Sat. August 6, 2011

Our trip to Mongolia was in three parts:  Hartford to Chicago to Bejing to Ulaanbaatar. The plane leaving Chicago was delayed for about 2 hours because of a medical issue.  A passenger was unable to travel after boarding the plane, so the airport personnel had to comb through the loaded luggage to retrieve that passenger’s before we could take off.  That lessened our 6 hour layover in Bejing.  We didn’t mind being at the Bejing airport, however. It is the most beautiful airport we have ever seen.  It’s large, ultra-modern, and elegant.  Was it built for the last Olympics?

Arrived in Ulaanbaatar about 11:30pm.  Trying to get out of the airport was like running a gauntlet.  As we cleared customs and headed to the outdoors, we entered a looong line of people with cameras and flowers.  Pam and I had 3 carts of bags that we tried to push through the happy greeters.  I’m thinking, this school we’re going to work at is amazing!  How did they get all of these people here at this time to welcome us?  Needless to say, they weren’t there for us but for a group of people who had gone on some spiritual trip.  School reps, Annie, a receptionist at the school, and Dawa, the driver, helped us to the van where we met more U.S. folk going to the school with as much luggage as we had.  We managed to cram it all in and headed to the apartment.  Nice place.  There is plenty of room for the two of us:  a large combination living room and kitchen, one and a half baths that are across the hall from each other, and two bedrooms, one of which we are using for storage right now.  We realized in the middle of the night or was it day or somewhere in between that we were right next to the railroad.  Lots of trains carrying coal that like to blow their horns LOUDly.  We think we’ve seen the Trans Siberian also go by.  Slept for about 4 hours and then got up to look at our new home in the daylight.  Certainly not a beautiful city and my eyes were greeted by a guardian, in a construction lot next to our apartment, dropping trou and taking a dump followed by a full frontal presentation of urination.  At ground level none of this would have been seen but, from the 4th floor, it reminded me of past college scenes and personal experiences in Morocco.  

My first experience with the shower reminded me of what some of the midwesterners dealt with this past spring.  Despite having a shower curtain that covered half the tub, there was probably more water on the floor than in the tub.  Today went much better.  Old dogs still can learn a few tricks.  

Pam and I headed out to explore the town.  OSHA would probably stroke out within 10 yards but, fortunately, our previous experiences with being overseas paid off.  From open manhole covers, to broken sidewalks, to rebar sticking out of the ground probably intended for light poles, we managed to return to the apartment without injury.  During the excursion we passed open air fruit and vegetable stands, candy and cigarette sellers under umbrellas and many buildings that could use some touchups.  People did not hassle us even though it was obvious we were newbies.  We eventually found ourselves in the center of town where Burberry, Armani and Louis Vuitton were showing off their goods to people dressed in traditional garb, male bare bellies, high heels, short skirts, jeans, workout clothes and suits.  We visited the Chinggis Khaan statue in Sukhbaatar Square where we also saw small children driving motorized little cars that their parents rented from the local entrepreneurs. 

Fatigue set in so we headed back to the apartment with one more challenge to take on, shopping at a grocery store.  We passed a statue of Lenin on our way, and armed with the Mongolian dictionary that challenges our pronunciation skills we entered Hypermarket 1.  About an hour later we emerged with 3 different bottles of local beer, some meat, yogurt, tp,

 and cleaning supplies.  I tried finding black pepper, but with my non-existent Mongolian language skills I resorted to showing a woman the dictionary, and she lead me to green, red and yellow peppers.  I motioned that they weren’t what I was looking for, so next we found hot peppers.  I then looked up the word for black and motioned shaking it on food.  The young helper called in the reinforcements who tried the multicolored peppers again.  I tried again to explain about black pepper.  After a conference among the help it was decided that there was none in the store.  Meanwhile, Pam managed to get some beef from the butcher.  All she wanted was 1/4 of a kilo but, unable to say that, she accepted a kilo.  Exhausted we headed back to the apartment to try the beer and make dinner.  So far, the beer with the camel on the label is the one we like the best.  I passed out mid-gulp.  Woke a few hours later, ate and we watched a movie about Chinggis Khaan that friends gave us.  It was great.  The 2:00  am (I think) train blasted its horn waking both of us from a dead sleep but had no lasting effect as it acted as only a slight blip in our sleep.

Sun. Aug. 7

Let’s talk about traffic and a new sport that brought back memories of my youth.  The sport could be called “chicken”.  First the traffic.  The most important feature of the car that one should consider if buying a car is the horn.  Without the horn this city might look more like a demolition derby and possibly a war zone.  A hearing impaired person might not survive more than a day.  Traffic lights seem to be a suggestion but eventually the traffic does stop.  Screeching tires, in an effort to stop, is pretty common.  The drivers can either be on the right or left side of the car.  The traffic moves in the same direction as in the States.  Now for the game.  The objective is to get to the other side of the street alive.  The rules:  One can cross anywhere they like.  There are probably more points awarded if the person is crossing multiple lanes with heavier traffic.  Beginners should start at traffic light with it red.  Wipe out any memory chips of being in Northampton or you won’t make it through the day.

Mon. Aug. 8

Took care of apartment inventory with school staff and then headed into town to visit the Natural History Museum.  Outside of our apartment there were two cars with balloons on them and a giant cake center piece of two people getting married attached to the hood of the car.  On our way downtown the same cars passed us, and they were at the square when we got there.  The bride and groom were in what we would consider traditional wedding attire, the bride in a long white dress and the groom in a western suit.  The guests were dressed in traditional garments with medals pinned to them, (we’ve got to find out what the medals are about), miniskirts, high heels, suit coats, and long dresses.  They congregated at Sukhbaatar Square to have their pictures taken in front of the Chinggis Khaan bronze statue.  After the pictures, they all left for their cars.  Then the next wedding party took their place in front of the statue.  We saw 3 wedding groups that morning in the Square and in front of the statue.  It’s interesting that it was a Monday morning instead of the traditional Saturday day for weddings in the U.S.

The Natural History Museum was interesting in that at times it felt that we were at a middle school science fair.  There was a geology section that had examples of many of the minerals found in Mongolia.  The plant section had pictures of the plants in the wild and then dried versions behind glass.  The insect room had bugs, butterflies, and bees pinned to hard backings.  All of these had simple descriptions of what they were.  The seashell  section made Pam and I realize that the museum was not only about the natural history of Mongolia.  The best part was the dinosaur section.  There were a number of almost completely reconstructed fossils that had been found here.  One exhibit was the world famous, according to the guide book, of fighting dinosaurs that were buried alive under a sand dune.  This was very impressive with the skeletons almost completely intact.   

So far the language progression has barely made any movement.  Listening to conversations sounds like a mix of Arabic and Russian.  I don’t know whether it’s and age thing or “Glory Days” that make me think learning Moroccan Arabic was easier.  I spend hours going over the Cyrillic alphabet pronunciation.  Letters that look like our alphabet I immediately want to pronounce the American way even though I’ve gone over the Cyrillic pronunciation.  Add in the fatigue factor and I become a mute.  There is some progress being made.  I can now remember how to say “Hi”, count to five and “Thank you” every now and then.  It is so easy to empathize with students who struggle learning something new. 

Sat., Aug. 13:  It seems like we’ve been here a month.  My last entry said I felt like I was making progress with the language, scratch that.  Pam and I are trying to figure out how to arrange our tongues and what part of the throat to use to pronounce some of these words.  When I try with the local people have a look of bewilderment at what I’m trying to say.  Most of them politely smile and shake their heads like they understand and so do we when they respond.  Reality is nobody understood what the others were trying to say most of the time.  Kind of reminds me of my class at times.  

The staff at school have been wonderful.  They’ve taken us around town in a van for shopping, out to restaurants, solving problems in apartments, arranging for cell phones (which I don’t have), and all with smiles and lots of patience.  The bus driver, Dawa,  could be considered for rookie of the year with NASCAR.  This past week we’ve had orientation for newbies.  We get picked up in the van in the morning, arrive at school, drink tea or coffee, get orientated and then fed fantastic lunches.  The staff is very upbeat, the building is only 4 years old and they’re putting in a synthetic surface for soccer and other activities before the cold arrives which usually enters most conversations by the newbies.  The weather has not been a concern so far with it in the 80’s and low humidity everyday.  

The newbies are an eclectic collection of nationalities.  There is Karen, the music teacher, and her partner and 11 (?) year-old son from Atlanta.  Holli, is a kindergarten teacher from Alabama who lived in UB (Ulaanbaatar) for a year and a half and has been helping the rest of us with language and recommendations of where to go for what.  Geoff is originally from Zimbabwe but now lives with his partner in Seattle.  He is the theater teacher that makes the Energizer Bunny look like it’s got arthritis.  His partner, Rick, is the head of the primary school, a quiet guy who is very nice.  Sheena, is the art teacher from Ireland who just finished a stint in Korea and is working on American pronunciation.  She seems to be very laid back and is a delight to talk to.  Phillipe and Grecka are the only ones not living in our apartment complex.  He is from Belgium and she is from the Phillipines.  Grecka is working with Pam in ESL and Phillipe is the French teacher.  Finally, there is Ken, who we got to know over a bottle of Chinggis Khaan vodka, last night.  He is a retired industrial arts teacher from Seattle who loves to get out and explore and drink good coffee.  We’re quite an interesting bunch and for the most part all seem to enjoy each other’s company.  We’ll see how things are by Christmas