Worky Work

My desk (where the lady is sitting)

Frustration is imminent.

Not really. It's already here.
- I am not doing anything at work. I was employed for my personality, not my technical knowledge. Which renders me essentially useless
- I still haven't received parcels sent from home and I'm worried they're lost in the mail
- My sheets I spent all day yesterday making are made with a poly-blend material which will make them itchy to sleep on (my fault, but I didn't realise at the markets when I bought the material)
- I want to go somewhere but I just can't do it by myself and it is annoying

Above is a photo of my office. There are 20 people in the office - mostly finance people but there is a group that works in agriculural sustainability. That's the group I'm working in. But no one seems to want/need my help with anything. So I sit at my desk and look pretty. I drink lots of tea. I email people. I attempt to do some reading of journal articles. I attempt to plan some conversational english lessons until I get annoyed that I'm not here to teach conversational english.

I must regularly remind myself that Mongolia wasn't going to be all shits and giggles - and that things happen slowly. I'm not here to do anyTHING in particular, I'm here to immerse myself and hope that at some stage I can help a few people.

Some interesting facts I have forgotten to update you about along the way:
* Whilst in the field, at Tsaagan-Oboo soum centre, one the group member's grandfather died. She was very upset. Mongolians wanted to know the situation - how old he was, whether he was sick, where he was. He was a 90 year old man who had been sick for a while. He passed away and she found out during an interview with a Herder Group. There was no sympathy from any Mongolians. He was old and sick and that's just the circle of life. She handled it well but I tell you what - if that had have been me, I would have been out of there and back home in a flash.

* I tried milk vodka in a ger in Bulgan. It was actually quite drinkable! It tasted like rice wine a little bit

* Mongolian powerpoint presentations are boring. They are entire chunks of text displayed in size 8-10 font. You can't read them but you know that's got the good information in it so you squint for as long as you can manage to get a little bit of information.

* When I asked if it was safe for me to go to the Black Markets alone, I was advised I am a 'fresh fish' and that I would be a target because I am young, pretty and white (I always go with someone else, don't worry)

* My job is much easier to explain if I explain is as an 'internship'

* In presentations, with a room full of worldly people, I am the only 'native' english speaker. Yet we communicate in english and everyone in the room communicates in english. It makes me feel bad but it also makes me extremely grateful to be an english speaker.

Children's Day

Today is Children's Day in Mongolia. It's a public holiday and the city fills with children. They're all hyped up on lollies and presents and they run around playing all day. The square was chock-a-block full of people. Children receive presents (lollies) from all friends, family and work friends of their parents. My work gave all children a whole bag of lollies (as in a woolworths plastic bag; not a little one!). They love their concentrated juice, pringles and Haribo lollies. All the shops have been stocking up for a few weeks, and the shops yesterday were bare.

Green grass! Flowing water! Sunny day in UB

As for other news: yesterday at work was another day of presentations. I also squeezed in a 'hello' to all the aimag coordinators for our project (there are 21 aimags in Mongolia - kind of like provinces I guess). They represent our office and project at a local level. I introduced myself, it was translated and then we left the room to go and play volleyball. Volleyball didn't happen - I had to leave because I got sick of waiting and I had a party to get ready for.

So I bucket bathed (oh man, I am getting SO sick of it!) and then got ready for the party. We arrived late but were the first there. By midnight there were about 40 people - by 3:30am I was walking out the door, a lot drunker than I intended on being. But fun times were had!

The start of the night

Today was spent mostly laying in bed nursing a hangover. Then eating my way through the day. French Bistro downstairs for brunch. Manicure, massage (oh, I know - tough life), more food (Thai this time, but it was terrible), more chats, pizza, more chats and then a walk home.
I've been making this video of my trip to Dornod. Enjoy. xox

The video above has no sound as it was published on YouTube. Please click the link below to watch the video with the sound (it makes it a bit more exciting). It's published on Facebook but you'll be able to see it even if you're not a Facebook member.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150210490108256&comments

A shout out to all the peeps that have been reading my blog

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m getting ready for a ‘Summer Party’ so I’m wandering around in my swimmers waiting for others to get ready so we can get going. It’s a public holiday tomorrow.

I’m in a good mood, it’s going to be a fun night.

I’m just writing to say HELLO to everyone, and that I wish you were here. So I took photos so you feel like you’re kind of here tonight.

Also, I just want you to know that I love that you read my blog. I don’t want you to read it because you think you have to, but I still like that you read it.

xox

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!!!!

Clean hair, clear mind

We conducted more interviews yesterday. It was more amazement. The night before we’d spent some time in a group with some strange dynamics. I finally understood the purpose of the mission and I understand why I was a part of it. I also understand what my role can be. There are lots of organisations working towards the same outcomes. The purpose of this particular journey was to compare my workplace with another and find out strengths and weaknesses for the benefit of everyone. I see my role as a intermediary – between my workplace and other organisations with ideas and research.

The interviews yesterday were interesting in a different way. After a night of total comfort we were back in my outer-comfort zone. The herder group we were interviewing work as a collective as per the group we were talking to previously. It is run by one ‘chief’. There are 10 families within the group that work together in times of need, and share the same pasture land. They respect the land in the same way and manage it together. They’re thought ahead. It was amazing. The group was much richer than others we talked to, and it was evident not only in their brand new motorbike and flatscreen tv, but also in their general health. They were actually (some) slightly pudgey. The children had long, shiny healthy hair. They all had clean clothes that were all relatively new. They had a ger full of beds and general utensils.

I think I will write a blog on each interview we conducted – what we learnt, who they were – what their houses were like and things like that. It’ll give you a change to meet these amazing people and it will give them some credit for the amazing life that they live. Just remind me. I’m likely to forget. Making friends and keeping fit keeps me busy at the moment!

Once we finished interviewing these herders we had a massive chat about whether to stay the night or not. We had planned to stay there or not. Staying meant sleeping in the Russian caravan on the floor and eating more mutton (albeit freshly slaughtered for us; way to tug at my heart strings!). Leaving meant a 6hour drive along 350km of the most hideous road you’ve ever seen.

We packed up and left. I donated my sunglasses (RIP Charlie Brown sunnies; I loved you so much I left you behind for someone else to love you more) and my hat (so what if it wasn’t beautiful, it was super practical) to the herder group and we drove. Til midnight. We fought for a room at some random soum centre (towns don’t seem to have names – they do, for foreigners but no one local uses them) and I had a sleep. It cost me 30000tugs which is crazy for that area. Especially for a shitty single bed with no mattress or linen, a bathroom used a smoking room (there was no toilet seat/cover by the morning) and paper thin walls. Having not eaten all day because we were so busy, I cracked into my emergency stock of food.

When I say I haven’t eaten 2minute noodles for 20 years, I really mean it. That shit is nasty and I generally wouldn’t feed it to the dogs. But they’re dry and small and practical. And when you’re hungry, you’ll eat anything. So I boiled water and cooked the noodles as much as I could in a plastic container and I ate them with the can opener of my leatherman. In retrospect it was totally avoidable. For example, I could have gone to bed hungry or I could have not bought them altogether.

I don’t think I quite expressed the horror that was the journey back to the soum centre. I was in the middle seat in the back. I had to blow up my aeroplane pillow to put around my neck. Not to sleep, but as a safety measure as I was worried the flopping around my neck could get serious and I wasn’t keen for a broken neck in that area. And then once I thought of that, I thought that maybe I could break something, and call my insurance and they’d send a helicopter and at least I’d get out of that shit. I’m also not kidding when I considered that being dead would have been more comfortable.

It got pretty real. But then we got to the hotel and I unfolded my shitty, cheap ass sleeping bag with feathers that go up my nose during the night and I slept and had nightmares all night.

And then we had a piece of bread (plain, no drink to wash it down) and did some work. It was SO cool. We’d done all this interviewing and note taking and we were putting them relevant groups so that we could present them and write a report. Oh man, it was awesome.

My dream job: Bossing people around and organising people in a group. Working towards a set of outcomes. Pushing people to learn more and work harder. Extracting information and interpreting it for a different audience. Presenting it. All over the world.

Then we spent MORE time driving back to UB. We got in about 3pm and I boiled three pots of water for a shower. Usually I only boil one. I needed a GOOD bath. The whole process took me an hour. By then it was time for the ballet so I ran out the door having not eaten basically for two days. In Sally history, this is actually unheard of. But, ballet is prioritised over food. It’s one of the few things that would ever be prioritised over food.

And, it was TOTALLY worth it. Wholey shitballs, it was freaking amazing. It was called ‘Tara Choidin’. Tara is a girl who gets sick, dies, goes to hell, makes her way to heaven, comes back alive and then it’s the end. The choreography was amazing. The dancers almost couldn’t handle it.

If if was an eisteddfod, I would say:

Costumes spectacular, setting very impressing. Timing was repulsive and needs some work before you perform again. Use of body stockings is unnecessary and very unprofessional. Choreography was obviously too advanced for some dancers but should be mentioned that it was enlightening to see a fresh performance. Intercultural dance was done effectively but you should never use clunky beads as the audience can hear them as you run. In general you need some touching up and would benefit from practicing without the music. All in all a good performance, I give you a highly recommended but would like to applause your obvious heart and soul that made the performance stunning to watch. Special mention to the orchestra – impeccable.

No pictures this time as there was a lady making sure we didn’t. Last time it was okay.

So my idea for when I have time next is to a. compile a video of some footage I took during the week and b. write a photo story, seeing as you’ve read these blogs sans photos. It will be an epic length blog but I hope it’ll be worth it; there are some great photos and C. write a blog on each family we visited.

Sleeping in my bed tonight.

Choibalsan, Dornod

Today was a welcome surprise. I feel like we're totally cheating with this field work thing. I went two nights without a shower and now we're in a hotel with hot water (I know! A SHOWER!!).

Totally welcome though.

It was suppose to be a 200km drive and it wasn't. I also don't mind. It was maybe 100km and the road was in much better condition. We stopped a few times along the way - once along a river. There was a herd of wild horses chilling out in the river. I got some cool photos, and then sat and watched. They're so beautiful. There were some foals as well.

So cute!

I slept so well last night. I got about 10hours sleep. Amazing!

Last night was more mutton for dinner. I wasn't really hungry anyway so just ate a tiny bit. The cooking ladies hate me for it, I'm sure. They have given me so many dirty looks since then. Nevermind. I bet they'd prefer to throw out a little bit of food than have to clean it up off the floor.

The local kids put on a performance for us. It was great! Traditional dancing and singing. The kids were about 14-16 and most were super keen. I loved it! I filmed it but don't have enough internet to upload right now. I'll make a whole blog on photos and films and stuff when I get back to UB.

The kids are attending a competition in Russia, so we donated a bit of money towards their travel. I gave them 20000tugs, because it was all I had (stuffed in my bra, for 'justin) and was also what most others were giving. It was a lot more than I could afford but it was that or nothing. And these kids have way less opportunities than I ever had, and are so much more remote than I ever was. They deserved it.

It seems such a waste - to write words without being able to show you the photos. The landscape is spectacular, the horses and gazelles are SO cool and the river we saw today was just in the middle of no where!
There was a grass fire last night too. Most of the town was out fighting it. I can't seem to understand the concept of a grass fire in Mongolian steppes. I understand fire, and grass fire, and Mongolia. Even if the fire was anthropogenic, why is it such a bad thing? Gers can be moved withing 30minutes, animals are not fenced in and therefore can be driven away from the fire, and a fire in native grass would encourage fresh, more nutrient rich grass to grow. I guess it just seems funny, for it to be such a big deal - where in a non-nomadic country, there is so much more at risk.  In particular, there are highly flammable trees, static homes, animals in paddocks and lots of things in the way to burn.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Mutton me up

For those of you lucky enough to have known me for a while, you will know that my dad grows some pretty tastey sheep. We eat them as lambs though – not stinky mutton.

Mongolians like their mutton. They like the flavour. I do not. Each to their own UNTIL I have to eat it too. The moral to the story is: I blame my dad for growing delicious sheep and killing them young for spoiling me and not getting me used to eating stinky mutton in preparation for Mongolian field trips.

Mutton. For lunch and dinner (not for breakfast because we specifically asked for plain bread). Mutton soup with fat, mutton chops boiled til they fall apart, mutton noodles with fat chunks, dried mutton with noodles in soup.

I don’t like mutton. It’s not a bad weight loss strategy though. I eat enough (no chewing; just swallowing) to make it look like I tried and them exclaim how full I am. It’s hardly a foolproof plan but for now I don’t care.
Right. So today was kind of what I would like to describe as a lifetime of preparation rolled in to one. I was expecting to come to Dornod and do nothing but observe. That’s pretty much what I’m doing but I’m definitely part of a team. Each team has three people and we go to herder’s houses where a whole group has gathered (a collective herder group that is currently/has previously received funding from a specific project to protect pasture land and encourage farming diversification). We sit on tiny wincy little stools for hours on end drinking milky tea (the East don’t like salt in theirs, thank goodness) and chatting. I don’t chat – I don’t chat well in Mongolian. I sit there and admire.

The language is becoming totally normal and the gers are all feeling more homely. Children run around in their absolutely filthy clothes. Everyone talks and answers questions. I occasionally get translated snippets of what is going on and I can ask questions too if I want. We have an ultimate goal of answering specific questions regarding the collective herding group, how it’s functioning, how it is governed, how they plan for the future, how they deal with change, information sharing and dissemination. All that jazz.

I asked two questions today (most already had been answered). One: how do they sow their crops (A: hire a tractor from the soum centre for a day or two and then they all go nuts and plant everything at once) and two: how do they maintain the genetic diversity of their herds (A: one family in the area has breeding stock and if they want to add more genes/change the breed a little they hire an animal from somewhere within the soum).
I am knackered. It’s only 2pm – I’m not sure how we got out of the day so easy.

Anyway. In regards to a ‘lifetime of preparation rolled into one’  it really is. I’m in a developing country talking to nomadic families who have been function for thousands of years about their herding management practices because globalization and shitty management strategies have left them high and dry. Specifically without any knowledge because it was all wiped out during previous rules. I get to be a functioning part of a team that is researching pastoral management for the better of the Mongolian people. The research also encompasses political ideas and encourages community action from the bottom up as opposed to previous eras. Mongolia is in such a unique situation – where they can learn from so many other countries and so much rangeland science to create a functional, sustainable farming system that allows people to thrive, not just survive. And I get to be a thinking hat – an Australian thinking hat with ‘fresh ideas’ (I love being young; apparently young people have fresh ideas) and enthusiasm to share (okay, I have a little bit of knowledge to share but NOT much).

The minority group in this area is called the khalk (I think). They make delicious bread as per my mention re: breakfast.

So this group of herders we were talking to this morning. This is a summary:
The group came together as a collective and applied for funding from the project I’m working on to plant some vegetables. They only got 4million tugs as the project only is suppose to fund native grass management things. Only problem is that in this area, the funding would be useless because to replant native grasses would get them no where (wrong climate).

The 10 functional families worked together to get the funding. Now they’ve got the funding, they work together to farm the 2 acres of vegetable land. They buy seed from China (I imagine) and sow in April. They all work together and then when they harvest they share equally the money they make. Last season (their first for veggies) they harvested 4million tugs worth. They eat a lot of what they grow and sell the surplus.

The land is leased to them by the soum governor on a 10 year basis. Land is not owned by anyone in Mongolia but privatization is slowly happening (for better or worse) and taxes are enforced if you haven’t organized to lease a parcel of land.

That’s kind of it. There’s more but I’m sleepy. There was also the cutest little 2yo girl. Her mother is the most beautiful Mongolian woman I have seen. She had beautiful white sparkly teeth, plump lips and blue eyes. She is the youngest of the collective so was very busy serving bowls and bowls of tea and looking after her two children.

Tonight is a performance from the kids at the kindergarten. Tonight would also be a bloody good night for a shower but I don’t think it’s going to happen. There is no running water. I have enough drinking water for tomorrow but am slightly worried about the following days. I’m sure someone has it under control.
Bayartai
xox

Sending Hi-5’s from Dornod

No photos; currently using phone internet to wifi to my laptop and it's not good enough for photos. I was going to wait to add everything WITH photos but then I felt that every definitely needed to know all this stuff. A special shout out to gma - hope everything's okay and this is probably long enough to keep you occupied for a little while. xox

Wow.

What a bloody surreal day. How lucky am I...... Or is it luck? I don't care what it is; wholey shitballs this is AMAZING.

I'm sitting in a ger in the school yard of the local kindergarten where the locals have erected a ger especially for us. We have 3 beds - one each. They're ridiculously uncomfortable but I guess better than nothing.

I left the house in a hurry this morning at 7:30am. Apparently it was the day to be on time. Nevermind. I hurried and I’m pretty sure I’ve got everything. I definitely have nickers and a toothbrush anyway.

We picked a couple of Swiss guys up and some more Mongolians. Turns out the Mongolian guy in my car lived in Albion (near where I lived in Clayfield, Brisbane) and drove cabs for a year so we had a lot of catching up to do.

And then it just gets better. The road to the first town we stopped in was fully paved. TOO EASY! Warm, comfy jeep, paved roads. It only had to get worse.

And it did.

From lunch (which, by the way, was awesome Chinese food in a restaurant in a town that would not even rival Gulgong for size and quality) the highway to the East became a dirt track. Imagine, if you will – Moolarben Road. But not just Moolarben Road. Imagine the road having not been graded for two years and a flood come through twice.

It was THAT bad. The road was 300km long and our driver drove at MINIMUM – 80km/hour. My dad would have had a FIT. I got pretty car sick. Sore neck from jerking. The driver didn’t see it necessary to slow down early for bumps and bends.

We stopped a lot. To ‘look at the horses’ (to pee) – which, might I add – is a lot easier for guys than for girls on the steppes with no trees. We beeped at everything. Birds (we saw vultures!), wild horses, flocks of sheep and goats, Ovoo’s (Buddhist piles of rocks you’re suppose to stop at, give an offering and walk around three times anticlockwise – OR you can just beep as you go past), people, cars……

Wild horses are everywhere. It’s a steppe – but it’s not completely flat. There are no fences, just gers dotted every 5-10km.

It rained the whole way which apparently means good luck. It has to. This is amazing. Don’t get me wrong – I feel like a fish out of water. Like an alien from the Milky Way without chocolate, like someone who is from somewhere so completely different and doesn’t have the capacity, wisdom, knowledge and/or experience to fully appreciate it.

But (excuse the blasphemy) Christ Almighty, it is just amazing. Think Atacama Desert (oldest driest desert in the world) with slightly more rainfall, shitter climatic extremes and a super turbulent history.

These people live here. It’s not a life that I would call a life. These people are here to survive. And they do that – just fine. But certainly not without pain. Last winter (the one before last) was a major Dzud (winter drought) that killed 50% of the livestock. That’s half of their entire income. As nomads there is no economic diversity. It’s easy to see why – there’s no point as there’s no one to sell anything to anyway. So with only animals to make a living off, to lose half of your salary – oh man, I just can’t imagine. And then to go on, year after year.

We arrived after 10 hours of driving. We ate dinner in what could only be described as the boondocks of a CWA hall that hasn’t been used in 10years. We had mutton soup for entrée. I don’t like mutton. I figured out why, too. It smells and tastes like a shearing shed. Literally. With the piss and the pooh and the lanolin and the dust and everything. So then for mains we had mutton with rice. I could stomach the mutton if it were just muscle. It’s not – the fat is the best part to Mongolians (one can only presume because of its fattening properties to allow you to basically fatten up for the winter).

We are kept warm with a fire that is kind of a like a thinner version of a pot belly stove. The fuel is a combination of pine and pooh. Horse and cow pooh. It doesn’t even stink, and if anything it’s better than the pine because at least it lasts a bit longer.

The toilet is a drop toilet with no seat. It seems to have a larger than necessary hole in it which is scary at night time! How do you pee when you’re trying not to fall in the bloody great big hole? I seriously considered trying the kid’s loo (it’s a kindergarten, so they have baby toilets too) because it would have a smaller hole but decided against it.

I’m glad I brought nuts with me. Lots of nuts. What a lifeline.

I’m on a ‘per diem’ of 45000tugs/day. It’s not that much. I paid for water and lunch and then I imagine accommodation will be something similar – taking up the majority of the money. It’s really not that much cheaper in Mongolia than Australia. But the tents are way cooler.

They’re much warmer, they’re not as sunny in the morning, they’re weather proof and they’re stable. There’s a hard floor and a fire in the middle. It takes 29minutes for a team of guys to put one up. That’s less time than it used to take a team of dads to put up those dodgey square tents we camped in before the dome tent revolution. The Mongolians shit all over Australian camping!

The downside is the lack of privacy. Being a one circular roomed tent, you just have to suck it up and get naked. I forgot to change my knickers this morning. Ew – gross, right? No way hozay; I wasn’t stripping down again in front of everyone just to do that! I would care at home. In Dornod, I do not. And looking on the bright side, I will have an extra pair should we get stuck here for a few more days. Re: the privacy issue – for example,  I was putting my PJ’s on and generally stuffing around when I just turned and caught a glimpse of the girl I was sharing with – changing her tampon on her bed. Wowsers. But then, not so wowsers. There are guards outside, no toilet, no shower, people whispering around the tent – where else do you do it?!

Another lovely story from the evening: there’s a guy in charge of looking after us specifically. He keeps coming in and adding more pooh to the fire and stuff. He came in with his wife before while I was typing on this very laptop, writing this very blog. They were totally intrigued with the laptop. I specifically bought my external harddrive with my photos and videos in it, for this occasion. I pulled up videos and photos of Australia. Might I add – we totally conversed. I could point at my sisters and say ‘doo’ (Tj, Nikki and EG – they were pretty impressed with you too). I could point at my home and say ‘ger’. You know, those kind of detail oriented, highly structured conversations.

And then I thought – WAIT. You silly girl. You’re in the middle of no where talking to herders. As if they’d be keen to see Australia when I could show them Australian farming! So that I did. Sometimes my organization surprises me. But then it doesn’t because I remember how long it took me to come up with final ideas and final lists. Anyway, I had videos of the dogs going round sheep and cows. I had videos of the Cassilis Rodeo. I had photos of a lot of other things. They almost had kittens.

Dude and his wife: ‘Mert – Mert mert!!!!!????’

Sally: tim (yes)

D: (mimes height)

S: (mimes rough idea of height)

D: Anglaise, Americadt….

S: Anglaise (English horse)

D: ogles, oooohs and ahhhhhhhhh at the bucking bulls, horses and cows at the rodeo

And the story continues – wanting to know how heavy Australian steers are, how tall they are. Why Australian sheep have no tail. How heavy they are. Whether we milk the cows. Whether we eat the sheep.

It was definintely one of those absolutely beautiful moments of my life that I will never forget. His wife was sitting so close to me she was practically on top of me. They just keep looking and looking. It was 11:30pm and I needed sleep so bad. I needed to finish writing my blog because it’s my reflection of the day and without it, I lay awake in bed and wonder and wonder and think and think. Once I finally gave them the impression I wanted to go, I hopped in to bed and tried to fall asleep. It didn’t happen. I should have finished my blog, but the reason this has changed tenses is because I did not finish my blog and instead willed myself to sleep. It only took 3 hours. Idiot.

Sometimes I realize I have a lot more growing up to do than I think. For example, now I know to just do the bloody thing and follow my instincts, thereby getting at least decent sleep.

RIGHT. Breakfast time. Today we are visiting herders.

This is amazing. So amazing. I’m totally scared and totally out of my depth but I love it. The challenge is great and I hate it but I love it.

Bring it on!

Doorknob?!

Map of Mongolia - Dornod is the highlighted province to the East

A sneak peek at where I'm heading to tomorrow

Oh right. You mean "Dornod", the Eastern most province in Mongolia. Sure, I'd love to go!

That's all I knew. That's all I still know. But I'm leaving tomorrow for Dornod. I'm 100% hoping we're flying (it's an epic journey and there are no paved roads) but I highly doubt it.

I started packing this morning - essentials like first aid kit with extra nurofen, 1kg of mixed nuts, 2min noodles, tinned tuna, muesli. You know, the standard 'I don't want to eat deep fried mutton and boiled sheep head for the next week so I will ration my tinned tuna to suit my formidable appetite' picnic basket.

I am hoping I get at least one shower and I get to sleep on a bed, not on the floor. I guess after a few nights I'll be so tired/hungry that I'll sleep where ever and eat whatever. We'll see.

My purple fingernails will be up shit creek without a paddle. Not really - they will just look really bad. Note to self: stick to more natural colours in order to avoid nail regrowth issues.

Wish me luck!

P.s. there will likely be no a. internet b. electricity. c. phone reception d. running water so don't expect emails, facebook updates, phone calls, text messages, good health or blog updates.

Saturday night and the Ballet

Saturday night was a whole lot of fun. Saturday was pretty sleepy; not having slept much on Friday night didn’t help. A band of expats were playing at a local nightclub and they were AWESOME. I danced all night and had the best time. I met some new people and danced with people I mis-read (but still had a LOT of fun nevertheless). Everything has to shut at midnight which so far is  a good things because it means a relatively early night and less of a hangover.

All in all, a wonderful introduction to Mongolian live music. Albeit expat Mongolian music. I didn’t stop smiling all night. Above – the photos to prove it.

Today was another slow day – after even less sleep last night, I had a bit of morning sleep in, in a vain attempt at catching up on some zzzzzzz’s. Once I woke up and organised myself Sarah and I wandered to the German bakery and had a bloody delicious salad and pastrami sandwich (pastrami slightly frozen but who am I to complain?). We continued our walk to the most awesome, amazing, epic, picturesque, spectacular sewing machine shop you’ve ever seen. Proof:

Yup. Bloody fantastic.

Their customer service wasn’t amazing, but I can’t complain because my Mongolian is terrible thus far. I spent a good two hours in there. There were 6 sewing machines to choose from. I automatically culled the cheap ones. It was a brand I hadn’t heard of and I wasn’t about to spend heaps of money on something so it could break tomorrow.

Above: my amazing purchase of the day. It cost me a trip to the countryside. 477800Tugs for the lot. That’s a pretty good trip to the countryside. But totally, totally worth it.

I got some scissors, pins, pin cushion and some cotton too. Now I need some material. Oh man, do I ever need material! I’m desperate! I want to get some patterns from the States (you can’t get them here), so I’ll have to wait til I can make dresses and stuff but I can make some PJ’s without a pattern. And scrunchies. I don’t care – I just want to make something! And I can! My new singer sewing machine has cruise control. No shit! You can tell it how fast to go and it just goes. And there’s an automatic button hole maker. Goodness gracious me!

I found out all this by pretending I understood a little bit of what they were saying. We pulled the machine out and had a bit of a play – she showed me some cool stuff. And then we trundled back home to go to the ballet.

And, what a night! It was amazing! For $7, it was AMAZING!

Swan Lake by the Mongolian Ballet

The theatre is beautiful as well. It’s very Soviet but has some lovely Mongolian touches as well. See below for more:

The Mongolian Theatre VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

A quick video

Steppe Riders last weekend

If I was in Brisbane….

If I was in Brisbane, today I would be a lot more hung-over than I currently am. I would have made bacon and eggs with a rocket salad with blue cheese and poached pear on a super fresh, crusty white bread roll. Then I would have done my washing, cleaned my room, gone to the markets at Southbank and then a movie followed by dumplings and an early night.

But seeing as I am in Mongolia, things are a little different. Last night I went to a party where there were lots of wrestlers and lots of expats. I drank a little bit of vodka because the Indian I had for dinner made it hard to keep anything down. Then I got home at 4am and went to sleep til 10am. Ate home made muesli with UHT milk for breakfast, put on a load of washing and then washed my hair in the sink with water so cold it gave me brain freeze. Now I have a plastic bag over my head with conditioner in it because I am too scared to wash it out.

I apologise for the lack of photos. I’d hidden my bag and camera so well I was too lazy to find it to take a photo.

In between mini-spews, it was a pretty fun night. A night full of compliments as well. If I maintain modesty during the year on this blog, you’ll never get a full picture. So modesty aside, I got a buttload of compliments last night. It’s always nice to receive compliments! There was a group upon my arrival that apparently like my physique, my face and then to top it off someone had mentioned I was nice as well (heard from a friend). What a funny thing to say though! There was a group of Mongolian wrestlers that were super keen to meet me and then proceeded to sing loudly to the music in very broken and funny english. One tried to give me his phone number by typing it on his phone and showing me. I don’t know my phone number, which isn’t very handy and I don’t take my phone many places because I’m too scared it’ll get taken.

Then I had to have my photo taken by a Mongolian guy for some reason or another. Once I realised it was 3am, it was time to go home. I had three potential walker-homer-ers. Which is a good situation to be in, unless you’ve told all three guys that you definitely need them to take you home (you can’t go home alone here – even in a taxi). So then I felt guilty that I’d promised I’d walk home with three different people but obviously did not need three grown men to walk me home. No doubt they probably wouldn’t have been keen for that either. So I kind of just escaped and walked home with walker-homer-er number 3. We had a cup of tea (SO cold outside, had to warm up) and then by the time he left it was 4am and I was in bed.

I caved and got a manicure. I’m not sure I’ll ever bother again. It just took too long and now I have purple nails until I could be bothered to get it off. I also organised 3 other people to come to the gym with me and check it out. Turns out it’s actually the nicest gym in Mongolia. It’s got all the equipment I could ever want (including personal lockers and a sauna), except a rowing machine. I guess I don’t really like rowing all that much anyway.

Tomorrow morning we’re all going to join and do a morning workout. I can’t wait. Day one of eating well and exercising again. I’m sure I’m going to feel 100% better than I do now (even though I don’t feed too bad). It costs 180 000Tugs for 3 months gym. It’s also the cheapest gym I’ve found! I’m going to try to go at lunch times, which will be a good habit to get into especially for winter – as the sun will be up then and I will still be able to walk alone.

Fire trucks

My apartment is one block from the (what I assume to be) central fire station. There are six garages that I'm almost certain are filled with six fire trucks. The quality of the trucks range fairly heftily. This one is my favourite. I hear the trucks at least once a day, which is scary as there are very, very few buildings with a fire escape. The traffic in UB is such that it can (and does; eg. yesterday) take up to an hour to drive about 4km. Vehicles, upon hearing the drone of the eeeeee-orrrrrrrrrrrrr, will make an attempt to move off the road. Unfortunately this amounts to not much as most vehicles drive on all parts of the road, side road, middle road and other side of the road.

Do not fear, my fellow followers. I have devised schemes. I didn't work in the mining industry for the last three years and gain no HSE sense.

Should a fire erupt in my apartment, I will grab my passport and jump out the window. We are only on the third floor which means gravity is on my side and should I fall, I will only break smaller/less essential bones such as arms and legs. If there is a car under the window, I will aim for the roof as that will save me an extra 2m of falling.

Should a fire get out of control in my office, I will calmly boot down the fire escape door and walk down the 6 flights of stairs whilst holding on to the hand rail (mainly because I'm not sure on the quality of the aforementioned stairs).

If I need an ambulance.... Well, that's a different story. One day when I catch a glimpse of one I'll get a photo of it. They resemble what could only be described as the equivalent of a Kombi van. But they're an old Russian vehicle painted white with what looks quite rudimentary gear inside. Basically I will stay out of harms way and if the need arrives for a ambulance, I shall count my lucky stars that I lasted that long without having to call one.

To mum and dad: I promise I won't ever need an ambulance; I will make it worthwhile and at least make them fly me out of here in a jet or a helicopter. xox

First photography ‘group’ shots

So I’m trying to set up a group of people that want to take photos around the place. It’s too dangerous to get your camera out alone –> safety in numbers! Last night was our first meet up. It was about minus 5 degrees which made playing with camera buttons THAT much harder. And shorter. Hopefully next week will be warm enough to play around properly. Above: the view from our kitchen balcony looking up the main street.

Sukhbaatar Square: Parliament house (I live directly behind this building)

A man on a horse (the statue in the middle of the square) with Sky Tower in the background

The first three groupies! All set up and taking photos from different angles

Vie from the square

Chinggis and another horse statue (note: he is always disproportionate to everything around him)

The Mongolian flag, flying high (and cold!) at the end of Spring, 2011

Plastic sewing machines

Yesterday at work was a little more productive as I created my own projects and started figuring out what I wanted to talk to the boss about. She gets back tomorrow apparently, but I’m not ready to talk to her yet. My counterpart gets back next Tuesday.

Last night was hockey. Lots of fun except there’s one girl that likes to pretend her hockey stick is a whipper snipper. Because you can use both sides of the stick, she comes steamrolling in and when she misses, she swings back the other way, and if your legs are in the way – too bad! I’ve got multiple bruises popping up today. I got a bit sick of it and started sticking the elbow in, which is a bit naughty but she’d hurt everyone else enough.

Post-hockey drinks were lovely. We just sat and chatted. I’m hooked up to go on a field trip with year 2 students. They’re studying rocks and one of the girls from hockey is their teacher – blah blah, we’re going to take them on a field trip!

Today at work was less productive (work wise). Ulnaa and I went to the post office. That was a big enough job in itself. My 20 letters were apparently addressed wrong, so I had to buy 20 new envelopes and re-address them, with my personal address written in cyrillic on them as well. We production-lined it and had them done in no time. $30 later, the letters were posted and we were on our way back to pick up some work people for a lunch. My work has a car and a driver that is practically a free taxi service. So we spent an hour going about 4km to drop them off. The traffic is horrendous.

We went to the VIP Mobicom centre. Apparently I classify as a VIP. It just means I got served a lot quicker, they were a lot nicer and it wasn’t in a room with a million other people. I’ve got a plan of some sort on my phone now.

Lunch at a delicious bakery and then confirmed that I am destined never to use a sewing machine in Mongolia. The one that the department store had for sale was apparently a returned machine that is made of plastic and won’t work very well. My only other option is to buy an industrial sewing machine, which is highly unnecessary. But super unfortunate. I would have loved to sew. Nevermind; must think of new hobby.

This evening I’m off to a museum opening and then to conduct my trial photography group. There are 4 people showing up tonight. I gave them all homework last night (research ISO, Aperture and shutter speed). Hopefully it’s fun!

And then on Sunday, AND next Sunday, I’m off to the theatre to see the Mongolian ballet perform Swan Lake and Tara Chojin respectively. It cost 10,000tugs/seat which is about $7aud. Crazy cheap. I am SO excited!

Sans hot water

The hot water's off. I was actually surprised we had any at all, but then I kind of got used to it and now we don't have hot water and I'd really love a shower. Instead I have a lot of water boiling on the stove ready for my first (of many) sponge bath. At least it's warm water.
Top rated sponge bathes ever:
1. In Vietnam in Binh Dinh village after days of trekking and learning and sweltering in the middle of no where, I got back to my mattress-free bed and was ready to change in to my PJ's and sleep in grime when my host lady came to the rescue. They couldn't even afford to put doors on their house, or mattresses on their bed. But they could boil water for me to have a bucket bath in the toilet that was right next to the pig pen. It was, by and far and far and by the best, warmest, most comforting shower/wash/bucket bath that I have ever, ever have. I also don't think I have ever felt more grateful in my life.

2. In Kenya after days of safari with some completed retarded people (not including my sisters; they are cool), we still had no running water. Our tour guide was an absolute tool and we were staying in a national park where you could literally be killed by: lions, elephants, scorpions, leopards and god only knows what else. If I was with anyone else, they would have clocked me on the head and told me to just deal with being grimey and go to sleep in the stupid little tent with the stupid little mattress. But no, Tegan and Nikki shone the torch outside in the cold (so I could see and so they could watch for lions) while I used a bottle of water to wash the grime off me. It was a quick wash, but it was a great wash. It was also one of those 'I am beyond grateful for my sisters' moment.

3. I'm afraid that tonight's bucket bath will not make it to number 3 on the list. I haven't had a tough day and I'm not super dirty. But I need a shower. At least this one will be warm.

4. Under Mt Kilimanjaro (Kenya side), we'd had a pretty rough time the previous few days, made it to camp only to find out that even though we were in a compound, the lions would still get in if we made ourselves a target. Target or no target, we had to shower. There was a SHOWER! It was a tap on the wall above your head. It was cold, and it was without pressure but dear lord - it was amazing! There were spiders everywhere and little microbats but in between them was the 4th most amazing wash I have ever had.

5. All the warm showers I have had post-full day of geological mapping/hockey playing/bike riding/field tripping/skiing in the icy cold.

Ode to showers: I love you.

Work wasn't amazing. No one's there so I just sat around and played on the computer and read some articles. I got the internet set up, scored a proper mouse and a proper keyboard and then made my way home. I ran into 3 Aussies working in a coal mine in the South Gobi. Some typical construction workers - super friendly, really keen for a chat. We chatted. They told me they could get me a job. They told me they earn TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS A DAY. I told them I'm volunteering. They insisted on getting me a job. I had to INSIST that I didn't want a paying job.

It almost killed me. These guys legitimately could have helped me get a job that would have paid me more money than one can fathom in a day - and I had to say no. Because I'm doing a good thing. Volunteering. I'm not even doing it properly - I get an allowance! I'm doing the easy version of volunteering!

But I still had to say no. I was shaking for two hours afterwards and ate a whole packet of (the equivalent of) Jatz. I'm over it now. But goodness gracious me. What a predicament.
I also had a nightmare last night re: my old work. My boss' boss' boss (so the big guy) cut loose and went nuts at work and quit and we all didn't know what to do. It doesn't sound nightmarish but it was. I guess because I still really like that joint, and really want to go back - and anyone that challenges that upsets me. And if THAT guy challenges it, then I'd kind of have to believe it.

Nevermind, I'm in Mongolia. :)

My first Mongolian mistake

My first day at Origin was organised months beforehand. I had to meet at the office at 335 Coronation Drive, Brisbane, at 9am. My boss would meet me downstairs and we would go from there.

This morning is my first day at the World Bank. It’s 9:24am. I was up at 6:30am, ready at 6:50am. I walked to work (10min walk) in my heels (bad idea, Sally. Heels are never, ever comfortable unless you’re rip-roaring drunk). I sat downstairs and called the office twice and sent a text message. The lady who has been organising my placement is in Washington on a work trip with what seems like the entire office except for Urnaa. Urnaa eventually called me back and told me that I’d have to wait until 10am because she won’t be there til then and no one upstairs can speak English.

So I packed up my stuff and trotted home. What I should have done is call Urnaa last night and confirm everything. I might have found out my start time a bit more accurately. I was told 9am (and no earlier). Promptness does not often pay off, and this morning it certainly didn’t.

Nevermind, now I’m at home and I think I’ll watch an episode of gossip girl.

The key to my heart

Actually, not really. Above are the photos that are the 'key to my apartment’.  (clockwise from top left: the stairwell and front door of our apartment; the front door of the building our apartment is in; the local Russian Caravan; the lowest building in the photo – just so happens to be our local supermarket.

Beautiful day today – 17 degrees outside and the sun is shining. I’ve got the house to myself for a few hours which is lovely. Not that I don’t like my housemates – it’s just always nice to have your own time. I’ve organised some paperwork, been to two different supermarkets (just to check them out), vacuumed, cleaned my room, made some lunch with leftovers for tomorrow and read a little bit.

I really wanted to make something to take to work with me tomorrow. I’m out of ideas though. I don’t feel 100%. I attempted scones and choc chip biscuits. Both of which were sub-par and would never be given as a gift to my new workmates. So they’ll have to wait. Maybe one day when I’ve got a bit more cashola up my sleeve, I’ll make some mini pavlovas. That also requires me finding some whippable cream.

Bayartai (goodbye)