A Mild Frazzle Fixed

I had a little "frazzle" of my nerves this afternoon. 

Our phones were both very low on "negch" (the Mongolian word for prepaid minutes), so I went over to the market to not only purchase some negch, but also buy some butter and kumquats.  Butter to make cookies...kumquats to just eat!



Butter is not purchased in neat little quarter pound sticks at the market.  No. There's a large hunk of butter sitting out in the wide open space, and one must tell the lady behind the counter what quantity one wants to purchase.  Sometimes I get "hagus kilo" (a half kilo) and sometimes "nick kilo" (one kilo)...today it was a full kilo because I'm making cookies for a Good Friday evening later this week.

 So, I'm writing this post to tell you my nerve-wracking experience.  When I'm walking to an errand, I often picture the words I will be using in my head...sort of practice what I'll need and think about the pronunciation.  That's so much more work than when I go on errands in the U.S., using English.  Do I practice how I'll ask for "two ice cream cones"?  No!  I just do it.  Well, not here!

Anyway, I was reviewing the number of thousands of tugricks which I was about to ask for.  And, I needed it for BOTH phones, so making sure I made that clear.  After saying what I wanted the lady punched in numbers and seemingly both phones were loaded.  I stepped down the hall and checked my phone.  Perfect!  I now had a chunk of change loaded on my phone to text away!  Now, I checked Kevin's phone.  After requesting to see how many tugricks he had, I received a message on the screen in Mongolian.  And, unfortunately, in words I didn't recognize.  What could this mean?  I requested the balance three more times, and three more times received the same message.  I gathered up the courage to go back to the woman at the Mobicom counter.  I held up my phone and she smiled and looked relieved.  She started explaining some long story, all in Mongolian.  I could discern she was telling me that she needed to try again because the amount didn't load like she thought it had.  She talked on and on and then looked at me like I was supposed to respond.  I looked at her apologetically and said in Mongolian, "I'm sorry, I only understand a small amount of Mongolian language."  She smiled and laughed, and responded, "I only understand a small amount of English language" (in Mongolian); I replied, "We are the same" in Mongolian.  She smiled and repeated the phrase, agreeing.  It is always such a relief when someone is understanding and kind when there's a language barrier.  Whew! 

I walked away with the designated amount of money loaded onto Kevin's phone, too, and gratefulness for the kindness of this woman.

Now, I'm going to go make cookies to throw in the freezer for Friday night!