Excuses, Excuses!

Ahh…blog, sweet blog, how I have missed Thee, let me count the ways. My heart has had no written pathway to speak out. But, now my keyboard is loosed once again!

“Why the silence for so long,” you may ask. I tell you, “I have a ton of reasons.” And now, my reasons are gone and I can again compose posts and again post posts and again post photos. Again, my heart can run free on a computer screen.

So, since time lacks for me to post on all past events, I will only declare shortly herein what has kept me from blogging and blabbing away for so many weeks. Here is my declaration:

July 20-22—I did extra study for our BIG Mongolian language test, and then the test itself. I passed, but that doesn’t in any way mean I am fluent in this new language. I have decided I will never be fluent. But, I want to weekly learn new words and how to put them together properly.

July 23—A 24-hour travel to the U.S. Loved the time change deal: left Ulaanbaatar July 23 mid morning, travelled 24 hours, but still ended up in Minneapolis at 8:30 p.m. . . .on July 23!

July 24-August 6—A grand time of swiping the Discover Card ensued (don’t worry—it’s paid off!), as Danielle, Kevin, Johnny, I, and others in our family went hunting for many of the items we needed for our daughter’s wedding and reception. It was a lot to accomplish in a short time (maybe we have the makings for a new reality TV show—“The Amazing Race for the Bachelorette to get to The Wedding Story”; but everything was ready the evening of August 6, and we gained a son-in-law out of the deal!

August 7-17—We enjoyed time with both of our families and many friends.

August 18-19—Travel back to Mongolia took a few hours longer because of a longer layover in Beijing; we left at 9:30 am. August 18 and arrived in Ulaanbaatar at 11:30 p.m. August 19. Real travel time was around 28 hours.

August 20-September 2—No internet at our apartment, and looking for a new apartment (what an adventure). We saw a super-plush place as well as a hole in the wall that looked “mafia-like”. We ended up with a spacious apartment with a few upgrades from our last apartment. Our new apartment has a larger frig/freezer (still smaller than in the States) and a larger washing machine (now two double sheets can fit into the same load!).





We moved September 2, so this new apartment is still very new to us. We are also the first people to live in it (in a one-year old building, but this unit had never been rented yet). Not everything is new, though, as an old Russian oven (see in these kitchen pictures) was moved into the unit for us (many Mongolians don’t even own an oven). I spent over half an hour grating the baked-on oily stuff off the insides so it won’t smoke us out of the kitchen when it’s turned on (as happened the first time we used it!). I’m thankful I brought some Brillo pads from the U.S. with me!

Here's the living room on move-in day. It will soon look like "home", but I wanted you to see the new couch our landlady found for us, the light fixture, and cool French doors which can close off the living room from the rest of the apartment.





September 3-4—Now, we are settling into a new routine and exploring our new neighborhood. I had to walk back to our old neighborhood (35 minute walk away) yesterday, and it felt so “comfortable” since I knew where the bumps in the sidewalks exist, aware of the timing of the crossing lights and where the curbs and fences are which need to be avoided for walking. It will take a few months for this new neighborhood to feel as comfy as that old one was becoming. I realized I don’t know our jujor (the lady who picks up the trash from our hallways and keeps an eye on the people who go in and out of the building). It won't be long before we are smiling and waving to one another as at the old place, I hope! I don’t know what’s in all the stores underneath our apartment (by the way, we’re now on the 6th floor, but we have an elevator). At our old place, we were on the 2nd floor (no view because of the buildings all around us. At this new place...we have an awesome view. We can see the north hills (Ulaanbaatar is nestled between two rows of mountains/hills...some to the north and some to the south.


The photos (above and below) show the view out of our north window. I'm so excited that we'll be seeing sunrises and sunsets, as we have a very wide view as well as a distant view. See the hills off in the distance?

Here's the view below our apartment just as the morning is beginning. The streets get busier than this, but this gives an idea of what our few blocks around us look like. The white building (upper left in photo) is a grocery store close by. It is also the "All Mart" (real name!) which has household items and even some furniture in the upper level.






School begins soon...next weekend we give English teachers the test to see who can enter our program. These will be the new relationships we will enjoy for the coming year!