Weather report

For two days last week we could feel that spring was on its way. The snow was melting, the mercury made it above zero and the clothing layers started coming off people.

Then, just to prove us wrong, 10 centimetres of new snow blanketed the city. Once the snow storm ended, the temperatures plunged and we've been waking up to temperatures below -30 every morning since. Some days it does warm up during the day.

Last Sunday, a few of us (Aaron excluded) went sledding. It was ridiculously cold but we had a great time. There was a small sled rental place at the bottom of the hill. So much fun. I'm almost hoping the snow stays longer so I can go back.

Things I do differently in Mongolia (than I would in Canada)

1. I never put my bag on the floor (except at home).
   Mongolians don't ever set their bags on the floor as the superstition goes that if you do, you will be poor.
   
   
2. I drink hot water.
   It keeps me warm and we boil our water anyway.
   
   
3. I drink instant coffee.
   That stuff has to be cancerous. It just doesn't look right.
   
   
4. I always have toilet paper on me.
   Most public washrooms don't have toilet paper.
   
   
5. My long underwear are just another layer of skin now.
   
   
6. I point with my whole hand not with my index finger.
   We were told Mongolians don't point at each other but after a few months here, I can tell you that they do. But now, it's a habit and I can't help it. It looks weird.
   
   
7. The first question I ask at a store or restaurant is "Do you have ..." not "Where is ..." or "Can I have..."
   Never assume they have something even if it's on the menu or that you saw it last week.
   
   
8. I say hello to children and sometimes to grownups I don't know.
   Only if they say hello first. This exchange is usually followed by a giggling fit on their part especially if they have friends around.
   
   
9. I hem holy socks, gloves and other clothes needing repair.
   To save money, yes but also because we're only here for a short while and we want to travel with a light load when we leave Mongolia.

Things Aaron does differently in Mongolia

1. He has my red backpack permanently affixed to his back.
   The backpack is home to his laptop, essential working tool of the IT specialist that he is.
   
   
2. He argues with taxi drivers that try to charge us too much.
   Most cars don't have meters but even with meters there's ways to add on extra mileage. The majority though charge us the right rate.
   
   
3. He says things like Yanaa! (Oh no!) and Teem uu? (Really?)
   
   
4. He sometimes eats potatoes AND rice at a meal.
   For some reason it's perfectly acceptable to serve both on the same plate.
   
   
5. He hangs out with people that are his parents' age!
   The common bond of volunteering in Mongolia is enough to forget about age differences. Old fogies John and Mary can hike up a mountain faster than fit 20-year-olds.

Now that's just wrong

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

How to carry meat in Mongolia

1. Loose in a shopping bag

If your boss owns a horse farm and kills one of his horses on the weekend, you may find yourself carrying horse meat home on the Monday. The meat will come in an ordinary grocery shopping bag slightly smeared with blood and will contain various cuts of meat, including two ribs. You will be told of the healthiness of horse meat before being sent on your way. You will walk the fifteen minutes home with a bag that clearly contains meat and you won't be able to contain your smile while thinking: "Look everybody! A foreigner is carrying a bag of meat!"

2. On your shoulder

Toss a sheep thigh over your shoulder and be on your way. Pass by a herd of cows on a busy street.

3. In the back seat of your car

Kill and clean a few sheep then pile them in your backseat--plastic covering sheet optional. Drive to the city.

4. Loose in a shopping bag, take two

Buy some meat at the market. Go to the market's meat grinder and have your meat ground. As you leave the market, the plastic bag handle breaks and you find yourself carefully kneeling toward the pavement to prevent your ground meat from spilling onto the street. You are not entirely successful.

In case you were worried...

Aaron and his white-flecked tonsils have recovered without requiring surgery or any other drastic treatment like drinking his own urine.

We went hiking again yesterday and now my legs are feeling it. Mongolia is great for pointing and hiking. There are few beaten paths and people just pick a direction and hike. Most of the time, you don't have to worry about a thick forest undergrowth, uncrossable rivers or trespassing.

There's no snow in the city at all despite the below zero temperatures. It's the moisture from the sky that's missing and not the cold. It's weird to have cold weather without snow. It just doesn't feel like it should be cold. There was a little bit of snow in the hills in the more shaded areas on our hike yesterday but barely enough to make snowballs. Barely enough still means enough and I did get hit by a snowball. No snow means sun and it's been great to have such sunny days.