We know people who have lived in Mongolia since the early
1990s. They tell stories about how everything was scarce. They barely had to
look both ways to cross streets in the capitol. There was no choice but to live
off mutton like the locals. A member of each family had to spend most of every
day just standing in lines for basic things like bread.
Here in UB in 2014, supplies are abundant by comparison. Six
years ago, when we first came, shopping was still a challenge and exhausting.
It took us months to furnish our apartment, spending whole days searching for
one item like tall drinking glasses, a can opener, sheets or pillows. Many
things we brought or had sent from the States like hair gel, almonds, and
picture frames. For over a year, we
hunted for a living room lamp. The one we finally found is not one we would
choose if we’d had a choice. But it was a miraculous, albeit, expensive, find
when in the back corner of the outdoor market, there stood a 5’ tall fake mahogany
floor lamp with a 1890s style shade with ugly gold tassels.
Our apartment is comfortable now, and Mongolians have
discovered how to make or import some of our favorite things like scented
candles. There are fruit and vegetable
stands on the streets. But some things remain scarce and seasonal. Seasonal, as
in, it seems a container full gets shipped in and then peanut butter or kidney beans pop up in every shop. But, a month later, when that load has been sold, the
same items cannot be found anywhere. And
there are other things that are here but you have to know what they look like
for example butter. Butter has always been available. We are in a nomadic land
sporting 10 times as many animals, including cows, as people. But we bought
what looked like butter in several alternative forms before we discovered the
right stuff: sour yogurt butter, margarine, and lard. Yuck!
This week, Jim, discovered another such camouflaged product.
He went to five different stores looking for baking vanilla. He tried asking
clerks in his broken Mongolian. He called Liz to ask for the right Mongolian
spelling and pronunciation. He even had
one of my ladies talk to a clerk to ask if the store had the stuff, all to no
avail. A determined shopper, Jimmy persisted, and on the way home, found a
little paper packet of dried vanilla at a nearby shop. It was wearing a very
tricky costume. Some foreign word for vanilla was used, Turkish, German, or
Russian? Confused by the picture on the front, he bought several anyway. There
was no vanilla bean pictured, just a giant strawberry on the label.
When I got home, he was very excited to show me his little
treasure. We examined the packets carefully. The envelopes were so thin, they barely seemed to contain anything. The word, Aromat, was on the front making us
think that maybe it was a deodorizer rather than a spice. Curious, we opened
it. It smelled like strawberries with a hint of vanilla, like fast food
restaurant versions of a strawberry milk shake. A little leery that we’d be
eating berry scented chemicals, I stuck my wet pointer into the fine white powder
and licked it. Indeed, strawberry flavored powdered vanilla.We have never heard of such a thing. We’ll have to be choosy about what we use it in, strawberry-coffee might not be so great, but strawberry-vanilla oatmeal sounds scrumptious.
