Ready for a rest....

Goodness gracious me. I am very grateful re: everything being organised for Mongolia for us, but today - we just need a rest! I'm getting sick (bleeding nose this morning, sore throat and headache. Boo), we're all getting irritable and we just want to do our own thing in UB! We can't, of course, because we can't go anywhere alone because it's too dangerous. But BOO!

We're checking into the doctor's clinic this morning in case of future use and then heading to a museum and traditional performance this avo. At least we're not looking at bloody houses.

Yesterday we racked up our 13th apartment. I took notes and at the AYAD dinner last night with all Mongolian's, some very lovely and diligent AYAD's scrutinised my notes (which, I might add, were more than adequate and were summarised and prioritised anyway) - we crossed out all but three. The remaining 3 apartments are all 'good' according to everyone. I'm happy with that.

Now we just have to figure out who goes where. I didn't sleep last night because I was worrying about it. Boo Boo Boo.

We headed to the state department store and I got some shampoo - WIN! They have a LOT of cool clothes.
Might I add they also sell Australian Woolmark products. Proof:

A lovely wool skivvy in the State Dept Store made of Australian wool

I don't even know what we're doing tomorrow but on Saturday we're heading to the Black Markets where I am a. very likely to lose my cool and b. very likely to have everything flogged.

Apparently everything is crazy cheap though. I don't want to take any money because I don't want to buy shit I don't need - I tend to impulse buy and overspend. But apparently it's worth it and I need to buy stuff because we won't be going again soon. Bummer.

Hanging out waiting for instructions for the day in UB

The building I would have been working in (World Bank head office) if my group hadn't moved to the ministry of finance a couple of weeks ago (but I'll still be running meetings and courses here)

Don't get me wrong - I'm still grateful and excited to be here. I'm just not 100% happy about it all today. but that was to be expected. And it's only really because looking for a house sucks balls. Nevermind. I could have to live in a cardboard box, and that would suck. It would also probably freeze to me and I'd have to wear it all day too. So I guess I'm lucky.

The view from the apartment we had dinner at last night

Running in a sea of Mongolians

Claire (my roommate) and I woke up at 7 this morning and went for a jog/walk around the place. We're not allowed to go alone - luckily Claire and I both like to get out and do stuff.

We didn't blend in so well. It was still below zero outside but the sun was out (as per usual) and the air was crisp. Everyone's on their way to work - they all wear black! I kind of knew that already. I got a photo of my workmates and they're all neatly dressed in black, black and black. And I guess I don't always blend in at home either. But we stuck out like sore thumbs! I felt SO silly. But no one jeered or laughed or pointed, they just kind of looked for an extra second and that was it.

The paths are practically non existant so you have to be careful where you step. There's snot and gollies of spit all over the ground. I was wearing my brand new awesome sneakers so I made an effort to go around them.

Breakfast is a bit different, but totally do-able. The toaster is a grill but it works eventually (albeit slightly burnt). The bread is pretty stale. There was salami, tomato, deep fried eggs and cucumber that very closely resembled yesterday's spread (we stayed away from that!). Milk tastes like milk and the cereal had bits of dates. I am totally open to eating things other than weetbix for breakfast. I mean, this morning I had cereal that looked like sultana bran and cornflakes. Big step.

We're house hunting again today. I'm kind of over it, mainly because it's too tricky to figure out what to do. There are too many options of two or three bedroom places, and then the people you're going to share with for the year - can I imagine living with them; will they be tolerant of my mess I make in the kitchen and my lax attitude towards tidying up in general.

We're also heading to the State Department Store which is where everyone shops for 'stuff'. Maybe the equivalent of BigW but in Mongolia?! Will update you on that one. I need soap, shampoo (haven't washed my hair since Sunday), writing books, adapters, a bag to carry on the front, gloves and whatever else takes my fancy. I also have to remember I'm not earning money - which I know is going to be a massive shock to the system!!!!

And no - gma and Wendie, I didn't eat the shaved sheep head brain salad last night. I'm not that brave. I'll save it for the field when I have to eat it or I'll die of starvation/be ridiculed for not accepting offerings of food.

Sleep was amazing; I still don't feel 100% but never expected to. Still defo packing my VitB stress tablets for the day, just in case. I am totally missing my pillow but will find one soon that does the job. My current pillow is about 10yo and has no structure - the bed is concave and the doona cover is covered in hair (not my own). Not complaining - any bed is a welcome rest at the moment!

Cops on segways, mining demonstrations and shaved sheep head brains (day one in UB)

 

We left Korea at 3:35am. That took our entire transit to 50hours. I got maybe 4 hours sleep. Needless to say I’m wrecked. Anyway, as the plane was descending the landscape became clear. Wholey dooley. This place is amazing. How the hell people can make a living is beyond me.

The landscape was dusted with snow that looked just like cornflour. The mountains are uneroded and the ridges are all angular – the mountain peaks just rise from nowhere. The tree line is inverted – and even those trees are hidden in the most sheltered crevices.

The landscape is unbelievably sparse. Brown grass. My job will definitely be interesting. The road from the airport is such that 20km/hour is too fast. There have been futile attempts at planting trees. The poor little things; they’d be better put out of their misery than being coaxed to life in the few months of the year that allows growth. I was kind of excited about seeing some stratigraphy – to no avail. There is just enough soil on the ground to prevent most rocks from poking through.

Above: chilling out in the Korean airport – getting on to our 10th hour in the airport and night 2 of no proper sleep

We’re all pretty tired – okay. REALLY tired.

We had a quick sleep this morning and then headed out for lunch and then house hunting. It’s always tricky trying to figure out who’s going to live with who; how many bedrooms you need etc. etc. – especially when you don’t know everyone particularly well. Never mind; no big deal. I have to grow up and become a semi-easy to live with person at some point in my life.

Apartments were great. $600USD/mth for a 2br apartment with a new kitchen, fully furnished. The outside’s something your mother would never let you step foot in. The hallway is worse. The garbage is kept inside the front door and kind of stinks. The steps are so worn that they’re on a negative slope. But the apartments are great! No stove though – so I guess no baking for Sally.

Day 1 in UB VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

There’s a bunch of photos in the album above – I can’t figure out how to caption them individually, but that’s my day in pictures. Photos of dinner (the big meat tray), Sukhbaatar Square (the 6 of us lined up with the statue of Chinggis in the background), the view from the plane, the cops on segways.

A very fancy video of Sukhbaatar Square

Have I mentioned I’m epically tired? Wholey shitballs. So much happened today. Maybe I’ll just dot point for a bit:

* cried a little behind my glasses at the demonstration in Sukhbaatar Square at the Mongolian herders and their gers, trying to make their point clear that mining is making their lifestyle impossible. Sometimes I hate that I’m a part of it, even indirectly in this case. There’s method to my madness but sometimes I wonder if I’ll get past the madness of earning awesome money to the real reason I studied what I did

* ordered a blue cheese and something else salad and was given a salad that was actually shaved sheep head and capsicum (I didn’t eat it)

* Ate huushuu with meat and mini chunks of cubed fat (I picked out as much as I could)

* Drank the largest chai latte I’ve ever seen

* Almost keeled over from tiredness

*Sucked in awesome fresh, crisp mountain air

* Talked to our convenor about my position. Apparently the staff are all quite young Mongolians, friendly and super excited to meet me. They have planned lots of trips to the field – but were worried I wouldn’t want to go because I won’t shower for two weeks at least. They were told that of course I want to go, for as long as possible. Which of course I did. Until I was plated the shaved sheep head salad for dinner. Shit shit shit. I can’t eat that stuff. And I hate going to bed dirty. And there’s NO privacy in a single room ger for me to bucket bath. I can’t eat boiled intestines filled with coagulated blood and onion (I was assured the onion makes it taste good). Moral to the story is: I’m going to have to. It’s only a different part of the animal. I just wish I had a pocket sized Lai Lynn Choong so I could feed her my unwanted offal without anyone knowing.

* Learnt that there are a lot of ‘incidents’ of people getting punched, groped, blah blah – and that I can’t even walk to the gym by myself.

* Loved my kangaroo fur coat more and more every second

* Squealed with excitement at the sight of a Mongolian baby wrapped in blankets so heavy she had to be belted in to them, with only her eyes and nose visible. SO cute.

I think that’s all. I mean, there’s MORE. I guess. But there’s not because my brain is fried. Love Love Love to all; this place is freaking awesome – I can’t wait til tomorrow when we sort out housing a bit better and I have enough energy to show excitement rather than just feel it inside. xox

My room–for the next few days

Stuck in Korea

It’s not a bad place to be stuck – Korea’s pretty cool (for the 12hours we’ve seen of it). The cherry blossoms are out and the weather is crisp but not cold.

.

Above: in Singapore airport departing for our second of three legs of the journey; outside Seoul airport

They got one point straight up for being 5mins early on our flight arrival time. After finding out pickup location, Korea gained another point for beautiful cool weather. Another point scored for the windfarms on top of all the street lights.

Our hotel was a 10min drive from the airport; Seoul was an hour drive so we didn’t make it in. We had three separate naps, a shower and two walks around the park.

Above: Incheon; pathway in the park; Claire getting some jetlag-freeing exercise in the park

Above: the view from the very steep bridge to the park

Above: the same park, but watching some guys play soccer
Lunch was in a Korean soup restaurant – they gave us a special ‘English’ menu with 4 options. I very bravely chose the vegan option. I guess I’ll become more outrageous as my sleep catchup improves and I get more accustomed to eating food cooked with bones in it (eg, casseroles, chicken wings, ribs etc) and seafood. Oh. And offal.
EW
Nevermind; lunch was really interesting. Lots of sizzling and extra condiments.

We made our way back to the airport to find that our flight has been delayed by at least 11hours. So we’re camping out in the airport. A much easier solution would have been to find out if our flight was on time before we left the hotel. Unfortunately the 6 of us were way too tired and excited about finally making it to UB that we didn’t think to call ahead. So we’re currently dozing/playing dominoes/talking/eating sour skittles here:

UB will be an amazing place. Right now I just want to punch it in the face. Stupid unpredictable, uncontrollable weather uninfluenced by oceans thus making it so variable the temperature ranges at the moment from –15 to +20 degrees; snow to wind to rain to super windy to spectacular picnic weather.
Bring it on, UB.

I’m on my way……

I packed my toothbrush this morning and then we were off. Scary time; I wasn’t sure if I packed everything. Never mind. Too late now – I’m at Changi Airport.

We stopped over the Blue Mountains for some apples that were pretty average. Shame. It was probably my last decent apple for a long while.

It was pretty horrible at the airport. Well, not horrible – just really sad. The lady let me get away with 34kg in my luggage but I had to take stuff out of my hand luggage. No more Lonely Planet guides or reading magazines. I had to take out my PJ’s and my white clogs. That too was devastating.

Well, not devastating. I know I’m doing the right thing – the decision to work in Mongolia isn’t the problem. It’s just always so sad saying goodbye. It definitely wasn’t as bad as saying goodbye when I moved to Canada – and that was only for 6months!

I think I’ve either a. grown up a lot in the last 6months or b. chilled out a buttload due to high amounts of vitaminB in my system. Either way, I wasn’t worried as much on the plane – I actually had 4 babies in front of my seat; the one directly in front screamed the whole way. And I hardly cared.

I watched an awesome movie – the name escapes me but it’s set in the ‘60’s (with the awesome fashion to boot). The story line followed the revolution re: equal pay. What a cool period to be a part of! I can’t complain – I’m not a part of the 2011 era where it takes only a few (okay, a lot) of hours on a plane and you’re in a totally different country.

Speaking of – it still totally weirds me out that this morning I was eating breakfast at home. Now I’m on my laptop in Singapore and later this evening I’ll be in a hotel in Seoul. The romanticism of travel is kind of obsolete – it doesn’t take much effort to get anywhere so it doesn’t really mean AS much. It’s still super amazing though.

I am definitely not looking forward to the days where I may have to travel with my own children. Bugger that. It’s annoying enough with my camera bag, let alone a screaming child.

I couldn't fit my teddy in.....

I have to leave my teddy at home. He's never come overseas but I haven't been away from him for a year before. I also haven't been without my satin edged blankets for more than 6 months either.

Nevermind; I'm 25 - I should probably learn.

I LEAVE TOMORROW

Wholey shitballs.

Dinner was delicious. Baked lamb leg plus homemade pavlovas. YUM. Everyone was here including Tegan because she was on skype. Ebony's boyfriend Steven was very drunk and trying to sleep at the table, which was pretty funny. And Brad didn't want any pavlova. Boring.

Now my bag is packed; I had to sit on it to make it fit. Lai's washing up which is silly because we don't generally do it in this house for at least a day afterwards. We named dad's  pup Winnie (that was Lai, really. It was her idea). And the boy is still Caesar.

So, last night in Australia. It's surreal. And pretty sucky. I so love being at home and helping out and visiting people. It's been great.

Today was pretty bloody cool. Lai and I had a lot of fun. Mum made me some brownies and I feel really bad because she made them for me but I don't really like them. It's okay, I'll eat them - I just feel bad because they're not my favourite (I don't really have one).

The puppies got played a lot with tonight. And a guy that's in Mongolia right now added me to facebook because he wants to move into a share house. He seems really nice. I mainly like him because he's a GEOLOGIST which means he has to be totally cool. I probably went a bit overboard; I get way too excited about things. But nevermind. If he doesn't like excitement he doesn't have to live with me. But either way, hopefully there's someone I can talk rocks with. Because right now I don't miss it but I know that I will soon. I do really like rocks and dirt.

Signing out for the night - off to take some valerian as I know I won't sleep. Will update as I'm on my pic 3 day journey (god forbid I live in the days where it took weeks to get somewhere on a boat; I'd totally get sea sick).

xox

Lomography Topography (not really, but it had to be said)

		More lomo madness VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Puppies!

Aren’t they adorable!

Lai came to visit me this weekend, which is so good considering she fought through stupid Easter traffic (including a crash in Richmond) and drove ALL the way around to come and see me. Its lucky because I miss her, and now shes here (and writing my blog).

Its been a beautiful two days, sunshine all around. Today we went wine tasting, and it was awesome. Petersons even have a wine called Ebony Grace (which is my sister’s name) so I bought a bottle!

Lai went nuts on the credit card and got 6 bottles of wine (3 of which were this amazing rose, which smells like tea, strangely) and some olive tapenade , too.

Then we had a delicious ploughmans lunch and a tasting plate from the Small Wine Makers place, and sat in the sun for a good chat.

The most exciting thing that happened today was Lai bought some awesome boots.

Actually, I’ve already got a pair and it was my idea first, and she thought she wanted to be as cool as me so forced me to go to the saddlery (we had to go twice so we could see the other place – which didnt even have any girl boots to look at). Anyway, these guys were trying to close up shop, and we had to tell him to wait 10 minutes so we could check another store. What a high maintenance girl!

Then we got back and played with the puppies again (thus the videos).

I’m sad because its my last moments at home, so thats why Lai is writing my blog today, so I dont waste precious family time on the computer.

Making pavlova right now – and were having lamb roast tonight! Will report soon.

x Sally

(via minion L)