In.UB.wearing.gutuls&a.deel: LOCKED IN

The most exciting thing that happened today was that we got locked IN the house.

I just wanted to scream like Bridget did at home 'YOU CAN'T LOCK ME OUT', 'LET ME IN, YOU CAN'T LOCK ME OUT'.

But of course it would have fallen on deaf ears. We were locked in, with no way of getting anyone's attention. I was ready to go to the gym and Ryan was about to head out for a run. To no avail. I thought the lock was just being tricky (we have to lock the door behind us when we come inside as it's too dangerous to have it open). But it wasn't. It was practically broken.

We would have spent about an hour trying to unlock it. We called people. We racked our brains. Nothing worked. Ryan and I had a half-assed attempt at doing some cardio work in the lounge and then we gave up. Then we made some choc chip biscuits. With no milk or vanilla essence, stinky margarine (it all smells a bit too much of animal fat) and semolina flour (that wasn't fine enough). They taste just as good as they sound.

Anyway, so after hockey the other night, an ex-volunteer's boyfriend walked us home- because he conveniently lives next door. I got her phone number, called her and when she got home after work I threw down my key and she came upstairs (3rd floor, too far to jump) and spent about 10mins fiddling and then............. WOohoO! ENTRY WAS GRANTED!

*relief!*

She came in and had a cup of tea and a crappy choc chip biscuit (how embarrassing) and then headed off. What a saviour!

The other amazing thing today was my lunch. Just downstairs is a '5 star Restaurant' (that's it's name). It's TOTALLY five star. For Mongolian standards anyway. It's bloody amazing. I ordered Korean yellow chicken curry. It was amazing. There was FLAVOUR! I was in heaven. I'm pretty big on flavour in food at the best of time, so having been deprived of it for a good 1.5weeks meant that it was probably the best dish I've ever had.

Language class was okay; today we just revised stuff we've learnt - it was a bit slow and we didn't seem to revise much. The class is getting a bit trying - we obviously all learn very differently and it's not working for some people and then attitudes change and the aura isn't amazing. Occasional rudeness as well, which isn't too much fun.

Nevermind, I'm actually really enjoying the lessons. I mean, they're not super thrilling but it's great to be learning stuff again. Something so different.

What else........... We had a visitor last night! Sarah went and had dinner with a Mongolian we met in Canberra at training - and he came back to our place and stayed for a bit. He's lovely and has a great sense of humour. And has a wealth of Mongolian experience - which has already proved very useful.

So no gym for Sally today. It obviously wasn't meant to happen. Oh yeah - and to prove we're living in a cosmopolitan location: I was watching (briefly) the Mongolian news this afternoon and there was a good two minutes dedicated to OUR BUILDING as we've got roadworks going on out the front. They've literally dug up the entire road to a depth of about 2m so they can replace some pipes. It's making traffic even more chaotic.

I did get some photos tonight though: