Material

Material!

This morning I had a purpose. There was a reason to get out of bed and go to work. It was a difficult task, having had no weekend to relax on. Nevertheless I got up, got dressed and met the Swiss guys to walk to the student presentation. There were about 20 students from the Mongolian University that researched the same things we were researching last week – herder group stuff. They interviewed 60 groups. That’s a LOT of groups. We interviewed TWO (each, we went in groups – but still!). What an amazing effort.

They presented their findings in a 10mins speech (bad PowerPoint too). What a way to waste all that amazing research. But the general gist of the story is that farmers aren’t keen to receive money from anyone as they think it’s dodgy and they don’t trust anyone. And if they have received grants, they don’t have enough help. And if they haven’t received grants it’s because they don’t know enough about the projects. Basically it was all bad news for the projects. But it was good news in a way. It just means that they have to reinvent themselves and times are changing – no new news really.

Above is a photo of the presentations taking place. They were presented in Mongolian. There was a lady at the front translating and we had earpieces in to hear her on a radio. It was really tricky to concentrate on all the different things, and even then she was a pretty crap interpreter. Nevermind, we got the general idea.

I had three brownies for morning tea. Usually I don’t like brownies but having not eaten much for the past 5 days all the fatty goodness was doing wonders for my tummy. So I fed it.

The students expressed grave concerns for their reputation – having just presented rather negative information (even though it’s just raw data, and exactly what was asked for). They were told their names wouldn’t be used and that we are very grateful for their work. In reality, they basically pissed off potential employers. Which sucks big time because they did such an amazing thing and it’s not their fault that their findings were crap.

The presentations finished early and I was suppose to go back to work but I couldn’t stomach it. Mainly because we were so close to the Black Markets and I desperately wanted material. So I wagged work and got some groceries on my way home and then picked up my friend to go to the markets. Oh my, it was SO much fun. The material is just amazing! There’s a lot of crap but there’s a lot of traditional material that’s just sooooooo beautiful. I got both. See video above for more information!

Gym tonight; it was okay. I’ve lost a lot of my fitness since I haven’t been going every second-ish day in Brisbane. I plan on getting much fitter as of now though. Things are starting to get in to a routine. The trainer at the gym was trying to tell me something today and all I understood was ‘very good’. That’ll do. PLUS there’s a shower at the gym. And it’s HOT. Guess who’s going to the gym tomorrow morning with shampoo, conditioner and a big fat towel!!!!