September 22, 2010

Once again I have put my blogging off because I know how long it is going to take to write everything! However, I know a lot of people are reading this on a regular basis so I am sitting myself down to do the job! I can’t believe I have already been to my site for a month! Crazy! I have officially been in Mongolia for four months!! (My counterpart told me the other day that by the time someone is living in Mongolia for six months the government considers him or her to be a Mongolian) I am on my way!!
What has happened this past month? That is a loaded question! I feel like this month has flown by! Seriously I have been so busy settling in time has gone by so quickly! The first week was basically my getting comfy in my ger. I unpacked and bought a lot of things for my ger. (really just kitchen items) My ger is great! I really enjoy it, it is a lot bigger then the ger I lived in this summer.
Warning this blog might jump from topic to topic, be aware. :)
On August 30, 2010 I was walking home for lunch when I saw a puppy. I of course stopped to pet the pup. Then this elderly lady walked up to me and started speaking Mongolian to me. Now my Mongolian knowledge is extremely basic stuff. From what I gathered from the conversation she wanted me to take the puppy home. I wasn’t opposed to this but I didn’t know if it already had a home or not. I decided that I would let it go but then he followed me home! At that point I decided I would just adopt him. (I of course checked with my haasha family first) They thought it would be a great idea. So we decided that he would be both my dog and theirs, because I will only be here for two years and when my two years is up I am going to leave him here. To this fact I decided I would let my counterparts daughter name him. (It was her birthday that week) It took her a couple of days but she finally decided on Arslan. Arslan means lion in Mongolian. I like it. Something I find really cool about the Mongolian culture is when somebody is given a name the person giving the name says it three times in his or her ear. Neat huh! So Namina did this for Arslan.
That is the story of how he came to be apart of my Mongolian life, now to update y’all on his life in the past life. He is getting big! Despite his not liking my food! Arslan is now tripping all over himself because his legs are getting longer and longer and he hasn’t adjusted to them yet. It is really funny. He is slowly learning both Mongolian and English commands. He is going to be a smart dog…knowing two languages and all. I let him sleep in my ger though I don’t know how long this will last..he is peeing and pooping everywhere! He even peed in my bed twice, I was NOT happy! He loves to chew as all puppies do. He has already chewed a hole in my purse and my sleeping bag. Oh he also received friends! So, my haasha family had a dog but he died the same day Arslan followed me home. Ironic I know. About a week after this happened my haasha family brought home two more puppies! There were three little puppies running around our yard. I loved it. Unfortunately one of the new puppies is no longer. We aren’t 100% sure what happened to her but we think someone stole her. Now we have two boy puppies: one with a name, one with out.
On to another topic…my site is great! The town I live in is quaint. We have a couple of restaurants, internet cafes, a bunch of stores, a post office, hospital, police deptarment, a couple of museums, government buildings, shower houses, schools, day cares, and schools. I mean there are typical things you would find in any old town really. Oh I have a river!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am really excited about that! I think I will be going there every weekend during the summer. We have this one restaurant who specializes in American food. They make spaghetti, tacos, pizza, spaghetti with cheese, and hamburgers. It is pretty decent food. Then there is other restaurant who has Chinese food. Yes they have sweet and sour chicken! Seriously shocking!! Well I guess not too shocking considering how close I am to China, but still. It makes me happy.
Let see what else! Oh my sitemates and I went on an adventure the other weekend. Kathleen who is a M20 has been in search of a little stone man. This little stone man had been left here from the Turkish Era. She heard about the guy from the lonely planet book about Mongolia. She has looked for him on several occasions but never found him. Recently she obtained the coordinates for the guy and thanks to Justin’s GPS WE FOUND HIM!! It was about a four-mile walk to his location and we had a little bit of trouble finding his exact location but eventually we stumbled upon him! He actually turned out to be bigger then what we thought. He was about 4 feet tall and was surrounded by a fence. (I suppose to protect him) It looked like to us that a lot of people visit him on a regular basis. There was a half empty bottle of vodka, some tea, money and various other things around him. It was exciting finding this little guy! We had a picnic by the dude and Arslan came along for the hike! (Though he ended up being carried most of the way, he is a tad bit lazy) I found out later that this guy is named from the Buddhist religion and people go and visit him when they want a dream/wish to come true….sorta like throwing a penny in a fountain!
In other news it is starting to get cold here. I built my first fire the other night. This is going to become a regular occurrence soon. I will more then likely have to get up in the middle of the night to put wood on the fire. Joy! I have pretty much gotten used to the outhouse. However my stomach is still adjusting. I feel like I have been getting sick about once a month. Not too bad. My hope is eventually my stomach will become an iron stomach, that’s what they call it right? Nothing like moving to another country and having constant stomach issues on top of no toilet! My legs are thanking me though! I am teaching myself how to cook, if that’s what you want to call it. I am working on my ger skills! Lol.
Ok this has become long enough of a blog. For those of you reading this let me know of anything you want to know/hear about. Sometimes I am not sure what y’all would be interested in!
Hope all of you are sitting well! (Mongolians say this, sorta like I hope all is well with you)
ZA!
B
OHHHH I forgot! My Mongolian students gave me a Mongolian name, Zulaa!
AND I am going to be an expert Karaoke singer by the time I leave here, I feel like my coworkers go on a regular basis. SO far I have gone twice, both times they made me sing a ton.