Mongolian street sweeping

It may be -20F but every morning the Ulaanbaatar street sweepers are at work. In this country of dust and wind, these guys and gals have real job security. Usually in January when the snow stops and the ice is thick, these workers trade their brooms for long handled chisels to chip the ice.

Public transportation in Mongolia

Public transportation in Mongolia is interesting. To control the spread of H1N1, the Mongolian government stopped all inter-state buses, vans, trains and planes.

And if the city bus breaks down, all passengers become pushers.

Сетчуп in Mongolia

Mongolians like ketchup (Сетчуп).

At the Korean store you can get it with
horseradish (spicy), peppers (sweet), bbq or even in #10 tin cans.

New Teacher

Meet Liz's newest teacher. His name is Erik and he is 6 y.o. He is passing on all his knowledge and wisdom regarding cursive. This is a perfect arrangement since he is learning fresh letters in his 1st grade class. His school has been canceled for a few weeks due to H1N1, he can give me some extra attention. Upon his suggestion, I have acquired a practice notebook and fill in each line (being sure to use the margins)one letter at a time.

Mongolian Pride

The population of Mongolia is very small; 3 million compared to China's 1,319,175,400 (this minute).

This means there are 440 Chinese "neighbors" for every Mongolian.

Weekly (no pun intended), the new Mongolian soldiers stand in formation in front of the new statue of Genghis Khan as they show their military strength.

To this 50+ year old, they look so young.

Smart Mongolian Sparrows

Most sparrows gather twigs for nests in the Spring.

But as winter approaches in Mongolia, the sparrows nesting above our apartment are gathering twigs now, at the end of October, for insulation! The sparrows and pigeons stay all winter.

The high temperature today is 21 degrees F.

Jim's office

I share a corner of the JCS office with Daniel - Project Director from England, and Odnoo, JCS Editor (from Mongolia).

The window doesn't latch so we are taping it closed next week. With my computer, telephone (I share an extension with Daniel so only one of us can use our phone at a time), and my water bottle (that I DON'T share with anyone except Liz), I have everything I need if I am in the office.

It's great to sit next to Daniel, who corrects my ENGLISH, and Odnoo who corrects my Mongolian!

Mongolian traffic emphasis for the week - Crosswalks

UB traffic is famous for NOT yielding to pedestrians. But this week, there is a policeman at every corner around the Parliament building enforcing drivers to stop before the crosswalk.

It is ALMOST safe to cross the street this week.

Orphan choir

World Vision-Mongolia has an orphan children's choir.

I got to hear them this week and they were great.
For a UTube video, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0J2UJiPeAU

My "Power Mongolian Tie"

About once a month I go to some government or business meeting with officials or ambassadors.

So this week I bought a "Mongolian Power Tie" from the Christian handcraft store.

The tie has the colors of the Mongolian flag with the yellow "Soyombo" symbolizing Mongolian freedom and independence.