Teaching has been an interesting experience. There are days when it feels totally natural to be in front of a class and the students are totally immersed in whatever we're doing and there are other days where I just can't get the students to participate in the day's activity. I'm trying to play more games with them lately just because they tend to forget that they're speaking English while doing it.
Yesterday in class, I wrote "The pen is in my hand" on the blackboard and a few minutes later I kept seeing "The penis in my hand" in students' notebooks. When I looked back at the board, I saw just how little space I had put between "pen" and "is". Oops.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Another Japan video, pictures and more
It took us a little while but we have gotten up two albums of pictures and another video of our trip to Japan. It was a great trip, but it's nice to be back home.
I have been busy since being back in Mongolia. I now have a contract with the WHO in Mongolia to assist with IT on several of their projects. My placement at the Chingeltei hospital consists of only 8 hours of work a week now. With the WHO I will be going to the far eastern part of Mongolia (Choibalsan) in a couple weeks to help them with their IT infrastructure. I think MC will be coming along. With only just over a month left in my contract with VSO (yes I am still working with under VSO for the WHO contract) we are starting to look into our plans of travel. I think Thailand is at the top of the list.
I have been busy since being back in Mongolia. I now have a contract with the WHO in Mongolia to assist with IT on several of their projects. My placement at the Chingeltei hospital consists of only 8 hours of work a week now. With the WHO I will be going to the far eastern part of Mongolia (Choibalsan) in a couple weeks to help them with their IT infrastructure. I think MC will be coming along. With only just over a month left in my contract with VSO (yes I am still working with under VSO for the WHO contract) we are starting to look into our plans of travel. I think Thailand is at the top of the list.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Raisin Juice
This is a conversation I had a few weeks ago:
Coworker: Mary*, do you want... (looks in dictionary) ...raisin juice?
Me: Do you mean grape juice? Sure, I'll have some. (She takes my cup, goes to the canteen and returns. I look at what she brought me back.)
Me: Oh, you really did mean raisin juice!
In my cup, there was this greeny-gray translucent liquid with bloated raisins hanging out in the bottom. It was pretty good, not too sweet, not too watery. Very refreshing.
The same coworker wants me to try aarts, a liquid milk curd drink. I've so far avoided it.
Raisins in Mongolian are called uzem. Grapes are ussand uzem which translates to "raisins with water". I'm guessing raisins came to Mongolia before grapes.
We often buy raisins (for the cabbage salad mainly) and once we got a pack of raisins made from grapes with seeds. Yum, crunchy raisins.
*They call me Mary at school. I just leave it be, it's easier.
Coworker: Mary*, do you want... (looks in dictionary) ...raisin juice?
Me: Do you mean grape juice? Sure, I'll have some. (She takes my cup, goes to the canteen and returns. I look at what she brought me back.)
Me: Oh, you really did mean raisin juice!
In my cup, there was this greeny-gray translucent liquid with bloated raisins hanging out in the bottom. It was pretty good, not too sweet, not too watery. Very refreshing.
The same coworker wants me to try aarts, a liquid milk curd drink. I've so far avoided it.
Raisins in Mongolian are called uzem. Grapes are ussand uzem which translates to "raisins with water". I'm guessing raisins came to Mongolia before grapes.
We often buy raisins (for the cabbage salad mainly) and once we got a pack of raisins made from grapes with seeds. Yum, crunchy raisins.
*They call me Mary at school. I just leave it be, it's easier.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Japan videos
I recently uploaded a few videos of our trip to Japan. A couple are videos of the Tokyo fish market, one is some live crab at the market and the video of MC driving rounds them off. Check 'em out!
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
No thanks, I'll walk
I was offered a ride to our flat today. I was about to say "No thanks, I want to get some fresh air." Instead I caught myself and replied "No thanks, I want to get some exercise." As Marie-Claude already said Ulaanbaatar is anything but a city that you want to get fresh air in.
Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver.
My eyelashes were icicles this morning.
Sighting: Stray dog sporting full-on dreads. Quite a sight. I actually stopped and looked at him for a while. I wanted to take him home and shave him. I don't know dog breeds but he was like a tall, long hair cocker spaniel. I didn't have my camera with me (not that it actually works in this temperature).
Sighting: Stray dog sporting full-on dreads. Quite a sight. I actually stopped and looked at him for a while. I wanted to take him home and shave him. I don't know dog breeds but he was like a tall, long hair cocker spaniel. I didn't have my camera with me (not that it actually works in this temperature).
Friday, January 12, 2007
Smoke
I figured it could theoretically happen but I hadn't seen it yet. In an earlier post I wrote about the open sewer holes all around the city. UB has a shortage of sewer grates, I'm not sure why but it does. Some of the open sewer holes are on sidewalks, some are on the streets. Some are huge gaping things, others are smaller but big enough to fit a car wheel. On my way home from work yesterday I saw a car stuck in one of the small ones. One of the front wheels had sunk into the man hole. The people riding in the car all came out and lifted the car front to free the wheel. A man walking in front of me rushed over to help them out. I can't imagine the damage this would do to a car. Poor car. Cars lead difficult lives in Mongolia.
If any of you look at the Ulaanbaatar weather forecast once in a while and see "Smoke" as the description, it's not a translation issue. It may look like fog but it's actually the smoke from the coal power plants and from the surrounding ger districts that has come down on the city. I could smell it in my first breath of "fresh air" when I got off the airplane on the way back from Japan. No wonder Mongolians always talk about the fresh air of the countryside.
If any of you look at the Ulaanbaatar weather forecast once in a while and see "Smoke" as the description, it's not a translation issue. It may look like fog but it's actually the smoke from the coal power plants and from the surrounding ger districts that has come down on the city. I could smell it in my first breath of "fresh air" when I got off the airplane on the way back from Japan. No wonder Mongolians always talk about the fresh air of the countryside.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
The sentry and the driver
There are two jobs in Mongolia that have equivalents in Canada but somehow feel totally different here.
The sentry:
Jijuur is defined as sentry in my dictionary. But really, a jijuur is a door person. Practically every commercial and residential building has one or more door persons. In a commercial building, the door person is usually male and his main duties are to "monitor" who comes in and out.
Residential buildings usually have women acting as jijuurs. There's one for each entrance. The women sweep and clean the stairwell, take out the residents' garbage, roughly monitor the who comes in and take care of the sidewalk and street in front of their entrance. In exchange, they get a small salary and a place to live. Their apartment is the cramped space under the stairs on the ground floor. There's usually enough space for themselves, a small bed and a dresser. I was told that the women often come from the countryside following some kind of marital breakdown or family trouble.
We have a jijuur living under the stairs in our entrance. We say sain bain uu to her every day but that's about the extent of our interactions. Most times, she stares at us wide-eyed.
In the morning, there's usually an army of jijuurs out on the streets sweeping away. No matter the season, they're sweeping. Dust or snow.
The driver:
There are various types of drivers in Mongolia. Some organizations will have one person whose whole purpose is to be the organization's driver. VSO has one. Some are bus drivers and minibus drivers. Some drivers are entrepreneurs. They are taxi drivers or long-distance drivers. Their cars may be unmarked but this is how they earn a living. I think it may be a job Mongolian men do when they're unemployed. Or a job they do because they like being out and about. Instead of herding cattle, they herd people. When I ask my students what their dads do, a great number of them respond driver.
The sentry:
Jijuur is defined as sentry in my dictionary. But really, a jijuur is a door person. Practically every commercial and residential building has one or more door persons. In a commercial building, the door person is usually male and his main duties are to "monitor" who comes in and out.
Residential buildings usually have women acting as jijuurs. There's one for each entrance. The women sweep and clean the stairwell, take out the residents' garbage, roughly monitor the who comes in and take care of the sidewalk and street in front of their entrance. In exchange, they get a small salary and a place to live. Their apartment is the cramped space under the stairs on the ground floor. There's usually enough space for themselves, a small bed and a dresser. I was told that the women often come from the countryside following some kind of marital breakdown or family trouble.
We have a jijuur living under the stairs in our entrance. We say sain bain uu to her every day but that's about the extent of our interactions. Most times, she stares at us wide-eyed.
In the morning, there's usually an army of jijuurs out on the streets sweeping away. No matter the season, they're sweeping. Dust or snow.
The driver:
There are various types of drivers in Mongolia. Some organizations will have one person whose whole purpose is to be the organization's driver. VSO has one. Some are bus drivers and minibus drivers. Some drivers are entrepreneurs. They are taxi drivers or long-distance drivers. Their cars may be unmarked but this is how they earn a living. I think it may be a job Mongolian men do when they're unemployed. Or a job they do because they like being out and about. Instead of herding cattle, they herd people. When I ask my students what their dads do, a great number of them respond driver.
Dodging dodgy traffic
There's one thing that every foreigner learns quickly when they set foot in Mongolia: pedestrians do not, ever, have the right of way. That's just the way it is. Mongolians are very patient people but for some reason, if they're in a car, their patience vanishes and they will inch their way to their destination at the cost of traffic rules and pedestrians' well-being.
When we first arrived, we found that the easiest way to cross the road is to have an "escort". We would wait for a Mongolian to come to the intersection and simply follow him or her into the street. Unfortunately, there are times when escorts are hard to come by and we must venture out on our own. We've come to know certain intersections quite well and can predict when to cross.
Aaron and I have also mastered the multi-stage approach to crossing a street. One lane at a time. If we get stuck in the middle of the street for a while, I sometimes turn my feet to the side so they stick out less into the lane.
Now that it's winter, there's an added unpredictability to the traffic: slippery surfaces. The snow has been compacted down into ice and most cars only have bald poorly-inflated summer tires. Talk about fun.
Sidenote on the sidewalks: Many sidewalks now have a strip of ice going down the middle. Pedestrians have the choice between sliding down the ice to their destination or walking on the more stable compacted snow. The best one so far is a sidewalk that goes up a hill near our house. It's a long straight hill and you can just let yourself go down this nice ice strip. Our local grocery store is at the top of the hill so we get to slide home. Aaron's tried to slide up but it doesn't work so well (blame gravity). Aaron fell once going down but his fall was cushioned by the grocery bag. Thankfully, I was carrying the eggs.
When we first arrived, we found that the easiest way to cross the road is to have an "escort". We would wait for a Mongolian to come to the intersection and simply follow him or her into the street. Unfortunately, there are times when escorts are hard to come by and we must venture out on our own. We've come to know certain intersections quite well and can predict when to cross.
Aaron and I have also mastered the multi-stage approach to crossing a street. One lane at a time. If we get stuck in the middle of the street for a while, I sometimes turn my feet to the side so they stick out less into the lane.
Now that it's winter, there's an added unpredictability to the traffic: slippery surfaces. The snow has been compacted down into ice and most cars only have bald poorly-inflated summer tires. Talk about fun.
Sidenote on the sidewalks: Many sidewalks now have a strip of ice going down the middle. Pedestrians have the choice between sliding down the ice to their destination or walking on the more stable compacted snow. The best one so far is a sidewalk that goes up a hill near our house. It's a long straight hill and you can just let yourself go down this nice ice strip. Our local grocery store is at the top of the hill so we get to slide home. Aaron's tried to slide up but it doesn't work so well (blame gravity). Aaron fell once going down but his fall was cushioned by the grocery bag. Thankfully, I was carrying the eggs.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Japan is so yesterday.
We left Japan yesterday and made it back to cold Mongolia. It was hard to pry ourselves away from all the wonderful food and the mild weather, but we did it. We saw Venita and Jean-François; Eric and Tanisha; Daisuke; Mike, Yuka and Heagan; and Peter and Shannon. We saw Tokyo, Kamakura, Okayama, Nakasho, Kurashiki, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Miyajima.
Tokyo
Tokyo was huge and bright and clean and sunny. It was fun to explore.
The weirdest things we ate
Christmas Eve dinner was a feast at Venita and JF's place. Tourtières, stuffing, chicken, chocolate cake, oh my. Christmas morning we woke up really early to go to a fish auction. We spent New Year's Eve with Mike and Yuka (Yuka for the first part of the night). We were in an amusement park for the countdown with thousands of others and saw fireworks from behind a tree. We were in Kyoto on New Year's Day visiting temples along with the Japanese who were doing their prayers for the New Year.
Dinner with Daisuke
One evening, Daisuke brought us to this hole-in-the-wall chicken yakitori place near Shinjuku station. It was pouring rain outside and we walked down this tiny alley that had one tiny chicken place after another tiny chicken place. We walked into one and huddled in the back corner and ordered one little dish after another. Chicken skewers. Shochu (a Japanese alcoholic drink). Raw fish. It was great.
Daisuke is Ryuko's boyfriend, a woman we met in Ulaanbaatar.
The vending machines
Aaron and I calculated (on a really long walk in Kyoto) that there's one vending machine for every 60 citizens of Japan. They were everywhere! We hiked to the summit of a mountain and sure enough, there was a vending machine at the top. And we used them quite a bit. Many offered hot and cold drinks; others, cheap cigarettes and still others, beer. There was also the ice cream vending machines.
The washrooms
Heaven! Pre-warmed seats, soap (a luxury in Mongolian washrooms), toilet paper (also a luxury, heck intact seats are a rarity) and loads of buttons that I didn't dare push. There's public washrooms everywhere too. Aaron's bladder seemed to shrink in Japan and he spent his time visiting as many facilities as he could. Only one thing, why the cold water for washing hands?
The trains
Japan's train system is plain amazing. It runs on time, it's frequent and the subway and longer distance trains are well-integrated. We had one-week rail passes (thanks Linda and Michael for the quick work on sending those our way) that allowed to hop and off anywhere in the country and they were the greatest things ever.
The ferris wheels
Japan is littered with ferris wheels. Every city has at least one. We didn't ride any.
Hiroshima
It was a strange feeling walking around in a city that 60 years ago had been obliterated by an atomic bomb. It looked like any other Japanese city with bright lights and lots of shopping opportunities. There is only one building left standing in the city centre that show damage from the bomb. The Peace Museum nearby tells the story of Hiroshima and they do it quite powerfully.
Peter and Shannon were wonderful hosts and took us around Hiroshima quite a bit. And we got to sleep in a real tatami room in their apartment.
Aaron will post photos shortly.
Tokyo
Tokyo was huge and bright and clean and sunny. It was fun to explore.
The weirdest things we ate
- Fish sperm sacks (think silky smooth and creamy)
- Cow tongue (delicious barbecued yakiniku-style)
- Deep-fried chicken cartilage (crunchy, yet satisfying)
- Half-cooked chicken (the Japanese have a thing for raw things it seems)
- Pounded rice balls (really elasticky)
Christmas Eve dinner was a feast at Venita and JF's place. Tourtières, stuffing, chicken, chocolate cake, oh my. Christmas morning we woke up really early to go to a fish auction. We spent New Year's Eve with Mike and Yuka (Yuka for the first part of the night). We were in an amusement park for the countdown with thousands of others and saw fireworks from behind a tree. We were in Kyoto on New Year's Day visiting temples along with the Japanese who were doing their prayers for the New Year.
Dinner with Daisuke
One evening, Daisuke brought us to this hole-in-the-wall chicken yakitori place near Shinjuku station. It was pouring rain outside and we walked down this tiny alley that had one tiny chicken place after another tiny chicken place. We walked into one and huddled in the back corner and ordered one little dish after another. Chicken skewers. Shochu (a Japanese alcoholic drink). Raw fish. It was great.
Daisuke is Ryuko's boyfriend, a woman we met in Ulaanbaatar.
The vending machines
Aaron and I calculated (on a really long walk in Kyoto) that there's one vending machine for every 60 citizens of Japan. They were everywhere! We hiked to the summit of a mountain and sure enough, there was a vending machine at the top. And we used them quite a bit. Many offered hot and cold drinks; others, cheap cigarettes and still others, beer. There was also the ice cream vending machines.
The washrooms
Heaven! Pre-warmed seats, soap (a luxury in Mongolian washrooms), toilet paper (also a luxury, heck intact seats are a rarity) and loads of buttons that I didn't dare push. There's public washrooms everywhere too. Aaron's bladder seemed to shrink in Japan and he spent his time visiting as many facilities as he could. Only one thing, why the cold water for washing hands?
The trains
Japan's train system is plain amazing. It runs on time, it's frequent and the subway and longer distance trains are well-integrated. We had one-week rail passes (thanks Linda and Michael for the quick work on sending those our way) that allowed to hop and off anywhere in the country and they were the greatest things ever.
The ferris wheels
Japan is littered with ferris wheels. Every city has at least one. We didn't ride any.
Hiroshima
It was a strange feeling walking around in a city that 60 years ago had been obliterated by an atomic bomb. It looked like any other Japanese city with bright lights and lots of shopping opportunities. There is only one building left standing in the city centre that show damage from the bomb. The Peace Museum nearby tells the story of Hiroshima and they do it quite powerfully.
Peter and Shannon were wonderful hosts and took us around Hiroshima quite a bit. And we got to sleep in a real tatami room in their apartment.
Aaron will post photos shortly.
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