Mondays and Thursdays, I will teach English to people that work in my building. On Tuesdays, I will work with social workers in this part of town. Wednesdays, I will do the same in the other part of town. Fridays will be my “free” day. I don’t know if that means I will be off of work that day, or if I will just be able to do whatever I want while at work. We’ll see, and I’ll let you know.

The meeting was over around 11:30 and my boss told me I could go home for the day. Sweet! When I had told her that the guy who fixed my windows left glass shards in the carpet, she arranged for some ladies to come and clean my apartment. When they got there, they did a cursory cleaning of everything, and then winterised my windows for me. That consisted of taking wet newspaper and stuffing it along all the edges, and then putting duct tape over that to seal all the cracks. It took them about 5 or so hours to do all that.

About the time they left, the kindergarten teacher that I’ve begun tutoring came over. Her short name is Tsegii (flower). She’s pretty nice. Tonight, we listened to a couple of songs. I typed the words while we listened, and then we went through to make sure she understood all the vocabulary. Then we listened to the song again. Mostly, this was so I could hear some music, but it is also good practice for her reading and listening skills. The tricky part was explaining the difference between the literal meanings of words and the slang meaning of words. Have you ever tried to explain the exact meaning of slang words to someone in English? Now try that to a Mongolian speaker.

Tonight, I found that my flash boiler has quit working. Ah, soog! I really liked that thing, and was coming to rely upon it a lot. Now I will have to make a special trip into the city to get another one. I might be able to find one at the train-station store, but I’ll be surprised.

Okay, I’m going to post this, I think. It’s Friday, here!! About eight more hours, and it will be my weekend. I’m looking forward to having a free weekend, where I’m not sick, and I can do whatever I like. I hope everyone is good. Write when you can.

Dang it! My co-workers just came in and told me that my water will be out today and through the weekend. I can hardly wait until they are finished doing whatever it is that they’re doing.

P.S. I don’t know if you noticed, but I changed the headline of my blog. It used to say, “This is my adventures in the Peace Corps, while in Mongolia,” or something like that. I changed it because at times, it doesn’t even feel like I’m in the Peace Corps anymore. Of course, all the same rules, regulations, and restrictions are there; but for the most part, I don’t hear from them that much. They are only an email or a phone call away, but as PCVs, we are mostly left to our own devices to make sure we do our job as we will. Just thought I’d tell anyone who might be interested.

P.P.S. To Chad, my most favouritest cousin in the whole wide world: this is your special note to mention you and how much I miss you. Know it or not, you are one of my idols. I always wish you well in everything that you do. Please give the girls hugs for me and tell them that I miss them, too.