Out of the City and Into the Country

Saturday, we had a little excursion with some new friends. We drove about an hour outside the city of Ulaanbaatar (UB for short) and saw some huge and beautiful rock formations, gers (Mongolian tent-like structures where people live and even do business), some camels, a mangy dog, and an eagle.

Here, you can see Kevin holding an eagle perched on a falconer's glove, Micah riding a "Tamay" (Mongolian word for "camel"), and the ger in the background behind the camel's face.

Here is the inside ceiling of the ger...which was a shop of "tourist" gifts. We found out that two people live there overnight as their home and business.

Below, you can see Kevin perusing the gifts. For those of you who know him well, this wasn't his favorite part of the outing (shopping...for "touristy" stuff!?!).





It's good to get to see the culture first-hand and mix with the Mongolian people.

Are You Pushing or Playing?

To the left is a flashcard for our Mongolian class. This one shows "daughter-in-law" which is pronounced "beer" (I kid you not!).

Below is an array of flashcards we are presently memorizing.
Today in Mongolian Language Class, I made a funny blunder. We were to write sentences with our new words last night as homework. I wrote a sentence correctly, but when I spoke it in class, it came out wrong.

Here's the vocabulary list:

nohur = dog
nohor = husband (why does this language have these two words sound so much the same?!)
togthla = to play
toothlick = to push

My assignment was to use the word "never". I wrote "I never my husband push." That's the word order in Mongolian--another reason why I would rather memorize a stack of words than try to put them into a sentence or a question! After speaking the sentence, our language teacher looked at me and said, questioningly, "You never play with your dog?" She doesn't know that I really don't like dogs much, so I'm sure she's thinking, "If you have a dog, wouldn't you play with him sometimes?" I said, "Is that what I just said?" She replied, "Yes." I told her what I thought I'd said. She looked at my paper...I had spelled it all correctly, I just didn't pronounce it correctly. We all had a good laugh with that.

How many times in life do we THINK we're doing the right thing, and then later we find out we were WAY OFF? That's where we need wisdom: "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." James 1:5

Mexican Food in Mongolia!

Micah has become quite the chef! He and I had fun creating this delicious meal today. We have made tortillas three times in the past week. Our coordinator's wife showed us how and it's a fun process and yields some delicious bounty. I made a mixture of black beans and beef stew meat with spices (chili powder, garlic, onions, and cumin) and we also created a homemade salsa. Cheese and yogurt rounds out the dish (I used yogurt instead of sour cream for a more healthful alternative).

When skyping with our daughter in Wisconsin, she wanted to know why I never made this when she was at home. I replied, "Because we could BUY tortillas and salsa ready-made easily!" Here, it's not as easy to find, and when found, can be rather expensive. So, we're learning a new art.

Earthquake in China

My heart was saddened this afternoon as I logged onto the computer for the first time today after the news broke about the early morning quake in western China in the mountains. Usually, Chinese news has been a faraway thought. Today, I feel a kinship with them since I know some people from orientation in our organization who are in this large country (haven't determined if any are in the quake area), and since the quake area is in our time zone (at least I think...perhaps one time zone away). From the maps, I believe the quake was directly south of us at least 1000 miles. So, we're a LONG way away, but much closer than if we were in our living room in Rochester, Minnesota.

Please remember these people today. Presently as I write, it's 8:20 pm, and I'm thinking of them approaching the dark of night after a day of digging...some finding friends and relatives dead or severely injured, some finding them alive, and some not found yet. I can't imagine the chaos with little or no emergency equipment or good excavation equipment.

This should be a high motivation for all of us as we watch the news these past days, to be sharing Good News:

"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. . .and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains." (Matthew 24:6-8)

Mongolth Lesson

Language continues to be a bitter-sweet experience! Today in language class, I was to translate a sentence into Mongolian. It was written out for me in English, and I was to speak it in Mongolian. I looked at the sentence, and for the life of me I couldn't remember the Mongolian word for "read". I looked at the paper, hoping it would click, then I looked at Kevin and said, "Have we learned the word for 'read'?" Micah looked at me and said, "You're joking, right, Mom?" I think he was really thinking, "Why do I have to have such a loser for a mother?", but he was kind enough to NOT say that. We actually learned the word for "read" many weeks ago.

No, I wasn't joking. I was drawing a blank. For some reason, the incidence struck me as funny and also frustrating, and I started laughing. I just kept laughing and couldn't think straight. Then, tears started streaming down my cheeks. I was laughing AND crying. Our teacher assured us we would be learning the Mongolian word for "crying" later in the morning.

Now, unless you think that I was disrupting a huge class, no worries. Our class consists of Kevin, Micah, Susan (the other teacher who came over with us on March 1 from Maryland), and myself--and of course one of the teachers (we have two--one teaches the first half of class; the other teaches the second half).

I think I just "hit a wall" and "lost it" all at once right there. It's beyond my brain at times to make sentences with the words I've learned. The word order is much different than English.

But, let me share a victory, lest you think I really AM a loser! Kevin and I recently went to a coffee shop while we were out walking somewhere. They had just pulled some wonderful looking pastry-covered round balls off the cooling tray and put them on plates to display. I asked, "Athlam?" which is the word for apple--I was guessing and wanted confirmation that an apple was wrapped in that ball of goodness. The cashier nodded her head, "Teem" (yes!). I ordered, "nick" (one) after asking "In hit vey?" (how much price?) and hearing, "myunk" (1000T--which translates to less than a dollar). So, I may not be able to make a full sentence, but I can talk in sporadic one-word questions! And, I ended up getting what I thought I was getting for a good price. Kevin and I sat down to enjoy the pastry-covered baked apple together and had a fun talk.

Time for me to go do my "gedding dolthlor" (homework) so I don't end up "oolthahch been" (crying).

Talkth?

I must admit that I have a very long way to go in learning the Mongolian language. But, how exciting to see small words making a difference in the way I can relate to someone or even request something. Yesterday, Kevin and I were on a walk to go to the post office for postage. A beggar approached us and said "Moooney?" The beggars have learned that wonderful English word. I smiled at him and shrugged my shoulders, signifying that I had no money. (Kevin had some money, but I didn't). We kept walking at a normal pace and he kept walking right along with us. (Since then, we've found out that's very strange for a beggar to continue walking with you for several blocks). He reminded me of a lost puppy in need of a warm meal. I searched my mind. What could I say to him to help? What could I communicate in Mongolian?

Kevin and I began talking to one another. What should we do? We didn't feel scared or threatened at all. There were tons of people walking on the sidewalk, and he didn't seem threatening. The two teen aged girls ahead of us kept looking back to see if he was still walking with us. I smiled at them and they smiled back. We were attracting attention, for sure!

Suddenly, I thought of something. "Talkth?" I asked him. That's "Bread?" His wide, sad eyes brightened and he shook his head up and down. There's "Mini Markets" all along the sidewalks to pop into. I waved my hand alongside as if to say, "Come with us," and we went into a market and bought a large loaf of bread for a mere 650 Tugricks. That's less than 50 cents! And it's beautiful bakery bread. (Side note: bread and red peppers are two things I've noticed which are extremely cheaper here. Many groceries are more expensive or similarly priced as the US...but, I digress!)

We handed him the bread and I felt ill equipped in telling him about the bread of life. I so wanted him to know more. Next time I'll have a printed bookmark in Mongolian which has good information concerning the bread you can partake in and never again become hungry. There are opportunities all around us. May we be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16).

You Are the Light of the World

In a past blog post, I mentioned that we have some very fun "retro" lighting throughout our apartment. I've taken pics of all our light fixtures so you can see exactly what I mean! I am reminded that we are told of our identity using light as an example: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matt. 5:14-16

A "Non-American" Meat Has Been Consumed!

I'm sure by now we have eaten some non-traditional meat and we didn't know it. However, last night we were knowingly eating camel chili (that's not a new recipe...just a new kind of meat!), and it was good! Camel is very much like beef in its flavor.

Our friends from Minnesota...not Mongolians...were the ones to share this delicious soup with us! Good for them for branching out. I've still been sticking with chicken and beef. I really miss salmon and shrimp...two seafood which we ate at home at least once a month.

I'm glad we like many different kinds of food. There's so much more here than we first thought would be here. I guess the food imports have blossomed in the last couple years, so the reports we heard about lack of food choices was actually true at one point not so long ago. We actually enjoy many kinds of vegetables and might get a pineapple this week. A friend of mine found one for 2200 Tugricks here, which ends up being less than $1.50! However, most fruits and vegetables tend to be higher than in the States.

Isn't it interesting that so much in our lives revolves around food--the stuff we put in our mouths? Psalm 34:8 says, "O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" I want to make sure that what I put in my heart is also tasty and satisfying! May you cook up a good time with Him today!

Europe in the Middle of Ulaanbaatar

Isn't this the most quaint little coffee shop and bakery that you've seen in a long time? Kevin and I discovered it early this week when we were walking home from a meeting. We stopped in just to see what it is like. At the front counter was a 70-ish aged woman with white skin and shiny white-grey hair. We found out she's the owner. She was German-born, but has lived in Asia for over 40 years, and Mongolia for the past 13 years. She runs this bakery which also serves soups and sandwiches in the back cafe area. This first picture is the view as you walk in the front door.



Here, a customer purchases her baked goods for the day.










Here's the back room cafe filled with picnic-style tables and pretty flowers and lighting. I hope to use this spot as a good place to meet women to talk about important things in life!

As I said before, we met the owner, Brigitte, and we had a fun conversation with her. Before we had left, she had invited me to the IWAM (International Women's Association-Mongolia)which was meeting the next day. So, I went on Tuesday this week and enjoyed meeting many women from several different countries: Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, and the U.S. are the ones I can remember. This philanthropic club meets once a month and has different "projects". (This month's project was focusing on Habitat for Humanity--Mongolia!) IWAM is sort of a "Rotary" club for women. I hope to go back again to become more familiar with some of these women. Thank you Brigitte, for a beautiful coffee shop tucked away in the middle of Ulaanbaatar; and thank you Brigitte for the nice afternoon on Tuesday!

Little House on the...Prairie?

We walk through the Ger District (the area of UB where people live in gers) on Sunday mornings. Yesterday, as we walked past this little home beside some gers, I said, "Look Kevin, it reminds me of an American pioneer's home a century ago in America."

We still haven't been inside a ger yet...or one of these "pioneer" homes...but we'll let you know when we do. I'm sure the inside will be very impressive. The people have an artistic flair. Even our apartment, even though drab and sad looking on the outside of the building, inside, our landlord has decorated with oriental rugs and retro lighting with unusual light fixtures in every one of our rooms. Maybe I'll post pictures of our light fixtures someday soon!

Our Friday Afternoon Party

Eleven students out of 17 came to our party at our home this afternoon. It was an opportunity to develop relationships outside of the normal classroom environment. We saw each other's crazy, fun side (even though, I must admit, the classroom is pretty crazy fun sometimes with skits to practice English as well as many other physically active games to solidify English skills!). One woman had to eat a piece of cake without utensils (because she lost a game). Another woman had to dance for us (she was shy about it and the dance lasted 3 seconds). Our co-teacher, Susan, showed us how she can roll her tongue into a "flower" shape!! We shared much delicious food. We hope to have many of these students back into our apartment again. We were disappointed that they had to leave before our Good News activity, but we also know that relationships were strengthened for future good news times!

It's a Good Friday!!

PS I was going to post pictures with this entry, but my "posting of pictures ability" is extremely slow and I'm in a bigger hurry than it will allow for...hence, just imagine our party in your mind because the pictures have been trying to post for over 20 minutes and it's not happening!

My dear sweetie brought me "April Fool's Flowers" yesterday! He said, "I've done some foolish things in my life, but marrying you was NOT one of them." Having lived in UB now for a full month (we arrived March 1), we certainly don't have a collection of vases. BUT....we DO have a jar which held German hotdogs which were given to us by our teammates! So, I wrapped a tea towel around the jar, tied it on with the ribbon from the roses, and arranged my three roses in a HOT DOG JAR! Martha Stewart would say, "It's a good thing". It looks rustic and romantic. And nobody can see that it's a hot dog jar!

A Sunday Stroll

So, this Sunday, we were taking a walk. Here's a back road in UB. As you can see, this road is needing the city road department to visit! Needless to say, we had to clean our shoes after we got home! We saw several deep ruts and high "blobs" of dirt. We decided these were makeshift "speed bumps".






Here is a photo of some gers being set up in Suhkbaataar Square (government center buildings are there, along with a monument of Chinggis Kahn—or as Americans know him, Gengis Kahn-- and a soldier. I’ll post photos of these statues some day soon). Anyway, we never really found out what kind of celebration or reason that brought people to come to the square to set up their gers, but it was certainly interesting. This is about 5 blocks from our apartment.

Our Students

For the past two weeks, we have taught Mongolian English teachers new methods of teaching English to their students. We've learned these methods from our teacher, Aleta. Here you can see one of the methods being used...students line up in two lines and communicate with one another using questions we provide. The students had to fill out evaluation forms yesterday, and they all had great feedback concerning these new methods. They're excited to use them in their classes as they teach English!

Friday, we are having these students into our apartment for an "Easter Party". I'll report back here in the next day or so to let you know how that goes. We're excited as we prepare ham and cheesy potatoes (it was an adventure finding the ham at the market, and I think we got a delicious one...I tasted it today!). Pig meat is pronounced "Ghuny Mahk" and it was "Arrowan nick meyuhnk tugriks" (11,000 Tugriks).

We hope to share good news with our students on Friday afternoon!