In the wrong era

I am so excited, last night I made sausage, from scratch, for the first time, and it was good.  Sausage, Yum, I want to make sausage balls for Christmas, and we just recently found Bisquick, for the first time ever here!  Merry Christmas to us.......sadly weird, I know, but it is the little things that keep us going.

   Sometimes i think we live in the wrong era, we grind our own meat, bake our own bread, cook everything from scratch.........but admittedly sausage balls, and sausage pizza, are from more recent decades.  Yum......

  Merry Christmas

In the News

Tonight Eagle TV will be running a human interest story on our family.  There is a huge problem of human trafficking here in Mongolia (as with most all 3rd world countries).  About 4 years ago, after we had just arrived here, two girls ask to take their picture with our family, so we allowed them to.  Then a few months later our language teachers and other Mongolians would tell us that they had ween our picture on television.  Well, we had no idea what they were talking about, or how this could be.  So it turns out that somehow a "nanny" agency got our picture and has been using it as an advertisement.  They say we are a "european" family (everyone thinks we are German because of all the blonde) that has hired, and been very pleased with a Mongolian nanny.

ALL A LIE.  So now the company has been contacted, confronted, and people are trying to get to the bottom of this lie and get them stopped.  They are hiring girls under false pretenses and getting them out of the country to do, Lord only knows what.  The people are so desperate to get out of the country, especially the young people.  There is no industry here, very few good jobs, so the jobs that are available, are so heavily sought after there are many, many people seeking the same position.  So, girls are being hired by this "nanny" service, that is operating under a complete lie, hoping for a chance to get ahead in life.

Lots of Snow

This year winter has been warmer than normal, this week the highs have been hovering around 0 Fahrenheit.  We have had more snow so far this winter than any of our 4 previous winters, it has been at least a dusting of snow almost daily for the past week.  One great thing about the snow is that it is a natural air purifier, and knocks all the coal smoke and dirt out of the air on the way down.  Here is a pic of Mackenzie all decked out to go play outside (for about 5 minutes)!

Isaac Day

Today we are Praising God for our Isaac.  December 3 will always remind me of fear.  3 years ago today our son was 7 weeks old and stopped breathing in my husbands arms.  We spent 4 unbelievably horrific days in the Mongolian hospital with babies dying all around us, but God saw us through and got us to the best pediatric hospital in France.  While in Paris it was confirmed that Isaac had RSV, a serious respiratory virus that can cause babies to stop breathing.  He was on a ventilator for 13 days because while in the Mongolian hospital he contracted the psuedomonus bacteria in his lungs also.  All the while God was watching over us and brought complete strangers to us to help us find things we needed and even a place to stay, in Paris, for free!  God is SO good.  He promises that He won't give us more than we can handle, and when we think it is too much, we only have to hold on to HIM.  Isaac is such a delightful little boy who has brought so much joy and laughter into our lives, I am so thankful for him and can't wait to see what God has in store for him in his life.  Here in this picture he is wearing Mr. Potatohead's teeth.

Why would you say that?

Yesterday we had a Mongolian friend come by.  She has been a Christian since 2005 and is really trying to follow Christ in her daily life.  She speaks some English, but it is pretty interesting how our conversations go from English to Mongolian and then back again.  Anyway, as she was leaving we were discussing some of the different sayings in Mongolian and also English that we always say, but don't really know where they originated.  Mongolians say "Going to the Salt" when they are going to sleep, I wanted to know where that came from.  Then she said, "Well, why would Americans say 'I am hungry enough to eat a horse'?  Just eat some horse!"  They eat horse here all the time, so that isn't an extreme hunger saying for them......It's all how you look at it.

My Worship service

Living in a foreign place that speaks a different language is really different.  It affects you in ways that you may never have expected.  Lack of a "real" church/worship service is something that really affected me.  Sitting in a service where all singing and speaking is in Mongolian, no English at all, I began to feel like a sponge that was slowly drying and shriveling up.  yes, personal devotions are wonderful, but not the same.  I have found a wonderful website with a great teacher that I truly enjoy learning from.  It is reviveourhearts.com and she is teaching a series now on God's Beautiful Design for Women, from Titus 2.  I have my own personal worship service, usually in  my kitchen where I spend at least 75% of my time,  she is stepping all over my toes about having our hearts and minds focused on God and how our attitude affects every aspect of our lives (ouch)

   SO check it out and get your toes stepped on TOO. 

Countryside Health Facts

Tony just came back from spending 2 weeks out in the countryside with some Mongolians from Eagle TV.  So while he was gone he learned a few interesting health facts that you might have never heard before.

   Wearing clothes to bed makes you colder, if you wear pajamas, you get goose bumps!  The guys kept asking Tony if he was alright because he was wearing pajama pants to bed.  (Yep, there are lots of funny things jumping around in my mind here, but I am just going to leave them alone)

   SO on the same vein, they also believe that wearing gloves makes your hands colder and hats, of course, make your head colder.  In defense of my own hat and glove wearing defense, I can't tell you how many Mongolian men I have seen with their ears completely or partially gone from frostbite.  I will just risk cold fingers and ears and keep wearing my gloves and hat.

   Anyway, another man told Tony he thought he knew why foreigners had more chest hair than Mongolians was because Foreigners shower more often, and the hair gets watered more!  Never mind the fact that I also shower every day......

   Speaking of bathing, Did you know that bathing too often gives you a cough.  It is preferable to bathe no more than once or twice a week.

   And NEVER drink cold drinks...  Drinking a drink containing ice is a sure fire way to have a sore throat. 

   Enough for now, don't want you to get too bogged down with all this health information, I will have to do this again to tell all the healthy benefits of camel urine and bear claws......bet you can't wait.

Missent to Malaysia

I received a package today that was mailed on Sept. 23.  The box was mashed and dented and written all over the outside was MISSENT TO Malaysia, and stamps of Kuala Lumpor.  It disturbs me the lack of knowledge about Geography!!  HELLO, yep, Mongolia and Malaysia are technically both on the continent of Asia, and yes, they both start with an M.  It is almost like getting a package that belongs in Montana sent to Maryland.......same continent, both M's.   O.K.  I am done ranting......Thank God the package arrived in the first place and even though it was very beaten up, it was still sealed and everything was inside.  Push Geography in Schools!!!  Just look at a map.

Bible Prices

Tony is giving away some New Testaments on an evangelistic trip he gets to take with some men from Eagle TV.  SO last week he goes to get the Bibles and was shocked to find that the price has tripled in price.  He knows the secretary at the Bible Society, so he asks her why the drastic increase, thinking that maybe the price of printing has gone up that much.  No, the price has increased because the director of the Bible Society here in Mongolia is tired of missionaries coming in and buying Bibles and then giving them away.   Isn't that the point!!!  Come on here.  This man truly baffles me and he desperately needs our prayers.  He has become so obsessed with his translation work that he can't see the Word of God for what it is.  Now I have to give his reasoning, he says that if people have to pay more for the Bible, then they will have more respect for it.  I agree with that completely, but he has priced the Bible out of reason for a Mongolian to be able to purchase it.  Unfortunately this man is very difficult to deal with.  I am just praying that God will change his heart, for He is the only one that can.  Please pray for the Mongolian Bible Society.

Winter's here to stay

Snowed all night!  The high was 27 at noon, yep, no denying it is here for good now.  I was just really resistant to open the box of gloves, scarves, hats....... But had to do it.  

In Search of Rocks

We decided to go for a hike this weekend to get some rocks for the turtle's aquarium, and oh yeah, for some fresh air and sunshine too.  We have had some really great fall weather, the winter is holding off later than it usually does, so now we can be out with only a jacket and it is great.  The kids had fun climbing on all the rocks, Isaac was jumping around like a billy goat, but Avery had all the fear he left behind.

Let's Cook Mongolian!

This week I had a Mongolian friend come by to show me how to cook some Mongolian food, so I thought I would share it on here.  Sorry, if my brain had been fully intact I would have gotten some pictures, but oh, well.

  Milk Tea:  This is THE Mongolian drink.

     8 cups water

     2 cups milk

     1/4 cup Mongolian loose tea

     4 tsp salt

Add all together in large pot and bring to boil.  Gently boil about 5 minutes.  With screen strainer remove tea leaves.  Serve hot.

   Soyvung:  This is Tony's favorite Mongolian dish.  Stir fry with Homemade noodles.

     4 cups flour

     2 cups warm water

     1 tsp salt

Mix well to form dough, adding flour or water as necessary.  Cover and let rest.

     1 lb. beef chunks

     1 small head cabbage, chopped

     1 lg onion

     3 cloves garlic

     5-6 carrots

     1 bell pepper

Heat 1/2 cup oil over medium-high heat, add chopped vegetables starting with onion, and garlic, adding meat last.  Cover and cook over medium heat.  Meanwhile, divide dough into 3 equal pieces and roll out on floured surface as thinly as possible.  When all dough is rolled out lightly spread each piece with oil, stack the pieces, fold together as layers and slice with knife into 1/4 in. strips.  When all dough is chopped, add all noodles to skillet and cover again, allowing to cook 10-15 minutes.  Add salt and pepper as needed.

Grounded

O.K. this has absolutely nothing to do with Mongolia, just venting about parenthood.  We have had a real OBEDIENCE problem today and I have had to ground more than one child, (blessings on you who only have one child to ground at a time).  Anyway,  this means, no computer, no T.V., you are only allowed to sit in your room (no ipod) and read..........  CAn someone sign me up for this PLEASE!!!  I would love to be made to lie in bed and read for the day!!!!  Hmmmmm, maybe I can do something bad, and get punished to my room........No dishes, no laundry, no cooking, just a good book and some peace and quiet.......I bet I would have to come up with something really bad to be worthy of that kind of "punishment"........I will think hard on that one..... Ha Ha.

  Have a great weekend.

First Snow Day

Well its official, the first snow of the year came today, October 7.  It was pretty, and didn't stick because the ground was too warm.  No school dismissals here, nope we just opened the curtains of the schoolroom and watched it fall.  I have been putting off putting up the short sleeve things, even though we haven't been wearing them, it was just a matter of holding on to warm weather as long as I can.  I guess I have no more excuses.

Back in the Groove

The girls started school last week, and everything is going well.  SInce we only had a 6 week break, it was really easy to slip back in the groove of our normal school schedule.  Avery has started Kindergarten and loves it, she has started writing her letters, and today asked if she could start reading yet.  Anna is in 4th grade this year, Mackenzie is in 6th, and Lindsey will be doing 8th grade with Alpha Omega Academy this year.  All her work will be logged into their system, so all her quizzes and tests will be checked by them, not me, Yeah!!! One less thing to think about!

   The weather here has been great, I just wish it would last.  we just try to enjoy every minute we can get before we have to drag out our heavy coats, gloves, scarves, boots........

   Tony and I went shopping for vegetables at the market today and saw Pumpkins!  It is the first time I have ever seen them here. SO we will go back and let the kids pick one out to carve, and then probably get another for a pumpkin pie! Yummy

   Happy Fall Ya'll

Try not to ask WHY?

I needed to post this because the last few items have been so depressing.

   The other night tony walked across the street to this tiny, little store to get some sugar.  He noticed that the alcohol was covered with a sheet, and this was unusual.  So he ask the woman why it was covered, and her reply was OH, in the Bayan Zurk district (where we live) we can't sell alcohol on the 20th of the month, but if you want some, I will sell it to you!  

     I really try to not ask why, because you never get a real, logical answer, but hey, if they can cut out one more drunk for a day, more power to them!

Got Milk? Tainted milk that is....

The milk that we have been drinking for the past 6 months has been withdrawn this week because it has been proven to be tainted with Melamine.   Melamine is used in the making of plastics and is high in nitrogen, which registers as protein in tests of milk.  Though health experts believe that ingesting small amounts poses no danger, melamine can cause kidney stones. " Some farmers who sell milk to Chinese food companies are thought to have used melamine to disguise watered-down milk and fatten profit margins hurt by rising costs for feed, fuel and labor.", so says the UB Post. 

   SO we dumped out what we had at home, and we are just prying that none of us get sick from the milk we have been drinking. 

Amdermaa Update

Two weeks ago we bought tickets for Amdermaa and another Mongolian/Chinese woman to go to Beijing to get the tests done that can't be done in Mongolia.  They came back 2 days late and we never did hear from them until this week.  Amdermaa's mother called and said " We got the wrong tests done, you are going to have to buy us more tickets so we can go again"  It turns out that she never gave Amdermaa the name of the test she needed, nor did she give her the MRI films to take with her.  Amdermaa went to beijing and had the very same tests done that she had had done here!  Pure frustration!  We told the mother over and over what needed to be done, and she basically threw it back in our faces.  She told Tony, well I guess I will have to take care of it now.  It just sickens me that we truly want to help these people, but how can you help those who won't even help themselves?  What more can we Do????? 

Isaac's picture

The thing would only let me upload 5 pictures on one article, so Isaac got left out.  Can't have that!  I am putting 2 pics up, the second one I am trying to get him to take out his thumb, the big thumbsucker!

Family Photo Shoot

This is purely for fun.  We had to have new pictures for our Missions Office, so I took pictures of all the kids too.  Thought it would be fun to post them on here for everybody to see.

Goodbye Summer

It was good while it lasted, but it's gone.  Summer that is.  Last Thursday it rained all day, and then summer went away with the rain.  The high today was 52, and get this, they are saying it is supposed to snow tomorrow!!!!!!  It is August.  If it does snow that will be the earliest we have seen it in the 4 years we have been here.  Then joy, joy, yesterday the hot water went off, and should be off until the end of the month.  The fun never ends.

Amdermaa

There is a young, 17 year old girl who attends the Bible Study.  She is relatively new, she didn't attend before we went on furlough.  Anyway, she is enormous, and the first time we saw her I told Tony she had a tumor on her pituitary.  We told them that we wanted to help them get her tested, so this week she went and had an MRI, and sure enough, she does have a tumor on her pituitary gland.  So on Friday the mother ask Tony and I to go with them to talk with the doctor about treatment options.  The doctor is Mongolian, but trained in Germany, and speaks very good (German accented) English.  SO we learned that Amdermaa's pituitary gland is twice the size it should be and her Human growth hormones are so high that they are suppressing all her sexual hormones.  She is 17 years old and has never had her period.  The doctor gave them a prescription for a drug that will suppress the growth hormone, and should then allow the sexual hormones to do their job, but that drug is not available in Mongolia.  The doctor is not sure that surgery is necessary.   She is sending all the scans to a German doctor who comes to Mongolia every year to perform surgery, and he will help her decide if the removal of the tumor is needed.  The down side to that is that if the pituitary is removed, she will have to take hormones the rest of her life, and they AREN'T AVAILABLE HERE.  I will have to get a picture of this girl.  She is almost at least 6'2".  She wears a size 12 shoe.   Her hands look just like a man's, her fingers are as large, wide as Tony's.  This doesn't sound so abnormal for American girls, but for a Mongolian, it is very abnormal.  She is probably 18" taller than most all other Mongolian women.  She is very shy, and awkward because she is so different.  I asked the mother if she had always been large, and she said, no it started when she was 5, she noticed that she could run very fast and her hands grew so large that she couldn't hold on to things and became very clumbsy.  She took her to a doctor then, but they couldn't find anything.  (No MRI machines were available then, they were still under Communist rule)

Heartsick

This week has been a difficult one.  We have been working with a Bible Study group here on an off the whole time we have been here, Tony has spoken there several times in Mongolian and we have truly tried to befriend and get involved there.  The charismatic movement is very big here, the prosperity movement.... all that jazz.  Anyway, Tony has spoken to the bible study about how dangerous this is, but apparently they have made a their own decision.  Tony attends a weekly, Tuesday night Bible lesson during the week, and everything was normal on Tuesday, and Tony was scheduled to speak on Sunday.  So then Wednesday night Tony gets a text message saying that there was a "seminar" being held on Thursday.  This had never been mentioned earlier in the week.  Then on Thursday he gets a call from the leader asking if Tony could postpone his scheduled speaking engagement until the next week because there was another speaker for this Sunday.  SO on Thursday Tony went to the "seminar" (here seminar is the code word for a charismatic "show") And there it was, a team of 4 Holy Rollers who came to slay in the Spirit, speak in tongues, the whole 9 yards.  Tony was just sick, and left as soon as he heard and confirmed that this was what was being taught.  It just makes us heart-sick that this is the decision that has been made.  Tony has talked so openly about how wrong this is, but this is what draws people, this is what they want to hear.  The men openly said, " If you are poor, Jesus will make you rich."  These people are desperately poor, of course they wan to hear this.  yep if you just fall to the floor, maybe you will wake up with a million Tugrug (Mongolian currency) in your pocket.  So these idiots just come in here, spread their lies and leave, go back to their cushy couches in the States, never caring how many lives they have destroyed in the meantime.  It is infuriating.  We really want to help these people and truly care about them, but will have to separate from them if this is truly the route they are going to take.  Please pray for them and us.  It is draining and depressing to think that all this time and effort has been poured into a group of people for what?

We smell better now

We finally gave in a bought a new washing machine.  The repairman still insists that it can be fixed, but he is in no hurry to get it done, and it has been 3 weeks now......... a family of 7 goes through lots of laundry, especially when you throw a good stomach bug into the mix.  If he ever gets it repaired, we will just sell it to recover some of the costs of the new machine.  Anyway, it is such a relief to have my washer back, and my laundry room back in order.  I have been able to catch up on some of those things that had to be put aside, like sheets and rugs.  So I am putting in a picture of my new machine and my "dryer"- drying racks.

Funny Picture

I was looking through my pictures last night, and found this one and knew I needed to blog about it.  This man wore this big, pink, floppy hat all afternoon and didn't act like he had on anything but a plain, old, man's hat.  No one else seemed to notice it either, except me.  I mean if a guy in the states was at a weekend retreat with his work, there is no way he would be caught dead running around in a big, pink, floppy hat complete with a flower on the front.  And then if he did dare to wear it, he would be endlessly ribbed by all his fellow workers.  Here things are different.  Pink and blue are just plain old colors, not gender distinguishers.  You see baby boys wearing pink, flowery stuff all the time, and in little girls with blue, ball covered clothes.  Sometimes it just strikes me as funny. 

Go Mongolia

Yesterday Mongolia won it's very first gold medal in the Olympics.  The only other medal they have ever won was a bronze.  So this was the first time the Mongolian National Anthem was ever played.  The guy won in Judo, he did some really cool 100 point flip (technical judo lingo) and won the match.  It was truly touching to watch his face when the anthem played, he almost cried, but caught himself, Mongolians are very reserved when it comes to emotions.  It was really funny because outside we could here people cheering and screaming "You're the Man" (in Mongolian, of course) and then after the sun went down there were fireworks and all the news stations kept replaying the award ceremony.  In the TV studio when the anthem was being played the anchormen even stood up and put their hand over their heart while it played.  They are all so proud, I am proud for them. 

Never Look A Gift Horse in the Mouth

The washer saga continues.... we are going on 3 weeks now with a broken washing machine.  It turns out that the whole computer board was fried in a power surge.  SO the repairman said to Tony, You should probably get one from America.....this is NEVER a good sign.  Tony has searched for hours online to find this part, and it is not available in Asia.  SO we went to the place where we originally bought the washer and found out where there repair center is, (we were excited) We walk in and talk to them and they tell us that no they don't have one, and that it is too much trouble to order only one, so Tony says Can I order one?  No, just talk to the engineer (repairman) and see what he can do, but, by the way, he is not here today.  AAAAAAGGGHHHH!

   So in the meantime, our upstairs neighbors had an extra washer that belongs to someone else on their team, that hadn't been used for 3 years.  This washer takes over 4 hours to wash a load of clothes, leaks water all over the floor, and the spin cycle is broken.  (hence the gift horse title)  But, as totally frustrating as this is, at least I am not having to hand wash the clothes in the tub.  

  This morning Tony took the computer part to the repairman and they will prayerfully be able to fix it today.  If not, we will have to buy a new one, either way I will hopefully be washing clothes again normally soon!  

Baking Lessons wanted

The Mongolian women at the bible study we attend have ask me if I will teach them to bake.  Baking is a mysterious, magical thing to these women whom have only owned an oven for 5 years at the most.  They sell pretty cakes here, but they taste like a sponge smeared with Crisco- absolutely no flavor.  So, this is a fun opportunity, but very challenging also as I am met with the lack of availability of ingredients and supplies.  For instance, lets get down to basics, in order to bake a cake you need cake pans -not available.  We have the ingredients for a basic, yellow cake, but not cocoa for chocolate.  Next, the icing, this is s biggie, no powdered sugar, and still, no cocoa.  SO cakes, pretty much out of the question.  Move on to cookies.  We can make sugar cookies, but one major ingredient that they can't get is shortening, this is a major ingredient in most cookie recipes.  These ladies are POOR.  Most are not married, or married to a drunk who doesn't have a job.  I am trying to come up with ideas that use ingredients that they might have or can easily get for a reasonable price.  This is REALLY difficult......I haven't even factored in the fact that I have to change any recipe from English to Metric measures, and then translate it into Mongolian.  The fun never ends.  lets get cookin.

Authentic Olympics

We watched the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics on the only channel that was playing it here, the Chinese channel, of course.  So it was a truly authentic experience, almost like being there, but much cheaper, and on my own couch!

No CLean CLothes

The washer is still not fixed.  The repairman called yesterday and said he would be rite over........so Tony called him today and he is supposed to come at 4pm.  I am not holding my breathe.  SO I finally gave in the the huge mounds of laundry, and  the girls repeated "Mom, I have nothing to wear" and washed a load of clothes at the neighbors.  At our building they just evenly divide the water bill amongst us anyway, so it's not like I am running up their bill.

  Baking bread is also on the agenda for today.  You might ask "WHY".  Well the answer is simple and goes back to the fact that there is no FDA here,  absolutely no standards to be followed by the companies selling food.  Last week our neighbors, who usually don't buy the bread either, bought 2 loaves of bread, and there were flies baked inside both loaves!!  SO there is the answer.  Baking bread makes the house smell so good anyway.  The tricky part is baking it at a time when everyone isn't ravenously hungry, and devours it as soon as it comes out of the oven.  Then I would have to bake bread every day!

The Little Things

Did you say a quick Thank You to God this morning when you took a hot shower?  I did.  Every summer about this time the hot water goes off so they can clean the pipes at the power plant.  The first two summers we were here the hot water was off for 8 weeks, but thankfully now that we have moved into an apartment it is only off for 2 weeks. We have no control over the water here, the city controls it.  There are no hot water heaters here in every house, so when it is off, it is off.  But now it back on Praise God.

  My washer went out on Sunday, so yesterday (Monday) we called a repair guy who said he would come in the afternoon, so when he showed up at 10 this morning, :)  He found it was an electrical problem that happens quite often, so he should bring it back this afternoon and I will be able to wash clothes with hot water... Thank you God ....He gives us all the little things, we just have to open our eyes to see them.

Feeling French

Isaac got a marker the other day and VIOLA! He drew a french mustache on half of his face.  I guess a little of that time in Paris was coming out in him.  He is so much fun.  It is SO ultimately different having a boy after all the girls.  I never before had a plastic horse in the toaster, or found the missing remote control batteries in the fridge.  I really never considered, before Isaac came along, that I would ever have to say "Don't drive that car in your food" at the dinner table.

   His favorite thing to do is get a plastic stool from our schoolroom, and sneak to the kitchen to get something to eat.  If someone is in the kitchen he says, "Please go away" so he can do his thing without being seen, or stopped.  At least the boy has manners, he always says Please.  Gotta Love Him.  

Women's Sumo???

We went to the countryside with Eagle TV employees.  We got to the place and everyone unpacked their things and then went to sit outside and wrestle.  Yep, that's what they do here for fun instead f the good old game of football, or baseball, or frizbee.  Mongolians LOVE wrestling.  They even listen to sumo wrestling on the radio, like we would listen to a baseball game.  When we first moved here, Anna was 5, and if she would walk in the room and sumo wrestling was on, she would cover her eyes and say, "Ooooh yuck, please change the channel".  Anyway back to the retreat.  All the men signed up and their names were drawn randomly to wrestle each other.  Of course Tony signed up, but he wants to talk about that on his blog. The men didn't do Sumo wrestling, they did traditional Mongolian wrestling, which is nothing like the wrestling done in American High Schools. SO all the men finish and they start asking for the ladies who want to Sumo wrestle.  They ask me if I wanted to wrestle, but have you seen the outfits they wear??? No thank You....no really they wore clothes, thankfully.  All my older girls wanted to do it though, so I got some good shots of them getting beat.  They really had no chance.  These other ladies have done this their whole life, and this was our first time.  They had fun anyway and that is all that matters.

A Sense of Freedom....and Fear

I have had a Mongolian drivers license for 2 years now, and drove for the first time today!  Yeah, I can drive now in the land where the lines on the road are purely decoration, and those pretty red, yellow and green things hanging in the air, yep, they are decorations too.  Now I will be able to help out with the driving and going around town, and hopefully not be so dependant on my chaufeur, Tony.  I hate to admit my biggest fear is not an accident, it is of hitting someone, the Mongolians have no fear of vehicles and walk out in front of cars all the time.  We have actually had people walk into our van more times than I can count.  SO we shall see where this freedom takes me......   YeeHaw

Normal Boring Days

O.K. today is just a boring, normal day.  I don't want everyone thinking we are always out playing in the countryside.  The girls are STILL doing school.  We have a countdown and goal to be done August 7.  I think most kids in the states will be starting about then......

   SO we are still doing school everyday and working in baseball 3 days a week for the month of July.  It is actually hot now, highs in the upper 80's this week, I know that doesn't sound bad, but with no A/C it gets pretty hot.  The heat will only last a couple of weeks though, it will start cooling down by the first of August.  Last night we were outside cooling off and talking with the security guard that works at our apartment building and he told us that it is Fall already, He says after Nadaam it is Fall.

   Since it is hot I made chocolate pudding (from scratch) to make pudding pops with.  Also had to make some hamburger buns for dinner, the dough is rising, but I am dreading turning on the oven to bake them.

  Then of course there is the never ending laundry.  I don't have a dryer here, we just hang everything.  I usually wash 3 loads a day, that is all the room I have to hang, so that works pretty good.  My least favorite load is whites, it is so tedious to hang all those socks!

  I just don't want anyone to think that we have been out playing in the countryside all summer, the pictures I have posted consist of about 3 days out of the past 6 weeks.  All those mundane daily chores have to be done on this side of the world too.

Summer Meat Market

O.K. First things first.  Stop and thank God for the FDA. 

  Here it is in live color, all the meat you could ever want and then some.  The sheep, complete with fat tails(which is a delicacy) and huge legs of beef hang all over the building.  Outside in the heat, in the backs of trucks, are more carcasses to choose from.  Amazingly enough there weren't flies all over the meat, i don't know how they do that.  Then when we were leaving I noticed this big truck backed up to the door loaded with huge bags of bones.  We stopped to ask what they were going to do with these bones, thinking glue factory.  But, no, they are taking the bones to boil down to make soup.  They make a soup here that is meatless, just broth and they thicken it with flour, we would call it gruel.  SO ENJOY!

Haircut

O.K. most women are really particular about their hair.  Getting the perfect stylist is important, you find someone you like and you stick with them.  Usually they know just how you want your hair, and this is a PRICELESS relationship, am I right?

  SO just for a minute, imagine with me going into a foreign salon, where you are basically a mute, with a picture of the haircut you want, and the ability to say "layered".  You are placing the "do" in their hands!!!  I understand a lot of Mongolian, but can't say as much as I understand.  But this I understand - Translated for your enjoyment-  This woman has the weirdest hair I have ever cut, it is like baby hair.  

  Mongolians have very asian hair, of course.  It is very thick, coarse, straight hair, and they truly don't know what to do with my hair.

  Enjoy your stylist, give them a hug the next time you see them!! 

Manshuur Heed

We went out for the day with some friends.  About an hours drive from the city, tucked up in the mountains, are old buddhist monastery ruins.  (warning: history lesson) When the lovely Russians invaded Mongolia, they wanted to get rid of all religion, and all educated people.  So they killed over 1000 monks who lived at this monastery, but told the people that they had sent them off to Russia.  The bodies were all found many years later when the city dump had to move to a different place.  

  Anyway, the setting of the monastery is beautiful, with a small creek running and a gorgeous view.  Lots of people go out there to spend the day and have a picnic, which is what we did too. 

Market day

Today was NOT the day to go shopping, but we had to do it anyway.  Tomorrow (July 11) starts Naadam.  This is a 3 day long national holiday, sort of like the Olympics meets the county fair.  There are 3 main sports of Naadam, horse racing, wrestling, and archery.  SO we have been putting off our grocery shopping and had to go today because tomorrow most all of the shops will be closed.  Everyone else in Mongolia was shopping today too, it was crazy. The traffic was really awful, but it gave us a chance to take some pictures.  The market we went to is called Bars, it is just a big building with lots of little rooms with people selling assorted things.  This market is beside the train station, so things are brought in directly from China, so we get a nice variety of things in the summer.  The sheep in the back of the truck was taken on the way.

The Great Unknown

I almost feel like i shouldn't write anything today because there is so much unknown, that I really don't have any answers.  Tony had a meeting with the director of Eagle TV yesterday and it seems it is just a matter of time before eagle is shut down, unless God intervenes of course.  There were several anti-Eagle people elected into parliament and the Eagle director has had almost continuous meetings since all of this happened.  Eagle is being blamed for the riot because they were the first station to have live coverage.   Yes, this is absolutely preposterous, but sadly true.  So we are just taking things one day at a time, I guess the way we should be, Tony is still writing the lessons for Eagle.  OUr visas are through Eagle, but if that does fall through, Tony can register as a language student again, as a way to stay in the country.  Tony is admittedly discouraged about all this.  He has basically just gotten started at Eagle and now .......what?  

   God gave me a verse in my Bible study this morning though, isn't it amazing how He always gives us what we need?

     Isaiah 55:10-11  For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, an it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

A Day Out

This week haas been admittedly stressful.  Everyone is wondering what might happen next.  SO we went out of town for the day.  Here in the summer, everyone goes out to the countryside (anywhere but the city) so some friends of ours,  who attend our Bible Study, invited us to their summer house.  It was so nice to get out and breathe some fresh air, and just enjoy being outside.  Isaac had a blast throwing rocks in the water.  The house has power, but no water.  They do all the cooking on the wood stove that is kept in the ger behind the house, that way the house doesn't get hot.  There is no heat in the house, so it is only used 2-3 months a year.  Of course, with no running water, there is also no tiolet, sink, etc.  but, it is great for a summer get-away. 

Riot Results

Today lifted our "State of Emergency".  Things are pretty much back to normal around town.  They had said the main street through town would be closed these past 4 days, but it was open 2 days after the riot.  Meetings are taking place at Eagle TV, where my husband works.  Eagle TV was the first station to have live broadcast of the protests, so they are being blamed for causing the riots, and may possibly be closed down.  The next few days will be very telling as to what happens with that. Here is a picture of the Socialist party building that was burned in the riot.

A State of EMERGENCY

O.K. so my vote for peace and quiet obviously wasn't counted.  Last night (Tuesday) there was a HUGE protest because the socialist party dominated all seats of the parliament in the election that took place on Sunday.  There were thousands of Mongolians at the socialist government building, first yelling and rallying then people got all riled up and started throwing rocks, busting out the windows, then that got more people spurred on and they threw a fire bomb, and burned the building down.  This is all right down in the center of Ulaanbaatar.  We watched it all live on television and sat in shock that this was going on.  Mongolians are usually extremely passive people, but they are angry now.  I really felt sorry for the policemen.  There were only about 50 police against all these angry people.  They started attacking the police.  One policeman was blinded, many more severely injured.  

   The news as of today is that there are 6 confirmed dead (I suspect many more).  So we (foreigners) are under curfew, from 10p.m.- 8a.m. (no problems there) and you cannot go out without your passport.  If caught without your passport, you may be "detained" for up to 3 days.  This is just supposed to be until Saturday.  

   We aren't scared, it is just a little unsettling, not knowing what might happen next.  I do feel sorry for the Mongolians, they were ruled by communist for hundreds of years and have just had their freedom since 1991, and now face communist rule again.

Beware of Tuesday!!

I wish I could get a good answer for it, but Mongolians believe that Tuesday is a very unlucky day. Because of this several buisinesses are closed on Tuesdays including the largest market in town.  We have asked several Mongolians about this and no one can give us a real answer, maybe it is like our Friday the 13th superstition.  So life here has to revolve around this notion, and you have to really consider your shopping days and where you might need to go on Tuesday.

Today's the Day

Today is the election in Mongolia.  Not for a new president, just new parliament members and district leaders. It would be the governor/mayoral elections in the states.  Anyway, the Mongolians are SO into it, but here is the deal, this is only the 4th election of this king in the 801 year history of this country!  They were controlled by China and Russia for hundreds of years and are just now able to vote on their own.  I have no idea what anyone stands for or plans to do, I will just be glad that they won't be driving by continuously blaring through loudspeakers!  I vote for some peace and quiet!!Yeah

On the 26th, my husband and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.  We went away for one night to a place about 30 minutes away from the city.  It was such a nice, relaxing time away.  The place we stayed is beside the river, which is up quite a bit after the rain all the rain we had last week.  The hotel is a walled in compound with a central courtyard area.  The top picture shows the resteraunt and fountain.  Then a close-up of the fountain which is a replica of a fountain in the original capitol city of Mongolia, Harhorin.  Then the last picture is of our room.

We were in the states this past winter for 7 months of break, medical visits, etc.  6 weeks before our return we were informed that our landlord in Mongolia had sold our apartment out from under us and we would have to move as soon as we returned to Mongolia. So we returned on March 29 and moved into another apartment May 1.  SO yesterday we found out that the landlord, who we begged and offered to pay higher rent to, was now looking to find foreign renters again.  It seems that she thought she was going to run a guesthouse in the apartment, but doesn't have the money to put in it, so now she needs renters again.  I am truly glad that we have moved and it is over, we are in a much better situation here for the kids, and for the most part it is quieter.  The Mongolian buisiness sense is non-existant!!!

It is June right?  Our high temperature today was 55F.  Yep, I had to wear a jacket to go to the store.  But good news, I found canned tomatoes, and the store had 7 cans of green beans, and I was feeling generous and only bought 6!!!  Haven't seen them anywhere else in town, the only other canned vegetable available is green peas.  Praise God we are able to get some fresh vegetables now in summer.  We even found some radishes the other day, that was a first.   This place takes "grocery shopping" to a whole new level.  It becomes a whole lot more like hunting.

Meat Market

Today we went to a meat market.  I hate to say I forgot the camera, because there just aren't words enough to describe everything.  Thankfully it was s cool, rainy day, because when you walk up to the meat market there are probably 15 trucks piled up with animal carcasses just sitting out in the open.  SO we walk in this building, a large room about the size of a small school cafeteria.  There are tables all around the edges and up the middle, every table is piled up with pieces of meat.  There are signs hanging overhead with the different types of meat listed: Cow, Horse, Sheep, and Camel.  You just walk around the different tables and the people just call out wanting you to look at their meat, the lift it up, turn it over, trying to prove to you that their meat is better than the person standing right next to them.  Each person is selling their own meat, so there are probably 50 different vendors in this one room.  We bought meat, and one woman cut the meat for us and after handling raw meat, with no gloves, proceeded to eat an apple, no hand washing here.  Yuk.  I will take the camera next time.  The funniest thing is to see whole sheep carcasses hanging from hooks against the wall and they have this huge fat tail which is a real delicassy to the Mongolians.  

   From there we just needed some things from a regular grocery store, but even after trying 5 different stores all over town, we never did find canned tomatoes.  Another day, this is normal.

A whole new world

I am truly new at this and really don't know what I am doing, but hope to make an interesting sight to show some of the day to day things I experience while Living in Mongolia.  I hope to have lots of pictures because some things are just not understood fully through words.