Lessons learned in Mongolia

Сайн байцгаана уу! (Hello! in Mongolian)







Okay. We're here in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Been here for 2 weeks now and have made some observations about our new home (for the next three years, anyway).


Love being able to see the big blue sky! UB, the capital city, is in somewhat of a valley and is pretty flat without many trees so one can see a long distance. We've enjoyed incredible sunsets and seen the most interesting cloud formations against a big blue sky. Something I missed a lot while in VA. The terrain here reminds me a lot of Southern California, actually.

While walking the city, one must be careful of obstacles, like open man holes, steel re-bar sticking out of the ground, uneven sidewalks, and random piles of dirt, bricks, rocks and large open holes. Driving is on the right, sort of, with lines, traffic lights and police officers just a mere suggestion ... not the rule. While riding home from church in a taxi last Sunday we commented that it was just like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland! Everyone here likes to use their horn, frequently. They drive like they are riding horses ... if there's open space, they take it. When pedestrians cross the street the only safe way to do it is to wait for a gap. WILD! Keeps the adrenaline and blood pumping, that's for sure.



Shopping is easy if you have a little Mongolian language skill. The four months I spent in language training last Fall were an invaluable investment! However, some products are from other countries (Russia, Korea, China, Poland, UK, France, etc.) so labels are usually in many languages. I can usually find one language that I know. If all else fails, then sometimes there's a picture of what it is. I discovered that I can carry 45+ pounds of groceries like a pack-mule for at least 1/2 mile, but that I'm sore the next day. Our car will be here in about a month and then no more lugging liter after liter of liquids!

The currency here is tugriks. There are about 1500 tugriks to the dollar so at any one time I have 1/2 million tugriks in my wallet. The most common paper currency is the 20,000 tugrik note. Makes shopping seem like playing Monopoly or something. It doesn't seem real! There are no coins so all of the money is paper.

Taxis are cheap. A ride across town is between $2 - $4.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having hot water on demand (tankless system). Our home is a nice 4 story townhome (garage, laundry & storage room on the bottom floor) with a bedroom for each child which is very handy when they are bickering. (Go to your room!!) Domestic help is just under $2 per hour so I hired a housekeeper to help me a couple times a week with cleaning the floors, the kitchen and the 4 bathrooms. Wonder if she does windows??

There are lots of activities each week ... movie nights, play dates, BBQs, walking groups, book club, excursions to the countryside, tennis, martial arts, camping trips, etc. In the winter they make an ice rink out of the grassy field in our compound (it's the size of a small soccer field). Can't wait for that!!

This coming week Ian & Ashley will travel with the kids in the middle school for a three day camping in gers experience. I'll see if Ian will take his camera so I can post some photos of it when they get back.

Great hot chocolate can be found in this city, but it comes from Europe. There's a cute little cafe run by a lady from Germany and I had the most scrumptious cocoa there one day!

Cocoa in August, you might ask, why? Because it was cool enough (yes, in August!) to wear long sleeves and to drink cocoa. Nice. Very nice. I love this weather! Bye bye mid-Atlantic heat & humidity.

The verdict: life is good in Ulaanbaatar!